← ArchiveThe JESUS StoryThe JESUS Story: Vine and BranchesDateJuly 25, 2021SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonJohn 151:35Psalms 239:01John 149:34Exodus 312:21TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00We'll be right back. They tell me that I can't speak until the lights come on, so I was just going to wait.0:30Well, my name is Josh, lead pastor here at Bethel. If you're joining us online for the first time thinking what is going on, we gather because of Jesus Christ. So for everyone who is online and maybe who is new, by the way, we have dear friends in our church that have cancer right now.0:54They're battling, they're fighting cancer through treatments. They've been watching online consistently. For people like that, for people who are new in our church, we just want to give you a round of applause and say, we see you and we thank you and we pray God is going to move in your life in a great way. And I just want the trees of the fields to know they're not the only ones that can clap for the glory of Christ.1:20I'm going to be in that group. I'm not going to let the rocks cry out for me. I'm not letting the trees clap for me. There you go. We can magnify the Lord with creation. So join me, meet me actually in John chapter 15 today. We've been walking through the book of John, the gospel of John. It's in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Really, John is like the fourth wheel of the gospels because Matthew, Mark, and Luke track together.1:49We call them the synoptic gospels. And then John is just, he's doing his own thing. He's writing, he's showing that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God. And he's putting Christ at the Passover. And he wants us to see the redemptive aspects of that ministry. So we're walking through John and now we are in John 15, beginning in verse 1 today.2:12And I'm reading as I always do from the CSB translation. Hear the word of the Lord. Jesus says, I am the true vine. And my father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he, that's God, removes. And he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.2:41You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I in you. Now let me pause here. Some of your versions have abide in me. You're going to hear that word abide or remain come up over and over again. Verse 4 continues. Just as the branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.3:07Jesus says, I am the vine. 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. 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.3:35If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this, that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. Verse 9. As the father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 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.4:06I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my command. Love one another as I have loved you. Let's go to our heavenly father. Blessed are you, our Lord, our God, sovereign king of the universe.4:36Lord, you are holy and righteous. You are high and lifted up. Who are we that you would be mindful of us? And Lord, yet you are through your son, Jesus Christ. You have demonstrated your love towards us. Lord, may our joy be complete today. May the love of our heavenly father be found manifest in this place.5:04And Lord, may we not leave here the same as we entered. May our lives be changed. And Father, that is our prayer for all the children who are gathered today. For all those who are serving in the nursery and rocking babies. For all of those who are investing in our kids during kids worship. Lord, that they would see and that they would know that you are good. Lord, may we not leave here indifferent. And it is only by your spirit that we can even know spiritual truth.5:35So, Lord, open our hearts and our eyes and our minds to behold your glory. We pray this in the only name that is above all names. The name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. So, if you've been here for any length of time, you know that there are seven I am statements in the book of John. So, if you've not been with us and this is your only Sunday here at Bethel, here's the good news.6:04You are here at the exclamation point. The seventh of the seven I am statements. And what's fascinating is that all of the I am statements in John. So, what is an I am statement? Jesus says, I am. And then a predicate. Every I am statement tells us something about salvation. They're all linked to the theme of salvation. They remind us that Jesus' role is the, he is the source of salvation.6:34He gives you salvation and he sustains your salvation. He is the source of your grace and he is the sustainer of your grace. So, if you are not in Christ and you've never given your life to Jesus, he died on the cross for your sins to open a new door for you into heaven. And if you have given your life to Jesus Christ, he died on the cross that you might continually be sanctified.7:01There's no one here today that does not need God's grace. You either need to receive it or to live through it. Jesus says this in the I am statements. But here's