7.26.26 | Sam Fischer

Sugar Plain Friends Chruch: It's a joy to be with you here today. invite you to open your Bibles with me to John chapter fifteen. I'll be starting at the beginning of the chapter. The truth for us today is that God is in control. God is in control. And we'll be looking at how God is in control in this passage in John chapter fifteen. Beginning at verse 1, it reads, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I am you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. And you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If any one does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the fire. And they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, will you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. God is in control. And in this passage, we see that G that Jesus is using this metaphor of a vineyard with God as the vine dresser, being someone that cares for a vineyard. We might say like a gardener, you know, that goes in and do it. But this is a very specialized person, someone that is specialized in taking care of great vines. And in the Middle East, in probably the time of Jesus. They had concepts of the vineyards that used throughout scripture, that of something that, when we understand the context of it, gives us a little bit more depth into how God is in control here. And when we look at this metaphor closely, we see that it's not just that God is a gardener, but we understand the intricacies that go along with it. What God actually does to care for them. What he does to s to what I would like to use is superintend, which just means that he's over it, that he's over the whole process. He's in control of it all. It's not something that you plant the seed like wildflowers, you just throw the seeds out there, and then they either sprout up or they don't. But God individually works with every one of the vines, making sure that they grow and are It's something that's cultivated. How many of you have ever gardened before? Something that is a little bit more than just planting in the ground, something like a tree. You ever gardened a tree before? You know the intricacies that have to go into making sure that tree takes root. It's not as simple as just putting it in the ground. You have to prepare the ground. I planted a tree before, my grandma loves trees. She every place that she ever lived, she would plant at least a half a dozen or more trees across her yard. moment she moved in and that's no different than when I helped her move up in Indiana. She would have us plant trees in her backyard, in her front yard, in every part of her yard, so that she could have shade within ten years, because she planned to live there. She would have us plant those trees. But we had to prepare the ground. She would we would have these saplings, they typically be about two one or two year old saplings that we would plant. We'd buy those from the nards and take them in. But we would dig a ground we would dig a hole, but we had to dig at least the depth twice what the pot of the tree is. And then the past the depth of the pot, we would have to loosen the soil, mix it with water. to make a slurry so that it could fit in nicely and settle in to it and the could absorb into the tree. And we can't plant dig around circle. We'd have to do a square. Because the tree would have a hard time taking root in a round environment, especially with where we lived, it was deeply clay. So we had a we had to be very careful to make sure we dig it all out. So we would dig down. We would dig out a large square that's about twice the width of the tree as well. and twice the depth, we would loosen the soil all around and dig out we'd use a shovel to dig out holes in the sides or could be loosened on the side too. And we'd fill it. And then you'd have to overfill it with dirt, 'cause it's gonna settle. Now does that sound easy? Does that sound like a simple process of just dig a hole and throw it in there? There's so much that has to be thought about. You gotta think about each part of it. Would you intuitively, just something you would know naturally, would you know that a tree would have a hard time in a round hole? It's something that we inherently know. But if you but if you knew that specific tree, if you knew that specifically, studied it, and knew about it, you would know that it would need something. In the same way when we see God in this passage, it's not just God is planting it and leaving it, but He has to know it personally. He has to know that specific vine so well that he would know where it needed care, where it needed tendon, when it needed it, so that it could produce fruit. God is in control. Jesus says that we are the branches. And he uses the kind of metaphor of grafting. How many of you know him? pretty common process of where they would cut in but in a picture up here of what it kinda looks like. Grafting is a process that pretty much allows you to get similar kinds like same kind like a weaker gra like an apple tree or something and you could put it into another tree that's hardier. And they would do that to help grow weaker trees that wouldn't survive on their own. But then they plant them into stronger trees. And then they're able to grow and produce more fruit because they have a better root system in the s in the stronger variety. And so then the variety that you do want that produces a lot of fruit, you can get a hardy variety that has been cultivated to be strong and then you get a variety that has been cultivated to produce very sweet and rich fruit. And if you graft them together, you now have the hardiness of the tree that's been taken root, and then you have the wonderful fruit of the other one. And that's what grafting can do. Is they cut into the tree, they plant they put it in, tie it up, put typically tar over it to keep it from getting infected. And that grafting illustration is used throughout scripture. Paul uses it to describe how the