As a young believer in Jesus, I distinctly remember a small book that had an immense impact on my spiritual life. I was in high school, starting to sort out what it means to follow Jesus and the implications of my faith in Him. And I believe it was in a discount surplus store called Ollie's. It's a shame we don't have Ollie's up here in Massachusetts. They're awesome. It's much like Ocean State Job Lot, one of these overstocked discount items stores and you never know what treasures you'll find among the junk. Well, Ollie's stores have a fairly large Christian book section. They have discount Bibles, books, commentaries for cheap. Now, given they might be missing a chapter or two, but that's beside the point. For real, I think I once got a Bible that was missing a few pages. But one day in high school I was perusing the book section and came across a little book called "The True Vine." I'm not exactly sure what made me pick up the book and purchase it. Maybe it was the price. Maybe it was the size of the chapters, just a page or two each. Whatever the reason, I bought the book and started reading it. The book is 30 days of reflecting on the passage of Scripture that we just heard from John 15, 1 through 16. As I studied this passage this week it brought back a flood of memories of that little book that I picked up in Ollie's. Of how it played a tremendous impact on my life as a young believer in Jesus. And not just me. I remember after I read the book I gave it to Mary. And she read it. And as I mentioned it to her she recalled the impact that it played in her life. And it made me ask the question why? Because I don't think it was the book. I think it was the message of John 15. And it made me ask this week, why did that play such a big impact on my life as a young believer? And why was John 15 the message that I needed to hear this week? I have an idea why. Why each of us need to hear the words of Jesus from John 15 this morning. It's because we all have a tendency to make faith mechanical. Here's what I mean by that. When I was in elementary school, I had a fascination with building machines. Not real ones, imaginary ones. During school, I would finish my assignments as fast as I could so that I could turn the paper over and start drawing. I would create inventions, and I vividly remember one of my best works. It was a hand scooped ice cream vending machine. I would draw out the mechanics, a series of chain reactions. You put a quarter in here and it would roll down to here and hit this lever and this gear would turn and it was connected to a spoon that went into the ice cream. And you get the idea. After a few minutes a bell would ring and your hand scooped ice cream would be ready for consumption. We, as Christians, have a tendency to make faith about imaginary mechanics. I do this and then I do that and then God will do this and then this will happen. And when we don't see the results in life that we expected, we feel defeated. And wonder if we just didn't do enough of the right things. But the message of John 15 is that faith is not mechanical. It's organic. It's alive. It's relational. And I think that sometimes in the imaginary mechanics of religion we have a tendency to overcomplicate the Christian life. But the message of John 15 is that your role in the Christian life is simple. It's simply stay connected to Jesus. If you have a Bible or a Bible in front of you, would you open it up with me to John chapter 15? John chapter 15. We're gonna look at verses 1 through 16. And actually, if you grabbed a bulletin this morning, I printed the words of this text on the back of the bulletin. I'm actually going to be reading from the English standard version this morning. I've mentioned this from time to time. I, in my early years as a believer, memorized a few passages in the English standard version, and so it's hard for me to preach from other translations when I come to those texts. But here's the words up on the screen. It might be a little small, but... John chapter 15, beginning in verse 1 says, 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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I've spoken to you. 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. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and prove to be my disciples As the Father has loved me, so I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. I've mentioned time and time again that an important rule of studying the Scriptures is keep an eye out for the things that are repeated. As we look at this passage you could probably see the significance if you circled all the times in this passage that we hear the word "abide." Abide. Some translations of this words say "remain." The idea of abiding is making your home. It's finding your place where you find rest. It's a place where you are connected, where you are alive. And the message of John 15 is to abide in Christ. Stay connected to Jesus. And so I'd like to consider this morning how do we do that? How do we stay connected to Jesus, make our home, our rest, our remaining spot in him? There's a lot that could be said from the words of this text. In fact, that little book that I mentioned by Andrew Murray "The True Vine" is 30 days of walking through each phrase of this text, and It's actually available as public domain and I put it on the front page of our website, uniongrafton.org So if you want to, this week you can go to uniongrafton.org, download that, and continue to reflect on the truth of this passage. But we were going to consider this morning just kind of the big picture of what Jesus is teaching us about abiding in him. If you have a bulletin there's some spots to follow along with this but the first way that Jesus teaches us to abide is to recognize who you are. And I think it's fair to say that it's also to recognize who you are not. Jesus begins the passage by saying one of these "I am" statements. This is the seventh of seven "I am" statements that Jesus makes in the Gospel of John that are these self revelatory statements where he's connecting us with the language of the Old Testament where God revealed who he was. Where God said to Moses "I am who I am." And Jesus picks up on this language to reveal to us not only that he is God, but how God intersects with who we are. And in this statement, Jesus says "I am the True Vine." You see, Jesus is the true vine. He's making a distinction there because all throughout the Old Testament we have this imagery of a vine. But all throughout the Old Testament when