John 15:1-11 JESUS: THE TRUE VINE
Intro:
The last verse in chapter 14 tells us that Jesus and the Disciples are about to leave the upper room.
• They are headed/Garden/Gethsemane where Jesus will pray His great High Priestly prayer
• Later be arrested by the mob led by Judas.
• Apparently, Jesus speaks the words which make up chapters 15 and 16 in route to the garden.
In this chapter, Jesus is pictured for us as the True Vine.
• I can imagine Jesus and these men going through the darkened streets of the city and then passing beyond the walls into the surrounding countryside.
• During this time of year, mid April, the grape vines would be beginning to blossom with the promise of a fresh harvest.
As Jesus walked with his Disciples, perhaps He reached out and took a vine in His hands and used it to teach an object lesson to His men.
• His desire is to teach them/most vital relationship they have in their lives
• The one that is with Jesus and His Father.
• We might ask ourselves, "Why did Jesus give them this teaching now?"
• The answer is simple: They needed it!
Just been informed that Jesus is going away
• But Jesus’ work is going to continue
• And it is to continue through them/their lives, John 14:12.
If they are to carry/work/Lord, they need to know how to produce that kind of fruit in their lives.
This morning, we are 2,000 years removed from that night, but the work of the Lord still marches forth.
• God is still working through/followers/Jesus Christ to accomplish His work and will in the world today.
Many of us may sit here and wonder…
• How we are supposed to do the work of the Lord
• How we can produce that kind of fruit in our own lives.
• Well, the answer is found in these verses.
• This passage is all about becoming a genuine Disciple
• About how to bear fruit for the glory of the Lord.
Jesus says "I AM" 7 times in the New Testament.
• Each I AM teaching teaches us something different about Jesus Christ.
• “I am the vine” teaches that Jesus Christ is the energy that produces fruit/acts of love in our lives.
• He simply says that "I am the true Vine"
Let's take a few minutes this morning to view this portrait of Jesus:
The True Vine and see how we can become more like Him.
I. V. 1-3 THE PERSONALITY OF THE TRUE VINE
A. The Genuineness Of The True Vine - Jesus and Jesus alone possesses life within Himself, John 14:6.
• All other vines are counterfeit.
• other vines that we human beings are deeply interconnected with and draw life and energy
• But these are false vines.
• Such false vines can be our job, our country, our team, our city, our recreation, our hobbies, and even our family and our church.
• The gospel text does not focus on false vines but simply says that Jesus is the true vine.
• He alone is the true source of everlasting, abundant life.
Jesus says I am the true Vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.
• God is the one/looks upon us and judges our work for him.
• In this parable, the Lord God, our heavenly Father, is the vine grower. He owns the farm.
• He is the one that opens and closes the door to heaven and the only way in is through His son.
The key phrase in verse 2 is "in me".
• Means we are dealing with genuine believers.
• Jesus isn't speaking about those who profess Christ and yet have never possessed Him
• He is not talking about wheat and tares, but only wheat.)
Verse 2 also tells us that God allows us to go through trials and difficulties in our life.
• It is going through those times that strengthen our life.
• He says that God prunes the trees.
• I also want you to notice that they are taken away, cut off.
• They differ from those found in verses 4-6.
• Jesus said they are "in me" but they have problems:
• They bear no fruit.
The Gardener is involved in everything that has to do with the Vine.
1. Protection - That is, the Gardener provides tender watch care and protection for the Vineyard.
• Aren't you glad that the Lord sees it all?
• I praise the Lord for the sure knowledge that nothing passes the gaze of my heavenly Father - Pro. 15:3
Purifying - The Gardener uses methods of purifying his vineyard.
He Challenges The Branch - That is, the Gardener will take the unfruitful branch and lift it from the dirt into which it has fallen giving it a better chance to be productive.
• On a personal level, when we get to a place in our Christian lives where we are unfruitful and barren
• the Lord will have to reach into our lives
• Disturbing our slumber and He will lift us up in an effort to challenge us and shock us to growth.
• There are times when the Lord can only accomplish this through chastisement.
• If we respond with repentance, we will be fruitful for His glory.
• If, however, we choose to go on in our sins, there is a sin unto death, 1 John 5:16.)
Has the Lord been challenging areas of your life?
