Life in the Vineyard: God's Soverign Care-Filled Cutting

Spiritual Viticulture

Viticulture is the practice of caring for vines. Vines have small branches that bear fruit, such as a grapevine. For vines to be productive, they must be pruned back each year. It is a type of cleansing that allows light and nutrients to be the most effective. The vine also will produce certain shoots called “sucker shoots.” These shoots grow where a branch is connected to the vine. If these branches will grow bearing leaves with no fruit. If these sucker shoots are not cut off, they will suck the life out of the vine causing the vine to bear little to no fruit. A good vinedresser will cleanse the vine by cutting into the fruit-bearing branches to prune them and will cut off the sucker shoots to remove them so that the vine will bear abundant life and fruit. In some ways, this is what Jesus is describing in John 15:1-16. A sort of spiritual viticulture where Jesus is the vine and God the Father is the Vine Dresser.

Just as a gardner plants and cultivates the vine, so God has sent Jesus and cares for Him and those united to him, by cutting into those who bear fruit and cutting off those who do not bear fruit.

Jesus is the true vine of Israel. Those who are connected to the Vine are the elect that God sovereignly brings to the Vine. God is the author and finisher of your salvation. He is the one who graphs you into the Vine by choosing you, changing your heart of stone into a heart of flesh (regeneration), and drawing you to the Son. By faith you accept the Son’s free gift of salvation, his atoning death and resurrection life. You trust in Him to save you from God’s wrath. Through Christ you have been justified, that is made righteous, and have been sealed with his Spirit for eternal life and have been empowered by His Spirit to bear His God-glorifying fruit. That is the aim of every branch connected to the Vine. Jesus says,

John 15:8 ESV

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Why do I say “Spirit-empowered?”

Jesus makes it clear that you cannot bear fruit apart from him.

John 15:4 ESV

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

John 15:5 (ESV)

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.

In chapter’s 15-16, Jesus goes on to tell His disciples that he must leave so that the Holy Spirit can come and help them.

John 15:26 (ESV)

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

John 16:7 (ESV)

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

John 16:13–14 (ESV)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

In the context of John, this is a promise for his disciples, but it is one that extends to every believer as we have already seen in our study of Acts. Jesus promised his Spirit would empower them to testify in Acts 1:8 and in Acts 2, the promised is fulfilled.

At conversion, you were baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the one who enables you to progress in holiness, that is your sanctification. You walk according to the Spirit (Romans 8:4) by putting the deeds of the body to death by the power of the Spirit (Romans 8:13). It is the Holy Spirit who produces sanctification in you. That is what Paul means when he makes a distinction between the fruit of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the flesh are the works of the flesh that derive from the flesh:

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The fruits of the Spirit are the works of the Spirit derived from the power of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

It is Christ’ Spirit that enables you to bear God-glorifying fruit, and it is only Christ Spirit that empowers you to bear fruit. For apart from Jesus you can do nothing, and so it is for the church. As a church we must understand that it is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to joyfully advance His kingdom by making much of Jesus, for apart from Him we can do nothing. This morning, we need to ask a few questions that help us 1) understand the fruit so we can recognize, and God will, produce more of it 2) understand how God cultivates more fruit 3) understand the consequence of not bearing fruit. We will only answer one question this morning:

What is God-glorifying Spirit-empowered fruit?

Jesus uses some form of the phrase “bear fruit” eight times in seventeens verses. He insists that any branch that is in the vine, that is, any professing christian who is united to Jesus, must bear fruit. For,

John 15:2 (ESV)

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away...

If you are not bearing God-glorifying Spirit-empowered fruit in your life something is wrong. So, it would be helpful for you and I to figure out what is the fruit Jesus is speaking of in verse 2.

I’m going to use three short phrases to sum up what I see as the God-glorifying Spirit-empowered fruit Jesus is speaking of throughout John 15.

The Fruit of Great Commitment to Christ (John 15:9-10)

Jesus says the mark of a true believer is one who abides in Him. To abide in Jesus is to remain in him. To remain in Jesus is to endure, to persevere until the very end.

