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Preached in Markham Baptist Church, January 20, 2008

One evening as the sun was setting and darkness was quickly coming on, Jesus was walking with His disciples teaching them as they went.  As they walk along they pass by the gate to the temple – and there over the gate, carved in white marble is a vine.  It’s gilded clusters of grapes instantly catch the eye of everyone in the small group as they glitter spectacularly in the orange rays of the setting sun.

All of them looking at the vine would immediately remember the lessons they learned as children from their rabbis and parents.  They would remember the vine as a symbol of Israel.   Just as when we see the Red Maple Leaf we think of Canada or the bald eagle we think of the United States, they saw the vine and thought of the nation of Israel.

No doubt the words of Psalm 80 would come to their minds, words they had learned at their mother’s knee:  “O God, you brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it; you cleaned the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land.  The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.  It sent out its boughs to the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.”

Or some would be thinking of Isaiah’s famous song of the vineyard in the fifth chapter of his book.  Others would be think of Jeremiah’s prophecies or perhaps Hosea’s which speak of Israel bearing fruit.

None of them could forget how their Lord had just told them a provocative parable, about a vineyard and the evil keepers who killed each of the messengers sent by the owner and who were now plotting the murder of the divine owner’s son. 

He applied this parable to the nation of Israel and especially to its leaders, saying, “Therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:42). 

All these things would be in the disciples’ minds as they passed that magnificent carving of the vine on the temple gate.  It would have taken but a moment – indeed that’s all the time they had before they hear Jesus say, “I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser.” 

Can you imagine how the disciples’ thoughts would come to a screeching halt – one minute they were thinking of Israel being the vine and now Jesus says, “I am the true vine.”

“Wait a minute, You, Jesus, are the true vine?”

For eons and eons the nation of Israel had been God’s vineyard – if there were blessings to be had, they would be received through the nation of Israel.  If there was a relationship with God to be gained, it would be gained through the nation of Israel.  And now Jesus is saying, “I am the true vine.” 

Things have changed.  Now if there is a relationship to be gained with God it is to be gained through Jesus Christ.  If there is blessing to be received it will be received through Jesus Christ.  It would have changed everything in the disciples’ minds.  It would have meant a huge shift in the disciples’ minds.

And I pray that these words would be just as shocking for us – just as earth-shattering for us - because there are times when we get used to the way things are in the Christian life.  We get used to going to church, reading the Bible, doing good, going to small groups – and we sometimes forget that at the centre of our faith, the source of life and blessing in our faith is Jesus Christ. 

You see, Jesus is impressing upon His disciples that what counts in Christianity is not being a part of the nation of Israel, as wonderful as that is, but being a part of Him, of having a relationship with Him.  And so for us, nothing matters more than your relationship with Jesus Christ.  Not the latest moral issue, as important as that may be.  Not doctrinal purity as crucial as that is, not some ministry that God is calling you to do – as good as it may be.

The foundational, all-important matter is my/your relationship with Jesus Christ. 

And it is my prayer that as we think about God’s word today you will be thinking about the state of your relationship with Christ – how is it?  You need to be asking yourself, is my faith based on a deep living relationship with Jesus Christ or has my faith drifted – to focus on some issue, ministry, or some other relationship, say with work or family or even the church.  All of those are good things, but the foundation of them all must be a living, day-to-day relationship with Jesus Christ.

And the picture that Jesus uses to help us understand this relationship is the garden, in particular the vine. You will notice that Jesus mentions three individuals here - there is the vine, the vine grower, or the gardener, and there are the branches.

As we consider our relationship with Jesus Christ – let’s think about these three.

I want to think of them in a different order than they are given.   First I want us to think of the branch.  Jesus says at verse 5, “I am the vine and you are the branches.”

That’s what you are - a branch. Now you may not think that’s too flattering – but this is not about flattery, it’s about the spiritual truth of our relationship with Jesus Christ. 

This speaks of an intimate relationship.  When you look at a branch, is there any separation between the branch and the vine?   No.  The branch and the vine are intimately connected, we could say that the branch is in the vine and if we look at the whole plant we would find it difficult to say where the vine stopped and the branch began. The only difference is that one is strong and the other is weak. The one is the source of strength and the other always needs to receive strength.  But there is this intimate bond. 

So your relationship with Jesus Christ is to be one of close intimacy, friendship, reverent to be sure, but close and intimate.

And we need to take it in that such a relationship is possible – we men say such a relationship isn’t possible – because, you know, we’re men – but think of this, men. Here is one who understands you – Jesus understands your fear, He understands your ambition, He understands your stresses, He understands you.  And so it is possible to have a close relationship with you. 

How?  It is possible because with God all things are possible - and then we know that Jesus prayed that it would happen – the great intercessor actually prayed that you and he would be one. 

