I Am the True Vine...Am I remaining/abiding in Him?

Sermon Outline

Intro/Review:

Transition to Message:

Fallen Condition Focus (FCF):

We are tempted to view God the Father as a demanding and controlling Gardener who cuts and throws out that which is not fully grown and highly fruitful.

Dominant Thought (DT):

Our Father is a gentle and patient tender to the branches, He has provided the True Vine as a way to connected us to His divine power. He cares for, loves, tends, protects His branches.

Passage Focus & Teaching:

Caution to not have a “try harder” attitude toward following Christ. Rather, let us experience the tender care and love of the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ who makes it possible for us to know the joy of the Father’s love.

An invitation over an assignment…

John 15:1 (NIV) I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

CONNECTION to the Son and to the Father

The gardener cares for the garden, tends to the garden, cultivates the garden, waters the garden, prepares the garden, shares the garden, watches over the garden, protects the garden, grows the garden, harvests the garden, enjoys the garden, prunes for growth, delights in the fruit, supports the plants

How do we relate to The Gardener? Do you think the Gardener is trying to hold us back? Keep us from fun and enjoyment? Limit our opportunities and experiences? I get that this is church and we are prone to church answers…”No, He wants what is best for us.” But, can we search ourselves for a moment…in those moments outside of this weekly gathering, are you feeling the tension between what the Gardner desires for us and what we want?

John 15:2 (NIV) He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

TENDING & PRUNING

Might find ourselves inclined to believe this is a painful process…and it can be…but the end goal is not pain, it is a flourishing life of fruit bearing

What is the fruit Christ followers bear?

Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

John 15:3–4 (NIV)  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

Do we truly want to bear fruit? What fruit are we hoping to bear? Think on that for a moment…

do we want to be known or do we want others to know the Vine and the Gardner?

If today was the day of harvest of the work and experience of your life, what fruit would be collected?

John 15:5–6 (NIV) I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

John 15:7–8 (NIV) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

So, if the only way to bear good fruit is by remaining or abiding in Jesus, how do we “abide in Him?”

If Jesus is the True Vine as He says He is, and if He is the the source of our connection to the Father who is the Gardener, how do we remain in Him?

Verse 7 shows us two specific ways we experience this ABIDING CONNECTION;

through the very words of Jesus….”my words remain in you”

Meditation, memorization (don’t worry about precision, focus on principle)

through prayer…”ask whatever you wish”

Closing/Call to Action:

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John 15:1–17 (NIV)

The Vine and the Branches

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 

9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.