‘Heard it Through the Grapevine
John 15:1-8
Here are some common
mistakes while studying Scripture
-reading into a text something that’s simply
not there
--some take Jesus’ cleansing of the
anger is always justified if it has to
do with religion
-glossing over a text (or part of one) that
we don’t like
--many people don’t want to read about
God’s wrath or judgment;
or they ignore and unpopular chapter
like 1 Corinthians 6
-misinterpreting a passage because of what we
already believe
--that’s otherwise known as the “I know
what I believe and no
Scripture is going to change that.”
-softening the difficult words of Jesus
--“Take up my cross”?
--be in “complete unity” with each other?
--lust is “adultery in [the] heart”?
--“Blessed are the meek?”
This morning’s text
is just as challenging as those: Read John 15:1-8
Let’s go pretty much
verse-by-verse and highlight some of the things
Jesus said that have made my week
“interesting”
-v.
2 à *Is
Jesus saying that if we don’t do enough good works
then we lose our
salvation?
*What is fruit, anyway?
*What’s the deal with the pruning?
*Shouldn’t our focus, then, be on bearing fruit?
-v. 3 à *Clean? What does “clean” have to do with anything?
-v.
4 à *How
are we supposed to remain in Him? That
sounds
like we have to work to
keep ourselves saved.
-v.
6 à *Are
they some spiritual slackers who are thrown into hell?
-v.
7 à *Seriously,
Jesus, ask whatever we wish? You don’t
even
have the time to go
through all the things I’ve asked for
that You apparently haven’t
gotten around to giving me.
-v.
8 à *Fruit
is now the evidence of being a disciple?
Just a few
weeks ago we read in John 13:35 à By this, all men
will know that you are My
disciples, if you love one
another. So, which is it? Fruit or love?
-let’s try to discover some answers for
these challenging questions
Consider this—it’s Thursday evening...Jesus has just washed the
disciples’ feet...He has shared with them the
Last Supper...Judas
has left the house to betray Jesus...Jesus
then began explaining
how He must go away, but that the Holy Spirit
would be given
-then the last verse of John 14, Jesus à Come
now; let us leave.
So Jesus and the
eleven disciples leave the upper room of the house,
walk through
on the east side of the city, down through
the
the
-somewhere between the upper room and the
Jesus teaches His disciples about their
relationship with Him
--it could have been near the
distinction between
vine with a negative connotation)
and Himself, who is the
True Vine
--it could have been in the vineyards
outside the city gate
Wherever the
physical location, we can be sure the disciples are
at least familiar enough with grapes and
vines that this analogy
makes some sense to them
-Jesus is now hours away from His death, He’s
not speaking in
some secret code that the disciples may or may
not understand
--we’ll begin by stating the
obvious—what we do know
We are not told
to bear fruit!
-this is probably the most common
misunderstanding of this text
--in fact, I made that mistake
myself...while creating my “message
plan” for this series, under today’s theme of what a Christ-
follower does I wrote, “bears fruit”...that’s
close, but still wrong
--Jesus’
command for us is in v. 4 à Remain in Me.
---in fact, it’s the only command in these eight verses
--the word the NIV translates as remain may not be the best here
---some translations use the English
word abide—which is
better, I believe—because it
signifies the intimate, life-giving
relationship that is a must between a branch and the vine...
and between a believer and the
Savior
So, then, what does
it mean for us to abide in Him? how do
we do it?
-first, I’m confident there’s no “to-do” list
we must complete to keep
ourselves saved...if
there were, Jesus would have given it to us...if
there were, it would mean He alone is unable
to keep us saved
--but then that would contradict the
clear teaching of Scripture: in
John 10, remember, Jesus claims He is the Good
Shepherd
who will never abandon His sheep and
who will never allow
anyone or anything harm His flock or
steal them from Him
---later in that same chapter Jesus
confidently asserts à My
sheep listen to My voice; I
know them, and they follow Me.
I given them eternal life, and
they shall never perish; no
one can snatch them out of My
hand.
----obviously we, the sheep,
are incapable of keeping
ourselves safe...we
depend wholeheartedly upon the
Shepherd...it is His
strength and His love for us that
guarantees the
protection of our very lives
-in both the sheep and the Shepherd and the
branches and the
Vine, Jesus leaves no doubt that He desires
a growing, dependent,
vital bond with us...not a bunch of dead, legalistic,
rule keepers
--He’s certainly not interested in those
who simply label
themselves as “branches”...He wants
those who are connected
to Him at the deepest level...who find
their very life in the vine
---Jesus makes it quite clear that apart from
Him there is no
fruit-bearing, there’s nothing
productive happening...in fact,
being separate from Him only
leads to death
----if you put a stick in a pot of
dirt...despite the best care
you might give it, it
won’t grow and it won’t produce
fruit...it will dry up
and only be good for fire wood
We also know that part
of abiding in Him is having His word in us
-that means reading it, studying it, knowing
it, hiding it in our
hearts...but most importantly it means
living it
--having His word in us means that our
prayer life is centered
upon the things that concern God...His
desires become ours
-having His word in us means that we are nurtured and fed by it
--it guides us, strengthens us, and helps
us grow
Abiding describes an
intimate fellowship—not a business relationship
-not a “Jesus-is-my-best-friend-forever”
relationship, but a maturing
fellowship, resulting in our growth, and
ultimately in our bearing
fruit...Read 1 Corinthians 1:4-9
What else can we
agree upon?
