Over the past few weeks, we have considered several I AM statements of Jesus. These are the things that Jesus said about Himself. In John Chapter 10, Jesus said “I AM the door.” He is the way into God’s kingdom. In John Chapter 8, Jesus said “I AM the light of the world.” He shines in the darkness of sin to show us the way to God. In John Chapter 6, Jesus says, “I AM the bread of life.” He says that those who come to Him will never to hungry and those who believe in Him will never be thirsty.
Today, I want us to look at a passage of scripture from John Chapter 15.
Now let’s set the stage for this passage. Leading up to this passage of scripture, several significant things have happened. On the Sunday before, Jesus rode into Jerusalem and was hailed as a king. The people lined the road shouting “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel.” As the week progresses, Jesus teaches his disciples the very hard truth that His earthly ministry is coming to an end.
On Thursday of that week, Jesus takes the disciples to the Upper Room to participate in the Passover feast. And during that time, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, telling them that He is setting an example for them to follow. They are to be servants, even as Jesus came to be a servant. Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper, telling His disciples to continue to participate in this meal as a remembrance of Him.
Jesus also predicts His betrayal by Judas and Peter’s denials. Jesus clearly tells the disciples that He will be with them only a short while longer. But He promises them a helper. The Holy Spirit would come to be an Advocate and a guide for them and to lead them into the truth of His word.
As His disciples are clearly troubled at His words that He would be crucified and then would leave them, Jesus has more words of comfort for them.
They sing a hymn together, and at this point, Jesus leads the disciples out of the upper room and they are on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. But as they are on their way, Jesus speaks to the disciples again. Listen to the words that Jesus says to the disciples:
John 15:1–8 (NIV84)
The Vine and the Branches
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
As we saw for the other I AM statements of Jesus, He often used the events of the day to teach His disciples. Now, on the way from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane, possibly Christ and His disciples were passing some vineyards, or perhaps they walked by the temple with its golden vine decorations. Maybe it was one of these that prompted His analogy of the vine and branches.
But the clear message that Jesus was relaying to His disciples was this. “Remain in Me,” Jesus says. Or as some translations say, “Abide in Me.” Follow the path that I have set out for you. Don’t veer to the left or veer to the right. Stay on course. Abide in me.
Jesus was showing His disciples that in order to carry out the task that He was leaving for them, they would have to continue to trust in Him. They would have to continue to follow His teachings He had given to them over the course of the past three years. And I think Jesus was concerned because He knew our human tendencies. And one of those is “out of sight, out of mind.”
Isn’t that the way we are? When a friend moves away, or when we move to a new community, even if we were the best of friends, there is a gap that develops. When they have been in our life every day, it was just second nature to think of them, or to call them, or to do things with them. But once we’re separated by a distance, that close relationship suffers. We become focused on our here and now and sometimes may not think of them during the day, or even during a week, or a month.
When we as parents send our kids off to college, or when they leave our house to follow their dreams in life, what do we tell them? Don’t we caution them to remember who they are? Don’t we remind them to do what is right? Don’t we tell them not to get involved in things that will harm them and maybe even destroy them? What we’re really doing is urging them to remember the things we have taught them.
Jesus is doing the same thing here. Jesus is warning His disciples not to neglect His teachings when He goes back to heaven. When He’s not around every day, He tells them to keep up the work that He has given them. “Abide in me,” He says, “Remain in me.”
Now why does Jesus say it is so important to remain in Him? What important message is He trying to get across to His followers?
Jesus tells the disciples that, in order to accomplish this great work that He is leaving them to do, in other words to “bear fruit”, they must remain in Him. And it is critical that they do this because in doing this work, they would show the world that they are Jesus’ disciples. But the bottom line is this. If they remain in Him, they would bring glory to God.
John 15: 8 (NIV84)
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Jesus’ every move while He walked this earth was to bring glory to His Father in heaven. And Jesus says that is his disciples’ task now. Their every move is to bring glory to God by staying close to His Son, Jesus Christ. If they do this, Jesus says that they will bear fruit. Abide in me and you will bear fruit. In fact, Jesus says that by abiding in Him, they will bear “much fruit.”
The word “fruit” or “fruitful” is used seven times in this passage, and “abide” or “remain” in Him is used eight times. Now when something is repeated in scripture, it’s done so for emphasis. So I think we can say pretty confidently that the main truth Christ is teaching in this parable is that if we abide in Him, the result is that we will bear much fruit.
Jesus points out some things in this parable that are necessary for a fruitful life.
First, in order to be fruitful, there must be a cleansing.
Look what Jesus says in John 15:1–3 (NIV84)
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Jesus uses the picture of a gardener who prunes the vine so that it will be more productive. He cuts out the nonproductive parts so that the branches are healthier. He cuts out the bad growth so that the good will flourish and get more nourishment from the vine.
And that’s exactly what happens to us when we become a Christian. When we profess our faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and enter the waters of baptism, the Bible gives us a picture of cutting out the bad so that the good can flourish.
When Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was told:
Acts 22:16 (NIV84)
16 And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
Titus 3:5 (NIV84)
5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
The purpose of our salvation through faith, repentance, confession, and baptism is to take away the old life marred by sin and the acts of sin, and to make us a new, different person.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV84)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Do you see the words “in Christ” in this verse? If anyone is “in Christ.” You see, in order to abide in Christ, in order to remain in Him, the first step is to accept Jesus as our Savior. You can’t remain in something unless you’re in it to begin with. And to be “in Christ” there must be a cleansing (a pruning), cutting out the bad. And that happens in our baptism. In that one act, our sins are washed away. The old sinful branches are cut off so that the new branches can begin to produce good fruit.
So that’s the first step to abiding in Christ. To accept Him as our Savior means that we are “in Christ.”
Then, once we’re “in Christ”, in order to be fruitful, Jesus says we need to stay there.
We must abide in Him.
Notice what Jesus says in John 15:9 (NIV84)
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
And Jesus goes on to tell us exactly how to do that.
John 15:10–14 (NIV84)
10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
Abiding in Jesus means we must do what He says.
John 14:15 (NIV84)
15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.
If you want to abide in me, Jesus says, then do what I say.
Here’s where we have our problems, isn’t it? We want to abide in Jesus. We want to do what He says. We want to keep His commandments. But we just can’t seem to pull that off. We’re all the time thinking that it’s too hard to follow Jesus’ commands all the time.
But the Bible says it is not too hard.
1 John 5:1–5 (NIV84)
5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. 3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
We can be victorious in this life. We can overcome the world. We can obey God’s commands. How? By abiding in Jesus Christ. By relying on Him. By placing our faith in His guidance. By staying so close to Him that we can hear His Holy Spirit speaking to us in every situation and in every temptation.
So what are you going to do the next time you hear that bit of juicy gossip? What are you going to do the next time the gang wants to go out and have a few beers? What are you going to do when you get angry with a friend? What are you going to do the next time that curse word comes to mind and to your lips? What are you going to do the next time the boss, or the teacher, or your spouse makes you mad? What are you going to do when you’re tempted to tell that lie, cheat on that test, or steal something?
Abide in Jesus. Do what He says. Stay close to the vine that brings the life-saving nourishment. And you’ll be able to stand up to temptation instead of letting it drag you down.
1 Corinthians 7:19 (NIV84)
19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.
To abide in Christ means to live in His Word (v. 7), obey His commandments (v. 10), and keep our lives clean through His Word (vv. 3–4). The Christian who fails to abide in Christ becomes like a useless branch that will be cut off and burned in the fire, like salt that loses its taste and is good for nothing, or like a light that is hidden under a basket that is no good in the darkness.
So, to bear fruit, we must first come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, and to be “in Christ.” Then we must remain in Him. Obey His commands. And if we remain in Him, Jesus says that we will bear fruit.
We are to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.
Now what does that fruit look like?
Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV84)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
If you are abiding in Christ, it will be evident in your life. It will be evident in your thoughts, and that will spill over into your character. Because what is on the inside will sooner or later be evident on the outside.
When people look at your character, what do they see? Do they see love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control?
Or do they see hatefulness, a short fuse, ugliness, a foul mouth, selfishness?
If you are abiding in Christ, it will be evident in how you live your life.
Colossians 1:10 (NIV84)
10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
Live a life worthy of the Lord. Do what is good. Now, we all know that good works are not what saves us. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ and by His grace and His mercy. I hope you understand that, because I have put a lot of effort into proclaiming that truth. We are saved by God’s grace. So we shouldn’t get the idea that being good gets you to heaven.
The Bible says there is no one good but God.
And, no, we are not good in order to get into heaven. We are good because we are “in Christ.” We are good because the 'fruit' of our salvation is good works.
Now, the presence of good works doesn't prove salvation. Anyone can do something good from time to time. Christ said Himself that even evil people sometimes do what is good.
Matthew 7:9–11 (NIV84)
9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
People who are evil can do good things. So doing good does not make us fit for heaven. But here is something we need to understand. The absence of doing good is a strong indication that we have lost our way. The absence of doing good, exhibiting good fruit, shows that we are not abiding in Christ.
Matthew 7:16 (NIV84)
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
Matthew 7:20 (NIV84)
20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
The world will recognize that we are Christ’s disciples if they see the good fruits of the Spirit that we exhibit. People will see love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
And there is one other fruit that we as Christians must show. And that is:
Praise to God.
Hebrews 13:15 (NIV84)
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.
You gotta wonder about the person who walks around with such a long face that it would take a week to shave it! You gotta wonder about a Christian who is always negative and pointing out all that is wrong with the church. You gotta wonder if the grumbling, moaning, groaning, critical, griping Christian is really abiding in Christ.
Because abiding in Christ WILL manifest itself in praise to God. Abiding in Christ will bring thanksgiving and praise to God for His abiding love to us.
Someone who remains connected to Christ just can’t help but praise Him!
Because of our close connection to Him, our praise to God pours out like the fragrance of a flower that grows from a vine.
If we abide in Christ, we will find God’s presence in every situation, both good and bad. For we know that He is working for good in every situation!
So, the obvious question today is this. Are you abiding in the vine? Are you remaining in Jesus in every aspect of your life? If you are, the world will be able to see the difference it makes in you.
