Life In the Vine
John 15:1-5
My brothers and sisters, there’s more to being a Christian than walking down the isle and being baptized. There is more to being a Christian than wearing a three piece suit; wearing a large hat, or yelling and screaming during the worship service. I don’t know if anybody told you, but being a Christian means you must walk right; you must talk right, and yes, you must live right, and you must know God for yourself. But the problem in our churches today is there are so many people who want to tell everybody else how to walk the straight and narrow. They want to tell you how to do what you do, how to live and walk holy, but if you take a close look at the one doing all of the talking the only thing holy about them is there T-shirt or stockings. We have enough work to do trying to keep ourselves straight! I don’t see how some people find the time or the nerve to get into other peoples business, when the bible says in Matthew 7:3-5, “And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
I submit to you today my brothers and sisters, if you want to live the live God has called you to; if you want to be pleasing in God’s sight, stop listening to folk who are just as messed up and some are even worst than you are and get connected to the vine (Jesus Christ) yourself!
Here in our text of John 15 we find Jesus tell a parable to his disciples. Well reverend, what is a parable? I’m glad you asked! You know how when you feed a baby table food, you have to mash it up before you give it to them, so they will be able to digest it! Well, a parable is Jesus’ way of mashing up the things that God wants us to digest and understand. This is the reason Jesus stopped to explain to his disciples the benefit of being connected, as well as, the consequences of not being connected. So, Jesus beings our text in verse 2 and again in verse by showing us first, those branches who are not connected. My brothers and sisters, there are so many people sitting here in worship today who look like branches because they dress like branches; carry a bible like branches; they hand around other branches and hang around the church. But upon closer inspection you will find they are dried up and dead. These are the folk who have Jesus on their lips, but don’t have the sap (the word of God) flowing on the inside. These people are not connected to Jesus through confession and trust, they are just tied to Jesus by an outward profession and habit (or tradition). Everything these people do is dead, and everything they become part of starts dying. It’s these dead and dry branches that have to fake the joy that others naturally experience. Is there anybody here who can say I don’t have to fake, because this joy I have the world didn’t give it and the world can’t take it away. Yet, because these branches are not connected and are of no use to God in fruit bearing John 15:6 and Matthew Henry says, the only thing they are good for is fuel to the fire. Ask your neighbor are you a bearer or a burner?
My brothers and sisters, if you plan on bearing and producing fruit, you must be connected to Jesus! You must understand that you will not instantaneously begin to bear fruit once you are saved. Fruit bearing is part of a growing process. The only way to grow and produce verse four says, is to Abide in Christ. The word “Abide” in the Greek means to remain, continue, live: Simply put stay where God has put you. Colossians 2:6,7 says, “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
Well, reverend, “How do I abide in Christ?” A branch abides in the vine by drawing all its life and nourishment from the vine. Acts 17:28 says, “for in Him we live and move and have our being.”
You abide in Christ by:
1. Keeping God’s word and continually in your heart and mind and making it the guide for your actions.
A. Psalm 119:105
B. 2 Timothy 2:15
2. Maintaining the habit of constant intimate communion with Christ through prayer.
A. Matthew 21:22
B. Colossians 4:2
C. 1 Timothy 4:5
Finally, because God the vine dresser loves you so much, he is going to prune you. He is going to cut back the dead weight in you life and verse three says he will do it with the word! Is there anybody here who is thankful for the word? When Satan said we were bound for hell because of sin and our past, God’s word said in Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” When people try to tell you, you can’t change God’s word said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” I submit to you today my brothers and sisters, God word will make a difference in your life!
God’s word will help you walk right:
Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
God’s word will give you:
Boldness:
You will be able to say, “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and love, and of a sound mind.”
God’s word will give you:
Fortitude:
You will be able to say, “Count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.”
God’s word will give you:
A Firm Faith:
You will be able to say, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.