Sermon Tone Analysis

We are in a new series entitled “Closer: Pressing into Christ”.

Here is our theme verse for the series.

Read it with me.

Last week, we looked at prayer and fasting.

Prayer and fasting go hand in hand.

Jesus said after he left this earth, his disciples would fast.

Prayer and fasting should be a routine part of the life of a believer.

Today, we are going to look at one of the “I AM” sayings of Jesus.

The passage we are going to look contains a word that needs to be properly understood before the passage can be properly interpreted.

The word is “remain” or “abide”.

The word is used eleven times in and forty times through the gospel of John.

When you think of “remaining” or “abiding”, you might think of “staying put”.

You might think of the idea like “I had to remain at work today.”

In other words, I had to stay in the place I was occupying.

However, when John used the word “remain” or “abide” it carried a different concept.

The word means to “keep on, to continue in an activity or state of being.”

Remain (abide) - μενω - “keep on, to continue in an activity or state of being”

This is important to understand because bad theology leads to bad practice.

Some people have used this passage of Scripture to advocate the position that a true believer can lose their salvation; however, such a teaching would be completely inconsistent with Jesus’ other words and John’s other writings.

John doesn’t teach the possibility of losing your salvation.

Jesus doesn’t teach that you can lose your salvation.

Jesus is saying his true followers keep on.

They stay with him.

They continue on faithfully obeying his teachings.

In order to understand what Jesus is teaching you have to look at the larger context.

Jesus is talking to Jewish people.

Many Jews thought, and some still think, just because they are Abraham’s descendants, just because they are of the right family, they are going to be saved.

Salvation is not about being of the right family line.

Salvation is having faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is saying,

“I know many people think they have a real relationship with me.

I suppose because they come to worship, they think they are in a relationship with God and are eternally secure.

In truth, anyone who trusts in anything or anyone but me is not in me at all and has no relationship with me.

Those who truly are in me bear fruit.

Those who do not bear fruit are not in me and will be severed from any relation to me and will ultimately face God’s wrath.”

With that background, let’s look at the Scriptures together.

The first thing I want you to notice is:

Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the gardener.

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To our ears, this statement doesn’t sound too shocking, but to the first century Jew, this statement would have been scandalous.

First, Jesus is claiming equality with Yahweh.

He said, “I AM”.

This linked him to the Great I AM of the Exodus.

When Moses asked God to reveal his name, God said, “I AM”.

To further the scandalous claim, Jesus claimed to be the true vine.

The symbol of Israel was the vine.

They put this image on their walls and coins.

The idea was that the people of Israel are God’s people and they were entrusted with the ways of life.

In the Old Testament, Israel is often pictured as a vine.

Now, Jesus reveals himself as the true vine, not Israel.

What this means is that Jesus is starting a new people of God, a new Israel.

Jesus is the source of life and outside of Jesus there is no life.

Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the gardener.

Second, God loving prunes to make Jesus’ disciples more productive.

God lovingly prunes to make Jesus’ disciples more productive.

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Now, look at verse ten.

Remaining in Jesus is not a passive thing.

It involves obedience to Jesus’ commands.

The love of God is not in a person who refuses to obey the word of God.

Obedience isn’t about “rule-keeping”.

Obedience is a way of life.

It is discipleship.

It is having Jesus as your King and Lord.

The love of God is not in a person who refuses to obey the word of God.

To quote the children’s song I learned so many years ago, “Obedience is the very best way to show that you believe.

Doing exactly what the Lord commands and doing it happily.

Action is the key, Do it immediately.

Joy you will receive.”

How can we say “joy you will receive?”

The fruit that God wanted from Adam and Eve was their loving obedience.

They only had one thing and they couldn’t do that.

The fruit that God wanted from the nation of Israel was their loving obedience, but they wouldn’t obey.

As matter of fact, at one point in their history, the record states that they did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

The fruit that God wants from us today is our loving obedience.

When we obey him and follow his ways, he gives us joy!

Do you know what I am seeing today?

Many people would are claiming the name of Christ and are publically living in complete disobedience to the Word of God.

I am not talking about issues that godly people can disagree about; I am talking about living openly sinful lifestyle.

They are liars, addicts, sexually immoral, homosexual, advocating for abortion, and idolators.

You aren’t a true disciple of Jesus Christ if you are living a lifestyle of disobedience to his clear revealed Word.

(Time, Resources, Relationships, Behaviors)

There are two types of branches: fruit producing branches and branches that produce no fruit.

The branches may look similar, but the lack of fruit on some of them denotes them as not part of the true vine, Jesus.

It is the fruit production that reveals who is really connected to Jesus and who is not.

We will look at the non-fruit being branches in just a little bit.

Right now, let’s talk about the ones that are producing fruit.

The ones connected to the true vine are pruned for the purpose of increasing the fruit production.

I don’t know much about pruning.

I did plant lime, lemon, and avocado trees last year, so I will probably need to become more familiar with pruning.

With my basic understanding, pruning should always be done with a purpose in mind.

Some pruning is done to change the way the tree is growing.

Some pruning is done to maintain or improve the health of the tree.

Some pruning is done to improve the quantity of fruit production.

Pruning improves sunlight penetration and increases air movement through the tree so that the tree will be healthy.

I doubt that trees have feeling, but if they did, they would probably ask you to not cut off their parts.

They may not understand why it is necessary.

They might be a little afraid and might even doubt your intentions.

I think we do this with God.

We don’t like to be pruned.

It is uncomfortable, maybe even unpleasant, but it is necessary.

God lovingly prunes us to make us more productive for his kingdom.