I am #5

Northside Church

I am - Vine/Branches

Aug 4, 2024

Jamey Mills

Good morning Northside, my name is Jamey and I’m the lead pastor here at Northside… It’s always good to be with you guys.

We are in our 5th week of our series called “I AM”...

Its roots are all the way back in Exodus 3 when God sends Moses to deliver His people from harsh and oppressive slavery in Egypt, telling them to say… I AM has sent him.

“I AM” is both exclusive and personal.

And we often don’t understand the wait of that statement…

It is exclusive… God is saying, He and He along is God, our all in all.

God is also making it personal….

Before they used a former title, but this phrase is incredibly personal and God let them know its how He wants to be known.

Things get really interesting in Jn 8 when Jesus steps up and makes that same claim… Before Abraham was, I Am….

And its not some watered down version, If you study the Bible you realize that’s its both consistent and intentional…

Not only is Jesus claiming to be divine… God

We realize the Old Testament points ot Him over and over again…

Jesus birth points to it,

The live he lived attests to it,

His death and ressurection confirms it…

It is consistent.

Jesus’ I am statements helps us to understand the Trinity a little more. One God, in three distinct persons…

God the Father

God the Son

And God the Holy Spirit

All present in creation…

All are present and active today.

7 times in John, Jesus uses the language I Am… and then follows it with metaphor… that’s intended to teach us something significant about who…

Who He is

How we relate to Him

And why it matters

And we realize… THESE are PERSONAL…

Is He your Good Shepherd?

Is he leading you? Providing and protecting you?

Is she the light in your life?

Revealing real truth and the truth about you?

Is he the way…

The direction of your life and the path to God…

The truth…

Is He THE authority in your life?

And the life…

Life is found in Him… are you living it?

Matt Chandler said it this way…

Our confidence in what Jesus does is directly connected to our understanding of who He is.

And that’s what these statements are about…

About a month ago I came across this…

VIDEO

I find Tom Brady to be the second most punchable person in all of sports…

In the eyes of some, he had it all…

His rich and famous

Won superbowls and MVP’s

Married to a super model

Eviendtly better looking that all of us

Seemingly coming out of nowhere and at the age of 27… accomplished so much…

And you can see it in his face… He knows somethings missing… There has to be something more…

Over and over the Bible teaches it and gives us examples of people who have come to the exact same conclusion get over and over Humanity tries… to make their name great, to find satisfaction in things that they can achieve and he’s left longing and empty.

In several places and in several ways the bible teaches us that we have the sense of eternity… of right and wrong… of God woven into us… This sense that we are built for something greater…

Humanity continually tries… often repeating the mistakes of the generations before us… to satisfy that created longing in us… with superficial things that in the end and over the long haul…

And it reminds me of our passage today…

It helps us to remember that in Jn 15, Jesus was spending time with His disciples in what we call the Last Supper… Knowing that His arrest was less than 24hrs away, that His earthly teaching opportuntiies were coming to and end, You can bet that Jesus was teaching them with incredible passion… knowing the cross is coming, that hard times are coming… what it would mean to stand firm and planted in their faith.

John 15:1–11 (ESV)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

To understand this passage I think we need to understand who is involved and the roles they play… I’m going to talk about God as the vine dresser and Jesus as the true vine… and talk about how we as the Branches relate to them.

But one quick note is…

Branches in this passage are often seen as “humanity or people” I actually think they are believers/Christians

Jesus says…

God as the vinedresser us a powerful image of God’s active, deliberate and meticulous involvement

He’s not passave, but diliberate and meticulous…

At the very same time

God knows, handles and works with the health of every branch

Oversees the health of the entire vinyard

One of the things Jesus is teaching here… is that

To be a Christain… is to bear fruit.

And talking to believers,

He says there are two options…

Cut off

Cut back/pruned

He cuts off those branches that are fruitless… dead, overgrown…

That robbing sunlight and nourishment…

He prunes those that are bearing fruit… expect to be pruned.

