Rooted in Christ

Amen.

Well, good morning.

How are we?

Good.

My name is Jordan.

I'm one of the pastors here.

If you don't know me, it's a privilege to be opening up God's Word this morning with you as we continue in our series of John Spirit and Truth.

This morning we're going to be looking at the seventh and final I am statement that the Apostle John has recorded in his gospel.

We're going to be looking at the I Am statement that I am the true vine.

The title of my sermon this morning is Rooted in Christ, the privilege of abiding with Jesus.

The privilege it is to be able to abide with Jesus.

And so we're going to be looking at the imagery of a vineyard as we work through this.

We're going to learn about the vine, the vine dresser, and a vineyard.

And if anybody's ever had the privilege of visiting a vineyard, it is a sight to behold.

We have family on the West Coast and have been able to travel out to the Napa Valley region, which is pretty notorious around the world, even, for making some great wine.

And so if you've ever been to one, they're beautiful.

They have all these roads and everything so just pristine and immaculate, not like my garden, or maybe yours looks better than mine, but they're just beautiful.

And one thing that I do know, although I'm not a Somalier, is that each kind of region and each vineyard has its own unique taste based on many factors, whether it be the soil, the sun, the air, the longitude or latitude of the vineyard.

But much like vineyards are dependent on their sun and soil and these external factors, what we're going to be looking at this morning is that for a Christian, being rooted in Christ is the key to our fruitfulness.

Being rooted, abiding with Christ for a believer is the key to the fruit that we bear.

And so this morning, as we begin to unpack that, we're going to see three great privileges that are found in our text of the joys and the honor it is to be able to abide in Jesus, the true vine.

So I'm going to pray real quick and we're going to get into the text.

God, we praise you for this morning.

You are our living hope.

God, you are our rock of refuge.

God, we come to you this morning recognizing our deep need for you.

Nothing in our hands do we bring.

We simply cling to your cross.

So, God, we ask that your spirit would be at work in our midst this morning, that the power of your word would be faithfully proclaimed, that your spirit would work in our lives and transform us into the image of your Son for your glory, and we trust it's our good.

Amen.

Amen.

So we have this broken up in three privileges.

Privilege number one that we're going to find in verse one through three.

We're going to read one through three.

I am the true vine, and the Father is the vine dresser.

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

And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may be more fruitful.

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

So privilege number one that we see in this first three verses is the privilege of unmerited redemption.

Unmerited redemption.

Unmerited meaning unearned, unable to be earned, undeserved.

See, we're going to be talking a lot about a vineyard and vines and branches, but before we dig into the vineyard, we need to leave the vineyard and pull back to the garden.

See, this story that Jesus is teaching fits in the scale or in the spectrum of a much larger grand story.

And so for us to be able to see the portrait that Jesus is painting, we need to go back to the garden.

So when God created the heavens and the earth, he created mankind, and mankind was set apart.

Mankind was unique in the set in the fact that men and women alike were made in the image of the Father.

They're made in the image of their creator.

They were unique in that way.

And mankind was given a task.

It was to fill the earth with God's image and care for his creation in Eden.

And we know that God gave man one rule.

It was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And he gave a promise that if you eat of it, you will surely die.

And we know that the serpent and this the devil tempted Adam and Eve and twisted God's word and said, Did he really say you shouldn't eat of it?

God's holding out on you, right?

And so Adam and Eve ate of that tree of which they were not supposed to eat, and they deserved death.

They rebelled.

And because God is perfectly holy, he can have no relationship with his sinful creation.

And so, in God's mercy and grace, he removed Adam and Eve from that dwelling place with the creator, and he kicked them out of the garden.

He placed a cherub with a flaming sword guarding and protecting Adam and Eve from His presence.

And really, the rest of the entire Old Testament is an attempt for man to be able to get back into a relationship, an intimate relationship that was once shared between creation and creator.

But all these attempts failed.

One after another after another.

Like the same story with different characters, different failures, they all had the same result.

And ultimately it revealed that mankind needed a savior.

See, we have prophets and judges and kings and nations all failing to be faithful to God with no success.

And so why are we backing up this far?

Why was we unpacking the story of the true vine?

Are we going back to the garden?

Because for us, this imagery, this I am statement of the true vine is something that gets missed on us, but it surely would not have been missed to this first century Jewish audience.

See, the imagery of a grapevine or a vineyard is had great meaning to its listeners.

See, as the stars and stripes are symbolic of our nation now, the grapevine would have had the same symbolism to the first century Jew.

See, image of grapevines and vines and were embedded on their coins.

