Opening illustration: Suppose you walked into your kitchen one morning and found Jesus sitting at the table. What would you do? Would you say: "Jesus! I’m thrilled to see You! I just wish I had time to talk, but right now I’m running late for work. When I get home tonight, we’ll have a nice visit"? Later, you rush into the house from work to pick up your son for his Little League game and dash back out. But when you return from the game, the children need your attention, the laundry needs folding, and before you know it, you’re just plain too tired to talk with Him. You crawl into bed and fall asleep. Of course, you probably think if Jesus were to physically come to your house, you’d stop everything to sit with Him, right? Maybe you would. But maybe you wouldn’t. But when you neglect to spend time with Christ in His Word and prayer, you give Him the impression that He’s not important to you. Staying in daily communion with Jesus is the # 1 priority of the Christian life. It’s the key that opens every door to fruit-bearing, a blessing to this life and the next.
Introduction: Jesus Christ is the Vine, the true Messianic Vine. The union of the human and Divine natures, and the fullness of the Spirit that is in him, resemble the root of the vine made fruitful by the moisture from a rich soil. Believers are branches of this Vine. The root is unseen, and our life is hid with Christ; the root bears the tree, diffuses sap to it, and in Christ is all supports and supplies. The branches of the vine are many, yet, meeting in the root, are all but one vine; thus all true Christians, though in place and opinion distant from each other, meet in Christ. Believers, like the branches of the vine, are weak, and unable to stand but as they are borne up. The Father is the Husbandman. Never was any husbandman so wise, so watchful, about his vineyard, as God is about his church, which therefore must prosper. We must be fruitful. From a vine we look for grapes, and from a Christian we look for a Christian temper, disposition, and life. We must honor God, and do good; this is bearing fruit. The unfruitful are taken away. And even fruitful branches need pruning; for the best have notions, passions, and humors, that require to be taken away, which Christ has promised to forward the sanctification of believers, they will be thankful, for them. The word of Christ is spoken to all believers; and there is a cleansing virtue in that word, as it works grace, and works out corruption. And the more fruit we bring forth, the more we abound in what is good, the more our Lord is glorified. In order to fruitfulness, we must abide in Christ, must have union with him by faith. It is the great concern of all Christ’s disciples, constantly to keep up dependence upon Christ, and communion with him. True Christians find by experience, that any interruption in the exercise of their faith causes holy affections to decline, their corruptions to revive, and their comforts to droop. Those who abide not in Christ, though they may flourish for awhile in outward profession, yet come to nothing. The fire is the fittest place for withered branches; they are good for nothing else. Let us seek to live more simply on the fullness of Christ, and to grow more fruitful in every good word and work, so may our joy in Him and in his salvation be full.
What will it take to bear fruit?
1. Pruning (v. 2): Many Christians have a great experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, and they are excited as they find themselves growing in new directions. But then suddenly the Vine Dresser comes and brutally prunes away the growth that is not needed. "Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit" (John 15:2). When this happens it is easy to get upset and discouraged. "I thought I was doing so well and now most of what I was excited about has been taken away from me. This exciting emphasis on Christian life does not work out in practice."
Now you can see that this is a parable about the three Persons of the Trinity. For effective fruit bearing we need our structural faith connection with Jesus the Son of God. But we also need the vital inner life of the Spirit coming in to do in us what we could never do by our own will power. And we need to welcome the painful pruning of the Father. On the one hand He is as tender as the most loving of parents, but He also cares about our effectiveness in producing an abundance of good fruit. He will not let us dissipate our energy in all directions. So when the pruning knife cuts us back, rather than fuss and cry, and try to regain what we have lost, we relax in the Father’s care.
The parable of the Vine and the branches gives us the assurance that however weak and frail we are, God the Trinity can and will produce beautiful fruit in our lives. It is not a question of will power or any kind of self effort. All that is needed is confident abiding, and the Father, the Son, and the Sprit will do the rest. That does not make us passive and lazy. For a vine branch producing big fat bunches of grapes is very hard work. And people who relax and let the Spirit do his work in them are wonderfully energized. As Paul said "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). And for a branch God’s good pleasure is bearing much fruit. Vine wood is totally useless for any other purpose.
