I AM…The True Vine

(The President and the Little Boy)

During the war between the states, a young soldier in the Union Army lost his older brother and his father in the battle of Gettysburg. The soldier decided to go to Washington, D.C. to see President Lincoln to ask for an exemption from military service so that he could go back and help his sister and mother with the spring planting on the farm. When he arrived in Washington, after having received a furlough from the military to go and plead his case, he went to the White House, approached the front gate and asked to see the president.

The guard on duty told him, “You can’t see the president, young man! Don’t you know there’s a war going on? The president is a very busy man! Now go away, son! Get back out there on the battle lines where you belong!”

So the young soldier left, very disheartened, and was sitting on a little park bench not far from the White House when a little boy came up to him. The lad said, “Soldier, you look unhappy. What’s wrong?” The soldier looked at the little boy and began to spill his heart to him. He told of his father and his brother being killed in the war, and of the desperate situation at home. He explained that his mother and sister had no one to help them with the farm. The little boy listened and said, “I can help you, soldier.” He took the soldier by the hand and led him back to the front gate of the White House. Apparently, the guard didn’t notice them, because they weren’t stopped. They walked straight to the front door of the White House and walked right in. After they got inside, they walked right past generals and high-ranking officials, and no one said a word. The soldier couldn’t understand this. Why didn’t anyone try to stop them?

Finally, they reached the Oval Office—where the president was working—and the little boy didn’t even knock on the door. He just walked right in and led the soldier in with him. There behind the desk was Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of State, looking over battle plans that were laid out on his desk.

The president looked at the boy and then at the soldier and said, “Good afternoon, Todd. Can you introduce me to your friend?”

And Todd Lincoln, the son of the president, said, “Daddy, this soldier needs to talk to you.”

The soldier pled his case before Mr. Lincoln, and right then and there he received the exemption that he desired.

(More Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks, pg 140)

Just as Todd Lincoln was a connection for this young soldier to the president, so Jesus Christ is our connection to His Father, God. Today we will complete our sermon series on the I AM statements of Jesus as we look at His final statement which was made just hours before His arrest. Look with me at John 15:1-8.

John 15:1–8 NIV

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.

Pray

Agriculture was and is a big part of Israel’s economy. In the time of the Bible, three important ones we hear often spoken of in scripture were grapes, olives and figs. Jesus often used agricultural illustrations as the people could relate to the subject. Jesus was also known for turning the meanings of things around from what they had always understood and reveal how they pointed to Himself. This passage is no exception.

This passage is all about relationships. The relationship of the Father and Son. The relationship of the Son to His followers. The followers ability to be connected to the Father through their relationship with the Son.

This comes just following the Last Supper. Jesus and His disciples have finished the meal. Judas has left to take care of his business. Jesus and the eleven have removed themselves from the table as Jesus is gives final important details to His disciples before the temple guards show up to arrest Him. He begins by instructing them in the importance of their believing and staying connected to Him. If they are to survive, if they are to fulfill their purpose, it will only be through their connection to Him (Jesus).

This is an important passage so in order to understand it, we need to break it down.

To begin, let us start at the beginning and we see...

God is the “gardener.”

John 15:1 NIV

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

Many will tell you that the gospel of John is all about Jesus, but the truth is it is about the Father. Throughout John, Jesus continually points us to the fact that He is only doing the will of the Father.

Steve Thomason created an artistic video that gives a great overview of this passage. It is interpretive and shows far more than we would immediately see through this passage. So to begin, I want us to watch this overview and then I will break it down to help instruct us further seeing our part in all of it.

INSERT VIDEO HERE

YouTube

I am the Vine and the Branch John 15:1-15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeYp6L-LXSA

So God is the gardener. We know a gardener plants his garden and then watches over it providing what it needs. He waters, trains, and prunes a garden in order to provide that it fulfill its purpose which is to produce fruit. If a gardener is good at what he does, it is because he cares for his garden. So what is the garden that God is caring for and how does He do so? The subject matter of our text is a vine in a vineyard. To understand who the vineyard is, let us look to the Old Testament.

Psalm 80:8–11 NIV

8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.

Here we see that the vine is the nation of Israel. However, there was a problem with this vineyard. Look with me further.

Isaiah 5:1–2 NIV

1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.

Isaiah 5:7 NIV

7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Jeremiah 2:21 NIV

21 I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

Hosea 10:1 NIV

1 Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones.

The vineyard of Israel was not fulfilling its purpose. God had planted the nation of Israel with the purpose of prospering them and showing the world what He wanted to do for all of humankind. God loved Israel and provided for her. He tended them trying to train them to be able to produce great fruit. He pruned them trying to help them to develop the right kind of fruit. But time and again, Israel rejected God for the ways of those around them. The Jewish leaders of Jesus day, declared Judaism the road to God. However, God was not in Judaism. It had become a movement and law of men, not God.

