Connected for Mission

Main Idea: Being connected to Jesus leads to God glorifying fruitfulness.

John 15:1–8 (NIV84) 1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Intro: Connections make it possible to be productive.

A few weeks ago when we were in Indiana visiting with Heather’s family we were close enough to Indianapolis that my phone was regularly connected through 5g. 5g is the latest method for data connections for mobile devices. It is supposed to be the fastest most reliable over the air connection to date. It was so incredible to me. We went to the zoo one day and all of my photos and little video clips were almost instantly backed up to an online cloud account. When I would go for a run I didn’t have any delay in location or tracking my pace as I ran. I was even able to use my phone as a hotspot or a data connection point for my laptop so I could do a Zoom meeting with the Village Board. It was awesome. No dropped connections or spooling or delays of any kind. It’s awesome when technology that is meant to keep us connected to each other actually works the way its supposed to.

Being instantly and reliably connected through mobile devices has its pros and cons. It can be helpful and useful and abused. When mobile technology works for its proper use it is very beneficial and allows us to accomplish many tasks and stay connected with those who matter most to us.

Spiritually speaking there is a far greater connection and a far greater mission. That is our relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the mission of evangelizing and making disciples. These are the two greatest things for a Christian and our focus should be on them both. As we get into chapter 15 we see Jesus begin to shift His final teachings from what will happen to Him, comforting those who are troubled by that, to the reason, the point, the mission which is accomplished in Christ and continued in and through the Church.

Look back really quick at John 14:31 “31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.”

This is a difficult verse to understand not so much for its meaning but it’s placement. If Jesus and the disciples really left the upper room then why and how can Jesus keep teaching profound things while walking to the Garden where He will be betrayed.

The verse tells us that Jesus will do what He has been sent to do so that the world will learn that He loves the Father and that He is always obedient. Then He says, let’s leave. Strange in the context.

If though we were to translate “Come now, let us leave” in a different way such as is proposed by L. Newbigin, Jesus could be making a statement much more like, “let’s go meet the enemy”! Basically Jesus is rallying the disciples for the task and events that are coming and also their role for after the events of the cross and resurrection are over. Jesus will go and meet the enemy and defeat it through His sacrificial death and resurrection.

So chapter 15 then begins a new teaching in which Jesus is telling the disciples and us what it will take and what it will be like to continue the mission He started.

Message: Being connected to Jesus leads to God glorifying fruitfulness.

The Mission: v8, v.1a, v.5a

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

1a“I am the true vine,

5“I am the vine; you are the branches.

Glorify the Father: v.8

We are told what the mission is that Jesus calls us to in verse 8.

The mission is to bring glory to the Father. Jesus talked about this all the time, and most recently in John 14:13, 13:31 - Jesus is all about bringing glory to the Father. That is the overall point of all that Jesus does.

The mission for us then is to glorify the Father...

Like the Son: v.1a, v.5a

In verses 1 and we are told that Jesus is the vine, the true vine. What does He mean by that?

John here gives us the 7th and final “I am” statement from Jesus. “I am the vine, the true vine!”

What is the vine, the true vine?

The imagery here is of a vine like that of a grape vine, a spreading or fruitful vine. The Hebrew word means to send out shoots.

In the O.T. God calls Israel His vine.

Psalm 80:8 “8 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.”

Psalm 80:14-19 “14 Return to us, O God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, 15 the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. 16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.”

Isaiah 5:1-7 “1 I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. 2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. 3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? 5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. 6 I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” 7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

The nation and people of Israel were God’s chosen vine, the nation/people through which the whole world would be blessed with salvation through Israel’s Messiah.

The problem is that Israel failed in every way to be the people He called them to be and to spread the message of salvation provided for by God.

Now in John 15:1, 5 Jesus claims to be not only divine, to be God in the flesh but also the vine, the one true vine, the one through whom God’s original mission to bring blessing and salvation to the world would come. Jesus is what Isaiah calls the light for the Gentiles bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.