what's fascinating about today's I am statement. The other previous six include an I am plus an invitation. It's the reminder that the previous six I am statements are really for the world to come to Christ.7:31He says, I am the light. I am the door. I am the good shepherd. I am the life. I am the way. I am the resurrection. So, follow me. What you might notice today in John 15, there's no invitation. This is the final I am statement. And this is given to those who are already in Christ. So, if you've given your life to Christ, if you are a Christ follower, if you are a follower of the way,8:01this is for you. This is the Messiah's heart for your life. So, before we look at this final seventh I am statement, pop quiz. If you've been here for more than two Sundays, this is for you. The first I am statement is right after the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. That's your hint. Jesus turns little pieces of bread into a lot of bread for a lot of people.8:27And at the tail end of that, Jesus says to the same crowd, I am the bread of life. The next I am statement, Jesus is at the festival of lights. And he tells those in Jerusalem, I am the light of the world. Next, Jesus tells them that he is the door. He is the one way to heaven. He is the door to the sheepfold. And he also says,8:57not only am I the door, Jesus is the good shepherd, as David reminds us in Psalm 23. At the death of Lazarus, so, sorry, strike that. At the new birth of Lazarus, Jesus tells the crowd, he says, Lazarus is about to rise from the dead. You're not going to understand that until he does. But I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever lives in me will never die.9:27And whoever has already died will live again. Sixth I am statement, Jesus says in John 14, verse six, he says, I am the way. Thomas is asking, Lord, you say you're going back to the father, but we don't know. Show us the way. And Jesus says, I did. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the father except through the Messiah, born of a virgin in Nazareth. And the final I am statement,9:57right here in John 15, Jesus says that he is the vine. Now the people in the south, you might say, well, that's a little forced. Is Jesus talking about a muscadine vine? What type of vine is this? But what we need to understand is the correct context, context of where Jesus is teaching and showing the world that he is the way, the truth, and the life. In the ancient Near East,10:25especially the Mediterranean, they had three predominant crops. They had the olive, the fig, and the vine. And these were the three predominant crops because these three fruits, if you will, could actually withstand drought the best. And in this category, the vineyard imagery was so familiar in the ancient Near East,10:53that often teachers would grab this and impart spiritual truths to the vineyard and to the vine, to the grapes. The Herodian temple, the temple that Jesus would have walked in and taught in Jerusalem, had a massive vine on the threshold to remind people, as Isaiah did and as Psalms did,11:21that the vineyard described Israel. Ancient Jerusalem coins have on there either the cup of wine or vineyard imagery to remind the ancient world that all blessings come from God himself. So Jesus is grabbing this imagery and he is reminding people who would be familiar with the vine to say, hey, I am the true vine.11:49So my first point, and they're all C's today, is a core truth. A core truth. Verse 1, Jesus says, I am the true vine. We're going to stop there. This is a scandalous statement. If you've been tracking with us in the book of John, for Jesus to say, I am the ancient world, the Jewish world would have said, there's only one I am.12:17If you remember Exodus 3, Moses says, well, God, you're sending me back to Pharaoh to tell those people and that tyrant, let my people go. I need to, I need to know who my is. So I'm going to go back to the land of multiple gods, hundreds of gods. So which God should I tell them is sending me? And God says, I will give you my name. I am that which I am.12:46You might know it as Jehovah. The best translation would be Adonai. It would be unpronounceable because it was such a sign of reverence. So when Jesus says, I am the true vine, he's not talking about grapes. He is telling the world that he is God. That was clear. It was unmistakable. And it would have been scandalous to people who believe that God was transcendent,13:13but he was not eminent. And Jesus then says, I am the true vine. There are vineyard psalms in the book of Psalms. And there are vineyard psalms in Isaiah. And Israel understood itself as the vineyard. So let me remind you,13:42listen, the New Testament church and the American church has not replaced Israel. Israel will always be the chosen vineyard of God who loves them. But Jesus says, not the church is the true vine. Jesus says to Israel, what? He says, I am the true vine. Really what Christ is saying that for the very beginning, Israel was created and chosen to be a light to the world, that God is gracious and that he is merciful and that he is kind.14:10Jesus was telling the Israelites, you're no longer the focus. The better light has come. The true light has come. And if you miss that, don't forget that Jesus said he is the light. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Feast of Booths. Jesus was the fulfillment of the Passover. Jesus is the fulfillment of the temple. Jesus is the fulfillment of everything Israel should have been,14:38but could not be because they are sinful like we are. Jesus is the fulfillment of every Jewish law, every symbol and every festival. That's why he is the true vine. It's the reminder in Acts of what the good Jewish leader, Peter, Simon Peter, said he's preaching a sermon.15:06And at the end of the sermon, he simply declares there is salvation and no one else. There is only one vine, one name under heaven by which men can be saved. You see, we preach an exclusive gospel. If you do not put your faith in Jesus Christ and him alone, you cannot be saved. And if you don't believe that, if you believe that there's salvation and other things, you have no right to call yourself a Christian because you're not.15:36You're not believing and living what Jesus teaches. Now you can call yourself a Christian, but Christians do what Christ wants us to do. Christians believe what Jesus wants us to believe. So Jesus is the true vine. Here's our take home from this verse. Jesus is the vine in both relationship to humanity, from earth's perspective,16:05and Jesus is the true vine from the relationship of the father. Jesus is the vine that gives us spiritual life from below. And he is the true vine that connects the life of God to us from above. He is the vine that gives us life. But that's not all. He reminds us this, that there's the care of the gardener. Not only this is the core truth of the vine, but Jesus says,16:35I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. Now gardener is a good translation. It might be even better translated farmer. But when we think of farmers, we think of soybeans and corn and tomatoes and bell peppers. Really, he's a farmer of vines. But this is God's care for us. And it said even today that you can,17:04you can see the care of a farmer and a gardener by examining the fruits. You can go to my house right now. I have a tiny garden. And even though it's tiny, I am a poor gardener. Because the rain with the soil quality, with the love of the gardener, my tomatoes have not produced. But I love tomatoes. So if you have anything that you would like to give as an offering,17:32we will receive that with joy and gladness. But if the care of the gardener is determined by the fruit, by the world's standards and by my standards, I have not cared for my garden like I should have. I have left them open to insects. I have not watered them properly. I have not irrigated properly. My garden has been neglected. I'm not saying that's your perspective.18:01That's the truth. But the care of the master gardener is so much better than any earthly gardener could ever imagine. And this is what Jesus teaches us. Remember, this is for Christians. These are for disciples. Jesus says, my father is the good gardener. He is the caring gardener. And this is what the good gardener does. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes.18:28Now, let's just start with every. There is not a single person in the care of the gardener who does not receive some care. Every single Christ follower is cared for. Every single one. Every moment of your life, God is doing something.18:57Which means today, in your life, as you read the word of God, he is doing something in you right now. God is not an idle gardener. God is not an idle gardener. He is not a lazy gardener. He is not a vindictive gardener. He is doing something in your life. And if you think that's not possible, you don't know my God. Because he can work an amazing work of glory in your life.19:26And this is what he does. In the ancient world, vineyards had to be deeply cared for. Actually, it required the most attention of any crop. I believe that's why God, that's why Jesus didn't say, I am the fig tree. Jesus didn't say, I am the olive. He said, I am the vine. Because that takes the most care. In the ancient world that started in the spring,19:55where the gardener would tie up the vines to thresholds or to terraces to keep the branches off the ground from rods. In the summer, the same vineyard would be cared for by the gardener. The gardener would have to go out there and break up the soil to make it more of a suitable climate for the vine. In the fall, in the winter, really before the winter,20:25the gardener would go out there and he would prune branches. But he wouldn't prune them too late because harsh winter would actually hurt and kill the branch if it was pruned in that moment. It's interesting, the earlier the vines were pruned, the better the wood they supplied. But the vineyard owner also knew the later that the vines were pruned, the better fruit that would be harvested. So this is telling me that the master gardener20:54knew exactly what the vines needed to produce the exact fruit that he wanted them to produce. What does that tell us about our lives? The master gardener knows exactly what you need today to produce the exact fruit that he wants you to produce. Maybe that's peace or patience or kindness or goodness, gentleness, self-control. But God knows exactly what you need in this moment21:23to bring about the best spiritual fruit in your life. Think about the care of the gardener for you, for me. God knows exactly what I need. At the same time, he knows exactly what you need and he's doing that so that we might show the world that we have a gardener who cares. But it's not just about pruning parts.21:49He says first, verse 2, every branch, we are all having something done to us. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes. The removing is God taking away the things that are not productive. It's the reminder that God is taking the unhealthy parts of us that are zapping our nourishment and strength, right?22:18The rotted branches are taking nourishment away from the vine and the gardener would take that away so that the vine would be healthy. There are things in your life today that God is removing so that you might be healthier. And God is doing that because he cares for you. He's not content to let you slowly rot away. He'll clip that branch. He'll cut that out. God's not content with you being idle22:46and being unproductive. He says that the things which are not producing fruit, he removes. So how do we hear this and how do we pray through this? I think we say, God, we want you to remove the things that should not be there. There are things in my life, there are relationships in my life, there are habits in my life that are not only unproductive, but they are taking spiritual life away. We say,23:18We say, Father, you care for me, so would you cut those out? He also says that he prunes in our lives. God is pruning parts in verse 2 and 3. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes and he prunes every branch that produces fruit. Why? So that you will produce more fruit. It's interesting in the ancient world, they believe this23:48and we actually have ancient documents that say this about pruning. Agriculturalists say that to prune a branch, it's better not to hack away from you lest you hurt the vine. But that the good vineyard farmer, the good gardener, would actually prune a branch, it would draw it near himself. So that there would be pruning, it was an act of care.24:17Isn't it quite interesting that the vineyard vine would be pruned because it was drawn near to the gardener? In the same way in our lives, when God is pruning you, he's actually drawing you near. The process of pruning things in your life, God is drawing you near to him. Why? So that he doesn't hurt you. So that he doesn't hack off parts that would be to your detriment. And I've found in my life,24:46the closer that I draw near to the heavenly father, the more that we produce fruit of righteousness. Trust me on this and trust the master gardener. He knows exactly and precisely what you need today to produce the best spiritual fruit in you. He doesn't come wielding a sword just hacking things. He's drawing you near25:15and saying, Josh, that branch doesn't look good. Let me cut it off. But as I cut this off, it's going to be for life for you. That branch is producing fruit. Good job. But it can produce more. Let me prune it. I'm going to prune it a little earlier this year because I need to work on your wood. But I'm going to prune it later next year because we're going to work on your fruit. God knows exactly what you need to produce the best spiritual fruit. And then Jesus says this in verse 14.25:43We see the core truth. We see the care of the gardener. And now we see how we continue in spiritual vitality. Verse 4. Jesus says, Remain in me and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him will produce much fruit. Listen, unless we think we can produce spiritual fruit26:13on our own, Jesus makes it quite clear. You can produce nothing on your own unless you remain in him. Spoken 11 times in this passage, Jesus says, Remain in me. Abide in me. Remain in me and I in you. And the word remain is not to start something new. It's really to continue that which is already going on in your life. That makes sense26:42because this I am statement does not include an invitation. The invitation is assumed to be accepted. Jesus is saying, I am already abiding in you. You are already abiding in me. Keep it up. Don't stop. Keep what you are doing. He's really saying, stay where you are. Abide in me. And when we abide in him, we find spiritual vitality. Anytime you cut yourself off from the Father,27:10you are dry and withered. That's no place for any Christian to be. When I think of the word unable, when Jesus says, you can't produce anything of me. I think of the words of a lady named Anne Hawks. You say, well, who is that? Well, she wrote a song and it goes like this. I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless me now, my Savior.27:40my Savior. I come to thee. It's the reminder that, Lord, I should be abiding in you to have spiritual vitality in my life. I need to stay right where I am, right with you. Why? Because we need him. Every hour we need him. And if we