John 15

Well, good morning, Saylorville! If you’ve got a copy of scripture with you this morning, you can find the 15th chapter of John’s Gospel, John chapter 15, as we continue in our series, M.O.R.E. — this message title reflecting the image of Jesus. And we just sang, “I depend on you” repeatedly. I love that hymn! I love that almost like a hymn to me and a prayer. So let’s start with prayer, shall we?

Our Father, we thank You that we can come before You and express, I pray, the truth of our hearts that we depend on You. That’s a strong word, Lord… to depend, — And I pray it would be true of us that we would depend on You today, because it is part of the secret of abiding in Your Son. Across this room, there are many, well, there are many here that are struggling. They feel, though they love you, life is hard, things are difficult, lots of uncertainties. I pray that they would be greatly encouraged today, every one of them that love you, under those circumstances and more. And then for those who are not connected to the vine, to the true vine, to your Son, Jesus, today might be the day of their salvation, and we pray all these things in His name. Amen.

John chapter 15. It was January 1984. I was a brand new Christian, and I was… we had just moved down to this area, my first wife and I. We got here, and we started our shopping spree hitting all the Baptist churches in the area to discover where we were going to light for the next three and a half years while I got my theological education. And I mean we hit all, and there’s a lot of Baptist churches by the way in this area. And we went Sunday morning somewhere, Sunday morning, Sunday night somewhere else. We went to the Wednesday night prayer meeting just to find out what made these churches tick. And we got to one Wednesday night service. It was… There’s actually a fairly large church. We got there. I’m a brand new Christian. We get there, and come to find out that the youth pastor was sick and could not make it that day, and so word got out that a theological student was in the house, and they asked me if I would come down and teach the kids. I said, “Sure. I mean, they’re just high schoolers, right?” Sorry. I’m a brand new Christian. So I go down there and there’s like 40 or 50 of them, and I have no idea what I’m going to say to them. So I’m thinking, “Well, maybe I can maybe just share my testimony.” But I really didn’t even feel at peace with that. They’re singing and I’m thinking, “What can I say? What can I say?” They finally get to the last song and they say, “We have a special speaker today!” I mean, I found out like five minutes earlier, you know. “… and he’s our speaker. He’s from the local Bible College and he’s going to speak a message to you.” I still didn’t have a clue as to what I was going to say! — And then the woman who was making the announcement and bringing me up says, “And, uh, remember, boys and girls, God promises to give you the desire of your heart.” And right there, I knew what I was going to say, because she just butchered a passage of Scripture! The Bible does say that, but here’s what it says in context.

Psalm 37:4, “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.“

Have you ever read that? That’s your… that’s the desires of our heart matching with God’s are contingent upon delighting ourselves in Lord. God then matches our desires with His desires. Pretty cool! And that’s when we are abiding in Jesus.

We are in this M.O.R.E. series than, and the more we abide in Jesus, the more we act like Him. The more we act like Him, the more we look like Him. This is the secret behind that esoteric type of passage where Paul says to the Corinthians,

2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding (as in a mirror) the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one (level of glory) degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

That’s what… that’s the truth behind it. Now we are in the middle of this series, this acronym, more, M.O.R.E., going along with our mantra. So, many of you know, More People, More Like Jesus. We’re on the latter half… more like Jesus, “M,” meet me, Jesus. These are all invitations. “Meet Me,” Jesus says. “Come and see,” the letter “O,” “Obey My call.” Remember, He said “Follow Me.” And now with the letter “R,” we’re talking about “reflecting His ways” or “reflecting His image,” because when we got His ways down, we’re starting to look like Him.

But, so without further ado, John 15. I’m gonna give a little bit of a running commentary as we go in these first several verses. This is the night before Jesus died. This is hours before Jesus would hang on a cross. They’ve left the Upper Room. Judas has bugged out. He’s already left. He’s on his way to betray Jesus. They’re making their way to the Garden of Gethsemene and they come… they probably go by some vineyard. There’s a vineyard, and with that, Jesus says these words,

John 15:1-8

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

2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, (Now, there is a variant translation of that phrase, “He takes away.” It could actually be translated, “He lifts up.” And I happen to believe it’s sort of a double interpretation. I think Jesus meant it this way. It means “to be taken away,” and it means “to be lifted up.” I’ll come back to that.) And every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (This is proof positive. Judas isn’t with them anymore because he would never have said that if he was. But it was true of the rest of them.)

4 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.

