April 6, 2003
Morning Service
Text: John 15:1-8
Subject: Jesus, the True Vine
Title: Fruit Producers of the World, Unite!
I kind of fancy myself as a student. I am always trying to learn something new from every situation. As a young man beginning in the carpenter trade I learned by watching and asking questions. I found that if I could understand the why of something it was easier to apply. However, if something was done just because that was the way it was always done, then forget it. That kind of information was wasted on me.
Observing churches, I have become a student of different philosophies of church growth. I have studied different pastors and learned from the, in both negative and positive situations. In other words, I have considered the things I would do and wouldn?t do. In the beginning I thought that many of the growing churches were churches that made Christianity easy for people. They were churches of convenience that didn?t require much commitment from anyone. Though this may be true in a few cases, what I have really found to be the truth is that churches that are growing are fruit producing churches.
There was a pastor in a small town who was asked to preach the funeral of one of his church members. He was an older pastor of an older congregation and as he began to preach he had one of those senior moments ? and he forgot the name of the man who had passed on. But undaunted by his failing memory he moved to the front of the casket, looked down and said, ?This corpse has been a member of this church for 25 years.?
Today we want to look at the very end of Jesus? ministry as He was speaking to His disciples before His arrest. In this passage Jesus gives very clear instructions for what it takes to have a healthy growing church. If a church will do these three things ? Bear fruit, Abide in Jesus, and Ask - it will thrive.
Today we are going to take all of the corpses out of the church and replace them with fruit producers.
I. Bear fruit.
a. Know the source of your nutrition.
i. Jesus said, ?I am the true vine??
1. The vine was an Old Testament symbol of Israel.
a. Psalm 80:8,9, ?You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations, and planted it. You prepared room for it, and caused it to take deep root, and it filled the land.?
2. Not always used in a positive sense.
a. Isaiah 5:1,2,7, ?My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill (the opportunity to bear fruit was there). He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine (Israel). He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. Vs 7 For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. But He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.?
3. Jesus was saying, ?don?t put your faith in who you are ? children of Israel ? but in whose you are!
a. ?I am the true vine!?
b. Israel is a vine planted in God?s vineyard but they missed the whole point of their relationship. God gave them the law to draw them to Himself in faith, but they loved the law more than the Law-Giver.
b. Christians are branches.
i. You are connected to the vine.
1. The vine is the source of your nutrients that keeps you alive.
a. Man does not live by bread alone but by every utterance that comes form the mouth of God.
2. If there is any kind of interruption between the vine and the branches, the branches suffer and are unproductive.
a. Sin
ii. Every branch that does not bear fruit is taken away.
1. These are the branches that are no longer receiving the life giving nutrients from the vine.
a. Branches that have stopped attending church.
i. Ephesians 5 says that we are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness ?
ii. Speak to one another in psalms and spiritual hymns and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
1. Where does spiritual growth take place?
a. In church!
b. Branches that have stopped praying.
i. We are told to ?pray without ceasing.?
1. Why?
2. To build themselves up in the most holy faith!
c. Branches that have become hearers of the word only and not doers.
iii. Folks if we aren?t taking care to get that spiritual nourishment ? it?s your responsibility ? you will become unfruitful and die a spiritual death.
c. Two kinds of fruit.
i. Fruit of the Spirit.
1. Galatians 5:22.23
a. This should be the normal result of the Christian life.
ii. The other kind of fruit?
1. Apples produce apples, peaches ? peaches and so on.
2. Apples don?t produce lemons.
3. Christians, when the branch is healthy, should produce new Christians.
a. How does that happen?
b. It?s your responsibility to share the gospel ? plant the seed ? and then watch it grow.
c. It?s called bearing fruit.
i. Jesus looked at a fig tree that had all its leaves and just looked like it should be a great fruit producer ? but there was none.
1. And He cursed it and it withered and died.
2. If there was no fruit on the branch maybe it was dying already.
3. Many people in evangelical churches today look good. They look like fruit bearers.
a. But there is nothing there.
i. 95% of evangelical Christians today have never led another person to Christ.
4. While the world is multiplying the church is still adding.
4. Fruit produces more fruit and the church lives on.
5. And every branch that produces fruit will be taken care of properly by the vinedresser.
a. Pruning
i. Cutting away the suckers that steal your nutrients.
b. Watering.
i. Spiritual diet.
c. Providing covering in the barren times of winter.
i. When grapevines are prepared for the harsh winters they are pruned and then covered with mulch.
ii. Christians must have a covering also to survive the winter seasons of life.
d. The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.
