Michael Youssef - I Am the True Vine
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Some of you have read the book «The Tale of Two Cities.» Some of you have heard of it. And today I want to talk to you about the tale of two trees. One of those trees grows in the Middle East; the other grows in the tropics. The tree that grows in the Middle East looks like—notice I said looks like—an olive tree. It looks like an olive tree, but it is not. It takes the same space as an olive tree, absorbs the same amount of sunlight as an olive tree, and uses the same nutrients in the soil as an olive tree, but it produces no olives. It’s called the oyster tree. The other kind of tree that grows in the tropics is altogether different from the oyster tree. It grows high and spreads wide; the trunk is very thick and gives it a glorious beauty in its shade. Its branches reach out, then drop down to the ground, and whenever the tips of the branches hit the ground or the soil, they take root, and a new tree springs up.
The bottom line is this: it multiplies itself, and it’s called the banyan tree. Well, I’m sure by now some of you are saying, «Thank you, Michael. We got up early, got dressed, showered, and came to church so we can get a lesson on horticulture.» Not quite. The truth is, whichever way you look at it, every believer in Jesus is like one of those two trees; you are either an olive tree or a banyan tree. That’s just a fact. And I pray to God that everyone under the sound of my voice is asking themselves not just today, «Am I an olive tree or am I a banyan tree?» In the kingdom of Jesus, these are the two trees. Do I look like an olive tree from the outside, but in reality, I’m an olive tree that produces no fruit? You say, «Well, how come?»
See, those of us who are olive trees consume the preaching of the Word of God, receive blessings from God, and receive ministry from others. We are always receiving and receiving, and yet we bear no fruit whatsoever. But there is the other kind of tree, the other kind of believer—the kind of believer that this church is full of; I thank God for that. They are forever reproducing themselves; they are forever passing on the blessings that they receive. They are forever giving and doing and going—they’re forever influencing others for Christ. They are forever being conduits of all the ministries and the blessings that they receive, and they’re passing it on instead of hoarding it. Amen. Only God in heaven knows how grateful I am for so many of you who are just like that.
As we come to the sixth declaration of the exclusivity of Jesus Christ in John chapter 15, turn to it with me, please: John 15, the Gospel of John, chapter 15. Here you find that Jesus speaks of Himself as a tree. He Himself is a tree, and that His disciples—that is, you and me—we are the branches of that tree. Jesus says, «I am the true vine.» All of the disciples listen to me, because all of His disciples would immediately understand what He’s talking about. They were very familiar with the fact that in the Old Testament, ancient Israel is described by God as a vine—in Psalm 80:8, Isaiah 5, Jeremiah 2, Ezekiel 15:17 and 19. It is a vine of God’s own planting. Again and again in the scripture, ancient Israel was described as a vine that God planted. He took them out of Egypt, brought them out of the land of the slave, saved them, and took them into the Promised Land, and there He planted them.
Yet again and again ancient Israel failed to produce fruit. And that is why Jesus said, «Now I am the vine.» That is true; I am the true vine. I’m the true one. Israel of old was the shadow. Now that the real person is here, the shadow fades. Israel of old was the picture, but now that the real person is here, the picture becomes less important. If you read carefully the Gospel of Matthew—and if you haven’t, I challenge you to do that. Try to sit and read the Gospel of Matthew in one sitting—just one sitting, and read through it very carefully. Matthew, who is a man writing the Gospel particularly to a Jewish audience, not Gentiles, clearly distinguishes between ancient Israel or Israel of old and Jesus the Messiah. Israel of old was the disobedient son, but Jesus is the obedient Son. The fact that the word «true» is mentioned 64 times in the New Testament, 16 of those in the Gospel of John.
Question: what does the word «true» mean? It means the perfect one; it means the ideal one; it means the trustworthy one. And since Jesus is the true vine, His believers, both Jews and Gentiles, those who come from every nation, tribe, and language, are the branches. They’re the branches. That is why immediately Jesus goes on to say there are two types of branches. I gave you two types of trees, but Jesus said there are two types of branches in that vine: the fruitful one and the unfruitful one. There are no third types. Please don’t miss the important difference between the two kinds of branches; it is so important, and I pray to God it will revolutionize everyone under the sound of my voice. Jesus said that the vine dresser, who’s the Father, has to prune the vine; has to cut those branches. He has to cut these sucker shoots.
Please don’t miss this. Only the Father, only the Father prunes the vine. Are you with me? Amen. Only the Father can take out these unproductive branches. It would be a terrible mistake if we play the role of the Father and try to cut those branches ourselves—a terrible mistake. And that is why Jesus said in the end times, which we’re getting closer to than you can even imagine, the angels are going to come down, and they are the ones who are going to separate the wheat from the tares. Because if you’ve ever seen a field of wheat in the Middle East growing, and you see the tares, you can’t tell the difference. They look so much alike. And He said the Father is going to send the angels; He knows whose names are written in the book of life and whose are not, and He is the one who is going to do the separation. Why? Because if we do it ourselves, we can cause a lot of harm.
But listen, the Father does something else in that verse. Look at it in the passage, and I’m going to tell you right up front, He does something I don’t like one bit. But it makes no difference; I know it is absolutely necessary, I know it is absolutely productive, but it is painful nonetheless. What am I talking about? The Father trims the fruitful branches so that they might bear more fruit. Listen to me; trimming of the faithful believer is not fun. Trimming in the life of a fruitful believer is not a joyride. Nonetheless, trimming out of us those things that hinder our faithfulness—while they are painful, they are absolutely necessary. Clearing, purifying, and removing the junk out of our lives is not easy, but it is absolutely important—it is for our blessing. The vine dresser removes the cobwebs that cling to us like a tar baby, removing the trash that accumulates in our lives, scrubbing the floor of our hearts.
