Part 2: What Vine are you Abiding In?

Part 2: What vine are you abiding in?

Jesus looks in the eyes of his disciples, who are probably a bit shell shocked, and tells them:

John 1:1-2
“I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away…

Jump to v 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.

AND BURNED! Do you see this? Jesus is comparing the non-abiding branches to the abiding branches and those that do not abide do not bear fruit and are completely worthless and he cuts them off and he burns them. Just an hour or so earlier, Christ pointed out how one of his disciples was going to betray him: Judas. He is telling the remaining disciples about Judas – the betrayer of Christ. He is comparing the abiding disciple to the non-abiding disciple represented by Judas.
Think about Judas, he was with Christ everyday for 3 years. He heard every sermon, went to every Sunday school, did every bible study, and he went to every retreat and every church event. He may have even gone to the singles dinner. Here is the unbelievable thing: I’m sure he even sat in a quiet place with Christ – his loving mentor and teacher – listened to him teach about himself and his fulfillment of prophecy and the law.
Can’t you see Jesus and Peter or John sitting along the shore of Galilee talking intimately? Or Philip sitting with Christ under the shade of a big tree? Judas did this as well. He was face-to-face and sitting close to Jesus learning one-on-one with the creator and savior of the universe…he sat listening to Jesus. Can you hear it? “Believe in me, Judas, and it will be counted to you as righteousness.”

Do you hear it?

ABIDING

But, he was with Christ and never abided. He didn’t stay close to Christ. His life was not for Christ. His heart was set on something else. He was not IN HIM. Judas didn’t abide in the true vine.

What are you abiding in?

• Are you abiding in Christ?
• Or are you abiding in yourself?
• Are you abiding in video games?
• Computers?
• TV?
• Sports?
• Your friends?
• Your parents?
• How about religion and good works?

What is it for you? – What false vines are you abiding in?

For me it is usually work, family, house, computers, and books that I am drawn to abide in.

No matter what you are abiding in, you’ll bear fruit. But you’ll notice that Christ quickly points out that the vinedresser – who is the Father – takes away the branches that do not bear the spiritual fruit of godliness. These fruitless withering branches are worthless. Think about this – the branches from a grape vine are the most worthless of all trees and wood products. They serve one purpose only…to bear fruit. The withered branches can’t be used to build a house. They can’t be used to build anything. They can’t even be burned for heating a house or cooking. They are worthless. The withered branches are tossed in God’s rubbish pile and are BURNED.

C.H. Spurgeon put it this way in his sermon, “The Fruitless Vine,”

“If it were any other kind of a tree he would at least reserve it for chopping up to make a fire within the master’s house, but this is much an ignominious thing, he throws it away in the corner and burns it up with the weeds. If it were a stout old oak, it might have the funeral of the Yule log, with honor in its burning, and brightness in its flame; but the fruitless vine is treated with contempt, and left to smolder with the weeds, the refuse, and the rubbish. It is a miserable thing.”

DO NOT become one of these branches. You must abide in Christ to have eternal life. If you don’t abide, you will fall in line with those like Judas who knew Christ, but never abided. They were never in Him. They will never inherit the promises of eternal life.

Jesus uses the word ABIDE – 11 times in this passage (if you count v 16). You think he is serious or what? Listen to the definition of abiding:

Abide:
a) to remain
b) in reference to place: to sojourn, tarry, not to depart, to continue to be present, to be held, kept, continually
c) in reference to time: to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure
d) of persons: to survive, live
e) in reference to state or condition: to remain as one, not to become another or different, to wait for, await one

This is such a blessing. Wait on Christ. Do not depart. Continue in him, endure…Abide in Christ is the point. He wants you abiding in him. He does not want you abiding in other things. Find rest and peace in Christ.

Moses, in Psalm 91, provides a great definition of abiding for us (my favorite).

Psalm 91:1-2:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Abiding in Christ is to rest in him, to rest quietly without fear or anxiety to the point that you doze off comfortably in your savior’s arms – at peace.

PRUNING

Now, even the branches that are abiding in Christ and are showing fruit get some treatment from the Vinedresser. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes. The Father will prune you in order that you bear more fruit. Do you hear this? God wants you to bear fruit and he will prune you so that each season you bear more and more fruit.

Pruning – this is another one that you have to hear the definition: “to reduce especially by eliminating superfluous matter for more fruitful growth.”

