1 I AM THE TRUE VINE JOHN 15:1-17 The international ...

I AM THE TRUE VINE JOHN 15:1-17
The international headquarters of Wendy’s fast food restaurants is over in nearby
Dublin, but there are individual Wendy’s franchises all over Columbus and all
over the country. Each individual Wendy’s restaurant is like a branch office of
Wendy’s corporation. Both need each other. One the one hand, without the
capital and resources available to an individual Wendy’s franchise from the
parent company, there would be far less chance of it surviving much less
showing a profit. On the other hand, without those franchises out there serving
the customers, the parent corporation – Wendy’s International - cannot grow.
In a sense, Jesus has chosen to establish a branch office or a franchise in every
one of His followers in order to promote and extend His Kingdom. You’re a
branch office of Jesus Christ, Inc. You’re His franchise. Through you He has
access into your family, your school, your office, your neighborhood and your
friends’ lives who don’t follow Him yet. Through His followers, Jesus has
established branch offices in the business world, in the political arena, in the
laboratories of science, in the halls of education, industry and the arts. I always
get a laugh when people assume that you can only serve the Lord through “full
time” ministry. As if being a pastor, a missionary or doing some other kind of full
time ministry work is the only way to follow Jesus fully! What a ridiculous idea!
Jesus is the greatest communicator who ever lived. He loved to use images and
pictures of everyday life to drive home important spiritual truths. During these
weeks leading up to Easter Sunday – a time of the year that many Christian
churches refer to as Lent – we’ve been considering a collection of Jesus
statements that all begin with the words, “I am.” I am the Bread of Life. I am the
Light of the World. I am the Good Shepherd. Each statement points to Jesus’
deity – He was and is God in human flesh. But each statement also underlines
how His deity impacts your humanity. Let’s look at yet another one of Jesus’
images today.
“I AM the True Vine.” Last week Jesus said He’s like a good shepherd. Here
He compares Himself to a grapevine. These aren’t as familiar images to us
today as they were to people in Jesus’ day. Have you ever wondered what
images or word pictures Jesus would use if He was walking around today
teaching in our culture I see some similarities between comparing a grape vine
and its branches to a corporation and its branch offices. Today, Jesus might say,
“I AM the parent corporation and you are the branch offices. If you remain in me,
you’ll be successful and make a large profit. But if you decide to go independent
- cutting yourself off from my capital and resources - , you’ll go bankrupt
eventually. You – the branch office - need me to survive and flourish. I – the
parent corporation – need you to extend my influence.” Let’s look a little closer at
two themes Jesus develops in this passage. Here’s the first one:
ABIDING IN THE VINE
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What’s that all about First of all, it means living a life of deep intimacy with
Jesus. A branch is totally dependent on the vine for that life-giving sap for its
nourishment and life. If it gets severed from the vine, it dries up quickly and dies
off. Without the grape vine, a branch can’t grow and develop any grapes. Now,
Jesus says here that He’s the “true” vine. That simply means that He’s the real,
genuine source of the spiritual life God wants for you. There are all kinds of
spiritual life out there. Some of it’s demonic. Some of it’s merely psychological.
Some of it’s made up. All the spiritual life God wants you to have flows through
Jesus. So, Jesus invites you into a deep intimacy with Himself. When you get
connected to Him, you find your hunger for truth satisfied. You find the purpose
of your life. You grow into your full potential as His creation. You make a
difference in the lives of others. Jesus had one word for it: joy. What does He
say here "‘I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your
joy, and your joy wholly mature.’” (John 15:11 MSG) That’s it – joy!
I still remember Jim Braswell. He was a fellow student at the high school I
attended. He was a year ahead of me so I didn’t know him well. I knew him well
enough, however, to see the dramatic change Jesus made in his life. Before he
became a follower of Jesus, Jim was sullen, withdrawn, critical, sarcastic and
angry. But during that year there was a real move of God across that high school
campus. Jim received Jesus as his Savior. He got plugged into the True Vine
and it made all the difference in the world. Jim became a spiritual leader on that
campus. He was positive, approachable, outgoing, gracious, compassionate and
bubbling over with joy. That’s one mark of a genuine encounter with Jesus. You
move from a withered life to a wonderful life.