How does Pruning occur?
(a) Trimming ~ by going through trials
(b) Shaping ~ by going through tests
© Cleaning ~ by conviction through God’s Word which is the grand instrument of purifying the soul
Illustration: Most of us believe that we know what a tree needs in order to grow tall and strong and thus be able to produce enough oxygen to sustain animal and human life. We know to plant it in very rich healthy soil, we know to water it, and we know that it needs sunshine. This experiment was done, not to see if we were correct, but to see if we as humans could create a self sustaining ecological unit for outer space long term inhabitation. The trees did not grow tall and thrive, although they had everything we thought they needed. They were missing a vital thing. Wind, resistance. Without wind, the tree did not send its roots down deep, and therefore could not grow tall and strong and produce enough oxygen for the experimental life bubble. We are actually a lot like the tree, we can be given everything that man knows that a child should need to grow up healthy and strong, but without resistance, trials, tribulations, the child will be weak and fall in the face of the first windstorm it encounters.
One of my professors [Haddon Robinson] used to say ~ “Even as pianos need constant tuning and regulating--not only when young and raw, but all through their careers of being used for brilliant concerts--so people who are being used as ‘instruments of righteousness’--or, in other words, living creative, fruitful lives--need constant refreshing, ‘tuning.’”
For us, pruning is a bit like losing our favorite blanket. It makes us more reliant on God, than our own human desires and crutches.
Purpose (v. 2): Bear more fruit
2. Abiding [stay connected firmly] (vs. 4 – 5): But what does abiding mean? And how can we both be in the vine and the vine in us? I found this explanation very helpful. "The branch abides in the vine structurally and the vine abides in the branch vitally" (A.B.Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, 1901, p. 403).
What picture does this give us? Abiding gives us a picture of being grafted (embedded). Here we see Jesus exhorting us to be grafted (implanted) as a branch to Him who is the Vine. What does it mean? Jesus is explaining that he is our source of life and strength. Without him we are lifeless and unfruitful.
There are many different reasons in which grafting is used, some of which is to increase the growth rate of seedlings, and to repair damaged plants. Just like damaged plants with brown leaves and lying sick almost totally dead, we were dead in our sins before we were saved or grafted into the vine. In order for the grafting process to be successful, four things must take place.
1. The stem and the main vine must be compatible.
2. Each must be at the proper physiological stage.
3. The cambial layers of the stem and main vine must meet.
4. The graft union must be kept and taken care of until the wound is healed.
Application for us to be grafted to Christ ~
1. We must be compatible with the will of the Father and that is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and know that He is the only way to the Father and to Heaven.
2. We must be at the proper stage, which is, we must come to the realization that we are lost without Christ and that we need him in order to be saved.
3. We must come to the Lord in faith and He will meet us there but we must reach out in faith believing.
4. Finally, the graft union must be kept. We cannot keep ourselves, just as a grafted stem cannot keep itself connected to the vine. We are kept by the Father, the husbandman. With things in place now through faith we are ready to be grafted in.
In the grafting process, one takes the limp, half dead, damaged plant or stem, and grafts it into the main vine and by that process it will live and in time produce fruit. In order for the grafting process to work, the main vine, must be cut so that the dead stem can be placed inside and draw nourishment from it. Without that cut, the stem cannot be connected to the main vine, and cannot draw life from it. The Father looked down with compassion on us, half dead, hopeless, damaged, dry dying souls and had love and mercy and saw us for what He could make us, and what the law and the world threw away, God took and gave life by grafting us into the main vine. Christ Jesus. Hallelujah for what Jesus did for us so that we could be grafted into him, the vine.
The question is ~ Are we grafted in Christ?
