Jesus, The True Vine

 John 15:1-17

Key Verse 15:5

“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.”

In today’s passage Jesus says, “I am the true vine.”  In the book of John Jesus made 7 “I AM” statements: 1) I AM the bread of life. (Jn. 6:35); 2) I AM the light of the world. (Jn. 8:12); 3) I AM the gate for the sheep. (Jn. 10:7); 4) I AM the Good Shepherd. (Jn. 10:11); 5) I AM the Resurrection and the Life. (Jn. 14:6); 6) I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life. (Jn. 14:6); and finally today’s passage: 7) I AM the True Vine. (Jn. 15:5)  The previous six I AM statements focused on Jesus as the life-giver and included an invitation to come to Him and to believe in Him (6:35; 8:12; 10:9; 11:25-26; 14:6).  Now, however, Jesus is speaking to those who have already come to Him, and so His charge is that they remain in Him.  The earlier theme of life is now developed in terms of intimate union with Jesus, a sharing in His own life.  We learn that our very life is dependent upon our union with Him and also it is only in this union with Jesus that our lives can truly be fruitful as God called man to be, “Be fruitful and multiply.”  May God open our hearts to accept Jesus’ Words and remain in Him.

Part I – Jesus, the True Vine (1-4)

Look at verse 1.  “¹ I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Gardener.”  In the previous passage Jesus said, “Come now; let us leave.”  It appears that today’s passage does not take place in the Upper Room, but rather on their way to Gethsemane, where Jesus would soon be arrested.  Jesus starts out His conversation by saying, “I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Gardener.”  In this verse Jesus reveals the role and relationship between Jesus and the Father.  Jesus is the True Vine.  A vine is the source of life for a branch and not only that, but also the source of nutrients by which the branch can bear fruit.  God the Father is the Gardener.  This reveals Jesus' dependence on and subordination to the Father.  It is the Gardener that receives the fruit that the vine produces.  The vine’s responsibility is to produce fruit to present to the Gardener.  On the other hand it is the Gardener who prepares the environment in which the Vine can produce fruit.

When Jesus said, “I am the True Vine,” He was using a metaphor that was very familiar with the Israelites.  In the Old Testament Israel was called a vine.  Isaiah 5:1-7 is the Song of the Vineyard.  Verse 7a reads, “The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel…”  Ps. 80:8 says that God had planted Israel in the Promised Land like a Vine planted in good soil.  God did so because He expected Israel to bear good fruit; to be a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.  But Israel turned out to be like a fruitless and barren vine.  Israel fell into idol worship.  They failed to be a source of blessing to the world.

This was a very tragic thing.  Isaiah 5:7b says, that God expected justice, but instead He found bloodshed; He sought justice, but He heard cries of distress.  Isaiah was sorry that his nation had not lived up to God’s great calling upon them.  But God gave him a vision of the Messiah.  Isaiah 11:1 reads, “¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from His roots a Branch will bear fruit.”  This shoot is Jesus Christ.  He would be full of the Holy Spirit.  He would bring about true justice and righteousness on the earth.  When Jesus calls himself the “True Vine” He means that He came to fulfill God’s will and purpose, which Israel failed to do.  Jesus opened the way for man to be restored back to God as His children.  Jesus did what the nation of Israel could not do.

Look at verse 2. “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.”  In verse 1 we are told that the Father is the Gardener.  He is the One who prepares the environment that the Vine can bear abundant fruit.  The way the Gardener does this is in two ways: cutting off and pruning.  The Gardener cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit.  We need to have cut off all of our unfruitful habits and ways.  Everything in us that does not help us to bear fruit needs to be removed. 

The other way the Gardener does this is by pruning branches that bear fruit, so that these branches in the future will bear even more fruit.  In the past our UBF ministry was very fruitful, but God wants to make us even more fruitful.  We cannot keep doing the things we did in the past; we must find new ways to continue to preach the Gospel and help young college students to meet Christ personally and learn obedience and to take up His calling on their lives to become a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

I remember when smart phones first came out.  I was against them completely.  I thought they were just a gimmick by a rich high tech guy named Steve Jobs in order to become even richer and to sell to the public things that really were not needed.  For the longest time I stubbornly and proudly refused to get such a phone.  I remember going to the phone store and telling them that I wanted a simple phone even without a camera.  But then my Bible students started texting me all the time and I had to learn to text and texting with my simple phone was such a pain to do.  And then someone showed me that I could text and I wouldn’t even have to type, I could speak and it would turn it into text.  I loved it.  So I got a smart phone and then I found out how helpful a smartphone is.  I could use it to schedule my Bible studies and text and send attachments with Bible notes to my students without having to lug my laptop around.  I could even have a Bible with me in my pocket at all times.  Msn. Isaac started a blog.  He is like a branch that has been pruned in order that he can even be more fruitful.  May God help us not to resist His pruning so that we may be even more fruitful in the future.

