This morning we’ll complete a seven week journey in which we have examined the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus in John’s gospel account. And as we’ve done that, we’ve gotten to know Jesus better through His own words. Each of the seven sayings reveals some aspect of the divinity of Jesus and also has practical implications for each of us as we live our day-to-day lives.
As I looked back over the previous six messages this week, I noticed some interesting patterns. Earlier in His ministry Jesus made those claims in front of large crowds. When He proclaimed that He was the bread of life, it was to a large crowd that He had fed the day before. When He claimed to be the light of the world, He spoke to a large gathering in the Temple. But the last two claims, including the one we’ll examine this morning, were made to a group of eleven men who would soon be tasked with carrying on His ministry.
There is also a sense in which the claims that Jesus makes build upon each other and become more intense. He seems to be continually building upon the prior sayings with each claim. So in a sense, the seventh “I am” saying that we’ll examine this morning encompasses everything that we’ve already learned, but takes it to an even deeper level for those who are closest to Jesus.
That is really exciting for us this morning because it means that if we really desire to take our relationship with Jesus to a deeper level, there is much that we can take from this passage and apply to our walk with Him.
So with that in mind, take your Bibles and turn to John 15 and follow along as I begin reading in verse 1:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
John 15:1-11 (ESV)
This is certainly a rich passage, but it is also one that is a bit perplexing, especially if we don’t keep it in its proper context. We can’t divorce these words of Jesus from the rest of His discourse that began in chapter 13 immediately following Judas’ departure to go to the Jewish religious leaders to betray Jesus. It is right in the center of Jesus’ words to His closest followers that He speaks for the purpose of preparing them to carry on His ministry after the impending chaos and confusion related to His arrest and crucifixion. If we keep that context in mind, then we won’t fall into the trap of drawing conclusions about Jesus’ words here that just aren’t supported by the text.
So we’ll begin this morning by making some observations about critical elements in the text and then we’ll use those observations to help us make some practical applications to our own lives.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE TEXT
1. As the “true vine”, Jesus is the genuine way to God
In the Old Testament, God frequently refers to Israel as a vine or a vineyard. That association led to the vine being used as a symbol for Israel on the Maccabean coins as well as on the gate of Herod’s Temple, much in the same way that the eagle is used as a symbol for the United States today.
But almost every time that Israel is pictured as a vine in the Old Testament, it is in a negative manner. In most cases, that is because Israel had failed in its task of being God’s representative here on earth in a manner that would have led others to place their faith in the one true God.
The word “true” that Jesus uses when He declares Himself to be the “true vine” is a word that means “real” or “genuine”. Even though Israel had failed to carry out the task assigned to them by God, Jesus had not failed. He is the one who was providing the only way to God, just as we have seen repeatedly in the previous six “I am” sayings.
2. There are two types of branches:
Jesus identifies two types of branches in verse 2 and then He goes on to further describe each kind of branch in the rest of His discourse. Identifying these two types of branches is the key to the proper understanding of this passage and here is where the surrounding context is absolutely essential.
I really struggled to understand what Jesus said in verse 3 - Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you – until I went back to something similar He had said back in chapter 13 after Peter had asked Jesus to not only wash his feet but also his hands and his head:
Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
John 13:10-11 (ESV)
Here Jesus has already identified the two kinds of branches. There were the branches that represented those who were already clean because of their faith in Jesus. And then there were the branches that represented those who were like Judas – those who had an association with Jesus but who never placed their faith in Him and who therefore were not clean. With those words in mind, it is now actually quite easy to identify the two types of branches:
• “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit” = those who have only a “superficial connection” to Jesus
These are not, as some have claimed, Christians who have wandered away from God. That is pretty clear when we see the fate of these branches. In verse 2, we learn that these branches are “taken away” by the vinedresser, who is clearly identified by Jesus as God the Father. Some have suggested that the verb Jesus uses could also be translated “lifted up” and that this is somehow a picture of God the Father gently restoring His own who have strayed from their relationship with Him. But the only way that anyone can make that case is to completely ignore verse 6 where the final fate of these branches is described:
If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Others have tried to use that verse to claim that it is possible for a genuine Christ follower to lose his or her salvation. But that violates the clear teaching of Scripture, including the words of Jesus that we saw in John 10. Since we do not do anything on our own to earn our salvation in the first place, there is also nothing that we can do to lose it.
When we consider the entire context, these branches are “Judas branches”. They represent those, who like Judas, have some superficial connection to Jesus, but who ultimately fail to place their faith in Him. And there is ample Scriptural support for that conclusion. For time’s sake we’ll just look at the most directly relevant passage.
