Live Lessons from Grape-Growers - Part 1 - Part A

Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition, and we're so glad you've joined us for today's program. Connecting you to the never-changing truth of God's Word through verse-by-verse teaching is what Connect with Skip Heitzig is all about.

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And be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. That's Connect with Skip Heitzig on YouTube. Now, let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. There's a movie years ago put out, Forrest Gump, and you're going to remember this line where in the movie he says, Life is like a box of chocolates because you never know what you're going to get. Well, Jesus would say to the analogy we want to look at this morning, life is like a bunch of grapes.

You never know what you're going to get. You might get some branches that are life-giving and life-producing and others that are dead wood that need to be cleared away. We, in chapter 15, and I've been looking forward for a long time to get into it, learn about real life. Extended metaphor is given in this chapter about the vine, the branches, and the gardener. It's a parable that Jesus gives.

And Jesus was ever the master storyteller, weaving the basic truths of life into a story so that we would appreciate it in a deeper, greater manner. That's what we have here, this extended metaphor of a vineyard. We're going to walk into a vineyard and understand truths about life. If you lived around the Mediterranean world then or now, one of the most familiar sights to you would be growing grapes for the production of wine.

It was a mainstay in Judaism. Wherever you would look, you would see grapes being grown and you would understand the symbolism behind that. I'll explain that in a moment. As we go through chapter 15, there's some highlights, some lessons that jump out to us. Number one, we're going to learn about relationship, what it means to be related to God properly. Number two, we're going to learn about hardship. We're going to learn why God uses hardship to prune our lives. And the other thing we're going to learn about is discipleship. Some would-be disciples aren't always true disciples. Some so-called branches aren't really true branches.

And Jesus will make a distinction between the true fruit-bearing branches and those that are not really His. You may have heard a story about a bandit, a notorious bandit years ago from Mexico named Jorge Rodriguez. Jorge wreaked havoc on the good people of Texas. He would scurry across the border, rob banks, and before anybody could catch him, he'd hightail it back to his mountain hideaway in Mexico.

So eventually the United States thought, we've got to take action. They sent their best detective down to arrest Jorge Rodriguez and recover all the money back. The detective went to Mexico, went to a town where he thought Jorge would be, and sure enough, as he walked into a bar, there in the corner sat Jorge Rodriguez. The detective walked up to the table, pulled out his gun, pointed it at Jorge, and said, tell me where the money is or I'm going to blow you away. Just then, a man walked up to the detective and said, Señor, I am sorry, but Jorge cannot speak English.

He has no idea what you just said. Would you like me to translate for you? He said, yeah, I do want you to translate. You tell Jorge that he tells me where the money is or I'm going to kill him.

I'm going to shoot him right here, right now. So this helpful translator, Juan Garcia was his name, turns to Jorge Rodriguez, and in Spanish, they're talking back and forth. And in Spanish, Jorge tells Juan that if that detective goes a mile out of town to a now defunct town, there's a well. And if he were to scurry down the well and take out the third row of bricks, he would find $3 million worth of gold. After this little conversation, mind you, all in Spanish, Juan now turns toward the detective and said, Señor, I'm sorry, Jorge says he cannot remember where he put the money.

You're going to have to shoot him. We would call Juan a hypocrite, a pretender, someone who seems to be helpful but is not really helpful, somebody worse actually than Jorge who stole the money. One of the underlying themes, and you'll see it in just a minute, we read through the first eight verses of chapter 15, is that Jesus is showing the difference between the real and the authentic, the genuine and the pretenders, the branches that bear fruit, the branches that are fruitless. Let's look at chapter 15, verses 1 through 8 together. I am the true vine. My Father is the vine dresser.

Here it is. 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.

Now a question comes up. Just in reading this, we understand that Jesus is dealing with the upper room discourse. It's that last speech before he goes to the cross. Why does Jesus suddenly launch into an analogy, a parable if you will, about a farmer, a vineyard, branches? Where does that come from?

What's going on? Well, there's perhaps a little clue, and we just sort of skipped over it last week, but you'll notice that the last phrase of chapter 14, Jesus says to his disciples, what? Read it in your Bible.

It says, Arise, let us go from here. So now we have to picture Jesus and his men getting up from the table. They were in the upper room in Jerusalem.

They had the Passover supper. Jesus had been briefing them in chapter 14. Now it's time to get up, so that we believe chapters 15 and 16 are spoken by Jesus to his men as they are walking, because in chapter 17, they're in the Garden of Gethsemane.

