sf232 - Whats New As A Christian (John 15 1-11)
Introduction
One of the keywords of the Bible and of the Christian life is the word “new.” The Bible speaks of a new heart, a new spirit, a new creature, a new covenant, a new birth, a new man, a new life, a new Jerusalem, and many other wonderful new things.
In the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, in one of the last messages Jesus delivered to His disciples before His death on the Cross, He supplies an answer to the unstated question, “What’s new for a Christian?”
What do I, as a Christian, have that I did not have before I became a Christian?
In this passage, Jesus uses an illustration from nature. In this illustration, He tells us that the Christian life is a matter of relationship, not rules or regulations or religious ritual. It involves simply a personal relationship between two persons, Jesus and the individual Christian.
The illustration He uses is that of a vine and its branches. He declares that He is the Vine, and that the Christian is a branch in the Vine. The same kind of close attachment should prevail between Christ and the Christian that prevails between a vine and its branches.
Thus, just as a vine and its branches have an inner relationship in which the inner sap of the vine flows through the branch and gives it life; the Christian should have a life-receiving relationship with Jesus Christ, and this relationship should be regarded as an absolute essential in his life.
In these verses, Jesus tells us what’s new for a Christian. He suggests some four new things that a Christian has simply because he is a Christian.
1A. A New Position – In Christ
1B. Amazing concept
Six times in the first seven verses of John fifteen, Jesus used the phrase, “in Me,” to describe the new position of the Christian
In Paul’s letters alone, the phrase “in Christ” is used 164 times to define the Christian’s new position.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2B. Alarming contrast (1 Corinthians 15:22)
Note the two prepositional phrases, “in Adam” and “in Christ.” Every person on earth is seen by God in one of two possible positions.
Ø To be “in Adam” means that you fell into sin when Adam fell into sin, you became lost when Adam became lost, and came under the judgment of God when Adam came under the judgment of God — a matter of position.
Ø So the most important thing about you is your position.
Mark Twain’s short story about the Missouri slave
Can you imagine that former slave’s feelings and confusion when he was told that he was now free for the first time in his life?
It is the same way with a Christian. He has spent his entire life in Adam. Then, one day, he is transplanted out of Adam into Christ. He must then spend the rest of his life discovering the meaning, the resources, and the responsibilities of his new position.
He is now surrounded by Christ, separated unto Christ, sheltered in Christ, and supplied by Christ.
2A. A New Possession – Christ in Us
1B. A Biblical certainty (15:4, 5)
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God…
Colossians 1:27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…
2B. A baffling combination - I am “in Christ” and Christ is in me!
Take a cold bar of iron and put it in a hot fire. The iron is in the fire, and in a few minutes the fire is in the iron. In fact, if you were to touch the bar of iron after it had been in the fire for some time, you wouldn’t quietly say, “That’s a bar of iron.” You would exclaim, “That’s hot!” and you would adjust quickly to that fact.
Even so, when a lost sinner is around a spiritual Christian, he should receive immediate impressions and reminders of the Person dwelling within him, the Lord Jesus Christ. There is nothing forced about this impression, and it may take the observer some time to be aware of it.
3B. A blessed communion
The real secret of the Christian life is that Somebody Else is living in the Christian, desiring to reproduce His life in terms of the personality of the individual in whom he dwells
Because of this fact, I have the very mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16). I am a living “vessel” (I Timothy 2:21, II Corinthians 4:7) intended to contain His Presence. Why? For what purpose did Jesus come into me? He did not come in to replace me, in which case I would lose my identity. He came in to regenerate me, to renew me, and to release His personality through me.
3A. A New Product – Fruit
Six times in the first eight verses of John fifteen, Jesus used the word “fruit.” This is to be the new product of the Christian’s life. He is to bear fruit, or as Paul described it in Romans 7:4, “fruit unto God.”