In Romans 11, Paul is describing how the Gentiles have been grafted into Israel, using the illustration of a vine:
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Romans 11:17-21 (ESV)
There is obviously much more to this passage than we can cover this morning, but I want us to focus just on the one phrase I’ve highlighted in verse 20. The reason that God broke off some of the branches was because of their unbelief. The Jews, as a people, claimed to be God’s people because of their heritage. But because of their lack of faith, God had broken off those branches to make room for those who would come to Him by faith.
That is exactly the same picture we see here in John 15. The branches that are broken off were never believers because they never placed their faith in Jesus. Like Judas, they may have had some association with Jesus and were therefore identified with Him, but they were never genuine Christ followers.
There are still a lot of branches like that today. They call themselves Christians. They may even go to church and read their Bibles and pray and do good works in the name of Jesus so they become identified with Him. But they have never genuinely placed their faith in Him alone as the means to a relationship with God. They are the ones Jesus addressed near the end of the Sermon on the Mount:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV)
So if the branches that do not bear fruit represent those who have only a casual association with Jesus, then it becomes pretty easy to identify the remaining branches:
• “and every branch that does bear fruit” = Jesus’ genuine followers
In this passage, Jesus goes on to describe the kind of life that characterizes His genuine followers:
o They abide in Jesus and He abides in them
Since Jesus uses the word “abide” 10 times in this passage, it’s probably a good idea for us to understand what that word means, especially since it’s not a word most of us use real often. The Greek word that Jesus uses here can have a pretty broad range of meanings. Elsewhere in John’s gospel, the same word is also translated “remain”, “stay”, or “endure”. All of those words imply a continuing relationship of some kind.
Perhaps the best way understand the way Jesus uses the word here would be to use the phrase “to make a permanent home.” That would mean that a genuine Christ follower is one who makes his or her permanent home in Jesus and in whom Jesus makes His permanent home. And Jesus provides us with the model for that kind of relationship. Since He has loved us just liked His Father loves Him, we are to abide in His love in the same way that He abides in the love of His Father. Jesus wants the same kind of relationship with us that he has with His Father. We’ll address how we can foster that kind of relationship in some very practical ways in just a moment.
Certainly the eleven apostles to whom Jesus spoke these words were this kind of branch. Even though they would scatter and go into hiding after Jesus’ crucifixion, they would prove to abide in Him and He in them over the long term.
And the same is true for the genuine Christ follower today. While it is certainly possible to stray from Jesus from time to time, over the long term there will evidence that the genuine Christ follower makes his or her home in Jesus and that He makes His home in them.
o As a result they produce much fruit
Ultimately, it is just not possible to be a genuine Christ follower and fail to produce fruit. In fact, Jesus made it clear that the way we prove to be his disciples by bearing fruit – actually by bearing much fruit. And it is so important for us to do that that the Father is going to do some pruning in our lives for the purpose of increasing our yield.
But what exactly is the fruit that Jesus speaks of here? There are certainly many different opinions about that. Some would claim that it refers to new converts – those who become Christ followers as a result of the witness of the branches. Others would connect it with the fruit of the Sprit that we studied together about a year ago. While I think that both of those ideas are part of what it means to bear fruit, the context of this passage leads me to define bearing fruit in a somewhat broader way:
o Bearing “much fruit” = manifesting Jesus in our lives
When we abide in Jesus and He abides in us, the result is that Jesus is manifest in our lives and as a result of that, fruit is produced, both in our character, as we exhibit the fruit of the Sprit, and in others coming into a relationship with Jesus.
One of the best examples of bearing much fruit is found in Acts 4, when Peter and John are brought before the Jewish leaders because they had healed a lame beggar in the name of Jesus. After Peter spoke, we see how the people reacted to them:
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13 (ESV)
In effect, the people recognized that Peter and James had abided in Jesus and they were now manifesting Him in the way they conducted their lives - in this case carrying on His ministry of healing. And earlier in that chapter, we see the results of them manifesting Jesus in their lives:
But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
Acts 4:4 (ESV)
By both their character and their behavior, Peter and James evidenced that they were indeed Jesus’ disciples by bearing much fruit.
As we’ve done each week in this series, let’s close our time by being very practical. If I want to be a genuine Christ follower who abides in Jesus and has Jesus abiding in me so that I can bear much fruit by manifesting Jesus in my life, how should I live? Fortunately, Jesus provides us with some very practical guidelines on how to do that here in this passage.
HOW TO MANIFEST JESUS IN MY LIFE:
1. Allow His Word to prune my life
Jesus says that His Father will prune the branches that abide in Him so that they will be even more fruitful. Or to put it another way, God will intervene in our lives to make us more effective in manifesting Jesus in our lives.
