Christ the True Vine

Amen. Welcome. Good to see you all here today.
The passage of scripture that we’re
looking at this morning is part of the Gospel of John that has been
come to be known as the Upper Room Discourse. And John chapter 13 is one of
the chapters which sets the scene for this discourse, which contains
many of Jesus’ last instructions, admonitions, revelations about
himself. And John 13, if you want to go
there to begin with, it opens by saying, now before the feast
of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, to depart out of this world to
the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he
loved them to the end. John MacArthur has written on
this verse. He said, to the end, in the Greek,
is ais telos, meaning literally that he loved them to perfection,
that he loved them to the uttermost. He loved them with total fullness
of love, end of quote. John the Apostle goes on in this
chapter 13 of his gospel to chronicle the remarkable scene of Jesus
beginning to show the fullness of his love for us by washing the feet of
each of the disciples. This was a task that was normally
reserved for the lowest ranking slave. because of the way that
they typically traveled in those days and because of the nature
of the roads and the type of footwear that was
available to them, their feet would be quite dirty by the time
the end of the day came, right? You can imagine it was not just
dust and dirt, but animal waste and whatever else made it into
the street that was clinging to their feet. So it was such
a dirty and lowly task that evidently no one present other than Jesus
himself would even consider doing such a thing in the absence of
the servant who evidently by divine design was not there that
day. But to their chagrin, Jesus not
only does this lowly task, but commands them to do likewise
on each other’s behalf. And this is the same group of
disciples who not that long before were arguing about who was going
to be the greatest. So this foot washing demonstration
in Christ’s subsequent admonition, no doubt, came to them as something
of a shock. The shocks continue to come when
shortly thereafter he makes known to them the reality of his impending
betrayal by one of this very inner circle whose feet he had
just washed. John tells it like this after
Peter initially refuses to let Jesus wash his feet. Jesus says,
if I do not wash you, you have no share with me. at which Peter
does a 180 and says, if that’s the case, then wash not only
my feet, but my hands and my head as well. Peter is like that, right? But Jesus says,
if you’re clean, you need only to wash your feet. And you are
clean, but not every one of you. For it says, he knew who was
to betray him. And that’s why he said, not all
of you are clean. And in verse 21 of John 13, Jesus
makes it even more plain by saying, truly, truly, I say to you, one
of you will betray me. After which Jesus, in a somewhat
secret fashion, identifies the culprit by giving him the morsel
of food and telling him to do quickly what he’s going to do.
And John says of Judas, who was the culprit, of course,
that after receiving the morsel of bread, immediately he went
out and it was night. And we kind of have this picture
of darkness falling and Judas departing. And this is when the discourse,
the uproom discourse, really kicks off. So chapter 13 is an
introduction into this. this address that Jesus gives.
And Jesus reserves the things he’s going to say to them, especially
for this crucial and pivotal time right before his arrest,
trial, and crucifixion. This is right on the eve of all
of these things happening. And it’s notable that The part of the Upper Room Discourse
which is recorded beginning in John 14 and going through John
17 with Jesus’ high priestly prayer is unique to the Gospel
of John. The other Gospels cover the events leading up to this
main discourse, but John alone records the heart of it that
we have here. And this might cause some to
ask, well, why is it only in John’s Gospel? It was so important. And of course, we can’t exactly
answer that question because the secret things belong to the
Lord and he hasn’t told us why. It’s only in John’s gospel. But
it may very well be that the Lord wanted these passages to
stand out from the rest of the gospel so that they would be
the object of our special attention and special scrutiny. So we’ll
start by praying again. than reading our passage found
in the first seven verses of John chapter 15. But I do want
to give you a little bit of an outline of what we’re going to
be focusing on together today before that. First of all, we’re
going to try to zero in on the main point of this passage, on that which is John and the Holy
Spirit is really driving that here. There are a number of commands
and admonitions in this passage, even a number of warnings, we
could say, all of which are important, but I would argue that none of
those things are the main point of these verses. Rather, the
main point is found in the first verse where Jesus utters his
seventh I am statement here in the book of John. He says, I
am the true vine. And my father is the vine dresser.
So the main point is the identity of Christ as the true vine or,
and as we will look at it, we could say the true Israel based
on the imagery that we find in the Old Testament. Second, we
will look at Christ’s commands to his disciples in this passage.
