The True Vine John 15.1-17
I wonder if you’ve just had one of those weeks. You
know the kind that leaves you feeling a bit discouraged, a bit fed up, a bit
demoralised. I wonder whether perhaps you are finding the going a bit tough as
a Christian at the moment, because if you are then today’s passage may be just
what you need
We’re with Jesus in his intimate conversation with
his disciples a few hours before the cross. As he speaks to them he speaks to
us
Let’s allow Jesus to speak to us, firstly, about
what he has done for those who are his disciples:
What has Jesus done for us? (v11-17)
1. He has chosen us and appointed us to bear
fruit that will last (v16)
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed
you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.
It’s wonderful to be chosen but its even more
wonderful that we have been appointed to bear fruit that will last. Jesus plan
is that there will be real fruit, real
results, as a result of him choosing us,
and this will not be something of just passing value or significance –
here today and gone tomorrow – rather it will last.
Ken Livingstone famously wanted to remove some of
the generals off their pedestals in Trafalgar Square on the grounds that he had
never heard of them. It’s true, on the whole human achievements do not last,
and most people’s contribution to this world is forgotten. But a Christian has
been appointed to bear fruit that will last for eternity.
Be encouraged your life here, your work for the
Lord, is not in vain. Jesus has planned and determined that you will bear fruit
that will last, if you are one of his disciples
2. He has called us his friends (v15)
15 I no longer call you servants, because a
servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you
friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
I heard of a teacher
who got a job in his old school. Sitting in the staff room on equal terms with
some of his old teachers was really weird. The strangest thing was calling them
by their Christian names. That change from ‘sir’ to ‘Bill’ or ‘Ron’ seemed to
sum up the massive change in relationship that had taken place in moving from
pupil to colleague.
Jesus indicates an even bigger change in the
disciples relationship to him. They are no longer to be his servants but
friends.
It is a real sign of acceptance and affection if
someone calls you a friend. Someone was telling me how much they appreciated a
bishop’s ministry, They said ‘I would regard him as a friend’
Well, Jesus says of his followers, I
regard them as my friends. Why? Well a
servant does not know about his master’s business, the person who works on the
shop floor is not let into the secrets of the boardroom, but Jesus has revealed the
secrets of heaven to his disciples, holding nothing back. Be encouraged if you
are a disciple, Jesus calls you his friend and he has revealed to you in
scripture everything that he has learned from his father
3. He has laid down his life for us (v13)
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he
lay down his life for his friends.
The ultimate thing Jesus has done for us is this: to
lay down his life for us. There is no greater demonstration or proof of his love
than this. Christians are uniquely privileged people. Be encouraged, if you are
a disciple, Jesus has demonstrated his love for you in the most powerful way
possible –on the cross.
4. He has told us something so that our joy will be
complete
(v11)
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be
in you and that your joy may be complete
Lurking in the background of many hearts even Christian
hearts is the thought that God is a bit miserable. A bit of a spoilsport,
strong on judgment but and weak on mercy. This can make us fearful about going
deeper in our knowledge of God, and cautious and anxious about new challenges
the Lord may be calling us to, because in our hearts we expect it to be a
pretty grim and unpleasant experience
That’s why John 15.11 is such a wonderful verse, such a
great corrective to that rather gloomy vision of God
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be
in you and that your joy may be complete
It’s a bit like the Father who looks out of the window at
the kids playing in the garden. They’re having a great time. There are hoots of
laughter, as the kids play together in the warm sunshine. The Dad says ‘its
great to see the kids so happy, but I want to make them even happier, I’ll know
what I’ll take them to McDonalds for
tea, I buy them all a big ice cream on the way there, and on the way back we’ll
pop into the video shop and get a stock of their favourite videos and then I’m
going to let them, stay up past bedtime. That will make their happiness
complete.’
So Jesus looks at his disciples and says they might be quite
joyful now but I want to make their joy complete. I want to make up whatever
may be missing in their joy. I want to ensure that as they live out their
Christian lives they enjoy it to the full. I don’t want them just getting by
with 30 per cent joy or even 75 per cent joy I want their joy to be complete. I
want my joy, the joy that I have
in being me in living in fellowship with my Father and the Spirit, to be in them.
The ever joyful God wants his joy to be in his people. So
says Jesus:
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be
in you and that your joy may be complete
But, what has he told us in order to make our joy complete,
what is his message that is designed to give complete and not just partial joy?
