I AM The True Vine
Notes
Transcript
Look on the screen, this is Ted Conrad
In 1969 Ted Conrad worked at a bank as a teller when he decided that he would rob the bank that he worked at.
And so as he was getting ready to leave work that day he took $215,000 dollaars with him.
And you think that would be the shocking part, but the really shocking part about this story is that he ended up getting away where law enforcement could’t find him
And not just that but by 1970, he had a completely new identity.
He got married, had a kid, got a new job and no one had any idea about his past (including his new family).
until about 50 years later, Ted was extreamly ill and they gave him about a month left
So he decided to tell his wife and daughter that he had robbed a bank and he gave them his real name
Could you imagine your spouse telling you this
And at first they thought it was a joke, or he was delusional, but then they looked up his real
And it turned out for 50 years Ted had not told a single person about what he had done and completely started his life over, living a normal life.
But you know I was thinking about that story and where we are today, because whenever someone is towards the end of their life what they tell you is pretty important isn’t it?
And really where w are today Jesus is at the last week before He gets crucified and killed and he is telling them about a new identity we can have.
And last week if you were with us you will probably remember that we are focusing on the last week of Jesus’s life
And last week He went and cleaned out the temple, and then between last week and this week he began teaching
and right before where we are today He tells his disciples that He is getting ready to leave them.
And while the disciples probably did not understand what Jesus was saying when He said he was leaving, they did probably understand that it was important.
And really what Jesus does in this passage is He tells His disciples about their true identity, as Christ followers.
And so we will be in John 15:14 and we will just be starting in the first verse, and its a really short verse but it is the foundation for everything else that follows. It says this:
John 15:1 (NIV)
The Vine and the Branches
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Really short right? But this defines two really important roles here
Because Jesus starts by saying I am the vine.
you probably know this, but a vine makes it so the plant can grow right?
It nourishes, feeds and grows the plant…
And so the vine is like the source of all of this stuff that is necasary for the plant to thrive
so if the vine is good, the fruit is good, or if the vine is bad, the fruit is bad.
but here is whats interesting is throughout Israels history this phrase was most of the time associated negatively
Where Israel would call themselves the vine or the thing that was their source, but then whenever they did this their fruit that they produced was always bad.
Its almost like has anyone remember that documentary “Super Size me?”
Where the guy ate McDonalds for 30 days
At first the guy was like this is awesome!
But then after a few weeks he began to have some really serious side effects
And if I remember correctly he couldn’t finish the 30 days
And the reason is that the source he was putting in his body was bad and eventually he began to see the fruit
And so what Jesus is saying is he is going I am getting ready to get crucified and I will not be around as much, and he goes look in the past you guys have made your source, (the thing that feeds you) either yourselves, or something else,
And the fruit always ended up disappointing.
And now He is going I am the true vine. I will not disappoint.
And one thing I really like about this passage and He doesn’t just go “I am the Vine” But he also says my father is the gardner.
And while that word gardner is good, its actually not the best translation, because a more accurate translation would be that He is a vine dressor.
And gardners work hard right?
But usually its seasonal (Did anyone do some gardning in the snow yesterday?),
A vine dressor is always doing something.
And what I want us to catch this because not only is God our source, but He is working on us all the time to become more and more the people God created us to be.
Its almost like parenting.
Arika bought this shirt a couple of years ago that says “raising little gentlemen” (FIND SHIRT)
We are still very far from this,
But to get here Arika and I do not just parent Liam and Finn once aa week, right?
Because to see your kids move from wild beast to little gentleman its a 24/7 thing.
And this is whaat I want you to get, God is constantly working on us, shaping, and forming us,
And I loove the rest of this passage because I mentioned this is the base,
But the rest of this passage tells us how. Look at verse 2. It says this:
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.
So the vinedresser cuts off every part that does not bear fruit and then he prunes the part that is producing fruit.
And I want you to catch this because if a part of a plant is not producing fruit, its actually just taking resources,
Its using resources that would help the plant grow and just throwing them aaway basically
And I think if we are honest in our life we have places that are producing really little fruit.