Commitment to Persevere

When Jesus says “abide in me” he is saying remain in me, or persevere until the end. Branches that are connected to Christ Christians bear the God-glorifying Spirit empowered fruit of perseverance. Jesus says to his disciples,

Luke 9:62 ESV

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Furthermore, Jesus says

Matthew 10:22 ESV

and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Remain in Christ. Don’t lose heart. Hold fast to the faith. That is your part. Jesus will empower you to hold on. He promised that none will be lost John 6:36-44. If you are holding on to Christ know that Jesus is holding on to you. If you are not holding on to the faith, loving Jesus, living for Jesus, then you are not part of the Vine because you are not abiding in Him.

Do you know what was the most common sentence Christopher Columbus wrote in his log of the Santa Maria? “This day we sailed on.” Alexander the Great was asked how he had conquered the world. He replied, “By not wavering.” Athanasius, at the Council of Nicea, said, “If all of this world falls from the truth, I will stand!” The infamous missionary to India shortly before he death said to his wife,

“Eustace, if after my removal anyone should think it worthwhile to write my life, I will give you a criterion. If he gives me credit for being a plodder, he will describe me justly. Anything beyond this will be too much. I can plod.” William Carey

What do these four men have in common? They all understood a commitment to persevere! There is drive in the heart of every believer that comes from His Spirit to remain faithful to Jesus at all costs. That drive is manifested in a life of commitment to persevere, to remain, to abide in Jesus.

Commitment to Obedient Love

But the commitment to plod is not just one of duty. It is a commitment of love for Jesus and each other. Jesus says

John 15:9 ESV

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

Genuine God-glorifying Spirit-empowered Christians love Jesus. And they demonstrate their love for Jesus with a commitment to obey him.

John 15:10 ESV

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.

Furthermore,

Jesus also says

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Genuine love for Jesus always bears the fruit of obedience. It is a cycle of sorts. The more you love Jesus the more you obey Jesus. The more you obey Jesus the more you delight in Jesus which spurs you to more love and obedience. Moreover, the manifestation of your love and obedience is conformity to Jesus. The more you love and obey him and find joy in him, the more your life looks like Jesus, and that is the whole point and purpose of your life. Scottish theologian Henry Scougal makes the connection of what you love and how you conform to it when he says,

“The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love: he who loves mean and sordid things does thereby become base and vile. But a noble and well-placed affection does advance and improve the spirit unto a conformity with the perfections which it loves.” Henry Scougal

What Scougal is getting at is that we become what we love. We are conformed into the image of what we worship. If you love Jesus you will obey Jesus and you will conform to Jesus. Your life will bear the fruit of conformity to Jesus: his holiness, his joy, his love for his father, and his love for his disciples. Have you ever met someone who is deeply committed to loving Jesus? Their life is different. Their joy is radiant, even when they suffer. Their peace is secured even when life is uncertain. And their love is abounding and patient and genuine, even when they are sinned against.

Commitment to Love One Another

John 13:35 ESV

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The world knows you are true Christian, one who loves Jesus, by the way you love the church. By the way you love your brothers and sisters, reflects you love for Jesus. That is why it is so destructive to the kingdom of God when the church bites and devours each other. It sends the wrong message about God’s love for the world, and our love for Jesus. Disobedience to Christ and detestation toward your brothers and sisters send the same message to the world: Jesus is not worth loving. a Commitment to Jesus is a commitment to love his church, not matter how messy and complicated we are.

The Fruit of Great Communion with Christ (John 15:7,8,16)

Branches will bear the God glorifying Spirit empowered fruit of effective prayer that comes from abiding in his word. That is what I mean when i say communion, spending time with Jesus in his word and in prayer. Jesus makes a connection to abiding in His word and effective prayer that produces fruit.

John 15:7–8 ESV

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Jesus says to abide in his word and his word will abide in you. Jesus then says, “ask whatever you wish.” There is the connection to prayer. Have God’s word in you and pray. What are you to pray for? You are to pray to bear fruit that glorifies God like the fruit of commitment to Jesus: obedience to his commands (John 15:10), love for each other (John 15:12), and conversions (John 15:16,27). God answers prayers that ask for Jesus exalting obedience, love for one another, and for people unbelievers to get saved.