Gentile Christians have been brought into the covenant, that they've been grafted in some Romans ten and eleven or Romans eleven. How the Gentile Christians have been grafted in. We can see that. That using that illustration with Israel being the core root that the Gentiles are included in. And that brings so much more depth to this passage here. When we see that we that the vine, Jesus Christ, the true vine, the strength and foundation of Jesus Christ, with us as the chosen fruit bearers of God, grafted into that relationship, brought into that. Why so that we could bear? It brings beauty to that relationship. And we can understand this cooperation that we as Christians have with God. I sometimes wonder why God chooses to use humanity when he could have just done it himself. Could have just done it way better himself. A a teacher at college who would say that he wished he just had a a salvation gun. That he could just sit out there and just shoot people as they go by and be You're saved, you're saved, you're saved. I I don't know. He just had a weird way of thinking about it. But I think he was he he was a pastor of forty years. I think he was getting tired, but But he often wondered why God wouldn't just step in and do it. God wouldn't just do it himself. God chooses to use us. Why why can't the true vine Christ just produce the core of it and we see throughout John and maybe if you another sermon we could look at it, it's because of love. God wants us to be part of it. He wants us to be Why would you choose something that maybe not produce as much fruit? Perhaps it's because God loves this particular kind. God loves it when he does this. Loves it when he can do it that way. So God grasps us in. And God knows so intricately how to care. If you go to slide two, we can look at that. There's also the part that God also, when we look at the this is kind of a illustration of what a vineyard would maybe look like. It's not an exact historical representation, but kind of similar. You see the the vines along in rows like that, that they grow up in trees, they're kind of wrought up and they're trimmed like that very carefully. There's they're weeded out between, there's a wall. Usually most vineyards were walled to keep animals. And other people out. And you see over there is a tower. Very commonly in vineyards also there was a tower. And the main gardener that was over it would stay in that tower. Night and day. And they would stay in there so that they could keep watch for thieves, for animals, for other things that would come in to destroy their crop. And so they had that tower to give kind of a range of weather. God not just cares for us in what we need, but is caring for the things around us, is protecting us. I'm sure we've all heard the kind of illustrations that go along like I don't know if you've heard this one, probably heard it a few times in church, but it's like the guy that woke up in the morning and he got out there and he's having a rough day. He woke up late, he's gonna arrive at work late, and he goes and he tries to start his car and it doesn't start. And he just keeps going and he's banging the steering wheel saying, God, why would you do this to me right now? You know this is important. I thought And he finally gets the car started and he goes to work and he arrives late and gets a little bit of a reprimand, maybe a write-up. And later that night he's praying and he's bad. So he's like, Why would you let that happen? You know how this is important. And God tells him, You don't know how much I protected you from. If you were to start your car right then, your life would have been taken. I don't know if you've heard that illustration before, but it goes to show that God often protects us from things that we don't even understand. That we don't even know. How can a vine in a vineyard like that understand their robbers on the other side of the wall? They can't see it. I mean, we're per we're anthropomorphizing the vine, but we don't know that. What kind of things can we not see that God is protecting us? that God is in control and even if it seems like he's not in control. We can trust. Someone who is so knowledgeable about us and what we need, that is so careful to protect us, and uses language like this so that we can trust that even if it doesn't seem like he's in control, we can trust that he is. Going stepping through the passage. We see the first part, the first way that God superintends is that he includes us. We talked about drafting. God is the one that chooses to include us. We didn't choose that. We didn't earn that. It wasn't because we were the best branches. Honestly, we're probably one of the worst branches to pick. God could have made a way better than many if he chose to. One that didn't sin, one that couldn't sin. God chose to include us and we're grafted into the true life Jesus Christ. We're included in that. God superintended that process. It was not that inclusion was not just accidental. As we saw with graphing, it's an intentional process. It's something that it takes time to include something that we could say Paul uses the terms the natural branches but and unnatural ones. Many of us would be the unnatural. There are some varieties of plants that graft into another one more easily than others. They tend to grow more closely and more similar. But unnatural ones can be harder to graft in. They take more effort, they take more attention to make sure that they take hold. God superintended that process. We know that through salvation that we have it by grace, through faith. At the inclusion, the only g thing that God necessitates that we are, is that we have faith in men. inclusion in that is by faith. And what does that mean? How do we have faith? Faith doesn't earn us salvation, but it certainly is the bare ground that we need in order to receive it. basis that we believe that God can, that He will. That is what they're saying. I can We believe that God can include