First Baptist Church of El Dorado - Sermons
Tune in each week as Pastor Taylor Geurin leads us into a study of God's Word.
First Baptist Church of El Dorado - Sermons
Autobiography: Abide in Christ: Spiritual Lessons from the True Vine | John 15
Unlock the profound spiritual lessons hidden within John 15 as we explore Jesus' powerful declaration as the true vine and God as the vine dresser. What does it mean to bear fruit in the spiritual sense? Through the lens of Jesus' final words to His disciples, we unravel the contrast between Jesus as the true vine versus the shortcomings of Israel depicted in the Old Testament. Discover how the fruits of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22, such as love, joy, peace, and patience, illuminate the path of sanctification and transformation through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.
Embrace the transformative power of spiritual pruning, likened to the careful tending of a vineyard. We draw vivid parallels between the seemingly harsh yet necessary act of pruning and the moments of challenge and conviction that refine our spiritual journey. Personal stories and vineyard imagery illustrate how aligning our lives with God's will, through abiding in Jesus, leads to greater spiritual fruitfulness. Experience the cleansing power of His word and the nourishment it provides, encouraging us to view life's trials as opportunities for growth and deeper connection with Christ.
Journey with us as we emphasize the importance of abiding in Christ—both as individuals and within the church community. Engage in daily practices like scripture reading, prayer, and fellowship to deepen your connection with Christ and unlock transformative potential. We introduce a practical reading plan through the Gospel of Luke to guide you towards Christmas, fostering a closer relationship with Jesus. This episode serves as a heartfelt invitation to anyone seeking spiritual growth and a deeper connection with the church, encouraging openness, courage, and a readiness to embrace the call of faith.
1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now in listening to our sermon from this week, john, chapter 15. I'm going to quickly read verse five I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Let me pray, lord Jesus. Thank you so much for this time in your word. Lord, apart from you we can do nothing. Apart from you, I can do nothing. So, lord, by your spirit, would you speak now? We ask this in Christ's name, amen.
Speaker 1:John, chapter 15, we get our seventh and final. Our seventh and final I am statement, as we've had this series walking through these seven I am statements. We arrive at the final this morning and throughout this time, jesus has been showing us who Jesus is. Jesus speaks these I am statements so that he can show us clearly this is who I am, and we've got one more again this morning. But where are we as we come to John, chapter 15? We're still a part of this upper room discourse. It's Jesus speaking to his disciples on the final night before the cross. They're sitting in the upper room. They shared a meal together. Jesus washed the disciples' feet. This is mere hours before Jesus will be handed over to the authorities. Judas has already left the room at this point, and so the next day will bring a trial, will bring a cross, will bring the death of Jesus. But now we sit in this room getting Jesus's final instructions to the disciples, instructions to us.
Speaker 1:I want to quickly look at John 14, verse 31. It says this but I do as my Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. And Jesus says this rise, let us go from here, rise, let us go from here. I am thoroughly convinced that Jesus is indeed a Baptist and a Baptist preacher, simply because of this. Rise, let us go from here. Basically, he says in conclusion, and then he has three more chapters to go in this discourse. So rise, let us go from here. And then for three more chapters, he's going to continue giving instruction. And I'm very thankful that he did, because now we get this beautiful moment of the true vine, get this beautiful moment of the true vine, the vine dresser and the branches.
Speaker 1:Look with me in verse 1. Jesus says I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser. I am the true vine. My Father is the vine dresser. I want to begin with the second phrase my Father is the vine dresser. So God the Father, the vine dresser. You could read it the gardener, the farmer, the one who tends to the vine. That's who the father is.
Speaker 1:John is not new to this. Excuse me, this idea of God being the gardener is not new to John. In fact, throughout the Old Testament prophets we see this idea of God as a gardener, a vine dresser. We see two times in Ezekiel, one time the prophet Isaiah speak to this, that God is the vine dresser. And yet in these instances something interesting happens because Israel, the people of God, in these illustrations in the Old Testament they are the vine. The vine is represented by the people of God. And yet in these three moments of the prophets in the Old Testament, the vine is not doing a good job of being the vine. So there's a God who is the gardener, but then the vine is not fulfilling their duties as the vine. The people of God are not living as the people of God, they're not living as a people set apart, they're not following the commands of God and therefore the gardener says he's going to come and really, really pluck up the vine. So it's bad news for the vine.
