JESUS, THE TRUE VINE
John 15:1-8
INTRODUCTION
ILLUSTRATION United Parcel Service takes pride in the productivity of its delivery men and women. On average, a UPS driver delivers four hundred packages every working day. The company gets such high productivity by micromanaging the details of a deliveryman’s routine.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Robert Frank says: “With a battalion of more than 3,000 industrial engineers, the company dictates every task for employees. Drivers must step from their trucks with their right foot, fold their money face-up, and carry packages under their left arm.”
UPS “tells drivers how fast to walk (three feet per second) how many packages to pick up and deliver a day (400, on average), even how to hold their keys (teeth up, third finger).” “Those considered slow are accompanied by supervisors, who cajole and prod them with stopwatches and clipboards.” —Craig Brian Larson
Everyone is concerned about being productive – in your work, at home, in school, and even in the community. Our passage this morning talks about being spiritually productive. Last Sunday, our text told us how to have a satisfying and fulfilled life and that is by appropriating into our lives the Bread of Life – Jesus Christ.
Today, we are going to study the key towards spiritual vitality and productivity. John 15 is part of the Farewell Discourse and Jesus dealt with three relationships that involve the disciples: (1) their relationship with him (vv. 1-8), (2) their relationship with one another (vv. 9-17), and (3) their relationship with the world around them (vv. 18-27).
Our message this morning will be limited to (John 15:1-8). Read John 15:1-8. This passage talks about the relationships of the believers, who are the branches; with Jesus Christ, the true vine; and with God the Father, who is the gardener. Why did Jesus introduce himself as the True Vine?
EXPOSITION
Jesus called himself the true vine to differentiate himself from the Israelites. In the Old Testament, particularly Isaiah 5:1-7, God called Israel his vineyard. He planted them in a fertile hillside but when He looks for good grapes, He only found bad ones. As a result, God abandoned his vineyards.
Israel as the Vine of the Lord degenerated and become a wild vine because of their idolatry and disobedience of the Law. Now Jesus came to exemplify the true vine and to describe an abiding relationship between Him and the believers like the earlier relationship between Israel and God.
1. WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE BRANCHES WITH THE VINE?
What was expected from the branches is to bear fruit, this is the reason the phrase bear fruit occurred 7-8 times in this passage. Being related to Jesus Christ should result to fruit bearing. What kind of fruit does Jesus expect from the believers? (See John 15:16)
Our Lord Jesus Christ said that we must bear fruit that will last. The eternal fruit that our Lord Jesus Christ expects from us are the following:
a. Christian character (See Galatians 5:22-23) – The fruit of the Spirit is Christ-likeness and these are the fruits that last to eternity. Are we becoming more like Christ on a daily basis as a result of our relationship with Christ?
b. Christian good works (See Colossians 1:10) - We are not producing fruit to please ourselves but to serve others. We should be the kind of people who “feed” others by our good works. Are there individuals benefiting from our relationship with Jesus Christ?
c. Christian mission (See Philippians 1:22) – Reaching out to others through evangelism and mission would produce eternal results. Genuine converts in Christ would meet again in the kingdom of God. Is there anyone in this world who would give credit to you for their salvation?
We need to ask ourselves if we are bearing fruit as expected. Otherwise, there is something wrong in our relationship with the True Vine.
Many of these things could be counterfeited by the flesh, but the deception would eventually be detected, for real spiritual fruits are embedded in the heart of the followers of Christ. Counterfeit spiritual fruits are superficial and will not last while Spirit-produced fruit will go on reproducing from one life to another.
Jesus gave two reasons the believers should be fruitful. (See John 15:8)
To glorify God. (v. 8) – Realize that God is the gardener. He planted the seed and nurtures them. What would you expect the gardener feels when the vine starts to bear fruit.
Obviously he will rejoice and observers will praise and honor him for what he has accomplished. In the same way, we give honor and glory to our God when our lives produce the fruit that he expects.
To prove our relationship with Christ. (v. 8) – Fruitfulness is evidence that we are disciple of Christ. No one can be related with Christ without being affected by Him. A true branch, united with the vine, will always bear fruit.
Not every branch bears an abundant crop, just as not every field has abundant harvest, but there is always fruit where there is life. (See Matthew 7:15-23)
ILLUSTRATION Once someone was talking to a great scholar about a younger man. He said, “So and so tells me that he was one of your students.” The teacher answered devastatingly, “He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students.” There is a world of difference between attending lectures and being a student. It is one of the supreme handicaps of the Church that in the Church there are so many distant followers of Jesus and so few real disciples.—William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke
Jesus said that the Gardener cuts off every branch in him that bears no fruit. (See John 15:2) And the reason for bearing no fruit is that branch did not remain in the Vine. (See John 15:6) Meaning, it has no life in itself and therefore cannot produce fruit.
When we apply these to people, the branches that are cut off by the Gardener are the individuals who are not true followers of Christ – false believers and the antichrists. (See Matthew 7:15-23; 1 John 2:18-19). These are the people who professed to be the followers of Christ but failed to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. (See Matthew 3:7-10)
Notice that fruitfulness is a serious matter. It affects not only our relationship with Jesus but with God the Father too. Thus Jesus gave the key towards fruitful Christian living.
