THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES PT. 1
Text: John 15:1-11
Core Idea: Jesus is the true Vine, and we are the branches. If we remain in Him and Him in us, we will bear much fruit; apart from Him, we can do nothing. Then let us desperately cling to Him this year for He alone is the source of our hope and life.
INTRODUCTION
Happy new year, Lighthouse! I’m so thankful that we can begin the new year worshiping God together. More than anything else, my prayer for you has been that your love for Christ will deepen this year – that you would delight in Him and adore Him with all of your hearts. May this be true for all of us this year. Well, it was good to explore the first two chapters of Matthew this Advent. I hope that it was a great opportunity to see that Jesus isn’t just the King we need but the King we desire. Now, before we return to the Gospel of Mark, we’ll actually station ourselves in John 15 for a few weeks and spend some time talking about discipleship – something that I’ve been thinking a lot about for our community.
What is discipleship? Simply put, discipleship is learning to follow Christ as we help others to do the same. It involves growing in our relationship with Christ but also leading others closer to Christ whether it be helping unbelievers to see Christ or helping believers to become more like Christ. And this can be accomplished in so many different ways. For example, it can happen through one-on-one mentorship where a mature believer would intentionally and regularly devote him/herself to helping a young believer grow in Christ, but it can also happen over your dinner table as you share with your family how God has been guiding you. It can happen over a phone call as you pray for your friend who is discouraged or anxious and it can happen through a conversation you have with your co-worker who has never heard of the gospel. In fact, our corporate worship can be a place of discipleship as well. Here, we’re learning to worship God, treasure the Word, and serve one another as we help others, like our children, to do the same – which is why I’m so thankful that our children and youth are part of our service at least once a month. As we model for them the joy of worship, as we encourage them to engage and participate, we are discipling them. All this to say, discipleship is a lifestyle – every moment of our lives can be an opportunity to disciple and be discipled. And that’s the kind of discipling relationship I would love to see here at Lighthouse this year. So, to help us think through this, I thought John 15 would be a great place to begin because it talks about what it means to grow in Christ and love one another.
Then let me begin by giving you the context. This chapter is part of what’s known as the Farewell Discourse because Jesus taught this to His disciples just before His death. Moments from now, He’ll be in the Garden of Gethsemane – crying out and pleading that God would take away this cup but ultimately submitting to the Father’s will. Soon, He’ll be humiliated by the very people He came to save and abandoned by those He called friends. He’ll bear our sins on the cross and receive the fullness of God’s wrath on our behalf. So, knowing that His time was coming to an end, Jesus wanted to prepare His disciples so that they may wisely navigate through what was to come. Then with this in mind, please turn your Bibles to John 15:1-11. And I’m going to invite Grace to the front – and she will read the passage for us.
1 “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the Word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. 5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples. 9 As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. 10 If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. 11 I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Thank you, Grace, for reading the passage for us. And children, I hope you enjoyed the video. It did an amazing job of summarizing and applying this passage in just under 2 minutes. But unfortunately, I won’t be able to keep it that short. In fact, I have so much to say that I decided to break it into two parts. We’ll answer three questions today and we’ll look at three more questions next week.
· HOW CAN WE GROW? (OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST)
· HOW DO WE REMAIN? (THE WORD AND PRAYER)
· HOW DOES THE GARDENER HELP US GROW? (PRUNING)
1) HOW CAN WE GROW? (OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST)
Look at the image that this entire passage is built on. Verse 5 – Jesus says, “I am the Vine; you are the branches.” I actually brought a branch from my backyard. Children, is this branch alive? No. How do you know? Because it’s not connected to the stem of the tree. This branch is dead. Then let me ask you, “If all of us worked together really hard, gave all that we had, do you think we could make this branch bear fruit?” No. Sure, we could tape an apple to make it look like it’s bearing fruit – but there’s nothing we can do to make this branch bear fruit simply because it has been cut off from its life source. Then when Jesus says, “I am the Vine; you are the branches,” He is teaching us an important truth about Himself and our relationship with Him – namely, that true life can only be found in Him and that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is to be intimately united to Him. This relationship is unlike any other. It’s so closely joined together that our destiny is bound with Christ and all that He has become ours – we become one with Him. Now, this doesn’t mean that we become God. Our union with Christ doesn’t make us divine. But it does mean that He is now in us, and we are in Him. In fact, this truth is so vital that the NT refers to this idea of union with Christ over 200 times. For example, Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” This is the foundational truth of what it means to be a Christian – this union with Christ.
