Abiding in the Vine

February 15, 2009

John 15:1 – 8

In Experiencing God Day-by-Day, Henry Blackaby says, we are to be Abiding in the Vine and goes on to quote John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me.”

There are those who feel that they must be constantly laboring for the Lord in order to meet God's high standards. Jesus gave a clear picture of what our relationship to Him ought to be like. He is the vine, the source of our life. We are the branches, the place where fruit is produced. As we receive life from Christ, the natural, inevitable result is that fruit is produced in our lives.

In our zeal to produce “results” for our Lord, we sometimes become so intent on fruit production that we neglect abiding in Christ. We may feel that “abiding” is not as productive or that it takes too much time away from our fruit production. Yet Jesus said that it is not our activity that produces fruit, it is our relationship with Him.

Jesus gave an important warning to His disciples. He cautioned that if they ever attempted to live their Christian life apart from an intimate relationship with Him, they would discover that they ceased to produce any significant results. They might exert great effort for the kingdom of God, yet when they stopped to account for their lives, they would find only barrenness. One of the most dramatic acts Jesus ever performed was cursing a fig tree that had failed to produce fruit (Mark 11:14). Are you comfortable in abiding, or are you impatient to be engaged in activity? If you will remain steadfastly in fellowship with Jesus, a great harvest will be the natural by-product.

In our study of the book of John, today’s message is based on my favorite Scripture, John 15:1-8. Please turn there with me now, and follow as I read. I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

As this passage encompasses one of the great truths about God – “apart from me you can do nothing,” this statement alone should drive us to pray. So let’s do that right now – LET’S PRAY - Our prayer, Lord is that in 2009 Good Shepherd Community Church will learn from study and experience how those two lines work together—being attached to the vine and bearing fruit. Lord, show us the connection, and reveal to us how they function together to make us a transformed, obedient, faithful people.

The reason prayer has such great potential for changing things is God. And the reason prayer is surrounded by such difficult problems is God. If it weren't for the power of God over nature and over the human will, there would be no hope in praying for change in the world or in people or in ourselves! And it is that very same power and prerogative of God that creates the problems we stumble over in prayer.

Two of the biggest problems are, firstly, that our prayers, even those we have prayed a thousand times, are sometimes not answered as we ask; and secondly, why pray anyway, because if God is sovereign and controls and plans all things, what's the point in praying?

Take the last question first: if God is sovereign and governs the world by his providence, why pray? Let me read you the answer of Charles Spurgeon, which is exactly what I believe. This is from a sermon he preached on Luke 11:9, "Ask and it will be given you."

It is our full belief that God has foreknown and predestinated everything that happens in heaven above or in the earth beneath, and that the foreknown station of a reed by the river is as fixed as the station of a king, and "the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses." Predestination embraces the great and the little, and reaches to all things; the question is, why pray? Might it not as logically be asked why breathe, eat, move, or do anything? We have an answer which satisfies us, namely, that our prayers are in the predestination, and that God has as much ordained His people's prayers as anything else, and when we pray we are producing links in the chain of ordained facts. Destiny decrees that I should pray—I pray; destiny decrees that I shall be answered, and the answer comes to me.* Ask and it will be given you says Matthew 7:7

This is my faith, and it is rooted in the repeated testimony of God in Scripture that he governs all things in the world. Proverbs 16:33 says, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." And Daniel 2:21 says, "He removes kings and establishes kings." So from the dominion of kings to the roll of the dice, God governs the universe by his wisdom and power—including the prayers of his people. Our kneeling to pray is no less God's gracious work than the regenerating of our souls: he writes his will on our hearts (Hebrews 8:10) and works in us what is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21), and we do it—we pray—freely from our own wills because He has grafted us into the Vine. And He is the Vine, according to our key passage this morning.

But what about the other problem with prayer—that we pray and the answer we long for does not come? The Bible has several possible answers.

It says we may not be praying according to God's will; 1 John 5:14, "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."

Or it could be we have cherished sin that we will not let go from our lives; Psalm 66:18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear."

It could be that we have man-centered and not God-centered motives; James 4:3, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."

