Vintage Christianity

Introduction

Vintage is an interesting word meaning “characterized by excellence, maturity, and enduring appeal; classic.” In the words of the first stanza of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord / He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, / He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword / His truth is marching on.”

Our text, John 15:1-8, is the seventh “I am” statement of our Lord Jesus Christ from the Gospel of John, where we read, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 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. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

God the Father is the focus of our message.

I. The Relationship with the Father (John 15:1, 5)

Our Lord Jesus Christ reveals, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (John 15:1) and “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). Notice the vital link between the vinedresser, the vine and the branches. In John 14:6, our Lord emphatically states, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.”

We discover more about our union with God as believers in the following passages. For example, in John 14:20, Jesus said, “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In 1 Corinthians 6:17 Paul explains, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” From Galatians 2:20 we read, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Paul the apostle further writes in Colossians 1:27, “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

II. The Regimen of the Father (John 15:2, 4-7)

Lexicographers remind us that a regimen is “a systematized course of living, as food, clothing, etc” or “the systematic procedure of a natural phenomenon or process; a system, as of therapy or diet.”

We read in John 15:2, and 4-7, “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. . . . Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.’”

A. There is to be a pruning from the Father. (John 15:2)

Jesus explains the divine process in a believer’s life is similar to the cultivating and cutting of the branches. This horticultural image serves well to illustrate God’s methods and plans for His children.

Dr. Vernon Carl Grounds (1914-2010), former president of Denver Seminary, explains, “Pruning is one of God’s essential methods for stimulating spiritually productivity. Cooperation with His pruning process is indispensable if we are to bring forth Christlike fruit.”[1] Dr. Grounds further explains, “When God graciously prunes us, He does not use a knife. Instead, He works through the circumstances of our lives. Whenever He detects in any one of His children the potential of productivity, He starts to shape that Christian’s experience in such a way as to cut out the dead wood which is hindering growth and fruitfulness.”

We find a parable about God’s disappointing vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7, “Now let me sing to my Well-beloved / A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard
On a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, / And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst, / And also made a winepress in it; / So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, / But it brought forth wild grapes. ‘And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, / Did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; / And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; / It shall not be pruned or dug, / But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.’ For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, / And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; / For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.”

We learn about the pruning process from Hebrews 12:5-11, where we read, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, / Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; / For whom the LORD loves He chastens, / And scourges every son whom He receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Rev. George Henderson (1878-1964), also known as Henry Durbanville, states, “Pruning is thus the perfect philosophy of Christian suffering. Is there not an explanation here of many things in our lives difficult to understand? The spiritual meaning of it came home to Mr. Cecil on one occasion with comforting power. In deep dejection of spirit, because of painful heart-wounds, he was pacing to and fro in a botanic garden at Oxford, when he observed a fine specimen of the pomegranate, almost cut through the stem. On asking the gardener for the reason, he received the following answer: ‘Sir, this tree used to shoot so strong that it bore nothing but leaves. I was therefore obliged to cut it in this manner; and when it was almost cut through, then it began to bear plenty of fruit’. Let us ever remember that the One with Whom we have to do—infinite in holy wisdom, as well as boundless in compassionate love—orders our stops as well as our steps. ‘He breaks plans, quenches hopes, cuts off ambitions, denies comforts; nevertheless, every surgery, every mutilation of the living bough, is a deliberate design for richer, riper, clusters of holiness.”[2]

Annie Johnson Flint (1866-1932) shares the following poetic message in “The Pruned Branch”:
”It is the branch that bears the fruit,
That feels the knife,
To prune it for a larger growth,
A fuller life,

Though every budding twig be lopped,
And every grace
Of swaying tendril, springing leaf,
Be lost a space.

O thou, whose life of joy seems reft,
Of beauty shorn;
Whose aspirations lie in dust,
All bruised and torn,

Rejoice, tho’ each desire, each dream,
Each hope of thine
Shall fall and fade; it is the hand
Of love divine

That holds the knife, that cuts and breaks
With tenderest touch,
That thou, whose life has borne some fruit
May’st now bear much.”[3]

Miss Bertha Smith (1888-1988) was a longtime Southern Baptist Missionary to China, who benefited from the Shantung Revival. She shares about this and other things in her book titled How the Spirit Filled My Life. Miss Smith exhorts believers to “Welcome the Lord’s pruning.”[4]