II. Abide in Christ
a. Frit bearing cannot be doe outside of abiding with Christ but it is inevitable with abiding.
b. Greek word ? meno
i. Strong?s concordance - To stay in a given place, state, relation, or expectancy.
ii. All of these relate to our Christian walk.
c. To stay in a given place.
i. Abide in Christ
1. Verse 5, ?He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.?
2. Luke 24:49, ?Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.
3. Sometimes you have to wait before you make your move.
d. Stay in a given state.
i. Remain fruitful.
1. Every branch that does to bear fruit is taken away.
2. How can we do that?
a. Living in Christ ? abiding.
b. ?Apart from Me you can do nothing.?
3. Comes with a warning.
a. If anyone does not abide in Me (doesn?t bear fruit) is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire and they are burned.?
b. Remain in Christ
i. Psalm 69:28 indicates that we can walk away from God?s grace.
ii. ?Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.?
iii. We should continue to walk in a spiritual state.
iv. Romans 8:5, ?For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.?
e. Stay in a given relation.
i. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
ii. Paul wrote to the Galatians, ?I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel.?
iii. ?Abide in Me? is relational.
1. Continue in your relationship with the Lord.
f. Stay in a given expectancy.
i. Titus 2:11-13, ?For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.?
g. If we bear fruit and remain in Christ there is one more thing we need to do.
III. Ask!
a. Ask what?
i. Verse 7 says, ?Ask whatever you desire.?
1. Look at the condition that comes with that.
a. ?If you abide in Me and My words abide in you??
ii. If we look at the context of this passage we see that the whole idea here is about bearing fruit and abiding in Christ.
1. Jesus? words abiding in us means we know His will.
2. We know what the Bible says about God?s promises.
3. We must ask with right motives.
4. We must ask without doubt.
5. But we must ask!
a. You have not because you ask not and if you do ask you ask with wrong motives.
b. What can we ask for then?
i. That the fruit of the Spirit be made manifest in you.
ii. That the harvest be ready for the harvesters.
c. The whole purpose is wrapped up in verse 8.
i. ?By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.?
ii. Why do we abide in Christ?
1. The Father will be glorified in our lives.
iii. Why are we fruit producers?
1. The Father will be glorified in the salvation He provides.
a. Through changed lives.
b. Through on fire baby Christians that we can nurture.
c. Through new doors being opened for the gospel of Christ.
d. Through growing church.
How are we going to glorify God in this church? Are we going to be fruit producers or is the harvest going to rot in the field? Are we going to be church - goers, or are we going to abide in Christ? I just want to mention something interesting about abiding. It would appear that the word abide gives a sense of waiting and inactivity. Is that the case? I don?t think so! Jesus told the apostles to go and tarry in Jerusalem. They waited but they were not inactive. They were praying. And look what happened. It was the beginning of the greatest revival yet. The Holy Spirit fell and 3000 were saved. Jesus said abide in me. Does that mean that we just sit back and let God do everything? We are His hands. If abiding means doing nothing then the apostle Paul missed the boat somewhere. Doing nothing does not glorify God.
We do abide in Christ. Paul says that if we have the Holy Spirit then we can know the mind of Christ. We can be in Him as He is in the Father and He is in us. We can rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us, to empower us, to encourage us, to excite us if we abide in Christ. We can expect to bear fruit if we abide in Christ. We can expect the Father to be glorified if we abide in Christ.
Is this church an abiding church? I think it is. Is this church a visionary church? It is time to start looking toward the vision instead of our surroundings. Does God want this place to be filled with children? We better get a van. Does God want an influx of new Christians in this church? We better have a discipleship class ready.
We have to look at things in a totally new way. There are seven words that will bury a dead church. ?We have always done it that way.?
We must decide whether we are going to be a living church of the Living God or a dead church just waiting for someone to bury it.
Live churches? expenses are always more than their income; dead churches don?t need much money!
Live churches have parking problems; Dead churches have empty spaces!
Live churches may have some noisy children; Dead churches are quiet as a cemetery.
Live churches keep changing their ways of doing things; Dead churches see no need for change!
Live churches grow so fast you can?t keep up with people?s names; In dead churches everybody always knows everybody?s name.
Live churches strongly support world missions; Dead churches keep the money at home!
Live churches move ahead on prayer and faith; Dead churches work only on sight!
Live churches plant daughter churches; Dead churches fear spending the money, time, and talent!
Live churches outgrow their Sunday School facilities; Dead churches have room to spare!
Live churches welcome all classes of people; Dead churches stick to their own kind!
Live churches? members read their Bibles and bring them to church; Dead churches? members seldom do!
Live churches? members enthusiastically support the ministries; Dead churches have no ministries--only functions!
Live churches? members reach out to share their faith in Christ; Dead churches? members don?t have enough to share!
So what is it going to be? Alive in Christ or dead and not buried yet. I know which one glorifies God. Do you?
