Sermon Tone Analysis

We never stop growing in our faith, do we?

This is the first Sunday in our sermon series called “Abide” where we will study to understand what it means to “abide in Christ.”

I gave the definition of Abide in the video, and it’s there

Throughout this series we will be hearing more stories on video and in person about what it looks like for different people to “abide” in Christ… people in different stages of life… people who have different day to day experiences…

Because this whole idea of “abiding” can be kind of hard to wrap our head around… it can seem kind of mystical and mysterious...

And I hope these stories help to make abiding in Christ intensely practical…

What does it look like… what does it mean to “abide in Christ?”

“Abide” isn’t even a word we really use very often anymore… you may not even know the definition of the word itself...

At the foundational level, to abide is to remain…

in fact if you have an NIV, you don’t even have the English word “abide” in your Bible… you have the word “remain...”

And "remain” is a helpful word… I think Bruce is a good example of the word “remain” because he’s shown us what it means to REMAIN faithful to Jesus into the latter years of life…

There is a sense of longevity and perseverence in the word remaining or abiding...

But there is also the sense of moment by moment remaining… step by step… thought by thought…

We remain in Jesus over the long haul by remaining in him through moments and hours and days that make up our existence.

Now by this, we do not mean “remaining in Christ” as if we could lose our salvation if we don’t hold on tight enough…

We mean remaining in a relationship of faith in him… that he is the one holding us fast…

We mean remaining in a relationship of faith in him…

Some of the other biblical writers called it “living by faith...” or “walking by the Spirit,” or being “in Christ” or “united with Christ.”

These may shine light on different ways to look at this, but they are not fundamentally different things....

Really, abiding is the essence of what it means to live the Christian life.

We are going to see that this pursuit of abiding is the thing… and the only thing that you were created for… it’s the only thing that can give you the life and purpose and identity that will last for all eternity.

The definition that we are going to use in this series for abiding in Christ is this:

Abide definition: To remain in constant awareness of, connection to, and dependence on the power and presence of our loving savior.

Abiding is constant… it’s not so much an activity that we do as a posture we maintain… it’s a moment by moment posture of the heart...

It involves remaining constantly aware of the power and presence of Jesus…

we will not abide in him if we constantly forget that he is with us and he is the one we need...

Abiding involves remaining constantly connected to him…

it’s not just that I am aware of him and indifferent to his presence and power with me…

I’m connected to him through exercising faith in his power and presence with me… faith is the fiber that connects us as the branches to the vine...

And that constant connection of faith is one of constant dependence...

To abide, I must constantly remember that apart from Jesus I can do NOTHING.

This is why this word “abide” is better than the translation, “remain...”

Because Abide, like the original Greek word, reflects this idea that… in abiding… we are receiving our life source…

Our vitality… our power for living the Christian life… our sustenance and nourishment for growth…

And without that sustenance, we are dead.

We are going to see that this pursuit of “abiding” is THE thing… and the ONLY thing... for which you were created…

it’s the only thing that can give you the life and purpose and identity… it’s the only way you can bring God glory…

And it is the thing that God wants to consume your thoughts and desires and motivations...

That’s what we want to focus on today as we start into this series:

Big Idea: Abide in Jesus as the only source of life who can produce the fruit the Father seeks.

Your Bibles are open to … we will be in over the course of the next month and a half…

I hope you are working through the “Abide” reading plan as well… that will set you up to see these same principles from other parts of the scriptures…

But we will be primarily working our way through in the sermons on Sunday mornings... because it is where we get the clearest... most in-depth treatment of what it means to abide in Christ in all of the scriptures.

is part of what is called the “Farewell Discourse” in the book of John...

It’s called that because it is the last teaching Jesus gives to his disciples before he is crucified, and it is consumed with what will happen when he goes away…

Jesus is preparing his disciples for how to live when he is no longer physically present with them.

What are they going to do now, because they’ve been following him around Israel for the last 3 years of their lives?!?!

And they’ve given up everything… and he’s become everything to them… and so what will this look like once he has returned to the Father in heaven?

As we get into chapter 15, they are now walking as they are talking… they have just left the upper room in Jerusalem where they shared the last supper whee we know Jesus instituted the ordinance of the Lord’s Table that we just celebrated… John emphasizes another event: that Jesus washed his disciples feet…

Judas has already left them to go get the religious leaders and betray Jesus...

And now they are walking to the Mt. of Olives… to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus will have some time of intense prayer in connection to his heavenly father…

and where he will ultimately betrayed… this is his darkest hour...

As they walk through the Valley of Kidron, they probably would have likely looked up and seen a large golden vine decorating the exterior of the temple walls…

It was a symbol of the nation of Israel...

And they may have even passed some vineyards on their way up the mountain as they were a common crop in Israel…

And it’s in this context that Jesus says this in [Read ]

There could not be a more perfectly suited illustration of our relationship to Christ than this illustration of the vine and the branches… and this word, “Abide.”

The analogy or parable itself is straightforward and easy to understand… it has three main parts:

Verse 1 establishes that Jesus is the vine…

I

And he specifically calls himself the TRUE VINE...

Israel was described in the Old Testament as a vine too… but every time they are called that, they are being judged for bearing bad fruit… or not bearing fruit at all…

Jesus is the TRUE vine… the only source of life that will produce the fruit the father seeks....

You can’t find life and produce fruit by living by the law of Moses...

You can’t find life and produce fruit by living by the traditions of men...

You can’t find life and produce fruit by being something or doing something FOR God like all of the other religious of the world try to do...

You can only fine life and produce fruit when you are attached to the TRUE vine.

That’s why Jesus is exclusive… that’s why not all roads lead to heaven… because Jesus claimed to be the only source of eternal… true life.

Jesus is the vine… and Verse 5 then clarifies that Jesus’ disciples are the branches

The branches only have life in relationship to the vine… to Jesus.

The branches bear fruit...

They are united to him by faith…

We will discuss what the fruit represents…

You have the vine and the branches… and those two parts usually become our focus when we read this passage… we sometimes title this section “The Vine and the Branches...”

But then there is this character we often forget about in the analogy… The Father is the vinedresser...

He’s the gardener… the vine is there for his benefit… the fruit is there for his use…

That’s important… and it’s where Jesus starts:

I think it’s important to see in this analogy that the Father is the one who is up close and personal with the vine and the branches…

He has

1) The Father is actively tending the vine seeking fruit.

(15:1-3)

Explain: It’s interesting… the word for vinedresser is often used of peasants and servants…

It’s the word for a farmer who does all his own work… not one who has hired managers or servants to do the work...

In other words, the Father has not outsourced this job of tending to the vine… he is actively working the whole process from planting to harvest… and he is deeply concerned about the outcome… God cares how you spend your life.

I think that’s so important: this analogy is so much about the type of personal relationship we have with God...

He has

Everyone says, “I don’t believe in religion… I believe in having a relationship with God....”

And that’s great… but what’s that relationship like?

Is it a relationship like you have with a distant relative that you see at family gatherings once a year…

Or a relationship like you have with the people who live in your own house?

In this analogy, the branches are vitally connected to the vine… it doesn’t get more personal than that...

And the Father is the one who is actively and personally tending to the vine and the branches…

Part of what I hope you realize in this Abide series is that we have a real and living and personal and active God in our lives...

He’s not just a topic of theological discussions…

He’s not just the subject of some children’s stories… or some distant force that we can’t know…

He is present and active in his creation… and he personally tends to the branches of his True Vine…

And as he does… he’s looking for something…

Look at verse 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.”

(, ESV)

What is the Father looking for?

[The Father is looking for fruit.]