Abide to Grow

Welcome

Good morning church! Our kids can dismissed at this time. My name is Luke Bibelhauser and I’m the Next Gen Director here. It ‘s my joy and privilege to be in the pulpit this morning preaching God’s word.

Let me just give a quick reminder before I begin that we have a New Members Class happening right after 2nd service in the ED Wing. Church membership is something as a church that we believe to be biblical and crucial for believers. So, if you’ve yet to become and member and you signed up, please remember to attend that class today after 2nd service.

This morning we’re going to be looking at another one of our disciple focuses. We have 6 of them as a church that we take some intentional time to preach on periodically in Scripture. Those 6 are: theology, biblical studies, biblical worldview, stewardship, church on mission, and, our focus for today: spiritual growth.

We’ll be in John 15:1-8 this morning. So, please turn there with me and lets read this passage together.

READ

PRAY

Introduction

Growing up in Florida, we had an orange tree in my backyard. I have vivid memories of my dad getting me down just the ripest, juciest orange and just going to town on that thing on our front porch. I’ve yet to have another orange in my life that tasted like the ones in my back yard.

Now, how did I know that that tree was an orange tree?…Because it produced oranges! I didn’t call it a banana tree or an apple tree…the fruit it produced was oranges, thats how it got its name.

Similarly, for the Christian, the fruit of the Spirit that we produce so proves that we are Jesus’ disciples. Thats what is in view in our passage this morning. And without abiding in the True Vine, the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no fruit to be brought forth.

That’s why the title of my message this morning is Abide to Grow. We’ll look at John 15:1-8 in two sections and a conclusion…section one: A Metaphor, section two: A Reasoning, and the conclusion: A Full Joy. My hope is that you will see the main idea of the passage, which is that we are commanded by Christ to abide in Him, so that we may bear fruit that glorifies our Heavenly Father.

And that abiding, so that we may bear fruit, is not something we’re commanded to do and then left to ourselves to do it…rather, it’s something thats only made possible by our union with Christ…that HE brings us into by faith!

Context

Since we’re jumping into this passage, it would be good for us to understand some of the context here, just like in any passage of Scripture that we’re reading or studying. John 13-17 are commonly known as the “Farewell discourse”. These are Jesus’ last teachings before being crucified.

Right before John 15, Jesus ends chapter 14 with saying John 14:30–31 “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

We can see the movement language here as Jesus is approaching the cross.

He has reemphasized His obedience to the Father here, foreshadowing the amazing work of the Father about to be revealed in his teaching in chapter 15.

A Metaphor

This leads us to our first section, A Metaphor. In verse 1, Jesus begins a metaphor, describing Himself with a final “I Am” statement as… “the true vine”. Now its important to note that, in the OT, the people of Israel are actually referred to as a vine.

There are several examples of this in books like the Psalms or Isaiah or Ezekiel. But look specifically at Hosea 10:1–2 “Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars. Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.”

As Eric Tully points out, an important idea in this OT book is that Israel’s prosperity actually led them to unfaithfulness to the Lord. They forgot their God and instead put up idols.

Israel was a luxuriant vine, but its heart was false, given over to idol worship…thus the Lord broke down their altars and destroyed their pillars…the Lord destroyed their idols!

It’s worth pausing just for a moment here to say: those idols in your life like comfort, money, sports, entertainment, time…the Lord will break down those altars and destroy those pillars! No idol will stand in the presence of the Lord, let us keep these things in their proper place, under the reign of our God.

Shifting back to Israel: although it was a luxuriant vine, it was producing bad fruit. It’s heart was given to idol worship. Israel was a wild and unfaithful vine.

That’s where Jesus comes in…as the true and better vine! Therefore, as DeYoung points out, Jesus is clearly making the claim with just these few words at the beginning of the chapter that now, to be a part of the people of God, you must be connected to Him, the true vine.

Its no longer a mere ethnic people but a people by faith in the Messiah. As Jesus’ teaching goes on, we’ll see that God’s people are the branches, those united to the true vine.

Some of you need to be reminded this morning that if you’re faith and trust is in Christ alone, you are united with the True Vine. You are His forever. That’s your identity now. Stop seeking acceptance from the world, trying to talk or act like it. Instead, find rest in your place…united with the true vine, the Lord Jesus.

Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the vinedresser, looking after the branches of the vine. We see in verse 2 that every branch in the true vine that doesn’t bear fruit is taken away and every branch that does bear fruit is pruned.

Now, a good question we should ask in verse 2 is: can someone really be a branch, connected and united with Christ, and then be taken away by the Father??…As in, can I lose my salvation??

This might seem the case at first glance, but this is why its important that we let Scripture interpret Scripture. Take a look first at two places in this very same gospel: John 6:37–39 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

Also John 10:27–30 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.””