To abide in him and to abide in his love. What do these commands
mean? What does he mean by these admonitions,
what does he expect us to be doing and not doing as it relates
to the analogy of Christ as the true vine? Thirdly, we’ll be
looking at the fact that we have not chosen him, but he’s chosen
us, right? To go, it says, and bring forth
fruit. And what that means for us as
a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people who
are his very own. But let’s begin by praying together. You never pray too much, I don’t
think. Will you join me? I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes
its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he heard
me. and answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
He entered the Lord and camps around those who fear him and
delivers them. O taste and see that the Lord
is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. O Father,
we come to you today. We thank you for Christ, the
true vine, the one you planted, and the one into whom we have
been grafted by faith in Christ. We pray that your word and your
will would be made clear to us today, that the amazing truth
of your person and work would come through, and that everything
that we say and think would be Glorifying to you as we seek
to explain this passage and apply it to our lives today. Amen and
amen. So we are in John chapter 15,
and I’m going to begin by reading in verse 1. You want to turn
there, John 15, verse 1. I am the true vine, and my father
is the vine dresser. 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’ve 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 and thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide
in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it
will be done for you. By this, my Father is glorified, that
you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father
has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to
you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that
you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no
one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer
do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his
master is doing, but I have called you friends for all that I have
heard from my father. I’ve made known to you. You did not choose me, but I
chose you and appointed you. that you should go and bear fruit,
and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the
Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command
you so that you will love one another. Amen. So what Christ says here in the
first verse of John 15, as we were saying, is the last of the
seven I am sayings found in the book of John. These start with
Jesus declaring, I am the bread of life in John 6, 35, and I
am the light of the world in John 8, 12. He says, I am the
door in John 10, 9, and I am the good shepherd in John 10,
11. He says, I am the resurrection and the life in John 1125, I
am the way, the truth, and the life in John 14.6. And finally
here in John 15.1, he says, I am the true vine. Christ, in revealing
himself as he does here, is calling upon the knowledge that his disciples
would have had of the analogy or the picture of Israel in the
Old Testament as the vine of God’s planting. We can see this
imagery in a number of places in the Old Testament, including
the writings of the prophet Isaiah and Jeremiah and in the Psalms. I’m going to start in Isaiah
5, verse 1. Let me sing for my beloved my
love song concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard. On
a very fertile hill, he dug it and cleared of stones and planted
it with choice vines. He built a watchtower in the
midst of it and hewed out a wine vat in it. He looked for it to
yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants
of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done
in it? When I looked for it to yield
grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and
it shall be devoured. I will break down its wall, and
it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste. It shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briars and thorns shall grow up. I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord
of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his
pleasant planting. And he looked for justice. But
behold, bloodshed for righteousness, but behold, an outcry. He says,
what more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done
in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield
wild grapes? So the house of Israel is compared
to a vineyard in the pleasant planting of the Lord. He looked
for it to yield good fruit, but it ended up yielding bad fruit,
wild grapes, stink fruit, as some commentators Translated,
he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed, righteousness, but
behold, an outcry. We could also look at Jeremiah
2, which creates an even more graphic picture. He says, long
ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds, but you said I will
not serve. Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree,
you bowed down like a harlot. Yet I planted you a choice vine,
wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate
and become a wild vine? Though you wash yourself with
lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before
me, says the Lord God. And finally, in Psalm 80, starting
in verse 7, he says, restore us. O God of hosts, let your
face shine that we may be saved. You brought a vine out of Egypt.
You drove out the nations. and planted it. You cleared the
ground and it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains
were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its branches to the
sea and its roots to the river. Why then have you broken down
its walls so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
The bore from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the
field feed upon it. Turn again, O Lord of hosts.
Look down from heaven and sea, and have regard for this vine,
the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom
you have made strong for yourself. They have burned it with fire,
they have cut it down. May they perish at the rebuke of your
face. Let your hand be on the man of
your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for
yourself. Then we shall not turn back from
you. Give us life and we will call upon your name. Restore
us, O Lord of hosts. Let your face shine that we may
be saved. So Israel was the pleasant planting
of the Lord. He brought them out of Egypt.
He did everything to make them fruitful, saying, what more could
I have done that I haven’t done? But they became a wild vine,
a degenerate vine, a vine that did not bring forth the fruit
that was required. So Israel is a type or a picture. And in this case, a picture of
Christ, even as Adam is a picture of Christ. There are many what
are called types or shadows in the Old Testament of Christ.