A corporation extends its business through its branch offices. The initiative starts
with the parent corporation. In the same way, Jesus chooses His people. God
initiates a relationship with you – a relationship destined for deep intimacy. Being
chosen – that’s a key concept here. What did Jesus say “‘You didn't choose
me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't
spoil….’” (John 15:16 MSG) Just review all the things you’re chosen for in these
verses. You’re chosen for joy. You’re chosen for love. You’re chosen to be His
representative. You’re chosen to be His advertisement. You’re chosen to be
useful to Him. You’re chosen – believe it or not - to be Jesus’ friend.
Yes, we’re called Jesus’ servant and slave in other places, but notice what Jesus
says here. “‘I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't
understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you
friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.’” (John
15:15 MSG) Mid-eastern kings and emperors had a very select group of friends
who had access to them at all times. This group of friends had the closest and
most accessible relationship with the ruler that was possible. That’s what Jesus
wants to have with you. He actually made that friendship possible by shedding
His own blood on the cross. So, let me ask you a question: Would you describe
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your relationship with Jesus as deeply intimate If not, why not That’s what it
means to abide in the vine.
It also means living a life of strong commitment to Jesus. Eleven times in
seventeen verses here we read the word “abide” or “remain.” My first reaction is
to think of something restful, relaxing and kind of passive. “Ahhh, let’s just sit
back and abide….” Wrong idea! The actual meaning is quite the opposite.
You’ve heard someone say something like this, “Oh, Johnny is really into
basketball right now” or “What’s gotten into Sue lately She is so into gardening
these days.” What’s the implication Basketball and gardening have become
ruling interests in John and Sue’s lives respectively. They’ve become controlling
passions. When you are into something, you’re committed to it in every way
possible. People are into lots of stuff: video games, technological gadgets, online
trading, fixing up their homes, a sport, exotic vacations, you name it. It goes
beyond just some kind of a relaxing, casual enjoyment of a random activity. This
thing has its hooks in you deep!
To remain or to abide in Jesus is to be into Jesus. Jesus becomes and is the
controlling passion of your life. Everything in life revolves around Him like the
spokes of a wheel revolve around the hub of the wheel. Jesus controls; Jesus
influences; Jesus affects; Jesus rules. Every conceivable area of your life – your
energy, your time, your skills, your interests, your ambitions, your relationships –
is dominated by Jesus. You might say, “Well, that’s for pastors, church staff
people or missionaries.” Since when! This is the normal life of a healthy branch
– any and every branch – that’s connected to the vine. So, let me ask you
another question: Are you into Jesus Are you strongly committed to Jesus If
not, why not That’s what it means to abide in the vine. Deep intimacy. Strong
commitment. Let’s look just now at the other theme Jesus develops here.
There’s abiding in the vine and…
BEARING FRUIT FOR THE VINE
Branches need the vine. Branch offices – franchises – need the parent
corporation. But without healthy branches, the vine can’t bear fruit. Without
healthy branch offices, the parent corporation can’t grow in influence and
increase its profit. For reasons known only to God Himself, Jesus has chosen to
bear spiritual fruit through us – His people, His branches, His branch offices. I
like how Lloyd Ogilvie put it, “Without Him, we can’t. Without us, He won’t.”