the prophets would talk about the vine they'd be referring to the nation of Israel. They would say that the the vine, in Psalm 80 there's this picture of a vine and how judgment was coming because the vine was not producing fruit. In almost every passage throughout the Old Testament that we see the vine imagery it's a message of judgment. Because the vine was not producing the fruit that it was meant to produce. And the message that Jesus communicates with these first few words that "I am the True Vine" is the message that Jesus became what we could not be. That we all fall short. We looked at that earlier in this service that none of us could fulfill God's law perfectly. And Jesus says... All this time the vine's been failing. He says I am the True Vine. I am the source of life. And he says you are the branches. Now the imagery that Jesus is picking up on is something that in the ancient Near East was a common picture for people in their societies. It's the picture of a vineyard. Of a vine growing and... from that vine would come grapes, but between the fruit... and the plant were these little things called branches. Now, we know that concept well. Branches. Jesus says you are the branches. And I think that the first step to abiding in Christ, of staying connected to Jesus, is recognizing who we are. You are not the vine. You are the branches. And Jesus's disciples, I think, would have heard these words that way because they thought of themselves as the vine. But now Jesus is saying I'm doing something categorically new. I am your life. You're the branches. I am your supply. You simply stay connected to me. And all throughout this passage, there's this picture of how branches are incapable of bearing fruit apart from the vine. And we know that full well. It's at the time of the year where we go through our yard and we collect the branches that the storms of spring and winter have caused to fall from the tree. Those branches are dead. They aren't bearing fruit. They aren't budding with leaves like the rest of the tree. Apart from the tree the branches are powerless. In fact, that's exactly what it says in verse five. It says... I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. You see, we have to recognize who we are. We're simply branches. And if we want to find life... If we want to find joy as it says in verse 11, that I've spoken these things to you, that my joy might be in you and you might have joy to the full. If we want to experience that we have to recognize that we are branches and we are not the vine. And Jesus is our substitute. He becomes our life. And I think that that is that as we recognize who we are, that we are incapable of causing the life that God desires, of causing the fruit that God desires in our lives. And this is why I say that we so often make faith about mechanics, these imaginary mechanics, that if I just do the right things, then maybe I'll feel the joy. Then maybe I'll feel the peace. Then maybe I'll... I'll feel like I'm doing it right. And Jesus is saying you stay connected with me. Stay connected to the source of life and then you'll start to bear fruit, but the joy doesn't come from the fruit. The joy comes from the vine. Recognize who you are and who you are not, and then rely on who Jesus is. Jesus is our substitute. Jesus is our supply. You see, the Christian life, we over complicate it sometimes with a series of chain reactions that if we pray a certain way, that if we do the right things we will feel the love of God. And Jesus is saying first you submit yourself, you connect yourself to the vine. And then my life flows through you. We rely on who Jesus is and this is at the heart of that word "abide." It's... Find your rest in Jesus. You see, the picture of the vine in this passage is a picture of utter dependence upon Jesus. Rest in him, remain in him, linger in his presence. Abiding is complete dependence and absolute confidence. You see, I think that the message of Jesus being the true vine is a message that we recognize who we are, that we're simply branches and we depend upon Jesus as our only source of life. As our only source of rest, as our only source of peace, as our only source of joy. It comes down to where does your soul find rest? Is it a show? Is it people? Is it food? Jesus invites us to find our rest in him. That he is the true vine. And the process of abiding is a process of continually intentionally staying connected to him. And finally, I think this process of abiding in Christ is recognizing who we are, recognizing who we're not, relying on who Jesus is. And then rejoice and conforming to Christ. And this is the picture,, this is the progression, that when we get connected to Jesus we conform to Jesus. And that's what it says in this passage. He says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you. It's this mutual connection where we find our life in him, and his life starts to flow into us. And in theological terms we call this union with Jesus. And when we start to realize and let it sink in that we have union with Christ, and his words start to abide in us. This is what he says in verse 7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. Now here's what happens when we often read that verse out of context. We make it mechanical. You put in your prayer and out comes your answer. But the more we spend time abiding in Jesus the more we're conformed to his will. And so we hear the promise of verse seven, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you, and many of us get caught up in these words because we're so programmed by the mechanics of religion that we miss that Jesus is painting a picture for us of a relationship in which we begin to love the things that Jesus loves, and ask for the things that Jesus loves. And so we can anticipate the fruit of the gospel in our lives. In Galatians 5 Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience... goodness, kindness... gentleness, patience, self-control, and these fruits of the spirit at work in our lives begin when we plant ourselves in the true vine... recognize that we are branches, rely on him as our source of life, and we begin to be conformed. And we find great joy, in fact, fullness of joy in the process of being conformed to Christ. But I've skipped over in this whole passage an important element. Jesus says that not only am I the vine and you are the branches, but my father is the vinedresser. He's the gardener. Last year, Mary and I kind of got into gardening and she was teaching me the ways of gardening. We're