And Israel was one of those major types and shadows. In Hosea chapter
11, verse 1, he says, speaking of Israel, out of Egypt I have
called my son. You heard that passage? Well,
ultimately, in the New Testament, it points out that this is talking
about Christ. And Christ is, therefore, the
true vine, the true Israel to which all these types and shadows
pointed. It was ultimately not about Israel. It’s ultimately not about Adam,
who was, as we said, a type of Christ. It’s ultimately not about
us. It was about Christ. It was about the one who was
to come. And he had now come into the
world to accomplish all that God had promised that he would
achieve through his son. He calls himself, in many cases,
the son of man. And as we read in Psalm 80, Israel,
the vine of God’s planning, is referred to as the son of man
that you have made strong for yourself. that Christ is the
Son of Man is evident. He’s the perfect fulfillment
of all God’s promises. Amen? When God promised to Abraham
that in you all the nations of the world will be blessed, or
more specifically, in your seed, all the nations of the world
will be blessed, he was prophesying about Christ. So Christ, in John
15, is revealing to them the reality that it is all about
him. It’s all fulfilled in him, that
everything they need beyond that is in him, that he’s the source
of every good thing, the source of every spiritual blessing in
heavenly places. So when he says, I am the true
vine, he’s saying much more than what we might have initially
imagined. I am the true vine, and my father
is the vine dresser. He is the one that plants and
takes care of me, his son, and he is the one that will take
care of you as well if you’re united to me by faith. I am the vine, you are the branches,
but he says every branch of me that does not bear fruit he takes
away. So what does he mean by this?
Does he mean that people who are genuinely in Christ, genuinely
trusting Him, genuinely born of the Spirit, that who do not
bear fruit, that there’s people who don’t bear fruit, though
they have genuine faith? No, I don’t believe so. I don’t
believe that’s what he’s saying at all. When he says that there
are branches in me that don’t bear fruit, and those branches
are taken away, I would argue that It harkens back to what
just happened in chapter 13, with the revelation that Judas,
who was one of his 12 apostles, 12 disciples, was going
to betray him. And Judas was taken away because,
as Jesus said, you are not all clean. But we understand as we
read in verse 3 that when Jesus says to them, already you are
clean through the words that I’ve spoken to you, that that
cleansing did not include Judas, even though he appeared to be
one of them. And we know that by this time
in the narrative, Judas had departed after Jesus urged him to do quickly
what he was going to do. There are people that appear
to be in the vine that are not genuine branches. There are not
people who have genuine faith. Now, there are other views on
this. And some commentators would point
out that it’s possible that he’s talking about branches that are
genuine but fall under the discipline of the Lord to such an extent
that their physical lives are taken, and in that sense, they’re
taken away. The apostle Paul wrote in Corinthians
about people who had such a sinful attitude when it came to the
ordinance of the Lord’s Supper that many of them were weak and
sick, and some of them had even died. So some would say, well,
that’s what he’s talking about here, the branch in me. And the issue is, he’s talking
about in me, then how can you be in Christ and not really be
a person of genuine faith? And this whole motif of the vine
and Israel being the vine, there were many who were part of, seemed
to be part of Israel, who did not have this genuine faith,
and therefore were not fruitful, like Judas. It’s not that, in
the case of the people that died because of their attitude, their
bad attitude about the Lord’s Supper, it wasn’t that they were
losing their salvation. because it’s not something we
gain by our effort or lose by our lack of effort. But I tend
to think that these fruitless branches are much more likely
referring to people like Judas, referring to people like those
in the nation of Israel who appear, they said, to be believers, to
be followers, but never really were. And their eventual apostasy
is the evidence of this reality. Jesus says, I am the vine, and
my father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that does
not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit,
he prunes that it may bring forth more fruit. And now you’re clean
because of the word that I’ve spoken to you already. says,
you are clean, as he said to Peter. And he that is clean need
only wash his feet. And we are clean, as it says
in Titus chapter 3, verse 5, through the washing of regeneration.
When we come to faith in Christ, there’s a cleansing that happens,
right? There’s a change. And we are
freed immediately from the penalty of sin. We are brought from death
to life. We are brought out of darkness
into the light. And so if that’s the case, we’re
not going to be a completely fruitless branch. Does that make
sense? And now he moves in verse 4 to
the first of his commands here in John 15. It says, abide in
me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless
it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide
in me. So the Lord brings up this concept
of abiding in the vine. And beyond that, the absolute
necessity of abiding in the vine if we’re going to bring forth
fruit, right? To abide, what does this mean?