Or it may be that we do not believe that God will do it; Mark 11:24, "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you."

Or it could be that God wants you to persevere, and is testing your obedience to his command in Luke 18:1, "At all times [you] ought to pray and not to lose heart."

Or it might be that God is, in fact, doing far more every time you pray than you can imagine and is daily putting in place a part of the mosaic that will in good time be the full answer to your prayer (as in Daniel 10:2,12).

Or could it be that there is a dynamic to prayer that we have not yet learned? Could it be that this matter of praying is so mysterious and so wonderful that there is a deeper, fuller way of relating to God in prayer that we have not experienced? Could it be that we are like children who have been told something by our Father, but we just don't get it yet? And in his wisdom and patience he goes on loving us and teaching us. Could it be that 2009 would be the year when we get it?

Here are some of my goals for 2009 for Good Shepherd Community Church.

That we would abide in God the Father and magnify the supremacy of his glory
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the power of the Holy Spirit by
treasuring all that God is,
loving all whom he loves,
praying for all his purposes,
meditating on all his Word,
sustained by all his grace.

My prayer is that in 2009 Good Shepherd Community Church will abide in the Vine and learn from study and experience how praying for all his purposes and meditating on all his Word work together. What's the connection? How do praying and meditating function together to make us a transformed, fruit-bearing people? That’s the question I hope to answer in this message.

The reason the reason praying and meditating on His Word are so crucial for us is given in our text today, especially John 15:7, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." Do you see the connection between the Word of God and prayer? Listen again to John 15:7 in a condensed version "If my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." Here is a great goal for us in 2009, that we will abide in Christ’s Words and pray his purposes. What does it mean in experience, not just in talk, but in action and life? That is what I want us to learn together.

I put it as a question because I am not at all sure I know all this text means—at least not in its fullness. I have the suspicion that there is a potential here that few, if any, are tapping into. I don't think I have arrived—perhaps I have barely begun to experience this dynamic of the Word abiding in me and releasing sure answers to prayer. Do I really know—have I really experienced—what Jesus means by the Word abiding in me? Do I experience—do you experience—day in and day out the dynamic relationship between the indwelling Word and answers to prayer? Do you know from experience what this means?

In 1987 a medium-sized American church did a survey, and asked their people, How much time per week do you spend reading the Bible? 255 people took the survey. 21% said fewer than 15 minutes (a week!). Another 25% said 15-30 minutes a week. So 46% of their people in 1987 were spending fewer than five minutes a day reading God's Word. When asked about time spent in focused prayer, 62% said they spent fewer than 30 minutes in prayer each week—fewer than five minutes a day. Those statistics are twenty years old. Do you think they’re any better today?

I doubt that the statistics are very different today. And I would venture to say that many of these people harbor some deep resentments toward God for not answering their prayers. So the question arises: Is that what God meant by abiding in the Vine – spending five minutes per day in His Word? In prayer? Is there anything in our lives—in my life—that corresponds to John 15:7—"If the Word of God abides in you . . ." I doubt reading the Word of God five minutes a day is what Jesus was referring to when he said, "If my words abide in you"? How much time do you spend watching television, or reading other books, or with your hobbies or pastimes? Shouldn’t we, if we’re abiding in Him, be spending more time with Him, in His Word, than we do in any of those activities? It’s not that we have to!; it’s that we should want to with all of our heart! My own suspicion is that Jesus had something in mind vastly more extensive and more life-shaping than the quick glances that most of us give to the Word of God each day.

I know that at this point some people are already throwing up defenses in the name of freedom, and are ready to say that all such talk is infected with legalism and a performance mentality. Well, I plead with you to look at the words of Jesus here in John 15:7 and struggle with me over this. This is not legalism. We are not talking about doing x-number of minutes of Bible reading to earn x-number of answered prayers. We are talking about living out what we value, abiding in the Vine!

Suppose a coach prepares a steak dinner for his football team every day and spreads it before them freely, without cost, and says to them: eat and enjoy this rich meal every day and you will have strength to win the championship. And suppose that half the team instead goes to the candy store and the bakery, and week after week eats sweets and pastries instead. They start to lose games and the coach finds out they are not eating his free steak dinners and rebukes them. Some of them become indignant and say, "Hey we don't want a legalistic relationship with you. We want to relate to you in freedom and do what comes more naturally for our appetites."