Now, sadly, we don’t talk about this a lot because we don’t really understand what this means. What does it mean to be in Christ? It certainly means that Christ becomes our leader – so, His fate becomes ours. Whatever happens to Him happens to us. Romans 6:5 says, “If we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with Him in a resurrection like His.” In other words, as He died for our sins, we have also died to our sins with Him. As He was resurrected in glory, we will also resurrect in glory with Him. Because He represents us, we are justified, cleansed, reconciled, adopted, sanctified, and more. The benefits we receive are countless because of our union with Christ. But there’s a closer, more intimate reality to this union with Christ – which is what we see through our passage today. You see, just as the vine gives life to the branches, our lives are bound up in Christ. Do you know what this means? First, it means that we’re shielded by His invincible love. There’s nothing that can separate us from His loving presence – no matter how great our sin may be. He will never give up on us. We are secure in Him. Dane Ortlund said, “Our sins loom large. They seem so insurmountable. But Christ and your union with Him loom larger still. As deep as your failure goes, Christ and your union with Him go deeper still. As strong as your sin feels, the bond of your oneness with Jesus Christ is stronger still. Live the rest of your life mindful of your union with the Prince of heaven. Rest in the knowledge that your sins and failures can never kick you out of Christ.” Second, it means that we cannot have life, we cannot have growth apart from our relationship with Jesus Christ. Or to put it differently, we have everything we need to grow in Him. Transformation is possible because of our union with Christ. Verse 5, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” There’s a guarantee that we see – we will bear fruit if we remain in Him. Sure, the growth can be slow and gradual, but He promises that it will certainly happen. Brothers and sisters, do you want to grow this year? Do you want to be more loving? Do you want to experience more joy than sorrow, more peace than anxiety? Do you want to grow in forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control this year? Then remain in Christ – deepen your relationship with Him. Now, I wonder if some of you have become quite cynical when it comes to growth – you say, “I was like this all my life. How will God change me now? How will I grow out of this and grow into something else? It’s too late for me. I don’t think I can change.” If this is you, listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “We all [talking about believers] are being transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” In other words, growth is possible, transformation is possible ultimately because the Spirit is in us. It’s not all up to us. It’s not too late – He will make this possible. So, take your time. Don’t try to change everything overnight – be patient with yourself and trust in Him who says, “I can change anybody. Whatever is in your life, how deep the stain may be, I can lift it out.” Slow change is still real change. Don’t give up examining your life daily and choose to remain in Christ again and again and again because, in Him, you will bear much fruit – only in Him will you experience life as it was meant to be.
2) HOW DO WE REMAIN? (THE WORD AND PRAYER)
What does it mean to remain in Christ? The Greek word for “remain” is meno which means to dwell or stay – it’s as if Jesus was saying, “Are you destitute? Are you without a home? Then come and make your home in Me. Live in Me.” In other words, to remain in Christ is to depend on Christ. Then what does it mean to depend on Him? Jesus gives us two ways to do this in verse 7, “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
First, to remain in Christ, to depend on Christ is to remain in His Word. This is true because Jesus is the Word of God embodied – the Word in flesh (Jn. 1:14). Then how do we remain in His Word? Well, it certainly begins with reading the Scripture regularly. Now, let’s be honest – this is not easy. Every January, many of us say to ourselves, “It’s going to be different this year” – but we find ourselves lost and discouraged so quickly by the time we get to Leviticus. I get it – reading the whole Bible in a year can feel very daunting, which is why we’re inviting you to read through just the NT this year. Yes, the plan requires us to read every day – but each day has only one chapter or less. In fact, today’s text is just reading through 2 Timothy 3:14-17, which says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” That’s it. We can all check that box later. You see, we chose this plan because we wanted you to cultivate a discipline of reading the Bible regularly. Reading 4-5 chapters a day can be hard – but this is doable. My prayer is that this would help us remain in the Word daily this year.
Of course, it would be better if you didn’t just stop at reading but also study the Word, memorize the Word, and most importantly, meditate on the Word. So, as an example, let me show you what I did with our text today. Paul said, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” So, I asked myself, “Why didn’t he just say, ‘All Scripture is spoken by God?’ There must be a reason why. Then where else do we see God breathing into something?” I thought of two places: in Genesis 2 where God breathed into Adam, and in Ezekiel 37 where God breathed into the dry bones of the valley. Now, what happened to both? Life began and life thrived. So, I concluded: God must have given us the Word because He wants to breathe life into us – it’s for us to have a vibrant life. And I prayed, “God, help me to tap into this source of life ever so desperately this year. Help me to love the Word and remain in it.” Pastor John Piper says, “A godly life is lived out of an astonished heart – a heart that is astonished at grace. We go to the Bible to be astonished, to be amazed at God and Christ and the cross and grace and the gospel.” Then, brothers and sisters, I pray that we would let the Word breathe life into us daily this year. May we press the Scriptures to our souls so that it will transform every aspect of our lives, so that we will come away astonished by His beauty.