5 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 (what?) nothing.

6 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.

7 If you abide in Me, (this is one of the first verses I ever memorized) and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”

Now, if you were living in the first century and you were down at a market place, you’d be exchanging coinage, and it’s likely that one of those coins, at least at one time or another, would have a depiction of a vine or a grape or some grapes on it. This is one of them you’re looking at. — And it was actually… the vine was the national symbol of Israel, at least seven times in the Old Testament. The vine symbolizes God’s relationship and desire that Israel, the people of God, would be both faithful and fruitful. Let me show you one of them in Isaiah chapter five where God says,

Isaiah 5:1-7

1 Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.”

(Notice, he’s gonna describe this vineyard as having all the potential of busting out with fruit.)

2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; (He went down to Good’s and got some really good vines.) he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.

4 What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? (It’s a rhetorical question. Nothing. I’ve done it all.) When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!”

So if you’re like me, a failure at gardening, you can take heart. You’re in good company.

Back to our text in John’s Gospel, John 15, the word “abide” occurs 11 times in this section. It’s the Greek word “meno.” It literally means to “remain.” It means “to stay put.” It means “to dwell.” It literally means “to stay connected,” and it is the key to becoming more like Jesus.

My kids, and I have a bunch of them. My kids use gestures from time to time with their friends, or they make expressions and their friends will go, “You look just like your dad!” Where does that come from? I mean, you have the same experience with your kids. Where does that come from? Two words… two words, time… Time is one. What’s the other word? — together. Time together.

As you abide in Jesus, you’ll start acting like Him. You’ll start reflecting His ways, His image, His attributes. In [John 15] verse seven, when Jesus says, “If my words abide in you…  “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you…” see that there? — “My words.” This is more than memorizing the word of God, but it’s not less than memorizing the word of God. I mean, Jews memorize tons of scripture. We’ve repeated this over the last few weeks. I mean, most good Jewish boys memorize the first five books. They memorize the first five books of the Bible, and yet these would be the very detractors that Jesus was constantly going back and forth with. They knew the Bible, but the Bible didn’t know them. They’d been through the Bible, but the Bible hadn’t been through them. In fact, as Jesus went back and forth with them in John chapter 8, He gave this stinging rebuke. He said,

John 8:37b, “..My words have no place in you.”

They find no place in you. The word “place” is the word, “cho?reo?.” It’s an interesting word. It literally means “to make room” or “to advance.” It literally means “to leave space.” “To leave space.”

Do you ever save spaces for someone? My wife is notorious. If a big event… she’s putting bibles and tissue paper and anything she can find in her purse across all of the chairs to save those spots! What are you doing when you save a spot? You’re doing two things. You are dedicating it for a specific person, right? And you’re also guarding it from other persons, right? You’ve done that, “Uhn-ha. Got somebody here. They’re not here yet, but I’m sorry you can’t sit here. No. Uhn-ha.” Have you ever been somewhere where there wasn’t a place for you to sit? No room?

This very same word is used in Mark chapter two. Remember, that’s the word that the paralytic let down. Remember that they had to climb up and they ripped the roof off to bring him down. The place is so packed! The Bible says there was no room! That’s the word right here. No space. They didn’t leave any space!

[Mark 2:2-3

2 “And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them.”

3 And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.”]

It’s also the word Jesus use in second Peter 3:9 where Peter writes that God, listen to this,

[2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should (what? Come to) reach repentance.”]

… is not unwilling that any should perish, but that all should (what?) — come to… That’s the phrase. “Come to.” It’s the word “cho?reo?,” come to, make space, make space for repentance. So if you want to look like Jesus, you better be saving space for Him. Here’s how Piper put it.

“When God’s Word abides in us, it finds a place, a home. It’s not foreign, it belongs. (Listen to this) You move other things around and get rid of some things so that the word has room and “feels at home.” John Piper

Now some of you just sort of move some things around so that you’re just… because you gotta have that stuff!’ But God also tells us some things we have to voluntarily jettison or, guess what? — He has a way of jettisoning it for you.

So this thing starts off with Jesus… look at it, verse 1.

John 15:1, “I am the true vine…”

“I am the… vine.” Is that what it says? What does it say? “I am the (what?) the true vine.” Now, that modifier is important because it’s the same thing as like later on Paul says to us before he died…

[2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.“]

“I have fought the good fight…” remember that? — which implies that there’s such a thing as a bad fight. Similarly, just as there are bad fights that we ought not to fight, there are bad, or to put it conversely, false vines we should not be connected to. And it may be why so, so many of us are not flourishing. Instead, we’re withering, and if you’re withering, it’s because you’ve never been connected to the true vine. You’ve attached yourself to other things.