Now that coach would be justified in saying, "It is not legalism to accept a free gift from me and to trust me that it is better for you than candy and pie." And so it is with Jesus. It is not legalism to welcome his free gift and infinitely valuable word. It is not legalism to savor it and revel in its preciousness. It is not legalism to believe that without it we get weaker and weaker and more and more worldly. It is not legalism to trust and obey the God who willingly died for our sins so we might be heaven-bound. Jesus says in verse 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. Then in verse 7, He tells us what abiding in Him entails – abiding in His Words, so that you get the desires of your heart. Let’s look at verse 7 again, in the New Living Translation, “But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! “

I verse 2 of John 15, Jesus says that some of His followers are lovely fruit-bearing branches of himself; others are useless because they bear no fruit. Who was Jesus thinking of when he spoke of the fruitless branches? First, he was thinking of the Jews. They were branches of God's vine. Was not that the picture that prophet after prophet had drawn? But they refused to listen to the prophets and they refused to listen to Jesus; they refused to accept Jesus; therefore they were withered and useless branches. Second, in verse 2, Jesus was thinking of believers whose Christianity consisted of profession without practice, words without deeds; he was thinking of Christians who were useless branches, all leaves and no fruit. And he was thinking of Christians who became apostates, who heard the message and accepted it and then fell away, becoming traitors to the Master they had once pledged themselves to serve.

So then there are three ways in which we can be useless branches. We can refuse to listen to Jesus Christ at all. We can listen to him, and then render him a lip service unsupported by any deeds. We can accept him as Master, and then, in face of the difficulties of the way or the desire to do as we like, abandon him. One thing we must remember. It is a first principle of the New Testament that uselessness invites disaster because it is disobedience, and disobedience is sin. The fruitless branch is on the way to destruction

Many believers have built up strong resistance to receiving the Word of God and letting it abide in them, as Psalm 1 says, the one who delights in His law, meditates on it day and night. And I plead with you that 2009 would be the year you trust God and receive His Word and let it abide in you fully. There is something here for us that we may not be getting. And I believe that if you would just reach out and taste a fraction of it, you would take heart that there are possibilities in your prayer life that you never dreamed.

If His Word is abiding in us,
How might that yield fruit? Answers to prayer is fruit.

Isn’t that what John 15:7 means? Jesus says, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you." The Word abiding in us yields sure answers to prayer.

The Word abiding in us guides our prayers. 1 John 5:14 says, "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." Perhaps it is the abiding of the Word of Christ in our lives that directs us to God's will. Then we pray according to God's will and the answer comes.

The Word abiding in us builds our faith. Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." And in Mark 11:24 Jesus says, "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." Faith is essential for answered prayer, and the Word abiding within us sustains our faith. That is what Jesus means when he says if his words abide in us we will have answers to our prayers. But the Word abiding in us does more that that.

The Word abiding in us transforms us morally and spiritually. Then we walk in the path of love where God answers prayer, rather than in the path of selfishness where God doesn't answer prayer. We know from Psalm 66:18 and James 4:3 that intentionally cherishing or walking in sin cuts us off from answered prayer. And we know from John 8:32 that the Word of God sets us free from sin: "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." And we know from John 17:17 that the word of God sanctifies: "Sanctify them in the truth [Jesus prays to the Father], your Word is truth." It's the transforming, sanctifying power of the Word that leads to holiness and love and then to answered prayer.

What's plain from the context of John 15:1-8 is that bearing fruit for God's glory is Christ’s main concern. Although the individual gifts are not named here, a short hop to Galatians 5:22 will find our bowl of fruit: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. Verse 2: "Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit." Verse 4: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me." Verse 5: "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit." Verse 8: "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit."

So the aim of this passage is more fruit for God's glory, and the path to that fruit-bearing is our abiding in Christ, and his word abiding in us. And prayer, according to verse 7, is an essential part of that abiding in Christ and having his Word abide in us, so that we can bear fruit for God's glory.

