Welcome to the last week of our I am: Discovering who Jesus says he is. Over the last 8 weeks we have explored the differing I am statements made by Jesus in the book of John. Let me start this morning with a little review.
The First week we looked at Jesus as the Great I am, while each of these statements are comparing the divinity of Christ and revealing more of his character of God, the first statement were the 3 times where Jesus made his e?? e?µ? I am that I am statements that revealed him as the great almighty God. This shows him as the timeless one of Israel, who is, who was and is to come, there in the beginning of time itself, and yet come as man, leaving heaven on High, living as fully man and fully God. When Jesus says this in Gethsemane, the soldiers fell down from his power, from the power of the God of the universe, even though he is man, he is God.
Second, we looked at Jesus as the Bread of Life, if we wish to join him in Life, we must join him in death, dying to our self and allowing him to live in us.
Third I am the Light of the world…Calling us to follow him, as he leads us through this dark world, and guards us through the wilderness
Fourth The Gate for the Sheep, protecting us from the enemy as we take shelter in the Fold…as the Gate He leads us to the Father
Fifth, The Good Shepherd, who cares for his sheep, who finds those who are lost and brings them back to himself.
Sixth: The Resurrection and the life: in Him we have victory because he has defeated Sin, death and the Grave
Last Week, Week Seven I am The way, the Truth and the life… Jesus is the way because he is the truth. That is the revelation of God and because of the life of God that resides in Him.
Today we come to the last of the Statements: I am the True Vine, please turn with me to John 15. As you turn let me remind you of what is going on in this passage. This is still a part of the same conversation that we talked about last week. They are walking from the last supper: from Passover where Jesus washed their feet, where Jesus revealed not only that he would be betrayed, but who would betray him, and they are on their way to the Garden. He is most likely either near the garden of Gethsemane or near some sort of vineyard as he starts talking in Verse 1
Read John 15:1-8
This 250-year-old vine is the oldest and largest living vine in the world with single root that is 13 feet in diameter. Planted in 1768 by Lancelot Brown, the fruit of this vine was intended for royalty.
Despite its age the vine produces 500 to 700 bunches of grapes a year that weigh 507 to 705 lb. The largest recorded crops of grapes from the Vine were 1,800 bunches in 1798 and 2,245 bunches in 1807. Even though some of the smaller branches are 120 feet from the main stem, they still bear the sweet and delicious fruit because they are connected to the vine. Life flows from that single root and throughout the vine bringing nourishment and strength to each of the branches.
Jesus talks in this passage that He is the true vine, this leads to a question, If Jesus is the true vine what is the false vine? Throughout the old Testament profits, Israel is referred to as the Vine…Listen to these scriptures:
Isaiah 5:1-8
A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:
My Well-beloved has a vineyard
[a]On a very fruitful hill.
2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also [b]made a winepress in it;
So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.
3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard.
4 What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in it?
Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,
Did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard:
I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned;
And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will lay it waste;
It shall not be pruned or [c]dug,
But there shall come up briers and thorns.
I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold, [d]a cry for help.
Hosea 10:1-2
Israel empties his vine;
He brings forth fruit for himself.
According to the multitude of his fruit
He has increased the altars;
According to the bounty of his land
They have embellished his sacred pillars.
2 Their heart is divided;[a]
Now they are held guilty.
He will break down their altars;
He will ruin their sacred pillars.
Psalm 80:6-13
You have brought a vine out of Egypt;
You have cast out the [c]nations, and planted it.
9 You prepared room for it,
And caused it to take deep root,
And it filled the land.
10 The hills were covered with its shadow,
And the [d]mighty cedars with its boughs.
11 She sent out her boughs to [e]the Sea,
And her branches to [f]the River.
12 Why have You broken down her [g]hedges,
So that all who pass by the way pluck her fruit?
13 The boar out of the woods uproots it,
And the wild beast of the field devours it.
Israel was the vine that God had planted in the promised land. It was supposed to follow him, to love him, to bear fruit for the nations, but something happened…it didn’t produce the fruit that was planted:
Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.
How then have you turned before Me
Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
God had planted Judah as a noble vine (a Sorek vine bore luscious red grapes with soft seeds…a vine of highest quality), but she has become degenerate…an alien vine…Isiaah says that she has become a wild vine…wild grapes were small and useless, they were only good for insects and birds, wild vines did not bear good fruit. So if Israel was not bearing fruit what was she worth…Ezekiel takes it a step further… chapter 15
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3 Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on? 4 Instead, it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work? 5 Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?
6 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 7 and I will set My face against them. They will go out from one fire, but another fire shall devour them. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them. 8 Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord God.”
The wood of the vine is not good for building or any other purpose but to bear fruit, it cannot be used to build with or even make a peg to hold your coat…if the vine and branches cannot produce fruit the ONLY other use of the vine is to be burned…
1. The Purpose of the vine is produce fruit
Israel was a vine planted by the Lord…God the Father the vinedresser, she grew large and had deep roots but she did not produce fruit. She was no longer drawing the life giving water up in her roots, instead of worshiping and serving the Father they turned their desires to false gods. They have made the places that were supposed to set apart…sacred…consecrated before the Lord and given it away…Look at the prophecy in Psalm 80:15
And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted,
And the branch that You made strong for Yourself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down;
They perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
17 Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
Upon the son of man whom You made strong for Yourself.
