The True Vine

Jesus changes everything

Just before we get into it, kids, you guys were awesome. Can we just thank our kids one more time? Thank you, guys. That is a classic. If you guys don’t know it, add it to your playlist, “Every Move I Make.” Once you play it for the day, it’s in your head for the rest of that day. And it’s a good little mantra to have. Amen.

This morning we were praying, and something that kept coming up during our prayer time was really that Jesus changes everything. We had someone share just how Jesus really changed them. They knew the Lord, but they kind of were doing their own thing for some time. And when they came back to the Lord and they really gave their life to Him, it just changed everything. And how many of you know when Jesus changes everything, it’s always for the good? Amen.

And I sometimes think we underestimate really what that means. And we definitely underestimate what that looks like, because so oftentimes we like to go through life and we want it on our terms. We want it our way. And we oftentimes treat Jesus like a pocket genie, right? When we’re desperate or if I need something, then I’m going to call out to the Lord, right? Or if I haven’t been doing very well in my life and I’ve been struggling with some things, right? Then I’ll come to the Lord.

But how many of you know, if we really believe that He is all in all — do you believe that? — that all things were created by Him, all things were created for Him, that He is the beginning and the end, that He’s the author of our salvation, that the one that began a good work in you will bring it to completion. If you really believe that, are we really willing to say, “Lord, in the highs and the lows, in every season, in every situation, Lord, I’m going to trust You, and I’m going to actually treat You as though You really are my everything”? That means we acknowledge Him first. That means we seek Him first, right?

Just try harder

And I think sometimes we hear this, right? We hear this. And what the enemy would love for you to hear is the filter that you have to just try harder. Has anybody ever heard that expression before? Has anybody been told, “You just need to try harder”?

For those of you that don’t know, I coach football. I coach a lot of things now. If you don’t know, apparently I just coach everything. But I coach football, and I’m in the booth. We’re making calls, and we see a guy bust a coverage, and we’re like, “Dude, you just need to do better. We’ve talked through this a million times. You just got to do this. You got to try harder.”

Sometimes we know what to do and we just don’t do it. Sometimes we give it our best and we fail. But so oftentimes we hear, “Is Jesus really your everything? Are you really willing to follow Him? Are you really willing to live for Him?” It comes with an attachment of a to-do list.

And when we fail in the to-do list, when we aren’t reading our Bible every day, when we’re not praying every day, when we’re not seeking Him the way that we know we should or the way even that we feel we should, all of a sudden guilt starts to settle in. And we affirm ourselves, “I just got to do better. I just got to try harder.” And then we fail, and the cycle repeats.

Kids, if you’re here, you guys know what this is like too, right? You got to try to obey your parents a little harder. You got to try to do better at school, right? Have you ever been told, “Try harder. You got to try harder”? Nah. Nope. Not yet. It’ll happen. It’s coming.

You see, a lot of us think that’s exactly how God works. We think that God is looking at us, and He’s given us His word. He’s given us instructions. He’s a holy God. And we think God is looking at us, pointing a finger, and saying, “You have to do better. You have to try harder.” We imagine God as one who hands out assignments, and we either need to produce, and if we don’t, He inspects it and He corrects it, and as a result we feel guilty and we have to try harder.

We’ve been in a series called the Names of God for the year. And specifically for the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about Jesus’ statements about Himself, His “I am” statements. We’ve talked about how Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” How Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” How “I am the door.” How “I am the good shepherd.” How “I am the resurrection and the life.” How “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

Connected to the source

But before we go into Jesus’ next “I am” statement, I want us to imagine — I had someone bring this up, and this is a lamp, right? And we all know what a lamp is supposed to do. It’s supposed to give us light, right? And this is not new stage decor, so don’t worry. This isn’t me kind of taking the reins there.

No matter what I do, right, I can’t physically do anything to make this work if it’s not connected at the source, right? Meaning, I can flip the switch, right? It looks like it’s plugged in. And this is one of those European designs or something, I don’t know. But it’s got that little thing. And if it’s not connected to the source, even though it looks like it, it won’t power on.

