Abide in Christ
Notes
Transcript
Abide In Christ: Vine & Vinedresser
Abide In Christ: Vine & Vinedresser
Reminder of how we got here: Gospel of John in 2 minutes
Jesus comes out right away is declared to be the word, declared to be here from the beginning, creator of everything, the true light, sent from God to dwell among us.
Jesus calls his disciples, the wedding at Cana where he turns water into wine. He cleanses the temple. Declares you must be born again. The great love of God who sent his son for us (John 3). Chapter 4 is the women at the well, Jesus begins to heal people in 4 & 5. Jesus declares himself to be equal with God and have all authority. He feeds 5,000, walks on water, declares to be the bread of life, gives the hope of eternal life. The officers try to arrest him and he lets them know its not time yet, he declares he is the light, the freedom that comes with the truth, freedom from our father the devil, declares himself to be eternal (before Abraham).
Chapter 10 he declares to be the good shepherd, reaffirms his equality with the Father, chapter 11 Lazarus dies—Jesus declares he is the resurrection and the life, he weeps over Lazarus and then raises him. The Jews begin to plot to kill Jesus. Mary annoints Jesus feet with the perfume in chapter 12. The Jews consider killing Lazarus to prove Jesus didn’t bring him from the dead, at the same time Jesus has his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus begins to give his final instructions to his disciples, at this point its the week of his death. Jesus continually is reminding them why he came. He washes the disciples feet, he tells them one will betray them. Judas leaves the room. His gives them a commandment to love another just as I have loved you. By this we know you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Jesus tells Peter he will deny him three times. He proclaims himself to be the only way, the only truth, the only life, he promises them a helper, the holy spirit and here we are in chapter 15.
Divide into groups of 3-4. Who are the main characters in this story?
What are the two types of branches?
What are the main words or phrases in this passage?
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Jesus begins with 7th and final “I am” statements. Statements he made often in the context or backdrop of an event or anology to something the Jews would have been familiar with.
In chapter 6 Jesus refers to the Israelites and the manna from heaven that provided temporal relief but he declared “I am the bread of life”
In chapter 8 he declared “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In chapter 10, “I am the door (or gate), if anyone enters by me, he will be saved.”
A couple verses later, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”
In chapter 11, shortly after Lazarus dies, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”
And finally in chapter 14, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
Many people speculate who Jesus was—a prophet, Elijah, Abraham, the messiah, but Jesus proclaimed through 7 statements who he was.
And so John records the 7th “I am”, Jesus boldly proclaims “I am the true vine.”
So if Jesus is the true vine, there must be a false vine?
The Israelites were considered the vine. Isaiah 5 tells us Israel was a vineyard for the Lord, and yet they only bore wild grapes, or bad grapes useless.
Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?
Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
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.
Israel thought it was the true vine it didn’t bear any good fruit. Is Jewish people had vines on their money. The gates of the temple were decorated with vines that had leaves of gold and grapes of fine jewels. This was their national symbol, the right to the kingdom—they were the true vine!
Jesus with his 7th and final blow hits the right in the gut. He was the true vine; all the branches come from him.
Our first character is the vine which is Jesus.
The second character is the vinedresser, which is who? God the father.
Finally we see the branches, which is who? Us
What are the key phrases in this passage? Bear fruit, don’t bear fruit, abide
There are two kinds of branches, what are they? Those that bear fruit and those that don’t bear fruit
Lets look at the term abide—it means to remain in, to stay. 10 times in this passage it is used. It is used in John 8:31-33
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Its this idea of being one with Christ, being fixed, remaining in Christ. This was evidence of salvation.
In verse 4 “you cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
Those that do not abide in Christ (v 6) are not of Christ.
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.
And so we have this image of being one with Christ, literally the vine and branches are attached and the vine gives life and nutrients to the branches. Without it they die. The sap of vine literally seaps into the branches.