It’s camp season, and I have preached in camp for many, many years. And one camp that I have special affection for was East Iowa Bible Camp. I haven’t been there for years, but spoke there for many years in a row, and I worked with this director. He’s a really cool guy. He was a musician, very talented, and very creative! Because he was the director at the beginning of every week… It’s his third grade camp. I did it for six straight years… At the beginning of every week, he would take a coffee can, (talk about dating somebody! When’s the last time you saw a coffee can?) He’d take a coffee can, and he’d put money in there, all kinds of trinkets and fun stuff for kids, and before they’d get there, he’d hide it. He’d do something. He’d put it somewhere in the camp. And then all week long after the worship, after I’d preached, he’d put up the clue of the day where they could find it. And these kids turned the camp upside down looking for this treasure! One time he had at the bottom… he literally had it at the bottom of the slide, buried. And these kids are sliding down, they’re sliding down, they’re sliding, they’re packing it down! They discovered it on the last day through the clues. Now one year… I mean this guy was crazy creative! — One year he took this can, and he put it in a tree, a small tree, but with a lot of foliage just outside the chapel, and he had to hang, had to kind of have it dangling. But because it had lots of colors, he had, he cut some branches and kind of, you know, wrapped them around the can so they couldn’t just look up there and see it. Only one problem. Those branches weren’t connected to the tree, and it was a really hot summer, and those leave just started withering! So every night when the kids were going to bed, he’d get up there with a spray gun and spray it… spray, spray, spray… to keep it alive!

This is exactly what some of you are doing! You’re not connected to the true vine, and you’re just spraying the branches. You’re spraying your little flowers, you’re spraying your little leaves and try to keep them alive. You’re not connected! You’re withering, because you’re disconnected from Jesus Christ. You’ve never repented of your sins, placed your faith in Him to be your personal Lord and Savior. And this is gonna lead in the very first point and how to reflect the image and the way of Jesus.

And the first way to be connected to Jesus is to get connected to Him by faith. We wanna reflect the image of Jesus. You don’t have to connect with me. You don’t have to connect with your parents. You don’t have to connect with somebody. You have to connect with Him! He’s

[John 14:6] “… the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.“

You have to be utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dependent on Him. This is salvation. This is salvation, when you recognize your lostness, your sin that separates you from God, and you see the love of God in Christ, and you repent, all the knowledge you have in your mind from Sunday school, from church and everything, suddenly trickles into your heart, and … faith is born!

For me, it was September 1982. The Gospel came to me in all the knowledge that I had accumulated… got into my heart. I repented of my sin. I placed my faith in the crucified and resurrected Jesus, and I was forever connected to Him! I’m so connected to Jesus, I have His contact information. I’ll be happy to give it to you! Here it is right here. Here it is. “Come to me.” There it is. That’s His calling card right there that some of you need to pick up. You need to take it to heart.

[Matthew 11:28-30]

1 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

2 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest (where it counts) for your souls. (That’s the troubled place in your life.)

3 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

If you want to begin to reflect the Lord Jesus Christ in your life, His way and His image, you gotta get connected to Him. And some of you are right there right now.

Secondly, by making space for him. Remember the word, “cho?reo??” Now, when David… David… David so much wanted to build a temple (if you remember your Old Testament, those of you who’ve read it) God didn’t let him build it, but he let him amass all the materials. Remember that? David was so desirous to build a temple because the temple depicted the place of God. It depicted the presence of God. He went to the temple to be near to God. And David in Psalm 132 said, he said,

[Psalm 132:3-5

3 “I will not enter my house (Now, my commitment is I won’t leave my house, but he was thinking of his own house to go to the temple.) or get into my bed,

4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, (watch this)

5 until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”]

Have you ever read that? Here’s how Spurgeon put it.

“To go out into the world without locking up the heart and giving God the key is to leave it open to all sorts of spiritual vagrants.” Charles Spurgeon

So just the other day I was reading the 15th Proverb and the 15th Proverb is all about words.

The wise man, verse two, uses words rightly.

[Proverbs 15:2 (ESV), “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly.”]

You know… ‘How good is a timely word?’

