We've spent the last few weeks looking at Jesus' parable of
the vine and the branches. We've considered three aspects of Jesus' teaching:
fruit, pruning and abiding. Today, we look at another of these. Today, we look
at what Jesus has to say about what happens to some of the branches, those that
aren't pruned but rather are lopped off and burned. Listen to what He has to
say.
I am the true vine, and my Father
is the vinedresser. Every branch in me
that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit
he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the
word that I have spoken to you. Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides
in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are
the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much
fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he
is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown
into the fire, and burned. (
These are sobering words that we need to take to heart. So,
let's proceed with care.
The first thing to do is to explain who Jesus is talking
about. Who are these branches? Jesus tells us. These are branches in the vine.
They are branches in Jesus. But for reasons that we'll look at, the Father cuts
them off from the vine, throws into the fire so that they are destroyed. These
are people who had a relationship with Jesus, people who were disciples of
Jesus. But they have been cut off from Jesus. They no longer have a
relationship with Jesus. Because of that they suffer eternal destruction.
This is not the only time that the Scriptures refer to such
people. Most of you have read Hebrews 6 which talks about
… those who have once been
enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy
Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the
age to come, and then have fallen away…
Jesus describes these people in another parable.
And the ones on the rock are those
who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they
believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.
We have one very striking example of this: Judas.
Do you see what Jesus is talking about? He is describing
those people who believe in Him for a while and then don't.
What is Jesus' goal in talking about these branches? Why
does He bother? It's a warning. It's a warning first, to His original audience,
Peter and the others. They needed to hear it. Remember Judas. But it is also a
warning to you. You don't want this to happen to you. And why is that? What's
so bad about being one of these other branches? Once they are cut off they lose
Jesus. And how is it possible to live without Jesus? I cannot imagine life
without Jesus' presence with me.
Now, it's time for a question, a very important question.
What do you do to avoid becoming one of these branches? Here's where you start:
acknowledge that it could happen to you. You need to say to yourself, 'That
could be me', and then let that percolate until you begin to feel what that
would mean. No Jesus! Without this admission firmly in place nothing that I
will say will be helpful. And I'll tell you why. You will hear whatever I say
as something that someone else needs to hear, but not you. And that just might
be a fatal mistake. So, the first thing is a bit of reality. This could happen
to you.
Now, admitting that this is a possibility doesn't mean that
you need to panic. Seeing your own frailty does not need to result in hysteria.
After all, Jesus is a great savior. He saves the weak, those who cannot save
themselves. No, instead, admitting this should lead to a bit of wisdom. It's
like driving in a snow storm. You know that, if you're not careful, you just
might end up in a ditch. So, aware of the danger, you drive more slowly. You
take the turns a bit more carefully. Admitting that you could become a dead
branch should lead not to panic but to greater care in how you live.
So, with that acknowledgement in place, what do you do next?
The first step to a solution is to define the problem. Jesus explains what the
problem is.
Every branch in me that does not
bear fruit he takes away…
The problem is the lack of fruit. I talked to you about
fruit. It's the result of possessing the life of God. And it shows as Christian
virtues. I mentioned one: Christian humility. There are lots more like
Christian confidence, Christian friendliness, Christian compassion. Dead
branches do not bear these fruit. They may have your garden variety virtues,
the qualities that any decent person may have. But they don't have the
Christian virtues. There's the problem. The lack of appropriate fruit. So, is
the solution to work hard to produce fruit? Actually, no. You'll notice that in
this parable Jesus never commands His listeners to bear fruit. And that makes
sense. What would you do to bear fruit? Any efforts at developing virtue would,
at best, result in some of those garden variety virtues. Jesus knows this and
that's why He commands something different. He says to those men, and to you,
Abide in me, and I in you. … If
anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and
the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Abide in Jesus. That's where the effort is to be focused. It
is the failure to abide in Him that results in becoming a fruitless branch. And
remember from last week what this abiding is about. It's keeping your promises
to Jesus and depending on Him to keep His promises to you.
So, how do you do that? How do you abide in Jesus so that
you will bear the fruit of the life of God? There are several things that could
be said here, but I'm going to limit myself to just one. Get to know yourself.
Getting to know a friend means that you understand why he does what he does.
Others who don't know him so well may be mystified by what he does, but not
you. You know him. This is one bit of evidence of a good marriage. The husband
and wife know each other and understand each other. Now, why do I point to this
when it comes to working at abiding? If you do not know yourself well then you
will not be able to know if you are keeping your promises to Jesus nor whether
you are depending on Him to do the same to you. You won't know because you lie
to yourself. We all do this. We hide the true motives of our hearts so that we
can justify our actions. Imagine yourself in a nasty conversation. Why did you react
with those harsh words? Response: 'It was the truth, wasn't it?' Yes, it was
true, but you were hurt by what that other person said and you wanted to get
back at him. That’s what was really going on. We lie to ourselves. So, if you
don't know yourself well, if you don't know how you hide motives, how can you
know if you are abiding? You could be fooling yourself. 'Abiding in Jesus? Oh,
I'm doing fine. It's all good.' And then one day you find yourself in the burn
pile. Get to know yourself.
Knowing yourself is one aspect of wisdom. The other aspects
of wisdom have to do with understanding God and understanding other people. And
how do you gain this wisdom? You gain wisdom through Scripture. Now, be
careful. I'm not talking about memorizing a bunch of Bible verses. There have
been so many people who have known more Bible verses than you or I ever will
who ended up on the burn pile. No, it's more than knowing Bible verses. It's
knowing what they have to say about who you are. It’s as you look carefully
into the Bible that you get to see yourself clearly. It's the Spirit using the
Bible that will expose the schemes of your own heart to you. That's how you get
to know yourself. And that's how you will be able to accurately answer the
question, 'How am I doing when it comes to keeping my promises to Jesus and
depending on Him to do the same to me?'
Now, this is not something that you can do on your own. It's
a group project. It's something that we do as a church as we deal with the
Scriptures together. That explains some of what we do on Sundays. We have a lot
of Scripture during our services. There are three readings and then two
sermons, one especially directed to the children. We do this to gain wisdom,
including getting to know ourselves. But it also explains those small groups
that have been popping up. We get together to help each other become wise.
Sometimes there's a passage of Scripture that we're looking at. Sometimes it's
a book that the group is discussing. Sometimes it's just talking together about
life. In all of this we are helping each other become wiser. We are helping
each other get a more accurate answer to that question, 'How am I doing?'
One of these days Jesus is going to return. When He does
everyone who has ever lived will be resurrected. Some will then be condemned to
endure God's painful justice in hell forever. The rest will be blessed to enjoy
perfect life forever. That's what I want for all of you, enjoying things that
are too good to even imagine now. No burnt branches. We need to help each other
so that that will happen.