18 Then we will not turn back from You;
Revive us, and we will call upon Your name.
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
Cause Your face to shine,
And we shall be saved!
The Psalmist here is prophesying about Jesus…Verse 17 the man of Your Right Hand…Jesus who sits at the right hand of God the Father…the son of Man whom is made strong by the father…with him as the True vine, we have been restored to relationship with God…we have been grafted to be apart of Jesus and we must abide…live in him and he must live in us…the Holy Spirit which was breathed out by Jesus to the disciples, lives in us as we live in Christ. The only purpose for the vine is to produce fruit…because Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches if we remain in him, we will produce fruit, just like the vine at Hampton Court, even though the ends of the branches may have spread far they still produce sweet fruit.
2. The Father is the vinedresser
I did some research into what the vinedresser does. In the early spring, the vinedresser goes out to the branches and prunes them back. This is done so that they will produce GOOD fruit. Pruning reduces the amount of energy that the branch must use in order to produce fruit, without it the branch puts more energy into measured growth, but remember the only purpose of the branch is to produce fruit, so the vinedresser trims back the branch to only a few buds so that the fruit will be full and easy to find, it gets rid of the unnecessary part and burns them in the fire.
3. There are times when we need to be pruned
We are the branches and we need to be pruned at times. We live in a culture where we are constantly busy, we are constantly moving and churning. We work to make money, to buy necessities and wants and then we work more. It seems the more we work, the less we have…it constant and unnecessary because our purpose is not to make money…even though many people identify themselves with their occupation…one of the first questions we ask of people is what do you do? Our purpose is to bear fruit, so sometimes we must be pruned, The father must cut out some of the unnecessary things that we are doing so that we can abide in him. So that we can spend time with Jesus and grow in him. The more time we spend with him, the closer we become, the more life from him we have and the more fruit we produce.
What is this fruit that Jesus is talking about? Look at Verse 9
Read 9-17
The First thing that we get when we abide in Jesus, is his love…it flows from him—The Vine—into us the branches. Look at verse 10…The outward expression of abiding in Jesus and abiding in his love in Keeping His commandments. This is the fruit that we must bear. Israel did not bear fruit, it did not keep the Father’s commandments…the Law…so what does Jesus have to say, what commandments should we keep? Verse 12 read.
He doesn’t ask much, he only gives one commandment, we are to love one another as I have loved you…simple right? He doesn’t use f??e?? affectionate regard, friendship or ???? romantic, passionate love he uses a??p? The unconditional love of God and he defines it in verse 13 read
4. The Fruit we are to bear is love
When we abide in Him, and abide in his Love, then His love should flow out of us…it the nutrition we as the branches receive from the vine. John 13
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Love flowing from us is the litmus test that must be used for those that follow Jesus. This is the last teaching Jesus is giving to the disciples, he is explaining to them why he must die—even if they do not yet understand, but he is also teaching them how to live—He is telling them Let my love flow out of you! If you do not show love as a Christian you are not bearing fruit and are worthless as a Christian, love must come first, but with Love, with abiding in his love, flowing in his love, showing his love to others, showing your love for him, then there are several benefits he talks about in this passage:
1. Fullness of Joy
When we are abiding in His love, His joy remains in us. Our Joy becomes full through experiencing the Joy of Christ
2. Our Prayers become effective
3 separate times in this same conversation with his disciples he tells them to ask for anything. 14:13: Ask anything in my name—he gives us His authority
2nd 15:7 read. Abide in Me and My words abide in you…his word is the Bible, Knowing the Bible is great, but if it doesn’t live within you it is pointless. Time and time again I have heard people that grew up in the church that knew scriptures, they new the rules of the church and how to fit in, but they did not know Jesus. Knowing is Great, but it is 2 fold, living in Jesus…and His words living in you then you will get what you desire because your desires will line up with his will Romans 12:2 but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…when we live in him and his words in us are mind is transformed, our desires are his desires and then we know His will…his good, pleasing and perfect will.
3rd 15:16 when you bear fruit, when his love abounds in you, whatever you ask the father in my name he may give you. Jesus wants us to ask the father for the things we need, He wants this because when our prayers are effective, when we are living in his love, when we are bearing fruit and miracles are happening around us because we are praying in His love then the Father is Glorified. John 14:13 and John 15:8 when the Father gives you what you ask and you bear fruit, the Father is Glorified
The Final benefit of abiding in the Love of Jesus is
3. We bring Glory to the Father.
Where are you today? Does the father need to prune you? Are you bearing the fruit that you need to? What areas of your life need to be pruned in order for you to bare your maximum potential for fruit? Are you living in Jesus is the word living in you? As we close this morning, I encourage you to come forward and spend time with Him, if you need prayer the word says to ask anything in his name, I would love to pray with you this morning.
Altar Time
Thank you for joining us this morning, never grow tired of showing Love, we can always show more love to others, there is always more fruit we need to produce. Have a great week.