us and we believe that He will. And as part of that faith that we're accepted in, that's the beginning. God also superintends or or oversees our connection with Christ. He's in control of that too. We often use language like our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It's true. You are personally in relationship with That doesn't mean that you're the one that it all Personal ownership. It's not an ownership. It's a two-person relationship. There's a two-way going. While we do have a part in it, it's ultimately up to God to keep it going. On our own, I don't believe that we could stay Christians our entire life. We could not keep the rules. We could not do that. We could not do it all. But it's through God's work and his grace and Christ's atonement that we are able to stay in relationship. So when we yes, it is true that if we do have a personal relationship, but that does not mean that we did it. We initiated it, that we keep it going. I mean we do have a part in it, but it's ultimately God that's the one at the center of To continue grafting, it's a two-fold process. We kind of left that part out. There is the part to where God has to include us. He's got doing all these things. But even if that vine is put on there, even the best gardener in the world can't force that graft to take hold. He can do everything that is necessary to take care of that branch, to include it into There's another step. That branch has to take hold. Even the best gardener in the world can't force that to happen. When we have faith to be included, we also have to have faith to remain. And that is the core of what Jesus is teaching in this passage. Abide in me and I will abide in you. Stay me. Faith, continue in me. It's almost fitting that Jesus was giving this account over John thirteen through about eight first half of eighteen. All of that was happening just days before Jesus. And he's preparing his disciples for something that they don't even know that they're not prepared for. He had given them many warnings. I mean, a as we read the gospels we see Jesus gave warning on warning on warning saying that I'm not gonna be here forever. You're g I'm gonna die. I'm gonna be killed. Many times the disciples would deny it, they would get angry, Peter got angry at it. They would go through stages of grief we can recognize now that they didn't want to accept it. They wanted it to not be true. They were bargaining it. trying to convince that it's not gonna happen. But here Jesus is protecting them like a vine dresser on the wall, is protecting them from something that they don't see. That there's gonna be a scattering. The disciples are gonna lose faith. There's gonna be hard times. I mean the disciples almost did lose their faith that Jesus died. Judas definitely Judas gave up his faith because of Jesus' death. While he may have caused it, there definitely was a finality to it. Jesus was preparing them for it to help them to sustain in him. He was saying it's gonna get hard. Things are gonna get hard, it's not gonna be easy. But if you stay in me and you abide in me, everything is gonna be okay. Everything's gonna be okay. And that's both because of two things that Jesus is saying here. That's kind of the core of the whole message that God's in control. That first that we have a vinegar, a gardener, that is supertending everything that's going on. It's over it all. And second, that we have a perfect. Jesus Christ that we're included in. Something that is so sure, that is so strong and well-rooted, that is giving us life, that if we stay in that life that we won't die, we will It is through that that we bear much fruit. So even the best finders or can't force us to remain. God can't force us to remain in Jesus. That is something we have to choose by faith. Do we believe that the vine is able and will sustain us? Do we have faith in that? Because we're talking about with Peter stepping out of the boat. Was his faith the moment because he saw the wind and the waves? He lost faith the moment that he stopped believing that he That Jesus was there. He let the winds and waves to convince him that Jesus was not abiding. He could not abide Christ. We see also the vine dresser superintends the fruitfulness of the branches. It is God's work that we produce much fruit. Well, we are the branches, and we're continuing this metaphor. You would say that the fruit is the good thing that it produces in our life, godliness. Paul in Galatians were talking about the fruit of the spirit. You can see kind of that that that metaphor carried forward there, fruit of the spirit. How God is producing in us good works, good character. And it's through that continual connection that we receive the life giving fluid from the vine as as part of the graph is they they actually connect. They actually merge and become one. It's like It's like when they're grafted in there, they are two separate things. But then once they take hold, they merge and become one. And we can almost see that kind of language in Philippians where it says that we are partakers in the divine nature. When we take a part of it, doesn't mean that we are divine, but we take part of the character. God gives us a part of Himself. We see it also. Where it says that we have the Holy Spirit in us. That God changes our nature. It says we are a new creation. We see this language throughout scripture that something substantially changes about us. And so we can see an application point there. If we are abiding, we should see fruits in our life. There should be something substantially different about it. And something that is continuing. And maybe as a check to yourself to see your spiritual life, your vitality, are you producing fruit? Are you seeing an increase in character? An increase of You can go down the fruits of the Spirit even and just see is God working this in my life? Because we know that if I'm abiding in the vine, I should see things. We also see that part of the fruitfulness