Sermon Tone Analysis

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.