Each one of us here this morning and me have superfluous matter in our lives and the Father is coming to reduce it! He will. I have been through this. I can speak of personal experience on this one. God does not want you to remain where you are…he wants you to be more fruitful. He will remove things from your life so that you will be more fruitful.

Pruning hurts. No doubt about it, pruning is a painful experience that God will take us through. The Father’s desire is to conform you into the image of Christ and he’ll do that be cutting away the junk from your life. That junk might be a job, or a friend, or money, or comfort, or luxuries, or your health. These things will hurt when they are cut off, but you will become more fruitful the next season IF you are abiding in Christ.

James 1:2-4
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The word “changed” or “transformed” here is Meh-ta-mar-pha-toh, which is obviously related to our own English word of metamorphosis, which means to change in appearance, condition or character. Here is another passage dealing with the Father transforming or pruning us:

Hebrews 12:7-11
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

When you abide, you will bear fruit, but God will prune you in order that you are made perfect and complete lacking in nothing – IN and THROUGH CHRIST.


Keller Hackbusch

Part 1: What Vine are you Abiding In?

Part One - What vine are you abiding in?

One of my favorite passages in scripture is Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches. Recently I had a chance to work through this passage with the high school group at our church and look at what it means for Christ to be the Vine and for the believer to be the branch in relation to the changing and transforming nature of their young lives. Here is the passage:

John 15:1-11
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, 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. 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 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, 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. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 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. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Background and Context

Before we get into the meat of this passage we need to consider the context and set the stage a bit. Just two chapters previous to this we see Jesus and the disciples entering the upper room to celebrate the Passover together. This was probably a few hours before Jesus teaches on the vine and the branches. In the upper room, Christ knows he is on his way to the cross and he knows the misery and suffering that is to come. He takes time during this last supper to teach the disciples massive truths. From chapter 13 to our passage in chapter 15 we see all of this:

- Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and introduces servant leadership – love one another (John 13:1-17) – remember this
- Jesus tells of a disciple who will betray him. (John 13:18-30) – remember this
- Jesus introduces communion – (Mat 26:26-29)
- Jesus introduces the new covenant of his blood (Luke 22:20)
- Jesus introduces a new commandment – love one another (John 13:31-35) – remember this
- Jesus foretells of Peter’s denial (John 13:36-38)
- Jesus drops the deity bomb by declaring that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through him…and if you have seen him you have seen the father. (John 14:1-14)
- Jesus promises the Holy Spirit (John 14:16)

After all these huge topics that Christ slips onto his unsuspecting disciples during this little Passover dinner, says in v 31: “Rise and let us go from here!” The disciples I’m sure are sitting at the table looking at each other asking, “What did he say? Another is coming? A Helper? What was that about eating his body?” – and Jesus gets up to move on…probably leaving the disciple scrambling to catch up with Him.

According to Harry Ironside in his commentary and also in Morgan’s commentary, there are a couple of possible reasons why Christ compares himself to a vine and defines himself as the TRUE Vine.

1. As Christ and the disciples leave the upper room at night – probably dark by then – and walk past the Temple, they would have passed by the temple Gates which have a huge golden vine with hanging fruit – representing the Old Testament references of Israel (Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah,, Ezekial) as the vine. You could see Christ stopping the disciples in the tracks and point up to this vine above the gates and say, “I am the TRUE VINE – abide in me.” Now, there is a whole rabbit trail – more like a freeway system to follow related to Christ as the true vine in reference to the Old Testament passages, however, we don’t have time to deal with now.

2. The second possibility is that as they were walking through the Kidron Valley on their way to the Gethsemane, they passed a vineyard along the path, and again, you can see Christ stop the disciples and say: “I am the TRUE VINE!”
Neither of these can be confirmed historical or biblically, but they provide us with a nice picture of this late night adventure.

This passage, John 15:1-11, is about as famous of a scriptural passage as you can find in the Bible and we can’t get anywhere near being able to deal with everything, so I have boiled it down to four points that I want you to learn, own, and live out:

Point #1 - What vine are you abiding in?
Point #2 - What kind of fruit are you bearing?
Point #3 - Why does Christ tell us these things?
Point #4 - How do we abide? – The practical side


Keller Hackbusch

Scary Reading in the Dark

Just the other day as I was reading Psalm 119, I was struck by fear. It wasn’t the global fear of God caused by his greatness, holiness, and power but the sort of fear that is followed by the words: “oh, my…did I just read that?” Have you ever had moments like this? It was a moment of revelation.