[Proverbs 15:23 (ESV), “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it is!“]

The whole Proverb is about words, the things we utter. And this is my Proverb, because that’s what I am. I am a man of words! And I’m thinking before God, “Oh God, my words can break people and they can build people. They can heal people and they can kill people! Oh God, make my words honorable to You!” That was me finding space with God. And that’s why I won’t leave the home ever without finding some space with Him, because I know He has a a special message for me personally, for me, not to just cram my head with more knowledge, but to change my life. And that’s not gonna happen unless I’m making space for Him. If Jesus took the time to make space for His Father, how much more should we make space for Him?

Thirdly and finally, we will begin to reflect the ways and image of Jesus in our lives by submitting to His pruning. And this is especially for those of you who know Jesus and love Him. Look at chapter 15 and verse 2 again.

John 15:2, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit (He what? Enjoys the fruit? Affirms their growth, brags about their fruitfulness? No! No! No! This is a word to all of you who are connected to Jesus Christ, to all of you who are obeying His call, to all of you who are reflecting His ways, you’re looking like Jesus) He prunes, [that it may bear more fruit.“]

I know what some of you are thinking. ‘You know, if I just do what’s right… honor the Lord, have my devotions, get along with my spouse, come to church, serve, give, tithe, all these things… then my life is going to go GREAT!’ — and then suddenly… it doesn’t. Listen, the pruner of a vineyard, (listen to this) the pruner of a vineyard does not simply cut away dead and diseased branches. He cuts away good branches and tons of them. How do I know? — Because I know a vineyard owner.

I’m good friends with a man who owns a really nice vineyard, so I called him the other day, and we talked for some time. It was fascinating! I was at this vineyard with my wife and we were helping harvest grapes a few years ago. This [picture being shown] is my friend’s dad. Some of you will recognize him carrying some of the grapes off the vine. And so I’m talking to his son who owns the vineyard and he says, “You called at a great time, Pat! We just finished pruning.” I said, “Oh, oh, no kidding!” What happens when you do that? — by the way. “Well, we removed 90% of the material.” Let that sink in! “We remove 90% of the material.” “Holy smokes! What do you do then?” “We just rake it up, and we put it in a big pile and we burn it.” “90%?” “Yeah, we just got done doing it.” I said, “Well, what does it look like?” “Well, I’ll send you a picture.” This is what he sent me. Now you tell me if that doesn’t look dead. It ain’t dead! It’s not dead. Drastic, but necessary for God to produce… I’m sorry… for the vineyard owner to produce many grapes. My friend’s motive was the same, to bear fruit, more fruit, much fruit. He said, “Pat, this is what it’s going to look like in two months.” Two months! (I took that picture by the way… Not bad!)

God’s motives are the same for you and me. His motives are that you would bear much fruit. But if you look at that barren vine again, it looks barren. It looks dead. Look at it. We’ll put it back up there. That is you… That is some of you. You love Jesus. You’re walking with Jesus, but you feel like so much has been cut out of your life. Your marriage is hurting, or maybe you’re divorced. Your spouse left you for somebody else. Somebody has died. Your job’s not working out. You’ve got a health issue, but you love Jesus. What is this all about? The short answer is… I don’t know. I don’t know exactly what God is doing when He prunes. But I know what His goal is, because it’s right here. That you’ll go from looking like that, to looking like this. And let me tell you something else when He’s pruning you, because some of you feel like you’re really cut up right now… you think, and you may be tempted to think, “You know, God is, isn’t even… does He even care? Is He even near? Let me tell you something. The vineyard, the vine dresser is never closer to his vine than when he’s pruning it. He’s got his hands on it! Remember what I said earlier that “Every branch of me,” (verse two) “that does not bear fruit, he takes away.” What the Greek literally means is He takes away.

And there are some people who place their faith in Jesus. They really know Him, but they aren’t walking with Him. They continue to refuse truths that are coming their way. You know what God does sometimes? He just takes you away. He’ll just take you to heaven. Pretty good deal! — but you’re out of this world. But that phrase “He takes away,” it also literally means “to lift up,” and a vineyard owner will, if a vine is laying in the dirt, sometimes he’ll just cut it off. But if they see it as something that could bear fruit, sometimes… because in the dirt it doesn’t get air, in the dirt it doesn’t get water, in the dirt it doesn’t get sun… He’ll get down, he’ll pick it up, and he’ll just put it back on the trellis so that it’ll bear more fruit, or just fruit. And isn’t that kind of God when He does that, when we’re laying in the dirt, and He comes in and just picks us up, puts us back on the trellis, so that we can breathe, so that we can take in light, so that we can bud and bear fruit? This is what He does.

