I.“Abide in Me”—Experience Life (verses 1-8)
verse 2, “no fruit”
verse 2 “fruit”
verse 2 “more fruit”
verse 5 “much fruit”
Where are you and I? Are we still acting like people that are not saved. Are we just barely growing so that we are still struggling with swearing or lying or stealing etc.? Or are we becoming like Christ?
1 ¶ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
The Lord Jesus is the true vine. This word true is used primarily in two senses in the New Testament. First of all it denotes that which is true or genuine in contrast to that which is false or spurious. Surely our Lord is the one genuine vine in whom we should abide, and surely we understand that there are other “false” vines. But this I do not think to be the emphasis which our Lord intends here. This word “true” is also used of that which is the ultimate realization, or here, of that which is the heavenly reality which transcends any earthly counterpart. I think, then, that Jesus is saying that whereas the vine was a picture of Israel in the Old Testament, He is the fullest realization of Israel’s hope, of their expectations, of what God intended her to be as her Messiah. Israel, as a vine, was an utter failure; it never achieved its goal. Our Lord Jesus Christ Who came as the True Vine would accomplish all Israel failed to do.
As the true vine our Lord is the source of life and strength and fruit. There is a relationship of complete dependence between the branch and the vine. The vine supplies life-giving nourishment to the branches. Apart from it, the branches have neither life nor fruit. —Bob Deffinbaugh
A. Picking Up The Vine
B. Purging or Pruning The Vine
C. The Vine Producing Fruit
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away (airo= “take up” or “lift up”): and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
A. Picking Up or Pruning The Vine (discipline)
A man approached Bruce Wilkinson at a pastor’s conference on the West Coast and asked, “Do you understand John 15?
“Not completely,” I answered. “Why?”
“I own a large vineyard in northern California,” He said, “and I think I have it figured out,” I offered to buy him coffee on the spot.
As we sat across the restaurant table from each other, he began to talk about the life of a grower—the long hours spent walking the vineyards, tending the grapes, watching the fruit develop, waiting for the perfect day to begin harvest.
“New branches have a natural tendency to trail down and grow along the ground,” he explained. “But they don’t bear fruit down there. When branches grow along the ground, the leaves get coated in dust. When it rains, they get muddy and mildewed. The branch becomes sick and useless.”
“What do you do?” I asked. “Cut it off and throw it away?”
“Oh, no!” he exclaimed. “The branch is much too valuable for that. We go through the vineyard with a bucket of water looking for those branches. We lift them up and wash them off.” He demonstrated for me with dark, callused hands. “Then we wrap them around the trellis or tie them up. Pretty soon they’re thriving.
. . . Suddenly I had a burst of insight. Lift up. . . clean. . . . I have never read John 15 in the same way again. —Bruce Wilkinson, Secrets of The Vine, pages 34, 35.
B. Purging or Pruning, (priorities)
Wilkinson— “The vine’s ability to produce growth increases each year, but without intensive pruning the plant weakens and its crop diminishes. Mature branches must be pruned hard to achieve maximum yields.”
You can have lots of leaves or lots us fruit. It depends on pruning. I think this is talking about priorities.
What are our priorities?
∙ Leaves or fruit?
∙ A nice car or an influence on your children?
∙ A lot of programs in the church or reaching the community and ministering to people?
Clovis Chappell, a minister from a century back, used to tell the story of two paddle boats. They left Memphis about the same time, traveling down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. As they traveled side by side, sailors from one vessel made a few remarks about the snails pace of the other.
Words were exchanged. Challenges were made. And the race began. Competition became vicious as the two boats roared through the Deep South.
One boat began falling behind. Not enough fuel. There had been plenty of coal for the trip, but not enough for a race. As the boat dropped back, an enterprising young sailor took some of the ship’s cargo and tossed it into the ovens. When the sailors saw that the supplies burned as well as the coal, they fueled their boat with the material they had been assigned to transport. They ended up winning the race, but burned their cargo.
God has entrusted cargo to us, too: children, spouses, friends. Our job is to do our part in seeing that this cargo reaches its destination.
Yet when the program takes priority over people, people often suffer.
How much cargo do we sacrifice in order to achieve the number one slot? How many people never reach the destination because of the aggressiveness of a competitive captain?
—In the Eye of the Storm by Max Lucado, Word Publishing, 1991, pp. 97-98
C. The Vine Producing Fruit, 5-8 (Are we self-sufficient or dependent on God?)
These verses graphically reveal the futility of self-effort. Human effort without divine enablement is fruitless and frustrating. We simply wear ourselves down for no good reason.
