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

Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're glad you joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exists to connect you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times through verse-by-verse teaching of His Word. That's why we make messages like this one today available to you and others on air and online. Before we begin the program, we want to let you know that you can keep in touch and in the know about what's happening with Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email updates. When you do, you'll also receive Skip's weekly devotional email to instruct and inspire you in God's Word each week. So sign up today at connectwithskip.com.

That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Now probably Jesus is referring to what's going to happen after His resurrection in 78 A.D. 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. 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 that very important. 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 sometime 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 it.

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 two, Jesus tells us of his work. He strips away dead wood and burns it, gets rid of it. And he tends by pruning the true branches.

Here's a picture of God as caregiver. A picture of somebody with delight bending over the vine, wanting to grow prize grapes. I don't know if you know any real gardeners. I mean, you know the real gardener, they've got the boots, they've got the tools, they've got the lingo, and it just, you put them in a garden and it works. They know what to do.

They know the terms, they're good at it. My dad, we had about an acre and a half growing up, almost two acres, and he loved to grow things. And he grew grapes on the side of the yard. We had several, we had a little vineyard going on there. And to my dad, it was never a chore.

He loved doing that. For me, it was a chore. In fact, it was one of my chores. I had to water those things and tend them and fertilize them and cover them. And I learned a little bit, not as much as he learned, because he has a green thumb, I have like a brown thumb. I'll kill the thing.

Don't let me do it too long. But for him, it was never a chore. He loved his garden.

He loved his grapes. Now, I want you to picture your God, the creator of heaven and earth, with that kind of care on your life. He tends you.

He looks to see what needs to be fixed or taken away or added. And with meticulous care, every single branch he knows, and you're one of those branches. Even though he's got a pretty big vineyard, he's got millions upon millions of branches around the world.

How does God manage to keep up looking after all of his kids, all of these branches? Because some of us point one direction, some of us are twisted in another direction. I mean, we're so different. We're so many.

Well, that's the beauty of it. I was studying this week about a bird called a guillemot. A guillemot is a bird, a small bird, that lives up in the Arctic Sea region, and it usually congregates in these rocky cliffs in the northern coastal areas of the world. Guillemots gather together by the thousands in crowded places, and the mother guillemot will lay her eggs in a long row. She lays her eggs, and right next to her eggs, another mother guillemot will lay her eggs, and then another, and then another. So you see this long line of eggs. If you and I look at the eggs, you can't tell them apart.

They look identical. But each mother knows her eggs. And studies have shown that if you remove an egg to a faraway place, the mother guillemot will be able to find it and bring it back to its exact spot. Imagine the kind of engineering required for that brain to know that. God put that there. Now, if God can engineer that kind of honing device in a bird brain, am I right? It is a bird brain. Then certainly can't God's mind keep track of every single twist of every single branch in His vineyard?

And my point is simple. You are never off God's radar screen. He knows every twist and turn in your branch. That bears fruit, here's the word we don't like, He prunes. That it may bear more fruit.

Now don't misunderstand. Then say that He'll make you a prune. He'll turn you into a prune-faced believer.

You ever met one of those? But He'll prune you. In the very next verse, you are already clean. The word clean is the same word as katharizoan, to prune. To clean by cutting.

That's the idea. To take excess foliage off of the branch to make it more fruitful. So I did a little bit of studying on this. And I discovered that viticulturists, grape growers, that the most important part of their job, besides planting and watering and fertilizing, the important thing they do is pruning. And they do two things. They prune dead wood because it breeds disease. They get rid of the dead branches, it'll breed disease. Number two, they'll prune or cut back live tissue because they want to save the sap. They don't want the sap wasted on extraneous growth.

So they do a few things. They do what's called number one, pinching. They'll pinch the new growth off of the top so it retards its growth. It grows slowly. He can manage the growth that way. Number two, there's topping, where he'll take one to two, even three feet of the tendrils that grow and lop them off, save them to be planted later. But sometimes the top growth can be so much that the whole thing will die. And the third thing he does is called thinning, where he'll actually take bunches of grapes and remove some so that there's not too many grapes so that the ones that remain will get bigger and sweeter, tastier. He'll get a culturist, a grape grower, to prune.

