The Salvation Army: Australia Southern TerritoryI AM… the True Vine Sermon Outline

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How to Use This OutlineThe emphasis of this outline is on the exegetical material for the chosen passage. The outline will need to be customised and contextualised by each Corps Officer for the congregation to whom the sermon will be preached:

Adding appropriate illustrations that will connect with the specific congregation Modifying language to be appropriate to the socio-cultural setting of the Corps Modifying sermon style if you prefer a topical rather than expository sermon style You may also wish to make the application more specific to your context.

The Salvation Army: Australia Southern TerritoryI AM… the True Vine Sermon Outline

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Scripture

John 15:1-17 (TNIV)1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He 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. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because servants do not know their master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17This is my command: Love each other.1

1 The Holy Bible : Today's New International Version. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), Jn 15:1–17.

The Salvation Army: Australia Southern TerritoryI AM… the True Vine Sermon Outline

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Sermon Outline

Introduction1. Today we come to the last of the seven ‘I am’ sayings in John’s Gospel. Each of them puts Jesus right in the

centre. We are invited to see Jesus as the ‘bread of life’, ‘the light of the world’, ‘the gate’, ‘the good shepherd’, ‘the resurrection and the life’, ‘the way the truth and the life’, and today as , ‘the true vine.’ These incredible sayings call on each one of us to make a personal and individual response to what Jesus says.

2. Only in the in the case of the shepherd and the vine does the corporate dimension in the Christian life come into focus. Jesus is the shepherd of the flock and he is the life-giving vine to the branches. It has often been suggested that Jesus’ use of the flock and vine imagery parallels Paul’s imagery of the church as the body of Christ, a body that has many members each with something to contribute.

Old Testament Background1. In the case of the vine imagery the communal dimension is confirmed by reference to the Old Testament. In

the Old Testament Israel, the people of God are often likened to a vine. Isaiah says this explicitly, ‘For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel’ (Is. 5:7). Similarly, Jeremiah has God saying to the Jews, ‘I planted you as a choice vine from the purest stock. How then did you become degenerate and become a wild vine?’ (Jer. 2:21).

2. So when Jesus says, ‘I am the true vine’ he is saying ‘I am true Israel’. At this point of time I represent God to the world and from henceforth those who follow me will represent God to the world as the new people of God, the church.

The Vine1. Jesus makes it quite clear that he is the vine itself, the vine stem from which the branches come. If you have

ever had a vine and pruned it you know what Jesus meant. The vine is the stem that comes from the earth; it has bark that is dark in colour. When all the fruit has been picked and the leaves all fall, as summer ends you cut away the branches very heavily, almost right back to the stock. This ensures vital and prolific branch growth and fruit in the spring. The life of the vine is not in the branches but in the vine stem, the vine itself. The branches are dependent on the vine stock, they cannot grow or thrive without it but the vine itself can exist without the branches as it does through winter after a hard pruning.

2. Jesus is the source of life and nourishment for the vine branches, you and me.

The Salvation Army: Australia Southern TerritoryI AM… the True Vine Sermon Outline

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The Branches1. Note the following things about the branches.

a. Branches are to abide in the vine stem. Jesus likens his disciples to the branches. They are dependent on him for life and growth. Seven times in this passage Jesus speaks of disciples ‘abiding in him’. Usually he speaks of this abiding as a fact, a reality. Living branches abide in the vine (vv. 2, 5). It cannot be otherwise. You cannot be a Christian unless you abide in Christ. At other times he exhorts the disciples to abide in him (vv. 4, 10). This means, abiding in Christ is both a gift and something to be pursued. We are branches but we need to make sure we seek the nourishment that the vine offers. An old evangelical commentator called J.C Ryle said that to abide in me (Christ) means ‘to cling to me, stick fast to me, live your life close to me, get nearer and nearer to me. Roll every burden onto me. Cast your whole weight on me. Never let go of your hold of me for a moment.’

b. All branches are pruned. Dead branches get cut away (v. 2a) and good branches get cut back (v. 2b). Dead branches are of course people in the church who do not have the life the vine provides. They do not grow and they do not produce leaves or fruit. They are spiritually dead. The good branches are Christians who along life’s journey suffer all sorts of ‘pruning’, loss of a job, a sick child, unanswered prayer, a marriage breakdown, children who reject them, sickness, loss of a loved one… These things can make us ‘bitter or better’. God allows these dreadful things to happen to disciples not to crush them but to help them grow.

c. Healthy branches bear fruit. Jesus assumes that healthy branches ‘bear much fruit’ (v. 5). What this fruit is he does not say and for this reason we should be cautious about defining what this is. Some think Jesus is speaking about evangelism. Spiritually healthy Christians who abide in Christ will be good evangelists, harvesting much ‘fruit’. Other suggest Jesus is talking about the ‘fruits of the Spirit’ (see Gal 5:22), love, joy peace, patience etc. Others note that in v. 7 Jesus promises that those who abide in him will have their prayers answered, and so argue the fruit is prayer. Yet others think this fruit is good done in the name of Christ, feeding the hungry, standing for justice, giving a drink of water to the thirsty. I suspect it is all of these things and more. Jesus is simply saying Christians who find their life in the vine act like healthy, vital branches – disciples.

The vine and its branches are the Christian community1. Thinking of ourselves as branches united to Christ reminds us that the Christian life is not a solitary journey.

We have here communal imagery. Each of us is a branch but not a solitary branch trying to exist on its own. We are part of rich foliage sustained by Christ and by the branches all around us. As we grow others grow. For this reason we should greatly value our church membership, all the branches around us that support us, and never except in the most acute situation ever think of breaking away to try and go alone. We branches need each other, just as much as we need the life giving stock of the vine, Jesus Christ.