Jesus – The True Vine John 15: 1-17

Jesus being the true vine, explains much about the shortcomings of much of religion today and down through the ages. It give light to the extra-biblical saying: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” The best intentions without the life of “the life-giver” are no better than nasty rags in God’s economy and in regard to achieving eternal, abundant life.

Let us consider meaning and applications of: the vine, The True Vine, the branches, The Vinedresser (Husbandman KJV), and the fruit.

THE VINE – the True Vine = Jesus

• Past References – The symbol of nation Israel – The golden vine on the front of the holy place in Herod’s temple, also on coins of Maccabees – in scripture …not flattering: no faith, justice, or righteousness… even killed the Son of the vineyard owner

Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15, 19:10; Hosea 10:1; Psalm 80:8

God intended Israel to be a display to the world that would demonstrate what grace could do in a people. They were intended to display His glory. But as a nation, they chose their own glory above the glory of God. The vine produced a bad crop, unworthy of the owner.

• Future Reference – the vine of earth - Revelation 14:14-20 There will be a harvest of the crop that is earthy instead of godly. The crop will be abundant -the flow of the blood pressed out of the crop will be as high as the bridles on horses. But the produce, though abundant is cursed instead of blessed because it is not for God's glory, but for man's.
  

• Present Reference – Jesus The fruit that is produced as a result of being connected to Jesus, the true vine, will glorify God.

• NOTE about vines in Israel, then and now – Large, strong. When mature to break off a branch is to injure the vine. Vineyards require much attention to produce a worthy crop, but the established vines are sturdy. The True Vine is not in danger of ill-health. Those who abide in Him are not disconnected by winds of circumstance or minor incidents. If there is a disconnect, it will be by purposeful cutting of the vinedresser, not accident.
  

BRANCHES – followers (of Jesus or self)

• Assignment – Bear fruit by abiding in the Vine A simple assignment for us, sticks.

  • and expect “pruning” (purging KJV) Pruning is cutting away unproductive wood so that it does not cause disease in the branch or cutting away healthy wood or even fruit to cause a harvest that is of greater quality and quantity.
    

  • Pruning is like the narrow gate that Jesus said leads to life. Pruning and the narrow gate cause some culling of things in our lives. Pruning is God, the loving, perfect, vinedresser cutting away whatever is necessary to produce a greater glory for Him. To produce fruit for His glory is our job as branches. Sometimes He prunes things, people, areas in our lives that we think we deserve to keep. Sometimes the things He prunes from us are people that we love or possessions that we love and that we are sure that we deserve because we have been faithful...we have been productive... More about this under the heading of the Vinedresser
    

• Alternative –

  • Take away – same word in v.11:29 (the stone over the tomb of Lazarus - taken out of the way) and in v.8:59 (rocks lifted up in this case for the purpose of throwing)
    

  • Trash fire – (dead grapevine is good for nothing, although I smoked some one time. I don't know why. It was not hard to give up) not acceptable as firewood for altar. Families were responsible for bringing wood to fire the altar of God. Grapevine was not acceptable as firewood for God's altar. Grapevine fires were just to get rid of "trash."
    

• Abiding – resolute relationship “dwells in (KJV)” 1John 3:24

  • Union and communion with Jesus & His Word v.7, v.3 1John 3:24 i.e. head – body; body – member; groom- bride; shepherd - sheep; foundation – building Purposefully seeking to please Jesus by seeking His will and doing it. I speak a lot about the grace of God. It is only by His grace that we are drawn to Him, saved by Him, our sins forgiven by Him, our salvation secured by Him. But, He also has a requirement of purposefully turning away from yourself as lord and following Jesus as our master.
    

  • Obedience out of love – vv.9-10 We must demonstrate obedience to the will of God out of the respect that is due in a love relationship.
    

• Assessment – We have ways to determine whether we are abiding in the Vine

  • fruit vv.2, 5, 8 Is God-honoring fruit being produced?

  • pruning v.2, Hebrews 12:6 Are we being honed by God as a result of His attention directed toward us as objects of His love?

  • prayer v.7 Are our prayers the expression of the heart of God and therefore answered for His glory?

  • love Jesus and fellow followers vv.9,12,13 Is our love for Jesus (expressed by our obedience and our desire to know and please Him) growing (regardless of how old we are or how long we have been following)?

  • joy v.11 Is glorifying Jesus your joy?
    

