As Jesus continues to build on the image of the vine and the branches, He describes what it means to live as a friend of God among people who reject Him.
Discovering Jesus in the Gospel of John pt 38
Friend or Foe?
John 15:6 – 16:4
12/6/2011
Read: John 15:1-5
Two Key Truths from John 15:1-5
1. Jesus is the True Vine, We are the Branches
a. The Jews thought they were the vine:
i. They were descended from Abraham
ii. They lived by the law of Moses
iii. They possessed the Promised Land
b. Jesus says that part of God’s chosen people was never meant to be about biological descent or external observance of the law or about geography – it is about being in right relationship with God through Jesus.
c. Living as one of God’s people is to remain in close relationship with Jesus.
2. God prunes us to make us fruitful
a. Fruitfulness is the evidence of a genuine faith relationship with Jesus.
b. The fruit we are to bear consists of godly attitudes and behaviours through which God works to impact others.
c. In order to produce godly attitudes and behaviours in our lives, God cleanses us through His word which renews our minds.
Ephesians 5:25-26
25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.[1]
What do we learn here about the Church?
1. We are loved by Jesus
2. We are made holy (set apart for God’s exclusive use) and clean by His death on the cross for us – taking away our sin and guilt. This is how we may come into right relationship with Him.
3. We are also cleansed by the washing of His Word, which is the pruning/cleansing described in John 15 which makes us fruitful.
You often hear me talk about the great priority that we place on the word of God in what we do as a church. This is why. We want to be fruitful in God’s service. We want to see Christians living with increasingly Christlike attitudes and Christlike behaviour. We want to see people who don’t yet know Jesus come to know Him because they see Him in us and they hear about Him from us.
But as we spoke about last week, it’s not hearing, speaking or knowing God’s word that matters in itself – what matters is that we allow ourselves to be cleansed by it.
Read: John 15:6-8, v2a
Is it possible to lose your salvation by not being fruitful and not “remaining” in Jesus?
Remember how it is that God prunes? Through His Word.
Listen to the words of Ephesians 1:13-14
13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Remember Jesus is speaking to people who are going to take His message out first to their own nation. They will be speaking to people who consider themselves to be God’s people. They will be speaking the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, but most of their people will reject it. In this way they will show that they are not really God’s people at all, because they reject God and His word. It appeared as though they were part of the vine, but in reality they have rejected life from God. They are the branches that bear no fruit. All that remains for them is judgement.
On the other hand, those who do believe are marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. This is exactly what verse 8 talks about.
Notice verse 7.
Some people teach it as if the first half isn’t even there:
“ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
That simply isn’t true on it’s own. Most of us have found out by experience that it’s not true on it’s own. We’ve asked for things and not received them.
So let’s remember the whole verse:
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
When we are in right relationship with Jesus, submitted to Him as our Lord and Saviour and being cleansed from selfish desires and foolish thinking by His Word, then what we ask will be in line with what He’s doing. In fact, verse 8 follows on to say that the result of our prayers will be that God is glorified by our fruitfulness that points people to Jesus. Is that what you’re praying for? Are you praying for an increase in godliness in your life? Are you praying for opportunities to love people like God does? Are you praying for the power to resist temptation? Are you praying for wisdom and boldness to share your faith? God loves to answer these prayers.
Living as a Friend of God
Read: John 15:9-17
An example of a friend of God – Abraham (Is 41:8)
(Only person in OT explicitly called a friend of God)
The Covenant of Genesis 15
- God promises to make Abram into a great nation
- Abram believes God, and God credits Abram with righteousness
The Calamity of Genesis 16
- Sarai tells Abram to sleep with her servant, which he does and the Arab nations were born.
The Christophany of Genesis 18
- Abraham runs, hurries to serve well.
- God promises to give Abraham a son within a year.
- God reveals to Abraham His judgement over the cities of the plain (Sodom and Gomorrah), and listens to Abraham’s pleas to spare the righteous.
The Challenge of Genesis 22
- God has given Abraham a son, now asks Abraham to give that son up as a sacrifice.
- Abraham is prepared to do it
- God provides a different sacrifice, and again promises to bless all nations through Abraham’s offspring.
In a similar way, God shows us that we are His friends by revealing Himself and His ways to us. Like Abraham, our response as friends of God is to trust and obey.
Being a friend of God is not about being flippant or casual about our relationship with Him. He is still Lord! The Bible never calls God our friend, it calls us His friends. There’s a difference. He’s the one in charge. We are His friends if we do as He commands.
Living among enemies of God
Read: John 15:18 – 16:4
I remember sitting in my car at the lights a few months ago and the car in front of me had a bumper sticker that read “I like Jesus – it’s his followers I can’t stand!” I hear that kind of thing a lot.
There are a lot of people out there that knock the Church and say it completely misrepresents Jesus. There are plenty of teachers who like to sell a picture of Jesus that appeals to the world, claiming that it’s religion in general or the Church in particular that turns people off.
You know what?
For the most part, that’s nonsense.
I agree that many people have been turned away from Jesus because of the poor witness of those who claim to be His followers. I agree that there have been many cases of Christian institutions that have hurt people they should have been helping.
Those are tragic realities. I am personally committed to doing all I can to make sure that God’s people represent Him well.
But the Bible says that the better job we do of representing Jesus, the more the world will hate us, not love us.
Jesus is not cool.
The real Jesus does not appeal to people who want to be in charge of their own spirituality.
The Apostle Paul would warn new believers to expect to be persecuted when people saw their changed lives. Almost every book in the New Testament talks about suffering for Jesus and because of Jesus.
Jesus warns His disciples that those who think they belong to God but actually don’t; are going to think that by killing followers of Jesus they are actually serving God.
That still happens around the world today doesn’t it?
Jesus warns us to be ready for that type of animosity, yet knowing what the cost will be He still says to His disciples “you must testify”.
To be a friend of God means that we obey Him and in the process alienate ourselves from the world.
Are you prepared for that?
John 15:1 to 16:4 gives us a wonderful overview of what the Christian life is:
- Jesus died for our sins to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and reconcile us to God. By believing in Him we are included in Him. If we reject Him we show that we do not belong to God.
- If we belong to Him we will be being purified by His word so that we will bear more and more spiritual fruit – the fruit of a changed life that testifies to others.
- Some people who see Jesus in us and hear about Him from us will come to faith and grow in faith.
- Some people will respond with animosity and will persecute us.
Do we love people enough that we will risk persecution for the sake of their salvation?
Do we love God enough that we will endure hardship for the sake of obedience?
What is God saying to you through His Word at the moment, that is preparing you to be fruitful for Him?
[1]Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Eph 5:25-26). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