John 17:21 - “My prayer is that … all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”  (John 17:21).

And we sin greatly when we say it’s not possible.  I can’t possibly get close to God.  But the truth is we can – He hears when you speak to Him, He never leaves you, He is keenly interested in you, and above all, if you are a believer, He lives in you.  

I’ve told you this again and again – and it is the great truth of our faith – Jesus Christ lives in you.  The very nature and spirit of Christ is in you. Jesus is not out there leading you.  He is not behind you pushing you.  He is not in heaven cheering you on.  Jesus Christ lives in you, as a branch is in the vine so you are in Christ and He in you. 

So the question for us this morning persists – how is your relationship with Jesus Christ? It isn’t a question as to whether or not you can be intimate with Him – that’s been made possible by God’s mighty power – the question is are you giving yourself to Him daily?  Are you paying attention to Jesus?  Are you talking to Jesus?  Are you inviting Jesus to speak to you?  Are you giving yourself to Him as a branch surrenders to a vine? 

The next character I want us to consider from our text is the vinedresser or the gardener.  Jesus says, “My father is the gardener”.  Now what does this tell us about our relationship with God? 

First, we learn that our relationship with God is to be one of dependence. 

The gardener is the one who looks after the vine and the branches. He is the one who tends the garden, waters it, prunes it, fences it in, ties the vine to the trellis so as to train it.  Essentially, the vine is completely dependent on the gardener. 

Jesus said in John 5:19 “… the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”  And again in John 14:10 -  “The words I say to you are not just my own.  Rather, it is the Father living in me, who is doing his work.”

The vine must live in complete dependence upon the gardener.  The vine does not pick up its branches, pluck up its roots from the soil and go over to the tap to get some water when it is thirsty.  The vine does not strut over to the garage and pick up the pruners and begin pruning itself.  The vine lives in complete dependence upon the gardener.

And so with Jesus – He lived in complete dependence upon God.  And so with us.  We must live in complete dependence upon God – through the vine.  We are to live in dependence upon God. It is independence which is sin. It is independence that Adam and Eve sought and as a result brought about the Fall.  It is independence that our flesh longs for.  “No one is going to tell me what to do.”      

But we are made to be dependent upon God through the vine. 

You know, the great ordinance of our faith is baptism – it is a sign of our dependence upon God – that’s why we do it.  It is a public, and practical statement of our dependence upon God.  We go down into the water – and we say, “God I’m dependent on you.” And when we down in that water we say, “Right now I’m dependent on this pastor guy, your servant, to get me back out of the water.”  But it is a sign of our dependence on God and refusing to live independently of Him. 

And we have to ask ourselves daily are we living in dependence on God?

So, first our relationship with God is to be one of dependence.  But not only this it is to be one of joyful dependence.  

We can be dependent upon God because we know that God is a loving gardener.  Our text tells us at verse 2, “that the gardener cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” 

We’ll be looking at the whole idea of pruning next week – but I want to point out to you that it is a loving gardener who takes the time to prune his/her plants.  It is the loving, attentive gardener who goes to the rose bush and prunes off the rose hip, it is the caring gardener who bends down to pick off the dead blooms of the marigold and the petunia.  It is the loving gardener who wants the best fruit from the vine and so goes to the fruit-bearing branch of the vine and prunes off the small sucker branches so that the energy of the vine can to go producing greater and better fruit. 

So our Heavenly Father loves us so much that He cares about us that much – so our dependence upon God is one of joyfulness for we have a loving Heavenly Father.    

But our relationship with God is one of confident dependence.  When John was first getting his driver’s license I had the task of sitting in the passenger seat and trying to instruct him.  When you are in the passenger seat you are dependent on the driver for your safety.  And I have to confess to you that I didn’t have a confident dependence – he hadn’t driven before and was unsure of pressure that was needed for the brakes.  He was unsure of the distance to allow between him and a parked car – I’m in the passenger seat, and I would always say keep hands and arms inside the car at all times.  There were a couple of times when mirror came close to mirror.  So I didn’t have this confidence.

But how different it is with God.  He knows what He is doing.  So Jesus had no fear – He knew that with God as His Father He could enter death and the grave.  He could trust God to raise Him up.   And so with us – we are to depend on God but we can be confident that God will not let us fall out of His hand.  He will not abandon us. 

What is our relationship with God to be?  It is one of dependence. What kind of dependence?  Joyful dependence and confident dependence.

Now all of this is to be expressed by the branches through the vine. 

And this brings us to the last character,  the vine. 

Jesus says in verse one, “I am the true vine,” and again for emphasis in verse five. 

Think about that image for a moment.  You don’t have to know much about gardening to know that the vine is the source of life for the branches.  If the branch is to grow that ability is gained through attachment to the vine - the source of its nutrients are from the vine.  If the branches are to sprout leaves and bear fruit that ability is gained through attachment to the vine.  So, if a branch becomes severed from the vine it will not grow, it will not bear fruit, it will wither and die. 

