"The True Vine: Abiding in Christ for Spiritual Growth"

Good morning. My name is Pastor Simon. It is our privilege and joy here at Dillingham

Moravian Church to be able to lead you in the study of God's Word so that you

can learn with us how to abide in Jesus Christ.

Our region here in Bristol Bay is rich with plant life that produce edible berries.

Our family loves berry picking. Although my gracious wife Abigail is the main

instigator of our love for berry picking, I really love it as well.

Late this fall, we were picking some of the last of the lowbush and highbush

cranberries on the tundra near our land.

And boy, did our boys go at picking those berries.

However, berries are not the only things that plants produce.

Plants also produce oxygen and removes the carbon dioxide that we breathe out.

Similar to energy from light, which is converted in the plant by a photosynthesis

that in turn produces growth, fruit, and oxygen that sustains life.

So also, abiding or staying in Christ produce in us repentance and faith and

leads us into fellowship or oneness with God.

Abiding with God brings us into fellowship with each other and in Christ.

Abiding or fellowship with God

produces eternal life in us, which we are converted into new creations.

Abiding with Christ gives us the power to obey Christ in all things and also produces joy in us.

That gives us strength to serve Christ as well. Let's pray.

Oh, Heavenly Father, we are thankful that your word is your truth.

Your word is your very communication to us. Speak to us today.

Use us, Lord. And Lord, as I speak, Lord, may your word not go out.

In word only, but in your very power, in your Holy Spirit, with full conviction

for me and for all who hear your word, may you convince us of your gospel truth.

In your precious and most wonderful Son's name, Jesus Christ,

in the power of the Spirit, we pray. Amen.

Turn with me today to John chapter 15, verse 1 through 5. John chapter 15, verse 1 through 5.

John 15:1–5 John 15:1–5

Where Jesus proclaimed, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.

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

that bears fruit, he cleans it so that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Abide in me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine,

so neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

There are four crucial timeless truths in John chapter 15 verse 1 through 5

John 15:1–5

that I want to bring to your attention.

The first truth that I want to show you is the most important truth for the

Christian life, And that truth is that Christ is the true vine and the Father is the vine grower.

Jesus began this passage in John chapter 15 by proclaiming that he was the true vine.

John 15 · chapter mention

The concept of being the vine is that the vine is the source of life for the

branches and for the fruit.

Branches and the fruit would have no life without the vine.

And it's from the vine that the branches get their energy, their sustenance

to be able to grow healthy and bear fruit.

However, it's the vine grower who even before he planted the vines,

he would cultivate the ground and cut out the terraces and the hills where the vines were grown.

All rocks and weeds and other plants except maybe figs were removed.

The vine grower trained the vines to grow upwards onto a tree or trellis and

used pruning hooks to prune the branches that were preventing the vine to bear fruit.

According to an article by Terry W.

Edinger entitled Wine in Ancient Israel, who wrote about ancient vine workers

saying the farmer planted young vines in the vineyards in rows about 8 to 12 feet apart.

Usually, his vines grew along the ground.

However, the farmers propped up fruit-bearing vines to prevent the fruit from rotting prematurely.

Spread out in the ground, the vines received plenty of sunshine by day and trapped the dew by night.

Sometimes the farmers allowed the vines to climb into branches or over a trellis.

A vine reached maturity and produced its first crop in about three years.

Vineyards required constant care to produce a good crop. In the early spring,

workers used pruning hooks to prune the vines of superficial,

diseased, or feeble branches.

This technique allowed healthy branches to produce better fruit.

The focus of John 15, verse 1 is about the importance of the vine and the vine

John 15:1

grower, without which there would be no branches or no fruit.

How can we apply this to us as disciples of Christ? The main truth that we can

apply to us is that as the Church of Christ, we are the branches of the divine.

We're not the divine itself.

We can do nothing without Christ and the Father.

We cannot grow ourselves spiritually, nor can we save ourselves from the wrath of God.

