Tangible Christmas: Be The Joy - John 15:1-11 Pastor Daniel Reese

if you have your Bibles will be in John chapter 15 this morning. We're in week three of our

John 15 · chapter mention

Advent series week three and our theme this morning is joy. In John 15 just to set up the text in

John 15 Jesus is talking to his disciples he's having this discussion with his disciples he's

been he's been speaking with them about how he's going to have to be leaving soon and when he leaves

he's going to send the Holy Spirit in his place so so these disciples who had given up everything

to follow Jesus who left their families behind who left their jobs behind have now been told

that that Jesus isn't going to be around much longer and there's no doubt that disciples were

saddened by the news that they were receiving that night they they were hearing Jesus like they

they were hearing them but they weren't getting how that after he was gone from among them that

they could still go on that the ministry would still go on well well Jesus had the answer and in

chapter 15 he uses an ordinary vine whether it was a great vine or or some other vine is really

not relevant to the story but he used the vine in its branches and fruit to illustrate the the only

way that we're ever going to find joy find fulfillment is going to be through Christ and so this is

the story he's going to tell him so in the midst of their sadness confusion probably some anger we

we're able to see how Jesus tells his followers this is how it's going to be in order for them to

have any sort of comfort and so we're going to read from John 15 this morning I'm going to invite

Adam to come and read our text this morning as he does that he's going to light our advent candles

as we remember what we are celebrating this season and so the first candle he's going to light

represents hope and we talked about how Jesus is our hope and how we are to take that hope to

the world around us the next one he's going to light is for peace and we get our peace from

Jesus but also we're supposed to extend that peace to the world around us and the one he's going

to light this morning is for joy you know we're going to learn about how God is our joy and how

we can take that joy to the world around us and so Adam's going to read a few verses out of John

15 starting in verse five if you're able I'd love for you to stand and honor the Lord's word as he

does that I'm the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and dying 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 my words abide anew ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you

by this my father is glorified by 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

he will abide in my love just as I have kept my flogged commandments and abide in his life

these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full amen let's

pray father I pray that this familiar passage that we know will just just speak to us today I pray

that you will speak through your word I just thank you for Adam I thank you for how you're growing

him and pray God that you continue to give him a strong desire to know you and read your word and

obey your word and I pray father that you'll just be in our midst as we as we study this your name

you pray amen thanks buddy so Jesus says in verse 11 that that everything I just said in verses one

through ten were said that in order that that his joy would remain in us and that in that their joy

would be full and so God's desire has always been and still is today for his children to

experience great joy in their life now no doubt all of humanity wants the same thing and certainly

the disciples wanted it certainly the disciples wanted to experience joy but the problem is is

that God and man have differing ideas about how that is going to be accomplished see the disciples

idea of experiencing joy had to do with physically enjoying the presence of Christ and and having

sort of a hands-on religion that there's was the same idea that man's is today it's about what a man

can experience and and get out of a worship service or get out of this deal it's the kind of

religion we hear about in John chapter six that that's great to have as long as you're getting

your own way as long as everything's going the way you want it to but it's forsaken at the first

say first hint of hardship that that's the difference between our idea and God's idea of religion

but but God doesn't really want religion at all but rather a life of faith and devotion to him

and if true believers can understand God's plan for experiencing joy and practice it daily in their

lives then they can experience the joy that only comes from above the joy that satisfies the dry

and thirsty soul the kind of joy for for which your soul longs for can only be found in Christ so

so how do you do that how do you get it how do you experience it God God doesn't just set aside

joy for certain people right he doesn't pick and choose okay you get joy and you get joy it's it's

for all of his children any one of his children can experience joy but only when they observe and

apply the things that Jesus teaches in today's text and so let's consider three things that we

need to understand as believers that Jesus pointed out that that will lead you to experiencing the

joy that he intends for your life the first thing we need to understand is our place we need to

understand our place in this thing in verse one Jesus said I am the true vine and my father is the

vine dresser then in verse five he says I am the vine you are the branches right so so that's it

there it is God the father is the vine dresser or the gardener it is he who owns it all it is he

who controls it all Jesus is the true vine and we as believers are the branches Jesus is the true

vine and we are the branches by making this statement Jesus implies that there's other

vines yet he is the true one so if we're going to have the kind of life the kind of life that we

find in John 14 6 the kind of life that we find in John 10 10 then we'll only find it in Christ

the true vine maybe you've tried to find life maybe you've tried to find joy outside of Christ

because there are other vines yet he is the true one what what that means is that you and I we try

every means we have available to produce a quality of life and think that this is going to bring us

fulfillment but Jesus tells us in this passage that you will only find that kind of life in him