out there on the front stoop one day and she is picking off good-looking flowers, in my eye. And she's just taking them off, chucking them in the yard. I'm like, what are you doing? She says I'm deadheading. I'm like, what is that? She said these flowers are dying, and to give more life to the flowers that are coming, I'm taking them off so that the plant can get fuller, can grow greater. And the message of John 15 is that the father's role in our lives is that he is a pruner. He is a gardener, and sometimes the process of being conformed to Christ involves deadheading. Pruning those things in our lives that are not of Jesus, those things in our lives that are not a reflection of the fruits of the spirit. And sometimes we walk through seasons where we do not understand. We're saying, just like me, I'm saying, what are you doing? And it's in those times that it's most important that we stay connected to Jesus. Because he is our source of life. And one of the messages that I think we need to take away from John 15 is that there is joy to be found in the painful process of pruning. Because the father doesn't want dead branches. In fact, it says, there's a message in this passage. The dead branches, branches that are not connected to the vine, will be thrown into the fire and burned. And that's the message of Scripture that anyone who is not in Christ is dead in their trespasses and sins. But when we are connected to Christ, there's a process of conforming, of growing. And it's not a process, and I want you to get this clearly, it's not about performing for Christ. Its conforming to Christ. And so often we get that backwards. We think that gospel fruit, we think that fruitfulness in our Christian lives, and that's why we so often feel defeated, is because we think it's about performing, and then we earn God's love. But the process of the Christian life is simply stay connected to Jesus and you will start to be conformed. You'll be shaped into his image and there will be fruit coming from your life. And you know what happens when vines bear fruit, is that nobody notices the branches. When was the last time you were driving down the road and you said "that is a beautiful branch." No, you say "that's a beautiful tree." And that's what the joy of the Christian life is that the fruit doesn't belong to you. It's nothing that goes on your resume. It goes on the resume of Christ's righteousness. And his life. It's the true vine that gets all the glory. It says that, by this my father is glorified. So recognize who you are, rely on who Jesus is, and rejoice in the process of being conformed to Christ. You see, confidence in Christ and dependence on Christ leads to becoming a conduit of Christ to our world around us. We are simply branches. Our role is stay connected to Jesus. The outcome will be fruit. And we will see that the greatest joy of the Christian life is simply being connected to the vine. A couple of ways I think that we can put this into practice in our lives. The first is we need to learn to be before we do. I want this to be a principle that you let sink into your heart and mind this morning, is that Jesus wants you to be before you do. The message of this is we have to find our identity in Jesus, not in our performance, not in our fruitfulness. And man, I need to hear this message. I needed to hear it afresh this week. I need to hear it this morning. That I need to be in Christ. Simply be. Rest, remain, abide. Before I do. Lest I get caught up in thinking that faith is mechanical. It's organic, it's personal, its relational. The second way... and so in being before you do, I encourage you, before you do anything in the morning this week... find a chair in your house and sit. Don't do anything. And let your soul find rest in Jesus. The second thing I want you to do is read before you feel. Here's what I mean by that. He says in verse 7, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you. There is a picture of Jesus' words making their home in us. And what I so often hear people say when I ask, you know, what have you been reading in the word? And they say, you know what? I just haven't been feeling up to it. And the the message that I want you to hear this morning is that we need to read the word before we feel the hunger. Because part of staying connected to Jesus is consuming his words. Read John 15, I encourage you. John 15 lies in this farewell discourse that Jesus is giving to his disciples. It goes through chapter 17. Chapter 17 is a beautiful chapter of Jesus praying for his disciples, praying for you. So if you want to just like... as your being before your doing, if you want to read John 17 this week and hear Jesus pray for you. Read before you feel. Because the Christian life is not about what you feel. It's about who Jesus is. Who you are in him. And then that joyful process of being conformed into that same image. In... the book "The True Vine" there's a little poem that's included at the end that I'd like to read to close our reflections this morning on this passage. 'Tis only a little branch, a thing so fragile and weak, but that little branch hath a message true, to give could it only speak. I'm only a little branch, I live by a life not mine. For the sap that flows through my tendrils small is the life-blood of the vine. No power indeed have I, the fruit of myself to bear, but since I'm part of the Living Vine, its fruitfulness I share. Dost thou ask how I abide, how this life I can maintain? I am bound to the vine by life's strong band, and I only need remain. Where first my life was given, in the spot where I am set, upborn and upheld as the days go by, by stem, which bears me yet. I fear not the days to come, I dwell not upon the past, as moment by moment I draw a life, which forevermore shall last. I bask in the sun's bright beams, with which sweetness fills my fruit, yet I own not the clusters hanging there, for they all come from the root. A life which is not my own, but another's life in me, this, this is the message the branch would speak, a message to thee and me. O struggle not to "abide," Nor labor to "bring forth fruit," But let Jesus unite thee to himself, as the vine branch to the root. So simple, so deep, so strong that union with him shall be. His life shall forever replace thine own, and his love shall flow through thee. For his spirit's fruit is love, and love shall thy life become, and forevermore on his heart of love, thy spirit shall have her home. The message of the Christian life is simple. Stay connected to Jesus.
