15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 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.
5 “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. 6 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. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
I have not been left with an easy passage… It is too well known…
and of course self explanatory…. One reading and we know what it means…. right?
So why then has it been assigned to a Sunday all of its own?
There has been much deep commentary on this passage…. Who is this branch and that branch…or what that term means…I am going to take one ‘fruitful’ strand out of the twine this morning and spend some time contemplating a simple thought….
As we have ventured through this Holy Week…the week before Jesus ‘ death we have repeatedly been reminded that Jesus must have been using every opportunity to get all the important content across to his disciples…. Anything He took the time to say in this week and anything the HS recorded for us, must be NB……..If there was ever a time for Him to emphasize His ministry it was now…. in this last week…..
How much more so..at the end of the week…. when Jesus is hosting the last supper.. He is sitting with his friends…. His best friends…
more than this even….they are the kernel of his ministry going forward…
Once all the followers from the past three years, all the sermons and miracles have been distilled down to their essence….. this is what remains….11 men…each of them will be tasked with taking the Gospel to the ends of the Earth…. It all rest on them….
Surely, around this table……Jesus is giving the best, the most important teaching….
As we have read through their evening over the past few weeks…..it is clear that His intention is to encourage, …. to fortify,.....to build them up….. to empower….
There is so much for them to face, so much for them to get right….. And it's coming very soon
Jesus’ aim was to build His church on these men….
What can He say to set them up for success? to see them through the hardships ahead… to give them confidence……to give them power to perform the miracles that will be needed over the years ahead?
During this last evening together…..He has washed their feet…..he has assured them that He is the only way…. He has promised the Holy Spirit… he has told them what is to come over the next few hours, so that they can look back and know that Jesus is God …..and to take comfort in the dark hours….. that all the horror was foreseen and planned….
What else can He say now?
Where is the list of places they must go to? Where are the sermon points they need to raise ……. Surely this would be helpful right now… a plan of some sort would be great….
These guys have no idea that the gospel has to be spread across the whole World…. Why does Jesus not give them a heads up?
Instead ….instead he gives some gardening advice… Found here in this well known passage…
It would of course not have been possible for Jesus to micro manage the way forward… like a parent, He had to instill into them what He could, while He could…. and then let them get on with it.. .. (Jesus of course knew what He was doing… not like us parents who just make a good guess….)
What Jesus does here is he puts a system in place in order to scaffold the success to come….
Tennis…. systems…. when we decided….
James Clear:, “ we don't rise to our goals, we fall to our systems”... this is a powerful statement….. Success for the tennis team did not become because of the goal..No..
Did it come because we had some fanatical tennis person to drive it? To micro manage everything?...No… we did not start with wonderful tennis players….
It came because good systems were in place….
The great thing about system is that they outlive the people….. Good systems can work no matter who the people are….
Did Jesus try to teach them how to overcome each difficult situation ahead? He could not… He had to put some fundamental systems in place which would carry them through…
A good example of a system for Christian growth is to have a daily Bible reading…This is a system that works independently of who the person is or which reading plan they use…. A QT enforces routine and daily exposure to God’s Word = growth…. Everytime…in every case..
In this passage … on this night…Jesus puts systems in place? Systems to see them through… a few things to do which would guarantee success….
Washing the disciples' feet was not a gimmick. ch14
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
I am putting this thing in place so that later on results will be seen….
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
Jesus puts a system of servant leadership in place which will resonate through the World… It will separate Christians out from everyone else …it will solve a myriad of potential inter personal problems in the ministry…… His actions created a mindset for generations of Christians to come… servant leadership… a unique and powerful system..
In today’s passage too He is implementing a system….
Abide in me and then you will bear fruit.
Simple!!!!!!!
He needed men and women who would be able to hold fast in times of great distress…. They would need to be faithful and strong…. There would be torture and disaster… pain and suffering… and amidst all this they must also spread the gospel ……
More than that. We know how difficult it is to share the gospel. How would these people and the message be accepted?
Systems don’t need to be complicated. In fact it is better that they are simple.
They do however need to be fundamental, foundational in their essence. Clean and pure.
We need to be sure that our systems are well thought through and on their own bring results…… after all we FALL to our systems… we cannot rise above our systems…
Jesus’ system says this, “Abide in me”......”bear fruit” ….”Love me and each other”,,,God’s name will be glorified….
No fancy instruction manual….
Abide in me:
Men. I am the source of power. I am your sustenance. Don’t be distracted. Don’t let your relationships get in the way. Don’t let your day job get in the way. Don’t let your troubles and persecution fill your minds. Don’t let the temptations of the World pull you aside. Don’t let your position or fame take center stage. I am to be your center and your home….
If something else is sustaining you there will be problems.
Jesus doesn’t just encourage them, but He warns… Very quickly, those who are not actually true followers will fall away…. Even…don’t worry about false followers..they will fall away…. Because I am not sustaining them…
How will we know who the true followers are?
