Abide in Me (John 15:1-11)

In the passage that we'll be looking at this morning, John 15

one through 11, you'll see many of the themes that John just

proclaimed to us in this charge. As I read this, it's a very

familiar text that's so rich in terms of the essence of what it

means to be a follower of Christ.

This passage takes place in the midst of Jesus farewell

discourse covered in the Gospel of John.

Again John 15 verse one. You can use the bulletin, but

you're going to need a Bible as well, so you might as well grab

the blue Pew Bible in front of you if you did not bring your

own. Verse 1 John 15 Jesus says I am

the true vine and my father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away.

In every branch that does bear fruit he prunes that it may bear

more fruit. Already you are clean because of

the word that I have spoken to you.

Abide in me, and I and you. As the branch cannot bear fruit

by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless

you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the

branches. Whoever abides in me, and I and

him he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can

do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me,

He is thrown away like a branch and Withers, and the branches

are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned.

If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you

wish, and it will be done for you.

By this My Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so

proved to be My disciples. As the Father has loved me, so

have I loved you. Abide in My love.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I

have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His

love. These things I've spoken to you,

that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Please be seated. And Father, as we open up Your

word, we know that we cannot understand it, apply it, or live

it apart from Christ, apart from the illumination of the Holy

Spirit revealing to us this meaning and showing us where in

our lives you are at work. Oh, we praise you and ask of you

to do it once again. We know You will because You're

faithful to completing that which you have started.

We ask this in Jesus name, Amen. I'm going to focus this morning

with the time we have on verses one through 5.

We'll pick up again next week here and moving forward in the

farewell discourse, but I want to begin this way.

Turn with me once more in your bulletin back to Page 3.

About 40 minutes ago, Tommy stepped up and asked us this

question. What is the chief end of man?

This comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is

something we often use to disciple our children to help

them understand who God is. Then the question, how do you

glorify God? These questions don't stop being

true and the answers being true when we hit a certain age.

Rob, your chief end every day for the rest of your life is to

bring God glory. It's to bring God glory as you

pastor and shepherd. Your chief end as a husband is

to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Your chief end is a wife is to glorify God and enjoy Him

forever. Your chief end as a student is

to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

How do we do that? The confession tells us.

How do we glorify God? By loving Him and doing what He

commands. It's what I spoke on last week

from John 14, your chief end Christian, and this is who Jesus

is speaking to your chief in. And everything you do is to

glorify God and enjoy him forever.

And there's only one way you can do that, and that's what Jesus

is saying. If you want a proof text for

these two catechism questions, questions one and five, there is

no better proof text then what Jesus says in John 15/8.

By this my father is glorified that you and remember this is

those who are in Christ. This is who he's speaking to

that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

What an amazing verse. If you want proof as to whether

you're a disciple or not, it's not just in what you say, it's

in the fruit that is in your life.

And the reason why this matters is because every true disciple

of Jesus Christ bears fruit. Fruit is not optional.

Fruit is not something that happens for those luxury version

Christians, those more intentional Christians, those

more intense Christians. Fruit is the reality of a true

disciple of Jesus Christ says it.

It is to my Father's glory that you bear much fruit, so proving

to be my disciples. But how do we do that?

In a word, it's abide. Every one of our pastors and

actually every one of our staff in all the job descriptions that

our personnel committee has put together and that women and men

filled in their job description. The very first word is abide.

Why? Because of what Jesus says.

Apart from Him we can do nothing.

Let's go back to the top and verse one as Jesus called them

in to rise and they left from there.

He then says in verse one, I am the true vine and my father is

the vine dresser. What interesting language Jesus

is giving the last of his seven I am statements in the Gospel of

John. All of them are worth deep, deep

study and reflection. This is the last one he gives.

And as he's about to teach on the vine in the branches, he

says I am the true vine. He doesn't say I am a vine.

He doesn't say I am away. He says I'm the true vine and my

Father is the vine dresser. Why does that matter?

Here's why you need a Bible. From the beginning of Genesis to

the end. It's the same story.

It's the story of redemption. The Old Testament isn't just one

part that when Christ then came, it's no longer relevant.

It's all pointing to Jesus at the beginning of Genesis, all

fulfilled at the end of Revelation with the promise of

what is to come. I want you to take your Bible

and I want you to turn to Isaiah and I want you to churn to

Isaiah 5. Israel, the chosen people of

God, was often referred to as the vine.

Israel, often even on coins, would have a vine that

represented who they were. There are so many passages that

speak to Israel being the vine. I want to read just a couple.

