Untitled Sermon (9)

Intro

If you haven’t been with us, over the last few weeks we’ve been going through the I AM statements in the Gospel of John. In each of the statements we’ve looked at, we’ve seen how Jesus is God and we’ve seen how he is making God present in the here and now. He’s making God present in our time and space. He’s God, walking among us and with us through life. And through each of these statements, we’ve seen that Jesus is what all of us truly need, and apart from him there is no life. If we don’t have Jesus we don’t have life. It’s only through Jesus that we have true life, and by remaining in Jesus we produce a fruitfulness that is pleasing to God. And the passage we’re looking at this morning makes that really clear. So turn in your bible to John Chapter 15.

John 15:1–17 ESV

1 “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. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

This is the word of the Lord.

Prayer

Exposition

Jesus opens up by saying that he is the true vine. To me, the vine part makes sense, it’s a nice metaphor of Jesus being our source of life, but what does Jesus mean when he says that he is the true vine? In all of the I AM statements Jesus in some way reinterprets Israel’s history or reimagines images that were familiar to them. And this is what he’s doing here. In the Old Testament, the image of the vine is used to refer to God’s chosen people, the Israelites. When you read the OT and see the word vine used in relation to someone or something, it’s probably talking about Israel. But, every time the Old testament used that image, it used it negatively. Every time Israel was referred to as the vine, it always came with an announcement that Israel was a vine that did not bear fruit and so God was going to punish them. So, when a Jewish person in the 1st century heard vine, they always though of judgement or punishment from God. But, Jesus is reinterpreting this or reimagining this. When he says that he is the “True Vine” he’s saying that he’s doing what Israel couldn’t. If you read the Old Testament, you see over and over again how Israel failed to be obedient to God. They were okay for a little while, then they would fail, God would punish them, they’d come back for a little bit, then they’d fail again, and all throughout their story we see their failure to be faithful to God. And so when Jesus declares that he is the true vine, he’s entering into this failure that has defined Israel for generations and he’s saying I’m doing for you what you couldn’t do. You haven’t been fruitful, and you haven’t pleased God, you haven’t done what God has commanded you to do, but I am. I am the true vine. I’m what you could never accomplish. I’m stepping into where you failed over and over again. And this is what the Jews heard when he said this. It’s a radical statement. And it’s a statement that means the same for us today. Jesus steps into our lives too. And he says that he is the true vine for us too. On our own, we are incapable of pleasing God and it’s impossible for us to live full abundant lives, but Jesus claims that he is the source of true life, and he makes it possible for us to live a life that is abundant and pleasing to God the Father.

Pruning

And I wish I could just stop here and close, because the rest of this message is hard. The next thing Jesus says is that his Father is the vinedresser. In other words, God the Father is the gardener who takes care to make sure the vine is healthy. And he does this by cutting and by pruning. Jesus says “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every brand that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Branches that don’t produce any fruit are cut off. And these are these are the people who kind of believe in Jesus, but have really surrendered their lives to him. These are the people who come to church events and participate, but there’s nothing in their life that shows they follow Jesus. They’re superficially attached to the vine, they know who Jesus is, but knowing Jesus hasn’t changed them. And you think, how is this possible? How can someone know Jesus yet not be changed by him? Look at Judas. He spent three years sitting under Jesus’ teaching, followed him, learned from him, but sold him out. He knew Jesus, probably better than a lot of us in here, but he wasn’t surrendered to him. Those are the types of branches that get cut off completely.

So branches that don’t produce fruit get cut off, but branches that do produce fruit get pruned? Jesus says in verse 5 that he is the vine and we are the branches, so we, as Christians can expect pruning. If you don’t know what pruning is, it’s the process of cutting away parts of a plant so that it remains healthy or becomes healthy. It’s usually done after a season of producing fruit. For example, when my granddad’s orange trees stop producing fruit, he has this big tractor come in pulling this giant thing behind it with a bunch of blades. And he trims all of the branches so that they are healthy and able to produce more fruit next season. And God does the same thing with those of us who are Christian, who have been changed by Jesus, who have surrendered, and who are producing fruit. He prunes us, so that we will produce more fruit.

Sometimes he prunes or cuts away sin in our lives. There’s an idol we have or a secret we have, something we’re placing our hope and trust in other than God, and God will cut that away. He’ll cut away at the things we find our value and worth in that aren’t of him. He’ll cut away at the relationships we’ve valued over our relationship with him, he’ll cut away at our pursuits of wordly happiness and worldly pleasure, he’ll cut away at anything that has the potential to take his rightful place in our lives. Maybe not right now, but he will cut it away. And it’s painful, but he does it for your good and for his glory.

