This is the manuscript of the final sermon in a series titled "The Adequacy of Jesus Christ", which is a study of the seven ‘I am' sayings of Jesus found in the gospel of John.
In John 6 Jesus fed over 5,000 people. Right after that miracle, He made the first I Am declaration.
John 6:35 NIV Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus and his Disciples were at the Temple to celebrate the Festival of Lights, and He made the 2nd I Am declaration
John 8:12 NIV When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In the 10th chapter of John;
They were looking out over hills where shepherds herded their sheep when Jesus said
John 10:9 NIV I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.
He went on to say;
John 10:11 NIV “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead,
John 11:25 NIVJesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
At the Last Supper, Jesus warned his apostles about his coming arrest and death and he told them that they knew where He was going.
John 14:1-4 NIV “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas was confused,
John 14:5-6 NIV Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
So, we come to the end of the great “I Am” sayings of Jesus. Here in this last sermon is a message for the church. Jesus is the true Vine, God the Father is the Gardener, and we are the branches. I know how well the true Vine functions. I also know how well the Gardener does his work. But the question that is still to be answered is, how well do the branches bear fruit? Are you a fruit-bearing branch? Do you abide in Christ and receive your strength from him? If you do not, perhaps now is the time to set matters right and become the kind of branch you were saved to be.
John 15:1-8 NIV “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Text:
John 15:5 NIV “I am the true vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing”
Introduction
This the final sermon in our series “The Adequacy of Christ” which is on the seven I Am declarations that Jesus made that are recorded in the book of John. John consistently shows the relationship between the revelation of God in the Old Testament and the revelation of Jesus as God when He walked the earth.
All of the I AM statements were connected with an event going on around Jesus at the time.
In John 6 Jesus fed over 5,000 people. Right after that miracle, He made the first I Am declaration.
John 6:35 NIV Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus and his Disciples were at the Temple to celebrate the Festival of Lights, and He made the 2nd I Am declaration
John 8:12 NIV When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
In the 10th chapter of John;
They were looking out over hills where shepherds herded their sheep when Jesus said
John 10:9 NIV I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.
He went on to say;
John 10:11 NIV “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Just before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead,
John 11:25 NIVJesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
At the Last Supper, Jesus warned his apostles about his coming arrest and death and he told them that they knew where He was going.
John 14:1-4 NIV “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God ; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas was confused,
John 14:5-6 NIV Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This week’s text is
John 15:1 NIV “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Let’s set the scene.
The night before Passover Jesus and His disciples gather in a borrowed upper room to eat together. He chooses the bread to represent His body and the wine to represent His blood as He shares with His closest friends one more time the reality of His sacrifice. He makes the devastating pronouncement that one of them would betray Him and Peter would deny Him. He takes upon Himself the job of a servant as He washes the feet of His disciples. The end is coming.
No doubt the disciples are sitting there perplexed and dumbfounded as they listen to the words of Jesus. No doubt their hopes for an earthly kingdom are being dashed on the rocks. No doubt they become dejected and saddened as they realize that the time for them to be with Jesus is short. Then Jesus says, “Arise, let us go from here.” And they begin making their way from that upper room to the garden of Gethsemane. They pass through the hustling and bustling streets. They pass through the city gates, and they make their way through the ancient vineyards that stand in the shadow of the city of Jerusalem. And Jesus calls his loved ones to come in a little bit closer. He has something that He wants to share with them. And having a supreme ability for taking the common and making it supernatural, He holds a branch full of plump ripened grapes and begins to speak…
And He says
John 15:1-2 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
When Jesus walked the earth in Palestine, where He lived, grapes were a big agricultural product and gardener was a prominent occupation. Some gardeners were specialists in tending grapes; they were called vinedressers. Vinedressers are agricultural specialists who oversee the propagation, planting, pruning, and tending of grape vines in a vineyard. Their goal is to optimize the quality and abundance of grapes used in wine and food products.
Although most people were not vinedressers back then, they were familiar with that line of work. It was in this environment Jesus made his last great “I am” statement.
John 15:1 NIV “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
Vines were grown on terraces and required a lot of attention. A young vine was not allowed to bear fruit within the first three years. It was pruned drastically to develop a strong root system. Even after the vine began to bear grapes, it was still pruned, because some branches would produce fruit while others only sapped the vine of its strength and productivity.
It is in this setting Jesus gave a dramatic lesson about Himself and about those who claimed to be followers of God.
Jesus said that He is the only true vine, his Father is the gardener; and we are the branches. Let us look at each of these statements and see what truth they reveal for us.
Jesus is the only true vine.
The vine is the means of life for the branches.
The roots gather water and nutrients from the earth, and these flow through the vine and give life to the branches. Apart from the vine, the branches will wither and die. No fruit will be produced on any branch that detaches itself or is broken off from the vine.