Begin with me at verse one of Isaiah 5.

Let me sing for my beloved, my love song concerning his

vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a

very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of

stones and planted with its choice vines.

He built the watchtower in the midst of it, and he hewed out a

wine VAT in it. And he looked for it to yield

grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

Verse 3. And now, O inhabitants of

Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, between me and my

vineyard, What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have

not done it? When I looked for it to yield

grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

Now turn over just a few, you know, a chunk of pages, I guess,

to the book of Jeremiah and go to chapter 2, verse 21.

Listen to how Jeremiah records what he was led to write.

Yet I planted you a choice vine wholly of pure seed.

How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild

vine? Now, if you're listening

closely, you're beginning to see something.

Whenever Israel is referenced as a vine, it moves into showing

their unfaithfulness, how they fell short.

To use the strong language from Jeremiah, you turned degenerate

and become a wild vine. It's not just the prophets that

hold this, but it's certainly true in Ezekiel 15, Ezekiel 19,

but also in the Psalms. Turn with me to Psalm 80 and go

with me to verse 10. Psalm 80, verse 10.

Psalms 80:10

Actually, let's go to verse 7. Psalm 80, verse 7 says restore

Psalms 80:7

us. O God of hosts, let your face

shine, that we may be saved. You brought a vine out of Egypt

again. That's the nation of Israel.

You drove out the nations and planted it.

You cleared the ground for it. It took deep root and filled the

land. The mountains were covered with

its shade, the mighty Cedars with its branches.

It sent out its branches to the sea, and it shoots to the river.

Why then have you broken down its walls so that all who pass

along the way pluck its fruit? The boar from the forest ravages

it and all that move in filled feed on it.

Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven and see have

regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted and

for the Son whom you made strong for yourself.

This is important. We move back into the Old

Testament to understand why Jesus would say I am the true

vine because the original vine, the people of Israel living

under this image of the vine, we're not faithful.

Passage after passage of the Old Testament reveals this cycle of

sin, oppression, falling away from the Lord and then being

delivered. Here the psalmist is crying out

for that deliverance, and that deliverance is going to come,

but that deliverance is going to come through the 2nd Adam, whose

name is Jesus. And now, just hours before this

man goes to the cross to die for all of his people's sins, the

death we all deserve to die, he says to his disciples back in

John 15, I am the true vine. I am the true vine.

He's the one perfect, essential and enduring vine, before which

all other vines are a shadow. Just like Jesus was greater than

Moses, greater than the angels, Read Hebrews one.

Jesus is not just greater than the vine, He is the Grapevine.

He is the final vine. And here's what's amazing.

He, the vine, is in US. He, through His Spirit lives in

US, enabling us to do what brings the Father glory and that

is to bear much fruit. Jesus says I am the true vine,

and then he says my father is the vine dresser.

Notice how quickly in John's gospel, Jesus says something

about himself and then immediately moves to the Father.

It's because of that union. I am the true vine and my father

is the vine dresser. Now this message was meant to

bring deep encouragement to these disciples who were

struggling. My father is the vine dresser.

Verse 2. Every branch in me that does not

bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear

fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

I want you to do something today, maybe every day this

summer. It might be helpful just as a

visual. Notice the crepe myrtles driving

down your block, driving down these streets.

Notice the beauty of the hot pink, the purple, the white, the

scarlet. These crepe myrtles that are

just in full bloom. They're gorgeous.

And remember that God created that tree.

The idea of it was his, but He also created every one of those

trees. They're gorgeous.

The very first tree I ever pruned was a crepe Myrtle.

For seven years in high school and college, I worked at a theme

park called Whitewater in Oklahoma City.

I wasn't a lifeguard, I was a landscaper.

I would arrive at 6:00 in the morning, stayed till 4:00 every

day except Saturday and Sunday. They spent millions of dollars

on their landscaping. And the horticulturist that I

worked for, his name was Ron Hinter, taught me how to prune a

tree and why you would prune a tree.

It's the first time I ever learned to do that.

Our father in this passage is called the vine dresser.

He is the master gardener and there's 2 words to describe what

he's doing. The first one really is to to

lift up. Vines are not meant to grow on

the ground like watermelons or pumpkins or squash.

Those that are on the ground, they're not going to produce

good fruits. So they are to be lifted up.

So see the very posture of the father in this.

He literally touches the vine. You can't prune from a distance,

and He lifts it up. The next word has to do with

pruning. It has to do with cutting, and

cutting is painful. But the Lord cuts because He

loves us. Jesus is offering these words of

encouragement to the disciples because they are going to be

pruned. They are going to be cared for

just as you and I are. To what end?