Speaker 1:But now we turn here in the book of John and what we see? There's a God, the father, who is the vine dresser. But Jesus says this I am the true vine, not just the vine, I am the true vine. So you even have this idea that Jesus saying everywhere where the people of God were unfaithful, everywhere where the people of God dropped the ball and didn't live as the people of God, jesus says everywhere that happened, I have been faithful, I am faithful, I am the true vine. There's that I am. Statement my father, the vine dresser. And look with me at verse two Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, again, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about that for a second, just from this standpoint. What does this mean? Fruit? So, first of all, think about this. We've got a lot of parts within this illustration. You have the father, the gardener, the vine dresser. You have the son, jesus, who is the vine. And now we're going to see and a little bit of a spoiler, but they tell us here in verse 5, that who are the branches? Well, it's you and I, it's all who are in Christ Jesus. These are the branches, and so these branches are to bear fruit.
Speaker 1:Now, what does it mean to bear fruit? We can think about it in multiple ways. Number one we can think about it like this the fruit of sanctification. So sanctification is a big word. People smarter than me say that means the process of becoming more and more like Christ. And so sanctification means that Holy Spirit indwelled formation within our lives where, day by day, we are growing more into the image of Christ. We are growing further and further into holiness. We look more like Jesus day by day, and the Holy Spirit is doing this work.
Speaker 1:Think about Galatians 5, 22 and following the fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. I might have missed one in there, but I think I got them. These fruit that are being grown within us are being really sanctified within us, and so we might say this morning and all of us would probably argue I'm not where I want to be. There's really no arrivals in this side of eternity, but we might be able to look and say thank the Lord, I'm not where I was, because sanctification has been doing its work, the Holy Spirit has been working in my life. So, first of all, the fruit, the fruit of sanctification.
Speaker 1:Now we could also think of fruit equally valid as the fruit of our ministry. And I don't mean ministry as in you know what the pastor does, the vocation, the job. I mean ministry that we all do the fruit of that. And so when we tell someone about Jesus, maybe they don't come to know the Lord, but maybe they do. There's fruit there. When you disciple someone, you raise someone up in the faith. When you serve someone in the name of Christ, where someone's needs are met and they see Jesus through that and through you, this is all fruit as well. So the fruit of our ministry, and we look at a lot of fruit that has shown itself in the lives of others because of what the Spirit has done in and through us, and we say that humbly. We don't say, well, look at us, but we thank the Lord that he allows us to be a part of that process. And so, really, the fruit is all of this. It's kind of the whole of the Christian life and the Christian formation and the Christian ministry. This is the fruit.
Speaker 1:So now we return to verse two. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. Now, maybe this scares us a little bit. What does this mean? What is he getting at? Does this mean that there is a world where I can be a branch in the vine and yet one day I find out that I've been taken away, that I'm connected to the vine, and yet one day I wake up and realize I'm now on the outside looking in. Well, I'll build my case, but I'll start by just saying no, that's not the case. That's not what this means. I want you to remember something and just take this home with you and remember this All believers will bear fruit. All believers will bear fruit. It will happen. It cannot not happen. All believers will bear fruit. Why? Because the Holy Spirit empowers all believers. So think about this.
Speaker 1:In John 14, just before John 15, jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit empowers all believers. So think about this. In John 14, just before John 15, jesus is talking about the Holy Spirit. And what does he say? I'm sending you a helper. Jesus knows he's ascending into heaven, he's going back to the Father, but he's sending us the helper, god himself, who dwells within us, and because, if you are in Christ Jesus and you know Christ, he's Lord of your life through his death, burial, resurrection, forgiveness of sins and the life you found in him. If you are in Christ, that means the Holy Spirit dwells within you, and the Holy Spirit will bear fruit in your life. The Holy Spirit has never come into a believer and said this is just too hard of a case for me. That's never happened. The Holy Spirit will bear fruit in the life of the believer, so all believers will bear fruit.
Speaker 1:Now we'll talk about abiding in a minute, and when we talk about kind of God's, we've talked before God's sovereignty and human responsibility, that God is ultimately in control, but we have a part to play in our abiding, and so maybe the closeness of our fellowship with Jesus may dictate to an extent the amount of fruit that is shown. Okay, there's part of it where our job is to fellowship deeply and abide in Christ, but all believers will bear fruit. And so we got to remember in verse two, number one this is an illustration, this is a metaphor, but in this moment I would say this that those who are being taken away, we could call those who are, you know, claiming to be in the vine, but claiming it in name only, saying they are part of the vine, but in reality they have not been transformed, they have not tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord, they don't know Christ Jesus personally and therefore they are not in the vine, they are not bearing fruit. So it's not that they were in and taken away. No, no, no, in all reality is they were never in. So let's look at this that those who do not bear fruit are taken away.