Yet the vine dresser has to do it even when we prefer otherwise. What is Jesus doing? He is warning the disciples. He is warning us not to make the same mistake that ancient Israel made; not to live and cherish living in disobedience. Isaiah 5:7 tells us that Israel’s fruitlessness was their disobedience. Here’s something every believer in Jesus must not miss: We cannot, we cannot, we cannot—how many times we cannot—produce this fruit by ourselves. Amen. We could not manufacture it. Did you get that? We cannot do it. We cannot manufacture the fruit in our lives. Fruit cannot be manufactured; fruit cannot be conjured up; fruit cannot be generated in our lives.
«Michael, is this a lost cause? Do we have no hope?» Not at all! I hope you’re listening carefully because in verse four—that’s John 15:4—here’s what Jesus tells us how to bear fruit: «Remain in me, and I’ll remain in you. No branch» (that is you and me)—"no branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.» What is Jesus saying? Listen carefully. He is saying that while we cannot manufacture the fruit in our lives and we cannot manufacture fruitfulness, there is one way to produce it. How? By sticking to Jesus like glue. Are you with me? Amen. Sticking to Jesus like glue.
Listen, you have Jesus’s word on it. You have Jesus’s word on it. But you know what the problem is? You know what the problem is? The problem with me—I’m not going to point it at you; I’m talking about the problem with me. It is for all of us. But we don’t get to stick to Jesus like we should. The moment we get a bit of success or a blessing, we’re off to the races. We got a business for ourselves; we take credit for only what God has accomplished. «Look what I did!» Again, some may ask, «Well, Michael, how do I know if I’m abiding in Jesus or not?» Great question! I’m so glad you asked it. Amen. Look at the nine character qualities of the fruit of the Spirit and ask yourself the question: are those character qualities apparent? Are they apparent?
Not to me—because I can deceive myself. Are they apparent to those around me, to my family, to my friends, to everybody around me? Are they apparent? You see, like all faithful preachers, I can tell you that you must spend time with God. I can tell you that you must spend time with the Word of God. After all, I’m a preacher—I’m supposed to do that. But ultimately, the question is, are you afraid of accountability? Are you afraid of accountability? Because spiritual independence from other believers cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit. And that is why our home groups and our small groups, and all the ministries that we have here in all varieties of ways, are vitally important parts of spiritual fruitfulness. Amen.
Let me break it down this way. Let’s take one of the clusters of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5—just one: faithfulness. Can you say that with me? Faithfulness. How can I measure faithfulness without having others see it in me? How I spend my time, how I spend my money, how I use my spiritual gifts, and on and on and on. My fruit has to be seen and testified to by others. Oh, but listen, that does not mean that occasionally I might fail miserably in my faithfulness. But remember this: it’s not the end of the world. Amen. One of my accountability partners pointed this out to me, so what do I do? I get up, I confess, I repent, and I get back on the road to faithfulness again. That’s why I love being surrounded by godly people and godly friends.
Otherwise, we’ll be like the tree that has a lot of foliage—lots of foliage, hyperactive. We’re running around and running around and running around, and we are busy for God. People might point to our hyperactivity and say, «Wow, look at her! Look at him! They’re busy for God!» But God looks there and says, «Where’s the fruit? Where’s the fruit?» Oh, beloved, listen to me. There is a cost to faithfulness. There is a cost to faithfulness. Oh, but it is worth it in the end. And if you are going through some painful time today, I want you to remember this. I want you to remember this: There would be no resurrection without the crucifixion. There can be no testimony without a test. There would be no Pentecost without plenty of cost.
So the first thing about being fruitful is to stick to Jesus. Can I get an amen? The second is to accept pruning for greater fruitfulness. Let me tell you this as I conclude. There’s a story told about two men, members of the same church, and they were leaving church about the same time. As they were walking together, one man began to complain bitterly about the sermon. He looked at his friend and said, «Here he goes again! Here he goes again! Give willingly! Give sacrificially! Give regularly! Give generously! Give of yourself! Give, give, give! When will all this preaching about self-giving end?»
His friend turned to him and said, «Bill, do you remember my son Jimmy?» «Don’t you?» And the man nodded. Then his friend continued, «When Jimmy came into the world, he cost me a tidy sum. I had to pay for the doctors and the hospital. Then we had to prepare a nursery and buy a crib. Then we began to spend money on medicine, food, and clothing. As Jimmy grew, his expenses grew: school fees, school activities, sports activities. Oh, then came the cost of braces for his teeth. Then he went to college, and you can imagine how costly that was, how expensive that was.»
«You remember, Bill, that weeks before graduation, Jimmy was killed in a car accident.» And Bill nodded sympathetically. And his friend continued, «You know, Bill, since we buried my boy, he has cost us nothing. Oh, how I now wish we could have him back so we could spend something on him.»
Oh, beloved, listen to me. Anything that’s alive costs us. When you’re spiritually alive, that costs you. Obedience costs us; faithfulness costs us; fruitfulness costs us; authentic discipleship costs us. And so I end where I began-with the two trees. Ask yourself the question: am I an olive tree or am I a banyan tree that is abiding, obeying, and fruitful?