Can you lose your salvation? No! No true believer will ever be lost, no one can snatch them out of the Father’s or Son’s hand! If you are a believer, it is by the grace of God! And you will die a believer by the grace of God!…So, how does what Jesus taught earlier in this gospel reconcile with 15:2?

Look at verse 2 again: “every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away,”. Given Jesus’ words here, it must be said that there are some that claim to be believers, that claim to be disciples, and yet they truly aren’t.

We also see a similar idea by the apostle John in 1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

The point being made here is that there are people that may claim that they belong to Christ…but if they aren’t bearing fruit, they’re mistaken. Some may claim Christ for a time, but end up walking away. Judas is a key example of this. He was one of the 12, in close proximity to Jesus…and yet he proved to not be a genuine believer, selling out the Savior.

For some in here, this is a sobering word. You’ve claimed Christ and yet you remain fruitless. Please know that just walking into church doesn’t guarantee that you’re a fruit bearing branch. Praying a single prayer at the altar and then living like the world the rest of your life isn’t what it looks like to be a branch that bears fruit.

I want to be very clear here about what’s in view. A branch that bears fruit is someone that has placed their faith and trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ alone for their sins.

It’s from this salvation that we are then being progressively sanctified (being made more like Christ over time) by the Spirit of God, as we walk or live, led by the Spirit. This leads us to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5. This fruit also includes abiding/living in the love of Christ and keeping His commands. Loving God and loving our neighbor.

Please hear me: there is no such thing as a “fruitless Christian”……It doesn’t make sense. You may have seasons of struggle, you may not always feel like you’re bearing fruit, but the difference between a branch that is kept and a branch that is taken away is fruit.

And there is judgement for those who don’t bear fruit by abiding. John 15:6 “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.”

If you aren’t abiding, you aren’t a disciple. And if you aren’t a disciple, put as clearly as I can say it, you’re going to Hell.

BUT…the beauty of the Gospel is this: that doesn’t have to be the case for you any longer!! This warning isn’t meant to send you into a doubt spiral, but to push you closer to Christ. Any fruit you produce is by the grace and work of God in your life!

If you think this is you today, repent and believe in the finished work of Christ for your sins. Seek to abide with Him. His grace is sufficient. The invitation to union with Christ through the gospel is open today. Please talk with me or a pastor or someone next to you about this.

You may have walked in not bearing fruit this morning, but you don’t have to walk out that way!

We find in the second half of v 2 that every branch in Christ bears fruit and is pruned by the Father, that it may bear more fruit.

My family and I were just at Epcot (crazy, I know). And as my wife and I were walking, we just happened to look to our right and we saw a worker walking through the bushes surrounding the lake in the center. We caught at just the right second this worker reaching down into the bush and cutting off a single dead branch that only he could see.

My wife looked at me and said “theres the attention to detail”.

How much more does our Heavenly Father pay attention to the details in us?! To prune means to cut away or cleanse. He is promised to cleanse us from our impurities and our sins, so that we may bear more fruit and spiritually grow.

Look at Hebrews 12:10–11 is perhaps the best exposition of this idea…“For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

This verse is written in view of persecution, but the idea still remains: the Father disciplines and prunes us to produce fruit in us.

The mind blowing truth here is that nothing in your life is wasted! For the follower of Jesus, everything that God brings your way is ultimately for your good…to bring more fruit out of you, conforming you to the image of Jesus Christ.

Yes, losing your job stung. Losing your child hurt more than you could ever imagine. You can’t possibly fathom the good that will come from that diagnosis. The actions of certain people in your life produced consequences that your not sure how you’ll recover from them. The chronic pain your dealing with is more than you can bear.

While all of that is true, so is this: your Heavenly Father has a specific purpose for all of it! Be encouraged today, believer, that you don’t have to fret about ANYTHING that comes your way…

Pruning can often not feel good in the moment. It can be unpleasant….yet you ought to REJOICE and be comforted…that later the pruning you experience yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Now, I gotta be honest for a second, the placement of verse 3 didn’t make much sense to me at first. We go from being taken away if you’re not fruit bearing, to being pruned if you are, to being clean because of the word of Christ???

And yet, remember, pruning also means cleansing. Therefore, Christ is saying to His disciples here (and to every disciple on down the line of history) that we are BEING cleansed by His word…meaning all that He’s taught, done, and will do. And, we ARE already cleansed! The same can be said for much of the Christian life, as we live in the “already, not yet”.

John Piper described it this way, from the perspective of Jesus: “My Father’s pruning and cleansing are simply fitting you to be what you are. Your obedience to my command is simply becoming what you are. You will not come into judgment. You have passed (already!) from death to life. That is the nature of the union you have with me.”

As Christians in this life, led by the Spirit, we are becoming who we are day by day…this is the essence of spiritual growth. We are cleansed and are being cleansed, sanctified and being sanctified, saved and being saved. Christ provides the cleansing we need…which makes pursuing holiness even possible!

