“What Are You Attached To?”

As we begin our time in scripture this morning, let’s pray these words together, taken from Psalm 119:18. “Open my eyes, that I might receive, wonderful truths from your word.

I’ve grown quite fond of it. It’s been with me for quite a while. In fact, I dare say that, without it, I wouldn’t be able to survive. It’s been working non-stop since before I was even born, to keep me alive. Sometimes, I take it for granted, by eating things and non-exercising like I know I should…and it feels like it’s about to beat out of my chest.

I am, of course, talking about my heart. I’ve grown quite attached to it!

This morning, in our passage of scripture, we are going to see a theme, some imagery. It is going to be that of a vine and the branches. Because just as we can’t survive without our heart, as followers of Christ, his branches, we can’t survive without Jesus. In fact, as we will see in our text today, and what our big idea will tell us, not only can we not survive as his followers without him, but, since he is the vine and we are the branches, in the spiritual sense, there is something else that takes place. This is our big idea this morning.

Big Idea: When you attach yourself to Jesus, you will bear his fruit.

So, let’s start our journey together by seeing this first stop in scripture. The identity of the branches. The identity of the branches.

1. The identity of the branches.

Straight of the bat, we see Jesus make a declaration about himself, which is going to bear importance later on. Jesus is the true vine, the only one that Christians can go off of and find nourishment in, and God the Father, who is also our spiritual Father, is the vinedresser. Now, as far as I’m aware, there’s no one in here that owns a vineyard, so there’s likely no one in here that would understand what the responsibilities are. But, the good news is, Jesus explains it to us in verse 2. He tells us what the vinedresser does, and in the process, also tells us something about the branches…not from OUR perspective, but from HIS, God the Father’s, perspective. Jesus tells us that God’s job as the vinedresser is essentially to examine the vine, take care of it, and make sure that the branches are doing their job. If there’s a branch that’s starting to bear fruit, but has some areas on the branch that need to be cut back, he prunes them. If there’s a branch that isn’t doing anything…it’s just sitting there, not doing a lick of good to the vine, then he cuts that branch off.

So, that tells us there are two types of branches…and therefore…two types of Christians. There are the Christians that are being obedient to Christ, that are doing what he says, and growing. If you are growing, in an ironic spiritual twist, that means that God the Father is going to prune you back a bit, to God you to bear more fruit. Pruning doesn’t have to mean persecution. Since bearing fruit is causing by obedience to Christ, it can mean Jesus calling you to do something that would challenge you in your faith, make you uncomfortable, to work out your faith with fear and trembling, realizing that when God calls us to obedience, that means he sees that ripening of the fruit and he want to see how ripe we are…after all, how do you tell when fruit is ripe? you squeeze it!

Which should cause us to ask this question: what does it look like to bear fruit as a Christian? How do you know if you are following after Christ, pursuing him? Ultimately, it’s about obedience. Are you being obedient to Christ, no matter that cost…or are you your own God? Let me show you this in scripture. Turn to Galatians 5:19-23. Galatians 5:29-23. Paul gives us a comparison to living in the flesh, after our own desires, and living for Christ.

Galatians 5:19–23 CSB

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

Notice there’s a key word here, at the end of verse 21. “Practice”. To practice something means that you are participating in it in an ongoing basis.

Meaning this: if you claim to be a Christian and lose your temper once in a while, that doesn’t mean you are lost. But, if you have a temper problem, and anger problem, on a regular basis, you likely aren’t saved. How else do I know that? Because God’s word at the end of verse 23 says that self-control is part of the cluster of the Holy Spirit.

I heard it said this way in a recent sermon by H.B. Charles Jr, pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church. Here’s what he said.

One of the evidences that you’ve been born again is that the Holy Spirit won’t let you sin and let you feel good about it. — H.B. Charles Jr.

Or, think of it this way. Another quote from H.B.

You can’t become Christ-like if you keep playing with sin.

Here’s a great way to know if you truly are a believer, if you truly have been saved. Let me read Romans 8:29, then ask the question. Here’s Romans 8:29.

Romans 8:29 CSB

For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Now, the question: do you, as a branch on the vine of Christ, have a desire to look more like, to be conformed to, the Lord Jesus Christ? Or are you really just “duct taped” to the vine?

Let me give you this illustration, and then I’ll move on.

I often wonder if many Christians simply want to “play” at Christianity. Meaning this: they want all the rewards of Jesus, his eternal life, heaven, but they don’t want the obedience. To continue in our vine and branches illustration, this would be the equivalent of the branch telling the vine, “I want to be attached to you, and bear fruit”, but then the branch going on and getting it’s nourishment, not from the vine, but from the bottle of grass killer instead. We as Christians want to have all the benefits of Christianity, we want to bear fruit, but yet we don’t want the obedience. And the problem is, when that happens, Jesus says God will do something. He’ll cut the branch off.

This doesn’t mean that the person loses their salvation, it just simply means that God sees that you want to do your own thing, so God takes you off the vine to let you do your own thing, to learn the lesson that the branch can’t survive without the vine.

Think of it this way: Producing fruit ultimately leads to a desire to live a live of righteousness. Righteous attitudes, righteous desires, righteous behaviors. Because Jesus has made your righteous, it should give you a desire to live rightly.

