Series: Upper Room Discourse Text: John 15:8-17 Message #6 (February 5, 2006) Introduction The Apostle John often wrote in spirals or cycles. Each time he would come back to a subject already addressed, he would visit the familiar territory and then take the reader a little deeper. He would go on to other matters, allowing the reader opportunity to take a breath and then he would come back again and go a little deeper. Perhaps he wrote that way because that is in part how Jesus appears to have taught. Last week we considered what Jesus had to say about the vine and the branches and bearing fruit. Today we revisit the vineyard but we go a little deeper into the nature of this intimacy with Christ as branches in the true vine. To make it easy to follow, I want us to consider what Jesus had to say about fruit and then about friends and finally about special favor from the Father. As we complete this cycle, we will once again come face to face with the matter of fruit. When we arrive at the conclusion of verse 17, hopefully we will find ourselves a little further along in our obedience to this call to bear much fruit!
I. THE ISSUE OF FRUIT (8-12) A. Fruit glorifies the Father God made us and saved us for His glory. That is the consistent message throughout the Bible. When we are connected to the true vine (thus we are saved, belonging to the Lord Jesus) we produce fruit. And the Father is lifting us up and pruning away anything that might hinder fruit production. And as we grow and bear fruit, we are bearing testimony to the grace and power and wonder of God. In bearing fruit we are doing His will and honoring His name, and thus bringing Him glory!
B. Fruit demonstrates genuineness Jesus often talked about fruit. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:15 ff.) Jesus made the point that every healthy tree bears good fruit but a diseased tree bears bad fruit. He went on to say that a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit and a diseased tree cannot bear good fruit. Using a slightly different analogy here, Jesus makes clear that only when we are connected to the true vine can fruit be produced. The point essentially is that good fruit proves genuineness and bad fruit or no fruit demonstrates a lack of connection with Christ. One cannot be a true disciple of Jesus and bear no good fruit.
C. Fruit manifests itself in love Jesus makes the progression from the Father’s love toward Him, to His love toward the disciples, to the call for the disciples to love one another. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” That is the normal progression. It then follows that as Jesus loved His own that they would love one another. Since a true disciple abides in Christ, that disciple’s love for others will be the normal outgrowth of Christ’s love for Him, just as it is with the Father’s love for Christ. To love one another is both a command and an assumed response of one who has been loved by Christ. To say it another way, love is the manifestation of fruit in the life of a believer. Later the Apostle John would write, “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling” (1 John 2:9-10). It sounds like John was listening to Jesus! In his first letter, he would weave that theme in again in chapter 3:11 ff., and chapter 4:7 ff.
D. Fruit results in fullness of joy The joy of the Lord present in Christ, now was present in His disciples because they were connected to the true vine and had been taught by the Lord these great truths about fruit. And because they could have the joy of Christ in them, they would know fullness of joy, for there was no other kind available in Christ!
II. THE ISSUE OF FRIENDS (13-15) A friend in sacrifice (Verse 13 is among the most familiar in the Bible)
1. Jesus explains how He loved His disciples. The demonstration of Christ’s love for His disciples came at His sacrifice for them. What greater example of love could there be than the sacrifice of one’s own life on behalf of loved ones, friends? 2. To help us understand in greater measure what Jesus was saying here, remember that Jesus died voluntarily. There was no necessity laid on Him to die. If another man would die for me, while it would be noble and wonderful, that one would be but paying the debt of nature a little before its time. In other words, he was going to die anyway. He chose to die earlier that would have been anticipated, and presumably in a different way, but he was going to die anyway. Jesus, however, did not need to die for He never sinned, and death is the penalty for sin! And further, Jesus did not merely die for “friends” or loved ones, but as a felon between two thieves for those who were at enmity against Him! What love is this? A friend in obedience
