Kaleo San Diego Church

Today I will start by creating some challenges for you, as I offer somewhat of a “drive-by” as it relates to some controversial disagreements doctrinally.

 

There is an old proverb that says we are to “eat the crust first” which essentially means that we are to get the difficult portion of what we are to do out of the way first.

 

So following that line, I will begin to stir the theological pot in just a moment.

 

First I want us to focus on what is the greater thrust of this passage today.  That is the focus of abiding in Christ.  As we look at some theological goodies, I want us to remember that because ultimately this is what this passage is about, abiding in Christ.

 

This passage also will command us, not invite us or suggest to us, but command us to abide in Christ and we will see the word abide, or in the Greek “meno” used 12 times in the first 17 verses.

 

We will also see that in doing so we will bear fruit.

 

We know from the very beginning of creation Adam and Eve are given the command to be fruitful and multiply.  So that God’s influence would be extended throughout the earth.

 

Throughout the Old Testament, God uses the metaphor of fruitfulness as a way of describing those that love Him and are doing His work.

 

Those that are not bearing fruit as individuals in sin or rebellion.

 

Vine tending or gardening, horticulture and agriculture continue to this day.  Jesus is building upon this Old Testament idea and uses this imagery as a way to teach His men how to abide and bear fruit.

 

In the New Testament this idea continues. 

 

Fruitfulness is used generally to described Christ like character, i.e. loving people, repenting of sin, serving, giving money to God’s work, and doing the things that demonstrate our love and obedience to God.

This is the backdrop where we find ourselves today.

 

Alright, let’s jump in and grapple with these issues so we can move on.

 

There are many that have come to me, or emailed me, or called me to ask me or tell me what position I am doctrinally. 

 

Some say Calvinist, some say Hyper-Calvinist, others are not quite sure what I am, but they are pretty sure I, we are not Arminians.

 

One of my favorite things to do when discussing these issues is to ask what they think those words mean.

 

Most often I find they have no idea, but they heard it said about us so they felt it necessary to ask.

 

I think it is completely acceptable to ask such questions, though these words are really theological shorthand, so I will usually take my time and inform the individual what it is that we as a church hold to doctrinally.

Let’s begin by reading the first few verses and I will try to explain the position we hold, and even the position others hold, but let’s do this in the context of the study because I think it is a great example of why we believe what we believe.

 

Verse 1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

 

Jesus loves to use horticultural examples, in the Gospels He uses these examples in the parable of the wheat and the tear.  He discusses agriculture, horticulture, vine, branches, wheat, mustard seeds, harvests, etc.  He spoke to those that were in the audience in such a way that they would understand His point. 

 

He starts with the last of the 7 “I AM” statements in this Gospel  “I AM the true vine.”  This is a contrast with false vines.  He then describes His Father as the vinedresser.

 

The people would have understood the vinedresser was the one that had the responsibility of making sure the vine was as healthy as it could be.  It’s health and the vinedressers concern for it was for one purpose: TO PRODUCE FRUIT! 

 

A vinedresser’s job was important because He oversaw the work and ensured the health of the vine, so the vine could supply the branches with the essential nutrients to bear fruit.

 

Isaiah 5, speaks of a vineyard as an illustration in much the same way.

 

Verse 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

 

This is one of the most debated and misunderstood passages in the New Testament, and it stirs some fairly emotional responses depending upon which side you find yourself.

 

I think it is not only possible, but necessary that we study this through and make as much effort to understand these issues as possible.

 

This is a description of the work of the Father.  He plants, He cultivates, He protects, He prunes, He cleans, He harvests, and so on. 

 

If you immediately jump to the controversy of the passage you are missing the point. 

 

It is a description of the vinedressers work.  The vinedresser doesn’t allow fruitless branches to remain because it is ultimately useless and taking away nourishment from the branches that need it and will produce fruit.

 

The Fathers purpose in vinedressing is to produce fruit in the branches that are in Christ.

 

Jesus is the only true vine and the Father is going take away those branches that appear to be healthy but actually are sick and do not do that which they were intended for.

 

The vinedresser examines the branches and removes those that are fruitless.

 

What does that sound like?  In what context could we say people take part of something where they attempt to suck life from, but never produce fruit?  The Church.  Those that consider themselves to be part of the visible body of Christ.  Why?  Because they are not really Christians.  So they come to take, but never produce.  They are next to healthy branches, but never bear fruit themselves.

This is a indirect inference, but I think we will understand more in a few verses. 

 

Who knows what the difference is between an Arminian and a Calvinist is?

 

Arminianism believes that man was not totally effected by the fall of Adam, and retains an ability to choose God without God’s influence.

 

Arminianism believes that God chose man, because He looked down the corridors of time and saw that man was going to choose Him, so He conceded to mans choice and granted him what he was going to choose anyway. 

 

Arminianism believes that Christ made atonement possible, but didn’t actually die for any one person.  He just provided the way for salvation and then left it up to mans choice and will to get there.

 

Arminianism believes that man can resist God’s call for him to be saved once God makes the decision to save him.  Essentially, that he can thwart the will of God, because God would never intrude upon mans will.

 

Arminianism also believes that man cannot only choose God, without His help, but also choose to lose salvation if he wanted.

 

Calvinism on the other hand rejects these views, as did the Synod of Dort, when they called Arminius a heretic.

 

They responded to the challenge of the Arminian followers and laid out the five points of Calvinism in response to the five points of Arminianism.

 

Calvinism believes that man is totally effected by the fall, and has no human ability to save himself, or to will himself to God.  God must grant him faith, and repentance for Him to choose God.  Or he would never choose God.

 

Calvinism believes that God did not choose us based upon a future decisions we would have made, but solely based upon His own choice.  There is nothing in us that would warrant His grace, nothing that we could have done, nothing we are that would make Him choose us, other than His grace alone.

 

Calvinism also believes that Christ didn’t just make salvation possible, but that when He died He actually died for those that God chose to save.  He was thinking specifically of us when He died.  He died to not just make salvation possible, and then leave us alone, but He died and then works in the hearts of those that He chose to draw them by the Spirit, to the Son to be justified.

 

Calvinism also believes that man can never thwart God’s will to choose to save someone.  That if He chooses to send His spirit to draw them, if He grants them faith and repentance, if He begins the work of salvation upon an individual, they will be saved, by His grace.

 

Calvinism also believes that once they are saved, they are secure in God’s hands.  That the Father will never drop them because they didn’t hold on tight enough.

 

One is a human and man centered view.  The other is a God centered view.  One says man is capable and does quite a bit of the work, the other says man is not capable and does none of the work, how could he he’s dead.  What work can a dead man do?

 

One says we seek God, we find God, we choose God, we can loose God, because we must hold on to God. 

 

The other says we don’t seek God, He seeks us, we don’t find God, He finds us, we can’t loose God, he won’t loose us, because it’s He that holds us.  Big difference.

 

They try to make our Father out to be a dad that grabs His child, tells the child to hold on with all his strength and if he lets go, God’s going to drop you on your head.  Not much comfort in that.

 

So, if you hold to an Arminian view of this passage, it sounds as if God has things He wants to get done and you keep stopping Him from doing the things He wants and if you don’t do those things, He is going to cut you off from salvation and throw you into the fire to be burned.

 

Talk about performance pressure!

 

Sunday you’re in because you served at church, but you don’t get enough done by Wednesday so you’re hellbound.

 

It sounds totally antithetical to what Jesus has been teaching in this Gospel and the rest of Scripture.  That is because it is.  Jesus tells us that He came to give us “eternal” life.  This doesn’t sound very eternal.  He says that we will have “everlasting” life, this doesn’t sound like it is lasting that long.

 

How many of you have been told that if you don’t bear that much fruit, you are going to lose your salvation and go to hell?

 

That is godless form of Christianity.  It is all works based, with no security of God’s love without constantly proving it by works.

 

What has Jesus been teaching about this matter I earlier chapters?

 

John 10:27-29 27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand.

 

John 6:37-39 37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. 38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.

 

John 6:44 44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

 

John 6:65-69 65 And He said, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."

 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"

 

Rarely will I criticize your translations of your bibles.  One I am not a Greek scholar, and two I don’t want you to think that each and every time you read your Bible that it may not be accurate or true.  I want your confidence in the Scriptures to be high.  The translations we have; NKJV, KJV, NIV, NASB, are very good translations and are quite faithful to the original Greek. 

 

But for this case, I will criticize and nitpick.