But we have a serious problem - getting connected. By nature we are branches of an evil, “wild vine.” Satan is that wild vine and we must somehow be transferred – grafted - from Satan to Jesus. Paul helps us to understand the grafting process in Romans, Chapter 11. He points out that we need to be cut away from our old connections and grafted into Christ.
Now the stem has been grafted into the main vine. The old leaves should be cut back. The total leaf surface of the old variety that continue to grow on that stem, should also be gradually taken away as the new one increases until at the end of 1 or 2 years, until eventually the new variety has completely taken over the old variety. However, completely removing all the leaves or limbs of the old variety at one time or to fast increases shock to the stem. It takes time for the new to completely take over.
After being grafted in to the vine, or after we are born again, the Father understands we still have this old flesh to contend with. So little by little, day by day, he cuts away that old variety or nature as we draw strength from the Vine/Christ. He doesn’t expect us to just change in one day and start to produce fruit. Just like a new born babe we must get nourishment and learn day by day. God in his infinite mercies is so patient with us and he helps us move along in this journey. Just like the grafted stem, day by day we draw strength and we learn. The old stem that has been grafted into the main vine is now alive and strong and with time will start to produce and bear fruit, something it could never do before being grafted. We have been grafted in to the vine, Christ Jesus, the main source of our strength and life. We are one with the Father through Christ that died for us. Thank God for his love, mercy, and grace. With the vine, we also as branches, through the Holy Spirit will begin to produce and bear much fruit for his glory. Slowly, but surely over time we grow to the main vine and being to mature and be strong enough to bear fruit. Being connected to the main vine it can grow to produce much fruit where as before it was unable. He chips away the old nature in us so that one day, the new completely takes over and we will be just like the Vine! GLORY!
The problem is that many people are only outwardly connected with Jesus the Son of God. They have been baptized; they can say the creed, sing hymns, listen to sermons, work for the church, and take communion. What they miss is the inner life of the Spirit. In this case the Holy Spirit corresponds to the sap coming up into those dead looking vine branches, and giving them the nutrients needed to grow, and produce fruit.
Apart from that inner life, the branch remains lifeless. Sometimes you can see a dead branch on a vine when the other branches are growing leaves and little grapes. Perhaps an insect (sin) has blocked the flow of sap, and it is only a matter of time before the branch turns brittle and is broken off. As Jesus said, "Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withered; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned" (15:6).
This is one reason why so many Christians get discouraged. They try very hard to produce love and joy and peace, and other fruit of the Spirit, and after a few years they find they are making no real progress. They feel lifeless, and church is a bore. So they become frustrated, get miffed and quit. They have had an outward connection with Jesus the Son of God, but they haven’t learned the secret of letting the Spirit abide in them. But then the day comes when they begin to feel the inrush of the Holy Spirit of God, and they know they can relax and let the fruit come in due course.
When the Spirit is working in us we find the Word of God becomes a joy and is very effective. "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). The reason such prayer is answered is because the longing is first given to us by the Spirit, and so is bound to be according to the will of God. When a branch feels the sap beginning to push out a new shoot, or leaf, or bunch of grapes, that desire to grow is given for the one purpose of effective fruit bearing. On the other hand the prayers that we think up according to our own agenda are very unlikely to be what God has in mind.
The purpose of being a branch on the vine and abiding in Christ is that you bear much fruit. If you remain in Christ, you will be an abundant fruit-bearing branch. Your life will be full of the fruit that pleases Christ and the Father. It is because remaining in Christ, you will be a healthy Christian, full of His life and grace and strength. It is healthy branches that produce fruit. It is healthy believers who produce godly character and godly conduct. That is what Christ purposes and what the Father purposes for His people. Not scrawny branches that produce skimpy or sickly fruit, but vibrant branches that produce abundant fruit-all the fruit of a Christian: a hearty faith, a bold confession, a faithful witness before men, godly virtues, confident prayer, and an obedient heart.
What is the purpose of abiding with the Vine?
