Scripture Introduction
It seems that anywhere you walked in Jerusalem you saw grape vines. We know from inscriptions and eyewitnesses that vines grew up and along the great wall of the city, and it is likely that many families grew grapes in their own yards.
In addition to the abundance of living vines, craftsmen depicted this plant in commerce, art, and worship. Coins sometimes pictured clusters of grapes. And Josephus (a Jew who lived during the same time as Jesus), described the massive doors of the premier landmark (Herod’s Temple) as: “adorned with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars interwoven; and over these, but under the crown-work, was spread out a golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height, the largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great skill the workmanship was done” (Josephus, Antiquities, 15, 11, 3).
A writing in the Mishnah (a collection of Jewish commentaries on the scriptures) says that people could make freewill offerings by purchasing a golden leaf, berry, or cluster which the priests would then attach to the vine which decorated the door. It also notes that this was a custom that all in Jerusalem were familiar with.
Faithful Jews also knew about grape vines because God used this particular plant as an apt metaphor for his chosen people. Passages like:
Psalm 80.8: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.”
Hosea 10.1: “Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit.”
Jeremiah 2.21: “Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?”
Isaiah 5.1-2: “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.”
Most of us have seen pictures of vineyards, but few have lived around grapes. Therefore, we may not realize how common and significant and rich was Jesus’ calling himself the “true vine.” Simply mentioning the word brought a rush of memories and feelings and concerns to those who followed him. Our task is to enter well enough into their world that we sense some of the power of this illustration recorded in John 15.
[Read John 15.1-11. Pray.]
Introduction
Last week we considered how the beginning of 2Peter parallels Jesus’ comments here in John 15. Peter reminds us of the precious and very great promises God made to us, promises which motivate us to passionately pursue godliness. He then warns that a life lived for any other purpose is useless. The key verse is 2Peter 1.8: “For if these qualities [character traits of godliness listed in verses 5-7, specifically: faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love] if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I then used that word, “ineffective,” as a possible path for explaining the Christian faith to those who are not followers. When people deny God they face a difficult dilemma: life lacks purpose. I even quoted for you many “honest atheists,” people who admit that, without God, life is meaningless. Of course, such futile philosophies lead to despair, and so these folks “borrow” from God’s world to make a reason to live.
In contradistinction to that bleak answer, Jesus offers a life here and now, significant in its own right and remaining for eternity. Such a life is effective if we “abide in him.” Spiritual vitality comes from God alone (who is the source of all life), through the mediation of the Son, into our souls. There must be a spiritual union between the life of God and your life, in order for the divine power and nature to enter you and produce spiritual fruit.
Peter clearly states that there is a “knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ” that does not benefit; it is ineffective. But if you are a true Christian, you want to avoid that! You desire to remain in vital, spiritual union with the Lord, so the power of God makes you more like Christ and enables you to walk in the good works which God prepared beforehand for you. My hope today is for us to learn better how to remain in Christ and, therefore, remain effective all our days.
1. Believing the Word Creates a True Christian (John 15.3)
Everyone born into this world is defiled – spiritually dirty. A man and woman produce a baby human, never a chimpanzee; they also produce a baby sinner, never a saint. Babies may be precious; they are never innocent; this is because the sin nature is passed from parent to child. In addition to this inherited, “original sin,” each of us “soils our own souls” (so to speak) by actual sins.
After working in the yard on a hot, August day, cutting and raking grass, splitting firewood in anticipation of winter, tilling the garden and hoeing weeds, we need cleansing. What makes the shower effective is soap and clean water. These tools loosen, separate, and wash away dirt and sweat.
Jesus’ words do a similar work. They are clean, and they are cleansing. So when we accept, by faith, the promises of Christ, and apply them to our souls, they wash away both sin and guilt. The sinner who “bathes” under the stream of Christ’s grace is clean. She looks and “smells” different; she is converted and justified, and begins to act in a way pleasing to the Lord.
You may have noticed that Judas has left the group, only true disciples remain. Thus Jesus can say to these men: “You are clean because of the word I have spoken to you. You have heard the promise of forgiveness through faith in the Messiah, and you believe. God has given you a new, spiritual life, by union with my life, so now you are “in the vine.” Every potential for fruitfulness and effectiveness is yours – all that remains is to remain in me.”
Are you clean? The answer cannot be yes simply because you attend church or think of yourself as a pretty good person. Such works are never sufficient to wash the soul for they are themselves tainted. The only way to be clean is to accept the washing of Messiah. Will you lay your deadly doing down, down at Jesus’ feet, and stand in him and him alone, gloriously complete? Those who trust Messiah to wash them and present them to the Father are clean.
2. Abiding In Christ Makes a True Christian Effective and Fruitful (John 15.4-6)
Let’s pull a couple of verses together so you can see an important spiritual truth.
We have already noted that Peter is concerned that our knowledge of the Lord be rendered ineffective by a lack of pursuit of godliness. Because pursing godliness is so important, many Christians suppose that this process of sanctification – that work whereby we become more godly or holy – is our contribution to the Christian life, just as God’s contribution was salvation.
