By
JOHN ROACH STRATON (1875–1929)
“I am the true
vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh
away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring
forth more fruit.”
“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might
remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”—John 15:1, 2, 11.
In these words, probably spoken while our Master was on His way to the Garden of Gethsemane, we have in brief but comprehensive fashion the fundamental truths connected with the creation, cultivation and culmination of the Christian life.
First,
the Christian life is a creation from God—divine and not human in its origin.
God the Father is the Husbandman; He plants in the world the Vine Christ Jesus;
Christian believers are branches of this Vine, who are to produce the fruit.
This
brings the entire system of Christian truth into right order. The text brings
before us the tremendous truth that God is the Author, Promoter and Finisher of
human salvation.
This
truth differentiates Christianity from all other religions. The other religions
of mankind— the great historic ethnic faiths—all center in man reaching up to
God. Such religions are founded on the idea that man has to struggle back to
God. This is to be done either by the magical efficiency of ceremonies or by
works of good or by the intervention of priesthoods or by the mortification of
the flesh through asceticism and self-mutilation. Thus, it is hoped by the
devotees of heathen and pagan religions that man can find his way back to God,
win Heaven and enter into everlasting life. It is man reaching up to God.
But
Christianity is different in that it means not man reaching up to God, but God
reaching down to man. Its great message is “God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.” And Jesus made it startlingly clear,
“Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”—John 15:16.
Heaven
and eternal life, then, are gifts from God. They come through heavenly grace
and not by human merit. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast”
(Eph. 2:8, 9).
God
knew that we poor humans are naturally a boastful race, and if Heaven could be
won or attained by our own effort or merit, we would soon forget God and
develop an overweening vanity and self-satisfaction because of our
achievements.
Therefore,
God strips us bare and leaves us without any human ground to stand upon. We are
pensioners upon the divine bounty. God plants in our sin-cursed earth the Vine,
Christ Jesus, and men are to blossom and bear fruit through Him.
He
reaches down from Heaven to earth. In mercy and loving favor He descends to the
children of men and follows after the prodigal race, yea, even to the very
gates of Hell itself, to surprise the guilty with forgiveness and the fallen
with hope!
Jonah
saw it truly when, even from the “belly of hell,” he cried unto God for
deliverance; and when the assurance of his redemption came, in devout rapture
and gratitude he exclaimed, “Salvation is of the LORD.”
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins ac - cording to the scriptures;
“And
that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the
scriptures.”—I Cor. 15:3, 4.
We sorely need more emphasis upon this great fundamental truth in this time of human vanity, self-glorification and self-commendation; in this time when so many false prophets are arising and when multitudes are being taught that they can achieve their own salvation.
The
principal emphasis, however, which Jesus puts in this striking and touching
15th chapter of John’s Gospel, is upon the cultivation of the Christian
life. He sets before us two great truths— inexorable and yet most inspiring.
The
first inexorable truth is that “every branch in me that beareth not fruit he
taketh away.” Jesus makes very clear that good works are not the purchase price
of salvation but are undoubtedly the proclaiming proof of salvation. He plainly
teaches here, as elsewhere, that “many are called, but few are chosen.” He
makes clear the arresting fact—just as He did in the parable of the sower and
the seed—that some can make a start toward a semblance of the Christian life,
but that they do not continue to the end, because they have not the reality in
them. He describes them here as withering branches.
There
are such things in both the natural and spiritual worlds. This does not mean
that we can fall away from God’s grace and be finally lost, if we have been
truly redeemed; but it does mean that a surface connection with Christ is possible
that does not abide; that, because of self-limitation, unbelief and
preoccupation with worldly things, goes only part of the way toward the
reception of His divine love and, therefore, that the branch withers at last
and “men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”
I
had an experience in one of my pastorates which brought this truth home to me
in striking fashion.
The
church found it necessary to exclude one of its members. This man was prominent
in the community, and the church bore long with his delinquencies and
transgressions. He gave mental assent to the doctrines of the church and, by
fits and starts, attended its services and participated in its activities; but
then he would fall away sadly and bring reproach upon the cause.
At
last he demonstrated that all his religious experience was on the surface and
that the divine life was not in him. Therefore, the church rightly excluded
him. He was a withered branch and was cast into the fire and burned.
The
vital union of a living faith with the living Lord is indispensable for the
development of the truly redeemed Christian life. Jesus said, “Without me ye
can do nothing.”