Now here's a question for you. What does pruning mean to us? I can sum it up in one word. Ouch!

Right? Pruning always hurts. Any time God applies the knife and cuts away at our lives, we don't like it. In fact, if branches could talk, they might say, how could a farmer of love allow this to happen to his poor little branch?

Something like that. It always involves pain. Why would God do it then? If it hurts, why would God do it? Is it because God has a mean streak and he gets off on seeing us hurt?

No. Jesus said that it might bring forth more fruit. In fact, and we'll look more in depth next week, but there's three stages. There's fruit, there's more fruit, and there's much fruit. Those are the progressive stages Jesus takes us through.

Fruit, more fruit, and much fruit. But this helps. This helps answer a question that we've all asked from time to time in life, and that is, why do bad things happen to God's people? I think it's a better question than why do bad things happen to good people, because the Bible says, there's none who are good, no, not one. Why do bad things happen to God's people? They're in covenant relationship. They're connected to him. Why would something bad happen?

Here's my answer. Be very careful what you call bad, because it actually might be good. Joseph is an example. Young Joseph was the brunt of jealousy by his brothers.

He was sold to the Midianites, placed in a hole, taken as a prisoner to Egypt, falsely accused, lived in jail for a few years, all of the things that we would say, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. Now later on, when he becomes second in command over the entire world, and his brothers come to him, and he reveals himself to them, remember what he said to them? He meant this as bad or evil, but God meant it for, for what? For good. Our thanks for your gift of at least $50 today to help share solid biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer, or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give at least $50 today to reach people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. What I would have called bad, God used it, and it was good. Look at the good it has done. Look at the good it has done in my life.

So be very careful when you assign the term bad to something, God may be using it for something that is good. Here's another question as we're working our way through the text. How does God prune us?

How does He do it? I'll give you three ways. Number one, by scripture. Number two, by suffering. And number three, by stupidity. Now I've got to explain that, I know.

The first one is easy to understand. God prunes us through scripture. Verse three, Jesus said, You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

They were being pruned by His word. Look at verse seven. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it will be done for you.

Do you know how it works? Sometimes you read through the Bible and you come across a passage that is very comforting to you. You love it and you underline it and you memorize it and it's your life verse and you put it on little memory cards. Then you, at other times, read through the Bible and you read something you don't like.

Because it doesn't comfort you. It confronts you. And you read it and you go, ouch, I don't like that. That's why the writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 4, says the word of God is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, or better translation, sharper than the sharpest knife that cuts deep into our inmost thoughts and desires.

It exposes us for what we really are. Now, do you let the Bible cut you? I hope you do. I hope you don't say, I don't like this sermon. I'm going to walk out. Or I don't like this verse of Scripture.

I'm going to close the book. Let it cut till God prunes you. Scripture. Second way God does it, suffering. Suffering. Pain. Pain cuts away fleshly desires.

Pain deals with sinful habits that we have. You know, what do you think about when you're suffering? You think about anything else. You might be thinking about other things in life.

You've got plans. Then this huge episode of suffering comes in your life. And what are you thinking about now? Nothing else but the pain. And it helps you think differently about life and what you thought was big yesterday isn't so big today. And it helps you reevaluate.

And it cuts away what doesn't need to be there. Listen to what C.S. Lewis said. I think he put it the best.

He could just write. Pain plants the flag of truth in the fortress of a rebel soul. Chew on that for a moment. Pain plants the flag of truth in the fortress of a rebel soul.

David stated it this way in Psalm 119. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now I keep your word. You know, if you're a parent, you get this. Or if you just remember a year growing up, did your parents ever spank you? Ever? Who got spanked?

