John 15:1-8 - Lies Christians Tell Themselves - May 2, 2021

Everyone knows that lying is wrong. I can state that categorically because the Bible tells us that God has written his Law in the hearts of every last human being (Romans 2:15) – including the 8th commandment, which forbids lying (Exodus 20:16). Every lie told is damaging, they damage marriages and families and friendships, they can destroy reputations and careers – most importantly, they damage a person’s relationship with God, who hates a lying tongue (Proverbs 6:16). And yet, as damaging as lies are to our relationships with other people, I would argue this morning that, based on Jesus’ words in John 15, some of the lies we tell ourselves can be just as, if not even more, damaging.

We all lie to ourselves – some of them are so common that I ran across a website that catalogued some of them. Here are a few examples: 1) “If I could just do / be / have ________, then I would be happy.” What was it for you? The degree, the spouse, the children, the house, the vacation, the promotion? If you’ve managed to fill in that blank – are you really happy now? 2) “If I had more time, I would do _________.” Let’s be honest, if you wanted to exercise, take up a new hobby, spend more time with your spouse or children, take care of your “to-do” list, or even spend more time reading your Bible – you would. The problem is almost never time; the problem is desire. 3) I would change ________ about myself, but I can’t because of ________.” Again, in most cases, that second blank is just an excuse for not doing something you don’t really want to do anyway. [1]

But enough with the lies that are common to mankind – that’s not what we’re here for. We’re here to discuss the lies Christians tell ourselves. Here’s the first: “I don’t have to bear fruit as a Christian.” I can live like the rest of the world who doesn’t know or believe in Christ. I can call myself a Christian without living as a Christian. I can live without letting my light shine (Matthew 5:13-16) and expect to go to heaven even as I intentionally live contrary to God’s will (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). That’s not what the Bible says. In Isaiah 5 God says that after he planted a vineyard on a fertile hill, he looked for it to produce a crop (Isaiah 5:1-7). In Luke 13, Jesus says that God is like the owner of a vineyard where there’s a fig tree – and for three years he waited to see it produce fruit (Luke 13:6-9). In Matthew 25, Jesus says that those who are saved have an abundance of good fruit and those who are damned have none (Matthew 25:31-46). Paul puts it bluntly in 2 Corinthians: we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he did while in the body, whether good or bad (2 Corinthians 5:10).

It’s a damned lie that it isn’t necessary for Christians to bear fruit. Damned because that’s where it leads: damnation. The Lord declared that he would destroy his unfruitful vineyard in Isaiah 5 (Isaiah 5:5-6). In Luke 13, this was Jesus’ verdict on the unfruitful fig tree: cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil? (Luke 13:7) Here in John 15, Jesus says that his Father cuts off unfruitful branches, gathers them and throws them into the fire. And in Matthew 25, what does he tell those who have failed to produce good works? Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Judgment, death and destruction are all that lay in store for Christians who think they don’t have to produce fruit.

That shouldn’t be shocking, should it? Isn’t that what we do with the plants and bushes and trees in our own yards? If they’re unfruitful we dig them out and cut them down. Why? Because an unfruitful branch is a dead one. In fact, they’re not really branches at all, are they? They don’t do what branches, by definition, are supposed to do. They don’t carry moisture, nutrients or life – they don’t produce fruit. We saw them off for the good of the rest of the tree. In the same way, unfruitful Christians are dead Christians – and dead Christians are really just deluded unbelievers.

There’s a subset of this lie. It’s to tell yourself at any point in life that you’ve produced enough fruit. We’ve all seen this lie manifest itself, haven’t we? The confirmand who believes that they’ve learned it all – and don’t need to attend worship or Bible study anymore. The parents who go to church until their children are out of the house and then fall away to pursue other interests. The members who feel that they’ve done their share or taken their turn serving and that now it’s someone else’s turn. That’s not Christianity – that’s not what one sees in a vibrant vineyard planted and tended by the Father through the means of grace. Again, just consider your own yard. Say you have an apple tree that’s produced abundant fruit for over a decade – then suddenly it produces nothing. Do you spare that tree because of its past fruitfulness? No, you cut it down. Now imagine standing before Jesus Christ who gave his soul, his life, his all to save us from hell and looking him in the eye and telling him: “I’ve produced enough fruit; I’ve taken my turn; I’ve done my part.” It’s unimaginable, isn’t it? And yet, how many times don’t we tell ourselves that lie?

“I don’t have to bear fruit / do good works / live according to God’s will in order to be a Christian” is a damned lie. But just as bad is the second lie we tell ourselves: “Bearing fruit makes you a Christian.” This deception gives fruit too much credit, arguing that doing good works can give you what only Christians possess, what the Bible says you can only receive through faith: the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, new life now and the assurance of eternal life (Ephesians 2:8-9). And it’s another damned lie.