Grapevines were very common in Jesus’ day and time. In the Old Testament,
the image of the vine was well known. The nation of Israel was compared to a
grapevine or a vineyard. “The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of
Heaven’s Armies….” (Isaiah 5:7 NLT) God says to Israel through the prophet
Jeremiah, “But I was the one who planted you, choosing a vine of the purest
stock—the very best….” (Jeremiah 2:21 NLT) The psalmist sang this back to
God about the nation, “You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove
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away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.” (Psalm 80:8 NLT)
In fact, the grapevine became the official symbol of the nation of Israel just
shortly before it was overrun by the Roman Empire. Sadly, comparing Israel to a
vine usually had a negative connotation. The nation of Israel was like an
unproductive vineyard or an unfruitful grapevine branch that produced only sour
fruit. When Jesus mentions here the fact that non-bearing branches would be
cut off and then thrown out or burned up in a fire, the implication wasn’t lost to
His original audience. It shouldn’t be lost on you or me either.
How do you bear spiritual fruit for Jesus It demands your focused willingness to
be useful to Jesus. I’m told that a typical grapevine will produce two kinds of
branches: fruit-bearing branches and leaf-bearing. The gardener prunes away
all the leaf-bearing branches so that they won’t drain any strength away from the
branches which bear fruit. The gardener has to do this if he wants to see a good
crop of grapes develop on the vine. It’s difficult to determine everything Jesus
implies by this analogy. Is He suggesting that genuine believers can lose their
salvation Can you be cut off from God even though at one point you were truly
connected to Jesus Personally, in light of what Jesus said in other places about
the security of our relationship with Him, I think that’s pushing Jesus’ metaphor of
the vine and its branches further than He may have intended. Nevertheless,
there’s one very clear, indisputable implication. We all need to hear it and hear it
well: Uselessness invites disaster. That’s true of grapevine branches; it’s also
true of human beings. That’s true in the physical world of vines and branches;
it’s also true in the spiritual world of our connection to Jesus or lack of it.
Uselessness invites disaster. Uselessness invites disaster.
If that shocks you, disturbs you or makes you feel uncomfortable - well and good.
I don’t think Jesus’ intent here was to convey comfort. My friend, if you have
little or no desire to bear fruit for Jesus - to make your life count for Him – you’re
in serious trouble spiritually. God will cut you off! If you have a sort of lazy, take
it or leave it attitude towards the things of God, the people of God, the church of
God and serving God, you need to begin hearing the sound of some heavenly
clippers moving in your direction. God will cut you off! If life for you is just kind of
finding a way through it all – getting an education, earning a living, raising a
family, getting comfortable financially, planning your retirement, staying out of
trouble, trying to be a good person, turning up at church because it’s the right
thing to do, but avoiding anything that looks remotely like a spiritual risk, a
spiritual challenge or spiritual growth – you’re in bad shape. God will cut you off!
Heed the warning in Jesus’ words. God is patient with a lot about you and me,
but He has no patience for our inability and unwillingness to bear fruit. We’re told
here clearly that we were chosen in order to bear fruit for the Vine. That doesn’t
just happen. It demands your focused willingness. Every branch that doesn’t
produce gets cut off. The branch office – the franchise – that doesn’t produce a
reasonable profit for the parent corporation gets closed down, boarded up or sold
off. If you fail to see all of your life as a God-given opportunity for productive
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service for Jesus, you invite spiritual disaster upon yourself. The great violinist,
Nicole Paganini, willed his marvelous violin to Genoa, the city of his birth in Italy,
on one condition: that the violin never be played. Big mistake. The violin was
made out of a very unique wood in that as long as the violin was used and
handled it showed little wear. But as soon as it was put on some shelf and left
there – even a display shelf – the wood began to decay. Before long that
exquisite, mellow-toned violin had become a worm-eaten pile of junk in its
beautiful case. Like that violin, you were created by God and saved by Jesus’
death and resurrection to live a life of giving, serving and bearing fruit. So, you
have a decision to make: bear fruit or get cut off.