What has Jesus told us? v1-10)
10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in
my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
What does it mean to remain in Jesus love? Surely it means to remain in close fellowship with him. A couple who are still happily married are a couple who still listen to one another and still try to please one another. So it is as a Christian. To remain in Jesus, to remain in his love, is to remain attentive to him, is to continue to listen his voice and obey it:
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they
follow me. John
10.27
Love and obedience are closely linked. If we obey
Jesus commands we will remain in his love, but if we disobey then we break
fellowship with Jesus and rupture his love
It’s a bit like a marriage. If a man goes off and
commits adultery, it’s not just that he breaks a rule, though he does do
that, he also tears apart his
relationship. In the same way when we break God’s rules we disrupt our
relationship with him, and that relationship needs mending through repentance
and confession if we are to remain in his love
It is only by remaining in him that we can bear
fruit. Just as a branch detached from a vine withers and dies, so a believer
detached from Jesus – were that possible – would be utterly unable to bear any
spiritual fruit:
4 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.
Keep close to Jesus. Keep in fellowship with him.
Obey him. Let his words remain in you.
For this is the way of fullness of joy:
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be
in you and that your joy may be complete
The Way to the Father: John 14.1-14
Some years a satirical magazine gave a new use to an
old photo. It was a shot of one of the early Billy Graham crusades. There
was the picture of the stadium packed
with a vast congregation, in the distance was the tiny figure of the speaker
standing at the podium, and high above a giant banner proclaimed the words ‘I
am the way, the truth and the life’
The Eye added a new caption ‘Mrs Thatcher in
confident mood at the Brighton conference’
In the real world, it would be ridiculous, not to
say blasphemous, for any politician, or world leader to take as their personal
slogan ‘I am the way the truth and the life’ but when Jesus uttered these
words, no one laughed, - because they
were true - who but Jesus could make
these claims ?
But as the way, the truth, and the life Jesus has
power and authority to bestow wonderful privileges on his people. Heaven, of
which he speaks in verses 1-4 is the best known but this morning I want to
focus on three further wonderful privileges that Jesus has promised us now, not
when we die, but now
Firstly, we have received
The ultimate revelation
I like the modesty and the enormity of Philip’s request:
Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for
us." (verse 8)
He’s not asking for much, is he? Show us the Father and that
will be enough us for us! It’s a bit like going to the policeman at the gates
of Buckingham Palace and say ‘please show me the Queen’s private jewellery
collection and all her most intimate letters to her family, that will be enough
for us.’ Or the newly elected MP knocking on the door of No 10 and saying to
the Prime Minister: ‘just make me Chancellor of the Exchequer and that will be
enough for me.’
Behind Philip’s request there is perhaps a longing. A
longing to know God more, a longing for more of God, a longing for a greater
certainty, a deeper assurance, a fuller revelation of God’s glory, a greater
experience of God’s love and might and power. There’s nothing dishonourable or
unworthy about that longing
You might be able to sympathise with Philip’s request: ‘show
me more, reveal more of yourself to me, give me the ultimate revelation – then
I will be satisfied’
I admire the question, I empathise with the longing behind
it, but I never fail to be astonished, rebuked, and encouraged by the
magisterial, world shattering reply:
9 Jesus
answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such
a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show
us the Father'?
Philip, have you still not realised who I am, and
what you have because you know me, says Jesus, anyone has seen me has seen the
Father. I am the creator God, Almighty God, ruler of the universe standing here
before you. You want the ultimate revelation of God and you have it. Here I am.
You are looking at it now because you are looking at me
In the words of Colossians 1
v
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
v
19 For God was pleased to have all his
fullness dwell in him,
The person who has Jesus has everything. How could
he ever have more than an eternal relationship with the eternal Son of
God?
Nonetheless, from the first days of the Christianity
there have those who have said that a Christian needs more than Jesus –
sometimes a particular ritual, sometimes a particular experience, sometimes a
particular of religious discipline, or membership of a particular group
This extra thing is never offered instead of
Jesus but always in addition to Jesus. It seems innocent enough, but you
can never add anything to Jesus without diminishing his glory, any more than a
man can add to his love for his wife by welcoming another woman into his
marriage
To those who think there is something more beyond
him, Jesus says
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.
The reason Philip asked for something
more was because he didn’t realise all that he had in Jesus – because his eyes
were not yet fully open to Jesus glory. When we sense we feel we need more of God – let us close our ears to the
latest group or craze or teaching or book
that offers us the moon – instead let us open our eyes to gaze upon
Jesus, and recognise afresh all we have in him
Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God.