I can speak to it, right? Like, “Turn on.” And it’s not connected to Alexa or anything like that, so it’s not gonna, right? I can squeeze it. I can shake it. I can jolt it. But how many of you know no matter what happens, if it’s not connected to the source, to a power, it won’t work, right?

And that’s really how our lives with the Lord are, right? We can struggle, we can strive, we can try, right? The lamp doesn’t have to struggle to produce light. It just needs to be connected to the source. And so, as soon as you connect it to the source, it turns on, and we have light.

So often in life, we go through life not connected to the source. The lamp didn’t have to try harder. The lamp just had to be connected. And really that is the summary, I believe, of this “I am” statement today. And it is this. And if you’re taking notes, write this one down, because this is it. Connected beats trying harder, always. Connected beats trying harder, always.

Listen, if you’re not connected, you can try and try and try, and you’ll never actually bear the fruit that the Lord has prepared for you. You can try on your own strength. You can try and rely on your talent, on your own abilities, on the people around you. How many of you know there’s lots of things that we can put our trust into? There’s a lot of things that we can say, “I’m going to go this route.” There’s a lot of options out there, but Jesus is saying, “I’m the true source, and you have to be connected to Me.” Amen.

So, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to John 15. John 15 this morning. And we’re going to be here this whole time.

A picture on the last night

And this is the same night we’ve been talking about. This is the night before Jesus gave His life and died on the cross. Jesus knew what was about to happen. He wasn’t caught up. He didn’t get beat. He didn’t get captured. He gave His life. Somebody say, “Amen.”

And how many of you know, if you know this is your last day on earth with the people that you love most, you’re going to talk about some important things. These are the final conversations with the ones He loved. These are the ones that He knew were about to leave Him, the ones that were going to betray Him, the ones who were going to question Him and deny Him.

And here we are. Supper’s over. Judas is gone. Peter’s been told by Jesus, “You’re going to deny Me.” And Jesus says in chapter 14:31 — you don’t have to go there, but it’s just a chapter earlier — Jesus says, “Arise and let us go from here.”

And so they just had their last supper. They get up and they leave the place that they were in, and they begin to journey into the darkness and into the unknown. I want you just to consider what was going through the disciples’ minds and in their hearts at that time. I just want you to think about the unsettling that was there as they were journeying to the Garden of Gethsemane, which means the crushing, which means the press. It’s the olive press.

There was questions like, “How are we going to actually do life without You, Jesus?” Because Jesus kept saying, “I’m going to go away.” He even said things like, “It’s to your advantage that I go away.” And so they’re wondering, how are we going to do this without You? Without You. How do ordinary people, failing people, do what You’re actually asking us to do?

Jesus said things like this to His disciples and to those who are around Him. He said, “The works that I do, greater works than these you will do, because I go to the Father.” Jesus, the Son of God, is saying, because I’m going to the Father, the things that you’ve seen Me do, the miracles, the healings, you’re going to do even greater things.

And I can only imagine the weight that comes with that statement. You can’t be serious. You know who I am. Do you know what I’ve done? Do you know the things that I’ve said? Do you know the things I’m about to say about You, that I don’t know You?

And so here they are. They’re journeying, and Jesus gives them an answer to what they are supposed to do without Him. And Jesus, as He often does, gives them a picture. How many of you guys know a picture speaks a thousand words, right? I say it all the time because I’m also a web designer and I have to talk about this all the time.

Words paint pictures, right? So, if I was to tell you a pink flying elephant, you all just imagined in your mind a pink flying elephant. I know you did. Don’t say you didn’t. You’re all like, “Okay.”

I am the true vine

Jesus is giving them a picture, and He really wants them to capture something in this moment. He’s saying, “I’m going to leave.” But He gives them this picture of a vine. Everybody say, “A vine.”

Now, to the Jewish people in that time, this was going to be a big deal. This was a big picture, because Israel was God’s vine throughout the Old Testament. And the vine that God had, His chosen people, they kept producing fruits that weren’t very good. They kept producing, I guess, what you could call sour grapes.

