TITLES OF CHRIST
THE VINE
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 15:1-11
APRIL 2, 1989
“I am the Vine. You are the branches.” Those are the words of Jesus Christ. Pastors cannot say those words to their congregations. I am not your vine and you are not my branches. Parents cannot say those words to their children, nor teachers to their students, nor corporations to their employees, nor politicians to their constituents. You see, only Jesus Christ is the Vine. But what does it mean to call Christ the Vine?
This morning I have two teachings, and the first teaching is this, Jesus Christ is the source of light. When we call Christ the Vine, we are saying this; He is the source of light. A branch has no life in itself, but only as it abides in the vine, and a branch, when severed from the vine, withers and dies. So it is for all people who are separated from Jesus Christ.
Now, in the Roman world, to which Christ came 2,000 years ago, there was already an established religion. It was a religion of mythology, a polytheistic religion rooted in superstition. But the Romans had a very accurate understanding of the meaning of life. They communicated this understanding of the meaning of life through a story of Aurora. For the Romans, Aurora was considered to be the goddess of dawn. Every morning, it was said, she opened the gates of heaven. It was believed that Aurora fell in love with a mortal man and that mortal man’s name was Tithonus.
Now an immortal could not marry a mortal. They had nothing in common. But you see, Aurora loved him. So she went to Jupiter and she said, “Would you please grant me one request, whatever I ask of you?” Well, Jupiter was suspicious, but he said he would do this. Aurora said, “Please grant my beloved Tithonus that he might be given eternal life. Please give him eternal life.” Well, Jupiter was angry because mortals were not meant to be immortal. Nevertheless, he honored his word and he gave eternal life to Tithonus, but he never gave him eternal youth. The years passed and the centuries passed, and Tithonus grew older and older and more and more decrepit. Finally, he fell into a coma. But he continued to live forever in a decrepit coma. By this story, the Romans understood that life, even long life, even eternal life, is not really a blessing if it’s mere existence. By this, the Romans understood that for life to be truly a blessing, it had to not only be quantitative, it had to be qualitative. To be a blessing, life had to be rooted in joy.
Well, you see, the Bible tells us Jesus Christ came to give us life. The life that Christ offers you is both quantitative, it is eternal, but it is also qualitative, it is a life rooted in joy. The life that Christ offers you the Bible calls abundant life. Jesus Christ said, “I have come that you might have life and that you have it abundantly. The biblical word for the life that Christ offers is the word “zoe.” It’s a special word. It describes the life that God has, that God experiences in heaven. “In God’s presence,” the Bible says, “is fullness of joy.” Christ offers you life that is manifested in joy. Jesus says, “I am the Vine. You are the branches. Abide in me. I have spoken these words to you that my joy might be in you and your joy might be full.”
Now this is true…if Jesus Christ really offers life and joy, why is it that so many Christians, so many who claim to know Christ, to have received him as Lord and Savior, so many who say that they are grafted onto the Vine, why is it that so often so many Christians seem to have no life or little life and very little joy? Why is it that all of us have times, even in our Christian life and our Christian walk, when we wish we had more life and more joy? Why is it that so many Christians seem bored and some seem boring? Why is it that some Christians are bored even when they come to church to worship the Vine and they stay bored and they leave bored? Have you ever thought about that?
A week ago on Sunday, the Denver Post ran an article on our church written by Virginia Culver. Virginia Culver is the religion editor of the Denver Post. She talked to Bob and me and my office, then Bob and I came here into the sanctuary and one of The Post’s photographers took pictures of us. It seemed like a lot of pictures, maybe 20 or 30 pictures, and I’ve decided they do that in order to make sure that they get some bad pictures so they can put them in the newspaper. Now, perhaps you saw the article. It looked like Bob was about 10 feet behind me. They took this shot with one of those fisheye lenses and it kind of looked like Bob and I were playing charades and the subject was “Revenge of the Nerds.”
In any event, the article was written by Virginia and she’s really a fine woman and she’s very honorable. I think the article was basically positive, but there were some quotes that were not accurate. Some things Bob said were attributed to me. I really didn’t mind that, but some things neither Bob nor I said, and they were attributed to me. One example of that was, and one I think that particularly bothered me, was a statement that “I believe that it’s a minister’s fault whenever a congregation is bored.” I didn’t say that and I don’t believe that. I did say that a lot of people, I think, when they look back on their childhood experiences at church growing up, they think of church as a boring place, and in that context, Bob quoted Jim Rayburn, who founded Young Life and who said “It is a sin to bore a kid with a gospel.”