Some of you feel like you’re a dead looking vine. You feel like this right now. You feel like you’re this dried out vine. But again, Warren Wiersbe put it this way.

“Your Heavenly Father is never more close to you than when He’s pruning you.”

Warren Wiersbe

Now, the sixth verse says that if you never bear fruit, you were never connected.

John 15:6, “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.“

… which is what they literally do! And that’s gonna happen to those of you, those of you who have never been connected to Jesus Christ. You’re gonna get raked up, you’re gonna get piled up, and you’re gonna be given up forever and burned. Don’t let that happen! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be connected forever. He’ll graft you in. Don’t you want that?

And for those of you who love Jesus but you’re hurting, you’re really hurting right now, I want to talk to you just for a few moments as we wrap it up, about my friend Paul Seymour. This was him in the first service this morning. Paul gave me permission to share this, so if you know anything about Paul, he loves grapes, kind of weirdly so to be honest. He just loves grapes! Brings grapes, eating grapes. He won’t eat candy, he won’t eat… but he’ll eat grapes! He can’t get enough of them! Eats them all the time. But something else about Paul. More serious is, he has had a decades-long struggle with anxiety and depression, and some of you noticed he wasn’t around for the better part of a couple of months or wasn’t on the platform, because he was really struggling. He was in a dark place, and God put a lot of people around him, special people who loved him through that. Some of you who struggle with anxiety and depression, you can relate to this. And we got around him and some of us like myself were the the exhorters in his life. Bless the Lord, he’s going the right direction, Amen? So he’s been singing with us. He’s not out of the woods by any means, but I went to lunch with them the other day, and we talked. And we went to one of my favorite restaurants. I’m not going to name the restaurant, but this literally happens. For six or eight months I’ve been going to this restaurant, and they give me… the owner of this restaurant just gives me extra stuff, extra hors d’oeuvres, all this stuff. I mean, more than a few times I’ve taken my entire meal home because I couldn’t eat it! She’d gives me dessert… every time! She’d never met Paul. She didn’t know Paul. I had Paul with me. And I’m telling Paul about it. “And Paul, Paul, I’m telling you, every time I come here, every time I come, we get this stuff just piled on! So just wait for it! It’s coming!” We ordered our food. Guess what? Nothing… Nothing came! He made a complete liar out of me, or she did! We ate our food, because we did order. That came. And we were finishing up and we were talking. And he was telling me about his struggle and how he’s coming out of it. He said, “Pastor, this has been a hard, hard time for me, but I can tell you that I’ve never felt closer to God in my life than the last couple of weeks.” Think about that. Seriously pruned! Never felt closer to God. Hmm. Now what I didn’t know was, Paul was struggling with a stomach ache at the time. And he was thinking at the time, “I really need some grapes right now!” Apparently, grapes help the stomach. And he didn’t say that to me. He told me this later, but his stomach was bothering him, and he wanted some grapes. We were done, getting ready to pay the bill, and all of sudden around the corner comes the owner who lays down on our table a plate full of grapes! Who serves grapes for dessert? — and he just started knocking them down!

Listen, if you delight yourself in the Lord, He’ll give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

Let’s pray.

Our Father in Heaven, we’ve come to this beautiful passage of Scripture and we have been reminded that our true vine is the Lord Jesus. And that those who have never been connected and refused to be connected to Him by faith will be cut away, piled up, and given up to be burned. Dear friend, as we pray right now, would you acknowledge right now your own need to be connected to Jesus? If you would humble your heart right now and believe that He loved you and loved you, if you would humble your heart right now and believe that he died for your sins and rose again from the dead. And if you would receive Him by faith upon His guarantee, he will graft you into the vine and you will bear fruit. But right now you just need to acknowledge that and receive Him as your Savior. If you’re one who does love Jesus to one degree or another, you’ve trusted Him, would you make a commitment to make space for Him every day and even before you leave your house? Would you make a commitment right now in your heart and say, “I will make space for you, Lord, before my day begins?” — and then for all of us who know You, we love You. We’re not checking boxes, but we’re really walking with You best we know how… but life is hard. All of us, would we be willing to submit to the great knife, the divine knife that is wise enough to cut away even good things so that better things and great things and fruitful things can result. Would you do that? And we’ll ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand.