John 15:1-8

Sunday Morning Bible Study

November 21, 2010

Introduction

Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision

We have been looking at the Thursday night before Jesus dies. He has just wrapped up the events of the “Last Supper” with the words:

(Jn 14:31) …Arise, let us go from here.

There are several suggestions as to where the Last Supper might have taken place.

One suggestion is that it took place at the house of Mark’s mother Mary. The church named St. Marks is supposedly built on that location.

Another suggestion is at a building more to the south, near the site of David’s tomb.

In either location, to get to the Garden of Gethsemane, it’s very likely that Jesus and the disciples had to go around the southern side of the Temple Mount to get there.

One of the glories of the Temple was the great golden vine located along the roof on the front of the Holy Place. It was considered a great honor to give gold that would be molded into a new bunch of grapes that was then attached to that vine.

That would be an interesting setting for the next teaching.

15:1-8 The Vine

:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

:1 I am – the Greek is ego eimi, the Greek form of God’s name Yahweh.

This is the seventh and final time that Jesus describes what it means for Him to be the “I AM”. Here we see that Jesus being the “I AM” is about connection.

How do I satisfy this hunger inside me?
(Jn 6:48 NKJV) I am the bread of life.
How do I get out of this darkness I’m in?
(Jn 8:12 NKJV) Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
How do I get into God’s kingdom?
(Jn 10:9 NKJV) I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Who will take care of me?
(Jn 10:11 NKJV) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
What will happen after I die?
(Jn 11:25 NKJV) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
How do we get to heaven?
(Jn 14:6 NKJV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

:1 vine – ampelos – a vine

:1 truealethinos which – every respect corresponding to the idea signified by the name, real, true genuine

Often in the Old Testament, it’s Israel that is described as being the “vine” or the “vineyard” (Is. 5:1-2) . But Israel was a vine that didn’t produce fruit.

One example is found in Isaiah:

(Is 5:1–2 NKJV) —1 Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. 2 He dug it up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes.
Isaiah goes on to write that because Israel did not produce good fruit, that God would remove its protection, and allow it to be trampled. It was a prediction of the coming judgment on the unfruitful nation.

Jesus is the “true” vine. He’s the vine that is going to produce good fruit.

There will be a time when the disciples will be removed from the Temple and the synagogue. Jesus is saying to them: “Don’t be deceived, the answer isn’t because you’re Jewish, it isn’t in religion, it’s in Me”.

:1 the vinedressergeorgos – a husbandman, tiller of the soil, a vine dresser

You could translate this, “I am the true vine, and My Father is George”. Maybe not…

The vinedresser is the gardener who cultivates the grape vines. God plays this role.

:2 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.

:2 branchklema – the shoot or branch of a vine, a vine sprout

:2 He takes awayairo – to raise up; carry off; to remove

I’ve heard some say that the fruitless branch would be “lifted up” onto a rock. But that’s not what a vinedresser does. A vinedresser cuts off a fruitless branch.

:2 He pruneskathairo – to cleanse; to prune trees and vines from useless shoots

Lesson

Pruning

You’re going to see that the whole point of having a vineyard is to produce fruit.
A grapevine is good for only one thing, fruit.
The experts say that if you want grapes, you need to learn the art of pruning.

If you go to Wikipedia and look up “vineyard”, under “vineyard management”, you will see “pruning” as the first thing listed.

From the Sunset Western Garden Book: (pg.363) “To get quality fruit you must choose a variety that fits your climate, train it carefully, and prune it regularly”.

The landowner doesn’t plant a vineyard for any other reason than fruit.

Even the wood from a vine is basically worthless.

God spoke to Ezekiel about this when talking about the lack of fruit coming from the nation of Israel:

(Eze 15:1–4 NKJV) —1 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2 “Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? 3 Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on? 4 Instead, it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work?

The only thing a vineyard owner is looking for is fruit. Period. Fruit is the only reason you plant a vineyard.