Second, to remain in Christ, to depend on Christ is to remain in prayer. This is true because prayer is not ultimately about getting things from God but getting God. Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is generous in the way He provides. So, He said, “Ask Me anything, and it will be done for you.” Now, is Jesus giving us a blank cheque? Yes, but there’s a condition – He says this is true if His Words remain in us. The implication is this: if Jesus’ Words remain in us, the things that we’ll pray for will be consistent with His will and His desires. Jesus said in Matthew 7:9-11, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Now, to fully appreciate this truth, I need to point out two things. First, we need to realize that sometimes we don’t ask for bread or fish. We think we are but we’re actually asking for a stone or a snake. In other words, what we’re asking for is not always good – especially in God’s eyes. Second, we need to realize that God will always give us good gifts. Of course, His definition of good can be radically different from ours. A few years ago, we went on a family vacation to Mexico – and there, Eli tried freshly squeezed orange juice for the very first time. I’m not sure if he remembers but this was a life-changing experience for a two-year-old. And from that point on, he must have thought that whatever the adults were having was good. So, he began to ask for everything we were having – things like hot sauce or coffee. We tried to explain that it wasn’t good for him, but he didn’t understand. Now, sometimes, he did ask for good things like an apple or bread – but he would ask for these things as we were getting ready for bed. And I found myself having a long conversation with Eli about how he was hungry because he didn’t eat enough dinner. But here’s the point: Eli seldom asked for something good. And even when he did, it wasn’t always the right time. Then let me ask you, “Do you think we’re any different?” I think all of us would agree, “No.” In this passage, what God is doing is what any good parent would do – listen to the demands of His children yet respond accordingly. So, He may give, withhold, and even take away all because of His love for us. I know it’s hard to grasp this. But this is why we must cling to truths like Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” He doesn’t ask us to figure out why – He asks us to trust Him. We can pray because we trust His goodness, faithfulness, and love. And no matter how much we plead, cry, and scream, the good news is that God will never cave in. He will always give us good gifts.
Brothers and sisters, to remain in Christ is to remain in prayer. Then let me ask you, “Are you praying regularly?” Listen to what Pastor David Platt said, “What could be more important in our day than meeting with the One who gives us breath, who causes our hearts to beat, who loves us more than anyone else, who reigns over the entire universe with all authority, who has invited you to meet with Him? What more important thing do you have than this? What more valuable thing do you have to do in your schedule than this?” Then I want to encourage you, challenge you, plead with you – this year, let us remember that there’s nothing more important, more valuable than for us to spend that quiet, unhurried, distraction-free time with God in prayer and the Word for this is how we remain in Christ.
3) HOW DOES THE GARDENER HELP US GROW? (PRUNING)
Verse 2, “Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” We grow by remaining in Christ, but God will not passively watch us do all the work. Jesus tells us that as the Gardener, God the Father will prune us so that we may be more fruitful. Isn’t that interesting? The gardener ruthlessly prunes those vines for their sake – to maintain their health, to cause them to grow stronger, and to bring out the beauty in them. In other words, the gardener prunes not because he lacks love but precisely because of that love. Now, this may seem strange to us, but this is what we see in many other places in life. For example, if you give gold to a refiner, what does he do? He puts it through the furnace. If you give an athlete to a coach, what does she do? She puts her through hard training. If you give a child to parents, what do they do? They wisely discipline the child. Why? Because the only way to grow those things is to put them under fire, press them, carve them, and shape them. Now, this could be very frightening if you realize that this is what God is doing to us. But through this passage, Jesus is reminding us that He prunes, He refines, He disciplines precisely because of His love for us – because He wants us to grow. Think about the story of Job. From Job’s perspective, he felt like his world was turning upside down. His wealth vanished, his children were killed, his marriage was in a wreck, and his body was sick. It felt like his life was coming to an end. But do you remember the conversation that took place between God and Satan? God said to Satan, “You can do whatever you want; but don’t take away his life.” You see, from Job’s perspective, it seemed like his life was ruined; but from God’s perspective, He always had a clear, perfect boundary to Job’s suffering. In other words, the process of sanctification is a precise work of God. We must realize that He has drawn a perfect boundary to our pain (just like the gardener would prune the branch intentionally and precisely) so that we wouldn’t suffer more or less than we should, but just enough to make us holy, to cause us to grow, and to bring us closer to Christ.
Some of you here may feel like you’re bleeding in multiple places as God is pruning your life right now. “How can He close that door? Why would He take that thing away from me? Why wouldn’t He take this thing away from me? How could He allow this to happen? Doesn’t He know that I’m in pain?” If this is you, I invite you to reflect on this truth because Jesus is telling you that God is not trying to ruin your life – He is pruning your life. God is carefully managing the trials we face so that instead of being cut off, we would cling more desperately to Christ and bear more fruit. He knows what’s best for us because He knows us. He is trustworthy because He loves us. Then I pray that you would have the eyes to see this and the faith to believe. Let Him prune you because this is how we will grow this year.
CONCLUSION
Lighthouse family, Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches. If we remain in Him and Him in us, we will bear much fruit; apart from Him, we can do nothing. Then let us desperately cling to Him this year for He alone is the source of our life.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1) What does it mean that Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches? How does the reality of union with Christ help us in our faith journey today?
2) How can you better remain in the Word this year? How can you better remain in prayer this year? What would be the biggest obstacle in accomplishing this?
3) Do you feel like God is pruning you today? How? How can we grow to trust Him in this process? Spend some time praying for one another.