In chapter 18, he is arrested. So probably they get up, they walk out the door, and they leave the southwestern portion of upper Jerusalem walking down toward the Kidron Valley and will eventually be in the Garden of Gethsemane. Now I can't tell you for sure, but it could be that Jesus and his disciples passed by a vineyard along the way, maybe in the Kidron Valley. And as they were going by the vineyard, Jesus used that as a way to teach his disciples.

Or, here's a thought. As they were going down, on their left-hand side would be this enormous building called the temple. And one of the most noticeable features, if you were to just look at the temple from the front, were two huge bronze doors, and embossed upon the bronze doors were golden vines and grapes that went from top to bottom. They had been made in Greece.

Some estimate the value of those doors to be at $12 million, if you were to remake them today. This vine, these grapes, the vineyard that was depicted on the doors was there for a very important reason. Because the vineyard in the Old Testament depicted the nation of Israel. It was a very common idea that Israel, the nation of Israel, was God's fruitful vineyard. There's many scriptures that speak to that.

Psalm 80 is one, there's several in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, but the most famous comes in Isaiah chapter 5. In Isaiah chapter 5, it begins by saying, let me sing to my well-beloved a song regarding his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill, and he dug it, and he cleared away its stones, and he planted in it the choicest vine. And, it says in Isaiah 5, he expected it to bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.

And then the question comes, what will he do? Since he's done everything he can to bring forth good fruit, but it's brought forth wild grapes, what will he do? And the prophet Isaiah chapter 5 says he will tear down its hedges, he will destroy and burn the vineyard. And then it says, for the vineyard of the Lord God Almighty is the house of Israel. So they have always lived under the impression that we are God's vine, we are God's vineyard. Here comes Jesus and says, I am the true vine, not Israel. And I tell you why that's important. Because though Israel as a nation had been depicted as God's vineyard, God's vine, always in context they were God's fruitless vine, degenerate vine. And Jesus says, I am the true vine.

The only one that's ever been rightly connected to God is me, his son, and the only one who can connect you rightly to God is me, his son. Something else is going on. There's a drama that is unfolding this very night. How many disciples are with Jesus when they leave the upper room?

Eleven, not twelve. Judas has left the bunch and right at that very moment he is plotting the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ. He's a fruitless branch. The ones that are left are the disciples. And so as they perhaps walk by a vineyard or see the doors of the temple, because of the drama that's happening in their relationship, Jesus gives this parable. For our purpose, we want to look at three things this morning, three things, three distinguishing marks of those in relationship with God. If you're a Christian, a true Christian, these marks will be in your life. Number one, you are connected to Christ.

I know that sounds very obvious, but it needs to be explored. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig, Weekend Edition. Before we return to Skip's teaching, in his Jesus Loves booklets, Pastor Skip Heitzig shows you God's radical love for all people and challenges you to love all people like Jesus did. And when you give a gift of $50 or more today, we'll send you four of these booklets in our Jesus Loves Them bundle. Our thanks for your support to reach more people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig. You'll fall more in love with your living Savior as you see just how much He loves all people and calls you to do the same.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your bundle when you give. Let's get back to today's message from Pastor Skip. Jesus said, I am the true vine. My Father is the vine dresser. Look down at verse five. I am the vine and you are the branches.

So what are you personally? You're a branch. I'm a branch.

You know what a branch is? It's a little twig. You're a twig. You're a little piece of wood. Now, I put it to you that way because sometimes we get this inflated idea of our importance.

I'm a special messenger of God. You're a twig. In fact, what's interesting about grape branches is they were utterly useless, totally unimportant. The only thing they were used for once they were dead, they couldn't even be used to heat your house.

They would just be used as kindling to start the real wood. It had no value unless it was connected. And when it was connected, that's when life flowed through it and if it was planted in good soil, it would bring life to others. Your life takes on real significance as long as you're connected to Christ. When it comes to any lasting significance, certainly any spiritual significance, you and I are worthless unless we are connected to Him. The branch must be connected to the vine. You are the branches. We are connected to Christ.

Now, I want to explore that a little bit further. When I say you're connected, I'm connected, we're connected. This is what I mean.

It has to be a personal connection, your own personal connection that results in new life. Eleven times in these eight verses, Jesus uses the pronoun you, you plural to His disciples. You this, you that, you must be this, you abide.

You abide in me, I'll abide in you. That means it's got to be personal. You've got to be a part of this equation.

A second word that Jesus repeats a lot six times is the word fruit. So the connection, follow that together, put those together. The connection that is made must be personal and it has to be fruitful.

