NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST
THE TRUE VINE
DR. JIM DIXON
AUGUST 3, 1997
JOHN 5:1
In the Roman world, centuries ago, whenever a statue was broken—or even a vase or a plate—craftsmen would oftentimes glue the pieces back together and fill in the cracks with wax. And craftsmen were so good at this that oftentimes these broken objects, statues, vases, and plates, when they were repaired, looked brand new. And for this reason, merchants throughout the Roman world—those merchants who were corrupt—would sometimes market these broken objects (these statues, vases, and plates) as though they were not broken, as though they were brand new and without flaw. For this reason, other merchants who were more honorable, wanting the public to know that the objects that they had for sale—whether statues or vases or plates—were not broken would put the Latin word “sincerus” on every statue, vase, or plate. And the Latin word “sincerus” meant “without wax.”
Now, of course, as time passed—decades and centuries—this word “sincerus” lost its literal meaning and was no longer associated with wax. And it came to refer more generally to anything that was genuine, anything that was not fake, anything that was the real deal. And we get the word sincere from this word “sincerus.” Now, in the Greek language, there were two Greek words used to translate the Latin word “sincerus.” And one of these words was the word alethenos. And the word alethenos is the word our Lord Jesus Christ used in our passage of scripture for today in John 15, when Jesus said, “I am the true.” Alethenos. I am the genuine vine. I am not fake. I am the real deal.
To understand this title, we should understand that in the Old Testament one of the titles given to Israel was the vine. But Jesus said, “I am the True Vine. I am the genuine vine.” And in saying this, He was reflecting on the nature of Judaism as practiced by the Pharisees. It was not the real deal, not the True Vine. It was fake. And biblically, we need to understand that all the religions of the world are fake vines—not genuine, not the real deal.
Only Jesus Christ is the True Vine. And this morning we seek to understand what this means. Now I have two teachings, and the first teaching is this, Jesus Christ alone is the source of life. Only Jesus Christ can give you life. He is the Vine. And if a branch does not abide in Him, that branch withers and dies, because He is the True Vine and He gives life.
Now, I know that most of you have heard of voodoo. Voodoo is a religion still practiced in this world. It is practiced in parts of the Caribbean. It is still practiced in South America in places like Brazil. It’s even practiced here in the United States in the deep South in places like New Orleans. People still practice voodoo. It comes from a West African word “vodou,” which means “spirit or God.” Voodoo is a combination of West African religion, Roman Catholicism, and 18th century French occultism.
Now, one of the scariest concepts within voodoo is the concept of the zombie. And I know you’ve all heard of the word zombie. The word zombie was a West African word. It was actually the West African title of a snake deity, generally associated with the devil or with Satan. But in voodoo, a zombie is a person who has died and their dead body has been energized or activated by indwelling demons, by the power of the devil. Zombies in voodoo are called the walking dead. Now, very personally, I do not believe that there are such things as zombies. I don’t believe there ever were. I don’t believe that demons or even the devil has the power to energize the dead. I do, however, believe that many people in this world are walking dead. Many people in this world are in effect zombies.
They are walking dead. In fact, the Bible tells us that all the people in this world, apart from the Vine, are walking dead. And to understand this, we have to go back to Eden. We have to go back to Genesis chapters two and three. Now, most people in America, even non-Christians, know the Eden story. But tragically, many do not know its theological meaning. And some Christians don’t know the theological truth revealed through Genesis two and three. In Genesis two, verse seven, we’re told that God breathed into man the breath of life, and man became a living soul—nephesh, “soul, the breath of life, a living soul.” This distinguished man from the animals. Animals had physical life, but man, male and female, was given spiritual life as well as physical life.
This meant that at least theoretically, people, male and female, had a capacity for physical death as well as spiritual death. So, we come to Genesis chapter two, verse 17, and we have the warning of God given to Adam and given to Eve: “You may not eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for in the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. Now we come to Genesis chapter three and we see what theologians call the fall. Sin enters the world, and with sin comes death in the instant that Adam and Eve transgress the law of God. In that moment, when they sinned, they died. They did not die physically, they died spiritually. In that instant, they died spiritually, and their soul was suddenly separated from the living God.
They lost fellowship, they lost their relationship with God the Father. That’s spiritual death. And with spiritual death came certain consequences. They began to be riddled with guilt. They began to feel shame, alienation from God. And there were also physical consequences. They began to die physically. We understand theologically that in the moment they died spiritually. In that moment when they were separated from God, they began to die physically. The very cells of their body began to degenerate. This is why in Genesis chapter two, verse seven, literally in the Hebrew God says, “dying you will die.” It’s an infinitive absolute combined with a finite verb “dying.” “You will die. Dying spiritually, you will die physically.” This is what most Bible scholars understand.
And so, the people of this world are walking dead—dead spiritually, dying physically, their soul separated from almighty God who is life. Now, Jesus Christ has come into the world and He said, “I have come that you might have life.” And the Greek word is “zoe.” And this word refers to divine life. It refers to the life of God, life as God has it. And Jesus told us we must be born anew. And why must we be born anew? Because we’re dead. We’re spiritually dead and physically dying. We must be born anew. I have come that you might have life.