Verse 8. Once again, by this my Father is

glorified that you bear much fruit, and so proved to be my

disciples. Christians are meant to be

people abiding in Christ with lives that are producing

grapefruit. What is the fruit?

The fruit isn't the multiplication of more

Christians. That's certainly in play, but

it's not the primary focus. The fruit is that Christ like

character. It's the fruit of the Spirit in

Galatians 5. It's any passage that speaks of

the godliness that God has informed us that he wants us to

be about. And that fruit can exist in our

life. God has designed his children to

bear fruit, but it can only exist one way if we are abiding

in Jesus. That word used eight time in

this eight times in the short passage essentially says remain,

stay in you are his and it's through that abiding

relationship with Jesus that is a vital that word matters, vital

to our fruitfulness that we can bear fruit.

Verse 5, Jesus says I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I am him.

He it is that bears much fruit for apart from me you can do

nothing. Working at that same water park

for all those years, two years in they made me a team leader.

That was an honor that meant I went from 3:50 an hour to 375 an

hour. That's no lie.

Being the leader of a team, we often got assigned certain parts

of the park and we would be rewarded certain things if the

person of the park we were in charge of as well.

Late 1 spring, the landscape crews divided into two teams.

I LED one, another man LED another.

They gave us about $50,000 to establish a section of the park

and make it beautiful, including new bets.

The competition would be judged by horticulturist team and then

those that were on the winning team would receive a significant

gift. I had a team.

That team included some temporary workers that were just

kind of hired to be there as labor.

I had a design. The design was put in place.

One particular part of the bed was going to have a pine tree.

These pine trees have been purchased by the park many years

ago and actually planted. So in order for them to be moved

from the nursery area, they had to be dug up and brought to the

area and placed. You know what's required there?

You dig around the tree, you dig up the root ball, you carry all

that dirt and then you plant it. Then you water it in.

My bed. Looks spectacular.

No question it was going to win. The five days after we planted

it, just one or two days before the judgement, the pine tree

began to turn very brown. What was wrong?

We watered it well. What was wrong?

Well, it didn't take long to realize what was wrong.

The crew that I had sent to dig that ball around the tree didn't

bring the tree that way back to the bed.

Instead, they took a saw and like a Christmas tree, they cut

it off at the base and brought that to the bed and planted it.

You get it. I didn't win the competition.

It's silly that someone would think that that would work, that

that tree could live. It couldn't, and neither can we

spiritually bear fruit cut off from Christ.

You cannot bear fruit doing it on your own.

The only way you can bear fruit, and that's what the Father wants

in your life, believer, is by remaining in Christ.

And if you're in Christ, he is going to do the work that's

necessary to cause you and to cause me to bear more fruit.

But that pruning is painful. So here's what I want you to do.

I want you to ask today and through this week, Holy Spirit,

where is the Father seeking to prune me?

Every one of us, every one of us, the sight of heaven until he

calls us home or returns, will have branches that need pruned.

And they're painful, often very painful.

Sometimes relationships need to end because they're bearing bad

fruit, they're dying. Sometimes we need to rethink the

priorities of our life. The Holy Spirit will have no

problem through the Word of God and His illumination, showing

you places where you need the Father to lift up, the vine, to

trim, to cut. Maybe it's gossip.

Maybe it's materialism, maybe it's greed.

Maybe it's pornography, maybe it's gluttony, maybe it's anger,

maybe there's twigs of bitterness all over you.

The Holy Spirit, illuminating the Word of God, tells us the

Father is eager to do that pruning work.

But for most of us, this is where we begin to live.

Like the individual who cut down the tree and planted it in good

soil. You can't do it on your own.

Abiding in Christ is the only way.

And this is what Christ has come to do.

This is what the Father desires. Much, much, much, much fruit in

your lives. So pay attention to all that's

blooming around you. Think about the God who made

that, and then think about the God who made that, giving us

everything we need that we could bear fruit in Christ that is so

much more beautiful and awe inspiring than even that which

He has physically made. Friend, take seriously this

challenge and know that the Lord brings it to you because He

loves you. We'll pick up in the same spot

next week. Father in heaven, you're Tinder,

you're just, you're loving, You're full of mercy and grace

and truth. And Lord, we need you to do this

work in our lives. Lift us, O Lord, prune us,

transform us. Help us to remember that the

thing that we've been made for, to bring you glory and the fruit

that's in our lives, you have enabled the only way it can

happen. We praise you for this in Jesus

name, Amen.