AN ATTITUDE OF DEPENDENCE (JN 15:1-8)

SERIES: THE ATTITUDES DISCIPLES REVEAL, PART 6

GCEFC: FEBRUARY 8, 2009

INTRODUCTION

1. We’ve been looking at the attitudes disciples reveal. Attitudes that should characterize those of us who know Christ as Savior and claim to follow him as his disciple.

2. Americans have a deeply engrained attitude about dependence. We so admire that commendable quality of independence and the do-it-yourself mentality.

3. Both our real heroes and our fictional heroes embody this quality. Rugged individuals like Daniel Boone, Davy Crocket, and Teddy Roosevelt. Men who didn’t seem to be dependent on anyone else.

4. I grew up in a time when a favorite expression was: Do your own thing. Free to do your own thing and be your own thing without anybody’s help.

5. This idea carries over to our fictional heroes too. Men like the Lone Ranger. He was the LONE Ranger—not the Accompanied Ranger. He didn’t need anybody else—he could do it all himself—in 30 minutes—including commercials.

6. Forget Tonto—Tonto was just there for the dialogue. Kimosabe wasn’t a big talker.

7. And it’s Spider MAN—not Spider MEN. It’s Super MAN—not Super MEN. And just so half of you aren’t left out, it’s not Wonder WOMEN either.

8. The goal of parenting is to equip our children for independence. To prepare them for life independent of us. We want our children to eventually move out.

9. The founding document of our nation was the Declaration of Independence. We wanted separation from Great Britain. We didn’t need them, we didn’t want them.

10. And then there’s Frank Sinatra’s assessment of life: I did it MY WAY. Not exactly a spirit of dependence.

11. But becoming a Christian is not about independence at all. It’s not about doing my own thing. It’s about letting GOD do for me what I could never do for myself or by myself.

12. It’s about confessing that my independence merely secured my condemnation. That God did not create us to be independent from him—but dependent upon him for everything.

13. And dependent upon others too. Not to the extent that they do for us what we should do for ourselves. But doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves and were never meant to.

14. Trying to live the Christian life independently is not only an exercise in futility, but it flies in the face of God’s plan and purpose for us.

15. God saves us not just as an expression of his grace—but to be dependent upon his grace.

16. Being a disciple means we are learners. That implies dependence. Being a disciple means being in community. That implies dependence.

17. Being a disciple means we’re to bear spiritual fruit to the glory of God. That implies dependence.

A. BIBLICAL ANALOGIES

1. As you know, many passages throughout the Bible teach us spiritual truth we don’t know through familiar things we do know.

2. This is often done through parables and analogies. It’s easier to grasp the unknown through things we already understand.

3. Such is the case in JN 15:1-8, as we continue in our series: Attitudes Disciples Reveal.

4. One of the inherent dangers of analogies and parables in the Bible is that we have a tendency to make them teach more than they intend.

5. We have an inclination to give meaning to more in the analogy than was intended to be conveyed by it.

6. Benjamin Franklin said: A penny saved is a penny earned. Which means that if you save money you’ve acquired rather than spend it, you can consider that money to be well earned. You’ve earned the money because you’ve saved it.

7. It’s not wise to then take the aphorism and expand its meaning. That the penny represents poverty. That saving the penny represents personal choice. And that the penny earned represents the free enterprise system.

8. Not likely. Most likely the aphorism has only one main point to convey. Saving money is a good idea and wise people do it.

9. Two good rules of thumb to use when examining a biblical passage that contains analogies are:

a. Give the most weight to the interpretation offered by the speaker or author himself. For example, in verse 1 of JN 15, Jesus starts off by saying: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

b. Well the village idiot can plainly see that in the analogy Jesus is the true vine and his Father is the gardener.

c. You don’t need to know Greek, Latin, Swahili, or be a Bible scholar to know this. It’s plainly stated right in the text. So speculation is not necessary or helpful.

d. And we do well to limit the analogous inferences in the passage. Parables are designed to teach a primary spiritual truth. There may be sub-truths to glean—but we must be cautious when doing so.

e. Everything beyond the main point is speculative and subject to error. So we need to be careful.

10. So with this in mind, let’s explore JN 15:1-8 and see how it pertains to our next disciple attitude: An Attitude of Dependence.

B. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE GARDENER

1. In the first verse we see that Jesus wants to explain an important spiritual truth by way of analogy. The analogy he uses is a grape vine.

2. He first identifies himself as the true vine. He identifies his Father as the gardener or tender of the vine. And in V5 he identifies his disciples as the branches of the vine.

3. He then goes on to describe the responsibility of the gardener. In V2 he says that the gardener: Cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

4. So it says that each branch in the vine, that is, each disciple in Christ—including you and me—the Father prunes so it can be more fruitful, more productive.

5. And if the branch is not being productive, he cuts that branch off the vine.

6. We know that disciples are the branches because he says so. We know that unproductive branches are cut off because he says so. We know that fruitful branches are pruned so they’ll be more productive because he says so.

7. We know that the branches refer to professing believers because he says that his disciples are the branches. And there’s indication that they are true believers because he says in V3: You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

8. In other words, the fruitful branches represent true believers.

9. Wasn’t that easy? We simply draw conclusions from what’s clearly stated. We don’t have to speculate about anything. That helps keep us out of the woods.

C. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DISCIPLE

1. So the responsibility of the gardener is to cut off unfruitful branches and prune the fruitful branches.

2. In V4 we see the responsibility of the branch. That is, the responsibility of the disciple—that would be you and me.

3. He says in V4: Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

4. If you know anything about vines at all, you know that the branches of the vine receive nutrients from the vine itself. The vine is a conduit of what the branch needs.

