Abiding in the Vine V

Wednesday 06/17/15

 

Series: Abiding in the Vine V

 

Message – Abiding in the Vine V.mp3

Click here for the Video

 

Abiding in the Vine V

1. Abiding is to be and remain vitally united with our Vine(Jesus), one with Him in heart, mind, and will.
2. Three recurring themes in the verses we are looking at are…
   1. Obey His commands
   2. Love the brethren
   3. Sensitivity and submission to the Holy Spirit
3. Loving the brethren – If we love the brethren, there is no cause for stumbling in us.

 

 

Let’s read our key verse,

John 15:2  “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

We are looking again at the pruning of the vines. Jesus says those who ARE producing fruit, the Father PRUNES.

I described pruning a few times to you when I told you that pruning (Kath-ah-ee-ro) as in verse 2 and cleaning (kath-ar-os) as in verse 3 are the same thing.

In verse 2 a pruning knife is used, while in verse 3 God’s Word is used.

So, POP QUIZ…..what does this pruning or cleaning represent? Reproof, correction & instruction.

“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas, thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  ~ Heb. 4:12

 

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”  ~ 2Tim. 3:16-17

 

Jesus said He had separated the disciples from the world by the truth, then He said, “Your Word is Truth”, in John 17.

 

Now, before Teri & I had took off for the tenting of the house I had ended my teaching on May the 20^th on this topic of pruning or correction. We had read through Hebrews 12 to see what God had to say about personal one on one correction between the Father and ourselves.

Tonight, we are going to look at an example of correction coming through the body and see if it also results in producing more fruit.

Churches conducive to pruning

AS WE LOOK AT THIS I NEED you to pay attention to the fact that a Godly church is being called upon to monitor and respond to sin in their midst, NOT to just “love them through it”.

This requires that a local church be involved enough to even know what is going on in the lives of its members.

This is one of the reasons, I’ve stressed the need for involvement in each others lives OUTSIDE of the church here!

 

We have one distinct advantage in that we are small!

The larger a church gets the more impossible this command becomes.

However, there is another very real danger for the small church…smaller churches often become over familiar and therefore apathetic.

 

You see the draw of a large church is its facilities, its abundance, its activities, its large community feel which are all good so long as it can still function as a sheepfold and the Elders and their sheep are still very familiar with one another and very involved in each others lives.

 

However, more often than not, this large church dynamic allows for a feeling of communal involvement – without HAVING to be truly connected with anyone at all.

 

 

In churches like this it is more about whether the church has enough resources, or special classes to accommodate my desires or meet MY needs than it is about intimate communal where I am GIVING as much as I am RECEIVING.

It deceives the member into feeling a part of something really powerful and meaningful when in reality it is just big.

Conclusion                                                                                                                                                                                   So in order to work out the “pruning of the vines” you need a church that is the right size and contentedness among the members and the elders, otherwise they will fail in this command and regardless of size, (large or small) they will become ineffective in true ministry and spiritual growth.

 

Let’s take a look at this topic in 1 Cor. 5

v1.          has – means a continued action. This was not a trip into sin, it was continual and accepted by both the two involved and the church as large…maybe even the woman’s actual husband.

V5.         To deliver – Spoken of persons and things delivered over to the charge of someone else. In the general sense of delivering over to do or suffer something, to give up or over, to surrender or to permit.

For the destruction of the flesh – The fundamental thought is not annihilation by any means, but unavoidable distress and torment.

V6.         Your glorying – your boasting.

Many churches today do everything they can to become “seeker friendly” which of course encourages growth since it excludes no one. People with all manner of sin are not only allowed, but encourage to come. This is why we have experienced such a massive boast in Mega churches. The days of the small 30-150 member Baptist churches are nearly extinct and there is a reason for this. People prefer it that way!

In a large church….

1. You can get lost – very few people actually really know you comparative to your size.
2. You don’t know many people well enough, for them to really know if you are putting on a mask.
3. You have to work much harder to be involved enough with individuals enough to care deeply about and be committed to those around you.
4. Finally, sin has plenty of room to hide. If a member were to get divorced and remarried for unscriptural reasons – very few would know it and almost certainly the elders wouldn’t know. Or, if a young daughter were showing undo affection for her father-in-law, it wouldn’t necessarily be picked up on.

Many churches today boast about how they do not discriminate against anyone – “ALL ARE WELCOME” – they say, but what do you think Paul would say about that? Well let’s look at verse 9-11,

“I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.”

Churches are supposed to be a safe place were genuine sheep gather and are shepherded and cared for – where teaching facilitates growth and does not hide sin.

QUESTION:

If a member were to be living in homosexual sin in many of the churches you know – even ones that “look good” – do you think it would be brought to the elders (assuming they have any)….and if so, would that one be confronted in their sin?

Would the elders visit them and seek their repentance so that they may be restored?

Would the elders even know the person exists or know their name?

If the elders went to them, would that very likely be the first time that particular church member even actually physically MET their elders?

How much of the congregation is affected by the sin of ONE? ( a little leaven)

Restoration

But what happens if the disciplined brother repents, having turned from his sin?

Paul deals with this in 2 Cor.  2:1-11,

“But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.  (2)  For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?  (3)  And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.  (4)  For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.  (5)  But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe.  (6)  This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man,  (7)  so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.  (8)  Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.  (9)  For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.  (10)  Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,  (11)  lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.”

 

2 Cor. 7:1-12 (Vs. 1 CLEANSE – same family of words as purge and clean in Jn. 15)

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  (2)  Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one.  (3)  I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.  (4)  Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.  (5)  For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears.  (6)  Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,  (7)  and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.  (8)  For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while.  (9)  Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.  (10)  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.  (11)  For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.  (12)  Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.”

In the end, this corporate form of correction produced fruit just like the correction God does with us as individuals did!

The pruning of the vines always produces MORE fruit!

I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

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Blessings!