It was on the gates of the temple.

It was everywhere.

It was symbolized all throughout their day.

And throughout the entire Old Testament, Israel is described by God as a vine or vineyard.

We have Isaiah and Hosea and Jeremiah, the prophets, all mentioning Israel as a vine.

Now, sadly, most times in the prophetic books, when Israel is mentioned as a vine, it's it's to bring about the condemnation and the judgment that is coming due to their unfaithfulness.

And so we're going to read one of the accounts in Isaiah chapter 5.

Isaiah 5 · chapter mention

Isaiah 5, verses 3 through 7 reads this way.

Isaiah 5:3–7

And briars and thorns shall grow up.

I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

So this is why we backed up.

This is important.

As Jesus is declaring that he is the true vine, he's not only acknowledging the failures of the former vine, the people of God, the nation of Israel, but more so he's announcing the victorious power of the gospel that is at hand.

That in him, the true vine, something is about to change.

This new vine is going to bring a restoration to all that was broken and lost and distorted by the fall.

So now that we have backed up, let's go back into the vineyard.

We have a picture of the vine, this true vine, which is Jesus.

We have the imagery of a vine dresser or a gardener, and that is the Father, God the Father.

And then we have this contrast between branches that bear fruit and branches that do not bear fruit.

The branches that bear fruit are true Christians, those who remain connected to the true vine.

And there's branches that do not bear fruit, those that don't remain rooted in Christ.

And we're going to cover that contrast in number two, privilege number two.

But I have to wonder what the disciples were thinking at hearing this with what had just happened with Judas, one of the closest followers of Jesus, not remaining connected to Jesus and rebelling and going away to do his evil work.

But I want us to look at verse three.

Verse three has an amazingly profound statement.

Jesus tells his disciples, already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

Already you are clean.

Why?

Faith in the Word.

A belief in the Word.

Jesus tells them they are clean.

And this almost has to be a slap in the face.

The entire Old Testament was filled with rules and rituals and rites and ceremonies of attempts to be purified, attempts to be able to clean themselves, to be able to make their worship pleasing and acceptable.

See, the Jewish rule book, the Mishnah, had 4,224 rules alone in it on purification and cleanliness.

And Jesus flips it on its head and he says, Already you are clean by no work of your own, but by being cleansed with my word.

Cleansed by the power of my word.

This points to something that we love, the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

There was no work.

They were cleansed simply by believing that Jesus is who he says he was.

See, the disciples were clean not based on their own merit, but rather through the faith and power of who Jesus is.

There was no blood of bull, there's no ceremony, there's no right that could cleanse them.

Simply it was being washed with the water, the sprinkling power of the word.

And this is unmerited redemption.

This is unmerited redemption.

The apostle Paul, the church in Rome, would say it like this: therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, Adam, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous.

Righteousness, cleansed through faith in the word.

And by his obedience, those who remain in Christ, those who remain rooted in him, grafted into the true vine, will be made righteous, fruit-bearing, God-glorifying disciples.

And so I'd argue this morning that the disciples were cleansed through faith in the parables that Jesus taught, the stories, the lessons that Jesus taught, like the ones that have gone before.

We have He is the bread of life, He is the true bread, that all who hunger will never hunger again as they feast on him.

That he is the light of the world, that in him is no darkness at all, that he's the door to the sheep, that all who enter his fold must come through him, that he is the good shepherd that lays his life down for his flock, that he is the way, the truth, and the life, that only through him and obedience to him and walking in his statutes and commandments is life eternal found.

And that he is the resurrection and the life.

That apart from him, apart from him, apart from the saving power of the empty tomb, there is no life.

This church is why we must as well be people of the word.

See, the cleansing power of the word that Jesus spoke to his disciples is the equivalent to the lifeblood that flowed through the vine and into the branches.

Ephesians 2 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith.

Through faith, and it's not your own doing.

It is a gift of God.

He goes on to say that no one may boast.

That no one may boast at their works.

It's a gracious gift of God.

It is the privilege of unmerited redemption.

So to summarize one through three, we have the great privilege being rooted in Christ, we have the privilege of unmerited, complete redemption.

And because we have been redeemed, because we have been saved, we have been grafted into this vine, and we have the privilege to bear fruit.

The privilege to bear fruit.

Verse 4 through 8 reads, Abide in me and I in 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 in him, he it is that bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

If anyone does not abide in me, he's thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered and thrown into a fire and burned.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given fruit, and it will be done for you.

By this the Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.

See, we're taught two principles for bearing fruit in this parable.