It means to remain. Some of your translations will
use the word remain instead of abide. To continue or to dwell. And this command has everything
to do with being progressively set free from the power of sin
and from the power of a fruitless or futile life and existence.
We are set free from the penalty of sin, but we are in the process
of being set free from the power of sin. So this abiding in Christ
has everything to do with that, I would argue. As genuine branches
in the true vine, we have been set free. We’re in the process
of being set free. And we will eventually be set
free, right? We have been set free from death
itself and from the fear of death and everything that goes along
with it. But this abiding is focused on something else. It’s
focused on the need to continue in the vine as the only way to
be an increasingly fruitful branch. It’s not about initial salvation,
but about ongoing fellowship and sanctification that comes
with that fellowship. So verse 5, he says, I am the
vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in
him, it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do
nothing. So as we were saying, It’s not likely that the fruitless
branch is referring to anyone that has genuine faith in Christ.
As it says in 1 John 3, we know we pass from death to life because
we love the brothers, and he who does not love abides in death.
If we are in Christ, we do have at least some fruit in our lives. some evidence that our faith
is genuine, but we can’t have more or less fruit based upon
what Jesus is saying here, right? He that abides in me and I in
him, it is that bears much fruit. So it’s not an issue of no fruit
or fruit, but it’s a matter of some fruit versus much fruit. And he goes on to say, for without
me, right, you can do, What? Nothing, right? And though no genuine branch
can be without him in the ultimate sense, we can be without him
in the sense that we’re not looking to him and relying on him to
be able to do what we should be striving to do. And we can
see an illustration of this. If we go back for a moment to
John 13, when Jesus tells them that he’s going away and where
he’s going, they cannot come. In verse 33, if you want to turn
there quickly to John 13. Verse 33 of John 13, he says,
children, a little while Yet a little while I’m with you,
you will seek me. And just as I said to the Jews,
now I also say to you, where I’m going, you cannot come. And
then Peter, remember Peter, he chimes in with the question,
Lord, where are you going? And the Lord answers him, where
I’m going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow afterward.
Peter said to him, Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will
lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, will you lay
down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the
rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. This is the same Peter who in
Mark said, even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus
said to him, truly, I tell you, this very night before the rooster
crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he emphatically
said, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they
all said the same. Therefore, it wasn’t just poor
Peter that was saying, I won’t deny you, even if I must die
with you. It was all of them. Yet with the time came for this
shepherd to be struck, what happened? The sheep were scattered, right?
They all ran away. We can say in a very real sense
that they were illustrating the point Jesus is making here, that
without him, we can do nothing. And we certainly are not able
to stand up when the stakes are high and be counted faithful
based upon our own ability to do so. There is a different way
that we are called to follow, a different way of living and
acting that is not based upon our own ability or strength,
but based upon that which is found in Christ alone. Verse
six, if you go back to John 15. Verse six, if anyone does not
abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and
branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and are burned.
This harkens back to verse two and the fate of the fruitless
branches. John Gill says of this verse,
Jesus does not say, if you abide not in me, He would not suppose
this of his true disciples. He says, if anyone doesn’t abide
in me, he doesn’t say, if you don’t abide in me. He says, if
anyone does not abide in me. He says, he would not suppose
this of his true disciples, though it may be applied to anyone who
has made a profession of Christ and denies the truth of the gospel,
neglects the ordinances of it, or walks unworthy of his profession.
And it doesn’t say exactly who gathers them in this, verse 6.
in the original Greek, but it says they are gathered and cast
into the fire and burned. It may be pointing out that when
people profess to have faith in Christ but have no real connection
with him, that even the world to some extent sees through their
false profession. It is as Jesus says back in chapter
13, verse 35, by this all men will know that you are my disciples
if you have love for one another. It’s not saying that seeing our
love for one another, the world is going to immediately be converted
and pour into the church or anything like that, but rather that genuine
followers of Christ would be marked by their love for one
another. to such an extent that even the unbelieving world would
be able to distinguish between the true and the false professors
of religion. And I think it is that way today.