(a) Life-giving ~ eternal
(b) Foundational support ~ union
© Bearing fruit ~ glory to God & be disciples
Illustration: A TIME BETTER SERVED On January 9, 1985, a Congregational pastor in Bulgaria named Christo Kuleczef, was arrested and put in jail. His crime was preaching in his church, just like I am right now. It was a crime because the week before the village committee had appointed a new pastor. The secular committee who runs the village put a new pastor in even though the Congregational church doesn’t recognize any pastors but the ones they elect and install. So he preached, and they clamped him in jail immediately, and he immediately began to share Christ and make the truth known while he was in prison. He had a trial. It was a mockery of justice, and he was sentenced to eight months. He did his eight months, got out, and wrote these words: "Both prisoners and jailers asked many questions, and we had a more fruitful ministry there than we could have expected in church. God was better served by our presence in prison than if we had been free."
Purpose (v. 4): Bear fruit
Result (v. 8): (a) Glory of God the Father (b) Bear much fruit (c) Be Christ’s disciples
Four degrees of FRUIT-BEARING:
1. No Fruit (doesn’t bear fruit ~ v. 2)
2. Fruit ~ v. 2
3. More Fruit ~ v. 2
4. Much Fruit ~ v. 5 & 8
Retrospect: Where do we stand today?
Warning for being un-fruitful:
(a) Taken away [cut off] ~ cast away (v. 2)
(b) Wither ~ dry up (v. 6)
© Thrown away [in the fire to be burned] (v. 6) ~ Fire is often symbolic of "divine judgment."
But, for all that, Jesus says they are not true Christians. That was Judas, for example. He did not abide in Christ, though he appeared, for a time, to belong to the vine. At some point all hypocrites cut themselves off from all contact with the vine. They forsake His Word, His people, His church, and any association and activity that is Christian. Look at what happens to them. They are cast away, rejected as a branch. So they wither. Spiritually they dry up and die. Then comes the worst part: Jesus is referring to the judgment when these false branches are gathered up and cast into everlasting hell where they burn forever.
My dear brothers and sisters this is a serious warning for all of us. The sin of not abiding in Christ is in our nature, remember. In the light of what happens to some, Jesus calls to us: "Abide in Me! Do not be complacent and careless with your spiritual life." Remain in Christ.
How do we do that? What is involved in abiding in the vine? We have already alluded to some things. Notice that Christ points to the importance of His Word abiding in us, verse 7. "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." It is by the power of Christ’s Word, of course, that we are saved in the first place. It is by the power of that Word that we were placed on Christ as branches. Now Jesus is saying that it is by the same Word abiding in us that we will abide in Him and He in us. That means, then, that you and I must be diligent to have Christ’s Word abide in us.
How does that take place? By taking in that Word of Christ through the means of grace that Christ has appointed: the preaching, Bible study, personal devotions, even the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Then, too, by living by that Word, by keeping its sayings.
When that Word of Christ abides in you, then He abides in you. And, you see, it is only Christ who can keep us in Him. Only as He abides in us through His Word and through faith are we strong to remain in Him. Christ is the vine, the source of all grace, of all our strength, including the grace and strength to abide in Him.
So brothers and sisters let His Word abide in you, that He may abide in you, and in that way strengthen you to abide in Him.
Conclusion: If we understand and apply this passage correctly, it will virtually turn our priorities upside-down.
1. Most of us are preoccupied with our performance as Christians, rather than being occupied with the person of Christ.
2. We are more interested in the results we achieve than in simply resting in Him - abiding in Him.
3. We want to appropriate His power, but fail to appreciate His person.
4. Abiding stresses the source of our life and strength, but we frequently ignore the person of Christ to seek the product of our union with Him.
5. We have the cart before the horse.
• Abiding is our obligation
• Fruitfulness is God’s concern.
• The True Vine is the Author, the Source and the Finisher of our faith.
• We should be seeking His fellowship, and leaving the fruit to Him.