Two principles.

Number one is fruitfulness is impossible apart from Christ.

Fruitfulness is impossible apart from abiding or being rooted in Christ.

In verse 4, it says, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.

Neither can you.

We see this codependency, this utter dependency of the branches to be grafted and rooted into the true vine for any fruit that is pleasing or profitable or worthy in God's sight.

And we also see in verse 2 that fruitfulness is maximized by the Father's pruning.

Fruitfulness is maximized by the Father's pruning.

I have a garden that doesn't look anything like this beautiful vineyard picture that we're looking at.

It looks more like what uh the prophet Isaiah said this year.

We have thorns and thistles, and there is no fruit.

Um, and that's when you take number four into your home.

That's what happens.

You don't do anything, everything falls apart.

But this picture that we have of this gardener, this vine dresser, pruning so that more fruit might be born, right?

See, I have hydrangeas all around my house, and I love them because they're kind of low maintenance and they have like leaves on them all year round and they have blooms and they they just look pleasing to look out the window.

But the thing that I've learned about having hydrangeas is that if I don't prune them, if I don't skillfully and tactfully and purposefully at the right season, late fall before the really frost sets in, if I don't cut them back, the next year their blooms are half of what they should be.

They're not as prolific.

The fruit doesn't really flower as much as it should.

And much like that, we have a vine dresser, we have a gardener that we are promised, if we are true Christians bearing fruit, that he prunes us.

He removes the dead wood in our lives, he cuts back, he uses circumstances and situations to shape and mold us as he sees fit so that we might produce more fruit.

And by that, he is given more glory.

And so we see that fruit is maximized through pruning.

I would argue that the greatest emphasis in this text, outside of abiding or being rooted in Christ, is for branches to bear fruit.

The purpose of the branch is to bear fruit.

And not only that, bearing fruit becomes the identifying mark of a true believer.

It's the identifying mark of true believers.

In verse 2, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

He's cast aside, he is bound up and it's withered and dies and it's burned.

Brothers and sisters, to be a true Christian is to bear fruit.

Christians bear fruit.

And not simply any fruit like the wild grapes that we read in Isaiah, but godly fruit.

And so what fruit do we have?

What this is kind of a Christianese term if we don't, if we don't describe it or identify definition, it's gonna be uh at your interpretation of fruit is gonna be different than mine, right?

If at first glance, we probably think of successes in evangelism or something, right?

Like there's fruit in my life, I have been able to lead people to Christ, right?

That's God's Spirit working through me.

Or fruit of, I'm seeing my children grow in obedience, or my children love the Lord.

These are fruit that probably our mind goes to, and I don't think that those are the fruit that Jesus is talking about this morning.

Those might be byproducts of true fruit or the result of fruit bearing in our lives.

But I would seek to define fruit as this fruit is the sweet evidence of God's image restored in us.

Fruit is the sweet evidence of God's image restored in us.

See, we were created in his image and it was distorted by the fall, it was broken, it was marred.

And the entire story of redemption is everything coming back to not only what it was, but even to a better place of us resembling our creator to creation.

And so fruit is this evidence of his image restored in us.

The Father is looking for the fruit of Jesus' life and spirit at work in us.

If you've been around the church for some time, Galatians chapter 5, you might have learned a song to remember the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

There is love, there's joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

This is the fruit that we're we're learning about this morning.

This growing in Christ-likeness through the power of the Spirit, through the richness and the nutrient-rich, true vine, being connected to him.

And this is exactly how we bear fruit.

We must abide with Jesus.

Abide is used no less than 10 times in this text, and it simply means to remain, to stay put, to be connected to.

To abide, to remain.

See, no branch bears fruit in isolation.

There's no spiritual achievement that's possible apart from Christ.

And only when we as branches abide or remain or rooted in the true vine can we bear fruit.

See, we not only grow fruit through our abiding, but we bear fruit through his pruning.

The vine dresser trimming clean to affect fruitfulness.

Like a skilled craftsman, he often uses painful experiences and situations where we begin to question, God, where are you?

Do you even love me?

Do you hear me?

He's using these situations as a master craftsman to produce a branch, to produce a vine that bears fruit, that brings him glory.

And we must trust and be content that it is for our good, no matter how painful it might be in that season.

See, really, this is a picture of the Christian life that we grow and we are pruned.

That we grow and we're pruned.

That we grow and we are pruned.

See, he gets rid of the dead wood, he gets rid of the things that are going to suck life from us because he wants our vitality.

He wants us to thrive.