Speaker 1:And then every branch that does bear fruit, he's about to do something. Now here's how I would have loved Jesus to have written this verse Every branch that does bear fruit, jesus says I personally, come down and shake your hand and congratulate you on a job well done. And I say, taylor, how could I have done this without you? And I'm just so proud of you. And that's not what Jesus says here. Every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes. Now that's suddenly not as exciting. In fact, I don't know a ton about gardening. I don't know a ton about those type of things, but I know what pruning is and I know, you know who doesn't enjoy pruning it's the branches. I know the branch doesn't love to see those garden shears heading his way. I know it's not that exciting.
Speaker 1:I think, about pruning like this, quite literally this there's some vacations that we go on and the time of year really dictates when you should go on this vacation. So if you came to me this morning and you said, taylor, I'm so excited, we've just scheduled out a trip. We're going to go on a New England fall foliage tour Maybe you've done the fall foliage in New England before and you say, hey, we're excited about it, we can't wait to get up there. And I say that sounds amazing, can't wait to see pictures. I say when are you going? And you say, right in the dead middle of January, we're going to go. And I'd say, listen, you're going to enjoy New England, you're going to eat good food, it's going to be great, but you're not going to see those beautiful colors. You're probably going to see some dead leaves on the ground. If you tell me this morning that you want to go to Northern California and see the vineyards there and all that, that, the beauty of these vineyards that are sprawling out, and you can go to one after the other and see the beauty there and I say when are you going? And you say, right in the middle of February, I'm going to say you're not going to love it.
Speaker 1:I actually have a picture of one of these California vineyards in the middle of February. That's not quite the picture they put on the brochure. When California Tourism wants to put their brochure together to get you to spend your money to go, they don't put that on the cover. You see a dusting of snow on the ground. You see a complete lack of branches because everything has been completely pruned back to the point where you've just kind of got this vine growing and quite honestly, that is not a very pretty picture. Yet it's a necessary picture Because that is the pruning process.
Speaker 1:We are pruning back the branches and it is the pruning that happens in winter that leads to this next picture the beautiful harvest. Next picture the beautiful harvest. And you get to go to Northern California and you get to go see this picture during harvest season. Why? Because the first picture happened and without that pruning in winter, this picture doesn't get to exist. And yet we love this picture. And I love this picture, the first one not so much. Why? Because I think about my own life. I think about those times in life where, by the grace of God, some sort of harvest has come, and yet I look at the background of that harvest. Why did that come? Why did that fruit come forward? It's because the Lord took me through a time of pruning, and in your own life there's been a season of pruning.
Speaker 1:It's not always enjoyable when you find those moments in your life where some practice, some reality of your life is just out of alignment with what the Lord wants for your life, is in disobedience to him. And the Holy Spirit comes and he convicts, and his conviction is not always fun. It makes us realize our own brokenness. It makes us realize just how much we are depending on him to sanctify us. And this pruning process isn't always fun. And why does he do it? Why does he do it in verse two? Why that it may bear more fruit.
Speaker 1:You and I are pruned so that more fruit can come, and so it may be that right now, if you're going through a pruning process, if the Spirit's conviction has come, if the Lord has had to look deep inside of you and kind of hold the mirror of your life up to you and say, taylor, things have got to change, or, taylor, the pruning is coming. If you're in that moment right now, pruning is coming. If you're in that moment, right now. It may be that later on there's someone out there that's going to come to know the Lord because you're walking through the pruning right now. There may be someone that you can walk through about a certain thing in your life, a certain sin, a certain addiction that you found freedom of because God is pruning you now, that in the future you can use that as ministry for them. It may be that God can turn the pruning into the harvest. I said it may be. It is absolutely the case that God can turn the pruning into the harvest. So don't discount the pruning, don't run from the pruning. Embrace the pruning In fact this is scary but say Holy Spirit, prune all the more to make me more like you so that more fruit can come to the glory of God. Verse three already you are clean because of the word that I've spoken to you. Jesus kind of steps out of the illustration just to speak to the disciples there in that moment. Already you are clean. You have been a part of this pruning process. You are being purified because of the word I've spoken. And then verse 4, beautiful verse Abide in me and I in you. Abide in me and I in you Abide in me and I in you.