We cannot make someone else be saved. We cannot make someone into a believer.

We cannot make someone into a disciple of Christ. It is Jesus Christ and the

Father and the Holy Spirit that does the growing.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 3, verses 6-7 said the same thing as Jesus.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7

So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,

but God who causes the growth.

We, you and I, must believe this truth, that God is the only one who causes true growth.

Every action we make for Christ's church must reflect this.

Of course, we as workers for Christ, we must, by faith in Christ,

work hard at making disciples for the Lord.

Yet this means we, you and I, must always be connected to Jesus Christ divine

through prayerful faith and obedience because we know that it is the Father

God in Jesus Christ who is growing us and growing others through us and using us.

So much of modern ministry practices are based upon business principles that

treat believers as consumers, that need to be sought after to buy the church's product.

According to business practice models, the more you implement a specific program

or business technique, the more your church will grow.

Now, there are principles of business to be found in God's scriptures,

and many businesses have copied these.

However, the heart of God's business practice is that it is God who does the growing.

And this is so freeing for us as church leaders or as those of you who are volunteering

in a program ministry, or maybe you're doing Jesus-style ministry,

wherever you are, because it takes the pressure off of us to produce results.

Yes, in Christ's power, we work hard for Christ, but the growth and

the results of Christ's ministry through us is from God.

It's not from us. It is from Him.

Not only have we learned that Christ is the true vine and God the Father is

the vine worker, and Jesus also wanted his disciples to know that the Father

cleans the branches of the vine with his word.

A big part of the life of our family from spring to fall are our two gardens

and our outside greenhouses.

And in the winter, my wife Abigail grows plants in our hydroponic systems in our house.

This winter, she's growing crab apples and kiwis. My lovely wife loves to spend

time in the summer evenings out in her garden, checking her garden plants. Seeing what is growing,

pruning this plant. Pulling that weed.

Abigail will remove the leaves that are dying or diseased so that those dying

or diseased branches do not infect the whole plant or draw energy from the plant

that should be going to the healthy branches and their fruit.

I've also seen her cleaning the dirt off the leaves of the plants where the

rain splashed mud on the plants.

The dirt will weigh down the leaves, and the leaves will then rot and die if not properly cleaned.

My point with this illustration is that two of the Father's jobs in the salvation

process is to prune the vine's branches and to clean the vine's branches.

Jesus in John 15 verse 2 through 3 taught this,

John 15:2–3

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

that bears fruit, he cleans it so that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

The first part of verse 2 about pruning or taking away the branches,

I will address in the next episode.

For today, there are two crucial observations that I want to show you from this verse.

The first observation is that the Father cleans the branches that are bearing fruit.

In John 15, verse 2 through 3, I want you to notice that the branches who bear

John 15:2–3

fruit are those who are believers in Christ, that are actively involved in bearing

fruit in Christ's ministry.

The concept here is like that of a vineyard worker who goes around after the

rains and cleans the dirt of the leaves so that they do not rot and die.

Cleaning off the branches could also refer to cleaning off the insects,

slugs, or harmful things that will kill the leaves and branches.

Jesus gave us great encouragement in the last part of John 15, verse 2.

John 15:2

Rather than pruning us as a branch and cutting us off completely,

throwing us away and burning us,

the fine dresser who is our Father God kindly wipes away the dirt of sin that

has accumulated on us and cleans us off.

The second observation is that Jesus told the disciples that they were already

clean because of the word that he had spoken to them. And this is absolutely crucial.

It is God's word, the scriptures, that God uses to clean us,

to make us more holy for the Lord.

The Lord works through his word to show us our sin and convict us and move us

to repent and to follow Christ again.

The Lord uses His Word to encourage and strengthen us so that we can keep on

going when we are tired and feeling like giving up.

It is also important for us to realize that God also uses other believers to

preach or encourage us with His Word to clean us and make us more holy.