What does Jesus mean by “fruit” in this passage I do believe some of what
Jesus has in mind here is your inner, character development. The Bible calls this
elsewhere the fruit of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. But don’t limit it to character
development alone. Clearly, fruit also means good works. It involves how you
treat others because of Jesus, how you serve Jesus everyday, what you do day
in and day out simply because of what He’s done for you. None of that kind of
fruitfulness gets you in to heaven anymore than developing your character gets
you there either. But they all point to the reality of your relationship with Jesus.
Bearing fruit is living responsibly and productively for Jesus in all the different
arenas of your life: in your home, at your school, in your office, around your
neighborhood, at your health club or in the church. It’s seizing the opportunity to
be a branch office for Jesus Christ, Inc. wherever you are, whatever you’re doing
and with whomever you happen to be with. Everyday there’s just this conscious
desire to be used for God’s glory. It doesn’t matter whether what you’re up to is
important or trivial, unique or routine, exciting or dull. You simply find within
yourself an intense desire to bear fruit for the True Vine. And when it’s done the
right way with the right motivation the result, says Jesus here, is complete joy.
Did you catch what Jesus considers to be the best fruit you can ever produce
Love. It’s mentioned nine times in this passage. There’s so much Jesus says
about love here. This is God’s love: unique, spontaneous, undeserved, creative,
relational. It’s the kind of love that must demonstrate itself and find expression.
It’s outgoing love, redemptive love, expensive love. Jesus states right here the
greatest expression of love. “‘There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life
for one’s friends.’” (John 15:13 NLT) Of course, Jesus Himself did that when He
died on the cross for us. The Bible emphasizes the same truth elsewhere. “But
God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were
still sinners.” (Romans 5:8 NLT) Jesus’ example of love has a predictable
impact on you and me. “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new
life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died
and was raised for them.” (2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT) Like Jesus, we become
lovers of others. The Bible says, “We know what real love is because Jesus
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gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and
sisters.” (1 John 3:16 NLT)
Through the Holy Spirit’s power, you’re given the ability to bring God’s healing
touch to broken people. There’s an unlimited number of ways to do that and
many of them are right in line with your gifts, your abilities and your opportunities
You’re a branch office of Jesus Christ, Inc. You’re a branch on the True Vine.
Where does this fruit bearing begin It should start right in your own home – in
your marriage, with your kids, with your siblings or with your parents. Then it
should spread out to touch your friends, the people you work with, the people you
go to school with or the people you go to church with. Then it should reach out
further to surround even those you don’t like much or those who don’t like you
much. You are born again to bear fruit.
In her book, No Ordinary Time, Doris Kearns Goodwin writes about the first
peacetime draft that happened on October 29, 1940. Then President Franklin
Roosevelt and Secretary of War Stimson sat on a stage in a crowded auditorium
in Washington, D.C. In the preceding weeks all males between 21 and 35 had
been given a draft number, and all those numbers were in capsules in a big
fishbowl on the stage. Stimson was blindfolded. He reached into the bowl and
pulled out the first capsule he touched. He handed it to the President who read
into the many microphones before him, "The first number is 158." No sooner had
the president spoken than a woman screamed. It was Mildred Bell seated in the
middle of that crowded auditorium. Her 21-year-old son, Harry, who was
supposed to get married the next week, held number 158. Number 158 was held
by some six thousand registrants in different precincts throughout the country:
including Cleveland welder Michael Thompson, father of three children; Jack
Clardy, a one-armed African-American banjo picker from Charlotte, NC; and
unemployed James Cody of Long Island City. Some were pleased and proud to
be the first number called. Others said they'd make the best of it. Still others
were upset at their bad fortune.
God draws the number of every last person He saves. Each of us is called to be
a branch office, a franchise, a branch of the True Vine. Each of us is called to be
a soldier in His army. There are no deferments. You've been drafted to display
righteousness in a wicked world, to help the weak and feed the hungry, to
represent the Living God and to explain to lost people how to find eternal life
through Jesus. There is no one who is saved who is not drafted by God to be an
agent of grace. Jesus said, “I AM the true vine; you are the branches.” What
kind of a branch are you
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