Speaker 1:John loves the word abide. He loves the word abide in the gospel of John. He loves the word abide in the letter 1 John. He loves the word abide. What does this word mean? To abide. To continue, I remember being at Ouachita and I remember actually being in Greek class at Ouachita and if you think that makes me sound impressive, just look at some of my test scores and see how impressive you think it is.
Speaker 1:I remember being in Greek and we do vocabulary and I was always able to remember that word for abide. It was just the word meno. To transliterate to English it'd just be M-E-N-O, that Greek word abide, meno. And you know someone like me. I needed ways to remember things and so when I get my vocab meno, I would think about you know, when you go, if you've been to the lake and you've gone to the marina, and there at the marina there'll be this like tub of water and you'll look in and there'll just be like 500 minnows swimming around. Does anybody have seen that this tub of minnows there at the marina? And I just remembered this word, that the minnow better remain in that tub, and the illustration. I think it actually works out. Because what happens when that minnow leaves the tub? When he no longer abides and remains? He quite literally becomes bait. That's bad news. He better remain and abide.
Speaker 1:But this word, it really is just to remain close to Jesus, just to abide with him, to fellowship with him, to live closely to him. Now does that mean it's all on us? No, no, all morning we've seen that God's sovereignty, human responsibility, hand in hand, the Holy Spirit is doing the work in us. And yet we are doing the work alongside the Holy Spirit. But we are remaining close to him. Because why Verse four? As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Look at this you can do nothing Apart from me. Jesus says you can do a few things. No, you can do at least this or that. No, no, apart from me, you can do nothing.
Speaker 1:I wish we could set a camera up, just a live stream camera, outside of any 24-hour Walgreens between the hours of 6 am and 10 am on Christmas morning, because I'll tell you what you'll see. You'll see a parade of dads coming in, because there is a parade of dads who have bought gifts for their children and they've opened the wrapping, they've seen the box. They're fired up about the box. They open the box, they see the toy, they press power and nothing happens. And then you look on the box and you see just those haunting words that the devil himself wrote batteries not included. And so between the hours of 6 and 10 am on a cold Christmas morning, I've been a part of this parade. Some of you dads, we've been there, probably maybe seen you there, and we've made eye contact and didn't say a word. But the fathers go in and we get the batteries we need, we go to checkout and we get home so that you know an hour or two later our child has finally forgiven us and can play with their toys. Because the reality is, with that toy, there's nothing to it if the batteries are not in it.
Speaker 1:I think about our own lives individually. I think about the church that is First Baptist Eldorado. I think about the capital C church that is the church of Christ Jesus. If there is not a power source, there's really nothing. You press power and nothing happens. So think about this at the level of First Baptist Church of El Dorado.
Speaker 1:I want you to know that if the Spirit is in it and if we are a church that is abiding in Christ, fruit will come from the ministry of First Baptist El Dorado. It will happen. That's how the Spirit operates. That's what he does. But I'll also tell you this If we have the best programs in town or in the state, if we have the best music in the country I bet we do If we have the best preaching in the country we don't quite have that. If we have the best staff, if we have just unbelievable volunteer leaders, if our VBS beats every other VBS and if our Sunday school life groups, if they're all 10 out of 10s, if all these things are happening and yet it's just you and I doing it in our own power and the Spirit is not involved, nothing will come from it.
Speaker 1:And anything that we could look to that say that does come from it. Really it's just the Lord working in spite of you and me, not because of it, because it's got to be the Holy Spirit involved. And if it is and if we are a church that is communing deeply with Christ and abiding in Him and connected to Him and we are truly empowered by the Holy Spirit, there's nothing that the Lord can't do. In and through this church, there's nothing. And I believe, if that's the case as we look towards a new year, as we look towards what's ahead, that if the Holy Spirit's in it, we'll see children coming to know the Lord and adults, we'll see the waters of baptism full. We'll see life change happen. We'll see disciples made Apart from him. We can do nothing but turn that around. Empowered by his spirit, I believe all things are before the church.
Speaker 1:And also look at this individually. What does it look like to abide in Christ? I think it's just this. I think it's just saying I'm ready, looking to the Lord and saying I'm ready, lord Jesus, I'm ready to fellowship with you at a deeper level. I'm ready to take my faith seriously. I'm ready to be in the word every day, to make this book not something I simply do at 9 and 10, 15 on Sundays, but something that is a part of my every day, that I live in this word and let this word live in me.