And I want to be clear, because the fruit that the Bible is talking about is not this thing where you started a ministry and now there are a thousand people and you go “wow look how fruitful this is!”
Its not really even something you do (nesarilly)
But its referring the the fruit of the spirit where you are growing in love, patience. kindness, gentlness, and sefl control.
And if we are honest their are places where if we looked at our lives we have the oppisite of this fruit.
And maybe their are places where we have a little bit of this, but its really far from where it should be.
What I want us to get is while pruning sounds painful, (I mean anyone here thaat God is doing to prune you and go YES!) But it cuts the dead places of our life off and allows new life to grow in its place.
And whats amazing when you prune a plant it does not just grow back the same but when a plant is pruned 4-6 new branches will form from the one that is cut.
And you can just picture Jesus telling them let God prune you and shape you, because the dead stuff weighs us down.
I mean has anyone ever seen my laptop bag? their is junk in here from when I was in college, this stuff weighs th bad down.
And I think to often we hold onto things and God is just going come on let me shape that.
Because you can barely hold it togehter, the bag has papers falling out of it
Why are you holding back this plaace that has so much potential.
And lets look at the next few verses (verses 3-7)
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. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
There is a lot I could get into their but I want you to catch something, because 4 times it says this one thing (underline each time)
“Remain in me”
Can I just say that this is really the center of the passage, and I think it is probably one of the most important things that we need to understand in our walk with God.
The only way our we can produce fruit in our walk with God, (or another way to put it would be the only way we can have a thriving relationship in our walk with God) is to Abide or remain in God.
And this is hard for us because this is not natural for us.
Imagine if I told Francis, we are going to train you to be the next NFL Quarterback, you would rightfully go I need to train hours right? I mean we would have you running laps and drills all day.
But when it comes with our walk with God, while there are disiplines that can draw us closer to God, they are not getting us super far unless in them we are abiding in God.
Its almost like how Arika and I have been married 6 years
and when we first got married I was a huge slob (I am still not the cleanest)
But I mean if I attempted to put the clothes in the hamper it was where I did this thing (where the shift would fall a few feet short)
In college I would do the smell test on everything to tell if it needed washed.
I would see how high dishes could get stacked without falling.
But then something happened because I realized for our marriage to thrive I needed to get my act togther.
But here is what I want you to get, when I do dishes I am not going “wow this is just making me feel so close to Arika…”
But I am going I love Arika and I want our relationship to be close, so I need to do this.
And this is what I want us to get… For our walk with God to thrive, we first need to remain in God, and when we are doing that, all the sudden all of this fruit will start to appear.
And this is encouraging because we might make mistakes, we might feel discouraged, but do you realize the timing of Jesus telling the disciples this?
The aare about 24 hours away from denying Jesus and turning their backs on Him while He is being tortured.
And Jesus is telling them abide in me, (and not just that but you probably saw that jesus tells them in verse 3 (that we read) that they are made clean, not because of the fruit, but because of who they are abiding in.
And lets read the rest of the passage verses 8-14 it says this:
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
Like I said there is a lot here, but I want you to focus on this progression, because Jesus is saying remain in me and you will be complete.
Its like this cup right so when we remain in God we begin to be made full right?
But do you notice then he goes but it is not where we are just filled up but we begin to overflow where we start to fill up and in verses 12 He says that His love now gets overflown where we are loving others how God loves us.
And so I know this was a lot today but lt me wrap everything up (and joe will be comming forward to play.
But I imagine there are some of us here who maybe we have tried to work our way to having value
Maybe we have tried to work our way into God’s love
Maybe when have tried working ourselves out of our guilt
And if I had to guess we have tired and not getting the results that we want.
But I think as we close it might just be a good way for us to say God I want to abide in you.
I want to remain in you.
Because I think what happens a lot of times we are so good at focusing on ourselves and what we can do, that we miss what God can do.
So as we close maybe we just want to sit in God’s presence and say God will you help me abide, prune the areas that I know need pruned, because I want you to completely depend on you.
And as we sing this song their is a chorus that says “I depend on you”
And I think this is a good place to set our hearts this morning. Will you pray with me?