People can tell the difference. And in that sense, our manner
of life or our testimony, our witness really does matter, doesn’t
it? If nothing else, it matters because
it provides a contrast, and hopefully a stark contrast, between the
genuine and the false followers of Christ. He said, if you abide
in me and my words abide in you, ask what you wish, and it will
be done for you. By this, my Father is glorified
that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. That’s verse 7 and 8. So the
genuineness of our faith is shown by our grace-empowered manner
of life as we strive to be obedient to the directives that Christ
has delivered to us. We prove to be his disciples
through this process of abiding and fruit bearing. And the more
we’re able, by the grace of God, to focus upon the true vine and
recognize our own desperate need for the true vine, the more this
will be a reality in our lives. If he said, you abide in me and
my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done
for you. It is not possible to abide in Christ without his words
abiding in us. The more we recognize our need
for Christ, the more we are going to be focused upon not only who
he is and what he’s done, but upon what he has said. We need
to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, which only happens
through hearing and studying and meditating upon the Word
of God. But remember that even this is
only by grace through faith. He did not say that without me
you can do very little, right? He said without me you can do
nothing, or apart from me you can do nothing. The point being
that all of this should drive us to focus more and more upon
him, the only solution to the problem of our natural inability
to be and do what we should be and do. Christ is the true vine,
to whom we must look and cling and upon whom we must depend,
day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Excuse me. As the Apostle Paul said, I will
boast in what? My weaknesses, right? That the power of Christ may
rest upon me. For when I am weak, then I’m empowered. I’m certainly
not providing us an excuse for doing nothing. Like, well, it’s
not my fault, right? I’m not really doing much. But
rather, it is directing us to the divine supply of strength
that’s found in Christ alone. So in the next set of verses,
verses 9 through 14, the Lord introduces an additional imperative,
which is closely related to the first that he gave in John 15. But in this case, he’s telling
them that they must abide in his love instead of simply abide
in me. And this section for me is really
one of the more difficult parts of this passage in John 15. And
I’ll explain that as we go through this, but let’s read it first,
starting in verse nine. John 15, verse nine. As the Lord has loved me, so
I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep
my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept
my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things
I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be full. This is my commandment that you
love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one
than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You
are my friends if you do what I command you. So in this portion of Jesus’ Upper
Room Discourse, he begins with a very amazing statement. Think
about it with me for a moment. He’s saying, as the Father has
loved me, so I have loved you. Have you thought about that before?
He’s saying something really amazing, isn’t
he? We covered John’s statement in chapter 13, which says, having
loved his own who are in the world, he loved them to the end,
or he loved them to the uttermost. Here Jesus is telling them that
he has loved them even as the Father has loved me. Love is the fulfillment of the
law, right? And Christ lived and loved
perfectly as the true vine, the true Israel. And he loved us
not because he was required to do so, But he did it purely out
of grace. We understand, don’t we, that
he was not obligated to do what he did on our behalf? He wasn’t
obligated to come into the world, to live perfectly and die sacrificially,
rise triumphantly. It wasn’t something that he owed
to any of us. His love is even more extraordinary
when we think about that fact, isn’t it? But the hard part is,
for me when he says, abide in me, or abide in my love, excuse
me, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just
as I’ve kept my father’s commandments and abide in his love. So he
says, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Simple,
right? No, not necessarily simple, nor
is it easy to get at exactly what the Lord is saying here.
For one thing, we must keep in mind that none of us, no matter
how spiritually mature, have ever kept the commands of Christ
as they should be kept, right? So it cannot be that he is saying
that it’s through our perfect obedience that we’re able to
abide in his love, because none of us has that. At the same time,
he’s clearly telling his disciples that they’re commanded to love
one another as he has loved them. In other words, as the father
loves the son, which is perfectly. As the father has loved me, in
verse nine, again, so I have loved you, abide in my love.
The command is to love one another perfectly, which is what makes
this section of John 15 so hard to interpret. This difficulty
reminds me of a fairly typical interaction we had the other
night while talking to a couple of young guys in Old Town. We were trying to point out to
them that as we look at God’s law, it should be evident that
his standard can be nothing less than what? Moral perfection. And the question we were challenging
them to consider was, are you a good person by God’s standard? Are you a good person by God’s
standard? And this produced a common response from one of them, because
he knew enough to see that he was not ever going to be able
to live up to that standard. And he resorted to accusing us
of being hypocritical, as he said, you are imperfect people
out here telling us that God’s standard is moral perfection.
Like, yeah, yeah. We tried to help them see that,
first of all, we’re not claiming to have achieved anything like
moral perfection. And secondly, the fact that we can’t live up
to God’s standard does not change God’s standard. Amen? They were looking at things from
a legalistic perspective that misinterprets the law of God
and maligns the character of God because it’s being looked
at from a what we can do and can’t do point of view. God doesn’t
expect us to be perfect because he knows we can’t do it. is what
fallen and unconverted sons and daughters of Adam are always
going to be telling themselves. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect.