However, God had made a promise to Abraham and God would keep that promise. Through Israel all would be saved. It was obvious that God would not be able to keep that promise through Israel as it was, so God planted a new vine from the house of Israel. He was God’s Son and He alone could provide the connection between God and humankind. God watched over His Son, directed His Son, and protected His Son from those who would harm Him before His time. Certain things needed to be accomplished before Jesus full purpose was completed. Because...

Jesus is the “True” Vine

John 15:1 NIV

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

The word interpreted as “true” can also be interpreted as “genuine.” In the words used by Coca Cola you can say, “He is the real thing!” The genuine article. Jesus is the “true” vine because He came from the Father. He is the true connection to God as well as the only avenue to God. Jesus was the perfect ideal of what the vine was to be.

It is important to note that the vine is not independent, but is dependent upon the gardener, His Father. We see this as Jesus is always looking to the Father for guidance in order to do His Father’s will. Jesus repeats this over and over again throughout the gospel of John. He wants it to be clear that He never acts independently of the Father.

Now some say Israel was replaced. I do not believe that to be the case. Jesus does not replace Israel. In fact, many of the house of Israel were Jesus first followers. However, Jesus was the vine from the house of Israel that would fulfill the purpose of providing a way for people to have a relationship with Holy God. I am not going to expound on this as we covered this pretty well last week as we talked about Jesus 6th “I AM” statement.

John 14:6 NIV

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

What is important about this statement of Jesus being “the vine” is our relationship to the vine. That is, we are the branches. In our text there are two kinds of branches described. There is the fruit bearing and the non-fruit bearing branches. He mentions the non-fruit bearing branches first, so let us begin there.

Non-fruit bearing branches

The first question that comes to mind is,

Who do the non-fruit bearing branches represent?

If you think in relation to a branch, a branch grows out from a vine. Jesus and God had various followers. For one, the Jewish leaders professed to be God followers and God lovers, but the truth was they were not connected to God. If they had been truly connected to God, they would have recognized His Son. They considered themselves a branch from God, but they were a non-fruit bearing branch and God was sufficiently cutting them away.

In this passage, Jesus is talking about His branches. Those who professed to be attached to Him, however, not all were attached for the right reasons. There were many who followed Him enthusiastically but when things became tough or they didn’t like what He was saying, they turned away. Look at John 6.

John 6:60 NIV

60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”

John 6:66 NIV

66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

These are often people who follow Jesus with the expectation that Jesus will fulfill their expectations and desires. Those who teach or believe the false doctrines that Jesus will always heal us physically if we have enough faith, or that Jesus makes his followers wealthy and answers all your prayers to your satisfaction. These are what we call the health and wealth prosperity gospels. Jesus was very clear that there would be trials and tribulations in life and probably even more so for His followers as the enemy would seek to devour them.

Such as these bear no fruit as they are not following God or producing His fruit, they are looking for Him to follow them.

There are also those who come and listen, but never act on what is being preached. Churches are full of spectators who profess they believe and they feel attendance to church is all that is required. However, they never move beyond listening. They are like the fans at a ball game. They are the cheering section, but they are not part of the team. They are not doing the work or fulfilling the purpose. They are just cheering those who are on. God did not call us to be spectators. God called us to participate in kingdom building.

But there are still more. People like Judas. They are involved. They actively come, give, and participate yet their heart is not in the right place. They are also fulfilling their own needs. It may be the need to be respected and though well of. They may be trying to prove something to themselves or someone else. In the words of Francis Chan, these do not produce fruit. Instead, they tie on fake plastic replicas that do not fulfill the full purpose of fruit.

As I looked at these I had another question.

What prevents some branches from being fruit-bearing?

There are a lot of reasons, but I found three that I found interesting. I looked up this question on a horticultural site and found three major reasons why branches may not produce fruit and I found them illuminating to the topic we are discussing.

1. Excessive tree vigor

Excessive tree vigor happens when all the trees energy is expended on growing the wood and there is none left over to produce the flower bud.

In Matthew 13 we find the parable of the sower. It tells us that the seed representing the word of God, sometimes fell on rocky soil. The seed sprouted quickly because it was on shallow soil but it also withered quickly. There are many who respond quickly and with great excitement over the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are often people who are excited for the great things Jesus can do for them, but they are not willing to do the tough things for Christ. When things get tough, they quit.

These can also be people who get excited and throw themselves quickly into the work of the church but never get grounded spiritually through prayer and study of God’s word. They can be so busy about the work for God that they really do not have time for God. Here again, like those above. They are focused on the wrong thing and all their energy goes into the wrong thing.