Speaker 1:Lord Jesus, I'm ready. I'm ready to take prayer seriously, to bring myself before you, to commune with you in prayer, to bring my request, to acknowledge the fact that it is only through you that I can even take my next step in this day. I'm ready to take it seriously. I'm ready, lord, to abide in you, even through fellowshipping with the family of God. We can abide in Christ through abiding with one another, this family of faith, god. I'm ready to grow with those in the family of God. We can abide in Christ through abiding with one another, this family of faith, god. I'm ready to grow with those in the family of God. I'm ready to get with others within the family of God who can walk with me towards Jesus. Maybe those who are one season of life ahead that can walk me towards Jesus. And maybe there's some that are a season of life behind and I can help walk them. But I'm ready to fellowship.
Speaker 1:Maybe it says I'm ready for pruning. It's not our favorite prayer but, holy Spirit, if there's something in me that is contrary to your will for my life, it's got to go. It's got to go so that I can bear more fruit. Maybe it says I'm ready to serve that Jesus. I want to abide in you as I get off the sidelines and get into the game and serve. Serve in my church, but serve people for the sake of Christ in my community by serving in your name.
Speaker 1:Whatever it looks like, it's just us saying Jesus, I'm ready to get closer to you, to abide more deeply in you so that more fruit can come from my life and, above all, you can get the glory. And it says this again, verse 4, abide in me. And then there's another side of this, and I in you. I just got to tell you Jesus stands ready. The the issue of abiding, it's never a problem on Jesus's side of the occasion, of the equation. He's ready. He's ready to abide deeply as you abide in him, as you commune with him. He's ready to fellowship with you as you fellowship with him, and just say Lord Jesus, I'm ready, and in just a second, as we close, I just and this is not a close, and I've got three more chapters, this is a close In a second as we close, I want to tell you, I wanted to make it practical and so, if I did all right with my technology, no promises then you'll get an email at 1130 from me, and in that email is something our staff put together and it's just a small reading plan of walking through Scripture.
Speaker 1:We set it up to walk from tomorrow morning until Christmas Day, six days a week. You can skip Sunday. There's six days a week, walking through the Gospel of Luke all the way to Christmas. It gives you that plan. It also gives you a plan for abiding in Christ through prayer and talking about how we kind of pray concerning what we've just read, as well as abiding in Christ through our obedience, talking about how we take the truth of what we just read and apply it to our lives. I want to tell you not that you know our quote-unquote quiet time or devotional time, not that that's some checklist thing and if we check it off we are officially abiding. But you know we don't treat it like a checklist. But I just want to tell you this If you've got a way you're abiding with Christ daily, you're reading through something and you're praying through something, you've got what you need to abide, praise God. You can delete the email truly, but if you just look for something, if you need something to say, hey, I just want to jumpstart my abiding with Christ, just check your email at 1130. You'll see that from us. I just wanted you to have that practical tool that may help you as you seek to abide in Christ.
Speaker 1:As we close this morning, maybe you just want to make a decision. You want to come down and chat with me. If there's a way I can pray for you, I want to do it. If you want to come to know Christ and be introduced to him, because you say I want, for the first time, to know what it is to abide in Christ, I'd love to talk to you about that. Maybe you want to join our church family and you want to abide in Christ. As you are a part of this family, we'd love nothing more than to invite you into our church family. So, however you respond, I'll be down front. I'd love for you to respond as we worship in just a moment. So let me pray for us and then we'll worship together.
Speaker 1:Lord Jesus, thank you so much for the truth of your word. Lord, teach us to abide, not as a checklist, not as something that we can knock out and get on to other things, but something that we can really build our lives upon. That, day by day, we would bear more fruit as we live closer and closer in fellowship with you. Lord, help us. We can't do it on our own. In fact, apart from you, we can do nothing. So, holy Spirit, would you do this work in us as we partner with you in this work and, lord, for your glory, for your kingdom, for fruit to go forward in our lives and outwardly, lord, teach us more and more to abide. If there's one this morning that just needs prayer, that just needs to respond, that just needs to come be a part of this church family, that just needs to come to know you, lord, let them be bold to come down, maybe to talk to the person next to them, whatever that looks like, lord, let them respond. I ask all this in Christ's name, amen.