So when we find ourselves falling into old patterns of sin, or tormented by a particular temptation, or lacking the kind of purity of desire and holiness we hoped for, the only solution is to try harder. We may rise earlier for devotions, or determine to read and memorize more scripture, or just say to ourselves over and over, “I will not give in to that temptation.”
Some see that an effective tool. Those whose disposition tends toward strong willpower and discipline, may find some success in that method. Others, however, end up more defeated than ever. Attempts to solve the problem of sin on our own inevitably fail. We cannot keep ourselves holy and devoted any more than we first made ourselves right with God.
Please listen to 1Corinthians 1.30-31: “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” There Paul seems to say that Jesus is not only the source of our acceptance with the Father, but also of our growth in godliness before the Father. And that fits John 15!
I am not a vine; therefore I have no roots with which to pull up my own godly qualities. I must remain in Christ in order to remain effective. Thus Jesus says (to those already converted), “Apart from me you can do nothing.”
Andrew Murray, Abide in Christ, 55-56: “As [a Christian] grows, the desire for holiness makes itself felt, and he seeks to know what provision his God has made for supplying that need. A superficial acquaintance with God’s plan leads to the view that while justification is God’s work, by faith in Christ, sanctification is our work, to be performed under the influence of the gratitude we feel for the deliverance we have experienced, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit. But the earnest Christian soon finds how little gratitude can supply the power. When he thinks that more prayer will bring it, he finds that, indispensable as prayer is, it is not enough. Often the believer struggles hopelessly for years, until he listens to the teaching of the Spirit, as He glorifies Christ again, and reveals Christ, our sanctification, to be appropriated by faith alone.
“‘Christ has become to us sanctification from God.’ (1Corinthians 1.30). Holiness is the very nature of God, and that alone is holy which God takes possession of and fills with Himself…. There is no other way of our becoming holy, but by becoming partakers of the holiness of Christ. And there is no other way of this taking place than by our personal spiritual union with Him, so that through His Holy Spirit His holy life flows into us. Abiding by faith in Christ our sanctification is the simple secret of a holy life. The measure of sanctification will depend on the measure of abiding in Him.”
Another writer who has thought much about this topic is Walter Marshall. In The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, he writes: “One great mystery is that the holy frame and disposition, by which our souls are furnished and enabled for immediate practice of the law, must be obtained by receiving it out of Christ's fullness, as a thing already prepared and brought to an existence for us in Christ and treasured up in Him; and that as we are justified by a righteousness wrought out in Christ and imputed to us, so we are sanctified by such a holy frame and qualifications as are first wrought out and completed in Christ for us, and then imparted to us…. This mystery is so great that notwithstanding all the light of the gospel, we commonly think that we must get a holy frame by producing it anew in ourselves and by forming and working it out of our own hearts. Therefore many that are seriously devout take a great deal of pains to mortify their corrupt nature and beget a holy frame of heart in themselves by striving earnestly to master their sinful lusts, and by pressing vehemently on their hearts many motives to godliness, laboring importunately to squeeze good qualifications out of them, as oil out of a flint. They account that, though they be justified by a righteousness wrought out by Christ, yet they must be sanctified by a holiness wrought out by themselves…. On this account they acknowledge the entrance into a godly life to be harsh and unpleasing, because it costs so much struggling with their own hearts and affections, to new frame them. If they knew that this way of entrance is not only harsh and unpleasant, but altogether impossible, they might save themselves many a bitter agony.
“Another great mystery in the way of sanctification is the glorious manner of our fellowship with Christ in receiving a holy frame of heart from Him. It is by our being in Christ, and having Christ Himself in us…. Particularly, this union between Christ and believers is plain in several places of Scripture, affirming that Christ is, and dwells in believers, and they in Him (John 6:56; 14:20); and that they are so joined together as to become one Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17); and that believers are ‘members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones’ and they two, Christ and the church, are one flesh (Eph. 5:30, 31).
“Furthermore, this union is illustrated in Scripture by various resemblances: by the union between God the Father and Christ (John 14:20; 17:21 -23); between the vine and its branches (John 15:4,5); between the head and body (Eph. 1:22, 23); between bread and the eater (John 6:51, 53, 54). It is not only resembled, but sealed in the Lord's Supper….
3. Abiding Moment by Moment
We must be careful here, that we do not fall into the error of complete passivity.
The necessity of abiding in Christ for our sanctification does not mean that we no longer confess our sins; it does mean that we admit as those already accepted by the Father.
This does not mean that we no longer read and memorize Scripture; it does mean that we receive the Word as those having the right to the promises made.
This does not mean that we quit praying, but that we ask the Father for whatever we will knowing that he only answers his sons and daughters with what is best for us.
It means, men, that if you need more patience with your wife, if the Word would have you improve in love for her as Christ loves the church, if you are not honoring and understanding her as you should, the solution begins with abiding in Christ. You must get nearer to him, that his word would dwell in your richly and his power might be evident in your life. You must believe that he is for you, that his love is yours, and that you can do all things through him who strengthens you. Even a rule as simple as, “I will be more patient with my wife,” has no power for compliance. The rule is good; the power is God’s.
Whoever abides in Christ, and he in them, that one bears much fruit, for apart from Christ, you can do nothing. You think about that. Amen.
