John 15:1-8 (Part 3)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning and welcome to First Community Church at home.
We have good news! The state of Oregon is starting to open things up and this week we will be meeting as a church board to discuss when we will be opening our doors here at the physical location.
Our last meeting day was March 15, that means that we have been away form each other for 12 weeks today I believe.
In these last 12 weeks, our great nation and this world has been rocked by tremendous unrest.
We are so blessed to live right here where things are much quieter, however, please be praying for our country and the world in the midst of all this tragedy.
I am reminded of:
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
Church, God is with us, Emmanuel.
I believe he is calling all men to himself.
Take time this next week to look at the promises of God and stand on them. God’s Word is True! He cannot lie.
So let us pray, and worship in Spirit and in Truth, one verse at a time.
Prayer
Prayer
Emily’s Uncle Jim who fell off a scooter
Unrest
Wisdom as things begin to open back up
To navigate our reopening and times like these
Graduates
Read John 15:1-8
Read John 15:1-8
Review
Review
Last week we talked about the backdrop of the text at hand.
The section of Scripture we covered is known as the Upper Room discourse, however, as we move into John 15, some scholars call this the farewell discourse as this is 24 hours before Jesus is crucified
It was Passover. Jesus had just finished The Last Supper with His disciples.
He had washed their feet and taught them valuable lessons on serving, love, and humility.
Jesus had identified his betrayer Judas and sent him on his way, in fact, Jesus said, “What you do, do quickly!”
Then He and the remaining disciples were now on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is reassuring them that He is going to prepare a place for them, that He’ll be back to gather them, and tells them they cannot go with Him.
Of course, like children, they are full of questions and Thomas blurts out “they don’t know where He’s going and how do they know the way?” As they walked to the garden, Jesus comforts them, explaining many things, telling them they will do greater works than He had done.
However, there is a catch. In order for them to do all these things, to believe all these things, to trust all these things, they must ABIDE.
And we come to our text for today:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Jesus is now saying he is the True Vine.
Israel was the Vine, but now we see Jesus saying he was the Vine.
The vine was symbolic of Israel while we learned last week that scripture teaches us that it did not produce good grapes, but wild. Over and over we see this analogy about Israel.
And church, this is what dead religion will do for you, dead religion produces wild grapes, inedible, bitter grapes that are good for nothing.
There are no parables in John, but allegories.
Allegories- a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
In this case, we know that the hidden meaning is moral
We also know that Jesus is using a Metaphor here: The visual picture of the vine & branches tells us that the central idea is a vital union, connection, or attachment.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “ It is important to remember that not everything in a parable must mean something!”
A parable teaches 1 main truth, & to try to make a parable “stand on all 4 legs” is often the first step toward misinterpretation.
Allegories church, work the same way.
So when we are studying the gospels, let us look for the main subject that is being taught, so we dont get off track and misinterpret the passage at hand.
Jesus is the Vine, and the Father is the vinedresser, husbandman, or some versions say gardener or farmer
We know that this a agrarian society, plus the 11 disciples would be very well versed regarding Israel being symbolic of the Vine.
Can you imagine their reaction when Jesus said this?
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.
So we see a picture here:
The Vine is Jesus
The Vinedresser or Gardener is the Father, who planted the Vine.
The branches are the disciples or today, it would be us.
We have come to a difficult section of Scripture, that I have wrestled with for years so lets take a look:
Takes away- airo- to lift up, pick up, raising up, or pulling up. To remove.
Airo is used here:
Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Some scholars believe that this text is teaching that the fruitless branches are removed, while others teach that the branches that are not producing fruit are lifted up.
Let’s look at this verse again:
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.
Do you see that the text reads every branch in Me? What does this mean? These are people that are in Christ, correct? Yes!
So what do you think? Are the branches quickly just removed? Or are the lift up off the ground so they can have chance to produce fruit?
Some believe this is the separation between the sheep and the goats, or the wheat and the tares.
Some believe that this is difference between professors and possessors.
In line with this would be those that have gone to church, but yet never surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, therefore, they have no fruit in their lives.
The Gospel of John, Volume 4: Peace in Storm (John 13–17): An Expositional Commentary The Gardener
First, the emphasis of this opening section of the parable is, quite rightly, upon the care of the vine by the Father. It would be strange, granting this emphasis, if the first thing mentioned is the carrying away of unproductive branches. But it is not at all strange to emphasize that the gardener first lifts the branches up so that they may be better exposed to the sun and so the fruit will develop properly.
