Introduction
This is one of The great passages of the gospels. It’s also one of the last teaching sessions that Jesus, Rabbi and Messiah gives to his disciples. As we look at the passage today, I’d like us to consider 4 points:-
1. Jesus, as the Vine;
2. God the Father, as the Gardener;
3. Us, as branches.
4. The fruit
1. Jesus, as the Vine.
There are two main functions that a vine serves. The vine is
A. The Source of Life
B. Structure – It holds together the branches
A. The vine is the source of life
Jesus calls himself the true vine and he says…
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.
It is the vine, attached to the roots which draws in the nourishment for the plant, and brings life to each branch thus providing the nutrients and water necessary to produce fruit.
B. The vine provides the structure to the overall body.
The Bible talks about Jesus being the structure or head of the body, that is the church. He holds it together.
Paul writes to the Corinthians…
"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ."
Colossians Ch 1 Jesus.. "is before all things, and in him all things hold together"
The vine provides structure for the branches & fruit.
2. God the Father, as the Gardener
You’ve heard of the children’s carton character Bob the Builder, well here we have God the Gardener!
God the Gardener cares and sustains the vine by doing things in order:-
A. He lifts up the branches.
v2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit… N.I.V In most other versions of the Bible we get a translation of… every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away.. which may provide a better understanding .
In the original Greek, the word translated “takes away” is the word “airo”. It has as many as four possible meanings, four different usages. It can mean
1. To lift up or pick up.
2. To lift up figuratively, as in lifting up
one’s eyes or one’s voice.
3. To lift up, with the thought of lifting up in
order to carry away.
4. Lastly, it can mean what many translators have
taken it to mean, that is, “to remove”.
James Montgomery Boice suggests that what is meant here by Jesus, when He uses airo, is not “to remove”, but rather, “to lift up”. This rendering emphasizes the care of the gardener.
A good reason to support this translation is in the sequence that Jesus gives here, which makes sense: first, the gardener lifts all of the
vines up. Then…
B. He prunes and cleans the branches.
He gets rid of the insects, the moss, the parasites that would threaten its development. He cuts away what is not helpful for growing.
God the Father prunes us from time to time, in order that we might grow better. Sometimes that pruning is painful. Indeed any vine will only produce good fruit if it is vigorously pruned and cleaned.
John Stott says...
“Jesus does not explain specifically what this pruning is in the passage. But we need not doubt that pain, sorrow, sickness, suffering, loss, bereavement, disappointment and frustrated ambition are all part of the pruning activity of God the gardener”
C. He throws away worthless parts.
v6 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 fire and burned.
It could be argued that this verse suggests that those who are Christians, but who lapse into sin, will lose their salvation. But perhaps another interpretation which may align itself better with the teaching of the Bible, could instead refer to fruitfulness, of those works produced in the life of the abiding Christian, which do which don’t qualify as “good fruit”.
What is certain is that the good gardener will chop off and clear away that which is not for the good of the vine and its effectiveness at pro-
ducing fruit.
D. He gets the praise when the fruit is produced.
v8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit…
It is the Gardener who gets the credit when the fruit ripens and is useful. The branch doesn’t brag; it is the Gardener Who gets the praise.
3. Us, as branches
I’d like us to consider three aspects of us being branches:-
A. We have no life of our own.
B. Fruit production
C. Grapes are grown from the branches.
A. We have no life of our own.
The Bible explains that we have sinned and fall short of Gods standards. It also declares that the wages of sin is death. Each and every person is spiritually dead. But if we accept that Jesus, the son of God paid the penalty for our sin and died, so that we may truly live, then the Bible tells us we can receive new life.
ROMS 8:10-11 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
Apart from the vine, we have no life.
7 DAYS WITHOUT GOD, MAKES ONE WEAK!
(Church poster)
B. Fruit production
We need to remain in the vine so that fruit can be produced through us NOT by us!
“Wine is the juice of grapes. Every drop of wine you drink is rain recovered from the ground by the mechanism of the plant that bears grapes – the vine.”
Hugh Johnson, World Atlas of Wine
I would like to suggest that it is God’s Holy Spirit that acts like the water flowing from, and through the vine.
C. Grapes are grown from the branches
Accepting that we do not actually produce the fruit is only half of the equation. We equally need to understand that it is through the branches that the fruit is produced. Thus we need to ensure that we remained connected to the vine and that the nutritious work of the Holy Spirit is not hindered in our lives.
4. The fruit.
At the risk of upsetting Jesus’ analogy I would like to add one more aspect to this picture - and that is to add a stalk. For I would like to suggest that the stalk holds all the fruit together onto the branch. Whilst Jesus doesn’t directly state it, he implies that Love is the stalk that joins the fruit together
For we see that in verses 9 to 16, Jesus appears to go off on a complete tangent. From verses 1 to 8, he is talking in terms of the vine, branches and fruit. Then he begins to talk about obeying his commands and loving each other, before returning the vine-language in verse 16.
Let us read this passage in the light of other verses in scripture, so that we may start to get a fuller understanding of what Jesus is saying here.
Gals 5:22-23 ..the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Cols 3:12-14… Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience and forgiveness – recognise what this is? The fruit of the Spirit.
It is love which binds together all these virtues. It is the stalk by which the fruit is held together.
1 Cors 13:4-7,13 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres….. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Doesn’t Jesus talk about obeying commands as well? Yes he does, in verse 9 he bids us to remain in my love. Then he continues in verse 10, that we remain in his love if we obey his commands. But, if we again look elsewhere in scripture we see that these are two aspects of the same thing.
Gals 5:14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbour as yourself."
Mark 12:30-31 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ….`Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.
Roms 13:10 Love does no harm to it’s neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The Bible sees no difference between love and obeying Gods commands – If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love – the two are linked.
SUMMARY
We are encouraged to remain in the vine. There is a relationship between the vine and the branch. We need to remain in a living relationship with Jesus.
It is more of being, rather than doing – as all relationships are.
Remember Jesus’ words… “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.”
What we are challenged to do is to love one another.
For love is the stalk through which the Holy Spirit grows bunches of fruit upon.
We are not called to produce the fruit, we are just called to remain in Jesus the vine.
If we do that then he makes a promise to us we WILL bear much fruit – for that is the delight of God the Glorious Gardener.
Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Jn 13:34
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.” - Jesus Christ
May God be gracious as His Holy Spirit produces much fruit through us and may we be conscious of what God the Gardener is seeking to produce.
AMEN