But not aimlessly.

The vine dresser knows exactly when, where, and how to but each branch… to bring about the best result in the long haul.

Part of what it means to be a Christian is bearing fruit…

It’s problematic when we dont.

It could be…

That we don’t truely believe or trust Him

That we aren’t submitting to Him and His authority in our life

We hear but don’t obey what He says

We are apathetic toward Jesus

We’re still trying to earn what God provides in Jesus

Or, we either don’t know what fruit is and where looking in the wrong places… and I think that leads to discouragement and doubt.

I think it can be a combintition of those things…

One thing I’ve seen throught he years is Christians are looking in the wrong places for fruit… we often miss or dismiss the fruit that God is producing in, around and through them.

Galatians 5:22–23 (NLT) about the fruit the Spirit produces in us…

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The fruit that God brings in our lives… is so genuinely good that no one can argue with it.

The fruit God brings impacts every area of our life.

It changes our inner world… so much so that the only way to describe it is with terms like… new life.

It every relationship that we have.

It impact our witness and minsitry to the world around us

Out outlook, our investments, our security, our identity, our hope…

Learning to see and be thankful for the fruit that God is bringing is so important…

Are you growing in your knowledge and experience with God?

Look back 10 years… 5 years…

Do you see these qualities growing in you?

Ask someone close to you that will be honest.

Are your relationships impacted by them?

Are people… somehow and someway being pointed to God through the fruit He’s bringing…

Far to often we just don’t see it.

Jesus presents this truth that part of what it means to have Him in your life is bearing fruit.

I can’t tell you how many times through the years… even at Northside… students, leaders, friends… have come back and said you have no idea how God used you. Often telling stories I don’t even remember.

God cuts off those branches that aren’t bearing fruit…

But He also says that we should expect to be pruned…

Know that at times it’ll be hard and even painful… but also know that God doesn’t waste any of it. Trusting that He is for you…. Knowing that He knows exactly where, when and how to cut in ways that lead to a greater connection to the vine, health, growth and greater fruitfulness.

Hebrews 12:11 reminds us, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

God’s pruning in our lives may come in various forms—trials, challenges, corrections—but it is always with the purpose of making us more fruitful.

Learning how to see,trust, respond and partner with God in that pruning process is a powerful thing.

One author said this…

Where did we ever get the idea that this would be easy; that it would be a rainbows and unicorns or free from trial, trouble, temptation and doubt? You realize they killed Him right?

Its a journey that’s full of wrestling and doubt… of faith and failure… where in our everyday moments we learn all over again what it means to cling to the cross… The idea that it would be easy is found nowhere in scripture…

In fact, over and over… we see examples of real people who lived that journey out… who were pruned in painful ways over and over angin…

Cutting away sin, discractions things that keep us from being fruitful…

And I cannot think of a single one that would regret it… would would say that life, and growth, and meaning and fruitfulness wasn’t found exactly where Jesus says it is.

Jesus says “I am the True Vine” He’s saying something profound.

1. That there fakes

2. That He alone is where fullness, freedom, and fruitfulness are found

3. He is pointing to Israel

That Jesus and Jesus alone… is where real life, and real purpose, deep meaning, and enduring fruitfulnss are found.

Historicaly I think Jesus is pointing at Israel… several times in the OT they are referred to as His vine, but its always negative… pronouncing judgment…

One author said it like this…

When Jesus says I am the true vine, he is saying…

I am doing what you could not.

I am what you are not able to be.

Into this place where they’d continued to fail… unable to be faithful… Jesus says… “I’ve got this”.

The vine is not optional… for life, for health, for growth and fruitfulness.

How obsurd would it be for the branch to remove itself from the vine and say… man I don’t need you. I got this.

Jesus is saying that is how important this connection is…

He uses the word… Abide… a lot of translations say remain… I’m not sure that any common english words really captures what Abide means.