 

The Greek work which is translated from “airo” to “take away,” or “cut off” is used 23 times in John’s Gospel, on 13 occasions it means to “cut off” on 8 occasions is means to lift up, there is a debate with the remaining 2 uses.

 

Now if the word “airo” means to lift up, which would make sense since we are talking about a vine, doesn’t that change the entire context of what is being said? 

 

Instead of God throwing you into hell because you have not born enough fruit, He lifts you up to bear fruit.

 

That’s like you asking for a ride, and instead of picking you up I drive over you.

 

It changes the context.

 

For those that are bearing fruit, the vinedresser, the Father prunes the branches so they will bear even more fruit.

 

What is interesting is the word that is used for purged or prune is “kathairo” which means to clean off or prune.

 

The idea is that there are some branches that get stuck under the mud and the bugs, and the vinedresser will come by and lift up the branch and even attaches it closer to the vine.  For those that are bearing fruit but could be bearing more, He cleans them, checks them and picks of the junk that will keep them from being healthy and fruitful.

 

Has anyone here had a season in their life where they were not producing good fruit?

 

How did you come back to producing good fruit?  God lifted you up and gave you grace, He washed you and caused you to bear fruit.

 

What does pruning look like in our lives?  Pain, failure, trials,

 

Verses 3-5 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me (imperative, command) and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, 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, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

 

Jesus summarizes our life in this way: You abide in Me, I’ll abide in you, and in so doing, your life will bear much fruit.  But without me you can’t do anything fruitful.

 

Jesus in verse 3 moves from the metaphor to speak literally to His disciples and tells them that they are clean because of the word which He spoke to them. 

 

In John 17, it says “sanctify them in your truth, your word is truth.”

 

This runs so counter to many of the churches that are seeking a “post-modern” way of doing church.  Where the sermon is no longer necessary and is replaced with feelings and confessions and coffee and candles. 

 

I am not saying that coffee and candles and feelings are bad, but they don’t sanctify us.  What Christ says sanctifies us is God’s truth, and that truth is found in His word.

 

As we are washed with the word and we are sanctified we recognize the need for abiding in Christ.  We are doing that very thing today.  I am reading the word, and from the word we are learning that we need to abide in Christ.  We learn from the word what we need to do, then we abide, and in abiding, we bear much fruit.

 

What does abiding in Christ look like?  How do we do it?

 

Confessing our sins.  Conforming to His image.  Consistent obedience to His word.  Loving Christ.  Prayer.

 

Jesus tells us what will happen positively and negatively if we do or do not abide.

 

Verse 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

 

If anyone is not joined in Christ, they will be cast out and then thrown into the fire to be burned.

 

Verse 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

 

 

Yet another verse for the freaky-deekies to try to turn us into little gods that boss the big one around.  What is the context?  Bearing fruit!  It is about doing that which is well pleasing to Christ, and for the glory of the Father.

 

What first happens when you abide in Christ it becomes natural to pray.  The more you abide and love God, the more you will desire to speak and commune with Him.

 

Isn’t that the same with your husband or wife?  The more you spend time with them, loving them, the more you want to talk to them.

 

If Christ’s word abides in you, what are you going to desire and wish?  Righteousness, holiness, and the ability to be Christ-like, and it will be granted to you.

 

I don’t have a problem with saying that we need to abide in Christ, because I know that the only way that anyone will abide in Him, is because Jesus abides in us!

 

Remember, him in I, and I in him?  It is not just us abiding, but Jesus abiding in us also.  Without Jesus abiding in us, we would never abide in Him.

 

The first thing that will happen when we abide in Him is that we will pray.  In praying we will ask for those things that will most glorify the Father, and so the Father will be glorified.  He’ll answer those prayers.

 

Verse 8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

 

Christ will abide in us, and we will abide in Him.  We will pray and the Father will hear and answer our prayers under one condition; it is for God’s glory!

 

What that means is simply this; we exist for God’s glory, He doesn’t exist for ours.  We exist so that God will get glory.  He saved us for His own glory.  Our lives should be a praise of His glory.

 

If at any point we are not seeking God’s glory it usually means we are not abiding in Christ.

 

We are lied to and told that we are here for our glory.  We are told that we are to take care of number 1.  To look out for ourselves.

We are told that we deserve this promotion, or this car, or this house, or this wife, or this boyfriend. 

 

When the sum of our existence is purely for God’s glory.