We
must have not only the beginning with Christ, but we must “abide.” There must
be the continuing union through mind and heart in order that His divine life
may flow into us, even as the sap passes from the vine into the branch and thus
gives it continuous vitality and fruitfulness.
Many
who go through the forms of religion, and even give mental assent to sound
doctrine, are not really redeemed. They have not been born again. “Christ in
you, the hope of glory” is the true way; halfway discipleship is not acceptable
unto our God.
This
is true because the very honor and glory of God are involved in these issues.
As a faithful and wise husbandman, God cannot rest satisfied with a paltry
product and with results so flabby and poor that they reflect upon His wisdom,
power and love.
Not
only is it true that there are certain disintegrating tendencies that may come
in that finally cause the branch to wither so that it must be at last cast off,
but there are certain deadly things that actually destroy the possibility of
becoming a Christian: the worm of covetousness, the blight of worldliness or
the admission of known sin that poisons and utterly destroys the branch.
But
we are also taught that the branch can be made more fruitful and that the
divine Husbandman, when He finds a branch that is bearing fruit, “purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit.”
There
is possible progress upward in our usefulness as children of God. There is
need, then, not only of protection against the sins that utterly destroy, but
also need of cultivation through the elimination of useless things that cumber
and hold back the productive branch from its greatest possible fruitfulness.
There are indulgences which in themselves may be entirely innocent and
harmless, yet these things may so take up the time, strength and thought of the
child of God as to reduce his fruitfulness to the vanishing point.
So
Jesus gives us here three degrees in fruit bearing. He speaks in verse 2 merely
of bearing “fruit”; again in verse 2 of “more fruit,” then in the 8th verse He
says that it is expected that we bear “much fruit.”
Our
Heavenly Father has a right to insist that we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of God that we shall bear at last such beautiful clusters of
spiritual fruits as are mentioned in Galatians 5:22, 23: “But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance.”
And,
as before remarked, God not only has the right to expect such reasonable
results from the cultivation which He gives to His vineyard, but His very honor
and glory as a wise Husbandman are involved. So Jesus said, “Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John
15:8).
And
again: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
This
leads us, then, to the other great truth in connection with the culture of the
Christian life, namely, that there is a necessary pruning or purging that it
may bear much fruit.
May
I illustrate this from my personal experience?
There
came a time, after I had been in the pastorate for some years, when through
overwork I was forced to relinquish the pastorate and, on the doctor’s orders,
remove for a season to the country.
I
secured a farm, worked in the open, slept at night in a tent and thus regained
my health. During these days, I had many profitable experiences and learned
many valuable lessons. On the farm was a vineyard; and at the time that I took
the farm over I expected that by cutting out the weeds and bushes, which had
grownup about the grapevines, I would have a bountiful harvest. But I was soon
to learn better.
I
had helping me in the farming undertaking an old man of wide experience and
long service. Uncle Dave had come through from the slavery times, and when I
told him my hopes about the vineyard on the place, he said, “No sir, boss, you
are not going to get any grapes from these vines— that is, not to amount to
anything.”
“But,”
I said, “Uncle Dave, just look what rich, strong vines they are. Just see how
luxuriant the leaves are.”
He
said, “Yes sir, but that’s just the trouble! It’s all leaf and wood, and what
you have to do here is to cut those vines back.”
I,
at last, bowed to his superior knowledge and wisdom and watched—with some
pain—the pruning of those vines.
Uncle
Dave waded right into it with energy, and seemingly without any remorse. I
would say to him, “Uncle Dave, can’t you leave these long, beautiful ones
alone?”
And
he would say, “No sir, boss, they’ve got to be cut off.”
Well,
when he had finished, there seemed to be more leaves and branches on the ground
than were left on the vines. But then I watched with ever-growing interest the
results that came through this merciless pruning.
In
due season there appeared the delicate little blossoms, all hidden away under
the leaves; for it is a striking fact that grape blossoms, like Christian works
of good, do not parade and flaunt themselves but hide modestly away out of
sight!
Then
came little clusters of green grapes all over the branches, and these grew and
swelled as the rich sap flowed into them from the vine through the branches. I observed, too, that every cluster was attached to a branch,
and none of them directly to the vine. Thus they enlarged and grew under the
benediction of the showers and blushed purple beneath the kisses of the sun,
until they were fully matured—a delight to the eye and a joy to the palate of
man!