5. So again, by way of analogy, Jesus is saying to all disciples that the only way you can receive what you need from him is by remaining connected to him.

6. If we are disconnected, then we will not get what we need. What we need is spiritual nurture and spiritual food. But why? Why do we need what the vine provides?

7. Well, what is it that the vine is supposed to do? What is the purpose of the vine? What is the goal of the vine?

8. The purpose of the vine is to…bear fruit. That’s the whole reason that there is a vine. A vine’s purpose is to produce fruit.

9. And everything the vine does and everything the gardener does is to ensure that the branches of the vine bear fruit.

10. That’s why the unproductive branches are removed. That’s why the fruit bearing branches are pruned. They’re being productive, so the gardener helps them be more so.

D. CONNECTION IS CRITICAL

1. In V5-8 we see the unmistakable link to dependence. Jesus says in V5: I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

2. He’s really just repeating what he already said, adding to it that apart from him we can do nothing.

3. Now in a real sense, we cannot do anything apart from God’s sovereign permission. I couldn’t even raise my hand apart from God’s sovereign will.

4. But that’s not the point he’s making here. His point is that we cannot bear spiritual fruit as disciples apart from him.

5. If we don’t remain in him and draw upon what he provides—then we will produce no spiritual fruit. Not some, not a little—zilch! Apart from him we can do nothing!

6. Then comes a candidate for the Hall of Fame for Misunderstood Biblical Phrases. V6: If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

7. For centuries many have believed this verse teaches that unfruitful disciples lose their salvation. Because they’re unproductive and unfruitful, God takes back his salvation from them and casts them away.

8. But how can that be? Doesn’t Jesus say over in chapter 6 of this same book: All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

9. We only need to look at the verse more carefully. It says: If anyone does not remain in me he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers.

10. In other words, if we are disciples of Christ, and we are not fruitful as disciples, then we become like a worthless branch that is cast away and burned for fuel.

11. Just like a grape vine that produces no grapes. The purpose of a grape vine is to produce grapes. It’s not to produce pretty flowers, or grow sturdy wood for lumber, or produce walnuts or apples.

12. The purpose of a grape vine is to produce grapes. To bear fruit. To be a non spiritual fruit bearing disciple is to be worthless as a disciple.

13. We are as useful as a branch on a grape vine that produces no grapes. What good is a non-grape-producing grape vine? Not much.

E. THE RESULTS OF REMAINING IN THE VINE

1. But Jesus doesn’t expect fruitlessness from his disciples. Look at what he says in V7: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

2. Did you catch that? This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit—showing yourselves to be my disciples.

3. It sounds like Jesus is saying there’s a direct correlation between our bearing spiritual fruit that he produces through us and proof that we are his disciples.

4. It sounds like that because that’s precisely the case. True disciples are revealed by their bearing of spiritual fruit.

5. And spiritual fruit can only be produced by dependence upon Jesus as a vine branch depends upon the vine. It means remaining in him.

6. In fact, spiritual fruit production is so important in a disciple’s life that Jesus promises in V7 that he will give us whatever we ask for that will help us bear more fruit.

7. This is not a Jesus credit card with an unlimited credit line. This is an indicator of how important spiritual fruit bearing is. So important that Jesus says that when we remain in him and ask for what helps us bear fruit as disciples—consider it done.

8. Now spiritual fruit need not be a mysterious concept. We know what fruit is. But Jesus is not saying that disciples should be producing grapes, or apples, or oranges.

9. Again, it’s an analogy. He’s referring to fruit in the sense of what disciples are supposed to produce. He means fruit in the sense of the result of our being his disciples.

10. We use the term this way when we say that something is the fruit of our labor. We mean the results of our investment.

11. We could spend a lot of time on this, but let me simply point you to the Fruit of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit are those character qualities that result from the Spirit’s work in us.

12. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. As we grow as disciples, these qualities should be increasingly characteristic of us.

13. To state it more comprehensively, spiritual fruit is the life of Christ reproduced in the life of the disciple.

14. And grape vines don’t just produce grapes. Grape vines produce other grape vines. A disciple doesn’t just produce fruit in his own life. He facilitates the production of fruit in the lives of others.

15. In fact, you and I are disciples today because someone else was faithful as a disciple. Your coming to faith in Christ was influenced by another disciple.

16. And lastly, we’re to remain in Christ. To remain in Christ is to stay close to him.

a. Through reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on the Word of God.

b. Through prayer.

c. Through fellowship with his people.

d. Through obeying his commands.

e. Through serving in his kingdom.

17. The life of a disciple is not easy. It’s not complicated either.

18. Jesus is the true vine. You and I are the branches. God the Father is the gardener. As disciples, or branches, we must stay connected to the vine, to Jesus Christ.

19. When we do, he equips us to produce spiritual fruit. Spiritual fruit is simply the intended results of being a disciple.

20. Some of the fruit is about us personally. Some of the fruit is about those we influence.

21. If we are unfruitful and unproductive disciples, then we are like branches cut off from the vine and burned up.

22. And there are 3 things this should prompt in our thinking.

23. First, who wants to be a worthless disciple? Who wants to be a non-fruit-bearing disciple? Who wants to someday hear Jesus say to him: Poorly done, my fruitless and faithless disciple. Not me.

24. Second, it doesn’t mean we lose our salvation when we are not fruitful.

25. But third, it may mean that we were never saved in the first place. Because V8 says: This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

26. Jesus’ disciples bear much fruit. It’s a sobering reminder.