B. There is to be a praying to the Father. (John 15:7a)

We read in John 15:7a, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire. . .” Jesus taught His disciples to pray in Matthew 6:5-15, where we read, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. ‘Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, / Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done / On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, / As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, / But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. ‘For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

In His last extended teaching Jesus shares the following about prayer (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24, and 26). Interestingly, we find the phrase “in My name” at least six times in these verses. It thrilled my heart to hear one of the classes in the First Baptist Daycare recite from memory John 14:14 in chapel this past Wednesday. They are learning what many adults do not know. It amazes me that many believe we pray to some general God, while Jesus makes it plain we are to pray to the Father in His name. In John 14:13-14, Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” Jesus also said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16). From John 16:23-24 and 26 we find Jesus said, “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. . . . In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you.”

We are to pray to God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit, according to the will of God.

III. The Results from the Father (John 15:7b-8)

From John 15:7b-8, we read, “and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

The condition for answered prayer or abundant produce is “abiding”. For example, we read in John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.” In John 8:31 we read, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.’” Abiding in Jesus and in His words is “not by rapturous experiences, but by practical and daily obedience to them; our desires will harmonize with His, and our prayers will be moulded along lines that will bring inevitable response from heaven.” Henry Durbanville further explains, “Stated in other words, the secrets of effectual prayer are mainly four in number: unbroken fellowship (Psa. 66.18); a forgiving spirit (Mark 11.25); confident faith (James 1.5-7); loving obedience (John 14.15). Given the fulfillment of these conditions, prayer is encouraged by promises more numerous and more absolute, than attach to any other one act and privilege of the believer’s life.”[5]

Conclusion

We read about fruitful disciples and false disciples in John 15. Allow me to summarize these two types of disciples.

Fruitful disciples are those whose lives are marked by cleansing (John 15:2-3), abiding (John 15:4), and obedience (John 15:10-12). There are three degrees of fruitfulness, namely, “fruit” (John 15:2), “more fruit” (John 15:2), and “much fruit” (John 15:5, 8); corresponding to three designations for disciples, namely, “servants” (John 13:13-16), “friends” (John 15:15), and “brethren” (John 20:17). From Hebrews 2:11-13 we read, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: ‘I will declare Your name to My brethren; / In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.’ And again: ‘I will put My trust in Him.’ And again: ‘Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.’”

False disciples were present as we read in Matthew 13:30, 47-50, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. . . . Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Judas Iscariot is a prime example of a false disciple or a useless disciple. We find more about him in John 13:18-30, where we read, “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’ Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.’ When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’ Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke. Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ Jesus answered, ‘It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.’ And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What you do, do quickly.’ But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, ‘Buy those things we need for the feast,’ or that he should give something to the poor. Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.”

By the way there is no contradiction here with the doctrine of the security of the believer that we find in John 10:28, where we read, “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Judas Iscariot never had eternal life.

The Christian life is not just to be endured it is to be enjoyed. Joy is one of the most winsome qualities of Christian character. May each one of us truly know the abiding joy of vintage Christianity.

[1]Vernon C. Grounds, Radical Commitment: Getting Serious About Christian Growth (Portland, OR: Multnomah Press, 1984), p. 90

[2]Henry Durbanville, His Last Words (Edinburgh, Scotland: B. McCall Barbour, September 1954), pp. 55-56

NOTE: Henry Durbanville is a pseudonym of George Henderson (1878-1964) http://mobius.missouri.edu:2082/search~S0?/aHenderson%2C+George%2C+1932-/ahenderson+george+1932/-3,-1,0,B/browse

http://mobius.missouri.edu:2082/search~S0/a?Durbanville%2C+Henry&search_code=a

NOTE: F. R. G. S., (Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society) M. R. S. L. (Market Research Solutions Limited / U.K)

[3]Streams in the Desert, compiled by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1925), February 19 Reading, p. 63

[4]Bertha Smith, How the Spirit Filled My Life (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1973), p. 133

[5]Henry Durbanville, His Last Words (Edinburgh, Scotland: B. McCall Barbour, September 1954), p. 58

By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527

Author of Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice Available on Amazon.com and WORDsearchbible.com

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Biblical-Preaching-Giving-Bible/dp/1594577684

http://www.wordsearchbible.com/products/Sound_Biblical_Preaching_1476.html

http://www.webspawner.com/users/franklinlkirksey / fkirksey@bellsouth.net / (251) 626-6210

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