Some people claim to be Christian but try to get their Christian growth from a variety of sources.
It is not that they cut themselves off completely from Christ. They want to be nurtured by Jesus, but they also want to receive sustenance from other sources, like self help books, or philosophies from other religions. They try to have an attachment with more than one vine, so to speak. They want eternal life from Jesus, success from their business or jobs, happiness from a bottle of booze or drugs, love from immoral sexual relations, security from the government, and fortune tellers. They have divided loyalties and splintered commitments.
But Jesus said, “I am the only true vine.”
Jesus offers not only eternal life but true success, true happiness, true love, genuine security, and healing for body and soul. When your relationship is in line with your faith in Jesus, you have a more secure chance of real success. Jesus is the guideline for ethical behavior. He is the foundation of good government. Jesus is the true vine—he is the true fountain of all that is good and wholesome about life.
The Father is the gardener, the vinedresser so to speak.
Without sounding overly simplistic, gardeners just know more than branches. Sometimes we forget who God is and who we are. Like Adam and Eve, we want to believe that we either know as much as God or that we should have the right to know as much as God.
Genesis 3:6-7 NIV When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Why doesn’t the gardener allow the branches to bear fruit for the first three years? Why all this pruning? If the vine is put here to bear grapes, then why does the gardener hinder it or hold it back?
On the surface none of this pruning makes sense. But all this pruning makes the branch better able to produce a greater harvest of good grapes. The purpose of pruning is to obtain maximum yields of high-quality grapes and to allow adequate vegetative growth for the following season
In the plan of God, pruning is necessary for us for our role as bearers of fruit.
"Bearing fruit" is a phrase used to describe the outward actions that result from the inward condition of a person's heart.
Galatians 5:22-23 NIV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
As Christians, we want to bear fruit in keeping with our relationship with God. We seek to do things outwardly that demonstrate that we have been made new in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Remember pruning makes the branch better able to produce a greater harvest of good grapes. The purpose of pruning is to obtain maximum yields of high-quality grapes and to allow adequate vegetative growth for the following season. Remember also what I said earlier that a young vine was not allowed to bear fruit within the first three years. It was pruned drastically to develop a strong root system.
So, let’s look at some examples of pruning to be made ready to bear good fruit.
Abraham began his work for God late in life.
Genesis 12:4 NIV So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.
Still later—when he was one hundred—Abraham’s son Isaac was born.
Genesis 21:5 NIV Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Moses was eighty and Aaron eighty-three when God had them go tell Pharaoh to let His people go. when God met him at the burning bush.
Exodus 7:7 NIV Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
David was thirty when he became king; Jesus was about thirty when he began his ministry.
2 Samuel 5:4-5 NIV David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
Luke 3:21-23 NIV When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli,
Now consider Paul. We know that he was already out of rabbinical training when he met Christ on the road to Damascus.
Galatians 1:13-17 NIV For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
It was years later before he was accepted by the early church.
What’s my point? Some of us Christians want to begin sharing the good news of Christ before God’s Spirit has properly trained us. The flip side of this is that we use this as an excuse for never serving as an active witness for Christ.
We need to recognize the wisdom and plan of God if we want to be fruitful branches.
That period of preparation is to be where God can mold us, teach us, and train us in his Word. No branch, or follower of Christ, will ever be an effective branch until he or she comes under the discipline and instruction of God. The gardener cultivates the vine so that good fruit will grow on the branch. His sole objective is to care for the vine and the branches. We must trust him to lead us.
Jesus is the vine God the Father is the gardener and we are the branches.
Branches are the fruit-bearing part of the grapevine.
Apart from the vine, they cannot bear fruit and thus are withering sticks suitable only for burning. As we see some branches that do not bear fruit are cut off from the vine.
John 15:6 NIV If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
But what about the branches that remain?
John 15:5 NIV “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
A bunch of activity doesn’t necessarily result in a lot of fruit.
Activity does not equal spiritual growth. Sometimes churches are so busy in the new gymnasium that they have no time to be in the neighborhood. It is not that recreation is not important, but it hardly stands on a par with the conversion of the lost or the teaching of God’s Word.
The church should have both activity and growth—not one or the other. Our ultimate goal is to bear more fruit.
Conclusion
So, we come to the end of the great “I Am” sayings of Jesus. Here in this last sermon is a message for the church. Jesus is the true Vine, God the Father is the Gardener, and we are the branches. I know how well the true Vine functions. I also know how well the Gardener does his work. But the question that is still to be answered is, how well do the branches bear fruit? Are you a fruit-bearing branch? Do you abide in Christ and receive your strength from him? If you do not, now is the time to set matters right and become the kind of branch you were saved to be.
Sermon Audio
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