What does this tell us of our relationship with Jesus Christ?  It tells us that He is the source of life for you and me.      

It is as we are attached to Him, it is as we depend on Him and look to Him that we are given the resources we need to live the Christian life.  Jesus Christ supplies all we need.  Now this is an immensely freeing truth. 

I was in a prayer meeting with pastors from Markham this past week and one pastor shared his testimony saying that when he first became a Christian, another girl happened to become a Christian at the same time.  And they would go to prayer meetings and they would go to bible studies and worship together.  And the pastor said, “I remember one day walking to a bible study with this girl and saying to her how hard I thought the Christian life is.  And to my surprise she agreed with me.  She too had been finding hard.  We had only been Christians for a short time but we found that there were so many things to do, so many good meetings to attend, so much to read, so many things to think about etc.”  And the pastor said, “Then as we walked along it dawned on us both – this revolutionary truth – maybe we were trying too hard.”

And that’s true for many Christians.  They try so hard to be Christian.

It has been suggested that we in the church make it hard on many people. We say to people who come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, “You are saved through a relationship with Jesus Christ.” 

Then we say, “We’re going to ask you to commit five or six hours a week to service on a ministry committee or special task force plus two or three additional hours for training and discipleship.  We’re going to ask you go get in a small group for accountability, support and encouragement.  We're going to ask you to come under the authority of the leaders of the church and give a minimum of 10 percent of your money. You will be expected to come to all church business meetings, and come each Sunday for worship.  

“Oh, yeah, you get no parking place, no reserved seats, in fact you have to know instinctively where not to sit, no special privileges, no vacation or retirement program. You serve till you die. But trust us: God's going to make it right in eternity."

Of course that may be an exaggeration – but the problem is that we get to thinking that, that is Christianity and we wear ourselves out.  But it’s not Christianity.  Christianity is a living relationship with Jesus Christ who says He is the true vine.  And that’s immensely freeing because now I’m not burdened with this long list of do’s and don’ts but am brought into this wonderful relationship that is dynamic and thrilling. 

Now of course relationships take work – but relationships are so much more attractive and vibrant than tasks and to do lists. 

So our source of strength is Jesus Christ, the vine.  Our ability to be Christians is not doing this and this and this – it’s rather being in relationship with Jesus Christ.  It’s loving Him, it’s praising Him, it’s enjoying Him.  It’s depending on Him.  Jesus says quiet clearly that it is remaining – or abiding in Him – we’ll look at what that means in a few weeks.  It’s having Jesus Christ as the centre of your life. 

So this strength to live the Christian life is not programs, it is not doing this that and the other thing – it is Jesus Christ – just as the vine is the source of strength to the branches. 

We often pray, “O God give me strength”.  The kids give us a hard time and we whisper the prayer, “O God give me strength.”  We have deadlines to meet at work and we pray, “O God give me strength.”  We face temptations and we pray, “O God give me strength.”  But that’s a bad prayer – because it’s not the truth.  God does not give strength in the sense that He zaps us with a lightening bolt so that all of a sudden we have the patience of Mother Teresa, the speaking ability of Martin Luther King, and the physique of Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

Listen to what Jesus is teaching us here – He says, He is the vine – He is saying that He Himself is our strength.  He does not simply give us strength, nor does He teach us techniques for producing it - it is Himself. 

You see, the Christian life is not a technique or a style.  It is exclusively the consequence of a relationship that allows Jesus our Lord to be Jesus our Lord.

Then secondly we learn that our relationship with Jesus demands that we recognize our own inability. 

Jesus says at verse 4, “Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.”  And then to repeat He says in the last part of verse 5 “Apart from me you can do nothing.” 

If you don’t believe that you will strive, you will give all you can but in the end you will not have anything to show for it.  The Christian life is an impossibility to you and to me.  It is only possible as we recognize that apart from Christ we can do nothing. It is not until we recognize our own inherent poverty and bankruptcy in order that we might live in utter and complete dependency upon Jesus Christ so that every day life becomes supernatural.  Where the only explanation for the way you live is that Christ is in you, that Christ is at work in you. 

So it is vital that we ask ourselves, “What is the state of my relationship with Jesus Christ?  Am I talking to Him daily?  Am I trusting Him completely?  Am I loving Him intimately?  Am I depending on Him fully?  Am I following Him exclusively?”   

You folks deal with important issues and decisions all week long.  But let me tell you that nothing will affect your life more than this question – what is your relationship like with Jesus Christ? 

Is it intimate? 

Does it draw you into a joyful, confident relationship with God our Father?

Is He the source of your strength?  

Are you trusting Him completely and exclusively?

I pray that it is. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - January 2008