now Jesus is not speaking about salvation here he's addressing people who already claim to be

saved so he's telling these saved people how to go about finding life what are some of the other

vines to which people try to connect themselves some try to connect for to popularity for joy

and fulfillment others try to attach themselves to work or money others find it in marriage or

other relationships maybe it's your hobby or your recreation where you try to find joy and

fulfillment in those things and most all men and women try religion of some flavor all at some

time or another try different ways we all we all do it but as Jesus pointed out a man can gain the

whole world he can have everything there is to have and yet when all is said and done he will

have nothing if he's lost his own soul meaning that he's wasted his life searching for something

in this world that only Jesus can provide Jesus made it clear in verse five that apart from him

we can do nothing now he's not talking about being able to live life to go out to dinner with your

spouse to go to your kids games to watch tv what he is talking about is that there is nothing

that you or I can do apart from him that will ever have eternal value nor is there anything we can

do on our own that God will find acceptable and pleasing if we're going to get to the father

then then it's going to have to be through Christ as we remain attached to him Solomon found this out

he understood it he was a man with unlimited resources more money than you will ever acquire

he had more wisdom than you and I could ever study and comprehend and he searched the world over

and over and he attempted a great variety of things to find true fulfillment and joy and living

and and as he went through all the saying he discovered that all of it was vanity it was all

useless it leaves man just as empty as he was in the beginning we are the branches that's it

that's that's who we are as children of God we are not the gardener nor are we the vines our place

in christian living is to stay connected to the vine and allow him to produce fruit through us

that's it now that might not sound too thrilling but regardless of our personal feelings about our

position in life the reality is that we as believers are completely and utterly dependent upon God

through Jesus Christ our place in the grand scheme of things is to be branches we are servants not

the master we are slaves not the owner we are creation not the creator you see God has rights

to every one of our lives because everything there is rightfully belongs to him because he is almighty

God we we were nothing to God except offensive rebellious sinners and yet in spite of what we were

God gave up Jesus for what we could be and that's not all God has rights to our lives because he

is our creator and he has rights to our lives because he bought and paid for us but he also has

rights to our lives because at some point in time if you are a believer if you are a follower of him

we willingly chose to make him the lord of our lives we gave him the right we recognized our

place and then we were given salvation and there there was no greater sense of joy and

fulfillment to us now we must continue to recognize it in daily christian living if we are going to

experience joy from above so we need to understand our place then we need we need to understand our

need to submit to the pruning that God goes does through us verses two through three says 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 bear more fruit already you are clean because of the word that i have spoken to you

now remember that that jesus is speaking to saved people the the loss are not under consideration

right now so when we read that there are some branches that that that aren't bearing fruit

that that that will be taken away john's not talking about god separating lost people from

saved people he's talking about removing those branches that are useless and are taking up space

taking up the the valuable resources that could be better used for those branches that are producing

fruit he says that the branch the the soft flexible portion of the vine that does not bear any fruit

he takes it away it's not just discarded but it's placed amongst other dead branches

may i suggest that of all the places that jesus can take you you don't want him to take you to

a pile of dead branches as men and women in whom the spirit of god resides we ought to want him to

take us to new heights we've never known we want him to take us to opportunities that that we we've

only dreamed of he wants to take us to areas of ministry that we've never seen before god takes

the dead branches away and those branches are taken away because they are dead they don't produce

any fruit whatsoever and you can understand that right that makes perfectly good sense to us god

is making great sense here dead branches take up good space dead branches don't give praise don't

dead branches waste time dead branches don't tithe dead branches complain all the time dead branches

walk around in bitterness dead branches are a stumbling block to somebody else dead branches

can talk holy but they walk in an unworthy and unholy way dead branches need to be removed

but but it's not the job of the other branches to do the removing that's the work of the gardener

i think there are some branches here that that are producing fruit here in this church is branches

producing fruit but but even the branches that are bearing fruit experience pruning that the

greek word suggests that god will clear out or cleanse he will remove things from the vine that

are hindering its good and proper growth it will remove things that are hindering their ability to

produce more and even better fruit that every one of us every single one of us as believers have

things in our lives that hinder our spiritual growth they they they hinder our ability to bear

the kind of fruit in which god is looking the writer of hebra who's told his readers to lay aside

every weight that hindered them every single weight that hinders them and when we recognize those

things in our lives we ought to lay them aside but but very often we don't recognize the sin in our

lives do we we have blind spots we have areas of our lives that that keep us from growing that keep

us from producing fruit so god goes to work to prune those things out may i suggest to you today

that this may be an explanation of what god is doing in your life it may not be but but the

possibility is there you lose things you lose people possessions that are close to you not not

to hurt you but to make take you to a higher level that you may become a very productive person in