 

Yet the irony, as Jonathan Edwards puts it, is that we are most happy when God gets His glory.

 

We are most happy when we live according to the purpose for our creation.  When God is being glorified in our lives, we sense the most satisfaction and joy from the life we live.

 

The problem is that we are not told that.  So we fight and scratch to get everything we have, only to be miserable.

 

Have you ever heard of such a thing as an actor or musician becoming famous, getting everything they wanted, only to be miserable and kill themselves? 

 

Why?  The only thing worth glorifying is God, and when we seek to glorify anything else other than that we are acting against our created purpose.

 

Verse 9  "As the Father loved Me, I also have 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 remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

 

Jesus says abide in Me so you can bear fruit.  You can only bear fruit if you abide in Me, and when you abide in me you can pray for more fruit, but you are only going to get your prayers answered if you do it for God’s glory, but here is the promise…you will have joy.  Not just joy, but joy that is complete, so that it may be full.

 

If you are struggling with loving, if you are struggling with praying, if you are struggling with joy, what are you really struggling with?  Abiding in Christ.

 

All of those other things are symptoms of the issue.

 

How can I pray more? Wrong question. How do I love more? Wrong question.  How do I have more joy?  Wrong question.  Here is the right question; where am I not abiding in Christ?

So much of our time is spent discussing and diagnosing symptoms, and Jesus flips that upside down and says that the reason for all of these symptoms is because of a lack of abiding in Me.

 

Verse 12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

 

How did Christ love us?  Next verse.

 

Verse 13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

 

How do you know if you are loving?  You are giving yourself, you are sacrificing yourself, you are dying to yourself.

 

Paul says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  This is the example we are to follow.  We are to lay down our lives for our friends.

 

Verse 14 "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.

 

Did you hear that?  God says you are my friends. 

 

He doesn’t say we are buddies.  He says friend. 

 

As a new Christian, I didn’t have a problem with Christ as a King or Lord, or God, I had a problem with Him as a friend. 

 

Because the only reference I had was the kind of friendships I had.  But He is a true friend.  One that doesn’t leave you when things are going bad.  One that doesn’t gossip behind your back.  One that is willing to listen to us when no one else will.  One that is willing to die in our place.  That is a good friend.

 

How many friends do you really have like that?  No wonder it is strange for us to think of our God as a friend.

 

You are my friends if you demonstrate your friendship by doing what I command you to do.  You would follow me and listen to me and do as I ask because you trust me.

 

If you are struggling with this, it’s because you are not abiding in Him.

 

Verse 15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.

 

Jesus is our friend, and as our friend He has taught us about His Father so we can know Him too.

 

When you first hear this, it must be strange.  Why would have a friendship with me?  There is nothing that I bring to the table.

We have our sins forgiven, we have a God that is our friend.  We are loved for and cared by our Father that is perfect.  We get to bear fruit that causes us to have joy.  I get to talk to God and have God listening to my prayers.  I get to glorify God.  Why?

 

Jesus answers with the number one way to clear a Christian party if your bring up the subject.

 

A topic that is misunderstood and even hated, and the only reason is because we are prideful and self-deceived.

 

When we try to answer the question as to why God would have a relationship with us, we like to think that we bring our talents or gifts, that we can help Him do things.  God needs us because we are so tremendous.

 

Jesus answers the question.

 

Verse 16 "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

 

I can’t claim anything.  God has chosen me to receive His loving Grace.  Why? For His glory.  To go and bear fruit that will remain for generations!

 

Were it not for being chosen by God, and God pursuing me, and God giving me faith, and God giving me a repentant heart, I would have never chosen Him.  I would still be dead in my sin. 

 

And whatever we ask for in Christ’s will, He will answer!

 

Kaleo, what should we be praying for as a church?

 

Fruit that will last.  Obedience to His will.  Hearts for the lost. 

 

Here is the last thing for us to pray for….

 

Verse 17 "These things I command you, that you love one another.

 

May God give us a heart to love one another the way that Christ loves us.

 

What do we want more of?

 

More love, more joy, more peace, more patience, more kindness more gentleness, more faithfulness, more self-control, all comes from abiding in Christ.

 

Pray over this next week that God will teach you what it means to abide in Christ. 

 

Let’s pray.

 

Communion and tithe.

0 Comments | Login to Post Comments

• Calendar
• Agenda