Two kinds of branches are pruned:
Fruitless
If a branch doesn’t have any fruit on it, then it is cut off.
Gardeners call these fruitless branches “suckers”.

A “sucker” only produces a lot of leaves, but no fruit. A sucker uses up the life of the vine to produce its leaves.

When you cut the “sucker” off, more “life” is available to produce fruit.

Fruitful
If a branch is already bearing fruit, it too will be cut, trimmed back.

You want all the life of the vine to be going into the production of fruit.

The goal of the vinedresser isn’t having “bigger” vines. The goal is having fruitful vines.

In Hampton Court near London, there is a grapevine belonging to the Royal Family. It is thought to have been planted in 1768. At the base of the vine, the trunk measures 12 feet around. Because of skillful cutting and pruning, the vine has produced something close to 22,000 pounds of grapes in its lifetime.

Pruning in the life of the believer is not a pleasant thing. I don’t imagine the plant is jumping for joy when the vinedresser shows up with his pruning shears.
The early church saw persecution as a sort of “pruning”.

John Chrysostom lived around 400AD, after the time of the persecution of the early church. He made these comments about this passage:

This, someone might assert, was said with relation also to the persecutions then coming upon them. The “pruning” makes the branch bear better. Whence it is shown, that persecutions rather make men stronger.

Sometimes God will allow difficulty into our lives as a way of pruning us.

The difficult times makes us examine our lives. It makes us reorder our priorities.

A.W.Tozer wrote,

The philosopher Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” If a common philosopher could think that, how much more we Christians ought to listen to the Holy Spirit when He says, “Examine yourself.” An unexamined Christian lies like an unattended garden. Let your garden go unattended for a few months, and you will not have roses and tomatoes but weeds. An unexamined Christian life is like an unkempt house. Lock your house up as tight as you will and leave it long enough, and when you come back you will not believe the dirt that got in from somewhere. An unexamined Christian is like an untaught child. A child that is not taught will be a little savage. It takes examination, teaching, instruction, discipline, caring, tending, weeding and cultivating to keep the life right.

Rut, Rot or Revival: The Condition of the Church, 43.

I have only so much time to spend in this life. Am I spending it on the things that will “bear fruit”?

The process of pruning goes easier when I learn to let God “lop off” the things that keep me from being fruitful.

(Heb 12:11) Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

:3 cleankatharos – clean, pure; a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit

This is the root of the word translated “prunes” in vs. 2. He’s saying that the disciples have already been pruned from the things they’ve learned from Him.

One of God’s best pair of pruning shears is His Word.

(Ps 119:9) How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.

:3 I have spokenlaleo – to speak; perfect tense

Lesson

God’s pruning shears

Jesus is saying that some of this pruning has already taken place in the lives of the disciples because of the things that He has spoken to them.
In the same way, God's Word acts as pruning shears in our lives.
When I read and pay attention to God’s Word, I become aware of things in my life that probably aren’t that fruitful.
It’s time for the pruning shears.

:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

:4 Abidemeno – to remain, abide; not to depart; to continue to be present

Lesson

Connect

The assumption is that a branch is already connected to the vine.
It’s possible you have not made a connection to Jesus.
You might know some interesting things about God, but you’ve never plugged in to Him.
The Bible says,

(Jn 1:12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

You have to make a choice to form that connection with Jesus.

Some of you may be thinking, “Well I like God, but I don’t know about this Jesus stuff”.

The Bible says you cannot know God apart from Jesus Christ. Jesus said,

(Jn 14:6) …“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Why must we be connected to Jesus? Because Jesus is the only one who has taken away the very thing that separates us from God.

Jesus Christ died on a cross in order to pay the price of your sins.

You must come to Jesus.

Lesson

Stay put

Once you’ve connected with Jesus, “abiding” is simply about staying connected.
I do not think the concept of “abiding” implies some sort of deeper spiritual experience.
The word “meno” is a very common Greek word. The simple form is found 120 times in the NT.

