Naylor Community Christian Church
Naylor, Georgia
I.
Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to John 15:1-5
John
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every
branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he
prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because
of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No
branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you
bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you
will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
-- I once
heard about this little boy who walked up to his mother and asked her what
God's name was -- the mother replied that God had many names, including Father,
Jehovah, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit -- she went on to say that some people call
Him the Comforter -- others call Him the Bright and Morning Star – some call
Him El Shaddai -- and then she began telling him what the names meant and how
important they were -- after a little while of listening to his mother's long
explanation, the little boy interrupted and asked, "Can I just call Him ‘Steve’?"
-- this morning, we are continuing in our
Lenten sermon series to help us answer the question that Jesus asked His
disciples, “But who do you say I am?” – this is the most important question in
all of eternity
-- it doesn’t matter what anyone else says
about Jesus – it doesn’t matter what name others might give Him – what matters
is how we know Him and if we know Him – what matters is whether or not we have
a personal relationship with Jesus and have received Him as our Lord and Savior
– if we’re trusting in faith in His grace for the forgiveness of our sins and
the promise of eternal life with Him
-- so, answering this question is of the
utmost importance – and even if we have settled the answer to this question in
our minds and in our hearts some time ago, we still have much to learn about
who Jesus is and how He loves us and how His love is expressed in our lives
-- to help us answer this question we have
been studying the "I Am" statements of Jesus -- the seven statements
in the Book of John where Jesus declared emphatically His deity and revealed to
us aspects of His love and nature and character
-- as you probably know, the number seven
in the Bible represents completeness or wholeness or perfection – so, in these
seven “I Am” statements – eigo eimi in the Greek – we are given a
complete picture of who Christ is, why He has come, and what His coming means
for us throughout eternity
-- they also represent the different ways
in which we come to know Jesus in our lives -- some of these descriptions of
Jesus are probably more important to you than others, simply because you have
experienced His grace in that way -- you may know Jesus better as the Good
Shepherd while others may have experienced His grace more as Jesus as the Way
-- it all comes down to how Jesus has made Himself known to you and how He has
worked through your individual and personal lives
-- this morning, we are going to look at
the sixth proclamation of Jesus from John 15:1, “I Am the True Vine” – and then
we’re going to end this series next Sunday on Easter by looking at Jesus’ seventh
“I Am” proclamation, “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
II.
Scripture Lesson
-- before we look at these verses and
consider their implication, let me share with you the context of this passage
-- these words were spoken by Jesus on the
night that He was betrayed -- as you remember, Jesus has been sharing the
Passover meal with His chosen 12 disciples in the upper room -- He has washed
their feet -- He has instituted the Lord's Supper as new sacrament -- and He
has shared with them that He is about to be betrayed and be killed and leave
them
-- it was in that moment that Jesus shared
with them the first of the two “I Am” declarations that He would make that
night – in John 14, Jesus told His disciples, “I am the way and the truth and
the life – no one comes to Father except through Me”
-- after Jesus declared this truth about
Himself, Judas still got up and left the room to go to the High Priest to
betray Jesus – Judas had answered the question Jesus asked, “But who do you say
I am?” already in his mind and heart – and he had rejected Jesus as the Messiah
and Savior of the world – even Jesus’ declaration that He was the only way to the
Father was not enough to sway Judas and lead him to repentance
-- and so, as John 14 closes, Judas is
gone – the Eleven remain – and they are sitting at the end of the Passover meal
absorbing everything Jesus was saying – trying to understand all that He was
teaching them at the moment
-- Chapter 14 closes with Jesus saying,
"Come now, let us leave" -- and with that, Jesus and the 11 remaining
disciples leave the upper room and make their way across Jerusalem to the
Garden of Gethsemane
-- as they walk along, Jesus continues to
share with them His words and His heart, knowing that this is the last time He
will be with them in this way – His arrest in the garden -- the cross and the
resurrection -- and His final ascension into heaven were close at hand -- and
Jesus had words that needed to be shared with them before these events occurred
-- it is no great leap of imagination to
picture Jesus and His disciples walking to the Garden of Gethsemane that night
-- as they made their way in the dark toward the Garden, they would have passed
through several vineyards that were planted on the hills outside of Jerusalem
-- and as they walked, Jesus apparently turned His disciple's attention towards