his kingdom that you would be able to produce more fruit he will allow you to lose relationships maybe

lose a job lose your health go through difficult situations as a way of pruning you whatever

distractions that that are keeping you from serving the lord god says for his own sake not

your own sake for his own sake i've got to prune i've got to clean your branch but we are being

pruned not not for our pain not because god is evil but that god would receive the glory

when god is done pruning out my life he will receive the glory then when he gets finished with me

my life will give him glory my my ways will give him glory my songs will give him glory my prayers

will give him glory my my giving will give him glory and i will experience joy in my life because

of god's pruning work that that i've never experienced before not not because the pruning is ever

pleasant not not because i look forward to it but because it was necessary in order for me to produce

more fruit for the gardener we need to submit to that get ready for it the final thing we need to

experience we need to experience joy is to remain in christ remain in christ jesus said in verse 4

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 now that sounds real spiritual right but but but what does

that mean the word abide comes from a word that means to continue to stay to to dwell perhaps one

of the simplest ways to think about it is just to ask yourself the question how does a branch

get the sap it needs without staying connected to the vine how does it stay connected to the

vine the answer to that question is the answer to our question of how we are to remain in christ

you see we are to stay connected to christ to to stay hooked up to him to dwell in him to

continue in him that's what it means to abide and jesus mentions a few things in verses 7 through 10

that will help us the first one being we must allow the words of christ to remain in us allow the

words of christ to remain in us in other words we need to get into god's word on a continual regular

basis we need to have a consistent plan of regular bible reading of bible study of bible

memorization we need to have a regular time where we just stop and we meditate on the scriptures and

on the teachings and and how those things apply to our christian life we need to allow the word of

god to get into our lives and allow it to influence everything we think or say or do it is it should

be the the filter by by which we view all of life and the standard in which we live now we have

several bible studies going on right now we have more coming up here soon my encouragement to you

if you're not plugged in if you are don't have a continuous plan get plugged into a community

and get into the bible the next thing we see is we must maintain an active prayer life see that in

verse 7 jesus mentioned asking what we will for the father he's speaking about a habit of prayer

a habit that is all too often lacking in the life of a believer how can we experience the joy

that is christian living of remaining in christ if if we fail to do the simplest thing such as prayer

how in the world can we remain in christ if we don't even communicate with him believers need to be

praying people because people who aren't praying are not attached to the vine so my encouragement

to you is join us here on wednesday nigh for prayer and bible study come together with a community

of people and hear the needs and see the needs and pray for those needs and watch how god responds

get involved with others as we pray together the third thing is we must continue to continue to

walk in love for others jesus plainly throughout his life taught that this was the second greatest

commandment second only to our love for god if we are going to experience joy if we are going to

be satisfied in this life then we're going to have to love people we're going to have to love people

and not not in the forced type of love that some of y'all do with your family right like their

family so i gotta love them that's not what we're talking about here this is this is the love that

flows out of us from from maintaining the right love relationship from the true source of love

which is christ like god will help us love the unlovable he will help us extend grace to those

that we don't want to but in christ we can love all people regardless of who they are in christ we

can love all people regardless of what they have done to us we can only love others as we rightly

love the lord if you want to experience joy make sure you're loving others well the final thing

we see is we must be obedient to the word of god now that might sound like a repeat of the first

thing we mentioned earlier but but it's not i mean how often do we come across believers who can

quote the bible how often do we come across believers who who know the doctrines of the bible

they they know the lord's word yet they struggle with the application of that word if we are going

to experience what good things god has in store for us then not only do we need to know the word

but we also need to obey the word we need to do the things we are told to do and we need to avoid

the things that we are called to avoid in the scriptures so what what happens when a child of

god refuses to remain in christ what what happens to a believer who is not bearing fruit in his or

her life that child of god is of no use and god's kingdom purposes he or she has not has chosen to

not stay connected so they must be cut off they must be set aside i mean how patiently god waits

while he invites such a believer to get in his to get his rear end and gear and put himself in a

position where he's able to bear much fruit there are always those of you whose lives can be observed

over a period of time maybe a few weeks maybe a few years and i'm sure we all have people in our

lives when we look at them and and and we ask the question are they really saved i see them at church

but are they really saved i mean that's a that's a horrible question that's a horrible question to

ask any professing believer but the reality is there are many who who are good at professing

well they're good at professing what they know about god they're they're good at at living in

the church life for an hour hour and a half a week but but it doesn't change their life they

don't apply any of it they're really pretty terrible at living any of it out you may claim to be saved

but it is the fruit you do or don't bear that ultimately tells the truth about your claim

if you've just been living a lie and you know that you've never accepted christ as your savior

