Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We are back into our study of the final “I AM” saying of the Lord Jesus Christ as recorded in John’s Gospel.

Our text is John 15:1-6

We spent a lot of time last week considering verse 1.

As we did, we emphasized Christ’s statement that He is the “True Vine.”

The word “true” means more than just opposite of false.

On a deeper level, this word means Christ is the perfect, essential, and enduring reality of which everything else is nothing but reflection of Him.

He is the very essence of truth.

We also spent some time considering that word “vine.”

He is the true Vine.

Christ’s use of this word gave the exact representation of Christ and His people bringing fruit to God.

Where man has failed in bringing fruit to God, Christ succeeded as the “true vine.”

Thus, if anyone desire to bear fruit pleasing unto God, they must go through Jesus Christ.

They must be engrafted into the “true vine.”

I believe we then finished with the statement “my Father is the husbandman.”

If not, then let me pick up there.

The Husbandman

Again, going back to the Old Testament, it often represents God the Father as the Proprietor of the vine.

Here, Christ calls Him the Husbandman.

In other words, He is the Cultivator, the One Who cares for the Vine.

A description that speaks of God’s love for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His people.

God lovingly watched His Son as He [Philippians 2:7] “...But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” Then, God the Father watched over Him as He grew [Isaiah 53:2] “...up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground...”

You might recall how God prevented Joseph from putting away Mary as his wife.

Soon after Christ’s birth, God the Father bade Joseph to flee into Egypt as Herod sought to destroy Christ.

Are these not proofs of the Husbandman caring for the True Vine!

There are three principal thoughts suggested when considering God the Father as the Husbandman.

His protecting care.

God watches over the Vine as well as each branch growing from the Vine.

This means that His eye and His hands see and tend to the weakest and tenderest shoots.

His watchfulness.

There is nothing that can escape the eyes of God.

He knows just when each branch of the Vine needs watering, training, and pruning.

He is constantly watching after the Vine and its branches.

His faithfulness.

God the Father ensures that each branch is not wasteful.

He ensures it even if it means using a pruning knife to cut away dead or diseased parts.

If a branch trends towards fruitlessness, He tends to it.

It is bearing fruit, He purges it so that it brings forth even more fruit.

The point is this.

God the Father is actively involved in our lives.

He does not allot to anyone else the all important task of caring for His Vine and Its branches.

We are assured His wonderful, tender, and faithful care.

Now look with me at verse 2.

The Fruitless Branch

Remember that Christ is speaking to the eleven disciples.

He specifically called these men to follow Him and they did.

They forsook everything to be His disciples.

Thus, it behooves us to remember that Christ is speaking only to His followers.

There are no unbelievers in this group.

We see Judas’ departure in chapter 13.

Christ addresses them in verse 15 as:

We can conclude then that every true believer following Christ is a “branch.”

Now look back at verse 2 again.

Note that Christ again references believers as branches by noting that “every branch in me.”

This is important for this one simple reason.

It is possible to be part of the vine and still be fruitless.

That is not question.

The question before us focuses on the fact that any branch not bearing fruit he “taketh away.”

There are some things we must pay close attention to here.

Fruitless Branches are Still Branches

First, the indication is this.

This branch is not a branch which never bore fruit.

No, this is a branch that once bore fruit and is no longer “bearing fruit.”

There are three things which cause branches to be fruitless.

They are running to leaf (not producing fruit because of too much nitrogen in the soil), blight (disease), and old age.

Now consider these things along with 2 Peter 1:8 where we read.

Note what thing must be in you for you to “abound” or be fruitful.

They are faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, and godliness.

Does this list seem familiar?

It is very similar to the list describing the fruit of the spirit.

Therefore, a believer who does not have these attributes in their life will become “barren or unfruitful.”

A believer who simply “running to leaf” when they allow the “nitrogen” of the world and the flesh to contaminate their spiritual life.

It is very grave matter when a believer who is saved by such wondrous grace and at a great personal cost to the Lord Himself becomes barren and unprofitable failing to glorify God with their life.

Now note a second thing.

The Husbandman LIFTS UP the Fruitless Branch

Who is the One Who “taketh away?”

Is it not the Husbandman, the Father?

This is further proof that the branch must be a believer and not an unregenerate sinner.

Remember it Christ that will say, “Depart from me” according to Matthew 25.

Christ will sit upon the Great White Throne to judge the wicked according to Revelation 20.

Thus, the use of the words “taketh away” cannot mean they will be judged and cast into hell as so many would interpret.

Instead, we must go to the Greek meaning of this phrase.

It literally means to lift up or to pick up.

Let me give you a few examples of its use in other verses.

Each of the phrases “lifted up” is the same Greek word as “taketh away.”

Thus, we could literally read this in John 15:2

John 15:2 (KJV 1900)

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he (lifteth up) taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Here is the point!

God cares for His own even those who are fruitless.

As the Husbandman, He lovingly works at making them fruitful by lifting them up.

He works at helping them see their faults.

Many times, He uses difficult trials and circumstances as a means to lift them up.

Always His goal is to make the fruitful once again.

The picture of a the husbandman spending time to lift up the branches off of the ground is a wonderful picture of how much God cares for us.

He lovingly takes the time each day to help us be fruitful for Him.

The Husbandman offers DAILY CLEANSING the Branches

Now for us to fully understand all that Christ is saying we must look to the rest of the verse.

What does he say?

“Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring more fruit.”