the vines and branches they were passing to get them to understand His final
"I Am" declaration
-- look back at verse 1
John
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
--
in other words, I am the source of life -- I am the root of Jesse that was
promised -- there have been other vines that have claimed to be the Messiah --
there have been other religions that have claimed to show the way to Heaven --
but I am the true vine -- I am the only vine -- and I was planted here in this
place by My Father
-- everything that has happened to me thus
far has not been by chance -- and everything that will happen to me this night
and in the future is planned and controlled -- I am doing it for you -- so
don't fear, because I am in the hand of the gardener and His purposes and His
will are being fulfilled
-- verse 2 - 4
John
15:2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch
that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are
already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I
also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the
vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
-- I want to walk you through
something here that is a little difficult to get through just a casual reading
of our English translations
– the first thing we need to
understand is what Jesus is talking about when He refers to vines and branches
– there is a difference between vines and branches – but that’s something we
confuse here in south Georgia – when we see a grapevine in our yards or out in
the woods, we call the whole plant a vine
-- for instance, when we were
clearing the land after the hurricane destroyed our house, there were grape branches
everywhere – they wound around the tree trunks and were entangled in the canopy
of the trees – they were all over the ground and it was easy to trip over them
– and we would look at them and say, “the vines are all over the place”
-- but here’s the point I’m trying
to make – those aren’t vines – that’s not what Jesus is talking about here –
what we typically call vines in south Georgia are actually the branches that
come off a vine
-- the vine is a large woody stem
that comes up out of the ground, and then these branches, which can be several
feet in length, come off the main vine – that’s why you can cut one of these plants
that we call a vine, and it grows back or more vines take its place – it’s
because you’re not cutting the vine – you’re only cutting the branch – we’re
calling it by the wrong name – and it’s important for us to understand that if
we are going to understand what Jesus is saying in this passage
-- I finally understood this a few
years ago when I took a trip to the Horse Creek Winery in Nashville -- we
walked out to where the grapes were growing, and for the first time in my life,
I could see the difference between the vines and the branches -- the vines were
large, woody stems about twice the diameter of a baseball bat that came out of
the ground -- the owners said these were young vines, but they could get very
large the older they got
-- I went back and looked on the
internet and saw some pictures of vineyards in California that had vines about
the diameter of a grown man's thigh -- so when you read in the Bible about a
vine, that's what they're talking about -- not the branches that come of it –
they’re talking about the main stem of the plant
-- the
branches are connected to the vine and they can grow several feet in length --
in a vineyard, the branches run along and grow on the trellises or wires that
the gardener puts up to hold them -- and this is where the fruit -- the grapes
-- actually come from
-- so, as
Jesus is walking along with His disciples here through the vineyards on the
slope of Gethsemane, He pointed out to them the vine and the branches that came
off of it – that’s the first thing we need to understand
-- next –
Jesus tells His disciples that He is the vine – and then He starts talking
about the branches that are “in Me” – the branches that are connected to the
vine – we see that phrase used elsewhere in the New Testament – Paul was
especially fond of using that term to describe the relationship believers had
with Jesus – they were “in Him” – they were connected to the vine
-- and
Jesus doesn’t go into this at this point in the scriptures, but it is clear
from these verses that there are two choices in life – either you are “in
Christ” -- you are one of the branches connected to the true vine – or you are
not
-- Judas
was not a branch – he had chosen his path and had turned away from Jesus – he
was not “in Christ” – the other disciples were branches – they were connected
to Him – they were “in Christ”
-- that is
the main point I want you to grasp from what Jesus is talking about here – we
may go deeper another day and talk about bearing fruit for Christ and what His
teaching here means for us as Christians in the world today
– but the main thing I want you to
understand this morning that is relevant to Jesus’ “I Am” declaration is that
there is one vine – the true vine – and that is Jesus
– and everyone who believes in
Jesus and has repented of their sins and is trusting in Him in faith for
forgiveness and salvation are the branches – one vine with many branches
-- I suspect the disciples didn't
fully understand the meaning of Jesus' words as He spoke them in the Garden
that night -- all their lives, they had been taught the Jews were God's chosen
people -- to be Jewish was to be chosen -- to be Jewish was to be saved for
eternity
-- but Jesus is pointing here to the
new covenant that He pointed them to when He shared the last supper with them