• To Add to the Harvest – cultivate – Grape vines require much attention. – worship, Bible study, prayer, service, sacrifice

THE VINEDRESSER – God the Father

• Owns the vineyard – Matthew 21:33 In the parable in Matthew, Jesus portrays God as the owner.
  

• Prunes or purges v.2 = cut away dead wood to prevent disease / cut away living tissue so the strength of the plant is invested in crop / cut off bunches of grapes to improve quality as well as quantity of the harvest.

• To be left alone, unattended is the greatest judgment of God.

• The Father is never nearer than when you are being pruned. Though the pruning may be temporarily (in relation to eternity) painful, remember the proximity necessary for a vinedresser to do pruning. He has to be in arm's length. He has to be able to touch.
  

FRUIT – only from a living organism – not the same as “results” Man can produce results, but so can a machine.

• Not for the benefit of the branch (Branches don’t eat grapes), rather for others - Proverbs 10:21 “The lips of the righteous feed many”

• The result of time and cultivation 1Peter 5:6 "...in due time..."
  

• Produces: * producers *holiness and obedience *giving *fruit of the Spirit *character and service *praise

A true branch, connected to (abiding in) the Vine, will produce fruit. Not every branch will have a bumper crop. Not every field will produce a bumper harvest. Not every crop will be a bumper crop. But, there is always fruit where there is life.

SO, IF WE DON’T PRODUCE ARE WE CAST IN THE FIRE, EVEN THOUGH WE WERE ONCE CONNECTED AND FRUITFUL?

1. Do not build doctrine on a parable or an allegory.

2. If a branch did not abide, it never had the life of the vine flowing through it.

3. Nonproductive branch with the life of the Vine in it will “be taken away”: 1)John 8:59 = picked up/cleaned up 2)1Corinthians 9:27 = disqualified for service 3)1Corinthians 11:30 = taken out of this field (life) Some examples of followers who put "self" before God and whom God took out of this life: Leviticus 10:1-5 The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu (priests), made an offering to God that was unfitting, that demonstrated that they took God and His calling lightly, and God struck them dead. There is no reason to assume that God took His saving grace away from them, especially since verse 5 say that they were carried out in their priestly garments (their robes), indicating that the only thing that changed was their physical life, not their spiritual life.
   Another example would be the case of Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts 5. They pretended to be offering all the profit from a land sale to God but were actually holding back some. Apparently, they had been faithful followers of Jesus and partakers of His grace, but on this occasion, they took lightly the holiness of God and God took them out of ... and great fear (awe) came upon the church. There is no reason to assume that Ananias and Sapphira went to Hell, but they lost their opportunity to glorify God on earth because they refused to let the "sap" of the life of Jesus flow through them.
   

THE ULTIMATE END OF ABIDING / FRUIT BEARING

• The Glory of the Father v.8

• Joy of Jesus and followers v.11

• Friends of the King v.14

  • Friend = inner circle of king or best man at wedding

  • Know secrets of his heart but also serves and obeys

  • No conflict between friend and servant i.e. Abraham

Matthew 7:15-21

SBC Resolution on Church Membership and Member Restoration 2008
How about this?

Resolution of Southern Baptist Convention 2008

6. ON REGENERATE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP AND CHURCH MEMBER RESTORATION
June 2008
WHEREAS, The ideal of a regenerate church membership has long been and remains a cherished Baptist principle, with Article VI of the Baptist Faith and Message describing the church as a “local congregation of baptized believers”; and

WHEREAS, A New Testament church is composed only of those who have been born again by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Word, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, the local church’s only Lord, by grace through faith (John 3:5; Ephesians 2:8-9), which church practices believers’ only baptism by immersion (Matthew 28:16-20), and the Lord’s supper (Matthew 26:26-30); and

WHEREAS, Local associations, state conventions, and the Southern Baptist Convention compile statistics reported by the churches to make decisions for the future; and

WHEREAS, The 2007 Southern Baptist Convention annual Church Profiles indicate that there are 16,266,920 members in Southern Baptist churches; and

WHEREAS, Those same profiles indicate that only 6,148,868 of those members attend a primary worship service of their church in a typical week; and

