Valley Bible Church Sermon Transcript

Transcription

1 Abiding in Christ John 15:4-6 There are many things that people in general believe are important. And when people believe that something is important they invariably are willing to expend an incredible amount of time, energy, and resources to pursue those things. My grandchildren have within the last few years begun to get involved in soccer and I as a grandfather have felt that it is important for me whenever possible to show my support for them in this particular activity. In order for me to do this means that I have to plan my day as best as I can so that I can be at their games. This has even extended to me attending some of their practices. In fact, last Wednesday night one of my grandchildren, who is involved on a local all-star team, was scrimmaging a local club team. This caught my interest and I happened to be free so I took the time and expended the effort to drive over to the soccer field where the scrimmage was taking place and then I sat there while the temperature dropped to below freezing. And guess who suffered? It was not the children since they were able to keep warm by running all over the soccer field but rather it was the parents and the grandparents who were just sitting or standing along the sideline while their hands, feet, and faces slowly froze. Those were the ones who actually suffered. And why were we doing this? Apparently I and other parents and grandparents who were out there felt it was important that these children felt supported and when people feel something is important they are willing expend a great deal of time, energy, and resources to pursue whatever that might be. Obviously I know that making sure that our children and grandchildren feel supported in their various activities and interests is considered by most people to be important but for disciples of Christ there should be things that are of far greater important to us that this that we would pursue with far greater passion. This leads us to the passage that we will be considering this morning. Let me read for you John 15:4-6. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (5) I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. (6) If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." The thoughts shared in these verses may sound familiar to you and well they should. These verses are simply an expansion of the analogy that Christ had just shared with His disciples in John 15:1-3. But rather than leaving the identity of the fruitful and fruitless branches undisclosed as He had done in John 15:1-3, here He clearly identifies them.

2 Therefore the fruitless branches mentioned in John 15:1-3 are identified by Christ in John 15:4-6 as those who were not abiding in Him. And the fruitful branches mentioned by Christ in John 15:1-3 are identified by Christ in John 15:4-6 as those who were abiding in Him. Therefore looking at the immediate context and the characters that were present at some point during the upper room discourse, who would have been the fruitless branch or the one not abiding in Christ? That of course would be Judas! And again looking at the immediate context and the characters that would have been present at some point in time in the upper room, who would have been the fruitful branches or those abiding in Christ? That of course would have been the eleven! This morning we will be going over much of the same ground that we went over last week when we considered the analogy in John 15:1-3 for the simple reason that John 15:4-6, as I have already mentioned, is an expansion of what Christ has already said. But there is a reason why Jesus is going over the same ground and it is because what He attempting to communicate to His disciples is the importance of making sure as professing believers that they in fact are abiding in Him. This morning I would hope that as we consider this passage we might see the importance of this as well and pursue far more passionately than we pursue any of the other things in our lives that we might consider important. So in going over much the same ground as we examined John 15:4-6, what question will we be asking? The question that we will be asking is this: Why is abiding in Christ so important? And the first response to that question is if we abide in Christ we will bear much fruit (John 15:4-5). Let me read for you John 15:4-5. "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. (5) I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." If we don t abide in Christ we will not bear fruit. But if we do abide in Christ we will not only bear fruit but we will bear much fruit. In terms of everything in this life that people might consider important, there is therefore nothing more important than us being assured that we are in fact abiding in Christ. This will all become clear as we look more closely at these verses. Let us begin by looking at the very beginning of John 15:4. What did Jesus say? He said, "Abide in Me." This is a command. This is something that every person who believes that they are in fact "clean" or "who have in fact been justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" needs to take to heart. But what exactly does it mean to abide in Christ? We are abiding in Christ when our life is an outflow of Christ s life. Isn t this consistent with the picture that Christ painted for us in John 15:1-3 in the analogy that He gave His disciples? Fruitless branches were described as fruitless branches in John 15:1-3 because the life of the true vine, which was Christ, was not being manifested by these branches.