But that’s not all, he promises in this passage, he also
promises that we shall have power to perform the ultimate miracle:
The ultimate miracle
12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in
me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these,
because I am going to the Father.
Let’s be clear about this promise: first it applies to every Christian (anyone who has faith in me). Secondly it is that every Christian will do greater things than Jesus. Thirdly if Jesus is who he claims to be, then this promise must actually have happened - so we have every right to survey the history of the church, and our own church, and discover the nature of these greater things.
Perhaps Jesus means greater in quantity? That
undoubtedly is true. More people have been touched by God through the ministry
of the church in the last 2,000 years than in the three years of Jesus public
ministry
But does Jesus also mean greater in quality, that
is, even more wonderful and remarkable
things than he did ? Does he mean that we will feed 10,000 with a few fish and
bread instead of merely 5,000, that we will be able to drive a horse and cart
over the sea and not merely walk on it, that we might raise a whole cemetery
from the dead instead of one mere man. Or is there something else altogether
that occurs amongst us today that is
greater than even the most mighty works of Jesus during his earthly
ministry?
But now the Spirit has come and something
remarkable is happening. the Gospel is being preached and people are being born
again by the Spirit of God, saved, justified, pardoned and adopted into God’s
family. If you are a Christian you are a walking miracle. And every time the
Gospel is proclaimed and a person becomes a Christian, a miracle greater than
anything Jesus did in his earthy ministry occurs. A life is transformed for
eternity, and God by his Holy Spirit takes up residence in a person’s life.
By joining in the work of evangelism we get to share
in this miracle-working ministry of raising the spiritual dead to eternal life.
What a privilege!
But not only that, we also have the privilege of
praying the
The ultimate prayer
13 And I
will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the
Father. 14 You may ask me for anything
in my name, and I will do it.
His name not a talisman or magic
charm, not a divine Abracadabra which if uttered guarantees success,
because in the Bible a person’s name sums up their whole character, it is not
just a tag or a label. A prayer that is in Jesus name is not merely a prayer
that ends with the phrase ‘in Jesus name’ but a prayer that is in accordance
with his character and purposes, a prayer which’ in Jesus words, will enable
the Son to ‘bring glory to the Father.’ For that to happen it must be a prayer in accordance
with the will and purposes of God the Holy Trinity - In effect, it is a prayer
to which the Lord Jesus himself says ‘Amen’
The marvellous promise is that not only will Jesus
say ‘Amen’ to a prayer offered in his name but he will act upon it:
What a wonderful encouragement to prayer. How can
you or I be so reluctant and apathetic in prayer when the Lord who holds the
universe in his hands says to us personally
‘You may ask anything in my name, and I will do it.’
Ask Jesus. And whatever you ask that pleases him, he
will do it - because you’ve asked. That’s his promise.
So, three wonderful privileges for every Christian:
¨ the ultimate revelation
¨ the ultimate miracle
¨ the ultimate prayer
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God!
36 For from
him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!
Amen. Romans 11.33,36
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Something happened to 600,000 of our fellow citizens last
year that will happen to each of us – they died. According to Christian
Research, a church like ours can expect to lose 1.27% of its members by death
in any one year. in the long run, however, the death rate in this congregation
will be 100 per cent - we will all die.
Those of you who did the Christianity Explored
course will remember the story of the great Russian novelist Tolstoy and his
search for meaning and purpose in life. He tried everything! He tried writing
a novel, a big novel – that’s how War
and Peace first saw the light of day -
it was a success but that it didn’t quite satisfy.
So he thought he would try family life- Mr & Mrs Tolstoy decided to start a
family. They proceeded to have 13 children. For a time Tolstoy didn’t have time
to think about the meaning of life ….…but then
one day as he watched his children playing happily in the garden a terrible thought gripped his soul: ‘one day all these
children will be dead’
That thought led him to despair… but then it led him to
Christ
You see, you can ignore death but you cannot avoid it. You
can postpone it but you cannot prevent it. That’s why today’s bible reading is
so practical. Some people think that the Bible is all airy-fairy pie in
the sky stuff, completely unrelated to life in the real world, Monday-Friday, 9
to 5, but what could be more practical than a face to face to encounter with
the man who has the answer to death?