• If so, do not run from His challenge.
• Instead of running from God, turn and run to Him.
• After all, His chastisement is always a proof of His love, Rev. 3:19, and of your relationship to Him, Heb. 12:8)
The unfruitful branches at one time were attached to Christ.
There was a time, a point, when they began to bud and sprout. They even grew into branches.
They:
* Listened to Jesus and the Gospel.
* Opened their ears
* Made professions
* Were baptized
* Seemed capable of bearing fruit
* Appeared to be fruitful branches
So many times is our lives that is as far as we get.
• We are a part of the vine.
• We go to training on how to share our faith.
• We learn the methods but we never use them.
There are times when we feel so close to God we can literally feel his presence.
There are other times when we feel there is a great valley between us and no way of getting across.
• We feel like our prayer life went down the tubes.
• We are going through the motions, we go to church,
• we hang out with our Christian friends
• But there is no power; we can’t feel God’s presence.
If that is you, you need to recommit yourself to the Lord today.
V. 6 The Quagmire Of Fruitlessness
Not every branch abides in the Vine as it should.
• It is still attached, but it has ceased to draw life from the Vine's fullness.
• As a result, it is fruitless and withered.
• When this happens, there will be three certain results.
Loss Of Fellowship - Cast out - Not Abiding
• Cannot lose relationship.
• The withered branch still possesses the same nature as the Vine
• but it is not longer attached in the sense of life drawing fellowship.
Loss Of Vitality - Withered - Possessing no life!
• Death and dried up.
• This describes many Christians this morning!
• It didn't use to be this way, but now there is deadness where there used to be life.
• There is weakness where there used to be power.
• There is emptiness where there used to be fullness.
• My counsel is for you to come back and renew that long fellowship.
• Once again start to draw that life giving juice from the Vine and begin again to produce fruit for Him.
Loss Of Reward
When this life is over, there will be many who name the name of Jesus and were unfruitful.
• They will experience the loss of every reward, 1 Cor. 3:13-15.
• Many think they will be content just to get to Heaven, but there should be a desire to have rewards to lay at His feet.
• Will you hear, "Well done?"
• Only if you are a fruitful branch!
.
• Unfruitful branches do not receive the nourishment from the vine
• Unfruitful branches are not genuine enough to bear fruit
• More profession than possession
• More pretending then being
• More deception than truth
• More counterfeit then real
• Unfruitful branches become apostate and deserters
• in other words men and women abandon their faith and its not so much when the times get hard.
• But, in the good times we tend to forget about God and it is Him that is blessing us.
The third thing that I want you to notice is that God will "cut off" the unfruitful branches.
This is not a statement about loosing salvation.
• It is about removing things in our life that draw us away from God.
• God will remove those things so that the fruitful things in our life can grow.
• He may remove some old friends that draw us away from doing his work.
• He may remove some old habits that draw us away.
• He may in remove our jobs, our income or what ever it is that is distracting us from being used by God.
God will only bless us in proportion to our faith.
• He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.
• Near the word, “he,” write in the word, “God.”
• God is the owner and gardener of the vineyard.
The Pharisees were people who did not have a vital connection with Jesus Christ nor with God.
Both John the Baptist/Jesus warned their listeners about the Pharisees/Sadducees who did not produce the good fruit of the kingdom and their dead lives would be pruned and they would be thrown into the unquenchable fire.
• What do you have in your life that needs to be pruned and thrown into the fire.
• What is taking up all your time so that you are not giving God the best but what is left?
• The thing you have a hard time surrendering is the thing that you love more than God.
I have a simple question for you How fruitful are your branches?
Mat. 3:10 says that the ax is already at the root of the tree, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire,
1 John 2:19 says, The went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
Luke 8:18 says Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.
Heb 6:8 The land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
• What are the fruits of your labor producing?
• Is God blessing and increasing or is he cursing and shrinking?
• The Scripture gives severe warning to believers,
• The branches that are "In" the vine will produce fruit and will multiply.
• But those outside the vine
• doing things on their own will wither and die
• And eventually be thrown into the fire.
• And we will be held responsible for our actions.
He Cleanses The Branch
The Gardener removes things from the branch that sap it vitality and strength.