He wants us to be fruitful unto him.

And so, yes, Christians, we have the great privilege of bearing fruit, but we should also expect pruning in our lives.

So we are taught two principles in our fruit bearing that fruitfulness is impossible apart from Christ, and fruitfulness is maximized from his pruning.

And then Jesus goes on to mention a specific fruit that grows from abiding in him.

Verse number seven.

It's almost like genie in a lamp.

Just not quite, right?

Ask whatever you wish.

How can he make this statement?

Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

No, this is with the pre-notion.

This is with the understanding that if you abide in Christ as you see fruit being born in your life, your desires are going to be in line with his desires.

We will pray the way that God's praise.

We will see things the way that God sees things.

That's how he can say whatever you wish, whatever you ask, because we'll be asking in accordance with his will, his purposes, his glory, and not our own.

And so we see the fruit of bold and powerful prayers.

How is it that we, abiding with Christ, have the privilege of bold and powerful prayers?

Because as we are rooted in Christ, our prayer life begins to grow in accordance with his.

We learn to be broken for what breaks him.

We learn to care for what things he cares for and understand what pleases him and what love he has.

First John 3 22, he says it this way: whatever we ask, we receive for him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

The fruit of abiding, the fruit of discipleship, the fruit of growing and being transformed more and more into the image of the Son is not only for our good, but ultimately for the Father's glory.

And as we learn to abide, as we are rooted in Christ, we have this great privilege of bearing fruit as his image bears to the world.

And that leads us to our last privilege, the privilege of complete joy.

The privilege of complete joy.

And verse 9 through 11, it says, As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Full.

Complete joy.

I don't think we can truly understand that statement.

Having complete joy.

What is the end result of being rooted in Christ and abiding in his love and bearing fruit?

To have a joy that lacks nothing.

In his book, Surprised by Joy, C.S.

Lewis has quoted to say, joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.

Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is.

He goes on to say that humans have no power to produce joy on their own.

See, joy is found in the source of joy.

This true vine, joy flows from that abiding fellowship, the joy that was purchased by Jesus on the cross.

We see this joy of perfect love in verse 9.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

What a statement.

As the Father has loved the Son, so Jesus has loved you.

This may be the simplest yet the sweetest rich statement in our entire text this morning.

This is the statement that all of us as Christians find our foundation.

Everything flows from this love.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

You see the intimacy of Christ in this text.

He loves us with a perfect love.

And he calls us to draw near, to have fellowship with him, to abide, to remain, to draw near.

In verse 10, we see being rooted in this perfect love expresses itself through joy-filled obedience.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Not begrudging obedience, but joy-filled obedience.

See, reading this text, we can kind of dangerously flip this to have a works-based faith.

If we connect, if we disconnect verse 9 from verse 10, things start to go wonky or backwards.

See, the text doesn't say, if you obey my commandments, then I will love you.

No, it says, as we grow on our love for Jesus, we will joyfully obey his commands.

Caleb, don't leave.

This is for you.

See, we have four children.

He just leaves.

This is perfect.

We have four children in our home.

And as each one of them grows in their ability to follow my commands, I begin to love them more.

No?

No.

That's not how it works.

As imperfect as my love is for my children, I love them.

And as their understanding of the love that I have for them grows, they sometimes, on occasion, will obey me.

Right?

That's the picture that we see in here.

That being connected to this line, understanding the love that God has for us.

We get to live joy-filled, obedient lives because we trust Him.

See, this is the essence of Orthodox Christianity.

It's not that we do X, Y, and Z to be saved.

No, we are accepted.

We work from God's favor and not for God's favor.

The good news of the gospel is that you are loved, therefore you can do, not the other way around.

And this is what Jesus is teaching in this parable.

He says, I love you with a perfect, complete love.

You have been cleansed by the power of my word, no work of your own.

And as the fruit of being rooted and abiding in me takes form and shape, God's image is restored in you.

And that transformation will display itself through joy-filled obedience and fruit that brings God glory.

See, the world teaches that being a Christian is restrictive, is enslaving, is boring, that I would have to give up so many things to follow Christ.

And in many ways, they're right.

But our God is not a tyrant.

We are enslaved to a new and better master.

His ways are pure, his love is perfect, his own glory is somehow wondrously interwoven to our own good.

Psalm 1611 says this: You make known to me the path of life.

In your presence there is fullness of joy.

Fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Those who abide in the true vine have the privilege of complete joy.

That's what we read in verse 11.

These things I've spoken why?

That your joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full, complete, lacking nothing.