It was late and I was reading in bed with a small flashlight. My book light is broken and I was trying not to bother Maria as she slept, so I fumbled around awkwardly while trying to read the small words on the page. That night, by accident, I found that reading the Bible at night in the dark with a flashlight is a fantastic way to read the word of God. Something about the darkness and spot light adds a unique quiet focus. I had been reading Psalm 119 during the week before, but this particular time I was hit straight in the head when I reached verse 67:

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.”

The word afflicted jumped off the page at me. So, I read it again. Before I was afflicted I went astray. Yikes, before I was afflicted? But now I keep your word. I know that as a Christian we should expect affliction, but this was like a neon sign saying, “You will be afflicted.” God wants me to keep his word and commandments, but the author made it clear that he could not keep them until after he was afflicted. He learned something during his affliction that changed him. This is not comforting in a worldly sense. Who would want to learn this lesson? My mind immediately shot to Hebrews chapter 12 and the description of how a father will chastise and discipline his son if he loves him. Better yet, the father disciplines his son because it is the best thing for him and seems painful but later yields good fruit. (Hebrews 12:3-11) I think of my own pitiful weak parenting and see this truth materialize everyday.

The thought of affliction is a very scary thought for me. When I read affliction I see visions of death, pain, loss, misery, and physical and emotional struggles. My wife and I recently went through a bout of affliction at the beginning of 2009 and my heart is still recovering from the wounds. Several tragic things happened in a span of a few weeks. First, my father-in-law passed away and although it was not a surprise, due to his health, it has been terribly sad. Then a major part of our business started to crumble beneath us, which led to me parting ways with a business partner and dear friend of mine of many years. Finally, to top off the challenging period, our brand new puppy, who was merely twelve weeks old and we brought him home the week following my father-in-laws memorial, suddenly developed a health condition that caused several strokes, blindness, and toxins in his brain. Within forty-eight hours he went from being an adorable puppy that brought great joy into our life to a horribly sick and miserable creature. We had to put him down and face death again eye-to-eye and our frailty face-to-face.

During these days when sadness dominated, I kept remembering a single verse that others I know spoke to themselves during struggles and pain: “You are good and you do good.” I knew this verse was from a Psalm, but I couldn’t remember which one. The truth behind the verse gave me great strength. In a simple sentence, I knew God was good and no matter what happened to me it was good because God was in complete control and it would ultimately work out for my good, as stated in Romans 8:28-30. Regardless of how bad or painful it was at that moment, it was working for the greater good in God’s plan for my life and those around me. I knew this and my entire understanding of who God is, what his character is, and what plans he has for me were all incorporated within this simple disambiguated verse: “you are good and you do good.”

I sat on Psalm 119:67 for several minutes as the last few months flashed before my eyes. I saw the days pass by and even relived many of those feelings in that moment. I read on to gain more understanding of this affliction and the results that came from it. The next verse can be classified under supernatural happenings or as a providential God appointed meeting. I read verse 68:

“You are good and you do good; teach me your statues.”

What! Are you kidding me? This is no exaggeration. I wish I was clever enough to create something like this. The disconnected verse that helped me get through my time of struggle, loss, and sadness mysteriously appears immediately following a verse describing affliction and spiritual growth. This is phenomenal. God is very mysterious, but oh so glorious! I continued to read and found the conclusion to these verses in verse 71:

“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statues.”

At this point the verses on discipline come together with Psalm 119. You are good, you do good, and it is good for me. Do I know that these sad events in my life were caused by God as a personal affliction to move me to a new spiritual place? No, I have no idea. I may never know. Do these verses make it any easier to deal with? Yes, it is comforting to hang on to. However, these sad times did move me to a new place and in the end, it was good for me. The view I have of God is a tiny bit clearer now than it was before…before I was afflicted. I’m not sure that am keeping His word or statues any better, but I do have a continually growing affection and desire for God. According to Mark 12:29-30, the scribes ask Jesus what was the most important commandment of all? His answer: “The most important is, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

I find great strength and joy in interpreting Psalm 119:71 like this: It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I might love you will all my, heart, soul, mind, and strength. I don’t want to be afflicted again, obviously, but somehow I just know in my heart that my spiritual maturity is depending on it.

by Keller Hackbusch