1B. Four levels of fruit bearing
No fruit; some fruit; more fruit (15:2); much fruit (15:5, 8)
2B. Fruit is the result of an overflowing life (John 10:10)
2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;
Fruit is the natural product of a healthy vine
Fruit has the flavor of the vine that bears it
3B. Five categories of fruit in the New Testament
Character fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)
Ø Here, the character of Christ is revealed in a believer’s life in some nine characteristics.
Convert fruit (John 15:16)
Ø One does not need to “go” to bear the fruit of Christian character, but one must “go” to win other people to Christ.
Conduct fruit (Colossians 1:10; Philippians 1:11)
Ø Thus, our lives will be morally like His, and ministerially like His.
Contribution fruit (Philippians 4:13-19; Romans 15:25-28)
Confessional fruit
“The fruit of your lips giving thanks and praise to His Name” (Hebrews 13:15)
4A. A New Purpose – Abide
This word is used nine times in the first eleven verses of John fifteen, and it expresses the total responsibility of the Christian life.
1B. One command
There is just one command for me to obey in this entire text.
My total responsibility as a Christian is to “abide” in Jesus Christ.
This simply means that I am to keep the point of contact between me and Jesus Christ intact at all times.
To abide in Christ is to deliberately set aside my own merit, my own wisdom, my own strength, my own resources, in order to draw all from Him.
2B. One conclusion
I must use every possible means to keep the channel open between me and Jesus Christ.
Sewing machine illustration
How do we stay “plugged” in?
Abiding in Christ is done by such things as prayerfully reading and studying the Bible, having a daily “quiet time” for communion and consultation with God, and attending church services for spiritual worship and spiritual fellowship with other Christians.
These things sometimes look rather “indifferent,” rather colorless, but pull this plug, and the Christian life stops. Keep this plug intact in its contact, and the Christian knows the blessed and joyful results — and the world will see some of the fruit.
1 John 2:28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
1A. A New _____________________________– In Christ
1B. Amazing ________________________
Six times in the first seven verses of John fifteen, Jesus used the phrase, “in Me,” to describe the new position of the Christian
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2B. Alarming _______________ (1 Corinthians 15:22)
Note the two prepositional phrases, “in Adam” and “in Christ.” Every person on earth is seen by God in one of two possible positions.
Ø To be “in Adam” means that you fell into sin when Adam fell into sin, you became lost when Adam became lost, and came under the judgment of God when Adam came under the judgment of God — a matter of position.
2A. A New __________________________ – Christ in Us
1B. A Biblical __________________________ (15:4, 5)
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God…
Colossians 1:27 to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…
2B. A baffling combination - I am “in Christ” and Christ is in me!
3B. A blessed _______________________________
3A. A New ________________________________ – Fruit
1B. _______________________ levels of fruit bearing
No fruit; some fruit; more fruit (15:2); much fruit (15:5, 8)
2B. Fruit is the result of an ______________________ life (John 10:10; 2 Corinthians 9:8)
Fruit is the natural product of a healthy vine
Fruit has the flavor of the vine that bears it
3B. ___________________ categories of fruit in the New Testament
________________________ fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)
Convert fruit (John 15:16)
___________ fruit (Colossians 1:10; Philippians 1:11)
Contribution fruit (Philippians 4:13-19; Romans 15:25-28)
_______________________________ fruit
4A. A New ________________________________ – Abide
This word is used nine times in the first eleven verses of John fifteen, and it expresses the total responsibility of the Christian life.
1B. ____________________________ command
To abide in Christ is to deliberately set aside my own merit, my own wisdom, my own strength, my own resources, in order to draw all from Him.
2B. ____________________________ conclusion
I must use every possible means to keep the channel open between me and Jesus Christ. (1 John 2:28)
Abiding in Christ is done by such things as prayerfully reading and studying the Bible, having a daily “quiet time” for communion and consultation with God, and attending church services for spiritual worship and spiritual fellowship with other Christians.