What is it about God’s word that makes prayer effective?

God’s word is living and active and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12). The word of God is true (Ps 33:4) and flawless (2 Samuel 22:31). It is infallible (1 Kings 8:56; 2 Kings 10:10). It is food for your soul (Dt 8:3) and light for your feet (Ps 119:105). It has the power to save (1 Peter 1:23.) It is the rock we build the house of our life upon (Matthew 7:24-27). Finally, it has the ability to bear good fruit.

Matthew 13:23 ESV

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Abiding in the word is to hide it in your heart, to feed on it, to treasure it, to be transformed by it. The word of God then infuses your prayers with truth and power making them effective to bear fruit.

John Piper defines prayer as the

“Prayer is the overflow of the fullness of the word of God abiding in us.” John Piper

The more the word of God abides in you, the fullness of that word will spill into your prayers. The more you pray word infused prayers from a heart that has spent time communing with God, the more effective your prayers will be for bearing fruit because you are praying the desires of God’s heart.

When I think of communing with God through his word and prayer, I can’t help but think of the likes George Mueller, the Great Robber of the Cruel Streets of Bristol. His prayer ministry saved over 3,000 orphans in Bristol, England. He built his entire ministry by meditating on God’s word and praying. let me show you the effectiveness of having the fullness of the word of God in your prayer life.

Donald Whitney, in his article, “What George Mueller Can Teach us About Prayer,” says,

“Mueller had over fifty thousand specific recorded answers to prayers in his journals, thirty thousand of which he said were answered the same day or the same hour that he prayed them. Think of it: that’s five hundred definite answers to prayer each year—more than one per day—every single day for sixty years! According to Whitney, God funneled over half a billion dollars (in today’s dollars) through his hands in answer to prayer.” Donald Whitney

Oddly enough, for a long time, Mueller struggled with prayer because he did not connect it to the word of God. But once he learned that prayer is the fullness of the word of God abiding in him, things changed. Listen to his struggle in his own words,

“The difference, then, between my former practice and my present one is this: formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer. . . . But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then really began to pray. I scarcely ever suffer now in this way.

“For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word. It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this point.” George Mueller

The fruit that Jesus is speaking of in John 15 is the product of the word of God abiding in you and that word flowing into effective prayer. The more you are in your Bible, meditating and pondering its life changing truth, the more you pray effective prayers for obedience to Jesus commands, experiencing Jesus’s joy, love for one another, and conversions.

The Fruit of the Great Commission For Christ (John 15:16)

Branches connected to the Vine bear the God glorifying Spirit empowered fruit of a great commitment to Jesus that expresses itself in love driven obedience and love for one another. It also bears the fruit of great communion with the Father by abiding in his word that flows into effective praying which sustains the fruit. Finally, the branches connected to the Vine bear the God glorifying Spirit empowered fruit of the great commission.

John 15:16 ESV

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

The word “appointed,” as D.A. Carson notes, is a verb that commonly occurs, with a personal object, in the contexts where people are being “set apart” for particular ministry. For example, Paul says to timothy,

1 Timothy 1:12 (ESV)

I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,

Paul was set apart for service for Jesus; specifically to be a light to the Gentiles (Acts 13:47). The disciples are to go and bear fruit. This emphasizes the notion of going and preaching the gospel, that is fulfilling the great commission. The fruit, then, are new converts. Branches connected to the Vine share the gospel with unbelievers and they bear the God glorifying Spirit empowered fruit of sowing gospel and reaping new converts.

This harkens me back to what Jesus said to his disciples after speaking to the woman at the well. Lift up you eyes and see the harvest. Go and sow the word and reap the souls of those whom God is drawing to Jesus (John 4:35-36). Pray for more laborers because the harvest is plentiful (Matthew 9:37-38). Branches connected to the Vine are both sowers and reapers. They see the fields are white for harvest. They labor to reap the lost for eternal life. Both sowers and reapers bear the God glorifying Spirit empowered fruit of the Great Commission. If you love Jesus you will obey Jesus. He has commanded all of us to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. If you love Jesus, you will bear the fruit of evangelism.

How doe we bear the fruit (sow & reap) of the Great Commission?