Somehow, I think, Virginia took that to mean that I viewed it as the minister’s fault whenever a congregation is bored. Well, I don’t think that, and I would never say that. I would never say that because first of all, like every other minister, I have times when I’m boring. I also wouldn’t say that because I don’t believe that it’s always the minister’s fault when congregations are bored. You see, sometimes people just come to church bored, and sometimes when a minister stands up to speak, he feels like he needs to raise the dead. Now, that’s not normally the case in this church. I mean, there’s an unusual amount of life in this church and there’s an unusual amount of joy in this church. But even in this church, there are times when I’ll get up here and when I arrive there’ll be three people sleeping in the front row. When I’m done, there may be six or seven, you know, sleeping in the front row. I understand that sometimes, you know, you stay out late and some people just have a hard time sitting for an hour in one spot and staying awake. I understand that, but of course, I would ask that if you know that to be true of you, please don’t sit in the front row. Have mercy, you know.
But I’ve often wondered why is it…why is it that as Christians so often we don’t have the light we’re meant to have and we don’t have the joy we’re meant to have and we’re even bored when we come to worship? I have to conclude, the only explanation is we don’t abide in the Vine as we’re meant to. We do not abide in Jesus Christ.
If we’re going to abide in Christ, we need to spend time every day in prayer. We need to spend time every day in the Word. I’m convinced that a lot of Christians don’t really understand the purpose of prayer, don’t understand the purpose of Bible reading. I think a lot of Christians think that prayer is provided in order that we might get our list of wants known to God, and the Bible is provided that God might get His list of wants known to us. But that’s not really what prayer and Bible reading is all about. You see, prayer and the Bible, they are given to us as a tremendous blessing and an opportunity to focus on the Vine, to focus on Jesus Christ. If we focus on the circumstances of this world, we’re going to lose life. If we focus on the circumstances of this world, we’re going to lose joy. But if we focus on Jesus Christ, we’re going to have life and we’re going to have joy despite the circumstances.
Now, it doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, even if you’re a pastor, sometimes you lose joy and you lose life. Bob and I and others on this staff, we have times through the months of the year when we come up to one other and we say, you know, I just don’t feel the same joy I did before. I don’t feel like I really have life. I feel kind of dead. And we have to remind ourselves and we have to remind each other how important it is to spend time in prayer and time in the Word to abide in Christ that His life and His joy might flow to us.
Of course, abiding in Christ means more than prayer and Bible study. A man named Henri Nouwen once went to Rome, Italy, where he visited Mother Teresa. Henri Nouwen was a Christian writer. He was feeling kind of dead, going through a dry spell in his Christian life, not much life and joy. He thought, you know, I have this opportunity to meet with Mother Teresa. I’m going to ask her what I can do to rekindle that joy and to rekindle that life. So he explained his circumstances to her and he asked her what she thought he ought to do. She talked to him about the devotional qualities of prayer and Bible study, but then she said something to him that was very simple but perhaps something that many Christians ignore. She said, “You know, if you’re really going to have joy and if you’re really going to have life, you’re going to have to live every minute. Make sure that every minute of every day you’re not doing anything that you know to be contrary to what you know to be the will of Jesus Christ.”
You see, abiding in Christ is rooted in obedience. Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments, you’ll abide in my love.” Sin clogs the flow of life and joy from the Vine to the branches. If that flow of life and joy is clogged in your life, you need to repent. You see, Jesus says that as branches, we need to be pruned. In this passage of scripture, Christ equates the word pruning with the concept of cleansing, or being made clean. Sometimes that pruning takes the form of repentance. Every day we need to come to Christ in repentance and we need to commit ourselves anew to walk every moment of every day in accordance with His will to abide truly in Him, and that life and that joy will just flow. When it’s blocked and we repent, the life and the joy flows anew. Only Christ gives joy.