John 15:4 Abide in me (command not a suggestion), and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
4&5. This is our Christian responsibility—to “abide” in Christ. John is fond of this word “abide.” He uses the term (meno) over fifty times in his writings; eleven times in this chapter. Underlying the meaning of this term is the idea of belief.
∙ This is seen in chapter five of John’s gospel: “And you do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent” (John 5:38).
“without me ye can do nothing”
The story has been told of a do-it-yourselfer who went into a hardware store early one morning and asked for a saw. The salesman took a chain saw from the shelf and commented that it was their “newest model, with the latest in technology, guaranteed to cut ten cords of firewood a day.” The customer thought that sounded pretty good, so he bought it on the spot.
The next day the customer returned, looking somewhat exhausted. “Something must be wrong with this saw,” he moaned. “I worked as hard as I could and only managed to cut three cords of wood. I used to do four with my old-fashioned saw.” Looking confused, the salesman said, “Here, let me try it out back on some wood we keep there.” They went to the woodpile, the salesman pulled the cord, and as the motor went vvvrooommmm, the customer leaped back and exclaimed, “What’s that noise??”
John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
A. J. Gordon, one of the founders of Gordon Conwell Divinity School, told of being out walking and looking across a field at a house. There beside the house was what looked like a man pumping furiously at on of those hand pumps. As Gordon watched, the man continued to pump at a tremendous rate; he seemed absolutely tireless, pumping on and on, up and down, without ever slowing in the slightest, much less stopping.
Truly it was a remarkable sight, so Gordon started to walk toward it. As he got closer, he could see it was not a man at the pump, but a wooden figure painted to look like a man. The arm that was pumping so rapidly was hinged at the elbow and the hand was wired to the pump handle The water was pouring forth, but not because the figure was pumping it. You see, it was an artesian well, and the water was pumping the man!
When you see a man who is at work for God and producing results, recognize that it is the Holy Spirit working through him, not the man’s efforts that are giving results. All he has to do—and all you have to do‒is keep your hand on the handle.
The necessity of abiding is further demonstrated in verses 6-8.
John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
∙ In verse 6 we are given a negative illustration of the results if we do not abide. negative
∙ In verses 7 and 8 we learn the benefits of abiding.
A. Negatively, to “abide not” Is Adversely Productive
Failing to abide is more than just a hindrance to fruitfulness; it is a severing from the source of life. Not to abide leads to death and destruction. “If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned” (John 15:6).
I do not believe that Jesus is here teaching that we can lose our salvation by failing to abide. He is simply showing that abiding is not an option, but an essential requirement for life.
B. Positively, Abiding Results in Answered Prayer
On the positive side, abiding in Christ results in conformity to the Word of God. The one in whom the Word abides can be confident of receiving the answers to his prayers for he will pray according to the will of God. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).
The deacons asked the church for about $3,000 dollars last spring and the church gave them all that they asked for. Why? Because what the deacons wanted corresponded with what the church wanted and needed, a new furnace.
John 15:7 seems unconditional, “ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” But the first phrase states the condition, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you.” Most people treat this promise as unconditional, but its not. It has two conditions: Wanting what God wants, “If ye abide in me.” And secondly, knowing what God wants. “my words abide in you.”
C. Abiding Leads to Awesome Productivity, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”
I.“Abide in Me”—Experience Life (verses 1-8)
verse 2, “no fruit”
verse 2 “fruit”
verse 2 “more fruit”
verse 5 “much fruit”
A. God’s Part (as husbandman)
1. “Picking Up”
2. Pruning
3. Producing
B. The Branches Production
1. Negatively, to “abide not” Results in Aggregate Destruction
2. Positively, Abiding Results in Answered Prayer
3. Positively, Abiding Results Awesome Productivity
II. “Abide in My love”— Express Love (verses 9-17).
A. Love is Demonstrated by Christ
John 15:9 ¶ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
B. Love is Distributed, We abide in love by keeping His commandments.
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
C. Love is Delightful (it brings joy)
Author Thomas Carlyle tells how, when he was a boy, a beggar came to the door. His parents were out and he was alone in the house. On a boyish impulse, he broke into his own savings bank and gave the beggar all that was in it, and he tells us that never before or since did he know such sheer happiness as came to him in that moment. There is indeed joy in giving.
—James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 240.