How many of you have ever produced a sour grape in your life, where you lost your temper, right? Where you yelled at someone that you loved, where maybe you didn’t tell the full truth, right? Yeah. Right. We all bear bad fruit sometimes. And that’s what’s been happening. The vine kept growing wild grapes instead of good ones.

So when Jesus says this, He says, “I am the true vine.” Everybody say, “The true vine.” Jesus is saying, “Listen, you can stop searching. You can stop looking, because I am the true vine. I am the one vine that actually will work for your life.”

How many of you know there’s lots of vine options out there? Amen. If you don’t know what to do, somebody will tell you what you should do. Yeah. Everybody’s got an opinion, because opinions are cheap, right? And everybody thinks they know the best path forward. But how many of you know Jesus is saying, “Listen, you can explore the other vines. You can see the other vines. You can choose other vines, but I am the true vine”?

In other words, Jesus was saying, you were never supposed to be the vine in the first place. So Jesus says it in John 15, and I had you turn to verse 1. Jesus says this. He says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”

I want you to notice two things. Number one, Jesus is the true source. He’s the true vine. There’s lots of options out there. There’s things that the world says are success that are actually not success. They are meant to lead you down a path that will destroy your heart, that will separate you from the one, the lover of your soul, from the Lord Himself.

And they will promote themselves and advertise themselves as, “This is the way you should go. This is how you should live your life. This is what you’re to pursue.” But Jesus is saying, “I’m the true vine. You got to be connected to Me.”

The second thing we notice here is that the gardener is the Father. In other words, the Father is the one who is holding the pruning knife. The same Father who so loved the world that He gave His Son.

Pruned, not punished

And verse 2 says — Jesus says this — “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” I want everybody to notice this, and this is so important for every believer to know. Notice the ones who actually get pruned: the ones who are bearing fruit.

So often we think as believers that because things aren’t going right, God isn’t with me. But I want us to notice that God doesn’t use situations to punish us. He uses situations to prune us, to shape us into who He’s called us to be, to teach us things, to grow us, so that we can fulfill the things that He’s prepared for us. Amen.

And so I want you to notice first who gets pruned. Pruning is not a punishment. It is uncomfortable. Yesterday I’m winterizing my lawn, and I have hydrangeas in my front yard, and I learned that it’s probably best to trim them back in the winter. So here I am cutting off these stems, and it looks destructive. I’d imagine to the plant, if it was feeling, it would feel destructive.

But you do it so that there’s more blooming, so there’s more blossoming, so there’s more life. Right? If you want to have a tomato plant produce more tomatoes, you don’t want all the energy going to the branches that don’t bear fruit. You want to prune them off so all the energy goes to the ones preparing good fruit.

You see, a gardener doesn’t trim a bush that they’ve given up on. He trims the one that he expects more from. That is why when you say yes to the Lord, you are — we got to know what we’re saying yes to. Because what we’re saying yes to is a surrendered life.

What we’re saying yes to is, “Yes, I give You permission to prune my heart, to prune my life in ways that only You can do, trusting You that You will cause me to bear good fruit,” because the fruit that you can produce is sour grapes. The fruit that you produce — Paul the apostle, the one who wrote most of the New Testament, he said, “Everything I’ve done is dung. It’s nothing. It’s a pile of trash compared to the glory of who He is.” We’re going to do that in a second, buddy.

Now, let me just also say this, because on the other side, not every hard thing is God pruning you. How many of you know we live in a broken world? And it’s a world that oftentimes breaks Jesus’ heart too. But nothing goes to waste when we put our trust in the gardener’s hands.

Verse 3 says — Jesus says — “You are already clean because of the word.” And Jesus is saying, “You are already pruned. You’re already cleaned up because of the word.” Everybody say, “The word.” “Because of the word I have spoken to you.”

I want you to notice, number one, we are clean because of His word. Listen, I am so convinced it is so important for us as believers to be in the word as much as we can be. And I would urge you, make it your goal and make it your ambition to be in the word every single day, because His word is what cleans your heart. It cleans your life.