He knows we can’t do it. Right? That’s the perspective
of fallen sons and daughters of Adam who are unconverted.
They cannot see that it is not, in the end, about them being
acceptable to God based on what they’re doing or not doing. because
their thinking is not in line with what God reveals to us about
himself. And in the context of needing
to be justified before God by faith alone, it’s fundamental
to understand that Christ had to come into the world to live
perfectly on our behalf, right, in order for us to have his righteousness
imputed to us. But when it comes to this area
of sanctification, and that’s really what we’re talking about
in this passage, It’s somewhat more difficult because we may
be tempted to forget that the standard of moral perfection
has not changed. Christ is commanding us to love
each other even as he loved us. And yet it should be clear that
it’s impossible for us to do what is being commanded as it
should be done. This is not to say that as branches
in the true vine, we don’t have a genuine love for each other.
One of the strongest passages that shows us this is in 1 John
3, starting in verse 11, if you want to turn there quickly. 1
John 3, verse 11. For this is the message that
you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
And we should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered
his brother. And why did he murder him? Because
his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be
surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know, and
this is what I’m focusing on, we know that we have passed out
of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does
not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother
is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life
abiding in him. So he says, we know we’ve passed
from death to life because we love the brother. But that love,
though genuine, is not perfect love. How do we know this to be true?
Well, in the same letter, But 1 John, the apostle writes, if
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. So having sin and having perfect
love just don’t really go together, do they? He’s saying that we
cannot say we have no sin. He says, do not be surprised, brothers, that
the world hates you. And by the grace of God, we’ve
gone from hating the people of God to having genuine love for
them. We know we’ve passed from death
to life because we love, but it’s not perfect love, right?
It’s an amazing and wonderful thing that we have genuine love
for each other, but it’s not perfect love. So what’s the solution?
Perhaps we could try to solve it by saying that it is merely
genuine love that Jesus is talking about here and not perfect love.
Certainly, our faith is not perfect. Our repentance is not perfect.
As someone has said, it’s the least amount of genuine repentance
that’s sufficient to open the doors of heaven. No one of us
has perfect repentance. Otherwise, we would be perfect. But I’m afraid it would be too
easy and too much of a capitulation to our tendency to remain focused
on ourselves and on what we’re doing to say that Jesus does
not have perfect love in mind here. He cannot be saying, love
one another as I have loved you, and be talking about anything
less than perfect love. So what gives? What is he getting
at, then? The key here, I would argue,
is to realize that an increasing level of love in our lives, or
we could say, fruitfulness, comes from recognizing that only Christ
loved people as God requires that we should love them. Only
Christ loved people as God requires that we should love them. Remember that he’s commanding
us to abide or remain in his love. The emphasis in our mind
should be upon the fact that it is his love in which we’re
being called to remain. Sometimes we hear people say
things like, we need to show people the love of Christ. Have
you heard that type of thing said before? Sounds good, right? It sounds like, yeah, of course,
we need to show people the love of Christ. But there is a problem
with it. We can’t show his love to people
unless we redefine his love to be imperfect love. We can’t show
his love unless we’re going to redefine it down, say, well,
my imperfect love is the love of Christ. But let me try to
make this a little clearer. We can’t show his love. We have
to tell of it, I would say. But here’s an illustration that
maybe will make it a little clearer. And it’s not an illustration
of my own making. It’s one given to us in scripture.
