Staying Connected
Text: Jn. 15:1-11
Introduction
1. Read Jn. 15:1-11
2. Illustration: S. D. Gordon tells of a spring storm that broke a large limb on his cherry tree. Although it hung by a very slender strand, to his surprise the blossoms came anyway. Later some fruit began to grow as it did on the other branches. He noticed, however, that only those in full contact with the tree bore "much fruit," while the partially severed branch produced only a scanty supply. As believers, we must be careful about our spiritual connections, making sure we are fully abiding in Christ. The fruit we bear, whether much or little, tells the story.
Proposition: If we want to live fruitful Christian lives, we have to stay connected to Christ.
I. Abiding In Christ Will Cause Us to Bear Fruit (1-4)
A. A Branch Cannot Bear Fruit By Itself
1. The grapevine is a prolific plant; a single vine bears many grapes. In the Old Testament, grapes symbolized Israel’s fruitfulness in doing God’s work on earth.
a. The prophets had written of Israel as God’s vine, carefully planted and cared for.
b. But the vine was a disappointment because it yielded only rotten fruit; that is, they refused to give him love and obedience.
2. Jesus says ""I am the true vine..."
a. He lays it right out there for His disciples to see. Jesus is the vine.
b. He doesn’t say that the church is the vine, but He himself is the vine.
c. The church is no more than the branches in the vine (Morris, NICNT-Gospel According to John, 593).
3. Not only that, but Jesus says He is the "true" vine.
a. Unless the believer is vitally connected with him, the quality of his fruitfulness will be unacceptable. - Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM
b. There may be many branches, but if they are to bear the right kind of fruit, they must be a part of the real vine.
4. Notice also that Jesus says the Father is the "husbandman," or "vinedresser."
a. Vinedressers both trim branches so that they will produce more fruit and cut away dead branches that have no life in them. In each case the assumption is that fruit-bearing is the test of life-giving attachment to the vine. -
(Burge, Gary M. "The Vine and the Branches (15:1 - 17)" In NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: John. By Gary M. Burge, 418. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000.)
b. If we bear fruit, He prunes us so that we bear more fruit.
5. However, if we do not bear fruit He cuts us off.
a. Pruning is necessary for any vine. Dead wood is worse than fruitlessness, for dead wood can harbor disease and decay.
b. An untrimmed vine will develop long rambling branches that produce little fruit because most of the strength of the vine is given to growing wood. -Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM
6. He said "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me."
a. "Remaining," for the disciples and for all believers today, means to make a constant, moment-by-moment decision to follow Christ.
b. And we must not be passive--believers don’t just sit and "remain" until they die. Instead, we must be active--we have a lot to do.
B. Wither and Die
1. Illustration: I remember when I was a little boy, we had a grape vine in our back yard. My Dad used to get so made because it seemed like every year the kids in the neighborhood would get into the grapes before they had time to ripen. We would come home from somewhere and find a bunch of grapes all over the ground. Before long those grapes would rot and die because they were no longer connected to the vine.
2. If we want to stay in Christ, we must first stay connected to the vine. Unless we stay connected we will die.
3. Second, we must allow the Father to prune us, by cutting away all the things in our life that do not produce fruit.
a. If those things are allowed to stay in us, not only will we not produce fruit, but they will eventually suck the life right out of us.
b. It may hurt a little when the Father begins to cut things away, but the end result is always better.
4. 1 Jn. 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
5. The things of the world will:
a. Pollute us
b. Poison us
c. Destroy us
6. However, the loving pruning of the Father will produce life giving fruit in our lives.
Transition: Furthermore...
II. Abiding In Christ Will Cause Us to be Successfull (5-8)
A. Apart From Me
1. Again, Jesus reminds us that He is the vine and we are the branches.
a. We must not confuse our role. He is the vine and we are the branches.
b. We can never think that we can accomplish anything apart from our relationship with Him.