Second, this lifting up is precisely what is first done with vines, as any one who has watched them being cared for knows. Grapes are not like squash or pumpkins that develop quite well while lying on the ground. They must hang free. Consequently, any branch that trails on the ground is unproductive. It would be a strange gardener who immediately cuts off such a branch without even giving it a chance to develop properly. But it would be wise and customary for him to stretch the vine on an arbor or use some other means of raising it to the air and sun. This is, of course, precisely what vineyards look like, for the vines are always strung from pole to pole on wires.
I can see validity in both these interpretations.
But I do not want to get caught up here.
Jesus either takes away the branches not producing fruit or Jesus prunes us back.
Prunes- kathairo- v. — to cultivate, tend, and cut back the growth of a plant in order for it to grow healthier or to produce more fruit.
We get the english word catharsis, which means a purification or cleansing process.
Jesus made a distinction between two kinds of pruning: (1) removing what does not bear fruit, and (2) cultivating what does.
Successful gardeners know that pruning, cutting back the branches, increases fruit bearing.
Each spring vinedressers cut back each vine to its root stock to enhance its fruitfulness. Sincere believers, the fruitful branches, will be “pruned!”
But branches that don’t bear fruit are “cut off” at the trunk and completely discarded because they are worthless and often infect the rest of the plant.
Notice Jesus here is saying that he prunes to bear more fruit.
Pruning can come through discipline, through suffering, trails, spending time in the Word, sometimes God removes something precious from us, etc.
Note: the progression here in John 15:1-8: we see not fruit in John 15:2, then fruit, more fruit, and much fruit in John 15:5,8.
Have you ver asked God to make you fruitful?
Beware, because the text is telling us fruit comes form being pruned back. OUCH!
The Vinedresser prunes the branches in 2 ways:
he cuts away the dead wood that can breed disease and insects
He cuts away living tissue so that the life of the vine can thrive in the branches remaining
The pruning of a plant is the most important part of producing fruit.
People who prune for a living go through extensive training to learn how and where to cut. Some vineyards invest 2-3 years in this process.
See if they are not trained correctly, they can kill the entire crop.
Illustration:
Our rose bush in front of the house
Moving into a new home and the neighbor cutting back all the branches
But what fruit is Jesus talking about?
Do we produce the fruit or does the Lord?
Have you ever seen an apple tree making noise to produce fruit?
Several different kinds of spiritual fruit are named in the Bible.
We bear fruit when we win others to Christ (Rom. 1:13).
Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
2. As we grow in holiness and obedience, we are bearing fruit.
But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
3. Paul considered Christian giving to be fruit from a dedicated life .(Roman 15:28)
4. “The fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22–23) is the kind of Christian character that glorifies God and makes Christ real to others.
5. Even our good works, our service, grow out of our abiding life.
that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
6. The praise that comes from our hearts and lips is actually fruit to the glory of God.
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Many of these things could be counterfeited by the flesh, but the deception would eventually be detected, for real spiritual fruit has in it the seeds for more fruit. Man-made results are dead and cannot reproduce themselves, but Spirit-produced fruit will go on reproducing from one life to another. There will be fruit—more fruit—much fruit
The sad thing is that you can fake it for a while, but eventually you will be found out.
A branch that is abiding in the Vine, will always bear fruit.
Fruitful branches are prunes. All bad spots, useless buds, misdirected shoots or sucker branches are pruned off.
Even fruitful believers have spots, buds, shoots, and leaves that are bad, that are useless and need pruned.
How about these areas?
thought life
attitudes and behaviors
motives
The purpose of pruning is onefold: to prepare the branch to bear more fruit!
There are professors and possessors in the Church.
Going to church, does not make you a christian.
Church, fruit can only be produced by spending time with Jesus, by abiding in the Vine.
Churches die, because the people and the pastor are not abiding. Apart for Jesus we can do nothing!
Jesus said 4 things to us: [1] Come to Me (as Savior) [2] Learn of Me (as Teacher)
[3] Follow Me (as Master) [4] Abide in Me (as Life).
So, to abide is the highest requirement of Christ & therefore applies toHis
faithful disciples.
Do you have any of the fruit that was mentioned? If not, I would ask you the question: “Have you truly surrendered your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ?”
A by-product of abiding in the Vine is fruit!
Where is the fruit is out lives?
If you want fruit, which is not for you, but others we must start abiding in the Vine.
Judas was not abiding in the Vine and he was cut off, thrown into the fire and burned.
Prayer
Announcements
Please be praying about the unrest of our nation
Be checking you emails as we will be meeting this week to discuss opening the church.
Abide church
Remember that churches die, because those who attend do not abide.
Benediction
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
The Lord Bless you!
Your Mission Starts now!