It’s translated “stay”, “remain”, “live in a house”, or “continue”.

When you’ve made your connection with Jesus, you simply need to stay connected, to remain with Jesus.
Illustration
One of the things I try to do each week is to take care of the Sam’s Club shopping for the family. But being the clueless guy that I am, I don’t always know which brand of soap or what flavor of soda to buy. Sometimes I have to call my wife and to make sure I get the right thing. But the problem with Sam’s Club, is that you don’t get very good cell phone reception in the store. If you find a spot with a couple of bars on your phone, you stay put when you call. Otherwise you might lose your connection.
What do I mean by this? Don’t walk away. Don’t abandon your connection with Jesus. Instead, cultivate that connection.

:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

:5 abide … fruit

The connection between the branch and the vine is what makes it possible for the branch to bear fruit.

Paraphrase of John Chrysostom:

“When you see someone act naturally, it’s the way they always act. If you see a brave person act bravely, you’re not surprised. It’s when you see a brave person act cowardly that you take notice and realize that something strange is happening.
If you see a cowardly person suddenly become brave, you also take notice.
“The disciples were very fearful fellows. Yet church history tells us that some time after the resurrection, these cowardly men became quite brave, like fierce lions. Before the resurrection, Peter was so scared that he cowered when a young girl asked him if he was one of Jesus’ followers. Yet on the day of Pentecost, he stood up in front of a huge crowd, including those who had put Jesus to death, and declared that Jesus was the Messiah. He would be willing to die a horrible death and stay faithful to Jesus. Something had changed.”

In other words, you see the fruit when something super-natural happens.

:5 you can do nothing

This doesn’t mean that we are just lifeless blobs. We can do plenty of things without Jesus. But we will only do things that are “natural” to us, things that speak of our nature.

If we ever expect to do anything contrary to our own corrupt inner nature, we are going to need help. We need Jesus.

:5 much fruit

Lesson

Fruit

Fruit is the natural product of something. It’s “results”.
If you are really connected to Jesus, then His supernatural life will produce “results”, or fruit.
Sometimes we mistakenly think that being connected to Jesus means we need to know how to say all those super spiritual things.
PlayOver Saved”.
What is fruit?
Offspring
Just as children are a fruit of the relationship of a husband and wife, called the “fruit of the womb”, our relationship with Jesus produces another kind of “offspring”
(Ro 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.

Fruit may involve people that we lead to the Lord.

What you do
I think this is what Jesus meant when He said,

(Mt 7:15–20 NKJV) —15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

In context, Jesus goes on to say that it’s “doing the will of the Father” that shows whether a person is a genuine believer or not.

The way you live your life, “what you do”, shows what you are connected to.

Who you are
When we are connected to the Holy Spirit, He begins to change us, changing our character, changing our personality, producing fruit.
(Ga 5:22–23) 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control…

I don’t know about you, but if I have any of these qualities in my life, it’s definite proof that something supernatural is going on.

Illustration

A guy goes to a psychiatrist. “Doc, I keep having these alternating recurring dreams. First I’m a teepee; then I’m a wigwam; then I’m a teepee; then I’m a wigwam. It’s driving me crazy. What’s wrong with me?” The doctor replies: “It’s very simple. You’re two tents.”

That’s me. I’m always too tense. If you ever see a moment of peace in my life, guess what? It’s God.

Be patient
Keep in mind that it takes time to bear fruit.
Illustration

A man rushed into the doctor’s office and shouted, “Doctor! I think I’m shrinking!!” The doctor calmly responded, “Now, settle down. You’ll just have to be a little patient.”

If you buy a grape vine and plant it in your backyard, it may take a year or two before you see any fruit.

(Ga 6:9) And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

You have to keep at it to bear fruit. That’s part of what it means to “abide” – to keep at it.

:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

:6 is witheredxeraino – to make dry, dry up, wither

:6 are burnedkaio – to set on fire; to burn, consume with fire

Lesson

Security

It almost sounds as if Jesus is talking about losing your salvation.
Is it possible for a person to know Jesus Christ, then walk away and lose their salvation?
I grew up as a Christian being taught that once you have received Christ, that you cannot lose your salvation.
This is one of several verses that would cause me trouble. It would trouble me because I had a difficult time looking at this verse honestly without trying to twist it to say that you can’t lose your salvation.
Some suggest that if a person does not abide in Christ, then perhaps they were never truly connected.
Whether you were never connected or lost your connection, the point is that the branch that does not abide will be cut off and burned.
I do believe in eternal security.
I believe that as long as I stay connected to Jesus, I am eternally secure.
I don’t worry about my salvation. I believe that a mature Christian gets past the point where he worries about his salvation. I believe that God is able to guard me, keep me, and get me to heaven. I believe that no one can snatch me out of His hand.

As long as I don’t wander away, as long as I abide.

I don’t believe that one simple sin disconnects me from the vine.

But if I am continually living a life apart from God, I ought to begin to be concerned. You can tug on that extension cord only so much before it becomes unplugged. I believe it’s possible for a person continue to push the boundaries so much that they are no longer connected to Jesus.

:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

:8 bear much fruit

If you follow the thought, Jesus describes another type of fruit – answered prayer.

Answered Prayer = Much Fruit

:8 glorifieddoxazo – to praise, magnify, celebrate; to honor

This issue is not about us becoming famous, but about God becoming famous.

The issue is not about getting what we want, but about drawing attention to God.

We need to learn how to pray. Go back to verse seven …

:7 wordsrhema – that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, what one has said; subject matter of speech, thing spoken of

:7 you desirethelo – to will, have in mind, intend; to wish; to take delight in

Jesus says literally, “Whatever you desire, you will ask …”

:7 you will askaiteo – to ask, beg, call for, desire; denotes a request of the will

:7 shall be doneginomai – to become, i.e. to come to pass, happen; to be performed, wrought

:7 it shall be done for you

Lesson

Answered prayer

You abide in Him
You stay connected to Jesus. You stay in this living relationship with Him.
You keep at it.
His words abide in you
God’s Word is a part of your life. You allow God’s Word to have an effect on your life. Do you read God’s Word? Do you think about God’s Word?
Paul wrote,

(Col 3:16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Let God’s Word find a home in your heart.

I think that’s the key to the whole thing.

You desire
The problem is that we too often are simply asking for the wrong things.

Illustration

Boudreaux went to the revival and listened to the preacher. After a while, the preacher asked anyone with needs to come forward and be prayed over. Boudreaux got in line. When it was his turn, the preacher said, “Boudreaux, what do you want me to pray about?” “Preacher, I need you to pray for my hearing,” he replied. So the preacher put one finger in Boudreaux’s ear and the other on top of his head and prayed. After a few minutes, he removed his hands and said, “Well, Boudreaux, how’s your hearing now?” Boudreaux scratched his head and said, “I don’t know, preacher. It’s not until next Wednesday in Opelousas.”

The living, “abiding” connections with Jesus and His Word will begin to affect your heart and move your desires in the right direction.

(Ps 37:4) Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Putting your focus on God changes your desires.

It’s the “desires” that are birthed in your heart after this connection with Jesus that are the desires you need to be asking for.
There is a progression. Abide in Him. His Word abides in you. Then come the “desires”, the “will”, the inner “I want this”.
You ask
This is a part of what prayer is about.
As God is working His life out in your life, it will affect the way you ask.
Some people think that they don’t want to bother God with their prayer requests.
Pay attention here. God wants us to learn to pray.

God wants the world to see what happens when His life is flowing through His children.

God wants the world to see that He answers the prayers of His children.