What does God expect of us?
The passage talks about fruit.
Those who abide in me will bear fruit…
There is a guarantee that fruit will grow on the branch of the true believer…
If we are not bearing fruit you and I are not true believers….
Ever wondered how you and I feature on the fruit front?
Worried that you might be lopped off?
A bit scary. What is the cut off point? How much ‘fruit’?.....What fruit do I need to produce? Speak in tongues? prophesy? Perform miracles? Drive out demons? Bring some people to a saving grace? Introduce 4 families to the church?
Matthew 7
22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Okay, so none of those big fancy things….
What is the evidence that we abide in Jesus? What is the fruit that is guaranteed?
The only things we know for sure, that God takes into account when He is looking for fruit are ….The only things that He values and the only things He expects from us ….are to be:
People filled with goodness
Gentle not rough and abrasive…. This is fruit
Those who are patient are clearly in commune with God…
If there is no joy in our lives then we are not producing the fruit of the vine..
If we are not kind we are not abiding in Jesus
We must be faithful in times of trouble… abiding in Jesus means we are strong… even through tough times..
If we are involved in fighting then there is no peace in us…
I have left one for later….
Abiding in Jesus produces the ‘fruit of the spirit’…
What a system…. Is that not strange to you.?
These men were to ‘take over the World’ and Jesus says that all they need is the fruit of the spirit?……The fruit of the spirit will see you through the tough times and guide you on the path to World penetration…..
How counterintuitive is that?
Of course it is the abiding that gives power… to take over the World?.... To live lives which produce the fruit of the spirit….The system will produce success on the World stage….
More than this… the more fruit there is the more successful God’s plan…. Even if you are bearing fruit, my father will prune you in season….. He wants to see even more fruit in our lives because …. Because….why? How does this work?
The most important verse…
Vs 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you produce MUCH fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples….
What does the fruit of the spirit achieve? ….The World will know that we are his disciples….and this is to God’s glory …this is our ultimate aim …it is why men were created…. To bring glory to God….
It appears also then that when people know that we are Jesus' disciples, His message spreads across the World….. The gospel becomes known….
This does beg the personal question…. Do the people I bump into…to me…. know that I am a disciple of Jesus? Jesus tells us that they do….if I am bearing the fruit of the spirit….If I am abiding in Him….
Do people know that I am a Chrisitian because I tell them? Or because they see the evidence in my life?
I don’t see a way out of this….telling can be selfish….living a fruitful life gives glory to God…sure of course..tell them, but without the fruit it brings no GLORY TO GOD….
The reason why vs 8 is the most important verse and the crux of this section is because it gives us God’s purpose in all this. No surprise it is the same purpose that He always has. THIS IS TO MY FATHER’S GLORY…..
Our purpose for existence is to bring glory to God….. little old me can bring glory to God? How?
By living a life which shows others that I am Jesus' disciple, by producing much fruit….
When people see the fruit in the disciple’s lives they turn to Jesus because these people are so different to everyone else…… and when people acknowledge the work of Jesus in our lives , God is glorified… and His word is spread….
What about the preaching and teaching? winning souls?… These come ….it is a part of the system…
Then….Jesus knows that there is one fruit which is greater than all the others…. And deserves its own paragraph…The greatest of all these is… LOVE
God is love…
God loves Jesus…
Of course….
God has loved Jesus through all of time with a flawless love. A love that is in itself the definition of love.
Does anyone love you like that? Ever feel that the people in your life are just..perhaps…. using you?
Isn’t it wonderful when you experience an act of love from someone you love….. Sam and C and rugby….
Read v 9: As the father has loved me, so I have loved you…..so I have loved you
Jesus loves us as the Father loves Him?...... What?
What a great encouragement for the disciples….. and us too…..
The consequence for such great love is that Jesus did what His father commanded… even unto death…..amazing…… Jesus expects the same from his disciples….
You see …love is not about Valentine’s Day or romantic movies. Great love has great consequences…. Great love? This is when a man lays down his life for others…. That is how much Jesus loves us…..
If we abide in the love of Jesus, he expects us to follow him.. To do as He commands…why? So that he gets minions following him? No
Because if we remain in the love of Jesus, …it says here….His joy will be in us.. In fact our joy will be complete… nothing more to chase after…. Our Joy is complete… this is Jesus’ desire for us….
This system …God’s system….produces people who are witnesses for the gospel. People who are filled with Joy. People who love… they also live in peace, are filled with goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, kindness, and are self controlled ….
The system was not just for the 11…. Systems don’t depend on people… this system depends on our saviour alone….
They bear this fruit because they abide in the savior.. They live in his presence… they contemplate His words… they spend time in prayer … they fellowship with others who love him.
These are people who bring glory to God….. what a privilege to be included in the vine.. Amongst those who have the great honour of bringing glory to God….