-by claiming to be the True Vine, Jesus
removes the possibility of
there being any other option—life comes
from Him and Him alone
-bearing fruit brings glory to God the
Father...its purpose is never to
draw attention to ourselves
--Matthew
5:16 à ...let your light shine before men, that they
may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Let’s address some
things where we may find some disagreement
-remember earlier I stated that our
responsibility is limited to abiding
in Him...but we often get the cause and
effect backwards
--fruit is only the visible evidence of
abiding in Christ
---abiding in Him—being vitally
connected to the True Vine—is
the most critical aspect...it’s
absolutely necessary for fruit
--to focus on bearing fruit without any
regard for abiding in Christ
is like practicing crossing the
finish line of a marathon without
giving any thought or training to
how you’ll run the actual race
Another issue—what
in the world is this “fruit” Jesus is talking about?
-some link it only to evangelism—producing
new believers
-many equate it with good works...and there
does seem to be an
adequate Scriptural basis to support that—actually
there are
plenty of explicit descriptions of how
Christ uses us to make a real
impact on the world around us
-there are others—and I’m included—who understand
Jesus to be
talking first and foremost about spiritual
fruit...or fruit of the Spirit
--Galatians
5:22-23a à the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control...
---those who are abiding in Christ
will show confirmation of
the relationship with these characteristics
of the Holy Spirit
--what about good works?
---they’re natural expressions of
love, kindness, and goodness
--what about evangelism?
---again, it’s the overflow of
nearly all of those
--ok, but what about that question I
asked earlier?
---do others know we are Christ
followers because of our love
or
because we bear fruit?
----the answer, of course,
is yes...it’s yes because love
and fruit are one and the same
Another issue: what’s the deal in v. 2 about God pruning those
branches that are actually doing what they’re
supposed to be doing
—they’re abiding, they’re bearing fruit like
it’s going out of style
-why are they
on the business end of a pair of trimming shears?
--it’s because in growing grapes, pruning
is absolutely essential
---as one vineyard worker said, “You
can either have lots of
leaves on the branches or you
have lots of grapes; but you
can’t have
both.”
--we typically associate pruning with
discipline, with God taking a
weed-eater and whacking off anything
in my life He doesn’t like
-Scripture isn’t shy about pointing out the
value of God’s discipline
--Proverbs,
especially, is repeatedly quite vocal on the subject
---3:12 à The Lord disciplines those He loves...
---but the more I read about growing
grapes, the more I see a
systematic, surgeon-like
precision to God’s work
-remember, the gardener is doing this to every branch that is
already
bearing fruit—so it’s not punishment, per se, it’s more
like guidance...perhaps trimming away
at things that are
hindering us...don’t forget, His goal
for us to bear as much fruit
as we are able and He will do whatever
it takes to achieve that
--and notice that the 2nd
half of v. 2 allows for no
exceptions
---if you are abiding, you are bearing fruit
---if you are bearing fruit, you are being pruned
--it may be painful at times...it may
cause us sorrow...but He is
doing that hard work of whittling
away anything that’s
slowing our growth
---in this process He purifies us,
making us more like Christ
---Romans 8:29 declares that God’s purpose in our
salvation and in our
spiritual growth is that we are to be
conformed to the likeness
of His Son
-what does God need to prune from your life?
--are you putting someone or something
ahead of Him?
--are you trusting in anything other than
Him?
--is your heart divided?
Finally, let’s
wrestle with what’s obviously the most challenging part
of these eight verses
-v.
2 à He [God,
the gardener] cuts off every branch in Me
that
bears no
fruit.
--I’ll list a couple of the traditional
interpretations
---those who believe a person can
lose her salvation argue
that this verse supports their
position—if you aren’t bearing
fruit then you’re evidently
not abiding in Christ so you are
cut off and carried away
---but those who believe salvation
cannot be lost (like Baptists)
really have to dance around
this one
----some propose this
describes physical death...God
takes your life, but
you, in the end, are still saved
-----they’d cite 1
Corinthians 3:10-15 for support
----others point to the
parable of the sower (in Mark 4)
and make the claim
that these non-fruit-bearing
branches were never part of the vine
to begin with
...in other words,
they weren’t genuine Christians
-----perhaps they
had some superficial identity with
Jesus...but
there was never that crucial
“oneness”
or abiding with Him
-----John’s Gospel
is full of people who are
interested
in Jesus, but their alleged faith is
little
more than curiosity
------and
we see this a lot today with those
who
claim to be Christians because
they once walked
an aisle, joined a
church,
or even attend regularly...but
those
actions can never be a substitute
for a trusting
surrender of your life and
your
eternity into the hands of Christ
----a few say it’s possible
to be genuinely saved, but not
bear any fruit...but John 15:5 appears to rule that out
None of those
explanations are satisfactory to me
-they either contradict too much other
Scripture, or they are a logical
and theological mess
What I’m about to
offer is not original with me...and while some Bible
students will allow this interpretation is a
theoretical possibility, there
aren’t very many who will make this their
first choice
-I tell you that because if you agree with
me—even if all of you
agree with me—we’re still going to be an
itsy-bitsy minority
--and I tell you that because I cannot
stand up here behind this
pulpit and proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord!” about this point
--if you need your pastor to speak
with authority on every
statement and
say, “This is the right interpretation!”
then I’m
going to disappoint you because
frankly, I’m just not that sure
---God didn’t speak to me
audibly or give me a vision
----I just prayed, read a bunch of books
by some gifted
scholars, and
studied a whole lot of Greek
First, the gardener
cuts off the branch because there’s no fruit, which
means, of course, there’s no connection to
the vine
-the lack of abiding is the real issue, not
the fruit...agreed?
Another key is found in v. 2 in
the simple words in Me
-the
branches being cut are already in Christ
--that alone has tremendous theological
significance—listen
--2
Corinthians 5:17 à if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!
--Ephesians
1:1 à To the
saints...the faithful in Christ Jesus
-a person who is in Christ has, by God’s grace, been united
with
Him...that person
isn’t an improved creation,
but a new creation
--so compare that person in v. 2, with the one in v. 6 of John 15
---the person in v. 6 isn’t a believer who has walked
away
---this person
suffers punishment and continued separation
from Christ because he has never
abided in Christ
--while we need to be concerned about
those described in v. 6,
our attention is
directed to those portrayed in v.
2
Here’s when it gets
tricky...you may not agree with my conclusion, but
you need to trust me a little...that perhaps I
may have learned
something in 2 years of Greek
-in the original language, the “cut off” in
v. 2a is the same root word
as “prune” in v. 2b and is closely related to
“clean” in v. 3
-back in v. 2, the word the NIV translates as “cut off” actually has a
primary meaning of “lift up”...
Thanks for the
lesson...but what’s that have to do
with anything?
-Bruce Wilkinson was talking about growing
grapes and John 15
with the owner of a large vineyard in
northern
--the grape expert said, “New branches
have a natural tendency
to trail down and
grow along the ground. But they
don’t bear
fruit down there. When branches grow along the ground, the
leaves get coated
in dust. When it rains, they get muddy
and
mildewed. The branch becomes sick and useless.”
-Wilkinson asked, “What do you do? Cut it off and throw it away?”
--“Oh, no! The branch
is much too valuable for that. We go
through the vineyard with a bucket
of water looking for those
branches. We lift
them up and wash them off. Then we
wrap
them around the trellis or tie them
up. Pretty soon they’re
thriving.”
Remember the same
root gives us “lift up,” “prune,” and “clean”
-perhaps Jesus is telling us something we’ve
been missing
--again, I’m not claiming to have
discovered a biblical secret...I’m
just saying this translation and
interpretation is consistent within
the passage itself and is consistent with the rest of
Scripture
-that means when we are in Him, we may go through a season of
fruitlessness...perhaps sin,
unfaithfulness, a spiritual disconnect,
or whatever...and we get dirty, muddy, and
covered in mildew
--sure, God could just chop us off and
throw us in the fire—that
is
what we deserve, after all
---but in His gracious patience,
God knows the unspeakable
price that has been paid for us...Jesus has made us
valuable...so valuable, in
fact, God refuses to let us go
--and rather than toss us aside, God
bends down, picks us up,
and washes us clean
---just like the image Jesus
painted for His disciples a few
hours before when He knelt
to wash their dirty feet
--you are too precious to the Savior
for Him to let you go—you
are safe in care...safe on the
vine...and safe in His hand
Are you in Christ?
-are you in a vital, life-giving, faith
relationship with Him?
Are you bearing
spiritual fruit?
-if so, realize that God is pruning you
-if not, do not try harder to produce fruit—it’s
impossible—instead,
focus your attention to abiding in Christ...growing
in intimacy, in
dependence, and in fellowship with Him