Each “I am” statement was meant to recall God’s revealing of Himself to Moses through the burning bush and the description attached to it; such as Way, Truth, Life, Light of the Word, Living Water, etc… were meant to teach and reveal just who God really is. See in Jesus do we get a fuller understanding of just who God is. Here Jesus says He, God, is the vine the true vine that will bring salvation.

The vine is the source of life for the branches of the plant through which the fruit, the produce, the harvest, comes.

Jesus is telling us that He is the source of eternal life and His mission is to complete the long awaited plan of redemption for sinners through His death and resurrection. In doing so He is bringing glory to God and He is once again calling sinful frail humans to participate in that mission.

Jesus mission brings glory to God has He fulfills the plan of redemption as the true vine, the source of eternal life enabling the redeemed to...

Be fruitful: v.8

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

5“I am the vine; you are the branches.

Jesus mission is to bring glory to the Father in going to the cross, bearing sin, dying for sinners, raising from the dead and then empowering His followers through the Spirit to bear much fruit.

This is our mission, to bear much fruit and in doing so showing, proving, that we are His disciples.

The word for disciples here is mathetes which means a student who takes on the life style, the way of living, the way of viewing the world and life of the master teacher.

Essentially, we as the branches, the disciples of Jesus, become the conduits, the connection points for the continuation of the mission to spread the message of salvation throughout the world.

We are called by the vine, to glorify the Father, by become fully devoted disciples who are like their master in every way so the world will know that there is salvation available through Christ.

John 15 is not just some sweet cute illustration of grape vines and we are to just do our daily devotions. This is a chapter in which the true vine is calling us to give up all that we are to tell the world who He is and what He has done.

Illustration: Mission Impossible: extremely difficult missions but working together as a team they were able to accomplish great things. Any organization or church if it’s going to be effective needs to know what it’s mission is and everything else supports its accomplishment.

The Source of Effective Mission: v.1, v.3-5, v7

1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Knowing Jesus:

The source of effective mission is of course the vine. Jesus as the vine is the source of our life and eternal life.

Jesus is the one who died and rose again that we would be reborn, redeemed, renewed.

Jesus as the source of our life is the one who cleans us by His word. This word clean has several meanings in the Scripture. It’s primary meaning is that someone is pure and undefiled. It is only in Christ that we sinful humans are clean before the Lord. There is nothing to condemn us for our sins have been paid for and we have new life in Christ. The Word of Christ, the gospel, cleans us that we might be ready and effective for mission.

We come to know Jesus when we believe in His Word about Himself, His mission, and our life in Him.

Knowing Jesus is only half of what it takes to be effective in our mission as a church and as disciples.

We must also live...

Life with Jesus:

4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

Since Jesus is the vine, the source of our eternal life the only way we can continue to live a life that leads to a successful mission is to live life with Christ or in other words remain in Him.

Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. When branches are cut from a vine or a tree or a plant they begin to die. Last weekend I trimmed some trees for Heather’s Dad. Those branches I cut off are no longer gaining any sort of sustenance from the tree and they are dead.

So we must as Jesus says, remain in Him. The word remain is translated from meno which means to dwell or stay or abide or remain. It has the idea of being at home somewhere or with someone. It’s similar to the word used for “rooms” in John 14.

What does it mean for us to remain?

We have to know Christ as Lord and Savior. John 6:54 “54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:56 “56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.”

We also continue to believe or persevere in believing in Christ through time of struggle and doubt. John 8:31 “31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.”

It also means as we will see in a few weeks to believe to the point of obedience, John 15:9-10.

For us to be effective on mission and to truly be disciples of Christ we must be at home with Him. We must stay connected to Him. We remain when we have a continued uninterrupted communion with Christ.

What happens when you shut off the wi-fi on your devices or computers? What happens if airplane mode gets turned on? Your device is no longer connected and its effectiveness is significantly reduced.