The secret of the life of Jesus was his contact with God; again and again he withdrew into a solitary place to meet him. We must keep contact with Jesus. We cannot do that unless we deliberately take steps to do it. To take but one example--to pray in the morning, if it be for only a few moments, is to have an antiseptic for the whole day; for we cannot come out of the presence of Christ to touch the evil things. For some few of us, abiding in Christ will be a mystical experience which is beyond words to express. For most of us, it will mean a constant contact with him. It will mean arranging our quiet time, arranging our prayer time, arranging our time in His Word in such a way that there is never a day when we give ourselves a chance to forget him, to not be abiding in the Vine.

Finally, we must note the good disciple enriches his own life by abiding in the Vine. His contact makes him a fruitful branch. He brings glory to God. God is glorified, when we bear much fruit and show ourselves to be disciples of Jesus. The greatest glory of the Christian life is when we bring glory to God.

We have seen prayer and God’s Word abiding in us work together. That is what we discovered this morning. Make it your aim to pray from the fullness of God's word because Effective prayer is the overflow of the Word of God abiding in us. That is my quest, and it should be your daily quest too!

And, consider this: Scripture refers to us as Jesus servants or bond servants, and we have no problem with that. But the word used in the original language is “doulos”, which means slave, not servant. If we are His slaves, obedience is not open to discussion, is it? Jesus says to abide in the Vine. Are you? We either obey or we disobey and face the consequences. So, if I am His slave, what are my options when it comes to obedience? None! I am His slave, so I obey Him. But, I also love Him with all my heart, soul, and mind – I not only must obey Him I want too! I want to be abiding in His Word and in prayer. And I should want to be in the presence of His bride (the church) too, shouldn’t I? That means faithful church attendance – wanting to be here every week for praise, worship, fellowship, learning. I know there are time when it’s not possible to be here – if we’re out of town or sick. But the desire of our heart should be to be here, to look for ways to be here, not to look for ways not to be here. Also, if we are obedient, we are giving generously out of our abundance, using the tithe (that’s a tenth of our gross income) as a starting point. Neither of these, church attendance or tithing, takes any particular skill or talent. They are simply matters of obedience, things that every believer has the ability to do. As blood-bought slaves of Jesus, we should have a deep inner desire to grow deeper in our relationship with Jesus – we should have a passion for Jesus, and a hunger for His Word – we should want a deeper prayer life. And, we should want to share Him with the lost around us. Well, that’s enough! Abiding is where we must start, and then let God have His way with us as we continue to grow and be used by Him.

And, consider the thoughts from Heartlight Ministries’devotional of February 8, using 1 John 4:13 as their key text: We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

Our sign of authenticity showing we are truly God's children is the Holy Spirit who lives in us. The Spirit helps bring forth the character of God in our lives (Gal. 5:22). The Spirit helps us when we pray (Rom. 8:26-27). The Spirit empowers us to overcome sin (Rom. 8:13) and gives us strength to do things we would never imagine were possible (Eph. 3:14-21). The Spirit comforts us in our brokenness and makes God's presence real in our lives (John 14:15-26). The Spirit is

> the truest sign that we are God's children (Rom. 8:9, 14-16). Thank God for the blessed Holy Spirit!

Pray with me now that God would go with us into this great investigation abiding in the Vine and in His Word.

Let’s pray: Lord, You are the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory"

Lord, I magnify Your name; I exalt Your name.

Your way is perfect! Your Word is tested and tried; You are a shield to all those who take refuge and put their trust in You. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, 0 Lord, my firm, impenetrable rock and my redeemer. Your Word has revived me and given me life. Forever, 0 Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

The sum of Your Word is truth and every one of Your righteous decrees endures forever.

I will worship in Your Holy Presence, and praise Your name for Your loving-kindness and for Your truth and faithfulness; for You are exalted above all else Your name and Your Word are to be magnified.

Let my prayer be set forth as incense before You, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Set a guard, 0 Lord, before my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.

He who brings an offering of praise, and thanksgiving, honors and glorifies You Lord God. You order his way aright — You prepare the way and show him — You demonstrate Your salvation in Your Word.

Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. So will I bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.

Amen