The reason God does these things in our lives is because He is not just looking for us to be fruitful; but because He desires us to be exceedingly fruitful.

Look at verse 3, “³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”  In Greek the word for ‘clean’ is the same word for ‘prune’ in the previous verse.  This reveals that the ‘pruning’ that we experience by God comes from God’s Word, when we accept one Word of God in our hearts.  When Abraham accepted God’s Word despite his circumstances, it was credited to him as righteousness.  He could overcome his small petty desire to be a noble father and accept God’s calling to be a father of many nations and to be a source of blessing to all people on earth.  Also, Jesus cleansed His disciples of their selfishness, pride, fear of death and many other things by giving them His Word and helping them to accept it.  Sometimes they felt like they were treated too harshly and His Words stung too much, but it was because of His Words to them that they could be cleansed and receive eternal life and grow to become His powerful witnesses and holy servants.

Look at verse 4. “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.”  In this verse Jesus teaches them the obvious truth that a branch cannot bear fruit on its own, it must remain in the Vine.  Many think they can do something on their own.  But this is a fallacy.  If nothing else our lives and experience should have taught us the obvious truth that on our own we cannot bear fruit.  We must remain in the True Vine, Jesus.  But we must ask what does it mean to ‘remain in Jesus’.

Part II – Remain in Jesus and bear much fruit (5-8)

Look at verse 5.  “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.”  Before we talk about what it means to ‘remain in Jesus’ we must first ask the question: ‘What is this fruit?’  Some say this fruit refers to the fruit of witnessing and evangelism; i.e. the number of sheep we serve and help to grow as disciples of Jesus.  Others say this fruit represent the fruit of the Spirit as spelled out in Gal. 5:22-23a, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.”  These are the virtues characteristic of a Christian life.

But as we look more closely at today’s passage we see that bearing fruit refers to our union with Christ.  Jesus says when we bear much fruit we demonstrate that we are His disciples (15:8), and elsewhere He states that love for one another is the evidence that one is a disciple (13:35; 14:21, 23) and is in union with God and with one another.  Therefore we can say being fruitful symbolizes that which is at the heart of both being Christian witnesses and displaying Christian virtues--union with Christ.

Look at verse 6. “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.”  We learn that the consequence of remaining in Jesus is to bear much fruit.  But the consequence of not remaining in Jesus is to be cast out, withered, gathered and burned.  This verse speaks of the consequence of being separated from Christ.  Sin causes separation from our Creator.  Real death is separation from Him.

Look at verse 7. “⁷ If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”  This verse speaks to having a wholehearted devotion to the Lord.  When Christ and His Word remain in us, we wholeheartedly follow His leading.  When the Israelites came out of Egypt and came to the Promised Land, only Joshua and Caleb could enter it, because of their wholehearted devotion to the Lord.  They could take possession and lay claim to what was promised, because they held onto God’s Word promised to them despite the impossible and daunting circumstances before them.  When we remain in Jesus and His Word remains in us, we can pray and pray confidently that God will SURELY answer our prayers.  We are praying for each of us to bring 1 new student to our Spring Bible conference; for 100 new students to attend.  This will be a good chance for each of us to see where each of us remain.

Look at verse 8.  “⁸ This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.”  Bearing fruit brings glory to God.  God created us to bear fruit.  God created us in His image.  He is fruitful and each of us has been created to be fruitful, abundantly fruitful.  When we bear fruit we bring glory to God; both external as well as internal fruit.

Part III – Remain in Jesus’ love (9-17)

Look at verse 9, “⁹ As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you.  Now remain in My love.”   The Father loved Jesus by placing everything in his hands (3:35). The Father trusted Jesus to carry out his world salvation plan. Likewise, Jesus loved his disciples by calling them from meaningless lives to bear God’s mission. Therefore, to remain in Jesus’ love was to remain in God’s great purpose for world salvation. 

To remain in Jesus’ love we must love one another. Verses 12-13 say: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus would lay down his life for us through his death on the cross. Jesus wants his disciples to accept his love and friendship and practice the same toward each other. To remain in Jesus’ love, we must love our family members, coworkers and friends with the same life-giving spirit. 

Though Jesus taught his disciples how to remain in him, he knew that ultimately they could not do this by their own strength. But Jesus believed they would remain in him to the end. It was because he chose them. Look at verse 16. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.” Jesus chose each of us to be his disciples. Therefore, he will carry us through to the end. 

Today we learned that Jesus is the true vine. When we accept one word of Jesus we can have true life in our souls.  Then we must remain in Jesus and bear much fruit. To remain in Jesus, we must overcome satan’s deceptions, hold on to Jesus’ Word, engage in prayer, and love one another with a life-giving spirit.  Let’s remain in Jesus, the true vine.

One Word: Jesus, the True Vine.

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