• Things like sucker branches, useless buds, misdirected shoots, spots, discolored leaves, etc.
• Anything that consumes life but produces no fruit must go!
• So it is in the life of the believer.
• When we allow things into our lives that hinder our walk with the Lord, then we are in danger of a pruning.
"Pruning" by its very name sounds painful, and it isn't always easy to cut the junk from our lives,
Sometimes God moves in our lives in such a way that it causes us pain, and our wounds are fresh and oozing.
• At the time it is occurring we don’t think…
• Well, this hurts, and it may be God working in my life
• God cleansing me of what I don’t need.
It is necessary for us to know God is working a great work in our lives
even if we do not understand what is happening at the moment.
• How is this pruning accomplished? By the Word of God
• Like a mirror,Word/God reveals problems/James 1:23-24.
• Like a knife, the Word of God cuts to the heart - Heb. 4:12.
The question this morning is this, has the Lord been speaking to you through His Word?
If so, have you been heeding the call from the Lord?
If not, then I challenge you to allow the Lord to prune your life with His Word.
If that is not accomplished, then he will take further and far more drastic measures.
• But if we don’t, the Lord surely will!
• Notice the advice given in Hebrews 12:1.
Even the strongest Christians have spots in their life that have to be removed.
All of us have areas in our lives that we struggle with. Things that God needs to prune away.
• Some struggle with their thoughts
• Some with attitude
• Some with commitment
• Some with relationships
• Some with behavior
• Some with service
• Some with passion
• Some with motives
• Some with willingness
So I have a question for you.
What areas in your life when someone steps on your toes do you immediately get defensive about?
That is the area you need to deal with this morning.
God needs people that think they can do something and put their heart and soul into that something.
There are lives here today that need to be pruned,
What are the branches in your life that need to get pruned?
This ought to be the burning desire of every child of God this morning.
That is, to so live our lives that every waking minute is bringing glory to the Father in Heaven, 1 Cor. 10:31.
There is something wrong in any life when there is no desire to bring glory God who loves us, sustains us and cares for us along the way.
V. 2-8 THE PURPOSE OF THE TRUE VINE
V. 2 There Is A Distinct Purpose - The Vine has but one purpose: to produce fruit.
• The Vine exists for that purpose alone.
• Without the fruit, the vine and all of its efforts are wasted.
• The True Vine has a singular purpose and that is to bear fruit to the glory of the God.
The reason the Vine desires to produce fruit is so that the vine dresser might receive the honor.
• When fruit is yielded in a vineyard, the Vine, the branches, the soil, even the fruit does not get the credit.
• All the glory passes on to the Gardener.
• So it is with the Lord Jesus.
• Everything He did and does was and is to glorify His Father.
Notice this truth.
• The Vine itself does not bear fruit!
• Its fruit are the branches.
• The branches have the obligation of bearing the fruit.
• The Vine supplies its life to the branches and they take that life and use it to bear fruit.
• Here is a word to the branches about our fruit bearing.
1. The Qualifications For Bearing Fruit
V. 2 The Branch Must Be Attached To The Vine
• If you are not in the Vine, then there is no way for you to share in the Vine's life.
• This is all about a vital union between the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ, the True Vine.
We need to recognize our standing this morning.
If we are in the Vine, then we were in Him at Calvary and when He arose from the dead, we have been raised to walk a new life in Jesus.
If we are in Him, then we are in Him today, that is, we have already ascended to Heaven and are seated there in the Person of our blessed Savior - Eph. 2:6…
V. 4-5 The Branch Must Abide In The Vine
That is, we must maintain a close fellowship with the Vine if He is to live through us produce His fruit in our lives.
• This is only accomplished by "abiding" in Him!
• How does one abide?
• Prayer, studying the Word, deny self, draw close to God!
• The closer we abide to the Vine, the more His life can flow through us to produce the fruit He desires.
Is there any wonder that so many Christian lives are fruitless and barren?
• How would you describe your life this morning?
• Are you bearing much fruit for the Lord?
V. 5 The Branch Must Be Available To The Vine
May I remind you that fruit bearing is a passive activity on the part of the branch?
• If you abide in the Vine, the Vine will certainly produce its fruit.
• I don't know about you, but I find that truth liberating!
• I am not required to do anything but abide.