don't, Jesus says in verse six, if you do not remain in me, he is thrown aside like the branch that withers. They're gathered and they throw them in the fire28:10and they are burned. You might be thinking, well, isn't fire a metaphor for judgment? In the Old Testament, absolutely it is. Jesus is describing the fires of hell. It's a common biblical metaphor for divine and eternal judgment. And you might be thinking, well, this is scary. So is Jesus saying, if I don't abide in him, I'll be hacked off and thrown into hell? Because that's how it seems to read.28:38Really what Jesus is saying is, no one who abides in him will ever be hacked off and thrown into the lake of fire. Jesus is really saying it's impossible. You can't. No true Christian will not produce some measure of fruit. It is impossible for a true Christian to wander away fully. Why? Because you have a gardener who cares for you.29:07He is doing something in your life at every moment of your life. But if you do not place your trust in Jesus Christ, you will end up in this place of fire. You will end up in a place where you do not experience his love, not because he chose that for you, but because you chose not to receive the free invitation of eternal life. The invitation for every person. This is spiritual vitality.29:37Stay where you are. And then in verse 7, Jesus says this. Not only do we see the continuance of spiritual vitality, but we see the crop of righteousness. I know some of you have been waiting for the crops. I promised it to you, right? You produce fruit. So what is that fruit in verse 7? Jesus says, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, here's the first fruit.30:06Ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. I don't know about you, but I like that. So is Jesus, in this crop of righteousness, is Jesus saying he is like the genie on Aladdin? That we can just rub the lamp? And we can ask anything we want? Boom, there it is. Is that what Jesus is saying?30:36Absolutely not. To take this verse out and to strip it of its divinity, to strip it of its context would be to turn your back and not abide and remain in the God who loves you. Because Jesus who gives us this that says ask whatever you want and it will be done for you is the one who's already taught you how to pray. We pray this way. Lord, your kingdom come. Lord, your will be done.31:07Jesus is saying that for those who abide in me, what we ask, God will want. And so what we ask, God will give. Because as we pray, God is molding our hearts and your minds to bend it towards his will. And what loving father would not give their son or their daughter something that he knew would be for their best. One fruit of the spirit-filled life31:34is answered prayer. is answered prayer. For those who remain in Christ, he says, ask. Ask. So if your prayers are not being answered today, let me give you some quick thoughts on that. Maybe you're not asking. Maybe you're just praying spiritual prayers and you don't know what they mean and you don't know even if God answered the prayers,32:03you wouldn't know what they mean, right? Prayers of, bless this food. Amen. What is that? Should he make us grow an inch? Are you just asking for good digestion? Did you eat garlic and you just don't want other people to smell that on you? I mean, what does that mean for God to bless the food? We need to ask things that we know that God desires. We need to be praying and weeping for the darkness of our world. We need to be praying for peace where there is no peace.32:32We need to be praying for our families that those who are far from him might come to him. We need to be praying for the lost. We need to be praying for the brokenness of the world that they might find the only one who can pick up the broken pieces. But Christians should never be afraid to ask their Heavenly Father anything because we pray like this, God, this is my desire but if my desire is not your desire, make my desire your desire. But if my desire is your desire, you tell me to ask33:02and you will give. I don't know about you, but that's what I want for my life. I want to be able to look at my life and God, and me say, God, I asked for that. Actually, it was your spirit in me asking for that and you answered and God, you did this and you did this and it's not of me, Lord, it's not of me but it's of you. Answered prayer is a crop of righteousness. But there's more. He says,33:32He says, verse 9, another crop. As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. Love is a crop of righteousness that shows the world that we have a loving Father. So this tells me several things. If I am unloving, I don't know the God who loves. Because a crop of righteousness in me is that God wants me to love because He is love so that I might show34:01the world that He loves them. There's another crop. There's answered prayer, there's love here and there's also obedience. He says, if you keep my commands. D.A. Carson says it this way. He says, so lodge the words of life in your heart and mind that conformity to Christ, obedience to Christ is the most natural thing in the world.34:31Did you know your obedience is a crop of