The Great I Am – I am the Vine
July 18, 2004
John 15:1-8
Sunday AM
Setting: Jesus is w/ His disciples on the way to the Gethsemene. Somewhere along the way, they likely came across a vineyard which served as the perfect setting for another important lesson from the Messiah.
Note: Jesus wants His followers for generations to come to know exactly how to live an overflowing life – remember, Jesus was preparing to commission them into His service and He wanted them to understand what God would do to make it happen. He wants His disciples to be fruitful followers in all aspects of life.
Insert: A fully developing follower of Jesus – diagram
I The Participants – The Vineyard vs. 1, 5
A The Vine (Jesus)
Note: He is the source of life and fruitfulness. A branch can neither exist nor bear fruit apart from the vine. The vine was the sacred root of the vineyard
Point: You can’t accomplish the will of God on your own – your life is for a divine purpose, but you’ll never know or accomplish apart from Jesus.
B The Vinedresser (God the Father)
Note: The vinedresser’s task is to coax from his plants the greatest harvest possible.
C The Branches (People)
Note: The branch and not the root are the focus of the vinedresser b/c the branches produce the fruit. Branches are tied to a trellis to allow the air to circulate while exposing the branches to the sun. The vinedresser lovingly cultivates every branch that it might produce fruit.
II The Purpose – Bear Fruit
Verse: I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. Jn. 15:16
Verse: By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. Jn. 15:8
Note: Practically speaking, fruit represents good works including thoughts, actions, and attitudes that value and honor God.
A Inner Fruit
Note: When you allow God to nurture in you Christ-like qualities.
Verse: The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, meekness, and self-control. Gal. 5:22-23
B Outer Fruit
Note: When you allow Christ to work through you to bring Him glory and to impact others for the Kingdom of God. This occurs when your life begins to fulfill the Great Commission – and you are used of God to impact your world for Him.
Verse: God is able to make grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Cr. 9:8
III The Process – Nurturing vs. 2-3
Notice: As a child of God – either your life produces good fruit or no fruit. And depending on your fruitfulness, will determine how God will tend to your life.
A Bears No Fruit (Lifts Up)
Word: airo – take or lift up (not cut off or remove)
Used in Mt. 14;20 – the disciples took up 12 baskets of food.
Used in Jn. 1:29 – John the Baptist called Jesus the one who takes away sin.
Story: B. Wilkerson w/ vineyard owner – Owner explained that new branches have a natural tendency to trail down and grow along the ground, but are unable to produce fruit b/c leaves get coated w/ dust, mud, and mildew stagnating fruitfulness – the branches becomes sick and useless. But a vinedresser would never cut off the new growth b/c it is much too valuable and its potential too abundant. The keeper walks through the vineyard w/ water to clean off, lift up, and attach to the trellis to expose to the sunlight so that the branch thrives.
Trans: For the Christian, sin is like dirt covering our branches stagnating fruitfulness – air and light can’t get in and we languish in unfruitfulness. So the Father has to bring us through a gentle and loving process to clean us up to cultivate us.
Question: What does God do w/ wayward, unfruitful believers? He takes whatever means necessary to cultivate them to fruitfulness. (see Hebrews 12:5-6)
Verse: You have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, don’t take the Lord’s discipline lightly, or faint when you’re reproved by Him; for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives.
1 He Reproves (Rebukes)
Note: A rebuke is a verbal warning where God makes Himself heard through:
• A prick of our conscience
• A timely word of encouragement from a person
• A verse or passage of Scripture
• A word of truth from a sermon or Bible study.
• A word of conviction from the Holy Spirit
Note: If we have open ears to hear God and open hearts to respond, then we will be turned back toward God, but if not, then the discipline intensifies.
2 He Disciplines (Chastens)
Note: Chastening is something you feel as emotional anxiety, frustration, and distress stealing joy and peace from your life. Pressure increases in all areas of your life leading to discontent and tension.
You start becoming discontent at church, at home, at work, and at rest. You begin to become unfulfilled and critical and the things of God become a weight instead of a relief – b/c God isn’t going to give you peace in the midst of disobedience. That’s why He ran Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.
Trans: And if a person doesn’t recognize God’s discipline and continues in a path contrary to His will and way – then discipline will turn to punishment.
3 He Punishes (Scourges)
Note: To inflict punishment – the same word used to describe what the Roman soldiers did to Jesus before they crucified Him.
Note: This is serious and it’s not a pretty picture. The word for scourge could be translated – excruciating pain.
Note: At this level, a person is living in open sin w/ a flagrant disregard for truth and righteousness. They are abusing the grace of God as a license for sin. This rebellion incurs God’s greatest love to return you to fruitfulness as He uses intense pain to try to bring you back to your senses and into a right relationship.
Quote: God whispers through pleasure, but He shouts to us through pain. Lewis
Note: God’s actions are always intended to nudge us lovingly, persistently, and wisely toward the life and character He desire in us – Christ-likeness.
He wants us to be fruitful disciples for His Kingdom and Glory – “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, that you bear much fruit.”
B Bears Good Fruit (Prunes)
Note: Those who produce fruit get pruned – they get the knife – and pruning isn’t fun, but it is the only way to be productive. In fact, a grapevine, like a disciple, will never produce anywhere near its potential w/out being pruned.
• Pinching – remove tip to slow growth process
• Topping – taking 1 to 2 feet off the top to prevent the loss of a shoot
• Thinning – grape cluster enables the branch to produce more grapes
• Cutting – taking out the suckers gives more nourishment to the plant
Note: Where discipline is meant to lead us to repentance, pruning is intended to lead us to release ourselves to God and His purpose – it’s not about me!
Insert: Your heavenly Father is never nearer to you than when He is pruning you. Sometimes the He cuts away the dead wood that might cause trouble; but often he cuts off the living tissue that is robbing you of spiritual vigor. God is cutting away self – He must increase, we must decrease. But the pruning process doesn’t just cut away the bad, it also trims the good.
Note: God is cutting away anything detrimental to our relationship w/ Him.
IV The Priority – Abide
A The Imperative – ABIDE
Define: To remain; to stay closely connected; to settle in for the long term.
Insert: It is to make God the center of your universe in which all of your life orbits around His will.
B The Promise – BLESSING
1 I will abide with you
Idea: Abide in me and I will continue to live through you making you fruitful.
2 I will bless you
Note: By abiding you and I stay connected to Him drawing spiritual strength and nourishment from Him affording us His power to flow through us causing us to be fruitful for His glory.
How Do I Abide
• I must deepen the quality of my devoted time w/ God
• I must broaden my devoted time from an appointment to a lifestyle
• I must realize the my devotion is based on the truth of His promises
• I must abide by faith that leads to obedience
• I must be in a continual state of decreasing in self to increase in Him