In order to make a vine more productive, the vinedresser prunes the suckers off the branches that are producing fruit so that those suckers don’t drain the life from the rest of the branch and limit the amount of fruit that is produced.
God does exactly the same thing to us in a spiritual sense. There are all kinds of things in our lives - sometimes even good things -that can become spiritual “suckers” and keep us from being as fruitful as God desires. So God comes along and prunes those things out of our lives. Sometimes He does that by bringing trials and difficulties into our lives. But the trials themselves don’t do the pruning. They merely help expose those suckers. And the only way that those suckers get removed is by exposing them to the word of God. That’s why Jesus says that the apostles are clean because of His words.
So it’s not surprising that God’s Word is pictured as a cutting sword:
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 (ESV)
Let me illustrate the need for God’s Word in cutting the spiritual suckers out of our lives. Let’s suppose you go to the doctor and they suspect that you might have cancer. So the doctor will run some tests to see if they can locate the cancer – perhaps x-rays or cat scans or MRI’s. And then if they find something, they might even cut you open to take some tissue and do a biopsy. But if you actually have cancer, you sure don’t want the doctor to just stop with exposing the cancer. You need them to go in and actually cut out the cancer and do whatever follow up treatment is necessary.
Our trials in life are like the initial diagnosis of the cancer. They merely open us up to expose those spiritual suckers in our lives. But unless we expose what we find to God’s Word, we’ll never get rid of them. So as painful as it might be at times, we must continually view our lives through the lens of God’s Word, so that God can expose and prune sin from our lives.
That’s why Jesus speaks of the importance of having His words abide in us. There is no possible way for the words of Jesus to make their permanent home in your life if you just dabble in the Bible once a week for a short time on Sunday morning. Frankly, I suspect that there are some of us that would have to admit that there are a lot of things in our lives that are much more likely to be abiding in us than God’s Word because we’re spending a lot more of our time and energy on them than we do on the Bible – Facebook, video games, TV, etc.
2. Keep His commandments
Jesus couldn’t have been any clearer than this:
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
Jesus was fruitful in His ministry because He was obedient to His Father. So if Jesus needed to be obedient in order to be fruitful, just think how much more important that is for us. We’ve seen this same principle in some form in connection with every one of the seven “I am” sayings of Jesus. If we want to appropriate all that Jesus is – the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way and the truth and the life and the true vine – then we must keep His commandments.
3. Love my fellow Christ-followers
Jesus continued His discourse with these words:
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:12-13 (ESV)
I think it with these words in mind that John later wrote this:
Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
1 John 2:9-11 (ESV)
It is just not possible to be a genuine Christ follower and be connected to the vine and not love your fellow Christ followers. And Jesus makes it clear how far that love is to go. It is to be a selfless love that is even willing to lay down one’s life for the sake of another. That is why it is so appalling that such petty little things can get in the way of our love for our fellow Christ followers. If Jesus could ask His Father to forgive those who nailed Him to the cross, how dare we not forgive whatever one of our brothers or sisters in Christ may have done to offend us in some way.
4. Pray according to the purposes of Jesus
As Jesus continues, He also speaks these words:
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
John 15:16 (ESV)
This is another one of those passages that people often divorce from the surrounding context and then use to develop some really bad theology. Jesus is obviously not saying here that we can just pray for whatever we want and then just tack on the words “in Jesus’ name” to the end of our prayer and then God is somehow obligated to give us what we ask for.
Asking in Jesus’ name requires that we abide in Him and He in us. It means that what we pray for is that which is consistent with His character and His desires. It means that we pray for that which is consistent with His Word. It means that we pray for Him to prune our lives with His Word, It means that we pray for Him to help us obey His commandments. It means that we pray for Him to help us love other Christ followers regardless of how they may have hurt us.
As we close our time and give you an opportunity to respond to the Word of God this morning, let me challenge all of us to really search our hearts today.
First, if you’re one of those “Judas branches” – one of those people who has only a superficial connection to Jesus – then let me encourage you to move beyond that this morning. Get connected to the vine, Jesus, by fully trusting in Him alone as the means to a relationship with God.
And if you’re one of the branches who is genuinely connected to Jesus already, then I want to encourage you to make an honest evaluation of how well you’re really abiding in Jesus and allowing Him to abide in you. Are you exposing your life to Gods’ Word and allowing Him to prune those spiritual suckers? Are you keeping the commandments of Jesus? Are you loving your brothers and sisters in Christ with a selfless sacrificial love? Or do you need to go and reconcile with a fellow believer? Are you really praying according to the plans and purposes of Jesus or are your prayers focused on your own plans and purposes?
Jesus said, “I am the true vine.” How well are you connected to Him today?