I want to see an honest show of hands. The rest of you, I don't know if I want to know you. I remember getting spanked. And I used to challenge my parents whenever they did. I thought, you don't love me.

No. It's because we know you and we love you that you're going to get this spanking. Have you ever seen a brat in a store? You know what a brat is. You have a brat alert in your mind. You can spot them.

You see, you hear what they're saying and how they're acting. You go, man, I want to spank that child. God doesn't want His kids to be brats, so He disciplines us.

You could look at it, that's another word. Spanks us. Prunes us. So by scripture, by suffering, here's the third. I've got to explain myself. By stupidity. Sometimes we suffer because of the stupid choices we make. Because of the sinful choices we make.

And now we're suffering as a result of our own stupid choice. But what I want to say to you is, even then, God uses that to prune you. That's where Romans 8.28 comes in. For we know that in all things, God is working together.

Bringing those elements together. Synthesizing all of the good and the bad and the ugly. All things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose. So whether it's by scripture that confronts you or suffering that is from the outside or stupidity that is from the inside, God can use it all to prune.

That's why James writes this in James chapter 1. Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance is a chance to grow.

So let it grow. For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. One final point and we'll close with this. A third mark, a third characteristic of a true disciple. If the first one is you're connected to Christ and the second one is you're cared for by the Father, the third one is you're consistent over time.

Consistent over time. And there's a word that is used also frequently in our text, eight times here, it's the word abide. Look at it with me. Verse 4. 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.

Now think of the immediate context. Who's the guy that left the group? His name is what? Judas. He's not there right now. Only 11 disciples are left. Judas is a fake branch. He's an unbeliever. He's a pretend believer. He as a branch has left but God will take him away. He's called the son of perdition. There's no hope for Judas.

He is lost. There's 11 ones that are remaining and Jesus says abide in me. The word abide, meno is the Greek word, means stay put or remain or stay around. Here's the point. True disciples stay disciples. One of the distinguishing characteristics of a true God follower, the evidence that you're the real deal, is that you continue in the connectedness with him.

That's part of the evidence. The only legitimate believer is the abiding believer. Now John was in that upper room and John was taking that walk and recorded what Jesus said on that walk that are in words in front of us.

He would also write another letter later on 1 John and in chapter 2 I quote to you verse 19 written by the same apostle. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us but they went out that it might be made manifest or seen clearly that none of them were of us. That does not mean a person who leaves our church and is fellowshipping at another church. Don't quote that for that. It's speaking about people who leave the connection with Christ and my mind goes to some casualties that still break my heart to this day.

They are never really of us. A true disciple abides, continues, stays put. In closing I ask three questions for you this morning. Are you connected? Is it your own personal connection?

Is it your own personal conversion? Number two, are you close? Does abiding, you know you can't get closer than a branch stuck into a vine or the sap from that vine is finding its way through the nourishing fibers of that branch to produce a cluster of grapes. Are you connected? Are you close to the Lord?

Is your relationship intimate or are you a little bit distant, aloof, formal, stilted? Third thing, are you cut? See, if you're the real deal, you'll stay put for the pruning. If you're the real deal, you'll hang around even when that farmer comes with the knife or the shears. By the way, of all of the acts that a viticulturist does to the vine, he is closest to the branch when he's pruning. So you can fertilize in water from afar, you can superintend from afar, but you have to get right on that branch, hold it in your hand, and meticulously cut at the right spot. The very times when you suffer, when you're being pruned and you say, God, where are you? He's closer to you than ever.

And what is he doing? Well, when that farmer cuts away at that little branch, a true pruning leaves not much of the branch, but you can see the vine more clearly. The vine is more prominent than the branch and I would dare say that when you and I get pruned Scripture, suffering, stupidity, whatever it is, that the aim of God is that more of Jesus would be apparent in our lives and less of us. Make sense?

It's called fruit. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you experience God's Shalom in life's busiest seasons.

Unleashing Peace by Jeremiah Johnston is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $50 or more. Call 800-922-1888.

That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. 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.