Chapter BY Chapter

John 15:1-17

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The Vine and the Branches

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, as I also 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.

 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.

 

*******  

 

At the end of the last chapter, Jesus says, “Come, let us go.”  They are going to the garden of Gethsemane.  This is about a 45 minute walk from Jerusalem.  Chapter 15 and chapter 16 take place as Jesus is walking with them during this 45 minutes.  This shows us that John, the disciple, has a very good memory.  It also shows us that Jesus is very concerned to give them all the tools he can for what is going to happen in the next few days.  

 

The other gospels were written centered around the idea of “what happened.”  The gospel of John is centered around the idea of “what Jesus taught.”

 

Last week, we saw that Jesus gave his disciples man assurances that he is going to be with them every step of the way.  They are going to go through some rough times.  Jesus said he will not abandon them.  Jesus will continue to be with them in different ways. 

 

Ever notice that when a teacher wants to get something through to the students, he repeats it?

 

Just before leaving for Gethsemane, Jesus said,

 

“If you love me, keep my commands.” (14:15)

 

And

 

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.” (14:21)

 

Now, on the way to Gethsemane, Jesus said,

 

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love,” (15:10)

 

And,

 

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (15:12)

 

And,

 

 “You are my friends if you do what I command.” (15:14)

 

And,

 

“This is my command: Love each other.” (15:17)

 

Do you think Jesus emphasized this enough? 

 

Do you think Jesus can emphasize this too much?

 

Jesus gives us the perfect illustration of how this works.

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  Remain in me, as I also 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.”

 

Jesus is the vine.  We are the branches.  The Father is the gardener.  If a branch does not bear fruit, the Father will cut it off.  Even if a branch bears fruit, the Father will prune it so it will be more fruitful. 

 

So, even when you are doing good as a Christian, God is going to keep improving you.  You might be thinking, “Why did God take that one thing out of my life?  It was a part of me.”  It might be something or someone that God takes out of your life.  And you will wonder why.  The reason is because you will grow something better there that will produce more fruit. 

 

I often wondered why God took my former wives out of my life.  Yet each time, I was able to grow and reach more people for Jesus than I had before. 

 

At times, I wondered why God made it so that I could not enter the ministry.  As I look back, I realize that being in the ministry made me a support staff and I reached fewer people than when I wasn’t in the ministry.  When I wasn’t in the ministry, God made me into a warrior for the front lines.

 

Now, this passage is usually applied to pruning sin out of a Christian’s life, which is also true.  However, Jesus is also talking about anything that is getting in the way for the gardener to grow his vine.

 

One thing that can do pruning is the Word of God.  Another thing that can do the pruning is the words of Jesus.  Pruning is not just pruning away sin.  Pruning is also about growing.  The gardener looks for the path for every branch to grow so it can bear more fruit. 

 

Now there needs to be something to cause the growing.  We can be fed by the words of Jesus.   Just like the branch needs a positive direction, the Christian life needs a positive direction.  Just like the branch needs sunlight, the Christian life needs to be uncluttered so it can see the sunlight.  Just like the branch needs nutrients, the Christian life needs to be fed. 

 

Now branches do not prune other branches.  Neither do they feed one another.  They are all fed by the vine.  The branches do coordinate growth so they can all get sunlight.  The branches may encourage other branches to grow. 

 

Don’t be surprised as to what the clutter that gets cut away may be.  Jesus told the disciples that unless he goes to the Father, the Advocate will not come to the disciples.  So, the clutter may be something that we think is good, but God is going to change things because his plan is better than ours. 

 

When a vine has a “Y” shaped branch, both branches may look good at first.  But ultimately, neither branch will get enough nourishment because they are competing for the same nutrients at the same point in the vine.  So if there is diversity among the branches, they can all do their part. 

 

There was a time when I thought I was doing good by owning my own home.  An accident forced me to lose the home, file for bankruptcy, and a series of really odd events brought me from Michigan to where I am today.  I didn’t understand God’s purpose for that then, but I do now. 