We named our daughter Joy. Heather Joy Dixon. There’s a lot of girls in the world who have been given the name Joy. It’s easy for moms and dads to give a name like that. But you see, there aren’t any parents in this world that have the power to actually give joy. Barb and I cannot give joy to Heather. Heather entered into the realm of God’s life and joy when she accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior when she was only five, but like the rest of us, Heather needs to learn to abide in Christ that she might experience day by day the fullness of the life and joy that Christ offers. Webster’s Dictionary defines joy and says that it is happiness and it is pleasure. Biblically, that is wrong. You see, joy really isn’t the same as happiness. Happiness tends to be based on our circumstances in life. It’s been said that happiness is related to happiness. You see, joy transcends all that. It transcends our circumstances, and pleasure tends to be related to the five senses, but joy transcends the senses. Joy is a gift which only comes from Christ and it comes to those who abide in Him. “I am the Vine, you are the branches Abide in me. I say these words to you that My joy might be in you and your joy might be full.”
We have a second teaching this morning, a final one, and it is this; Jesus Christ is the source of fruit. When we say that He is the Vine, we say this; He is the source of fruit. “I am the Vine. You are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he it is who bears much fruit.” You see, Christ wants us to bear fruit.
In Israel, grapevines, if they’re properly cared for, by the fourth year a single grapevine can produce 15 to 80 pounds of grapes a year and continue to do that. That single vine, for 100 years. Well, you see, Christ wants you to bear fruit and He wants you to bear fruit abundantly and He wants you to do it eternally.
Paul Zimmerman wrote a book called “A Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football.” I’m sure most of you have never read it, but Paul Zimmerman quotes statistics of physicists who have actually examined the game of football. Paul Zimmerman claims that when a 240-pound linebacker, moving at the pace that would be 100 seconds for a 100-yard dash, when a 240-pound linebacker moving at that speed collides with a 240-pound running back who runs the 100 in 10 flat, the resulting kinetic energy is sufficient to move 66,000 pounds, or 33 tons one inch. You see, that really is the thinking man’s guide to pro football. But Paul Zimmerman is trying to say that football isn’t simply a contact sport. Football is a collision sport. When you see a football player kind of stagger off the field and the announcer says that he just got his bell rung, probably this guy has just taken a blow to the head that equals 1,000 G’s…1,000 times the force of gravity.
Now, to put that in perspective, astronauts take off at 10 G’s and pilots black out at 20 G’s when the force is sustained over a period of time. But you see, football players, for a moment in time, are subjected to forces far greater. In fact, tests that were conducted with Joe Schmidt of the Detroit Lions, he’s a linebacker, in actual playing conditions discovered that he sometimes absorbed blows as great as 5,780 G’s. Now it’s no wonder, no wonder that 28 men die every year playing football in the United States of America counting all levels of football. And it’s no wonder that 32 become paraplegics every year. It’s no wonder that one-half of the veterans of NFL football die before the age of 58.
Joe NamUs says he expects to have great difficulty walking after age 50. Many others have found walking to be difficult far earlier than that. The injuries are great in football. Now, I love football. Anyone in my family could tell you that I love the excitement. I love the suspense. I love the noise of the crowd. I love the intensity of the players. I love the game, but I think we all have to admit it’s a dangerous sport. If you’re going to join a football team, you’re making a commitment and there might be a cost. You see, football is an impact sport. If you’re going to go out on the field, you got to be willing to make an impact. Coaches are looking for what they call ‘impact players.’ If you’re not willing to make an impact, you’re going to be sitting on the sidelines.
God wants you to understand that when you became a Christian, when you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you joined a team and that team is called the kingdom of Jesus Christ and the field is the earth. God wants you to go out and make an impact. Christ is looking for impact players, but the impact He wants us to make is different. It’s not based on anger, it’s based on love. It’s not made with a desire to maim but to heal, not to destroy, but to save. Christ is looking for impact players and He wants us to bear fruit in this world.
He’s very serious about that. As He was walking from Jerusalem to Bethany with his disciples one day He saw a fig tree. You know the story. He walked up to the fig tree and He saw that it was barren. There was no fruit. Christ cursed it. The Bible tells us the fig tree withered to the ground. This was not usual behavior for the Son of God. He didn’t go around cursing trees. You see, there was an object lesson, a severe object lesson. He wanted the disciples to know that barrenness is cursed. The fig tree was a symbol of Israel. The disciples and our Lord had just gone into the Jerusalem and into the Jerusalem temple and they had seen the barrenness of Israel’s religion. They were not a blessing to themselves. They were not a blessing to others. They were not a blessing to God. Barren and cursed, destined to wither.