But pruning doesn’t always come from a sin that we have. I’ve said this a lot, but all of us in here have lived long enough to have experience some kind of suffering. We’ve been through some kind of situation or circumstance where we felt hopeless or helpless, and desperate for God to show up. We’ve had family get sick, we’ve lost a job, we’ve experienced some kind of loss or rejection. And we’ve made one of two choices in these moments. We’ve either pressed deeper into Jesus, or we’ve completely turned away from him. We’ve either allowed these circumstances to make us completely dependent upon Jesus, or we’ve blamed him for allowing us to be placed in them. Suffering is a part of this life. No one in here can escape that. It happens to Christians and non-Christians. The difference for Christians is that we have a loving God who we can go to who turn into something that is for our good. It makes us stronger. When we’re in Christ, when we’re attached to the vine, God uses our suffering to prune us and to make us more fruitful.

Fruit

Up to this point I’ve talked a lot about fruit and the need to be fruitful. I’m going through it the way the passage goes through it so right now we’ll look at how to be fruitful as Christians, and then we’ll define what the fruit is.

How to be Fruitful

Look at verse 4 and 5:

John 15:4–5 ESV

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.

That word abide that opens up verse 4 isn’t a suggestion. It’s a command. If we’re truly in Jesus, we will abide in him. Abide means to remain. It means to dwell in, to make your home in, to live with. In every space and in every moment, we are commanded to be with Jesus. We don’t just show up here on Sundays and sing a few songs and hear a sermon and say “Okay, Jesus! See you next week, bro.” No. Our lives have to be centered on him. Every day needs to be spent in his presence. If we truly abide in him, if we truly live in him, then our lives will reflect that. This means that every area of our lives are turned over to Jesus. Our families, our finances, our college choices, our school clubs, our friendships and relationships, etc. Everything in our lives need to be turned over to Jesus. And so we live our with Jesus, and we live surrendered to Jesus, we live trusting Jesus, we live resting in Jesus, day by day, hour by hour we are with Jesus. And that means we have to create space. We have to make time for daily prayer and daily reading the bible. We have to make time to put all of the worries and stresses we have to the side, and sit with Jesus. And that’s hard, because there’s so much going on around us, so much that needs to be finished, so much that needs to get done that taking time to spend with Jesus every day seems impossible. But we have to do it. It’s just not an option for us. Because if we don’t abide, if we don’t remain in Jesus, we can’t bear fruit, and if we can’t bear fruit, or if we don’t bear fruit, we’re not really Christian. And Jesus makes it clear in verse 5 that apart from him we can’t do anything. Apart from him we can’t produce the fruit that’s the evidence of our faith, and if we don’t abide, we’re the dead branches that get thrown away in to the fire and burned. We’re the ones who are separated from God.

And so, we have to abide, and if we abide, we produce fruit, but what is this fruit?

Defining the Fruit

There’s a lot of things I could list out as the fruit of abiding in Christ. It could be inviting friends to church, it could be stewarding your finances well, it could be serving your community, it could be the fruit of the spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control — I think it’s all of these things and more, but I think what it ultimately is and what I think we need to hear this morning as a church, is love. The fruit of abiding in Christ is love. Out of love flows all of the fruits of the spirit, and out of loves comes all of the things we do that are good and pure. In the rest of this passage Jesus talks about love. He talks more about abiding in him, then he talks about abiding in his love, and then he says that to abide, we need to keep his commandments. And in verse 12 Jesus says “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” And so, following Jesus, abiding in Jesus, is directly connected to loving one another just as Jesus loved us. And so that’s my question for us this morning. Do we love each other?

Do we as a youth group love every member of the youth group? Do we love each other? Do we love the people who are different than us? Do we love the people who have different sins than us? Do we love the people who are older or younger than us? Do we love the ones who we’re competing with to get into the same college? Are we seeking to be an inclusive and welcoming community who loves Jesus? Do we love our parents? We have to ask ourselves if we’re really loving. And if we aren’t, why not?

What about us as an EM? I’m just a guest speaker today, and it’s a challenge to speak into things here since I’m not your pastor, but the challenge is the same for all of us. Do we as an EM love each other? Or are we divided? Are we so caught up in worldly success and competition that we miss the opportunity to be a loving community seeking to follow Jesus?

And finally, do we as primarily English speaking adults and teenagers love the KM? Because the vine imagery that’s used in this passage is communal. It’s not individual. We, as individual branches, are all apart of the same vine. We’re all apart of the same community, the same body, the same fellowship of believers. And we as an entire church have to be united under the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ. We as individuals, but also as a body, as a church need to be abiding in Jesus. that’s the key. We can’t love one another if we aren’t abiding. There can’t be true unity and true fellowship within the different ministries here and the whole church if we aren’t abiding in Jesus. If we don’t know Jesus we can’t love. If we don’t know Jesus, and if we’re not seeking to abide in Jesus, then there isn’t any reason for us to be here. So, we have to abide. We have to bear fruit. And we as a church have to be united under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and we have to love each other because that’s where we find true joy and that’s when God is most glorified and most pleased with us.