 

During the Great Depression a good man lost his job, exhausted his savings, and forfeited his home. His grief was multiplied by the sudden death of his young wife. The only thing he had left was his faith. One day as he combed the neighborhood looking for work he stopped to watch as men did stonework on a church building. One was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing a spot it would fit, he asked. “Where are you going to put that?” The man pointed toward the top of the building and said. “See that little opening up there near the spire? That’s where it goes. I’m shaping it down here so it will fit up there.”

 

We can never say, “Well, I’ve been through that, and I’m glad that’s over.” The pruning process doesn’t happen all at once, or once for all. It takes a lifetime. The heavenly Vinedresser continually removes from us what hinders our productivity. 

 

One pastor wrote the following:

 

“When I first started working as a youth pastor at another church I planned this retreat for the high school students. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this retreat. I don’t think I have ever prayed about something so hard. I was sure that it would be the perfect retreat.

But as the days got closer to the time to leave, I started feeling a little tickle in my throat. By the time we left, I could hardly talk. I was so congested, drained, and sick I could hardly think straight.

 

And I was upset with God. How could you do this? I did everything right! I prayed! I trusted you! I struggled through my first message on Friday evening. The following day I spent most of the day lying in bed feeling absolutely disgusting. But I prayed that God would be my strength in my weakness.

 

What happened that night is something I still can’t explain. Despite hardly being able to talk or even think straight, God used my message to the students that night in an absolutely powerful way. Many students that night came to Christ, repented, cried, and we saw God do something amazing.

 

See, God was able to take a terrible situation and bring something beautiful out of it. And in the process I was pruned. I left that retreat different. I knew in a deeper way that God was in control. God pruned me that weekend to bear more fruit for him than I ever could have on my own.”

 

Now, a branch cannot bear fruit unless it gets nutrients.  The branches are pruned so they can grow.  The branches get their nutrients from the vine.  In the same way, Christians get their nutrients Jesus.  We must remain in Jesus to bear fruit.  Jesus said,

 

“Remain in me, as I also 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.

 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

 

In this illustration, who does the pruning?  Who picks up the dead branches and throws them into the fire? 

 

Isn’t it the gardener, the Father?

 

And where do the branches get their nutrients from?

 

Do they get their nutrients from the other branches?

 

No.  The branches get their nutrients from the vine.

 

Who is the vine?

 

Jesus is the vine. 

 

How do we get our nutrients from Jesus?

 

Remember, Jesus previously said in this gospel:

 

          “The water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

 

And,

 

“I am the bread of life.”

 

Now he is telling us how that will happen. 

 

By remaining in Jesus and his words remaining in us.

 

What does Jesus mean by his words remaining in us?

 

He tells us in the following verses what this means:

 

“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love.” (v10)

 

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (v12)

 

“You are my friends if you do what I command.” (v14)

 

“This is my command: Love each other.” (v17)

 

Are we always going to keep each and every one of Jesus’ commands perfectly throughout our entire life?  This is doubtful.  We all have moments of selfishness, greed, lust, anger. 

 

This is why Jesus emphasizes just this one command at this time – to love each other. 

 

Not one of us is going to be perfect.  Only Jesus could be perfect.  In light of our imperfections, Jesus gives us this one command – Love each other.

 

Some of us are going to have a different opinion about some of the church doctrines.  To this, Jesus gives us one command – Love each other. 

 

Some of us are going to have different ideas about how to live the Christian life.  To this, Jesus gives us one command – Love each other. 

 

Other religions and other non-religions are always fighting each other.  Even though at times, some Christians have fought against other Christians, those times have been few.  Why, because Jesus gave us this one command – Love each other. 

 

This is why Jesus spends more time in this illustration talking about love than anything else.  This is why he said the following, and I am sure we all can understand every bit of it:

 

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.  If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.  This is my command: Love each other.”

 

So, we should love one another and remember to always think of this one thing whenever there are differences between US: God is working on US all, so we will ALL fit up there.