You see, 3,500 years ago, God spoke to an 80-year-old Bedouin shepherd named Moses. God said, “Go set my people free.” Moses said, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and deliver the sons of Israel from bondage?” And God said, “I’ll go with you.” Moses said, “Well, what is your name? Who shall I say has sent me?” God said, “I AM that I AM. Tell the people I AM has sent you.” Moses said, “Well, what if they do not believe? What if they do not listen to me?” God said, “I’ll work miracles through you. I’ll work miracles through you and they will believe and they will listen to you.” 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’ll speak through you.” Moses said, “Oh Lord, please send somebody else.” The Bible says God’s anger was kindled. Moses didn’t want to be an impact player. He didn’t want to bear fruit. But you see, finally when Moses said, “Here I am. Send me,” he bore fruit. Rarely seen in the history of the world, a nation of people were set free from by the power of God.
But you see, that wasn’t meant to be the end of the fruit that God wanted to produce through Israel. That was meant to be the beginning. Israel was blessed to be a blessing, meant to bless the nations that all the nations of the world might be blessed through them. But Israel did not want to be a blessing and they said, “Lord, send somebody else” and the curse of God was upon them.
If you’re a Christian, if you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God wants you to understand that you’ve been grafted into the Vine, grafted into Christ, and you now have been called to bear fruit. Christ looks at you and He points to the people of the world and he says, “Go set my people free.” He wants to heal the sick and He wants to mend the brokenhearted. He wants to feed the poor. He wants to take His gospel to the nations. He wants His kingdom to grow. He wants all that to happen through you.
Of course, bearing fruit is not really the same as what the world calls productivity. I mean, everybody in the world wants to be productive. Everybody, most people, want to get an education. They want to get degrees and higher degrees. They want to make money. They want to make more money. They want to get jobs and better jobs. Of course, corporations want to make money and they want to increase their profits. Individuals and corporations want to increase their assets and even nations want to increase their gross national products. All of this is productivity. In a sense, all of you, in some measure, are part of this and must be because you need to make a livelihood. But as Christians, Christ wants us to understand that nothing is more important than bearing fruit, and bearing fruit has to do with serving the kingdom of Jesus Christ. That’s why we’re here in this world. There’s many ways that you can serve the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Billy Graham serves the kingdom of Christ through evangelism. Mother Teresa, through compassion, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington truly sought to serve the kingdom of Christ through the world of politics. Robert LeTourneau sought to serve the kingdom of Christ through the business world. He made millions of dollars and he gave millions of dollars to the furtherance of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They wanted to make an impact in this world for Jesus Christ.
Do you want to do that? I mean, do you want to make an impact for the kingdom of Jesus Christ on this earth? You may never be famous. It doesn’t matter. All Christ wants of you is that you do all you can with all you have, and He will bless you if you abide in the Vine.
This church has teachers. We have deacons. We have elders. We need help. We need everything from babysitters to bulletin stuffers. You can make an impact. But God wants you to remember that you’re also called to make an impact out there in the world. You see, Bob and I and the rest of us on staff, we’re called full-time to ministry right here in the church and only part-time to a ministry out there in the world. You are called part-time to a ministry here in the church and you’re called full-time to a ministry out there in a world. I’ve got to honestly tell you I envy you because God has placed you out there where two kingdoms meet. You live and you work out there where two kingdoms meet. The kingdom of Christ meets the kingdoms of this world. You’re on the cutting edge of the gospel. Christ wants you to ask yourself, “What can I do? How can I use my talents, my abilities, my skills, my money, my job to further the kingdom of Jesus Christ?” He wants us to remember, we’re never going to bear any fruit unless we abide in the Vine, unless we spend time in prayer and time in the Word and time in Christian fellowship. Unless every day, every day we wake up and we look at Christ and we say, “Lord, here am I. Send me. I want to serve you.”
Jesus says, “You’ve not chosen me. I’ve chosen you, and I’ve appointed you to go and bear much fruit that your fruit should abide. I am the Vine. You are the branches. Abide in me. I’m the source of life and the source of fruit.” Let’s close with a word of prayer.