No matter how many good things you do, there will never be a day that you can tell yourself: “I’ve done enough to make up for my sins.” No matter how much you do for others, for the church, for Christ, you’ll never do enough to find peace with God. No matter how much you sacrifice to serve your spouse, your children, your boss – it can never assure you that eternal life is yours. Those wonderful gifts can’t be found in your doing, sweating or striving. Bearing fruit – no matter how abundantly or publicly or extravagantly – does not and cannot make you a Christian, or bring you the gifts only Christians possess.

Fruit doesn’t make Christians – fruit marks Christians. Isn’t that Jesus’ point in our text? I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him is the one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. I don’t know much about trees – but I do know that bad trees bear only bad fruit and only good trees can bear good fruit (Matthew 7:17-18). Practically speaking, while you may know all sorts of people who are good parents, faithful spouses, decent neighbors, good citizens – that doesn’t make them Christian and that doesn’t mean that they will be saved and go to heaven. Again, that’s not my opinion, that’s God’s Word: without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

And yet, hasn’t this lie swept through our culture like wildfire? That if you just do all the “right” things – that makes you a good person? Isn’t that the basic premise behind “virtue-signaling” – that if you drive the right car, eat the right diet, support all the “right” movements and causes, even, this past year, if you wear the right mask and eagerly get yourself vaccinated – that you are, therefore, a good, moral person? Here’s the thing: whenever morality is brought up, the implication is that you can make yourself right with God by what you do. In many cases, “virtue-signaling” is just works-righteousness by another name.

Please don’t take those words out of context. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t support positive causes, wear masks or get vaccines. In fact, those may be very good works. But they don’t make you right with God; they don’t make you a Christian. Good works don’t make Christians; Christ makes Christians. Jesus spoke these words to his disciples in the Upper Room on Maundy Thursday. Did you notice that he didn’t once tell his disciples to make themselves branches? Why not? Because the Father, through Jesus, had already made them branches: You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I am going to remain in you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Likewise, you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me. Jesus isn’t encouraging them – or us – to become his disciples; he’s speaking about bearing fruit to those whom he has already made his disciples through the word.

This is why, unlike the unbelieving world, Christians don’t spend their lives “virtue-signaling”; they don’t focus on their fruit, they focus on the Vine – which gives them life. Jesus, the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:10), sprouted into this world through the womb of the virgin Mary – and, unlike anyone else, he was fruitful. He obeyed his Father’s will perfectly and he produced grapes of love, joy, peace and hope in abundance. And yet, even more was needed; even Jesus’ perfect fruit wasn’t enough to satisfy God’s justice. The justice of his Father, the gardener had determined that unfruitful, dead branches – branches like us – had to be gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned – and so God took his only Son and crushed him in the winepress of Gethsemane and hung him to wither and die under his burning wrath on Calvary. And the good news is that the blood that flowed from Christ’s crushed body both covered our sins and satisfied God’s wrath – and Easter is the irrefutable proof.

This is the message – the only message – that can give us what our good works can never give. This is the only message that can silence those horrifying uncertainties that arise when you consider how fruitful your life has been: “I’ve tried to do my best, but is it enough?” It is finished (John 19:30) tells you your sins are forgiven even when your conscience haunts you. Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1) – gives peace to your uncertain heart. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) – assures you of your salvation even when your fruit appears rotten. You cannot do enough good works to make up for your sins let alone pay for them; you can’t suffer enough, even in all eternity, to pay for your sins – and you don’t have to, because that’s why Jesus came, to produce fruit that is perfectly acceptable to God – which he credits to your account; and to suffer the fire of death and hell that you deserved – so that you never will.

If it all depends not on what we do but on remaining in Jesus then the real question is: how does one become and stay connected to Jesus, the Vine? We’re not born into him; like all the others, we were by nature objects of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3). Paul says that we – especially we Gentiles – were grafted in (Romans 11:17). How? Through Baptism you have been grafted into Christ (Romans 6:3-5). Through Confession and Absolution the Father forgives your sins, pruning away the dead parts of your life that get in the way of producing fruit. Through this bread and wine Jesus feeds you so that you may be even more fruitful. It’s not your good works, but the perfect means of grace which connects you to, and keeps you connected to, Christ. Remain in these means of grace and Christ will remain in you, and you will be and remain fruitful.

All lies are destructive, but especially destructive are the lies we tell ourselves. Psychologists can warn you about some common self-destructive lies. I’m here to tell you not to believe the twin lies that you don’t have to bear fruit in order to be a Christian nor that bearing fruit makes you a Christian. Christians will bear fruit; but bearing fruit is not about you, the branch, as much as it is about Jesus, the Vine. He makes Christians. He grafts and feeds his branches. He forgives sins, grants peace with God, gives the assurance of eternal life – and he produces bountiful fruit. Remain in him through his Word and you will produce more fruit that you could ever imagine. That’s not a command, that’s a promise. And that’s no lie. Amen. 

[1] https://markmanson.net/9-subtle-lies-we-all-tell-ourselves