Another reason for the lack of fruit bearing is...

2. Frost damage

Frost damage can prevent a branch from flowering and therefore prevent bearing fruit.

We live in a culture where many have quit going to church but profess that they believe in Jesus Christ. However, to have relationship with Christ, we need to be obedient. Jesus tells us we are to love Him and therefore love each other (fellow believers). His word in Hebrews tells us we should not give up meeting together. It is really hard to love and do acts of love to members of your family if you never gather with them. Look with me at such scriptures.

John 13:34 NIV

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 15:12 NIV

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

I have read that there are 26 such verses in God’s word regarding our loving each other as believers. And then we find in Hebrews 10.

Hebrews 10:24–25 NIV

24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

So why do so many people quit going to church? Frost damage. They have been hurt or disappointed with someone or something at church. The truth is that people are not perfect. Our focus is not to be on others or on church politics/policies. Our focus is to be on God. When our focus is on God and we are grounded in His word and connected to Him in prayer, we do not allow people or things to discourage us from obeying God’s word. We gather and participate as part of the church of Jesus Christ.

There was on more reason this article mentioned that prevented branches from bearing fruit and it is the answer to both of the above.

3. Lack of pollination

When a branch is not being pollinated, it cannot get what it needs to bear fruit.

It is the same with Christians. We are pollinated through prayer and God’s word.

Philippians 4:6 NIV

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Colossians 4:2 NIV

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 NIV

17 pray continually,

Psalm 119:105 NIV

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Matthew 4:4 NIV

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NIV

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

What is the Gardeners response to non-fruit bearing branches?

John 15:6 NIV

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.

They are cut off and thrown in the slash pile where they are later burned. I read in one place that vineyard branches are not even helpful to burn. They burn fast and do not give off any heat. So they achieve nothing even as fuel.

The scriptures are clear regarding those who are cut off from the Son as they are also eternally cut off from the Father.

Why are non-fruit bearing branches cut off?

They are not serving their purpose and they hinder the health of the whole vine.

It is important to remember, short of the grave, there is still hope for a person described above. All one need do is call upon the name of the Son, confess their sin and repent. When we repent, we turn from the wrong way we have been living. We seek our nourishment through prayer, God’s word, and the community of the church and God will graft such a branch back in and it will start to produce fruit.

2 Peter 3:9 NIV

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Now look with me at the...

Fruit bearing branch

Who are the fruit bearing branches?

John 15:4–5 NIV

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.

Those who remain in Jesus Christ.

What does it mean to remain in Christ?

The word interpreted “remain” here is “meno”. It means communing, abiding, “friends at court, or friends of the king.”

Jesus called His disciples “friends”. Look at John 15:15.

John 15:15 NIV

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.

It is deeper than an acquaintance. It is being united such as in marriage. However, a marriage is a union, but that does not necessarily mean communion. Two people can be married and still be doing their own things. In a communion, you are joined together. You are actively working together with a unity of love and purpose.

How do we remain in Christ?

The first step is..

1. By being saved

Last week I shared this is as easy as A, B, C.

A – Admit you are a sinner and need God.

B – Believe that Jesus is God’s Son and died for your sin.

C – Confess Jesus is Lord and thank Him for dying on the cross for you.

However, it does not end here. This is just a beginning point. If you end it here, you will become a non-fruit bearing branch.

2. Persevere

Romans 12:12 NIV

12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Colossians 1:11–12 NIV

11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

Jesus made it very clear that it would not be an easy task to follow Him. He said we were to count the cost before accepting the call to follow Him. Once we accept the call, we are to persevere to the end.

2 Timothy 4:6–8 NIV

6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

3. Through loving obedience

John 14:15 NIV

15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

John 14:23 NIV

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

4. Love God

I probably should have listed this first, but I think this often comes more with time. Our first response to God is one of incredible gratitude for all He has done for us in providing His Son for our salvation. But as we grow in our understanding and faith, our love for God grows. If love for God is at the heart of our soul, all the other right things will follow. The Old Testament tells us this and Jesus confirmed it.

Deuteronomy 6:5 NIV

5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Matthew 22:37 NIV

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

When we do all these things, Jesus gives us life that produces fruit. It is important to remember, the fruit comes from the life of the vine, not the branch. So let us look at...

What is the fruit that is produced?

1. Others saved (Rom 1:13)

2. Spiritual growth (Rom 6:22)

3. Fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-24)

4. Generous giving (Rom 15:25-28)

5. Good works (Matt 5:13-16; Col 1:10)

6. Praise and worship to God (Heb 13:15)

How does the Gardener (God) respond?