you've just been playing church you've just been doing religion the not only are you not connected

to the vine not only are you not connected to the source of joy you're not connected to the

source of joy you are completely unable to be connected unless you do something about it

you need to recognize that without jesus you are completely lost and unacceptable to god

you have no way to earn his favor you have no way to earn salvation you stand condemned before a

holy and righteous father however if you realize your lostness today if you're willing to swallow

your pride today you can be saved your life can be changed but you must confess your condition

you must confess your condition to christ and be repentant concerning your sin and turn and

trust christ to save you and he will now some of you have been lacking the kind of joy about which

the bible speaks this is this is not a joy that comes and goes as the wind comes and goes but

it is sure and lasting so long as you remain connected to the vine through such things as prayer

and bible study and applying and loving others all of those things so my question is have you

been connected have you been longing for that which you do not have has there been something

missing in your life because of wrong or hurtful choices so the challenge this morning is the same

challenge that we've had the last two weeks and the challenge is to be a disciple of jesus

by being the joy to others that comes from him be a disciple of jesus it is it's hard to be the

joy of christ to others when you aren't attached to the vine it's hard to be the joy when when you've

spent the majority of your christian life thrown into the dead pile because you were useless to the

kingdom instead of thinking of yourself sitting in a dead pile of branches i'd rather you think

about what it would look like to sit on the bench now i played sports growing up and i've spent my

fair share amount of time on the bench either because i wasn't as good as other players or because

of my own decisions and i went through a basketball season uh a season on the basketball court where

where i could just not stay out of foul trouble i was in high school and i was playing high school

ball and i just could not stay out of foul trouble i'd have three or four fouls in the first quarter

and so i spent the majority of the basketball game on the bench one time i got benched from

the game because i i i let out some colorful metaphors towards the ref and towards the other team

so for the first half of the season i was i was hurting my team more than i was helping my team

i had some points every once in a while i did some good things here and there every once in a while

maybe an assist or two but for the most part i was pretty useless to my team my attitude was terrible

and looking back i definitely deserved to be on the bench although in that moment i sure felt

like it was everybody else's fault it's the other team the refs are being jerks it was everybody

else's fault but i see it now and eventually i got my act together and learned from the mistakes

that i'd been making so that when given the opportunity to get back in the game i watched

my hands i kept my mouth shut and i tried to do everything i could to help my team win i came

to the realization that i didn't want to be useless anymore i wanted to be productive

maybe some of you have been sitting in a dead pile of branches for a long time

this passage is not talking about losing your salvation because that would indicate that salvation

is something you earned and that and that god has taken it back this is a call for us to be useful

in his kingdom get connected again with the vine get off the bench that if you find yourself not

connected you find yourself not being used if you find yourself not growing then i would suggest

that you're not walking in true joy because you are not connected to the true vine i want you to

look at this list one more time what area of your walk with the lord is lacking

what area are you not connected to the vine

are you struggling to love others well

are you struggling to find the discipline to stay in his word continuously

are you are you struggling in your prayer life you just don't feel like it don't know how to do it

whatever are you struggle with with that reality of knowing the truth of god's word but having

a really difficult time applying it if you are lacking in any of these areas you are not walking

in the joy that he came to bring us and i will walk with you i will help you and i know that so

many others in this church's will as well you just have to ask you just have to ask for some

accountability you just have to ask for some help so we are called to continue to live out the joy

that the lord brings what we're called to do it we're called to continue bringing the joy what can

you do this week what can you do this week to help others experience the joy that god has given you

if any of these things on this list are lacking in your life it's gonna be you're gonna have a

difficult time and so we're gonna we're gonna worship some more we're going to have a time to

respond to just kind of hear what the lord is telling each and every one of us and so i'm gonna

i'm gonna encourage you to respond however the lord leads you if that is laying things down if

that is asking for prayer if that is asking for help if whatever the lord is calling you to do

in this moment my hope and prayer for you is that you will walk in obedience we want you to experience

joy we we have a community around us that needs to experience joy and we need your help to for

them to do it so make sure before you leave this place that you're connected to the vine let me

pray for us father i pray right now that as we worship and as we sing words god i pray that it

will be pleasing to you i pray that it will bring honor to you i pray father that you will speak

that you will convict that you will save i pray father that you will reveal where we might just

be hanging on by a thread where we need to tap back into those things and i pray that you will

just speak to our hearts and give us um humblest so that we can walk in obedience

how we can't do this without you we can't experience joy without you we can't walk in

fullness of life without you you are the true vine and so reveal to us any other vine that we have

tried to attach ourselves to and help us walk forward so i gotta pray you minister minister to

our hearts this morning your name pray amen