Let’s focus in on that man, Jesus, today, and
especially on what he said on the occasion of his mighty raising of Lazarus
from the dead, and in particular on three of his statements:
STATEMENT No.1: “This sickness will not end in death
…it is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified” (v4)
Rembrandt got it right (see picture at top of page)
- the central figure in this drama is Jesus himself, not Lazarus, not the
onlookers. From the moment he first heard Lazarus was ill, Jesus was clear that
the final outcome of this illness would be glory to God. Jesus will do
something that will reveal something of God’s glory and something of who he is
- just like a statue or portrait is unveiled to reveal the glory of the
artist’s skill, so the illness that has befallen Lazarus is going to result in
an unveiling of the glory of Jesus
In verse 40 Jesus
says
Did I not tell you
that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?
That tells us something very interesting: any one can see a miracle but only
a believer can see the glory of God. Anyone who happened to pass by that day in
Bethany could see the miracle of the raising of Lazarus, but the person who saw
and believed would see something more, they would see the glory of God
and his Son. The miracle would be like a spotlight turned on to Jesus, lighting
up his glory as the Son of God. They would go home saying not ‘something great
happened to Lazarus today’ but ‘isn’t God great’, ‘isn’t Jesus great’
As Jesus said “This sickness will not end in death
…it is for God’s glory so that God’s son may be glorified” (v4)
STATEMENT No. 2: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep but I am going to wake him up” (v11)
It’s not that Lazarus is
actually sleeping, Jesus knows that full well, but to Jesus, death is like
sleep. If someone is sleeping you can wake them up. If they’re dead, there is
nothing you do about it no one can - except Jesus. A lady said she had died
three times on the operating table – she didn’t, merely her heart stopped
beating - when you are dead you are dead
But to Jesus death was
like sleep. Lazarus was dead, really dead, dead four days, dead to the extent
that his body had started to decay, and people were starting to worry about the
smell if they opened up the tomb, but Jesus says ‘I am going to wake him up’
And he does. As Charles
Wesley says ‘he speaks,. and listening to his voice, new life the dead receive’
- because that’s all he does he speaks. We see once more the amazing
power of God’s word
Once the earth was formless
and empty and darkness was over the deep and then God said. And God
called into being the sun and the moon, the sea and the dry land, the plants,
the fishes, the birds and the animals and then beings made in his own image.
Now the same God, who spoke and
it was so, now clothed in human flesh, speaks again. ‘Lazarus come out!’ says
Jesus, and the dead man came out alive. He speaks, and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive.
“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep’ says ‘ but I am going
to wake him up”
Who but Jesus can say
that? Who but Jesus can do it?
STATEMENT No. 3: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who
believes in me will live even though he dies’
(v25)
Not many people have been raised from the dead by Jesus, not
yet anyway but what Jesus did for Lazarus, he will do for all those who believe in him
That is why the very special and particular miracle that
Jesus performed for Lazarus, comes with
a message not just for Lazarus, not just for the astonished onlookers at the
Bethany Municipal Cemetery but for every person sitting in Holy Trinity Church
this morning. The miracle that Jesus performed for Lazarus is a sign and
pointer and a promise. it’s as if Jesus is saying ‘look that’s what I can do’
and ‘that what’s I am going to do’
And as he does it he gives a promise
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the
resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he
dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes
in me will never die.
These words, words spoken by Jesus at the raising of
Lazarus, begin every funeral service in the Church of England. As the coffin is
carried into the church of chapel, Jesus words proclaim that he has the power
to raise the dead and give eternal life to everyone who believes in him.
As for Lazarus of course died again, but the person who
turns in faith to Jesus will live for ever
That’s why Jesus concludes with the vital question
Do
you believe this? (v26)
It was addressed to Martha but it is addressed to us too
Martha’s answer was
27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I
believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the
world."
May that be our answer too.
It was the most extraordinary dinner party in the
history of the world. Just look at the guest list – Jesus, guest of honour;
Lazarus, newly raised from the dead; his sisters Martha & Mary; and Judas
the man who is about to betray the Lord . The whole event occurs under the
shadow of the cross – in less than a week Jesus will be dead and by this point
the plotting for his murder is already well advanced
It was an extraordinary event and it
contained the most extraordinary contrasts between good and evil, light and
darkness
Jesus is the one who brings life; his enemies
are those who plot death
The bare fact of Lazarus’ presence at the
meal is a miracle. Twice in a few short verses John draws our attention to this.