3 If they had manifested the life of the true vine or had manifested the fruit that Christ s Father had expected then they would have been described as fruitful branches. But they were not fruitful branches. So what about us? If we are not abiding in Christ we will not manifest His life. And if we are not manifesting His life we will not bear fruit, and if we are not bearing fruit we will be failing to produce the only thing that Christ s Father who is the vinedresser deems to have any lasting value. If we want to be seen by God s Father as fruitful branches then we need to manifest the life of Christ and thus prove to ourselves and others that we are in fact abiding in Him. But in order to do this we need to look beyond what might prove to be possible superficial actions to something that is of greater importance. So let me ask you this question based on what I have shared with you. Is it possible for you this morning to drag yourself out of bed and get into the car and get yourself down to this church, sing the songs that you sang, and listen to this message and not be abiding in Christ? And what is the answer? Yes! It is totally possible. How about myself? Is it possible for me to stand in this pulpit this morning seeking to explain to you the truths of God s Word and still not be abiding in Christ? Absolutely! The proof of whether or not we are abiding in Christ or if we are producing the fruit that Christ s Father is looking for in the lives of those who have publicly attached themselves to Christ, as Judas and the eleven had done, is determined not by our actions per se, but whether or not those actions are an outflow of the life of Christ. So how can we in obedience to the command that Christ gave His disciples in John 15:4, to abide in Christ, actually release the life of Christ through us? True disciples release the life of Christ through them as they are filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-19). And how does one go about being filled with the Spirit? They are filled with the Spirit when they like a drunk, who surrenders himself to alcohol, surrenders himself totally and completely to Christ. Let me read for you Ephesians 5: "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, (19) speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord." How do we release the life of Christ through us? We release the life of Christ through us when we are filled with the Spirit. And when are we filled with the Spirit? We are filled with the Spirit when we yield every part of our lives to Christ very much in the same way as a drunk surrenders every part of his life when he lifts the bottle of liquor to his mouth, not just yielding an arm, or a leg but rather every part of him to the control of the alcohol. This means I am not only willing to do the things that Christ has called me to that are easy but also those things that are hard. If I am willing to do this, not just willing to do the easy things but the hard things in the strength and power of Spirit who indwells me, then I fill be filled with the Spirit and the life of Christ will be released through me.

4 Therefore if Christ s life is going to be released in and through me in the delivery of this message it will depend upon whether or not I have in the delivery of this message given up the complete control of my life to Christ and am fully dependent upon Him in the delivery of this message. Are you spiritually drunk this morning? Have you surrendered yourself totally and completely to Christ? If you have then you are spirit filled and are therefore abiding in Christ. And why would you be considered as abiding in Christ? You would be considered as abiding in Christ because as you are filled with the Spirit, Christ s life is released. But of course all this talk about us abiding in Christ would be a moot point if Christ did not in fact abide in us, and Christ made this very point to His disciples as He continued to speak to them. Let us continue to read John 15:4. "Abide in Me and I in you." Our abiding in Christ cannot be separated from His abiding in us because apart from Him abiding in us it would be impossible for us to abide in Him (John 15:3). Hallelujah! Christ does abide in us and because He abides in us we can through the grace He provides us abide in Him if we are willing to pay the price. But what if we are not willing to pay the price? What happens if there is someone or something in our lives that is more important to us than Christ and we are unwilling to give that person or thing up to Him? What then? Isn t there a little bit of fruit, something that the Lord would be pleased with, that we could still produce, even though I may have grieved or quenched the Spirit? Guess what? The answer is absolutely not! Let us go back to our passage and again look at verse 4 but this time we will read the entire verse. (4)"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me." Christ expects true disciples to abide in Him because this is the only way for them to produce the fruit His Father, the vinedresser, is looking for (John 15:4). And if this point is not clear in this verse, the same point is made at the end of John 15:5 when Jesus reiterates to His disciples, "without me you can do nothing." In other words, we can do nothing that has any inherent value in the sight of God. This is a scary thought. People are always looking for shortcuts. People are always looking for an easy way out. Perhaps that might be okay when it comes to the way we are taking care our property or even our physical health but there is no shortcut when it comes to producing the fruit that God is looking for in our lives as professing believers. There is only one way and that is by being obedient to the command of Christ to abide in Him. We of course will not be disappointed if we would do this. Let me now read for you John 15:5. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit." How much fruit? Jesus told His disciples that those who abide in Him would produce not just a little fruit but "much fruit." And we of course after last week know the process that God uses in our lives in order to accomplish this.

5 What is that process? It is pruning. Branches that abide in Christ will produce much fruit because God is faithful to prune the branches who are abiding in Him (John 15:2). And how does God prune us? By exposing our sin and producing in us a godly sorrow that will avenge wrong. This process began on the day of our salvation and will continue throughout our earthly lives, not because we are faithful, but because He is faithful to complete the work that He began. Is this a good thing absolutely! And what is the alternative? This bring us to the second reason why abiding in Christ is so important. If we do not abide in Christ we will be thrown away, gathered up, and burned (John 15:6). Let me read for you John 15:6. "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." Christ s description of what happens to those who do not abide in Him is a picture of God s judgment (Matthew 13:30, 40-43). "Allow both [the wheat and the tares] to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn. And who will be these reapers? Let me read for you Matthew 13: "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. (41) The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, (42) and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (43) Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear." There are many things that people in general believe are important. And when people believe that something is important they invariably are willing to expend an incredible amount of time, energy and resources to pursue those things. You certainly see this in other people s lives and I believe we see it in our lives. But hopefully we as professing disciples of Christ will understand the importance of knowing that we are in fact abiding in the Spirit. I would hope we would do all that we can to pursue that assurance. May God give us the grace to understand the importance of abiding in Christ and the grace to passionately pursue it.