WHEREAS, The Scriptures admonish us to exercise church discipline as we seek to restore any professed brother or sister in Christ who has strayed from the truth and is in sin (Matthew 18:15-35; Galatians 6:1); and now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana, June 10-11, 2008, urge churches to maintain a regenerate membership by acknowledging the necessity of spiritual regeneration and Christ’s lordship for all members; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we humbly urge our churches to maintain accurate membership rolls for the purpose of fostering ministry and accountability among all members of the congregation; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention to repent of the failure among us to live up to our professed commitment to regenerate church membership and any failure to obey Jesus Christ in the practice of lovingly correcting wayward church members (Matthew 18:15-18); and be it further

RESOLVED, That we humbly encourage denominational servants to support and encourage churches that seek to recover and implement our Savior’s teachings on church discipline, even if such efforts result in the reduction in the number of members that are reported in those churches, and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we humbly urge the churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and their pastors to implement a plan to minister to, counsel, and restore wayward church members based upon the commands and principles given in Scripture (Matthew 18:15-35; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15; Galatians 6:1; James 5:19-20).




Jesus – The Way, The Truth, The Life

John 14:1-14; Romans 5:1-2

In Chapter 11 Jesus says, “I Am the resurrection.” We will look at that “I Am” statement in a couple of weeks. Today we consider Jesus' proclamation of His being the Way, the Truth, and the Life as He prepares His disciples for His crucifixion and resurrection. In chapter 13 Jesus washes the disciples' feet after having instituted the Lord's Supper (Luke 22:19-22). Judas has gone out to betray Jesus to the religious leaders, and Jesus has foretold of Peter's betrayal that night. But Jesus tells His followers, “Let not your hearts be troubled...” and lets them know that His “going” will include His preparing a place for them (us).

He has told them that they cannot go the way He is going (13:33, 36) but that they know the way (14:4), and that Way is Jesus. He is the Way - the only Way - to the Father.

Today lets consider these questions

in regard to what Jesus said in John 14:6:

* What is this way like? Why do we need a special way? Where is the way from and to? Is Jesus not one of many ways? How does Jesus provide the way to God?

* What is truth?

* Don't we already have life? What is this life that is Jesus?

THE WAY Matthew 7:14

Ø Difficult way - (“difficult”=thlibo=affliction, tribulation, press...words that were used to describe preparing grain or fruit for use, i.e. threshing) The way to a proper relationship with God is a way of leaving behind the “husks and hulls”.

Ø Narrow entrance – Why is the entrance so narrow?What restricts entrance to God/life?

> The height of (approach to) God - Who may ascend? Psalm 24:3-4 – Clean hands; Pure heart; No idols; No lying

> The Justice of God – Hebrews 10:30

> The Moral Law of God – 1Peter 1:16

> The Requirement of Perfection – Galatians 3:10

> God's Wrath/Righteous Anger (at sin) Romans1:18; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6

Ø Therefore, the One who provides/is the Way must meet these requirements. Sinless - John 18:23; 2Corinthians 5:21; Bearing the Judgment of God without requiring judgment Himself – Romans 3:25-26; Romans 5:6-11; Met God's MoralRequirement and the Requirement of Perfection – 1Peter 3:18; Bore God's Wrath toward you and me – Isaiah53:5-6, 10; Romans 3:25, 1John 2:2

Ø The Way is to God, but Where is the Way from?

> From the Curse... Deuteronomy 11:26-28 NOTE: “turn aside” = to disobey or to fail to obey

The Curse = the opposite of Numbers 6:24-26

> the curse of Sin – Hebrews 5:1-3 Every priest(even the priest), except Jesus, had to first sacrifice for his own sin.

> Galatians 3:13 Jesus delivered us from the curse that the law revealed.

Ø What will Coming to the Father Look Like? Personal, Present, Powerful Relationship with God the Father John 14:15-21; 17:20-26

Ø What Other Ways Have Been Proposed? Decency, Descent, Denominations, Deeds, Denial/Disagreement.

Jesus did not just teach the way or point the way, He is the

Way.

THE TRUTH

Ø Thy Word is truth – John 17:17; John 1:1,14

THE LIFE

Ø 1John 5:11; John 3:16; John 1:4; John 20:31; John 10:10

Ø Set free from slavery to the world John 8:23-24

Ø Made alive with Jesus Romans 6:6-11

Ø Spirit Powered Resurrection Life Romans 8:11

EXCEPT THROUGH ME – JESUS Acts 4:12


Jesus – The Door of the Sheep John chapter 10

We are looking at the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. In John 6, Jesus said He is the Bread. In John 8 He says He is the Light. In John 10, Jesus says He is the Door of the Sheep and the Good Shepherd. We will consider what this means to you and me and the lost world we live in.