So, if you’re discouraged with your perceived lack of growth, remember that God is working on you according to His timing. Let me just say this: if you’re concerned about your spiritual growth and abiding, that’s a pretty good sign that good fruit is there. Press in to that.

So far, we’ve seen that a believer is one who, connected to the True Vine, bears fruit. The question is…how do they bear said fruit?

John 15:4 “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.” To abide means to remain. In order to bear fruit and so prove to be a believer (v 8), we must abide.

This is something many of us have heard before, but what does that mean exactly? To abide or remain?

D.A. Carson helps here by describing abiding as “a continual reliance on Christ, constantly consuming spiritual nourishment from Christ.” Therefore, and abiding is not optional.

Abiding is a command from Christ. How do we actually pursue this? By reading the Bible and praying. It’s the simple things that we should never forget or grow tired of. We should want to know Him.

At the same time, we can’t look over the most glorious part of this: “Abide in me and I in you.”!!! The holy God of the universe abides in His people?! As we are commanded to abide in Him, Christ promises to abide in us!

If you struggle with loneliness this morning, with feeling forgotten and tossed to the side…maybe with a lack of discipline, or you’re struggling in your battle with sin, be reminded that God has promised that He will remain with you to the end of the age if you have faith in Him.

If Christ abides in us, that means we’ll abide with Him forever as He keeps us!! Abiding is something that has already been done (Piper) and is something we must do.

It’s a reality that Christ brings us into, in union with Himself by grace…and a commandment that we must pursue by grace.

A Reasoning

Verse 5 leads us to A Reasoning. While still interacting with the vine and branches metaphor, Christ now moves into the reasoning for the metaphor. John 15:5b “…Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Nothing of true meaning or significance can be done apart from Christ! This makes kind of think of my dog. She’s basically the epitome of abiding. She can’t do anything on her own.

How absurd would it be if she tried to open her bag of food with her paws and put the food in her bowl and shake it around? Or for her to put her own collar on and walk herself? She even proves her love for us in that she’ll never leave us alone, especially at night. She HAS to be where we are.

And yet, we act like this everyday. Like we don’t need to abide because we can handle this work day on our own. Like we don’t need to pray because that certain situation isn’t a crisis. It’s absurd how often we forget this!

We can do nothing apart from Christ. This church has been through some tough times over the last couple of years. By God’s grace, we’re now in a much better and much more exciting season, seeing the Lord move and save and baptize and grow His people. Praise the Lord!

But Bldg 28, far be it from us to forget that none of this happens without Christ. Its when things are good that its easy to forget this. May we never forget how needy we are, lest we end up consumed with ourselves and our golden caves.

The warning is strong for those who do not abide in Christ (thrown away, gathered, thrown into the fire and burned). Yet the promise for the one abiding is so much greater in verse 7. If you abide in Christ AND His words abide in you, ask what you wish and your prayers will be answered.

Now of course, this doesn’t mean that you can ask for a million dollars and it will be given to you. This is not a name it and claim teaching from the Lord. Rather, the one who remains in Christ and has Christ’s words remaining in them, they are the ones that seek to pray according to the will of God.

The one abiding has their thoughts and desires transformed to want the things of Christ…and they pray to that end. When’s the last time you asked Jesus to help you abide in Him? This should be our daily request!

Pray boldly as you abide in Christ. Don’t grow weary in asking (like last week). Pray in the confidence of the words of Christ here! Pray for your children’s salvation, pray for your church, pray that you would bear more fruit, pray that you would more joyfully seek to keep the commands of Christ.

For without prayer, spiritual growth never takes place.

The reasoning for the metaphor is made even clearer in verse 8…the Father is glorified through the true branches bearing much fruit and proving to be Christ’s disciples. The Father is for His glory, His work in the believers life is ultimately for the purpose of His glory (v 2)!

The Father prunes, so that more fruit will be produced in the believer. This fruit proves that we are His disciples. Therefore, the evidence that we belong to Christ glorifies the Father!

We don’t spiritually grow to look good and brag on our fruit. We spiritually grow so that the Father will be seen and cherished as glorious!

Conclusion: A Full Joy

And this all leads to a full joy for the believer. In verses 9-11 we are called to abide in the love of Christ and to keep His commandments. We’re also let in to another main reason for why Jesus has just spoken these words in John 15: so that the branches may have the joy of Christ inside of them!

The very joy of Christ is yours if you abide. When the Father is glorified, the believers joy is full. When your life’s circumstances have you downcast, when you’re lacking fulfillment, when depression creeps in and anxiety is distracting you…abide in Christ. For that is what leads to fullness of joy that lasts.

Dwelling in the presence of Christ, who has come down to us, is not optional for believers. To believe is to abide. Therefore, let us abide in Christ, the True Vine, that we may bear fruit and grow spiritually.

PRAY