Uncle
Dave and I strolled out one morning again and with great satisfaction looked
over the vineyard.
He
said, “Boss, just look at them! Aren’t they pretty?” He put his rugged hand
under a cluster that was covered with silver down encrusting the purple and
that was sparkling with morning dew and said, “You never would have had such
grapes as these if we hadn’t cut those vines back so that all the life, instead
of just going into wood and leaves, could go into the grapes themselves.”
And
I learned the lesson that our Heavenly Father, the divine Husbandman, would
purge and prune us and take from us the things that hinder in order that we may
come into our best of usefulness and service.
Yes,
the child of God may not do things which are indulged in by the children of the
world and which may even be in themselves harmless. ‘Whether we eat or whether
we drink, or whatsoever we do, let us do all for the glory of God.’ This is a
high standard, but it is necessary to the fruit-bearing life.
A
pack of cards is in itself an innocent thing. But when this universal
instrument of gambling fans into flame the fires of the gambling fever, it
becomes obvious that the child of God should have no part with such things.
I
well remember one painful incident in connection with a lady, a member of my
church. I had observed that, as a Sunday school teacher, she did not bear
fruit. No conversions among her students— and in other church activities, she
did not amount to very much.
One
day I found the key to the trouble. I inadvertently heard her say to the
president of the Women’s Missionary Society, “I am so sorry that I missed the
last meeting of the Society.” Then she gave a characteristic little laugh and
said, “I will just have to be honest and admit it. I had engagements for card
parties five afternoons that week, and I completely overlooked the missionary
meeting.”
I
understood then. While I made a faithful effort to lead her into a rich and
fruit-bearing life for the Master, I had but little hope and was not surprised
when later she dropped entirely out of the active work.
We
cannot be filled with the sap of the world and be filled at the same time with
the fruit-producing life of the divine Christ!
Since
the theater today has become an increasingly God-defying, woman-dishonoring,
mammon- worshiping institution, how is it possible for the Christian to support
it, and at the same time expect to have a fruitful spiritual life?
And
the dances of today—increasingly sensuous and silly, taking their names and
movements from the lower animals, and in many, many cases, as the sad
statistics show, utterly wrecking and ruining the weak and the innocent —how
can the child of God, who expects to have a fruitful life, participate in them?
Dear
friends, we need a full commitment to our Master. We need the vital union of a
living faith with Him and contentment with the joys of fellowship and service
which He gives, as the allsufficient portion of our lives, if we are to bear
“much fruit” for Him!
The
child of God must choose between fruitfulness to the Master and self-indulgence
in the vainglory of life and the things of the flesh!
The
great need of this hour is Christian lives so filled with the joy of salvation,
the blessedness of service, the satisfactions of fellowship with our Lord and
the sheer delight of knowing the inflowing of His divine life, that we will not
want the paltry things of this world that perish with the using.
The
church in the beginning was fruitful, was miraculous. It flooded even the
selfish, sensuous Roman world with blessedness and beauty, because there was
separation, consecration and sanctification by the indwelling power of our God.
The
Christian church in its early years at least approximated the ideals of Jesus.
Cyprian, in the third century A.D., used
the following words in writing to his friend Donatus:
This is
a cheerful world as I see it from my garden, under the shadow of my vines. But
if I could ascend some high mountain and look out, I should
see armies fighting, cities burning, men murdered to please applauding crowds,
selfishness, cruelty, misery and despair under all roofs. It is a bad world,
Donatus, an incredibly bad world.
But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy, which is a thousand times better than any of the pleasures of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people, Donatus, are the Christians—and I am one of them.
Ah,
dear friends, we need to come back today to these early glories. It isn’t that
the Master desires to strip from us anything that either adorns our character
or truly blesses our lives or promotes our happiness, but He would take from us
the things that hinder and hurt.
Just
as the grapevine must be pruned and just as other plants which are cultivated
for human use must have what are called suckers” plucked from them, so the
Christian must suffer the divine Husbandman to purge out that which hinders as
well as that which harms.
The
key to it all is Paul’s magnificent word: “The love of Christ constraineth us.”
Thus, of free choice, we take the higher things and leave off the lower. We
seek to possess the greater and are gladly willing to forego the less. That our
lives may be fruitful, we lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and…run with patience the race that is set before us.”
