Where then is real joy found? John 15:11, Jesus tells His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
1. To understand the setting of when Jesus speaks these words need to go back to John 13:1it is Passover and it is the night before Jesus’ crucifixion.
2. Jesus has just finished eating the Passover with the disciples and instituting the Lord’s Supper. We see more details about the Lord’s Supper in the other Gospels.
3. John records the dialog of Jesus as He tries to comfort His disciples and tries to explains to them what is going to take place.
4. In this discussion Jesus says that He is going to lay down His life and go back to the Father.
5. The disciples don’t understand what is going to happen. They are perplexed and confused.
6. Jesus comforts them by telling them that He is going to prepare a place for them (John 14:1-3) and also gives them instruction on how to continue after all this takes place.
D. In John 15 Jesus continues to teach and comfort His disciples by stating, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
E. So, what are the things Jesus spoke so His disciples would have joy?
Discussion
I. We need to know who Jesus is.
A. John 15:1 “I am the true vine.”
1. This is the seventh and final of the great “I am” statements in John’s gospel.
2. When Jesus states, “I am” He is identifying Himself as the True and Living God.
3. I Am Who I Am – Describe the eternal nature of God, “the one who is or the existing one.” God is without beginning or end. He has always existed. God is immortal. He is the only one of His kind. God is the living God!
4. The first we see I Am used in Scripture to identity the Lord is Exo 3:14, “God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
5. Jesus will use “I am” to identify Himself as God, as Deity, the true and living God.
B. In this “I am” statement Jesus uses an illustration that would have been very common in Judea, the image of the growing of grapes.
1. The grapevine is a productive plant when taken care of a single vine that bears many grapes. When it is properly pruned it can grow more and better grapes.
2. Jesus uses this image to illustrate His relationship with His Father, His people who follow faithfully, and those who are not.
C. Jesus’ declaration that “I am the true vine” means He is genuine or real as opposed to those who are fake or not real.
1. In the Old Testament the people of Israel were often compared to a vine. (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1).
2. The reality is that every time they were spoken of as a vine, it was in a derogatory way, like an empty vine.
3. Jesus is contrasting Himself with Israel and saying unlike the empty vine of Israel I am the true living vine and if you abide by me, you will not be empty but bear fruit.
II. We need to know who the Father is.
A. He is the vinedresser John 15:1
1. “The vinedresser is the one who has the care of a vineyard; whose job it is to nurture, trim, and take care of the vine, and who of course feels a deep interest in its growth and welfare.”
2. Jesus states this is the Father. He cares for the branches and makes them fruitful.
a. The fruitful branches are the true believers who live by abiding or connected to Christ.
b. Whereas the unproductive branches the Father will cut off and tossed into the fire and burned (Jn. 15:2,6).
3. In Heb. 12 the Lord is described as a father who shows his love for his son by disciplining him. If a father loves his child he is not going to let him do whatever he wants. He is going to correct him, help him, and teach him.
a. This helps to have a better child.
b. The vinedresser trims the grapevine, to have better grapes.
B. Each year the branches of the grapevine must be cut back drastically. The fruit only comes from new growth.
1. If a grapevine is not trimmed, it will grow long and not produce any grapes.
2. The same is true of our lives. The fruit is born from new growth. That which is pruned away must be moved completely away from the vine; otherwise, disease will begin in the dead branches and spread to the vine.
3. To be "fruitful" means to be productive. A fruitful garden produces much fruit; a fruitful worker is a worker productive in his work.
4. To produce fruit for God means one is working and serving God in the works God would have him do.
a. Paul wrote that we must "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work..." (Col. 1:10).
b. The fruit that God expects of men "consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth" (Eph. 5:9).
III. We need to know our responsibility as followers:
A. We must bear fruit (Jn. 15:5).
1. To “bear fruit” carries the idea of not just producing other Christians, (converting the lost) but character, and qualities of Jesus; it is becoming more like Him.
2. Fruit bear is growing in faith, maturing as a Christian, developing a better prayer life, loving one another, and being a more reliable servant of Christ. Hopefully, as we do this we will win others to Christ as well.
3. The more we stay connected to Our Master, the more we will grow as His disciples and the more we will want to share the gospel with others.
B. We must abide in Christ (Jn. 15:5).
1. We must be connected or plugged into Christ. We can do nothing without Him.
2. If we want to be spiritually successful and mature in the faith we need to abide or continue with Christ.
a. It means continuing to believe Christ is the Son of God (1 Jn. 4:15).
b. Obeying what the Lord says (1 Jn. 3:24).
c. Continuing to love one another (Jn. 15:12).
C. We must abide in His words (Jn. 15:7).
1. This is where Bible study is essential, not just study but also by applying the Bible to our everyday life.
2. Jesus also connects abiding by His word to prayer.
3. True believers obey the Lord’s commands, submitting to His Word (14:21, 23). Because of their commitment to God’s Word, they are devoted to His will, thus their prayers are fruitful (14:13, 14), (1) see endnote
D. We must abide in His love (Jn. 15:9).
1. Fruit-bearing is the growth of love, which results in joy (Jn. 15:11-12).
2. The qualities of love are seen in followers of Christ's lives. (Jn. 13:34-35).
a. Their conduct towards others.
b. The inner joy and peace that have.
c. Their obedience to Christ.
d. Their prayers to the Father.
E. But what if we do not abide in Christ?
1. Apart from Christ our spiritual life will be unfruitful, no joy. Like a branch separated from the main part of the tree, it will die.
2. If we separated ourselves from Christ, we will be removed, unfruitful branches are removed (Jn. 15:2) and pruned, (Jn. 15:2).
a. It seems that Christ points out two types of pruning here there is separating and then the cutting back.
b. Sometimes God needs to prune us.
3. What do we suppose God wants to “cut back” in us?
a. Sin, all of us sin (Rom. 3:23) what sin does God need to cut from us?
b. He disciplines us – Heb. 12:6-11
1) God sometimes must discipline us to strengthen our faith.
2) Like a grapevine it only produces better grapes when it is pruned, and the dead branches are cut away.
4. Then in Jn. 15:6 the discarded branches will be thrown into the fire and burned.
a. He will one day be condemned to hell – (parable of the Net) Mt. 13:47-50
5. Christians who won’t bear fruit or who try to block the efforts of God’s followers will be cut off from the vine.
a. Notice again who does the cutting, the discarding, and the throwing into the fire. (John 15:2, it is the vinedresser, the Father).
6. Unproductive followers of Christ are as good as dead and will be cut off and tossed into the fire. Right now we have the time to repent, right now we can abide with Christ, but if someone chooses to be unproductive, one day they will be cut off and tossed into the fire.
a. The German atheist philosopher Nietzsche once said that if he saw more redeemed people he might be more inclined to believe in their Redeemer. (Source unknown)
b. Christians who do not have changed lives, lives that produce the fruit of the Spirit have a credibility gap. If I am trying to tell you how great my barber is, but I have to go home and fix his mistakes, you might question his skill. If I try to tell you how great my auto mechanic is, but my car is blowing black smoke out the exhaust, you will probably be reluctant to entrust your own vehicle to him. (Source unknown)
c. What good does it do to tell people how great our Savior is if they cannot see that we have been saved from sin and reflect the fruit in our lives?
d. Joh 15:8, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
Finally,
A. The “joy” comes from the reality of a life lived for God and in Christ.
B. Joy comes from a consistent relationship with Jesus Christ.
C. When our lives are connected to His, we will grow and produce spiritual fruit and we will have the joy of Christ in our life.
D. Do you have the joy of the Lord?
1) MacArthur, John F., Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006. Print.