In the life of our congregations, it is God's Word, powered by the Holy Spirit

as the central and sanctifying and cleaning agent to grow a congregation or

a local body of Christ to look and act like Jesus.

And if you and I really want to see our congregations grow to be like Christ

and bear fruit for Christ, we must be teaching the Word of God and to be teaching it accurately.

As individual believers, we, you and I, need to be continually reading,

listening to, memorizing and praying through God's holy word, the Bible.

Believers can grow no other way than from the very word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

This goes for our children and our families. As Christian parents,

we must be discipling and training our children in the accurate Word of God.

And we must be loving our family with the Word of God, using God's truth from his Word.

I want to show you two scriptures that will help us understand this truth.

The writer of Hebrews wrote in Hebrews 4, verses 10-13, Therefore,

Hebrews 4:10–13

let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall into the same example of disobedience.

Verse 12, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged

sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints

and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are uncovered

and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we have an account to give.

Another important scripture is from Psalm 19, verse 7 to 11,

Psalms 19:7–11

where the psalmist prayed, The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul.

The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.

The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart.

The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of Yahweh

is clean, enduring forever.

The judgments of Yahweh are true. They are righteous altogether.

They are more desirable than gold, even more than much fine gold.

Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them your slave is warned. In keeping them, there is great reward.

What can you and I learn from verses 2-3 in John 15?

There are at least two applications for these verses that I believe we can apply to ourselves.

The first truth that we can learn is that the Father God lovingly cleans the

sin of dirt off of our branches, off of us, so that we can produce fruit for His glory.

I so want to encourage each of you and me that God loves each of us with an undying love.

That the Father wants us to produce fruit and He wants us to be clean and holy.

Father, as the vine grower of Christ's vine, will clean off our leaves and branches

out of His merciful love.

And He will do the same to our congregations as well.

At the same time, Jesus is also giving us an implied warning in John 15,

John 15:2–3

verse 2-3, that the toil and challenges of life and ministry,

especially here in the bush, can pressure us to get dirty with sin.

What I mean by this is that life and ministry can be extremely challenging and demanding.

For many of you who are listening to this message, you dedicate many hours in

weekly lesson planning for children and youth ministry, or for teaching Bible studies.

Some may put much time into planning and practicing for weekly music and tech ministries.

Others in our church here in Dillingham or wherever you live,

you may not be active in a program ministry in your church.

But you focus much of your time in visiting and helping your neighbors,

visiting the sick, sharing the gospel with love to your co-workers, using God's word.

You love on those who are grieving over the loss of loved ones.

Combined with the hecticness of work, school, after-school activities,

family life, our lives as Christ's disciples can be long, tiring,

and we can feel overwhelmed.

Additionally, here in Bush, Alaska, we deal with extremely high death and suicide

and addiction rates of our people and everything that comes with them.

We see here in the Bush things that most pastors and congregations in the lower 48 hardly ever see.

And because of all these challenges, it's easy to burn out, to lose patience

with the people we're ministering to, with our families and our churches.

It's easy to start operating under our own strength and get focused on ourselves

and become selfish and prideful.

Jesus gave us a warning in John chapter 15 that if we're not continually abiding

John 15 · chapter mention

in Christ, we will fall into sin.

Therefore, God encourages you and I to continually abide in Christ through staying

in the Word of God through prayer.

So far, we've been taught that God lovingly cleans the dirt of sin off of fruit-producing

believers so that we can produce more fruit for the glory of God the Father.

And this leads us to the central focus of a disciple of Christ that Jesus was

teaching his disciples and us as well.

And that major point is that all fruit comes from abiding in Christ.

Jesus in John 15, verse 4-5 proclaimed, Abide in me, and I in you.

John 15:4–5

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine,

so neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

He who abides in me, and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.

This passage is the heart of

Christ's church. The church's sole mission on earth is to abide in Christ.

Everything about the church is founded and based in this one truth.

