(An audio version of this sermon can be found at https://www.spreaker.com/episode/john-15-verses-1-8-i-am-the-vine-you-are-the-branches–59668747)
A newspaper reporter went to interview a successful small business owner. “How did you do it?” he asked. “How did you make all this money?”
“I’m glad you asked,” the businessman said. “It’s a great story. When my wife and I married, we started out with a roof over our heads, some food in our pantry, and five cents between us. I took that nickel, went down to the grocery store, bought an apple, shined it up, and sold it for ten cents. “
“What did you do then?” the reporter asked.
“Well,” he said, “I bought two more apples, shined them up, and sold them for twenty cents.” The reporter thought this would be a great human interest story, so he asked excitedly, “Then what?” The businessman replied, “Then my father-in-law died and left us $20 million”.
The businessman prospered not because of his own ingenuity, but because he was connected. What does it mean to be connected? Well, it means three things. First, it means that we have power. When we say we have connections, it means that we have access to power and wealth. It means that we can get things done. When we are connected to each other through our faith in Jesus Christ, it means that we are strong and can get things done. Our faith gets nourishment and strength from both Christ and our fellow believers. As our faith strengthens, it bears fruit in the form of bringing benefit to ourselves and to the lives of others while doing God’s work in the world.
The events in John 15:1-8 took place as Jesus and His disciples left the Upper Room and moved toward the Garden of Gethsemane. As they walked past the temple, they saw an ornament. That ornament was a golden vine with a cluster of grapes as large as a man. Jesus’ relationship with the disciples could not be stated in precise, theological terms, so He used the image of a vine and its branches to illustrate spiritual truth. His union with the disciples was as alive as the relationship of the vine to its branches.
The second thing that being connected means is that we have a presence. We are not alone. Someone shares our lives. Someone is there for us, just like all of you are here for each other. If we abide with Christ, it means that we have a close, daily relationship with Him. Thus, we become a branch of the vine called Christianity-a branch that bears fruit. As such, our wants will be his wants, we will pray according to His words, and he will be pleased with our prayers.
Being connected means that we will live a productive life. A vine and its fruit point to the giftedness of discipleship while also indicating the substance that will sustain new branches and abundant fruit. The relationship between the vine and the branches, as well as the connection between source and fruit, lies in the love between God and Jesus, and between Jesus and us. In other words, we are to love one another as Christ has loved us. If the branch is not attached to the vine, it withers and dies. The very life of the branch depends on being attached to the vine. The same thing happens if we try to operate in this life without Jesus.
What does it mean to abide in Christ? Let’s take a look at the letters in the word “abide”:
- “A” stands for absolute surrender. We have to come to Him just as we are, confessing our sin and saying, “You are the potter and I am the clay.”
- “B” stands for believe. We have to trust Him completely to do with us, for us, and around us what is very best while we stand on His promises.
- “I” stands for insight. We have to pour ourselves into His Word each day, learning His ways and gaining His insights for living.
- “D” stands for dedication. We have to persevere over time, separating ourselves from sinful habits and from people and places that may hinder our purity.
- “E” stands for enthusiasm. We go about His work in the power and energy He provides.
God owns the vineyard and cares for it. As with any responsible vineyard owner, His main purpose in growing a vineyard is that it will bear fruit. The branches that bear fruit must get all the nourishment. The experiences in life that we call troubles-the hurts, disappointments, and defeats-are God’s way of pinching off those excess leaves that seem so attractive but bear no fruit. The branches that bear no fruit will be removed. When they become dry and lifeless He casts them out to be burned. This is the final judgment on those who no longer “abide” in the vine.
The disciples are not perfect, but they have been made clean, for the unnecessary lives have been cut off. This refers to Judas, who betrayed Jesus. The word which Jesus has spoken has pruned them so they might bear fruit. Each one has been searched, cleansed, and prepared for ministry. The fruit that the disciples bear is not what they do, but the life of Jesus in them. It is His character reproduced in them and shared with others in love. This cannot pass without the disciple abiding in Jesus, making his home in Him as Jesus makes His home in the disciple. His life is shared with the disciples as their life is given to Him.
The only way we can play a significant role in the kingdom of God is to allow Jesus to live His life in and through us. We can only be grafted to Christ by cutting our attachment to our way of life and its creature comforts just like a gardener prunes bushes to make then grow better. The useless branches have to be removed in order to save and strengthen the stronger ones, much like a surgeon cuts off a person’s diseased limbs in order to save his or her life. Only then can we truly be fruitful and multiply. While apart from Him we can do nothing, in Him we can do anything He calls us to do.
There is one main blight that attacks the branches of the Vine, which, if not severely dealt with, will destroy our fruitfulness. That blight is sin. Sin blocks the free flow of the sap of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Since the Holy Spirit is the One who truly produces the fruit that we bear, anything that grieves or quenches Him affects our fruitfulness.
Branches cannot bear fruit independent of the vine. The fundamental truth of being a Christian is that one must be connected to Jesus. The teaching about unfaithful branches is not a reference to believers losing their salvation; branches that are cast out are nonbelievers whose eventual destiny is fire.
We as the branches are completely dependent on the Vine not only for fruit, but for life. Whether because of pride or fear or some other reason, we as branches seem to struggle with being totally dependent on the Vine. We can overcome this struggle by remaining connected to the vine. All we have to do is rest in our positions and allow the sap of the vine to flow freely through us.
Jesus described this drastic pruning in a believer’s life when He explained that God the Gardner “cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.” There are times when God cuts everything out of our lives except our relationship with Jesus. He forces us to pay attention to our relationship with Him because that’s all we have. In the process, our connection to the vine is enlarged and fruit is produced. As long as we walk closely with the Lord and keep our lives open to receive the daily filling of the Holy Spirit, our lives will be filled with the fruit of the Spirit.
Bibliography
- Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1469)
- Frederikson, R.L.; & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 27: John (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1985, pp. 226-229)
- Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
- MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The Mac Arthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
- Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010)
- Anne Graham Lotz, “Drastic Pruning.” Retrieved from info@angelministries.org
- Anne Graham Lotz, “The Blight of Sin.” Retrieved from info@angelministries.org
- Anne Graham Lotz, “More Consistency.” Retrieved from info@angelministries.org
- Anne Graham Lotz, “The Sap of His Spirit.” Retrieved from info@angelministries.org
- Dr. David Jeremiah, “A.B.I.D.E.” Retrieved from turningpoint@davidjeremiah.org
- Joel Osteen, “Remain in Him.” Retrieved from devotional@goto.joelosteen.com
- Dr. Michael Youssef, “The Fruit of the Holy Spirit.” Retrieved from mydevotional@leadingtheway.org
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