He is the Vine and He is the source of life. And of course, there is this incredible promise in the Bible that when you embrace him, when you embrace Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior, He actually sends His life within you in the person of the Holy Spirit—divine life within. And in the ancient world, Greeks and Romans longed for that. They longed to intake divine life.
If you were to travel to Ephesus today, or to Corinth, or even to Athens, to Aphrodisia or any of the ancient ruins of Greek and Roman cities, you would see the ruins of Greek and Roman temples with marble columns erected in honor of Greek and Roman deities. In each of those temples, you’ll see an altar. And the altar was built for sacrifice. Greeks and Romans would come to those pagan temples to worship pagan gods, longing to have divine life come within them. And so, they would bring these sacrificial animals without spot or blemish and they would sacrifice them on the altar of the temple. And one third of the animal would be burned on the altar, one third of the animal would be given to the temple priest, and then the remaining third was retained by the worshiper. And there would be a temple feast and they would eat that sacrificial animal believing they were taking the life of that God into themselves.
Of course, it wasn’t happening, but they were desperate for divine life. Now of course, in the first century of Christianity, many people in the pagan world misunderstood communion. They thought communion was like these temple feasts and that Christians were trying to intake divine life through the bread and the cup. And I think unfortunately in Roman Catholicism today, with their view of communion and their theology of transubstantiation—where the elements, the bread and the cup are viewed as transformed into the literal physical body and blood of Christ—there’s a little bit of this pagan concept that you can intake the physical, literal life of Christ into your body through communion. What a tragic misunderstanding.
I mean, if you could intake the divine life of Christ into your body through communion, how often would you have communion? I mean, wouldn’t you have communion every day? How much of God do you need? Wouldn’t you have communion many times a day? But you see, God wants us to understand He doesn’t give us His life through communion. He gives us His life through regeneration.
Communion’s a time of memorial when we remember what Christ has done for us through His sacrificial death. And it’s a time of worship. When we commune with God, His spirit communes with our spirit and we celebrate His mystical presence. And that is beautiful and wonderful. But we do not receive divine life at communion, but only through regeneration when we’re born anew and when we come to the Vine—who is Jesus Christ—and we accept Him as Lord and Savior. We become a branch grafted to Him, joined to Him, and His life comes within us, and we are reconciled with the Father and restored to relationship and begin fellowship life.
Well, there’s a second meaning of this title the Vine. It not only means that Jesus Christ is the source of life, but it means also that He is the source of fruit. When we say Jesus Christ is the True Vine, we are saying that He is the source of fruitfulness. “I’m the Vine, you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I and you, you will bear much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing.” Now, God wants each of us here this morning to understand that if we’re Christians, we’ve been called to bear fruit.
I mean, this is the deal. We’re not called to barrenness. We’re called to fruit bearing. I want to draw a little analogy. Years ago, I read a book by Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated. Paul Zimmerman’s book was entitled A Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football. Now that might seem like kind of an oxymoron, but it is called A Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football. In that book, Paul Zimmerman explains that if a 240-pound linebacker who runs the a hundred yard dash in 10 seconds collides with a player on the other team of the same side, moving at the same speed, the resulting kinetic energy would be sufficient to move 66,000 pounds (or 33 tons) the distance of one inch. I mean, this really is a thinking man’s guide pro football.
But you see, what Paul Zimmerman is trying to communicate is that football is not a contact sport. Football is a collision sport. This is his point. Football is a collision sport. And if on Monday night, tomorrow night, you were to watch the Bronco game (as some of you will), and if you see a player kind of wobbling off the field and the announcer says that this guy just got his bell rung, the odds are that he received a blow which was equal to the force of a thousand G’s—a thousand times the force of gravity. To put this in perspective, astronauts take off at 10 G’s and pilots black out at lesser G’s when sustained over a period of time. You see, there are incomprehensible brief instances of impact released in the game of football. That’s why people get injured. That’s why two Broncos are injured today. Football has a cost. It’s an impact sport and coaches are looking for players who will willing go out onto the field and make an impact.
In fact, I’m reminded of the old story about Knute Rockne, who was coach at Notre Dame. As the story goes, Knute Rockne hired a brand new assistant coach who was in charge of recruiting. And this was a young guy, and Knute Rockne liked his enthusiasm, but was worried about his discernment. And so he takes the assistant coach into his office and Coach Rockne says, “I want you to understand the kind of player we’re trying to recruit here at Notre Dame University.” He said, “There’s the kind of player that when he gets hit, he falls down and he stays down.” And the assistant coach said, “Well, that’s not the kind of guy we’re looking for here at Notre Dame, is it?” Coach Rockne said, “No, it isn’t. But there’s the other player who when you knock him down, he gets back up. You knock him down again, he gets back up again. And no matter how many times you knock him down, he just keeps getting up.” And the assistant coach said, “That’s the kind of guy we’re looking for here at Notre Dame, isn’t it Coach Rockne?” He said, “No, it isn’t. We’re looking for the guy who’s knocking him down!”
