Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction:

* The fifteenth chapter of John is one of the most important chapters in all the Bible.

However it is at the same time a very difficult chapter because of some interpretive problems.

This classic chapter contains one of the most meaningful allegories in the Bible.

It is another one of those great "I am" passages recorded by John that points to the deity of Jesus Christ.

The foundational principles for living the Christian life--abiding in Christ and bearing fruit--are recorded in this chapter and explain in the New Testament epistles.

!! A.                 Presenting the Problem.

Let’s begin with the basic interpretation of this allegory of a vine, its branches and the one who cares for the vine: 

!!! 1.

The key to the passage is the identification of the branches.

!!!! a)                  There are two groups of branches in the passage:

!!!!! (1)                 Ones that */bear fruit /*(v.2, 8), and ones that */do not /*(v.2,

6).

!!!!! (2)                 The branches that bear fruit are obviously Christians.

The branches that do not bear fruit are not easily identified.

Are they Christians or non-Christians?

!!!!! (3)                 If they are Christians, why are they thrown into the fire and burned?

Does that mean Christians can lose their salvation and perish, or that they are chastised for not bearing fruit?

I believe the Word of God clearly identifies the fruitless branches, as we will see when we compare other passages with John 15.

 

!!!! b)                  The context:

!!!!! (1)                 The events recorded in John 15 takes place on the night before the death of Jesus while He is speaking with His disciples.

!!!!! (2)                 I believe that the key to understanding the allegory in John 15 is related to the characters in the scene.

The whole fourteenth chapter records that Christ spent His time comforting His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion.

!!!!! (3)                 Jesus was also aware that Judas, who had already been dismissed from the room, was plotting His betrayal.

!!!!! (4)                 I believe that Jesus was thinking about all the characters involved in that final night's drama:

!!!!!! (a)                 the eleven disciples and the Father, who loved Him; and Judas, who did not.

!!!!!! (b)                Since Jesus claims to be the vine, and identifies the vinedresser as the Father, it is reasonable to conclude that */the branches that bear fruit would be the eleven true disciples /*and the branches that */do not bear fruit refer to Judas /*and */any others who were never true disciples to begin with/*.

!!!! c)                  The cleansing *(John 13:10-11)*:  

!!!!! (1)                 Jesus was well aware of a distinction among His own disciples regarding their salvation: the contrast between Judas and the eleven.

!!!!! (2)                 I believe that contrast is carried into the fifteenth chapter, where Jesus talks about the two kinds of branches.

!!!!! (3)                 Now… although Judas appeared to have been a believer and even had the privileged responsibility of maintaining the funds for the disciples, /he was a branch that never bore fruit/.

God finally removed him from the vine.

!!!!! (4)                 Some would conclude that Judas lost his salvation, and that if any Christian fails to bear fruit, he also will lose his salvation.

*Jesus said *"And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."

(John 10:28, NKJV)

*He says in John chapter 6 that *"All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out."

(John 6:37, NKJV)

*And in His prayer to the Father, He said *"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.

Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."

(John 17:12, NKJV)

!!!!! (5)                 Those statements reveal that Jesus was not talking about a true believer who stops bearing fruit and loses his salvation.

Rather, he is talking about a Judas-type of believer who is superficially attached to the vine, but never receives spiritual nourishment from it.

!!!!! (6)                 Similarly, there are those who may attend church and go through some religious exercises, thinking that their superficial connection to Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation.

But they are not legitimate believers.

!! B.                The Vine (v.1a).

!!! 1.                  “I Am the true vine…”  (v.1a).

!!!! a)                  Old Testament illustration of the vine.

!!!!! (1)                 Israel was identified as God's vine in the Old Testament.

Although faith was necessary for salvation, just being Jewish brought great blessing.

!!!!! (2)                 However, Israel forfeited God's blessing by its failure to bear fruit.

*Listen to Isaiah 5:1-7,* " Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine.

He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes.

“And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.

What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it?

Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes?

And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns.

I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it.”

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.

He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.”

(Isaiah 5:1-7, NKJV)

!!!!! (3)            The vine had become so much a symbol of Israel that it appeared on coins minted during the Maccabean period, which was between been the Old and New Testaments.

!!!!! (4)            During the time of Christ, Herod's Temple had a tremendous vine on it overlaid with gold.

Israel had always been God's vine, but it had become unproductive, so a new vine was established.

!!!! b)                  New Testament realization of the vine.

!!!!! (1)                 Now… no longer would a man receive blessing through a covenant relationship to Israel, but through the new vine, who is Christ.

*Paul  said that *"As you therefore have 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."

(Colossians 2:6-7, NKJV)

!!!!! (2)                 The word "true" (Gk.

alethinos) is used here in the sense of "eternal," "heavenly," or "divine," a common usage in Scripture.

(That means Christ is the perfect heavenly reality of which Israel was a prophetic picture in the Old Testament.)

!!!! c)                  What is your vine?

!!!!! (1)                 There are many who claim to be Christians but have other vines in their lives from which they seek their resources.

*/Ask yourself…/*

!!!!!! (a)                 "How many things do I attach myself to for my well being?

Some people think their vine is their bank account, education, sexual relationships, popularity, skills, connections, possessions, or social relationships.

!!!!!! (b)                Some people even think the church is their vine.

They attach themselves to a system of religion.

Merely attending a church is not necessarily evidence of a vine- branch relationship.

!!!!!! (c)                 *Luke 12:13**:34; 2 Cor.12:7-10*

 

!! C.                The Vinedresser (v.1b).

!!! 1.                  “My Father is the vinedresser…”  (v.1b).

!!!! a)                  The analogy of a farmer.

!!!!! (1)                 The vinedresser was the one who cared for the vines in a vineyard.

As a farmer, he was responsible to /cut off the branches that bore no fruit /as well as /pruning the branches that were bearing fruit /in order that they may bear more fruit.

!!! 2.                  “Every branch that does not bear fruit He */takes away/*…”  (v.2a).

!!!! a)                  The Fathers work of punishing (v.2a).

!!!!! (1)                 Branches that fail to bear fruit are /“taken away”/ (v.2), /“withered and thrown into the fire” /(v.6).

Now if that refers to a Christian that would mean a Christian could lose his or her salvation.

!!!!! (2)                 Boice believes that the ancient Greek verb /airo/, translated here as “*takes away*” is more accurately translated “lifts up.”  

!!!!!! (a)                 The idea is that the Father lifts up unproductive vines off of the ground (as is common in vinedressing), that they may get more sun and bear fruit better.

!!!!!! (b)                If that’s that case, then why are the unproductive branches thrown into the fire (v.6)?

!!!!! (3)                 The fruitless branches refer to people who profess to have a relationship to Jesus Christ--who apparently are in the vine as a follower of Christ--but are like Judas and have never been saved.

*Jesus made an interesting statement in Matthew 15:13, speaking of the Pharisees He said *"But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

Let them alone.

They are blind leaders of the blind.

And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."

(Matthew 15:13-14, NKJV)

!!!!! (4)                 Those plants that are uprooted are the ungodly tares, which God now allows to grow alongside the godly wheat.

*But at the end of the age, the tares will be *“gathered up and burned with fire” as God’s angels “will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire” (Matt.

13:40–42).

!!!!! (5)                 What did Jesus mean by these symbolic words about vine branches being burned?