Scripture: John 15:1-10
Structure:
- Introduction
- The vine
- The gardener
- The branches
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
One of the first things a new born foal does is stand. A baby horse normally attempts to get to its feet within the first 10 minutes of its life and manages to successfully stand after about 30 minutes or so.
Only after it has got to its feet does it begin to suckle off its mother. Then it will start to walk or run for the first time within 90 minutes of its birth. By comparison most human babies start walking independently around 12 months of age, on average.
Why the difference? Well, one reason could be that horses need to be able to run to survive. A horse can’t afford to wait a whole year before walking.
But humans are different. Human beings don’t rely so much on their ability to run. Human beings survive by forming attachments or relationships with other people. And so one of the first things a human baby does is cry, partly to get some oxygen into its lungs but also to get its mother’s attention and form an attachment.
Previously the experts thought that successful attachment was created by food, but John Bowlby discovered there was more to it than that. Babies need caregivers who are responsive to them, who smile at them and talk to them and spend time interacting with them in a warm and positive way.
The central idea of attachment theory is that primary caregivers who are available and responsive to a baby’s needs allow the child to develop a sense of security. When the baby knows that the parent is dependable, this creates a secure base for the child to explore the world.
Today we continue our sermon series on the I am sayings of Jesus in the gospel of John. Jesus uses a number of I am statements to describe himself. These sayings tell us about Jesus’ being, his identity.
Please turn with me to John chapter 15. Last week we heard how Jesus is the gate for the sheep. This morning we hear how Jesus says to his disciples: I am the vine and you are the branches. The main idea here is that attachment to Jesus is essential to our spiritual survival. From John 15, verses 1-10 we read…
“I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit. 3 You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you. 4 Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me. 6 Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it. 8 My Father’s glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples. 9 I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
There are three main characters in Jesus’ allegory here, each in mutual relationship with the others. The vine (which represents Jesus), the gardener (which represents God the Father) and the branches (which represent those who follow Jesus). First let us consider Jesus, the vine.
The Vine:
The maple leaf is one of the national symbols of Canada.
The thistle is the national flower of Scotland.
The Protea is the national flower of South Africa.
While the silver fern is New Zealand’s symbol.
What plant do you think was used as the symbol of ancient Israel? Anyone want to take a guess? [Wait]
You are on to it. The vine, or the vineyard, in the Hebrew Scriptures, was a symbol for the nation of Israel.
In Isaiah 5:1-7 the prophet sings the song of the vineyard…
My friend had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2 He dug the soil and cleared it of stones; he planted the finest vines. He built a tower to guard them, dug a pit for treading the grapes. He waited for the grapes to ripen, but every grape was sour… Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty; the people of Judah are the vines he planted. He expected them to do what was good, but instead they committed murder. He expected them to do what was right, but their victims cried out for justice.
There are other references in the psalms and the prophets describing Israel as the Lord’s vineyard and most of them end in a note of judgement. The message seems to be that ancient Israel had failed to produce the fruit of righteousness that God intended.
It is against this background that Jesus says of himself, “I am the real vine.” That’s like saying, “I am the real Israel.” Or, “I am the true Israel. I am the root stock of the nation who produces the fruit that God desires.”
That is an incredible claim to make. Jesus’ claim to be the true vine holds together judgment and hope. On the one hand, Jesus is criticising the nation of Israel, basically saying they have failed to produce the fruit God wanted.
But at the same time Jesus also castes a positive vision for the future. Judgment does not get the last word. Jesus is saying, I am what God called Israel to be. Where Israel failed, I will succeed. And so there is hope. In and through Christ, God gets the vineyard and the fruit he wants.
Okay, so Jesus is the vine and God the Father is the gardener.
The Gardener:
From verse 2 Jesus explains how God, the gardener, breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit.
To better understand what God does let me take you through the annual cycle of tending to a grapevine.
During winter, the vine dresser prunes (or cuts back) the previous year’s canes and chooses the best branches to grow new shoots. The gardener trains selected branches to grow along the wire. [1]
Then, during September or October, comes the bud break. This is when the first signs of life occur. The buds are extremely delicate during this time. You pray there are no hail storms.
The buds continue to grow and then flower. The gardener may choose to prune the downward facing shoots to reduce the crop size. Pruning in this way reduces the quantity of the crop with a view to improving the quality. With fewer grapes on the vine you get a concentration of flavour.
Then in November or December comes the fruit set. This is when bunches of green grapes appear and grow. You wouldn’t want to eat the fruit at this stage; it would be too sour.
Towards the end of summer, the green berries change colour and ripen. This process is called veraison. Depending on how many grapes are on the vine, some winegrowers will thin the crop so that more nutrients and goodness go into the remaining fruit.