2. HOW CAN THE BELIEVERS BEAR FRUIT?
a. By being pruned by the gardener. (John 15:1-3)
Pruning is necessary for any vine. Pruning is removing the dead wood attached to the vine. Dead wood is worse than fruitlessness, for dead wood can harbor disease and decay. Eventually it will destroy the entire plant.
Pruning is also trimming the living tissue of the vine so that the life of the vine will not be dissipated and the quality of the crop will not be jeopardized. In fact, the vinedresser will even cut away whole bunches of grapes so that the rest of the crop will be of higher quality. Pruning aims for both quantity and quality of harvest.
Pruning is an important part of caring for the vine. It must be done by carefully trained person or they can destroy an entire crop. Some vineyards invest two or three years in training the “pruners” so they know where to cut, how much to cut, and even at what angle to make the cut.
God’s people also need divine pruning. God removes the dead wood from His church and trims the life of the believers so they would become fruitful. The greatest judgment God could bring to a believer would be to let him alone, let him have his own way.
Because God loves us, He “prunes” us and encourages us to bear more fruit for His glory. Spiritual pruning does not simply mean spiritual surgery that removes what is bad. It can also mean cutting away the good and the better so that we might enjoy the best. God wants not only quantity but quality believers.
As a church, do we possess the quality of believers God desires? Quantity is exciting but quality is lasting. Quality believers are the ones that produce lasting fruits – Christian character, good works, & mission. Qualitative growth will also result to quantitative growth but not vice-versa.
The Lord’s way of making sure that His church is composing of quality believers is through the pruning process. Yes, pruning hurts, but it also helps.
ILLUSTRATION A sculptor once fashioned a magnificent lion out of solid stone. When asked how he had accomplished such a wonderful masterpiece, he replied, “It was easy. All I did was to chip away everything that didn’t look like a lion.”
Pruning is God’s way of chipping away everything in our lives that doesn’t look like Christ. Pruning the life of the believers comes in different ways:
Pruning through the Word of God. (John 15:3)
Word of God condemns sin; it inspires holiness; it promotes growth. As Gods people obey God’s Word, they underwent a pruning process that removed evil from them and conditioned them for further service. (See Hebrews 4:12-13; Psalm 1:1-3)
If we don’t read the Word of God, we can avoid the pruning process by God but we also miss the opportunity of fruitful life. The devil does want us to read and obey God’s Word because it has the power change our lives.
Pruning through the discipline by God. (See Hebrews 12:5-11)
Discipline comes in the form of testing, deprivation, trials, loss, preventive and corrective measures by God. At the time, it hurts when He removes something precious from us; but as the “spiritual crop” is produced, we see that the Father knew what He was doing.
b. By remaining in the Vine. (See John 15:4-7)
To remain means to “stay, continue, wait, or dwell” as oppose to going away. The branches to be fruitful must be continually connected to the Vine. Perhaps the reason Jesus talks about this subject is because of the difficulty of undergoing the pruning process. Since pruning hurts, it is tempting for the believers to give up and be cut off from the vine.
If you examine the idea of remaining in the vine, it appears passive and inactive. But if we use our knowledge of science, we know that there is an ongoing activity or interaction between and within the vine and the branches. The nutrients develop by the vine are being transmitted to its branches. Eventually those nutrients will strengthen the branches and produce flowers which later turn into fruits.
In the same way, remaining in Christ is not a passive thing. Remaining in Christ is ongoing interaction between the believers and Jesus Christ. (See Colossians 2:6-7) This interaction leads to the building up and strengthening of relationship between Christ and the believers.
The relationship is strengthened by conscious acceptance of the authority of God’s Word and a constant contact with him by prayer. (See John 15:7) The evidence that we accept the authority of God’s Word is when fruits are produce – Christian character, good works, and mission.
Therefore, remaining in Christ means that we are actively interacting and fellowshipping with God himself. Any relationship without interaction would eventually die. What is going on in your relationship with God?
Jesus promise that we can ask God for whatever we wish and He will grant it. Let me clarify this statement, the assurance of answers to our prayer is relative to the fruitfulness of our lives. (See John 15:16) He was not promising to gratify every pleasure and impulse of the flesh.
Rather Jesus would grant every request that would help accomplish fruitfulness in one’s life. Therefore remaining in Christ means we continue in interactive relationship through obedience of His Word and constant communication through prayer. We discuss with God His will and our part, we partner with God in accomplishing His plan for the world, and we cooperate with Him as we use his provisions for life.
CONCLUSION
Christ declaration of being the True Vine signifies the importance of fruitfulness. Christ desires not only followers but producers. God is not only interested in the quantity but the quality of followers.
The more we abide in Christ, the more fruit we bear; and the more fruit we bear, the more the Father has to prune us so that the quality keeps up with the quantity. God is glorified not only by a bigger crop but also by a better crop.
Are we bearing fruit as expected? If not, don’t prevent God from pruning your lives and remain in constant interaction with God.
Fruitful Christian living is the most meaningful life on earth. This is available to all who will come before God and appropriate Him in your life. In addition, continue to live in him so you may experience not only vitality but productivity in one’s life.