What does it mean to abide?

Abide means to remain, be steadfast in, continue for a lifetime.

It’s connected to both identity; finding life, meaning, and purpose.

It’s connected to endurance; I won’t give up when it gets tough.

It is connected to identity and endurance… to find life in and continue in… continually draw from and be about…

That literally apart from him… you can do nothing…

How crazy it is to look at a severed branch laying on the ground… “do something”

If you want to be steadfast, strong, experience life and fruitfulness… live out your created meaning and purpose… Connection/Abiding in Christ in not an option.

And the way this passage is worded in English… its so easy to hear it wrong…

What is this about?

It’s not about your doing… or about your merit… It’s not about you attempts to be good enough or to earn what it is that Jesus offers…

Over and over again in the Bible God teaches and gives examples (including this one) of the bankrupt nature of that mentality.

You as the branch… do you think you can earn it? You think you got this? You think that somehow you can figure it out? No you cant!

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Your view of God is too small,

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your view of righteousness and holiness before God is warped

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your understanding of Jesus is broken.

I feel like Jesus is saying STOP!

Like quicksand… your flailing is making it worse.

What is the key… what is this all about… What is Jesus trying so hard to make sure they understand…

Jesus is not saying That we don’t obey to abide, pay to play, or work to belong

your obedience and doing brings abiding… connection and right relationship…

Jesus is saying that our abiding… our connection with God is where life, pruning, growth, health , and fruitfulness comes from.

That we don’t obey to abide… pay to play… work to belong…

But we come to Him as we are… and we abide in Him and trust the work of God’s prunning…

Removing the things that do not belong

Cutting away the things that disctact

Those things that keep us from experiencing the fullness, freedom, and fruitfulness that God deires for each and every one of us.

The point that Jesus is making…

They to live, the key to health, they key fo fulfilling your God ingrained meaning and purpose…

Is found in, nourished in, grown in… abiding in the true vine which is Jesus.

Who is what we could not be and who does what we could not do.

And the question becomes… what does abiding in Christ look like?

Realzing that I am called to do whatever I can to grow and strengthen my knowledge of, love for, and connection to Christ. He does the heavy lifting, but leaves room for us to move. To take steps of faithfulnes…

And to me, part of that is using the resources that God… in His great wisdom… has already given you… they have not changed.

How do we abide?

The three most important times of your life.

Time in God’s Word

Time in Prayer

And Time with God’s people

Another author added this…

We have to discover and

We continually commit to and invest in those things that stir our affections for God.

and it might be different for all of us.

All 3 of those things above help me a lot…

Reading… praying and journaling are huge.

The engrouagment from God’s people who know me, but love and invest in me anywhat is huge.

Holding my grandaughter reminds me of God’s creative power and blessing in my life.

Being out in the woods, riding my bike is huge for me too. I see things… I would never see. I spend time praying, sometimes for you. Enjoying creation… evaluating life… working toward becoming a more grateful person.

Worship music is huge for me. Sometimes at church and sometimes alone in my office with the door closed… there is soemthing about music that pulls me out and points me up.

The question today is not…

How hard are you working… what are you doing or what have you done.

But I think Jesus is asking… what are you abiding in?

There are all kinds of things that could never last or fulfill…

And one way to know is looking at the fruit? Is the fruit good? Is it growing in abundance and is it eternal?

What is one thing you’d continually commit to starting today that would strengthen that abiding connection with Christ?

Where is God pruning?

The question is… are you abiding?

It means intentionally cutting out and protecting time to draw near to Him.

It means doing what you can to nurture that connection.

It means paying attention to pruning work of God…

What might he be cutting away that does not belong? That has you distracted, that might be tempted to abide in instead of Him?

Jesus makes it personal…

He not just saying that He is the true vine… he is saying… He needs to be your true vine… that brings meaning, purpose, fullness, freedom and fruitful living.