THE SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST

Ø Some groundwork: Sovereignty of God - in common language = God is above all and He can do whatever He pleases. All that He chooses is good and for His glory. Only He is righteous. He chooses (elects - Romans 8:29-31, Ephesians 1:4-6 ) persons to be made right for a relationship with Him. His choice is by His grace (not according to merit or potential). His choice is eternal (God does not change His mind or renege. Romans 8:30-31).

Ø Grace of God ≠ Freedom to disobey God and His law.

Rather, grace = freedom from qualifying for God's love and acceptance.

And grace = God giving the believer His stamp of approval based on Jesus.

Ø Law of God = revelation of the character of God. Laws of any kind or of any society are a reflection of the law makers. God’s law shows that He is holy, only God; His character is to be honored and protected; His example is to be followed (even in taking and giving a break from work); He is God of relationship and Father of all so that relationship is to be especially honored; life is from Him and is therefore to be protected; …

These doctrines are important to understand as we look at this week's study because a good shepherd chooses and purchases and protects what is his; and a door divides what is inside from what is outside.

THE OCCASION FOR THE JESUS' TEACHING John 9:1-5 (The Message), Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, "Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?" Jesus said, "You're asking the wrong question. You're looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world's Light."

Ø 1)The Wrong Question and 2)The Right Answer - Where the damage came from is not important. How God can be glorified in this place and in this moment is all important.

---The healed man was banned from the synagogue because he refused to say Jesus was bad for healing him on the Sabbath. Jesus found him after his rejection by the religious leaders and introduced Himself as the Son of God. The healed man believed and worshipped Jesus.

Ø 1)The Wrong Religious Attitude; 2)The Right Redemptive Action; 3) The Real Resource of Ability to believe. John 9:34-39 ; 4) The Remaining Accountability John 9:41 Jesus indicted the Pharisees for their stubbornness and lack of care the “sheep of Isreal.” 41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

JESUS – THE DOOR John 10:1-10 The sheepfold was a fenced area where shepherds would keep their sheep at night to guard against thieves or predators. There was normally no gate on the enclosure. The shepherd would sleep in the gateway and function as the door.

Ø The Fold ≠ Heaven - No one can steal into heaven.

= The nation of Israel. The legitimate messengers

were called of God and sent by Jesus.

Ø There had been some “stinky” shepherds. Jeremiah 23:1; Ezekiel 34:2-5

Ø Jesus, the Door, allows those who hear His voice to pass from the realm of separated-from- God to belonging-to-God. Ephesians2:11-20 “the other sheep” John 10:16

Ø There is One Flock – His church

Ø There is One Shepherd (Senior Pastor) – Jesus Ephesians 1:22-23; Psalm 23:1a,6b sums it up. “The Lord is my shepherd … and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Ø Enter by the Door (Jesus only) to be Saved = delivered safe and sound... used to describe someone recovered from severe illness; come through a bad storm; survived war; acquitted in court...a sinner delivered from bondage to sin and death

Ø Enter by the Door (Jesus only) to have Abundant Life = Jesus not only gave His life for us, He gives His life to us. v.11

JESUS – THE GOOD SHEPHERD John 10:11-29

Ø Not a Hireling – Purchaser v.11, 15

Jesus gives His life “...for the sheep” not only as a payment, but also as a substitute. (Penal Substitutionary Atonement) The people of Israel and all people have a debt owed to the Holy God for sin - the debt of death. Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23

Ø Jesus Knows His Sheep v. 14, 16, 27, 26(knows who are not His sheep) Knows = personal knowledge, name (who you really are [Peter's name changed from Simon, Zaccheaus called by name, Mary's name called in the garden of the cemetery]), your nature, your needs (often we do not know our own)

Ø Cares For His Sheep v.12-13

Ø Keeps His Sheep v. 28-29, 30 (Perseverance of the Saints / better Preservation of the Saints because "perseverance hints that the saint is kept by his own persistence. Actually the "keeping" as well as the saving are all of God, by His grace and power. Romans8:30)

Ø By His Power v.18

The sovereign grace of God (election) sets you free from having to qualify, measure up, clean up your act before you put your faith in Christ. You can come just as you are, “without one plea...”

The choice is simple: Be saved by Jesus alone... or

Remain lost, condemned, in bondage to sin, without Jesus.

John 9:41 “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.” ...and so do the consequences.