Harvest usually happens in autumn, sometime between March and May, once the sugar levels in the grapes rise and they have reached their perfect ripeness. Harvest is a busy time. Once harvested the grapes do not continue to ripen.
When winter comes round again the leaves die off and the pruners trim the vines ready for spring and a new cycle of growth.
Leon Morris makes the observation that fruitfulness is the whole point of the vineyard. Left to itself a vine will produce a good deal of unproductive growth. Pruning is essential for maximum fruitfulness. The fruit of Christian service is never the result of allowing natural energies and inclinations to run riot. [2]
Or to put it another way; less is more. The temptation, particularly when we are young and have energy to burn, is to try and do everything. So rather than strategically focusing our time and resources on one or two things, we may be inclined to dissipate our energies in a flurry of busy-ness and activity.
There is no end of need and worthy causes in this world. There is always a long list of good things we could be doing. But the reality is, we can’t do it all. So the question becomes, what is it that God (the gardener) wants me to give myself to?
Another way to frame that question is to ask yourself, what is it that I can do that others can’t do? If you have children, then no one else can really be a mum or a dad to your kids in the same way that you can. So giving love and time to your children, while they are still young, needs to be a priority.
I’m pleased that Bono chose to write songs instead of driving trucks. Just like I’m pleased Ashley Bloomfield chose a career in medicine rather than being a rock star. Just as I am pleased each of our deacons chose to serve the church instead of watching TV or playing golf.
We can’t do everything. Less is more. Less quantity means better quality. What is it (or perhaps, who is it) that God wants you to give yourself to? And what is it that God is wanting to prune?
Being pruned is not a pleasant experience. It can be painful and bewildering to be cut back. We think we are on the right track, doing well. We seem to be growing and making progress in our discipleship and then wham. We suffer some kind of loss or set back and we don’t understand why.
The temptation at that point is to give up on God. To lose faith. To cease remaining in the vine. But we need to remember that God is the gardener. God is in control not us. And God is very skilled at his job. He knows what he is doing and why.
If you feel like you are being pruned at the moment, hold on to the fact that God has a purpose in what he is doing. It could be that he intends to use this experience to improve the quality of your fruit. The quality of Job’s relationship with God, after he had suffered catastrophic loss and been restored, was far better than it was before his loss.
Now, by drawing a parallel between loss and God’s pruning I don’t mean to imply that every bad thing that happens to us can be put down to God improving the quality of our fruit. Suffering is often a mystery that we won’t understand this side of the harvest. By faith we know that whatever we might suffer, nothing is beyond God’s reach. God can redeem anything.
Jesus is the vine. God the Father is the gardener and we, the followers of Jesus, are the branches.
The Branches:
We began today’s message with the idea of attachment. Being attached to another human being in a nurturing, responsive relationship is essential to our survival. As infants, it is through a healthy attachment with one primary caregiver that we learn trust and find psychological security.
In verse 4 of John 15 Jesus says: Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.
In other words, attachment to Jesus is essential to our spiritual survival.
We need Jesus like the branches of a tree need the roots and trunk. It is the roots and trunk that nourish and feed the branches. We need Jesus like a baby needs its mother or father. It is through Jesus that we learn trust and security.
Today is Pentecost Sunday when we remember afresh the gift of the Holy Spirit. Although Jesus does not explicitly mention the Holy Spirit, in the opening verses of John 15, he was just talking about God’s Spirit in chapter 14 and he will go on to say more about the Spirit in John 16.
We could think of the Holy Spirit as the sap flowing inside us from Jesus the vine. The Holy Spirit is life to the branches from within.
More than once in today’s reading Jesus talks about the branches bearing fruit when they remain attached to him. So what exactly is the fruit? Well, verse 8 indicates the fruit is that which glorifies God. My Father’s glory is shown by your bearing much fruit;
When the vine produces quality grapes, the one who grew the grapes gets the credit. The gardener (God the Father) gets the glory. As branches grafted into Christ, our job (our main purpose in life) is to bear quality fruit for the glory of God. To glorify God means to reveal or reflect something of God’s goodness to others. To make God larger in the awareness of others, in a good way.
In Galatians 5 the apostle Paul lists some of the things that glorify God. Paul writes: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. This is not an exhaustive list of the fruit but it gives us the idea.
When a husband and wife love each other and remain faithful through all the ups and downs of life, this is fruit which glorifies God. Their faithfulness points to God’s faithfulness.
Or when someone at work is having a bad day and you respond by not taking it personally but instead showing forbearance, this is fruit that glorifies God.
Or when a child sees someone alone in the playground without any lunch and goes over to share their own lunch and friendship, this is the fruit of kindness.
Or when a landlord does not charge a huge rent, simply because the market dictates it, but instead keeps the rent at a reasonable level, this kind of fruit reflects the mercy and justice of God.