1. The friendship or relationship is demonstrated on our part by obedience to the Lord Jesus, and part of that obedience includes love for one another. 2. To slightly paraphrase D. A. Carson here, if we hunger for a deep intimacy with Christ, we must obey this command. It is not easy. Unlovely ones bring out the worst in us. Whiners get on our nerves; the gossips, the arrogant, the immature and the silly drain our resolve. But we must remember that the branch can do nothing apart from the vine and Jesus Himself loved His friends, those unlovely, whiney, gossipy, arrogant, immature, silly friends, He loved enough to die for them! 3. The disciples can exhibit no greater love than laying down their lives for their friends and in just a few hours Jesus would become the supreme standard for this command. In order to better understand what Jesus is saying, we need to consider the way He used the word “friends.” C. A friend in perspective Let’s begin with the fact that the disciples are said to be Jesus’ friends, but Jesus is not said to be their friend. Nowhere does the Bible speak of God being our friend. Abraham in the OT was called a friend of God but it does not say that God was a friend of Abraham. True, our hymnody says otherwise – “I’ve found a Friend, O such a Friend, He loved me ere I knew Him”, and “What a friend we have in Jesus…”, and even, “Jesus, what a Friend for sinners…” Certainly Jesus is not an “un-friend.” And if friendship was measured only in love, no one could be a better friend. The point I am trying to make is that Jesus is not on the same level as we are. This is not a buddy relationship. It is a friendship qualified by obeying His commands (obviously this could not be reciprocal) in some way like a servant would obey a master, but better than that. For a servant the obedience may well be blind, but a friend would be let in on the significance of such commands. The distinction between a servant and a friend is not between obeying and not obeying but in understanding or not understanding. Certainly, for example, the Apostle Paul had a level of intimacy with the Lord Jesus that few if any have ever had, but he continued to refer to himself as a servant (a bond-slave) of Jesus Christ. Yet he also wrote Galatians 4 reminding us that we are no longer slaves but sons. As His friends, then, we do what He commands and we understand to varying degrees why He commands such things, because He lets us in on everything He has received from the Father! The distinction between us, and Jesus, is kept before us when Jesus told His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I (emphatic – “even I”) chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” The amazing revelation concerning spiritual fruitfulness and being friends of Jesus and being the objects of His special love are enough to turn anyone’s head (I must be really special). At the moment we might be tempted to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, so He reminds us, “By the way, I chose you. You did not choose me.” Contrary to our assumption that God must be blessed by our presence, we are reminded that this is all about God and all for His glory.
I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me; It was not I that found, O Savior true; No I was found of Thee. Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold; I walked and sank not on the storm-vexed sea; Twas not so much that I on Thee took hold, As Thou, dear Lord on me. I find, I walk, I love; but O the whole Of love is but my answer, Lord to Thee! For Thou wert long beforehand with my soul; Always Thou lovedst me.
III. THE ISSUE OF FATHER FAVOR (16-17) The “formula”
We have moved from talking about branches being cut off and burned (earlier in this chapter) to bearing fruit that remains and receiving untold blessing from the Father. The formula, if you will, in regard to asking and receiving favor from the Father is simply spoken here, “in my (Jesus) name.” What does that mean? Certainly it does not suggest a magic formula like the rub of a lamp and abracadabra, every whim is satisfied! At the very least, this must mean that such prayers would be in accord with all that Jesus’ name stands for, including coming under His lordship. And further, that such prayer seeks God’s glory. When John wrote in his first letter (5:14) “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us”, “according to his will” has a similar if not identical meaning to “in my name.” Again, it is not a magic formula, nor is it throwing up our hands and declaring, “Whatever will be will be.” It is praying with a heart and mind and will that are fixed on the person and desire of the Lord Jesus Christ.
B. The “favor” The favor promised is quite remarkable: “Whatever you ask the Father…he may give it to you.” How can we understand this? Professor and scholar D. A. Carson (The Farewell Discourse and Final Prayer of Jesus, pp. 109-110) helps us practically understand what all of this means. Listen to this extended quotation. There you are. “Whatever you ask the Father…he may give it to you.”
Conclusion Last week I talked about bearing fruit and I very briefly suggested that fruit can be converts to Jesus, but it can also be in the form of Christian conduct and Christian character (the fruit of the Spirit). Permit me to take one step further in our understanding of fruit. Essentially fruit is everything that we do that is in conformity to the will of Jesus Christ, not the least of which are the things we see in this passage like praying and loving. Jesus was no more specific than that. When we love one another because of Jesus, that is Christian fruit. When we pray in His name according to His will, that is Christian fruit. Everything that we do that brings glory to the Father is good fruit. The more vital our union with Jesus, the more abundant our fruitfulness. Remember His words, “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain (abide).” It is time to bear much fruit!
|