There are two types of branches with two different reactions
John 15:2a (ESV)
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away,
First the branches that do not bear fruit; what happens to them? Where do the branches go?
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.
Those that do not abide in Christ, the branches are taken away and burned. This is the first action we see from the vinedresser in verse 2. He comes in, gathers all the useless branches and removes them. Like a farmer or a gardener coming in, removing all the useless limps and destroying them to make room for more fruit.
What about the other branches. What is the other type of branches? Those that bear fruit.
John 15:2b (ESV)
every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
The vinedresser does something to the branches that bears fruit too, doesn’t he? What is it? He prunes them
How do you prune something? A sharp knife, a blade that cuts through the vegetation and removes the parts that hinder the growth. Sometimes this includes things that look healthy and helpful, but by removing them the fruit can actually grow more and flourish.
Pruning always hurts, but it is so necessary. We see this in scripture
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.
It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
Sometimes the pain of pruning is because we are in sin and that is being removed. Other times it may be simply God wants us to flourish even more and so he is making that happen. This is also something we cannot do on its own. The branches are unable to rid itself from the bad parts. They need someone to come in and do it for them. Even if they wanted to get rid of it they are unable to.
If you have ever read the Chronicles of Narnia you may be aware of a character named Eustace Scrub in one of the books. I have not read this particular book but I just live the imagery here of this process. He is a selfish, immature boy who thinks only of himself. He ends up in a dragons cave and discovers he has turned into a dragon. He tries desperately to remove the scales to no avail. Finally, the Lion, the Christ-like figure comes. Here is what happens next in Eustaces words:
“This is what the Lion said, but i don’t know if he spoke, “You will have to let me undress you.” I was afraid of his claws I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate, so I just lay flat on my back and let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right to my heart and when he began pulling the skin off it hurt worse than anything I had ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off.”
This is how pruning works. We cannot do it on our own, and even if we could, we wouldn’t take off when is really necessary.
The vinedresser cuts away to allow the fruit to grow so much more.
And so by abiding in Christ and this pruning process we see fruit right?
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.
See to bear fruit we have to remain in Christ. We can do things: sin in the choir, give an offering, answer questions, serve at the church, go Christmas caroling, but apart from him those things are not pleasing to God. They are empty and useless and do nothing to further the gospel. But those that remain in Christ, who are connect and are one with the vine—there is fruit, spiritual inward fruit.
What else happens if we abide in his love? Something besides fruit (v 7)
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
This is speaking about our prayer life, specifically things we pray for that will be fulfilled. Now what are some things that you shouldn’t pray for and expect to be done for you?
Anything contrary to scripture or God’s will. He says if my words abide in you, if you are thinking through a biblical lens and not contrary to his word, then those things will be done for you. However we pray for direction, we pray for mercy, we pray for forgiveness, we pray for open doors.
As we move on we see both the reason why we do this and an example of how its done.
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 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.
By doing these things, abiding in me, bearing fruit to prove to be my disciples, the Father is glorified. That is our goal, to bring glory to His great name.
Bearing fruit, or works, is not what saves us, but it is evidence we are saved. Remember Jesus is speaking to the disciples who don’t know yet what Judas has done—he was with them, he was close to the vine, even looked like a branch, but had no fruit and so was not a disciple.
The Father has this great love for the Son, who has that great love for us—perfect, constant, sacrificial love. We’ll see next time—what greater love than this than someone who lays down his life for his friends.
Jesus gives us one more directive: keep my commandments. Want to prove your my disciple, want to have beautiful fruit: keep my commandments. And the example of this is Christ, who kept his fathers commandments. He was obedient to death, event death on a cross.
Finally in verse 11, why do we do these things?
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
That you may receive the joy of Jesus Christ, and that our joy may be full. Want true satisfaction, true “happiness”, do these things.
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
The point for all of this is to be filled with joy. The trials, the pruning, the pain—its not meaningless. He is preparing us for true and complete joy.
