John 15:1 – 3 * * * * * * * ~ Our safari makes a unique move today that we should each thank the all-powerful and merciful God that He will bring us through. We are still in the Upper Room Discourse; however, this part of the discourse was not given in the upper room. In our last report we concluded when Jesus said, ‘’Arise, let us go hence.’’ Our expedition knows they did, in fact, arise and go at that exact moment. Some people suppose that this chapter could have been given in the upper room; but it doesn’t seem likely to me that was the order of events or His statement to arise and go would have come later. Either way, somewhere between the upper room and the garden of Gethsemane the Lord Jesus spoke this chapter and the next into existence. Then, we will look upon a prayer that we are unworthy to look upon in chapter seventeen. I think this was given to the disciples on the way to Gethsemane or, possibly, when they actually were in the Garden; although this is not part of the prayer Jesus prayed in the garden. Because Jesus said, ‘’lets go’’ it is helpful to try to identify the place these things were said; these words are so extremely valuable I do not think we can know enough about them…. 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. ~ Many expositors of the Gospel have located this teaching as having been given down in the valley of Kidron or on the side of the Mount of Olives. A great vineyard that covered the entire valley has been documented at this location at the time we are studying. We can also know it was a full moon because it was at Passover; so, it couldn’t have been otherwise. Some seem to think they see Jesus in the moonlight and He’s telling the apostles He is the true vine and the Father is the Farmer – or husbandman – and I suppose it could have happened something like that. However, another suggestion has been made, primarily by the English lineage preachers and teachers, and it is far more plausible; they say Jesus went by the temple. Following the law as meticulously as Jesus did tells me it is HIGHLY likely the temple route was the path taken. The beautiful gates would have been open all night long – the gates were really the tourist attraction of the city. These gates had been crafted in Greece and floated over the Hellespont, now known as the Dardanelles; and then brought to Jerusalem and into Herod’s Temple. These gates were made of bronze; but woven into the gates was an elaborate golden vine. That vine on those gates was the badge of honor for the nation Israel. The vine was the standing symbol for the nation Israel at that time. I don’t think any other allegory, parable or figure of speech is quite as appropriate as that of the vine. So, the vine sets forth the nation Israel. Psalm 80:8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it. 9 Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. Isaiah 5: 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? Hosea 10:1 Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: Let’s not be confused that Jesus is speaking here of the nation Israel. There is no other way to spiritualize or dodge the fact that the vine speaks of Israel. The Lord Jesus is making one of the most revolutionary statements here that you have ever heard. Well, it was revolutionary to these men in this day but it’s probably overly-familiar for us today. Well, Jesus says He is the true vine. Truth can be compared over against error and falsehood; but it can also be true against that which is a counterfeit. The best translation we could have in verse one is, ‘’I am the GENUINE vine.’’ The people Jesus is talking to now – these disciples in our Biblical account - are BELIEVERS ONLY who have their roots deep in the Old Testament; Jesus is telling them that their identification with the nation and connecting that to religion is no longer the essential point. Christ says HE is the genuine vine and we are to be joined to Him! It should now be more than clear to you that your association with a people, place, race, religion, rite, organization or cause is irrelevant in this life; the question is: are you identified with the Lord Jesus Christ? Jesus says He is the only genuine vine and the Father is the Owner of this vineyard. Here the Father is the One Who also cultivates the garden and the vine! God said Jesus grew up as a tender root out of a dry ground. Christ is definitely the vine to which we must be joined in order to bring forth any fruit at all…. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. ~ Abide in Jesus as Jesus abides in us; and let’s look at three words to clarify completely what the Lord Jesus is speaking about here. The first is the little preposition ‘’in.’’ If you are a regular reader of the Spiritual Safari you’ll have noted I place a special emphasis on the word ‘’in.’’ It is particularly important when it precedes the noun of the Lord Jesus or any pronoun that refers to Him. Here, Jesus says, ‘’….every branch IN Me….’’ Alright, what does it mean to truly be saved? The modern theologian has uncovered some tremendous Bible words to make that definition; such as propitiation, reconciliation, redemption and just plain old salvation. Well, each of those words only covers one particular aspect of salvation and not one of them covers the entire spectrum of what we know as salvation. What it means to be saved is that we are IN Christ; there are only two groups of people in this world: those who are in Christ and those who are NOT in Christ. Of course, we are taken in to Christ by the new birth. The moment we trust Christ as Savior we become a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus. We are born again at that moment by the Spirit of God Who washes us – but He also does something else. We are, at that moment, baptized in the Spirit and placed IN the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus says ‘’every branch in Me’’ – as we have said - He is talking to believers only now. We are not even talking about how people get saved any more. This is NOT speaking of salvation in this passage – we’re going to talk now about the fruits that come along AFTER we are brought into this vine! ‘’In’’ appears seven times here and ‘’fruit’’ occurs six times; and that’s just in the first ten verses. We also see three degrees of fruit bearing here: fruit, more fruit and much fruit. The entire topic through here is to bear fruit. Well, we need to see exactly what that REALLY means. We also have the word ‘’abide’’ and Jesus says, ‘’abide in Me!’’ Abide occurs more than any other word and abiding in Christ is the modus operandi in which we bear fruit today. Most Christians think they are fruit professionals – they know nothing, my friends - nothing. The comments I read about fruit bearing make me just hang my head in shame and ask God to speak to their hearts. Jesus says the branch that bears not fruit is taken away; and that means He is taking it away from the place of fruit-bearing. The way we remove branches today is to cut it off. This sounds a lot like we can lose our salvation here but we have already established that we cannot lose out salvation and we also established that we are not even talking about salvation here. No, friends, we’re talking about fruit bearing here and fruit is the result of our being saved – not the other way around. As I said, most people have a total misconception about what the fruit really is, too. Many believe it’s soul winning – but I don’t think so. Soul winning may be a bi-product of the fruit but the fruit itself is the fruit of the Holy Spirit working though us. One fruit is ‘prayer effectual.’ If we abide and pray in His Name it shall be done – that’s what that means. ‘Perpetual fruit’ is another aspect as the Father is glorified by us bearing much fruit; so shall we be His disciples. Jesus spoke these things that His JOY might remain in us – that would be ‘joy celestial!’ Those are the things mentioned here and they all happen to be fruit. If you have those qualities in your life you will be bringing men into the presence of the True and Living God. This can be done just by your life but more so by your spoken word. God wants fruit in your lives, friends. When you don’t produce fruit you may be taken away from that pace of fruit bearing! Many men have been set aside and are no longer effective for God and their ministry is now useless. We have lay people whose lives are the same way. Sometimes the Lord takes these people away in death. John says there is a sin unto death! That speaks of a Christian that goes on in sin until God physically removes that man from the world, the place of fruit bearing. Ananias and Sapphira are classic examples as God removed them from the early church. They did not lose their salvation; but the early church was a holy and fruit bearing church. God just didn’t allow liars to remain in that church at that time. Now, I understand the liar is very comfortable in a church sanctuary today but they wouldn’t have been safe in the day and age we are studying. That is what we mean when we talk about taking away a branch that will not bear fruit. The word we have for ‘’purgeth’’ in verse two is very interesting. Some have translated it ‘’pruning.’’ Actually, the Greek word ‘catharti’ means ‘’to cleanse’’ - and the vine could simply be washed – with water - if it got aphids or some other infestation. I think we have the idea of both of those here. God washes us as we have seen but He also prunes out the things in our life that offend others and cause people to question your Christianity. Sometimes, it hurts when He prunes our lives, too, as you may well know. God will remove the things that hinder us and I could give you to or three different examples of how that is applicable in my life. I happen to know that pruning is what the Lord was doing and, I’ll admit it – it hurt; I think the Lord may have nipped some of my flesh, personally, to tell you the truth. It sure felt like it several times; in fact, I think I have personally felt the Lord reach into my heart. I’m not complaining; I’m just praying God will keep me around and teaching His Word in this life because that’s all that’s important to me. That’s my business now – that’s my life. One reason that so many Christians are hurting so badly today is because God is constantly cutting them back down to start over again. Friends, it’s possible to watch your life go by before your very eyes and you never grow one inch! So many people are so far out of fellowship today that they are cut back to a nub for next spring – they are so far away from God they never branch out. Most of those people usually think they are very close to God – that’s what we call Christian Tragedy. Most people move away further when the Lord chastises them and they start complaining. What we need to do is get closer to God today so He can cleanse us in the Word of God. Our Spiritual Safari will take that subject so deep in depth in our next leg of this expedition you may not be able to breath when we get done ~
Posted on: Sat, 10 May 2014 04:04:14 +0000
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