• It is the Vine's responsibility to produce His fruit in my life.
• That frees us from having to work and labor to get His approval.
• If we will yield, He will live through your life and mine!
When we speak of fruit, what do we mean? What will be produced in our lives when we yield?
How will we know if fruit is being produced through us?
There are three basic fruits the Lord bears in the lives of His children. They are:
1. Sanctification - That is, we become more like Him - Rom. 6:22; Phil. 1:11; Col. 1:10.
2. Spirituality - That is, we behave more like Him - Gal. 5:22-23.
3. Souls - That is, we are burdened like Him - Rom. 1:13.
The Quality Of Our Fruit - This is not the branches' responsibility!
When we are abiding in the Vine and He is reproducing His life in us, we can rest assured that the fruit that is produced is honoring to the Lord.
Again, this is a liberating truth!
The Quantity Of Our Fruit - Again, this is not the responsibility of the branch.
• Some will produce much
• Some will produce little.
• Which depends upon the will of the Vine.
• Our duty, to repeat myself, is to abide!
However, it is clear from these verses that God anticipates a steady progression in the level of our fruitfulness.
Notice verses 2 & 8 - no fruit, fruit, more fruit, much fruit!
The closer we abide in the Vine, the more fruit He will yield through our lives.
7-11 THE PROMISE OF THE TRUE VINE
Those who abide in the True Vine can rest assured of certain precious and sure promises!
V. 7 An Unhindered Prayer Life - (John 14:13-14) Why?
• When we are abiding as we should be
• When we are drawing our life from Him, then His will will be our will.
• That is, every time we pray and everything we pray will fit perfectly with His will and He will grant our requests.
V. 9 An Unending Love - Jesus loves all men always, but those who are abiding in Him have entered into a special, ever-deepening relationship with Him.
• This is the promise of the Vine to the branches!
V. 11 An Uncommon Joy
• Joy is not happiness, which depends upon happenings
• but it is a deep settled inner pleasure
• It is the deep settled assurance and confidence in our relationship with the Father and with His Christ
• It fills the heart with "joy unspeakable and full of glory", and that ignites the heart to serve God.
Note these truths about joy:
1. Joy is Divine in nature
• It originates with God and is only given by God.
• It is absolutely unaffected by earthly or material things.
2. Joy is not dependent upon happiness
• God's joy abides at all times, even the most difficult!
3. Joy is the product of faith
• When one is assured of one's standing in Christ
• joy is the result!
4. Joy in the Lord produces faithfulness to the Lord
• Neh. 8:10, His joy is our strength and that which gives us courage for the battles.
Conc: Jesus is the True Vine.
His desire is to live through you life so that you might bear fruit unto the Heavenly Father.
As we close, there are a couple of questions that need to be asked right now.
1. Are you "in the Vine"?
• Have you ever been saved and grafted into Jesus?
2. Are you "abiding in the Vine"?
• Are you drawing your strength from Him so that He is able to produce is fruit through your life?"
3. Are you bearing His fruit today?
• Where do you stand with Jesus today?
• If God has revealed areas in your life that need to be pruned back or otherwise dealt with today, then I challenge you to come to Jesus and let Him take care of that need.
• If you have never been saved, please come and let me show you how you can be placed into the Vine and become a child of God.
• Is there a need?
• If so, Jesus is the supply! You come if the Lord has called you!
So, where are you right now?
Are you connected to the vine, feeling the life of God flowing through you as you remain in Him?
Or are you disconnected, slowly dying, trying to stay in control of life and manage things in your own strength?
Keep in mind that there are seasons of pruning, as we saw in the passage, where even some parts that seemed to be growing are cut off so that other parts can be more fruitful.
There are times in our lives where maybe we are not seeing the fruit, but we know we are remaining in the vine.
If that describes you, remain.
Paul would say, stand firm.
Hold fast, keep the connection, continue to let Jesus’ words dwell in you, allow the gardener to prune, and cling to the promise that you will bear much fruit.
If you are not connected, I urge you to allow God the master gardener to graft you back into the vine.
Return to Him.
Surrender yourself to Him let Him have every bit. And let His life fill you.
Let yourself get so close to God that you can feel Jesus’ blood running through your veins, just like the water runs through the vine.