That is, it has to have the evidence of new life. Some people think that all they need is a ceremonial connection. Have you met people like that? In those days, many would say, well, I've been circumcised as a Jewish youngster and I keep the Sabbath day and I go to the festivals several times a year. I'm in the temple worshiping. I go through all of the ceremonies and all of the rituals like a person today when you ask them about their connection with Christ. All they can say is, well, I've been baptized when I was a baby or I've been christened when I was younger or I was confirmed after that. They will name the rituals that they've been through, not the personal connection. You recall when John the Baptist was performing baptism down at the Jordan River and many came to be baptized.

John said to them, who has warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? As if to say, you might come into this water and get wet and get baptized, but if that's what you're relying on to be connected to God, you better think twice. So it can't just be a ceremonial connection.

It also can't just be a genetic connection. You say the Jewish people were Israel's vineyard, the vine, and they boasted in that fact, we're God's vine. We've been God's vine for a long time.

We're untouchable. We can trace our heritage back to Moses and to Abraham. We're children of Abraham.

They boasted in that fact. Their genetic connection to their forefathers. Just like a person today would say, I was raised in a Christian home. My grandpa was a preacher.

My uncle, da, da, da, da, da, da. Again, I think of John the Baptist when he was baptizing at the Jordan River and all of those religious people came around, most all of whom were Jewish. John the Baptist, as if he could read their minds, said to them, do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I say God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these very stones. Your connection to God must be more than your heritage or your religious experiences.

Let's just stop here for a moment. Put a marker in this section of your Bible, if you don't mind, even a finger, and turn back one book. Turn back to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 20. I want us to look at another vineyard parable.

It's very similar, but has a different kind of a twist to it. And as you're reading with me, I want you to keep in mind what I just quoted to you out of Isaiah, chapter 5, that whole vineyard analogy of Israel in the Old Testament. Luke, chapter 20, verse 9. Then he began to tell the people this parable. A certain man planted a vineyard and leased it to vine dressers, went into a far country for a long time. Now at vintage time, he sent a servant to the vine dressers that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard, but the vine dressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant and they beat him also and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty-handed. And again he sent a third and they wounded him and they cast him out.

Now it doesn't take a whole lot of imagination to figure out what he's talking about. Even these Pharisees are going to figure it out, as you're going to see. God in the Old Testament sent prophets time and time again to the vineyard, the house of Israel. And they castigated those prophets or they beat them and in many cases they killed them. Think of Jeremiah, think what they did to Isaiah, et cetera, et cetera.

So it gets better. Verse 13, then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him when they see him. But when the vine dressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves saying, this is the heir, come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours. And so they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

He will come and destroy those vine dressers and give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, certainly not. That was their emotional reaction to this parable. Now probably Jesus is referring to what's going to happen after his resurrection in 70 AD when the Romans are going to come against Jerusalem and destroy it. And Jerusalem will be now in Gentile hands in Roman occupation with no real Jewish influence for years and years to come.

But continue on. Then he looked at them and he said, what then is this that is written? The stone which the builders has rejected has become the chief cornerstone. Whoever falls on that stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on him, but they feared the people, for they knew he had spoken this parable against them.

He spoke the parable against them, the vineyard, the vine of God, because they had trusted in their ceremonies and in their heritage, which wasn't enough. I find a lot of people, I find so many people that try to pull this off today. They really don't want to surrender their lives to God, but they'll allow a little bit of God to come in their lives. Let me put God here on this shelf so I can manage him.

It's never a total commitment. It's just sort of, I'll attend church every now and then, especially Christmas and Easter, and I'll sing a few of the songs, and my family likes to drag me, so I'll go. And so God, yeah, but not really.

Let me read to you something Wilbur Reese wrote some time back that I think sums it up. He writes, I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, but not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack.

I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. The first distinguishing characteristic of a true disciple is he's connected to Christ, and it's a real connection. It's a personal connection, and the result is new life. The second is he or she is cared for by the Father, cared for by the Father.

I love this part. I'm the true vine. Now, get this, my Father is the farmer, we would say, vine dresser, grape grower. If you want to be really technical, viticulturist. That's what they're called, grape growers, viticulturist. Now, he's the vine dresser, he's the farmer. In verse 2, Jesus tells us of his work. He strips away dead wood and burns it, gets rid of it, the false branches.

He tends by pruning the true branches. Thanks so much for being with us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the gospel through Connect with Skip Heitzig, we'll send you a copy of the Jesus Loves Them bundle to help you understand God's abounding love for all people. Request your copy when you call and give 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. We'll see you next time for more verse by verse teaching of God's word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig weekend edition. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast your burdens on his word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.