I can’t tell you how many believers have sat in the church, have sat in the pews, they’ve heard the gospel, they said yes to Jesus, but they aren’t walking with the Lord. Why? Because they stopped coming to the word. They started believing what the world had to offer as truth. They start believing the lies. They get deceived to stop walking with Him.

And I’m not saying this to cause fear in us. I’m just saying we need to be pruned. Amen. We need to be clean. And if we want to have a faith that actually endures to the end — oh, what a precious gift we’ve been given in the word. Amen. We need the word. Everybody say, “I need the word.” I need the word.

Jesus says, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” Notice this, though. Jesus did not say, “You’re clean because you’re already producing fruit.” Jesus said to the disciples, “You’re clean because of My word.”

How many of you knew that the disciples walked with Jesus for three years? They heard the teachings. They were being pruned. They were being shaped. Their mindsets were being broken, their old mindsets, their old values. But here now He’s saying, “You’re already clean,” before they’ve ever borne fruit. Your fruit is not dependent on your performance. Your fruit is dependent on being connected to Him.

Abide in Me

And Jesus says it this way in verse 4: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine” — everybody say, “Abide” — “neither can you. You cannot bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”

This is the whole chapter 15 in one word: abide. The word abide means to stay. It means to remain in. It means to make your home with, that it’s your dwelling place. That this is everything. This is where I want to be. And Jesus says it ten times in this section of verses.

When the kids led us in song and they said, “Every move I make, I make in You,” that is what they’re saying. That’s abiding. That’s what it means to live in Him, to move with Him. When He moves, we move. Where He goes, we go.

And I want you to notice what the branch does of itself. How many of you know branches don’t try to bear fruit? It’s just a natural production of what they’re connected to, right? No branch has ever pulled a muscle trying to produce a grape. No branch has ever strained itself, hurt itself trying to produce a grape. It just stays connected, and the source, the life, does the rest. I’m going to say it again. Connected beats trying harder, always. Yes.

Verse 5, Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do” — what? — “nothing.” And why do we try over and over to do it without Him? Yeah. I feel like He’s given us the answers to the test, and He’s saying, “This is everything.” And yet we still try all the other options.

And this is a humbling statement, because it’s the truth. Without Him, you can’t do anything. You can’t produce the fruit that God has prepared for you. It’s humbling. But how many of you know it’s also freeing? Because it’s not up to my performance or my abilities. It really is up to me being connected to the source, connected to the Lord.

It doesn’t mean I’m inactive. I’m active because I’m connected to Him. Yeah. I’m being led by Him. I’m hearing Him speak. He’s pruning my life. He’s giving me instructions, and I’m living in obedience. But notice, with Him we bear much fruit.

Verse 6 says — Jesus says — “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” How many of you know when you cut a branch off from the vine, it no longer has life, right? Our fruit matters. Being connected matters. Fruit is a natural part.

And this isn’t a threat to a branch that’s struggling. This is just what being disconnected from the vine does. The life is in the connection. And if you’re here today and you’re worried about, “Am I really walking with God? Am I really doing the things He’s asked me to do? Am I fulfilling God’s plan for my life?” — listen, the answer is not inspecting yourself.

The answer is the same in this chapter as it is all along. Am I abiding in Him? Am I staying with Him? Am I giving my heart to Him? Am I living a surrendered life? Am I living connected and trusting Him? Amen.

Abiding at the table

And I want us to notice one way that we are to abide. And we’re going to receive communion here in just a moment. And for those of you that don’t know, we celebrate an open communion, which means you don’t have to take a class. You don’t have to be a member of this church. We celebrate an open communion because we believe the table’s always open.

If you’re here today and you’re saying, “I want more of Jesus in my life. I want to say yes to Him. I want to follow Him. I want to abide in Him” — Jesus Himself said this is one of the ways that we abide, by partaking of the table together. He says it in John 6:56. He says, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” It is a coming together. It is a oneness. It is an intimacy. Abide in Me. It’s the same words that Jesus used at the vine.

And I want us just to consider the arc of where we’ve been in these “I am” statements. Jesus said in the first week, His first “I am” statement, “I am the bread of life.” He said, “Come and eat.” And I want you to notice that Jesus is here, and He’s saying in week seven, “I just want you to stay with Me.” Isn’t that everything?