And
this leads us to the surprising and delightful climax of the entire matter.
Jesus says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in
you, and that your joy might be full” John 15:11).
What
“joy”? Joy through renunciation? Joy in being stripped of the things that I
thought would produce satisfaction and pleasure in my life? Joy through making
sacrifices? Joy in carrying a cross? Joy in denying myself, and suffering even,
that others may be pleased?
Ah,
yes, dear friends, joy in all of these things! For this is the paradox of
Christianity: that we get by giving, that we increase by diminishing, that we
multiply by dividing and that we live by dying! Jesus on the same night in
which He was betrayed and when in the very shadow of the cross, could stand up
and say, ‘My joy I give unto you; My peace I leave with you.’
And
I say it boldly, after many years of personal experience with my own poor life
and of observation of other lives as a pastor, that have never seen nor found
any true and abiding joy save that which the divine Christ and our Heavenly
Father and the blessed Holy Spirit give to those who truly serve God and bear
much fruit for the glory of His name!
This
is the peace that passeth all understanding. This is the joy that the world
cannot give and that the world, thank God, can never take away! And whether in
the hovel of the poorest saint or in the mansions of the mighty and the rich,
this is the joy that abides.
There
is more satisfaction in the consciousness that we have been used of God for the
salvation of even one soul, than can be found in all the self-indulgent
pleasure that this world can offer.
The
fruitful life is the blessed life. The useful Christian is the only truly
joyful soul!
During
one of my pastorates in a great American city, when I was just about to close
the Sunday morning service following a sermon on consecration to Christ, a
young man arose unexpectedly in the congregation and asked to be heard. He
stood up and said, “Dr. Straton, may I say something?”
It
was quite an unusual occurrence in the morning service, but rejoicing in the
freedom of the Spirit, I said, “By all means, say on.”
Then
he turned to the congregation and said:
My dear
friends, you all know me, and I have something on my heart that I must say to
you.
You know
that years ago when I was a little lad I united with this church, but I stand
now to confess that I have not been living as a Christian man should live.
There have been indulgences and habits in my personal and family life which are
not to the glory of Jesus Christ and which I believe hold me back from both
real fruitfulness and genuine joy. I wish, therefore, to make this public
confession of these wrong things and to express my purpose and determination,
by the help of our Heavenly Father, to purge out these things that hinder and
to give myself more fully to the service of my God.
There
was a little rustle of surprise, and in some pews almost a gasp of amazement,
for this young man was the son of one of the great and honored men of the
church and was known as a very successful and popular young businessman in the
city.
After
the service he came and asked for a talk with me. He requested, on the ground
that he felt he hadn’t been regenerated when he joined the church as a lad,
that I baptize him again, which I gladly did. Then I had the satisfaction of
seeing that splendid young man go out into real fruit bearing for Jesus Christ.
I
learned sometime after his rebaptism of an incident that occurred in connection
with a banquet of his business associates.
It
was the annual banquet of all who were engaged in that branch of business in
the entire city, and it was always an occasion of note.
Instead
of delivering the address that had been prepared, he laid it aside and said,
“Gentlemen, since we gathered last in our annual banquet, a great and wonderful
thing has occurred to me, and a glorious blessing has come to my life. I have
truly found Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, and I have experienced the full
joy of His salvation and the satisfaction of serving Him.”
Then
he went on in burning sentences to bear a personal testimony to the grace and
goodness of the Lord Jesus and to His saving, keeping and sanctifying influence
in a human life.
So
touched and moved were his business associates by that eloquent testimony that
when he had finished his simple but earnest and powerful tribute to Jesus as
Savior and Lord, they burst out spontaneously singing “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.”
Dear
friends, is that not just as it should have been? Why should we think of such
an incident as extraordinary or remarkable? Many such instances ought to be
occurring constantly in the lives of Christians, just as they did occur in that
glad day when there was a pure church in the world and when the followers of
Jesus were known by their fellowmen to be different from the sinners on every
side and when those who were redeemed found a sufficient joy in following and
serving Jesus Christ.
There
is at last no other joy worth the having, for this is a foretaste of the joy of
Heaven itself. The climax of the Christian life will be
an eternity of joy through serving the living God, of satisfaction with being
with those whom God has used us to reach and redeem, and of fellowship forever
with the spirits of just men made perfect.