1. He prunes the branch

John 15:2 NIV

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.

Pruning sometimes feels harsh, but it is actually an action done to allow the branch to produce fruit. Look at 1 Peter.

1 Peter 1:3–9 NIV

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We may be healthy, but we are not perfect. There are things in us that need pruned away to allow us to live to our full purpose and our full joy.

2. He empowers the branch

John 15:7–8 NIV

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.

John 20:21–23 NIV

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

These scriptures and others like them get falsely interpreted a lot. It is important we take them in context and follow the true meaning of them. Yes, God answers our prayers without reservation. Why? Because we are asking in His will. This is not talking about God answering some arbitrary request we may make (God, please provide me the lottery winning ticket). When we are not abiding in Christ we have a lot of selfish requests. This is talking about those who are grounded in a relationship with God and are seeking God’s will. In such cases, we are asking things in God’s will and can depend on Him to deliver. Our focus and requests are based on His will not ours.

Conclusion:

Now if you were really paying attention here, you may have one other question.

The vine and vineyard were relational to God and the nation of Israel.

Where do the Gentiles come in to all of this?

After all, we are the Gentiles. I am glad you asked that I and want to answer using a similar horticultural image.

The scriptures also use an olive tree to represent Israel and a second olive tree to represent the Gentiles and God uses some similar language in their regard.

In Jeremiah 11:16-17, God refers to the nation of Israel as a thriving (cultivated) olive tree whose branches will be broken.

Jeremiah 11:16–17 NIV

16 The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken. 17 The Lord Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the people of both Israel and Judah have done evil and aroused my anger by burning incense to Baal.

In Romans 11:11-24 Paul refers to the Gentiles as those belonging to a wild olive tree. He is rebuking them here for thinking they are better than the Jewish believers. He refers to them as branches that are grafted into the cultivated tree.

In Zechariah 4 Zechariah shares a vision he had and a discussion with an angel. In this chapter we find an important purpose of these olive trees.

Zechariah 4:2–3 NIV

2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

Zechariah 4:11–14 NIV

11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?” 13 He replied, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I said. 14 So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”

In this passage we find that there are two olive branches and they are anointed to serve God. In these images, God talks about cutting away branches and grafting in branches, much as we saw with the branches of the vine.

However, there is another very important thing I want you to see.

We are living in a very strange time. There is building tension in our world as natural disasters get bigger and more wide spread. Pandemics become more common and wide spread every year with a record breaking one in our midst. There was a recent earthquake in Idaho which is not at all common. There have been devastating floods and tornadoes of late. It seems everyone I talk to keep asking the same thing.

Are we in the beginning of the tribulation? Are we coming to an end of all things as we have always known them?

I want to take a moment to address this at this time, because if we are in the beginning, than this passage I have just preached on is critical. Scripture tells us, know one knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return, not even Jesus knows. Only the Father knows when that will be.

Mark 13:32 NIV

32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

So to the question, is the tribulation upon us? That I cannot answer. I truly do not know. However, I will tell you this. If you remain in Christ and are bearing the fruit of that life, it does not matter. You are ready! You are living life as you should.

Be ready! (Matt 24:42-43; 25:1-13; Mk 13:33-37; Lk 12:35-38; 21:36; Rom 13:11).

Paul said it best in I Cor 16:13-14.

1 Corinthians 16:13–14 NIV

13 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 14 Do everything in love.

I will close with two final thoughts. First, in regards to the end times, there has been much debate over Rev 11:3.

Revelation 11:3 NIV

3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

There has been much debate of who these two witnesses will be. The movies usually depict them as Moses and Elijah. However, I have heard another interpretation that I find makes a lot more sense. Look at verse 3 again and add verse 4.

Revelation 11:3–4 NIV

3 And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 They are “the two olive trees” and the two lampstands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.”

Could it be the two olive trees are the Jewish and Gentile believers based on the scriptures we have just looked at? It compares them with the two lampstands. We find in Rev 1:20 that lampstands represent churches. Does this mean the two lampstands are Judaism and Christianity? If so and the last days are coming, we may be the witnesses appointed by God. Remember again, the scripture in Zechariah 4 where we found that the cultivated olive and the wild olive branches were anointed to serve God.

It is an interesting theory and if you wish to explore it more fully, check out “The Two Witnesses movie” on the AoC network on YouTube.

I will close with this final thought. There are two pruning seasons; an early pruning season and a late pruning season. It seems to me, it is better to be pruned early and given time to be grafted back in than for the late pruning season in which the slash pile is set ablaze. For then it is too late.

In this week ahead, I would challenge you while you are home and with this slower pace, to search your heart. Talk to your Gardener and ask Him, what pruning or grafting does your branch need?

Pray