D. Love is Demanded
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
E. Love is Demonstrated by sacrifice.
John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
In “From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya” (“Academie,” 1983), Ruth Tucker writes about Dr. Eleanor Chestnut. After arriving in China in 1893 under the American Presbyterian missions board, Dr. Chestnut built a hospital, using her own money to buy bricks and mortar. The need for her services was so great, she performed surgery in her bathroom until the building was completed.
One operation involved the amputation of a common laborer’s leg. Complications arose, and skin grafts were needed. A few days later, another doctor asked Chestnut why she was limping. “Oh, it’s nothing,” was her terse reply.
Finally, a nurse revealed that the skin graft for the patient, a coolie, came from Dr. Chestnut’s own leg, taken with only local anesthetic.
During the Boxer Rebellion of 1905, Dr. Chestnut and four other missionaries were killed by a mob that stormed the hospital.
F. Love Determines Friendship
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
I heard of the man who was waxing eloquent to his wife of how much he loved her. He told her he would even die for her. “That won’t be necessary,” she responded, unimpressed, “just pick up that towel and help me with these dishes.” Few of us will be required to pay the ultimate price of friendship. All of us should be willing to do so and to show it in simple acts of sacrificial kindness.
G. Love Divulges Secrets (verse 15)
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Throughout their relationship together, Christ viewed these men as servants and Himself as Master. The responsibility of the servant is to submit to the will of his Master. The relationship was now to be altered. Christ said, "You are my friends" (v. 14). The relationship between the Master and His servants was that of will to will; the relationship between them as friends was that of heart to heart. These who had been Christ’s servants were now constituted His friends.
A proof that they were joined to Christ in heart is seen in His statement, “for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” —Pentecost
16 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.
Verse 16 makes it crystal clear that our abiding in Christ is not the determining factor behind our eternal security as believers. Our Lord is not threatening us with the loss of salvation if we sometimes fail to abide. This passage was intended to bring peace, assurance and comfort to troubled men (cf. John 14:1). How comforting, then, to hear these words of assurance: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give you” (John 17:16).
We might like to think that we found Christ, as the “I Found It” bumper stickers seem to imply. Ultimately, we did not choose God; He chose us. The initiator of our salvation determines the one on whom our security rests, for Paul wrote, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6). God chose us as the objects of His grace. He appointed us to represent Him to a lost world. He determined that we would bear fruit and that the results of our labors would be lasting. What a comfort! What motivation for service! —Bob Deffinbaugh
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
In her book, “Living with Love,” Josephine Robertson tells a story. “In 1883, a youthful clergyman, the Rev. Joe Roberts, arrived by stagecoach in a blizzard to minister to the Indians of Wyoming. This great, wild area had been assigned by President Grant. Soon after Joe Roberts arrived, the son of the chief was shot by a soldier in a brawl, and Chief Washakie vowed to kill the first white man he met. Since this might mean the start of a long, bloody feud, young Roberts decided to take action. Seeking out the tepee, fifteen miles away in the mountains, he stood outside and called the chief’s name. When Washakie appeared, Roberts opened his shirt.
“I have heard of your vow,” he said, “I know that the other white men have families, but I am alone. Kill me instead.”
The chief was amazed and motioned him into his tent. “How do you have so much courage?” he asked.
Joe Roberts told him about Christ, His death, His teachings. They talked for hours. When Joe left, the chief of the Shoshones had renounced his vow to kill and resolved to become a Christian.
Washakie had seen love in action.
Every group which calls itself Christian would do well to decide what it should do to make love visible in the home, church, community, and world. For unless love becomes visible it is not love at all.
Constantly Abiding
John 17:1-17
I.“Abide in Me”—Experience Life (verses 1-8)
verse 2, “no fruit”
verse 2 “fruit”
verse 2 “more fruit”
verse 5 “much fruit”
A. God’s Part (as husbandman)
1. “Picking Up” (2)
2. Pruning (2)
3. Producing (3-8)
B. The Branches Production
1. Negatively, to “abide not” Results in Aggregate Destruction
2. Positively, Abiding Results in Answered Prayer
3. Positively, Abiding Results Awesome Productivity
II. “Abide in My love”—Express Love (verses 9-17).
A. Love is Divine, (9)
B. Love is Distributed, (10)
C. Love is Delightful, (11) (it brings joy)
D. Love is Demanded, (12)
E. Love is Demonstrated by sacrifice. (13)
F. Love Determines friendship (14)
G. Love Divulges secrets ( 15)