So, how do we live rightly? How do we, as the branches, continually bear that fruit? I’m so glad you asked that question church! Let’s move from the identity of the branches to the investigation of the branch. The investigation of the branch.

2. The investigation of the branch.

If you were to go back through this passage of scripture, you’d see a theme in it, through the use of one word. “Remain”. Some translations say “abide”. That word means to dwell, to live with, to unite with, to be attached to.

Jesus gives us poignant words , a warning, here in verse 4-6.

He, in essence, says this. Just as the branch of a vine, or that matter, any plant, can’t survive without the main source of nourishment, be that the trunk or another main branch, we can’t survive without Jesus.

Which tells us something key about the Christ-life.

Christians were NEVER meant to be “loners”, to do it on their own. We were meant to be connected to the body of Christ, the church, with Jesus as our head. There is no such thing as a solo Christian. In fact, it’s a mutual relationship. Just as the body wasn’t meant to function without all the body parts, the body parts can’t survive without the body. Paul says it this way in Ephesians 4:16.

Ephesians 4:16 CSB

From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

When the body is built up, the body parts are built up. When you have a suffering body part, the whole body suffers.

Don’t believe me? Anyone ever slammed their pinky toe into the doorjam in the middle of the night when that glorious thing called your bladder told you it needed attention?

But, as we see in verse 6, there’s a dire warning to those that are saved. Remember, Jesus is speaking to his disciples at this point, the future church, saved people.

Let’s look at verse 6. John 15:6

John 15:6 CSB

If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

In other words, there are going to be some folks that start out great. They get saved, get baptized, start going to sunday school, start serving in the church, and what have you. But then, their old fleshly desires start to creep up. So, to make themselves feel better, they read their bible more, they “pray” more, they may even start listening to Christian music. But…all of this is to make themselves feel better about their disobedience. In other words, you can’t claim to be a Christian and live a life of disobedience and expect to bear fruit. This is a life of deceit and denial.

You were granted, given salvation, but then you stopped. You are still saved, but you stopped the sanctification process. Hebrews 6:4-8 puts it this way.

Hebrews 6:4–8 CSB

For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, who tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age, and who have fallen away. This is because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt. For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed, and at the end will be burned.

The end of this verse speaks of a burning, of a judgement. This doesn’t mean a judgement of hell, but it means that God will leave you to the natural consequences of a life that, while saved, is a life of not abiding in Christ. Since you have decided to live on your own, God leaves you to it. You aren’t living a life worthy of Christ, so while you still belong to him, there’s not much more to it.

Let me use the illustration of marriage.

I’ve had the honor of being married to my bride for almost 18 years. For 18 years, she’s put up with so much more from me than I’ve ever had “put up with” from her.

But, what if one day, I decided that, while I love being married to her, I wanted to live on my own? So, I got my own house, and started to live how I wanted to live, but yet claimed to be married to her? I even had the audacity to come knocking on the doorstep with I wanted intimacy with her, on my timing? Would you still think I was married to her? Not likely!

And yet, that’s how many Christians. We want to claim that we are the bride of Christ, that he lives in our spirits, but yet we really live like we have our own home, and come knocking only when we want something that benefits us. Jesus says that, for those that are like this, he will simply let you go about your life, and leave you to the natural state of your sinful consequences, a life likely of misery and a lack of peace.

But, the good news is, Jesus makes a promise to those that DO remain in Jesus, that do bear fruit.

We’ve seen the identity of the branches and the investigation of the branches, lastly let’s look at the inquiry from the branches. The inquiry from the branches.

3. The inquiry from the branches.

The key to verses 7-8 isn’t that we are asking for whatever we want…the key is that we are asking for what we want in light of abiding in Christ.

Why is this the key?

Because as we bear fruit, as we abide in Christ, we know what to ask for, because it’s according to God’s will. Romans 12:2 says that when we are transformed by the renewing of our mind, we can test what his good, pleasing and perfect will is. In other words, as you pray, this should be the thought going through your mind. Is what I’m about to pray for in some way going to bring glory to God and show that I’m his disciple? Will me praying this further reveal my love for him?

Here’s how I know that’s how we will pray. Jesus says in the middle of verse 7, “and my words remain in you.” In other words, the more we read the word, the more we know how to pray to God!

Think of it this way. Verse 8 says that God will be glorified by how we are living and abiding, in what we’ve asked for from him. The apostle Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 10:31.

1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

So, a really good test for us as Christian when we pray is this: is what I’m praying for going to tell me glorify God, or is it in anyway going to reveal God?

For that matter, that’s a great way to know if you are truly abiding in Christ, staying attached to him. Is what you do, what you say, how you live on a daily basis, something that God would be proud of, would bring him glory? Paul even says that what we eat and drink, the very stuff that we put into our bodies, will or won’t bring him glory.

Let me close with a question, an illustration, another marriage one.

How does my wife know that I love her? I act in loving ways to her. I do things for her, say things to her, I do my best under the power and leadership of the Holy Spirit to lead her. What if I stopped doing those things? My wife would start to wonder if I still loved her.

It’s the same thing with us. The more we abide in Christ, the more we glorify him, the more we obey him, the more we are going to show that we love him and belong to him.

But…in order to do this…there’s a key piece. You must first…be attached to Christ.

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