The Nature of Discipleship

John 15:1-12

No Discipleship, No Christ

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - “A Christianity without discipleship is a Christianity without Christ.” What does that mean?

You cannot separate faith in Christ from active discipleship. If you are not maturing, if you are not growing, if you are not his disciple, you are not connected to Christ.

Are you bearing the fruit of Christian discipleship? Putting to death the power of sin in your life, growing in the likeness of Christ… do you see the fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?

Jesus calls you to follow him, abiding in him and disciplined by his word that you may bear fruit to God’s glory.

Understanding the Teacher and the Disciple Relationship

Disciple (mathetes) comes out of the Rabbinic practices.

Young men would apply to follow a teacher, rabbi, and the teacher could accept or reject the student.

Memorization of the teacher's words; disciples learned the teacher’s words verbatim, to pass along to others.

Learning the teacher’s ways; how the teacher kept God's commands, how he prayed, kept the sabbath, and imitating the teacher's life, becoming like the teacher.

Raising up their own disciples, reproducing what was learned, eventually adding their own nuances.

How Jesus was different.

He called those who would be his disciples.

"Follow me” (Philip - John 1:43), (Levi - Luke 5:27)

Matt 4:19 Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

He gives His Spirit.

We are being remade in His image, while we strive to imitate him, we have the advantage, because he gives us His Spirit to guide us and teach us.

We Are Called to Make Disciples of Him

Not copies of ourselves, but bringing others to follow, know, and live like Christ.

The Nature of Christian Discipleship -

Jesus is the True Vine we are the Branches

Israel was signified by the vine, the Temple was adorned with it.

The vineyard expressed God’s labor and care in planting his people in the promised land - expecting a rich harvest.

Psalm 80 and Isa 5 - God brought out the vine of Egypt, planted in a garden, but it brought forth wild grapes

Jesus is the true vine

Jesus is the true vine, the source of true and everlasting life for those who believe.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Jesus came to give true joy and spiritual rest to heavy-laden hearts (Matt. 11:28).

We are grafted into him (Rom 11) - He gives us life.

God is the Vinedresser, pruning and cleansing the branches.

Why is pruning necessary?

Pruning stimulates new growth and removes that which would prevent fruitfulness. Kent Hughes, “If you’ve ever seen the vineyards of northern California in the summer: rows upon rows of lush green grapevines expanding their foliage so fast you can almost see them grow… Their health is directly proportionate to their pruning. Three types:

Pinching to remove the growing tip so it will not grow too fast,

Thinning the grape clusters so that the branch can bear more fruit and better quality fruit,

Cutting away suckers to give more nourishment to the whole plant.

This is how the Father tends the branches.

vs 2 - Those who are in Christ but not bearing fruit he takes away…

Calvin - “many suppose themselves to be in the vine who actually have no root in the vine.”

Rom 11:20 - branches are broken off because of their unbelief.

Those who claim to be Christian, but do not trust in him, and show no evidence of following Jesus. If Christ is not evident in our lives, are we rooted in Him?

vs 2 - Every branch that does bear fruit he cleanses.

God tends to those who are growing through discipline and trials that make us lean more upon Him and bear even greater fruit.

How we are Spiritually Pruned.

Outward Trials

Pruning might take place by means of God’s providential arrangement of our circumstances: we might suffer loss, have our work frustrated, face temptation, or experience a rebuke.

God strips away things that are spiritually detrimental, even if they are otherwise good things.

We stop leaning on our own strength, forcing growth where we think it should happen, looking to rebuild what we want, so that we can stand confident in the mighty work of God.

The purpose of our trials is to make us fruitful: “that the tested genuineness of your faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:6–7).

By the Word - John 15:3

It is the Word of God that cleanses us. When Jesus speaks of the Father’s pruning, it is Scripture that is the agent of our spiritual change and growth.

Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

God’s Word penetrates our hearts, unmasks our true thoughts and desires, and cuts away all that hinders our growth.

Bible is not only “breathed out by God” but also “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16).

Discipline is from the Father who loves us: It is important to remember that discipline is not punishment, but vine-dressing. Hebrews 12:10 says, “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” It may seem unpleasant in the moment, but it “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Bearing Fruit

Growth - Like the Disciple with the Rabbi

Knowing the Teacher’s Words - Committing the word of God to heart

Knowing the Teacher’s Ways - Applying the teaching of Christ to our lives

Imitating the Teacher’s Life - Becoming like Him, imitating Him, even suffering with Him

The Harvest

Proving that we are disciples - our gain. The fruit Jesus is speaking of is the reproduction of the life of the vine in the branch, the fruit of Jesus’ life in us.

Glory to God - God’s produce. He is most glorified in saving sinners. That God would take the wild branch and bring forth a harvest of righteousness.

Engaging in Discipleship

Hear Him Call - He still calls us to follow

Trust in Him - look to no other master, he is the Way, the truth, and the life, the only way to the Father, he is the author of life, no one else has the words of life

Learn from Him - his burden is easy, his yoke is light,

Live Like Him - love those whom Christ love, love like Christ loved

Abide in Him - Dwell in, have communion with Him.

Abide in His word -

Don’t stray from his teaching, for apart from Christ we can do nothing.

Abiding in Christ’s Word involves more than a bare adherence to Christian doctrine and the discipline of Bible reading; it also involves a trust in its promises and a serious application of its lessons to our lives.

Abide in His love -

Constantly in mind of the value of His perfect sacrifice and the efficacy of His precious blood. There can be no fellowship with the Lord Jesus, in the full sense of the word, while we harbor doubts of our personal salvation and acceptance with God.

We abide in His love by keeping His commands to love one another.

Follow with Joy

He calls us to abide in Him, to follow Him, to obey Him, that our joy may be full. The life of the disciple is not a burden, not a sacrifice, not meagerness, but the fullness of joy. To live is Christ!

Are you following Christ with joy?