The Great Commission, our call to make disciples of every nation on earth and

teach them the truth of Jesus Christ, the charge to shepherd and pastor our

churches for Christ, the commands to be witnesses of the love of Christ to those around us.

All those aspects of the Christian life for individual Christians,

such as ourselves, and for congregations, is based in this one command.

There is no church without Christ. The word abide referred to someone who does

not leave a certain realm or sphere, remains, continues, abides.

In the context of John 15, abide means never to leave the relationship that we have with Christ.

But I would go even further to say that abiding in Christ is the process of

actively and intentionally staying connected to Christ, our vine.

And the promise is, as we continue to stay in relationship or connection with

Christ, Christ stays or abides with us.

In John chapter 15, verse 4 through 5, Jesus defined what the church of Christ

John 15:4–5

is, the branches coming out from and growing from Christ.

For any fruit to grow from a plant, the plant must have the nutrients and the

sunlight that enables to grow that plant to grow.

And so also our congregations, which are the local expressions of Christ's universal

church, we cannot grow unless we are abiding or we're staying in relationship with Christ, our mind.

And this is essential. Please listen to this. As individual Christ believers

and congregations, we can do nothing. I mean nothing that impacts others spiritually

for the kingdom of Christ, or even physically as well, without Christ.

But as we and our churches abide in Christ, God will work in us and through

us with the almighty energy producing of the power of God to bear fruit for the glory of God.

There is a strong temptation for us in the American church to believe that in

order to grow our congregations, we need the newest ministry model or program

based upon a successful megachurch or church planning model.

I get advertisements all the time from social media regarding the newest way to grow congregations.

Now, don't get me wrong. Some of their techniques, policies,

and programs may be very helpful and useful, especially if they come from God's Word to begin with.

Here at Dillingham Moravian Church, we use the WANA program, for example.

But first and foremost, we as church leaders in our congregations must be asking

ourselves and our congregations the question of whether we are staying in connection

with Christ, our only true vine. Why?

Because there'll be no life of the Spirit in our personal lives,

nor in our churches, if we are not abiding in Christ!

It is only in Christ that we can have the spiritual life and power to be able

to live the life of an abiding church or an abiding disciple of Christ.

We all say that we want to see revival and a spiritual awakening happening out

here in the Bush and rest of Alaska as well. But do we really?

And the only way to truly wake up God's people and lead those who are not saved

to life in Christ is by leading them to abide in Christ through His Word.

What has God been teaching us through John chapter 15 this morning?

John 15 · chapter mention

The first and foremost truth that God has been teaching us today is that Christ is the true vine.

And our Father God is the vine grower.

This is such a strong encouragement to us to be connected continually to Jesus

Christ the vine through prayerful faith and obedience because we know that it

is Jesus Christ who is our life and it is the Father who is growing us and growing

others through us and using us.

The second valuable truth that we have been taught is that the Father God lovingly

cleans the sin of dirt off of our branches, off of us, so that we can produce fruit for His glory.

Lastly, connected intimately with today's first truth, is that as Christians,

you and I are called to abide in Christ.

And as we abide in Christ, we will bear fruit for the glory of God.

I want to strongly encourage each of us today.

We're often missing so much of the power and strength and joy and vitality of

God Almighty in our modern churches.

We don't need to be. Do you want to see your children and extended family members

come to Christ? Do you want to see your neighbors and the community come to salvation in Christ?

Do you want to see our nations repent and bow before the ever-living and everlasting God?

As a church here in Dillingham and in America, our charge is to abide in

Christ and lead others to do the same. Let's pray.

Oh, Father, we are so grateful for your truth, for your word.

Help us, not only as a congregation, but for all who hear this word,

for all of the congregations of your church here in Alaska, in this world.

May we cling to you. May we abide in you.

You are our vine. You are our life.

And may we constantly be trusting you and obeying your word as we remain and stay in your love.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

I'll leave you with this blessing from Romans chapter 15, verse 13.

Romans 15:13

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that by

the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.

Have a wonderful Sunday. May the Lord bless you.