I came across a meme this week on Facebook that said that we don’t have to go to church to be Christians just like we don’t have to go home to be married. But if we don't’ go home to our spouse or family or we don’t go to church we begin to lose the connections of those relationships and we suffer for it.

Branches are useless without the vine. We produce no fruit without Christ. When He says we can do nothing He means nothing of eternal value. We can only bear fruit and much fruit if we remain in Christ.

What does it mean to bear fruit?

Fruit is the result of a healthy plant. It is that which is used to help reproduce the plant. Christ is always holy, pure and righteous. He has been and will be completely obedient to the Father and will always be faithful to His word.

This is produced in us the more we remain in Christ. We become like Him in every way.

Simply put, the fruit that is produced is the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Secondly, the result of or the fruit of becoming more like Christ is that other people are evangelized by our life and obedience to Christ and the gospel.

It’s like they’re the new soil which is prepared by the Spirit to give birth to the seed, the fruit, the gospel spoken into and displayed in their lives.

The fruit that is produced is born out of the relationship, the communion with, the time spent with the Lord. This includes studying and knowing the Word, spending time with other branches, other believers, and also direct communication with Christ in prayer.

We can pray and ask for whatever and Jesus says it will be given. Whatever we wish is conditioned by remaining in Christ and in His word. The whatever becomes what He wants as we become more like Him through our remaining in Him. This makes our mission a success, asking Christ to complete and fulfill His mission in and through us and being fully available and obedient.

The source of effective mission is knowing and living with and for Jesus.

The Secret to a Successful Mission: v.1b, v.2-3, v.6

Getting pruned:

1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

This is the most difficult part of this passage.

In order for plants to grow properly and be most fruitful they must be pruned.

This is true in our spiritual lives as well. This is of course a perfect illustration from Jesus yet some get confused.

Must understand that God the Father is the gardener.

He owns the vineyard, He plants the vines, He sends the rain, the sunshine, and tends the soil. He is the farmer who takes care of that which He has planted.

As the gardener and the Creator, as God almighty He knows exactly what to do to get the most our of the vine and the branches so that we are the most fruitful.

So the gardener cuts off branches that bear no fruit. Why, because they are unfruitful meaning there is no life in them. It is or will suck the life out of the other branches keeping the whole vine from being as fruitful as it could be.

Branches that bear no fruit look like normal healthy branches but they are dead. These branches illustrate those who say they love Christ, say they belong to Christ but there is no life of the vine in them.

The branches that are cut off are false believers. They did not remain in Christ. The may have talked a good talk but in reality they are shown to be fruitless life-suckers that diminish the plant and make it unfruitful. These branches will be judged. Judas was such a branch.

The Scriptures repeatedly remind us to check our hearts to be sure that we are truly in the faith. Do we truly belong to Christ. If so there will be fruit in your life. Can’t look at other branches and compare. We must look to the vine and allow Christ to show lead us to life.

Some branches are cut and thrown away. Others are pruned and cleaned.

Pruned and clean branches are those that are producing fruit of some kind but have something that is keeping them for being more fruitful. God and Christ are hungry for fruitful vines so they prune.

Jesus told His disciples that they were clean because they believed His word. They were attached to the vine yet they would experience pruning.

Pruning can happen when we read and hear the Word and allow it to convict us, when we allow other believers to speak into our lives helping us to remain in Christ and following Him.

Pruning also happens when God brings or allows difficult times of trials and trouble into our lives. This is to help us and strengthen us. It is not a pretty thing and in fact when the process is over for a time we may look like a mess but the things that are keeping us from being fruitful and remaining in Christ are cut away. We then begin to flourish like never before.

If there is no pruning then we are not clean and may be cut off. Do not be surprised growing Christian if God, our loving gardener prunes you. It is a sign of love and faithfulness to complete the work that He began in you.

Since being connected to Jesus leads to God glorifying fruitfulness…

- Are you connected to Christ?

- Have you accepted the mission?

- Are you in a place to be pruned?

- Are you asking for fruitfulness?