2. But look at what He says will happen if we abide in Him. He says "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit."
a. Fruitbearing is not only possible but certain if the branch remains in union with the vine. - Expositor’s Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM
b. He says that if we remain in Him and he in us we WILL bear much fruit.
c. There is no question about it. If we remain in Him we will bear much fruit.
3. On the other hand, look what Jesus says will happen if we do not abide in Him: "for without Me you can do nothing."
a. In isolation from Him no spiritual achievement is possible (Morris, 596).
b. We will never be able to accomplish the things that God has for us if we try to do it without Christ.
4. Not only that, but the consequences of not abiding in Him are disastrous. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."
a. To fail to "remain" in Christ, to fail to find life in the vine (i.e., Jesus), risks separation from the vineyard and consequent destruction (Burge, 418).
b. The branch seems physically attached, but it is not organically part of the plant because it does not participate in the life-giving flow of the vine.
c. Sooner or later, that branch will drop off and have to be thrown away.
5. Yet, look again how Jesus returns to the positive. He says "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."
a. An essential part of being a disciple requires bearing fruit for the Lord. And in order to pray for results, a person must remain in Christ.
b. For when we remain in him, our thoughts and desires conform to his, and we can pray "in his name" (14:13), knowing that our requests please God.
c. We can be assured then that whatever we ask will be done.
B. Results
1. Illustration: Someone told of a church that believed in sinless perfection once you trusted Jesus Christ into your life and were baptized. A visitor to that church heard this teaching and asked to be baptized. He was tired of dealing with his habitual sin without any success. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of winter and the river was near frozen.
The man with much persistence got the Elders to baptize him in the river. After the man and two Elders came out of the freezing cold water, the man was so excited, he said, "I feel so good, I’m not even cold." One Elder turned to the other and said, "He’s lying, we have to do it again."
2. The way to success in the Christian life does not lay in some quick fix, hocus-pocus, but in abiding in the vine.
3. Success in the Christian life requires continuous, habitual prayer and study of the word.
4. Success in the Christian life is not about formulas, but about faithfulness.
5. Success in the Christian life means growing closer to Christ on a day-to-day basis.
Transition: Without abiding in the vine, we will accomplish nothing. By abiding in the vine, we will accomplish whatever God desires.
III. Abiding In Christ Will Cause Us to Have Joy (9-11)
A. That Your Joy Maybe Full
1. Believers must remain in Jesus (15:4), remain in his words (15:7), and remain in his love.
a. For the Son to love us in the same way that his Father loves him means we receive the greatest love possible.
b. We should respond with total dedication, commitment, and obedience.
2. We can remain in Jesus’ love by obeying his commands--just as he obeyed his Father’s commands.
a. Remain in My love might seem to be mystical but Jesus makes it very concrete.
b. Obedience to the Father’s commands is the same for a disciple as it was for the Son.
c. Active dependence and loving obedience are the proper paths for all of God’s children.—Bible Knowledge Commentary
3. Jesus said the result of abiding in Him is joy.
a. Note that this joy is not merely a human happiness. Jesus desires "that my joy may be in you" (Burge, 418).
b. It is not the world’s joy, but it is Jesus joy that we will have if we abide in Him.
B. Joyous Living
1. Illustration: An old dog was watching a young dog chase his tail. The young dog stopped to rest, and told the older dog, “I believe happiness is in my tail, and if I catch it, then I will have happiness!” The older, wiser dog said, “I caught mine once. . . and I found out that happiness is not in the catching, it’s in the pursuit.”
Sometimes it seems like the people who seem like they’ve “caught” everything they were chasing after haven’t found joy in it!
2. Joy cannot be found in chasing after the latest fad.
3. Joy cannot be found in keeping up with the Jones’s.
4. Joy cannot be found prestige, fame, or glamour.
5. Joy can only be found in abiding in the vine - Jesus!
Conclusion
1. Abiding in Christ will cause us to bear fruit.
2. Abiding in Christ will cause us to be successful.
3. Abiding in Christ will cause us to have joy.
4. You can be three things in life:
a. Fruitful
b. Just hanging on
c. Dead
5. Notice that just hanging on is next to dead! Which one are you?