is God protects us from having those fruits taken away. God protects us from that. He also works to prune, takes things out that don't need to be there, that are preventing. I remember pruning Tomato plant things to grow. There's kind of a little process, it's a very simple process to pruning. You can tell which branches are going to produce fruit and which ones are just going to be leaves, just by you see the stalk, and then there'd be a branch going off, and if there's a bran branch kinda growing out like this, this one here, that'll grow out kind of like in the in the elbow crook here. You take that one out because that one's not going to produce fruit. Sometimes it can be hard. It can feel like God is judging us. cutting things out that we had, for changing things, for maybe taking things away that we thought were good. We have faith we know that God is doing it to produce free. God is doing it to work something greater. And we can trust that He is in control. So there may be something in your life today that is preventing you from producing freedom. Is it something that God has already led you to give up? And if He has, do you have faith to let Him have it? Not to convince you to give it up, but sometimes God just wants to know that He can take it away. If you give it up, he can take it away. But sometimes God just wants to know. My grandmother often would have a time of her life where she had to face that same reality to where God was saying he was going to take something from her. Something that she couldn't give up. She was at a Target one day with her children, her two oldest, and her oldest son, Jerry, was in the cart. He was about four years old at the time. Just about the time he was standing. He stood up in the cart and was reaching for something on the shelf, and the cart tipped over. And he fell and hit his head on the con. out cold. He was not responsive. Love. They didn't know when it happened if he was gonna be okay when it happened. A fall from that item how young he was very likely could have killed him there. And so they meet so they got him to the ambulance. My grandmother couldn't ride with my grandfather got in with my uncle and they rode and he rode with him because he was an EMT. He rode with him to the hospital and my grandma was in the car following And she remembers so vividly in that moment something that changed her life very. That God came to her and asked her, Is Jerry mine or is he yours? Is he mine or is he yours? And she had to say yours, knowing in that moment that she expected it was They she arrived at the hospital fully prepared to hear from the doctors. She arrived there in the waiting room, she couldn't go back yet, he was in intensive care. And then the doctors came forward and called her back and she went back. And he was sitting up, eating an applesauce container. And the doctor said, I don't know why you brought him in. His only problem was a dirty dice. Sometimes cut acids just to see. Sometimes he gives us something. Did she leave that place with more fruit than she started? She learned. Maybe there's a part of her as a parent. But now her future children and her grandchildren, she could trust greater volume than she could before. Sometimes God prunes something from us and he's not trying to just take it because he's because it's something that we can't see the goodness that he had in store for us. So that leads you today to move out in faith. think we have slide three you can see. What it looks like when you have a vine that is not pruned, that is not clean, that is not taken care of, that's allowed to grow wherever it wants, whatever it chooses. It's growing really well. At the end, it's gonna choke itself. How big it gets. It's gonna grow back on itself. It'll choke itself and die in what and what the only thing to do. Scripture says it. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out and a branch that is withered, and they gather them and throw them into the Make space for something that will face fruit. Something that will abide. And that's a hard truth to be have in this passage. That the God who's in control will remove those that are not abiding. point that is done, how bad you gotta be, how dead you gotta be, how rebellious you gotta be. I don't know exactly the point that God chooses it, but I know that He's in control of it. And when He makes that decision it's true. And it's good. And it's not due because God fails, but it's often due because existing. We're not giving those things up he's asking us to. We're not abiding in Christ. We're not keeping with him. But the we do have a mercy here even New branches. They can be brought back. On your today. still bring you back. There's no point of rebellion in this life that God can't bring you back from, that God won't forgive you. It may be some greater you may have to do greater volume of repentance than when you first came to believe. And that's just the reality of it. We have first believed and then gone Yeah. And so it may so salvation may look different. We do have that mercy. That while God is superintending the removal of the branches, He still superintends. Yeah. God does not say that you will contend We saw through this passage that God is in control. Although this is an extended metaphor here, I think it shows us a lot of truth in scripture, that it connects scripture together in ways that is not as obvious before. These are the ways that God is in control. And while He's in control, we still have one curve. We're still in You have good for us. Good in store for us. That we don't have to worry about what you're doing. That we that you protect us from things that we can't even see. And Father, I pray that you would help us to have faith. That we can give up the things that we need to, that we can go deeper into things that you're calling us to, and that we can produce fruit and be something good. We trust you and thank you this time. Give us grace and keep us in your mind.