First, we pray for God to make the fields white for harvest. We also pray for laborers to sow and reap the harvest. Then we sow the word of God, that is we preach the full gospel.

We tell all sinners who will listen that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of their sin is death. God has appointed man to die once and then face his judgment. When you are found guilty of your rebellion against God, he will pour out his wrath on your soul by sending you to hell for all eternity. That is a promise. Sinners need to hear the of the wrath of God. No one we share the gospel with, who reject it should be surprised by hell when they go there. we will be honest with them because we love them.

However, we are not going to leave them with only God’s wrath. Though the wages of your sin is eternal judgment, God mercifully gave the gift of eternal life through his Son, Jesus. God demonstrated his love for you that while you were a sinner, Jesus came and died for you. He lived a perfect life of obedience to the Father. He was crucified on the cross as a criminal in your place. God poured out his wrath on his Son, atoning for your sins, paying the debt to God you could not pay. Jesus stayed in the grave three days, and God raised from the dead, satisfied with his perfect sacrifice, defeating sin and death. He has risen and now sits at the right hand of the Father. He is ready to forgive your sins, taking your sin and nailing it on the cross, and in turn giving you his righteousness if you will confess him as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead. You must trust in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and he will give you eternal life. Believe upon him and you will be saved. That is the gospel we are to sow with the world if we want to reap the fruit of seeing people come to Jesus.

Church, missions and evangelism, is to be as near and dear to our heart as your desire to love and obey Jesus. To love and obey Jesus is to share the gospel. If you love me, Jesus says, you will obey my commands. If you love me, you will share my gospel.

Charles Spurgeon winsomely says,

“I will not believe that you have tasted of the honey of the gospel if you can eat it all yourself. True grace puts an end to all spiritual monopoly.” Charles Spurgeon

In other words, the gospel is not meant to be kept to yourself. God glorifying Spirit-empowered branches put an end to monopolizing God’s gracious offer of salvation. If you love Jesus you will share his gospel.

Be energized by the words of John Wesley who was known for reaching the wretched and wicked in the fields far away from the church. He says,

“What marvel the devil does not love field-preaching! Neither do I: I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit. But where is my zeal, if I do not trample all these underfoot in order to save one more soul?” John Wesley

Church, we must bear the fruit of the Great Commission is we say we love Jesus. For Jesus has commanded us to go forth and preach the gospel to ends if the earth. If you love Jesus, you will share his gospel.

God-glorifying Spirit Empowered Fruit

It is imperative that we remember that all over our fruit bearing sanctification and ministry is powered by the Spirit of God working in us and through us. You do nothing on your own. God has provided you everything you need for a life of godliness and fruitfulness. If you are not bearing fruit, you must ask yourself 1) Am I truly connected to the Vine? or maybe, 2) Am I grieving the Holy Spirit? Jesus came to give you life, and to have it abundantly. Are you letting sin get in the way of your fruit?

The fruit that Jesus speaks of in John 15 is the fruit of love-driven joy-filled obedience to Jesus that abides in his word and prays effective prayers for more joyful obedience, for genuine love for the church, and for God’s kingdom to advance in the broken hearts of sinners. God-glorifying Spirit-empowered fruit comes from being united to Jesus, empowered by His Spirit, who stirs a passion to joyfully advance his kingdom by making much of Jesus in the church, community, and home until all joyfully abide in Jesus.

Let me close by asking a few questions for application.

Does your life reflect obedient love for Jesus?

Do you spend time meditating on God’s word so that your prayers are infused with God’s word and are effective?

Do you share the full gospel as often as you can with whoever will listen?

We exist to joyfully advance the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus in the church, community, and home, until we see the church, community, and home joyfully abiding in Jesus.

We cannot fulfill this mission if we do not love Jesus enough to obey him.

We cannot fulfill this mission we do not value his word as the bread for our souls and pray word infused prayers as we spend time communing with Him.

We absolutely cannot fulfill this mission if we don’t share the gospel as often as we can with whoever will listen.

We must bear the fruit of having a great commitment to Jesus, that enjoys a great communion with Jesus, that sees a great commission revival for Jesus, if we are going to be successful in joyfully advancing His kingdom by making much of Jesus.