It is not just ‘Lazarus’ but in verse 1 and 9 it is ‘Lazarus who Jesus has
raised from the dead’
There sitting, eating,
laughing and talking is a very ordinary man, who has the most extraordinary
story to tell of how the Lord Jesus raised him from the grave by a simple word
of command, four days after his body had been buried. Lazarus is a living, walking, talking
demonstration of the power of Jesus over death
Lazarus is living proof that Jesus is the one who
has come to give life to the dead, just
as he promised in John 5.25:
I
tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear
the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
The presence of Lazarus is the evidence that that time
has come and that Jesus has begun his ministry of waking the dead
Jesus stands before us as the giver of life, but in
stark contrast are the enemies of God who are plotting death. It is of the
nature of evil to seek to destroy the life of God
Already by this time Jesus is leading a virtual
undercover existence because of the plotting of the Jews. The high priest has
declared that one man must die for the people, and the Jewish leaders have
begun to plot his death, so that in John 11.54 we read
Therefore Jesus no longer moved about
publicly among the Jews. Instead he withdrew to a region near the desert, to a
village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.
Death is in the air. Soon the giver of life will himself be dead, and not just Jesus, but Lazarus too, if the plotters get their way:
the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus
as well,11 for on account of him many
of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him. John 12.10-11
How utterly perverse and wicked! What an
awful irony! Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead so the chief priests plan
to kill him.
Why were they doing that? Because Lazarus’s
very existence was a living testimony to the power of Jesus. So they needed to
destroy not only Jesus but the evidence of his power too
On the one hand we have the two sisters both
expressing their love and devotion to Jesus in different yet characteristic ways.
Martha, the practical one, is serving at the table, expressing her devotion,
her worship, in a simple down-to-earth manner, whilst Mary, perhaps given to
more dramatic gestures, pours a pint of finest perfume over Jesus feet
It was an extravagant act of love – the value
of the perfume was equal to a year’s wages - but Jesus commends her for it
Mary and Martha’s heart-attitude contrasts
strongly with that of Judas. Outwardly
his concern is an entirely laudable concern for the poor, but his real motive
is rather different
Judas is not concerned for the poor at all –
he’s looking out for No. 1. As a habitual
thief from the disciples common purse Judas would be able to benefit personally from any monetary gift
received . So you can see why a gift of cash was greatly preferred to that all
that perfume that had quite literally
evaporated into thin air. Judas is already leading a double life and soon his
duplicity will lead to betrayal, the death of his master, and his own suicide
At that dinner party was
see, the contrast between the true devotion of Martha & Mary & deceit of Judas , the contrast between the
giver of life and the plotters of death, and thirdly we see:
It was not uncommon for honoured guests to be anointed with
perfume. It was perhaps the first century equivalent of laying out the red
carpet or getting out the best china. Usually anointing was in the context of
festivity and celebration, but here Jesus gives a relatively common act, a very
uncommon meaning, for it is the death of the guest of honour that is in
view:
Jesus indicates that Mary’s
action has a kind of prophetic quality - it points forward to the events of the cross in a few days time. The very
fact that such a prophetic sign is given indicates that events are not running
out of control. Wicked men are planning wicked things, but the sovereign Lord
is in charge
That’s why Peter will be
able to say on the day of Pentecost about the events of the first Good Friday:
23 This man was handed over to you
by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men,
put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Acts 2.23
Even in the midst of the
deceitful scheming of Judas and the murderous plotting of the chief priests,
God’s purposes for your salvation and mine are being worked out. It’s not that
God is the author of their wickedness, but rather than he can use it to achieve his loving purposes
Mary’s prophetic action in
the beginning of the week that leads up to the death of the Messiah is a
message to the world that God is in control and that the ultimate act of
salvation is imminent .
And, finally, what about you and me? Mary showed her estimation
of Jesus true worth in a costly, extravagant act. Some regarded it as wasteful
– but it is never wasteful to give of yourself in worship and service of Jesus
In his song I will offer up my life, Matt Redman
speaks of a whole life offered to God in thanksgiving and devotion, in terms of
‘pouring out the oil of love’, recalling Mary’s anointing of Jesus with fine
perfume in John 12. May we pour out the oil of love, in gratitude to the Lord
who gave his life for us:
In spirit and truth,
Pouring out the oil of love
As my worship to You.
In surrender I must give my every part;
Lord, receive the sacrifice
Of a broken heart.
Jesus, what can
I give, what can I bring
To so faithful a
friend, to so loving a King?
Saviour, what
can be said, what can be sung
As a praise of
Your name
For the things
You have done?
Oh, my words
could not tell, not even in part,
Of the debt of
love that is owed by this thankful heart.
Matt Redman © 1994 Kingway’s Thankyou Music
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