See, Matthew Henry, he says it this way: the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment.

But the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast, an ever-satisfying bounty of goodness.

Those who abide in Christ's love have this great privilege of complete joy, unshakable joy, joy that cannot be robbed from them, joy that is safe and secure and no work of our own, but the finished work of Jesus.

The summary of verse 9 through 11 is the privilege of complete joy.

This brings us to our main idea this morning that being rooted in Christ is the key to fruitfulness.

Being rooted in Christ, abiding, remaining in Him is the key to bearing fruit.

See, bearing fruit is the sweet evidence of God's image restored in us.

It's growing in love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and in his infinite wisdom.

God has seen fit that bearing fruit is not only for our good, but ultimately his glory.

See, it says the Father is glorified in us, bearing fruit.

And we're reminded that bearing fruit is impossible apart from Christ.

And that's our gospel conviction that by the grace of Jesus we are grafted into the true vine.

By the grace, the gift, the no-work of our own, the faith that we have, being cleansed in the word, by the grace of Jesus, we are now grafted into the true vine.

The apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus would say it this way in Ephesians chapter 1.

Ephesians 1 · chapter mention

It says, In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, at that moment you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

To the praise of his glory.

When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and you believed in it.

See, church, we have been cleansed by the word.

We have been grafted in the vine through the power of the Holy Spirit, the same spirit that rose Christ from the grave, that conquered our greatest enemy, sin, death, and hell.

That spirit is at work in us.

And as we are rooted in Christ, as we abide in him, we begin to be transformed into the image of his son, to bear fruit that restores what was broken from sin.

And this is no work of our own.

It is to be received by grace alone, through faith alone, to God be the glory alone.

Amen.

So what do we do with this?

If being rooted in Christ is the key to fruitfulness, and the Father is glorified through the fruit that we bear, how do we learn to abide?

How do we learn to abide?

What is our greatest obstacle in abiding?

This morning I have a simple question that I hope this week you kind of work through and decipher, whether that be as husband and wife or as friend and coworker or in your mission group.

The question is this Am I bearing godly fruit?

Am I bearing fruit?

What evidences of God's image being restored through love and joy, through growing in peace, through growing in patience and kindness and gentleness and self-control?

What evidences of fruit are being born through me as a branch grafted into this tree?

And if you don't have those evidences, I would submit this morning that you are not abiding in Christ.

That you're not being rooted in Christ, that you're not filling your life with things that stir your affection for Jesus.

See, we have so many things, so many pleasures at hand, so many things throughout the week that vie for our attention, for our affection.

I mean, it's constantly saying yes to this means saying no to ten things.

That's how it is, and I'm sure it's no different for you guys.

And so this morning I want to challenge you to reflect the people that you are putting in your life.

Are they stirring your affections for Jesus?

Are your friends, are they pushing you to be more like Christ, to bear fruit that resembles the image of Christ?

I would submit that you're not abiding in his word.

We see the miraculous power of the word alone to cleanse the disciples.

And so, what does your time in the word look like?

Is it absent?

If you're not bearing fruit, I would argue that's probably minimal or lacking.

Not to be a works-based faith, but we know that it's the power, the sword of the spirit that cuts through our hardness of heart, that transforms us, that informs our mind of what pleases God, of what his will is for our lives, of what he loves, of what he hates.

And so, what does your time in the word look like?

What does your time in prayer look like?

Are you daily going before the Father and just abiding with him, just resting in his presence, asking him to speak to you?

I know that I was convicted this week of even preparing this text of how I wanted to like, I just gotta get this done.

Like I I have a timeline and it's just convicting.

Do you sit down at the computer or at the table and you're like, man, I'm just, I gotta keep, I gotta finish this, right?

Versus just resting, waiting.

Spirit, speak to me.

There's no, there's nothing in me alone that is gonna be profitable this morning to bring to this congregation.

It's only through grace, through the work of the Spirit to speak through me this morning.

And so I ask, what does your prayer life look like?

See, we have many pursuits and passions and affections that draw our attention away from abiding.

And this morning it's a call, it's a reminder, it's a loving kindness of our Lord to call us back to the true vine.

See, when we abide with Jesus, we will see fruit.

We should expect pruning.

We will have an empowered prayer life as we learn to pray like Him.

And his glory and our joy will be increased.

See, all of these great privileges flow from our degree of abiding in the vine.

The fruit we bear, the prayers we pray, the love that we comprehend and display, and ultimately the joy that we wield as Christ's followers all flow from being rooted in Christ, the true vine.

Amen.

Let's pray.