Now, this is because football is an impact sport, right? And if you’re not willing to make an impact, you’re not going to be out on the field. You’re likely going to be on the bench. Now you read the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John, and it’s very, very clear. Christ is looking for impact people—obviously not in the same way, but He’s looking for impact people, people who will make a difference in this world, people who will bear fruit, light in the darkness, salt on the earth. He doesn’t want barrenness. He wants people who will make a difference by His power within them.
And we had that story in Mark’s gospel, the 11th chapter of how Jesus had cleansed the temple and driven the money changers out. And then He begins the walk from Jerusalem to Bethany, to Mary and Martha’s house. And along the way, as He’s walking with the disciples, He sees this barren fig tree, and He goes up to the barren fig tree and He curses it. The Bible tells us the fig tree withered to the ground. And of course, the fig tree was one of the great symbols of Israel. And Israel had become barren, and therefore Israel was cursed. And we who believe in Jesus Christ, the church of Christ, and the Bible are called the New Israel. And we are not called to barrenness. We are called to bear fruit in this world.
Have you ever read Exodus chapters three and four? I mean, it’s a tremendous dialogue between God and Moses. It was almost 3,500 years ago God appeared to this 80 year old Bedouin and shepherd named Moses. And God says, “Go to Pharaoh of Egypt and say to him, let my people go.” And Moses said, “Well, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? And who am I that I should deliver the sons of Israel from?” God said to Moses, “I will go with you.” Moses said, “Well, who will I say has sent me? Who shall I tell them that You are?” God said, “I am that I am. Tell them I AM has sent you.” Moses said, “Well, they will not believe me. They will not listen to me.” God said, “I will work miracles through you and they will hear you and they will listen to you.”
And Moses said, “Well, I’m not eloquent of speech. I’m slow of speech, and I’m slow of tongue.” God said, “I made your mouth, I made your tongue. I will speak through you.” And then Moses said, “Oh Lord, send some other person.” And the Bible tells us in Exodus chapter four, the anger of God was kindled within Him. Moses didn’t want to be an impact player. He didn’t want to bear fruit. He was content with barrenness. Of course, ultimately his heart changed and he went inthe power of God and the world is not the same.
We see this time and again in the Bible. I mean, Jonah, the reluctant minister, the reluctant messenger, didn’t want to be an impact player, didn’t want to bear fruit. And maybe you are like that. God wants you to know you did not choose Him, but He chose you and He appointed you to go and bear much fruit, that your fruit should remain, that your fruit should abide. He has called you to bear fruit in this world and in this church.
We are constantly presenting to you opportunities for you to make an impact. And God doesn’t want you to turn a deaf ear. We need Sunday school teachers. Would you like to impact a young person’s life for eternity?
We need people to go into the inner city. We need hundreds more. We can’t get enough. Are you willing to bear fruit there? We have so many opportunities for you to make an impact in this world for Christ’s sake, because you see, we’ve been called to bear fruit. And maybe you’re thinking, well, you know, I’m afraid. And we’re all afraid. I’m afraid every time I stand up here. It’s crazy to preach. But you know, Christ says, “Abide in Me, and you’ll bear much fruit.” So we’re to be willing and then we are to abide. And if we would abide in His word and let His word abide in us, and if we would abide in prayer and in Christian fellowship, and if we would let brothers and sisters train us where needed, He’ll bear the fruit through us if we’re willing. But barrenness is cursed, so be warned. Barrenness is cursed. He’s the Vine, and He’s called us to be branches bearing fruit.
Well, you know some years ago, Jagger and the Rolling Stones made famous the song “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” And I told the men in the men’s study a couple of weeks ago that this really describes the predicament of the world. People can’t get any satisfaction. Men and women the world over can’t get satisfaction. And the reason, of course, is they are spiritually dead and they are barren. They are dead and barren and they can’t get satisfaction.
And the Bible says that Satan is the ruler of this world. He is the prince of this world. And Satan does not offer satisfaction. He cannot offer what he does not have, for he is dead and barren. And so you see, Satan tantalizes. Satisfaction is always “just around the corner.” You know where the word tantalize comes from? It comes from the Greek mythological character of Tantalus, who was king of Lydia, son of Zeus. He offended the gods. He was banished to Hades forever, made to stand forever in the midst of a river with water up to his neck. And whenever he would thirst, he would put his head down and try to drink from the water, but the water would descend so that it was always just out of his reach. And whenever he would hunger, he would reach up for some of the fruit that was on the limb of a branch over the river. But as he would reach for the fruit, the fruit would ascend. So it was always just out of his reach—enticed, but never satisfied. Tantalized. And that’s what Satan does. He tantalizes, but he never satisfies. And so he tantalizes, the Bible tells us in 1 John, with the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. He offers materialism and people get more and more, but they’re never satisfied. It’s a false vine.
He offers hedonism. And there are people in our culture who are just sated with pleasure, but not satisfied. It’s a false vine. He offers ego and self and ascensionism, and people are constantly seeking more power and position but are never satisfied. It’s a false vine. Jesus said, “I am the True Vine.” He offers life to a world that is spiritually dead and physically die and he offers fruit to a world that is barren. Let’s close with a word of prayer.