In verse 7 we see a connection between prayer and fruit where Jesus says: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it.
This does not mean that we can use Jesus like a Genie in a bottle. Jesus is not promising to give us a never ending supply of wishes, like in the Tim Tam ad. Rather, when we are so closely attached to Jesus that his word is in us, we will be inclined to ask for things that are in line with his will and purpose anyway.
Another thing we notice is the number of times we come across the word remain in today’s passage. (The Good News Translation uses the word remain 11 times in ten verses.) The startling thing is that we bear the fruit of love by simply remaining attached to Jesus.
We are not required to go on some valiant quest to find the fruit like it was hidden treasure. Nor do we have to try and frantically manufacture or create the fruit ourselves. Branches don’t survive by running, like a horse. Branches grow and bear fruit by waiting, by remaining still. All we have to do is abide in Christ.
I say, ‘all we have to do is abide’, as if that is an easy thing. But in the rough and tumble of life, remaining attached to Jesus, over the long haul, is not as easy as it seems. Unlike the branches of a vine, we get a choice. We can walk away at any point. But in doing that we would only harm ourselves.
Okay then, if remaining (or abiding) in Christ is the key to fruitfulness, then what does it mean to remain attached to Jesus? How do we do that?
Well, in verse 9 of John 15, Jesus points us in the right direction when he says:
I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
Our attachment to Jesus is defined by love. There is a possible connection here with the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon is a love poem from the Hebrew Bible. The poet uses the vineyard as the place where the woman and the man will share their love. From Song of Solomon chapter 7:11-12 we read,
Come my beloved… let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened… There I will give you my love.
I won’t read anymore because I don’t want you to get too excited. The point is, the vineyard is a place of tender love and intimacy.
Love is loyal. Remaining attached to Jesus means being loyal to him. Christianity is an exclusive religion in the sense that we worship one God. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is the way the truth and the life. We follow him and no one else.
Love is open. Remaining attached to Jesus means being open to him. Open to listening to what he wants to say to us in the Scriptures. Open to receiving what he wants to give. Open to his truth and grace. Open to the sap of his Spirit. But it is an openness that goes both ways. We need to be honest with Jesus and not hide from him.
There is a certain vulnerability that comes with being open to Christ. Openness requires faith and trust on our part.
Love is voluntary. Remaining attached to Jesus is something we do because we want to, not because we are forced to. Our attachment to Jesus is not based on fear of punishment, nor is it based on some legal obligation. We stay close to Jesus and spend time cultivating our relationship with him because we like him. We enjoy his presence.
Love needs to be expressed. When love is not expressed it turns into a kind of unbearable pain. When we express love to someone we invest a part of ourselves in that person and we strengthen the attachment. Remaining attached to Jesus inevitably involves us expressing our love to him.
There are many ways to express love for Jesus but the primary way is through obedience; doing what he asks. Notice how Jesus puts love and obedience together. He does not separate them. Jesus loves us first and we respond by obeying him voluntarily. The love goes both ways.
Love is loyal. Love is open. Love is voluntary and love needs to be expressed. L.O.V.E. Spells love.
Now in giving you this acrostic I don’t mean to imply that this is all there is to remaining in Christ. There is a certain mystery with our attachment to Jesus. We can’t fully define it, much less reduce it to a pithy acrostic. Jesus’ attachment to us is deeper and more profound than we are able to fathom.
Conclusion:
Jesus is the vine. God the Father is the gardener and we are the branches.
One of the things I like about Jesus’ allegory of the vine is that it implies there are seasons in our life; seasons of new growth, seasons of fruitfulness and harvest, as well as seasons of dormancy and loss, when it seems that not much is happening.
This means we don’t have to feel guilty if we are not being fruitful all the time. Producing fruit is a process. We are not responsible for the outcome. We just need to remain attached to Jesus. God will take care of the fruit.
Whatever season you happen to be in at the moment, may God the Gardener keep you close to Jesus.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- Why is attachment so important for human beings? What is needed for successful attachment?
- How would Jesus’ original Jewish audience have understood his statement: I am the real vine? In what sense was this a criticism of ancient Israel? In what sense is Jesus’ statement pregnant with hope?
- Why does God prune the branches? Have you ever felt like God has pruned you? How did God do this? How did you feel / respond? What was the outcome? What (or who) is it that God wants you to give yourself to at this time?
- What does it mean to glorify God? Can you think of real examples of the sort of fruit Jesus had in mind?
- How do we remain attached to Jesus, the true vine?
- What season are you in at the moment? What might you expect in this season?
[1] https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/lifecycle-of-a-wine-grapevine
[2] Leon Morris, NICNT John, page 594.
Tawa Baptist 