earlier that night – it was not enough to just be Jewish in order to be saved
and have eternal life -- it was not enough to be a physical descendant of
Abraham -- no, as Paul wrote in his epistles, circumcision is not just
physical, it must be a circumcision of the heart
-- and, what Jesus is saying here,
in order to be “in Christ” -- in order to be a branch that is connected to the
vine, you had to do more than be born Jewish -- you had to believe -- you had
to trust -- you had to put your faith in Jesus and in His atoning death on the
cross
-- it's the same with us -- we
aren't saved because we were raised in a Christian home and went to church our
whole lives -- we aren't saved because we read our Bibles every day -- we
aren't saved simply because we are Americans and call ourselves Christians --
salvation only comes through faith in Jesus -- it only comes through trusting
in Him – it only comes through our connection to Him
-- it only comes when we recognize
Jesus as the true vine and are connected to Him as branches to that vine – that
is the overall point that Jesus is making
--
verse 5
John
15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
--
here we see again the definitive declaration of Jesus – “I Am” – eigo eimi
– I Am God – I am the true vine – I am the savior of the world – I am the only
one who can bring you eternal life
--
I am the vine – you are the branches – to be saved, you must be connected to Me
– you must be “in Me” – that is the only way to salvation – that is the only
way to eternal life
--
being connected to Me brings you life and the ability to bear fruit in the
kingdom – apart from Me, you can do nothing
-- Jesus is the source of our spiritual lives
-- in order to remain alive, we must remain connected to Him
-- "I am the vine," He
says -- "and you are the branches" -- to live, you must remain in me
-- to live, you must abide in me
-- how do
we remain "in Christ?" -- we remain in Christ by staying connected to
Him -- by strengthening our relationship with Him -- through prayer, through the
study of His word, through attending church and through fellowshipping with
other Christians
-- when we do this, we stay
connected to the vine and are able to take in the nourishment that He has to
offer -- then we are able to bear much fruit -- we can't do it without Him
because He is the true vine
III.
Closing
-- I read one time about a missionary
in Africa who lived in a small home with a generator that provided electrical
power for his home and the adjacent church – some local people came to visit
the missionary, and they noticed the electric light hanging from the ceiling of
his living room -- They watched wide-eyed as he turned the little switch and
the light came on, filling the room with its light
-- One of the visitors asked if he
could have one of the bulbs -- The missionary, thinking he wanted it for a sort
of trinket, gave him one of his extra bulbs.
-- sometime later, the missionary
stopped at the hut of the man who had asked for the bulb – as he went inside,
he was surprised to see the bulb hanging from the ceiling from an ordinary
string – the man told him that his bulb didn’t work
-- the missionary explained that it
took more than the bulb to produce light – it needed a source of electricity
and it had to be connected to the current in order to come on1
-- that’s what Jesus is telling us
today in this sixth “I Am” declaration -- "I am the true vine -- you are
the branches -- if a man remains in me and I in him, He will bear much
fruit. Apart from me, you can do
nothing"
-- Just as a bulb has to be
connected to the electrical source in order to be turned on, we have to be
connected to the true vine in order to have life and salvation – we have to be
“in Jesus” in order to be saved, for He is the only source of life in the world
– “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given to mankind by which we must be saved.” – Acts 4:12
-- this morning is Palm Sunday, and
we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on this day as the people
shouted, “Hosannah, Hosannah” and laid palm branches on the road before Him
-- but just five days later, these
same people that praised Jesus’ coming into Jerusalem were no longer shouting,
“Hosannah, Hosannah,” but they were shouting, “Crucify, crucify” – why?
-- they were just like those palm
branches they laid in the road before Him – they were cut off from the source –
they were not “in Christ” – they had no connection to the true vine – and
because of that, they were not able to see Him for who He was – the true vine
of Israel
-- as we get closer and closer to
the end of the age and the moment when we have to answer the question before
the Great White Throne, “But who do you say I am?,” we are reminded of Jesus’
“I Am” declarations and His counsel that we must be “in Him” to have life and
to bear fruit for the kingdom
-- as we close, look deep within and
ask yourself if you know Jesus this way or not – are you “in Him” – are you
connected to Him as a branch to the true vine – or are you cut off from Him,
just as Judas was and the palm branches were?
-- do you know Jesus as your Lord
and Savior? – and if you do, are living in connection with Him – are you
abiding with Him and bearing fruit for Him?
--
as we close in prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the answer to those
questions to you – and respond to God’s word as you are led
--
let us pray
1
Illustration modified from a sermon by J. Jeffrey Smead, It’s Pruning Time,
5/4/2012
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