In the story in Luke 7. of the woman who washed Jesus’
feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You remember
that story? Jesus is at this Pharisee’s invitation for dinner. And the Pharisee does not show
him even the basic kind of respect by providing water for
him to have his feet washed. But in comes this woman who is
a notorious sinner, and she begins to wash his feet with her tears
and wiping them with her hair. And Jesus says to the disapproving
Pharisee, because he’s like, if this man was who he claims
to be, he would know that this woman is a notorious sinner,
someone that he should not even be allowing near him. But Jesus
says to him what? He says, she has been forgiven
much because he loves much. But he who has been forgiven
little, the same loves little. He’s not saying that her forgiveness
is a result of her love, but that her love is a result of
the recognition of her need for forgiveness. and the provision
for that forgiveness that is found in Christ alone. So what
I’m arguing is that genuine love comes from the recognition of
our inability to love as we should. It is not a proposition of doing
more and trying harder, but rather seeing our need for and trusting
in the one who alone has done what should be done as it should
be done. And Jesus goes on to say that
these things I’ve spoken to you that my joy might be in you and
your joy might be full, which makes sense if the commandment
to love perfectly brings us back to Christ, the true vine, without
whom we can do nothing, because Christ and his gospel are the
anecdote. both to legalism and, on the
one hand, which says it’s about me and what I’m doing, and antinomianism,
on the other hand, which says it doesn’t matter what I do or
don’t do. The gospel is the antidote. The
gospel is the solution. Christ is the solution. So it
brings us back to him, to who he is and what he’s done, to
the true vine in whom we must strive to abide. So he says, these things I’ve
spoken to you that my joy might be in you and that your joy may
be full. This is my commandment that you love one another as
I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
this that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are
my friends if you do what I command you. There’s no longer do I call
you servants for the servant does not know what his master
is doing, but I’ve called you friends for all that I have heard
from my father I’ve made known to you. And then verse 16. We’re going to close with this
in a moment. You did not choose me, but I
chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit,
and your fruit should abide, that whatever you ask the Father
in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you
so that you will love one another. But Jesus points out here as
the true vine that he is the one that chose us. He chose us
to be branches in that vine, and he chose us so that we should
go and bear lasting fruit. Our status as branches is not
something that we determine by our own will or effort. It’s
purely by the grace of God that we’re united to Christ by faith,
but as those branches, We are now commanded to abide in the
vine, which is not a call to focus on ourselves and what we’re
doing, but rather to not forget or move away from the recognition
of our continuing need for Christ, because in Christ is found everything
we need. Amen. We’re not only commanded
to abide in him, but also to abide in his love. And we argue
that we do the latter by keeping his commandment to love perfectly
in the forefront of our minds, which should continually remind
us of our own desperate need for forgiveness, which leads to greater and greater
ability to love one another genuinely. He has chosen us and ordained
us that we should go, it says in, Verse 16. I believe it’s verse 16. That we should go. This is, in
my mind, great commission language. And Jesus came and said to them,
Matthew 28, verse 18 through 20, all authorities in heaven
and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples
of all nations. right, to go there for baptizing
them, teaching them. And behold, I’m with you always,
even to the end of the age, unless we’d be tempted to say to ourselves,
well, that’s really just for the apostles. He was talking
to the apostles, friends, you know. Or maybe for some especially
gifted people, I want to direct you again to The whole passage,
which I only partially quoted earlier in 1 Peter chapter 2,
verse 9, but you are a chosen race, right? You’ve not chosen
me, but I’ve chosen you. You are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that
what? that you may proclaim the excellence
of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light. I trust that we can see that
this passage necessarily includes all of us. We’re united to the
true vine by faith. I have chosen you and ordained
you that you should go and bring forth fruit. It’s not for just a select few, but it’s
for all of us. And he says in verse 17, these
things I command you so that you love one another. Or as other
translations put it, and there’s some differences here, slight
difference, there’s what’s called a henna clause in here that some
translate so that some translate it a little bit differently.
The NASV says, this I command you that you love one another. regardless of whether you do
it one way or the other, it’s clear that he’s giving commands
that the goal of which are love for one another, genuine love. And in this context, loving one
another specifically means loving the people of God who are in
Christ. One another, that you love one another. There’s a lot
of one another’s in the New Testament. And I would argue that even those
who are not yet in Christ, but will come to believe in him in
the future through the preaching of the gospel, are included in
this loving one another. The latter group are those whom
Christ identified in Acts 18 as my people. even though they
had not yet come to faith, as far as we know. He told the Apostle
Paul, go on speaking in Acts 18.10. Go on speaking and do not be
silent for I have many in this city who are my people. I have many in this city who
are my people. So we’re commanded to abide in
Christ, the true vine, recognizing that without him we can do nothing,
to abide in his love by recognizing our lack of perfect love. And
we are chosen and ordained to go and bring forth lasting fruit
so that as we strive to go in love and strive to speak the
truth of Christ, the true vine in love, God will be glorified
in our lives to an ever increasing extent. So ultimately, what is it all about? What is
this passage all about? It’s about Christ. It’s about
the true vine, right? It’s about the one who fulfilled
the law and all the promises of God to his people. Amen? Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord,
for this day and this.