When we picture Bethany, and Jesus was in the house, and Mary was sitting at His feet, and Martha was busy and distracted and doing the work — how many of you know there’s work to be done? Amen. The problem was Martha was distracted with the work. And what did Jesus say? “Mary has chosen the better thing.”

Listen, Martha was not a bad person. Martha loved Jesus desperately. Jesus loved Martha desperately. But in that moment — how many of you know everything else can become a little bit of a distraction — when really all He’s asking of us is, “Will you come and stay with Me? Will you come and abide with Me?”

And one of the ways that we do that, we do that through the reading of the word. We do it by praying. But one of the ways that we do it is by receiving communion together. And so here’s what I would like us to do. This is a family service. We don’t do these all the time. We receive communion every Sunday. But I think it would be so beautiful that our families would receive communion together.

And if you are here by yourself, if you would just find somebody and just say, “Hey, would you receive communion with me?” But what we’re going to do is we’re going to just come up and we’re going to take the cup, we’re going to take the cracker, and we’re going to go to our seats. And I want us to receive this communion together, because really what this is, is a statement. When we receive Him and we abide in Him, we’re saying, “I belong to Jesus.” Everybody say that: “I belong to Jesus.”

But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:17, “We” — meaning the church — “though we are many, we are one bread and one body, for we all partake of that one bread.” Jesus. Communion is a reminder that Jesus gave Himself for us, and when we receive it together, we’re not only saying, “I belong to Jesus,” we’re saying, “We belong to Jesus.”

And listen, communion is not just meant for Sundays. Families, I would encourage you to receive communion together at home. Jesus said, “As often as you do this.” Everybody say, “Often.” That’s why we do communion every Sunday. We used to do it once a month, and we’re like, why aren’t we doing this every week?

He paid for this. He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” He says, “This is My body which is broken for you. This is the cup of the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

And so as we receive our communion, I want us to do it, number one, in an atmosphere of worship. And number two, I want us to remember what Jesus has paid for. I want you to remember the decision that you made when you gave your life to Him, that Jesus really did ask for your everything. We talked about what the word Lord means. The word Lord means master and decision maker, meaning I’m fully submitted to You, Jesus. Right?

But here He is, and I believe He’s here today, and He’s saying, “Listen, I want you to come to Me and stay connected to Me.” And some of us need to have a little bit of a come-to-Jesus moment as you approach this table. Even just making that your prayer: “Lord, I’m coming to You. Lord, would You strengthen me? Help me to walk with You. Strengthen me, Lord, that as I receive You, as I abide in You, Lord, that I would stay connected to You.”

And so, here’s what I would like for us to do. I’ll get on the guitar here in just a minute. But can we stand together this morning? Let’s stand.

And Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your body that was broken, for Your blood that was shed. And Lord, You’ve given us full access. Lord, this is the cup of the new covenant, which means You’ve given us a new promise that in You we have life. In You, we have freedom. And in You, our sins are forgiven. And so, Lord Jesus, we confess every sin to You right now.

If there’s things in your life that you know aren’t of the Lord — we don’t approach this table frivolously. We approach it with a humble heart, a repentant heart that says, “Lord, forgive me of my sin. Forgive me of the times that I’ve rejected You, that I’ve walked away, that I’ve chosen other vines.”

And even right now, just in your own words, just begin to ask the Holy Spirit, “What vines have I connected to? What vines have I been tethered to?” Maybe it’s a title. Maybe it’s success. Maybe it’s money, maybe it’s affection or fame. Whatever it is, just begin to offer those things to the Lord right now.

And so, Lord, we surrender to You. Lord, we give You all things as we receive of You. Lord, we say yes to You today. Just tell Him right now, say, “Lord Jesus, I say yes to You. Lord Jesus, I choose You, because You chose me first. Lord, help me abide in You. Help me abide in You. Strengthen me. Open my eyes that I would know Your love for me.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Amen. The table’s open. We’ll close with a song, but as you guys are receiving — let’s go ahead and come and receive. Go back to your seats, and let’s receive of the table together.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.