righteousness? Obedience matters. God doesn't save us so that we can do our own thing. God saves us that we might produce fruits of repentance and fruits of righteousness, of answered prayer and love and obedience. So if you don't think that your behavior matters, you're not reading the Bible because God34:58because God thinks your obedience matters. But here's His love for you. He doesn't say, good luck. Here's my laws. Here's my commands. Go to it. He says, I will put my spirit in you and my spirit will work in you an eternal weight of glory. I will not leave you and I will not forsaken you so when you obey, you obey through the power of the Holy Spirit because you can't do anything. You can't produce any fruit35:27other than being in the vine. The sweetness of being in Christ. The sweetness of remaining in Christ and the master care of the Father is what it takes to produce spiritual fruit. Let me give you one more C and it's verse 11. It's the final C of the day. Jesus says,35:57Jesus says, I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. Jesus wants to produce complete joy in your life. This is not surprising, is it? Because at the birth announcement, at the gender reveal party, angels show up and they say, joy to the world. The Lord has come. Let earth receive its king36:26and the same joy that began in the manger is the same joy that is offered to those who believe. Did you read what verse 11 said? I have told you these things so that the joy of Christ may be in you. Think about that. The joy of Jesus is in your life if you are His. And not only is that joy in you, it is producing in you so that your joy might be be complete.36:54be complete. I love that Jesus doesn't leave us as unfinished products. He completes. He loves us to the end. He loves you to the end. He completes His joy in you. So how do we live this out this week? The first question we have to ask is this and it's a question based upon the first truth. Every branch37:24Every branch receives some level of care at all times. God is doing something in your life right now. There is not a single person that has ever placed their faith in Christ that is not receiving some level of care at every moment. So my prayer for my life your prayer for your life should be this God what are you removing in me today? Because if the Lord is removing I don't want to cling to it.37:54God let it go because you are cutting the rot away that I might be healthier. And God what are you pruning? Some of us say well man God you are doing some really good things right here and God says but I can do more. Would you pray those two prayers boldly? Lord remove in me the things that you don't want there because you care for me. And God prune the things that need to produce more fruit. Why?38:25Why? Why is God producing fruit in us? Because the care of the vineyard displays the love of the gardener. and the fruit that he is producing in your life is showing the world that he cares. God is using you to show the world that he is who he says he is. Maybe for you you look at these fruits and you want more. Would you ask38:57God to produce fruit in your life? The fruit of answered prayer and maybe for the first time God is just calling you to pray where you are or come to the altar and pray and ask God pray in a way that you actually believe that he can answer it. I'm tired of these superficial religious prayers that I pray and I look back at my life and I realize that there are some prayers that God could have answered and they were so superficial I wouldn't even know if they were answered. I want39:28I want prayers that I can see fruits. Maybe for you that's God I need to love like you love. Help me do that today. Maybe you look at your life and you realize you're not keeping the words of the Lord. You're not obeying like you should and your prayer can be Lord help me be faithful to you the one who is completely entirely faithful. But maybe we've read this last39:58this last verse and you realize that you don't have the joy of Christ. That's bad news. And the bad news is you don't have the joy of Christ because of your sin. The Bible says we all have sinned and fallen short. And that the wages of sin is death. If we refuse to trust in Jesus Christ we'll be thrown and cast into the fire. But here's the good news. That Jesus40:28Jesus lived a sinless life and he died on the cross for our sins and he rose again and that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And that's not a one-time decision. In that moment you are putting yourself the branches being put by the Spirit of God into the vine where we will remain forever. If you've never given your life if you've never trusted in Jesus Christ as your only40:57your only hope would you do so today? That's our gospel question. What is faith in Jesus? It is receiving and resting on him alone for salvation that he has offered to us in the gospel. The gardener cares and he is working in your life life in this very moment. To the praise of41:27praise of our heavenly father. Let's pray.← Previous in The JESUS StoryThe JESUS Story: He Loved You To The EndNext in The JESUS Story →The JESUS Story: It Is Finished
