Growing in Christ

John 15:1-5

a. Jesus is the vine (15:1-3)

b. Abiding in Christ causes growth (15:4-5)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. Jesus is the vine (15:1-3)

i. The context of John 14 shows us the conversion between Jesus and His disciples as He had finished the Last supper. Jesus had just told His disciples that He would have to leave. As He tells His disciples that He would leave, His disciples ask how they would know where He went and Jesus responds in John 14:6 that He is the way the truth and the life and that nobody could get to the Father apart from Him.

ii. So then, the disciples ask Jesus, please show us the Father and Jesus says that He and the Father are one. So Jesus continues to tell them that He would leave and that the Father would send the Helper.

iii. Then Jesus starts this dialogue that we are dealing with today. This passage reminds us God is the one who causes our growth.

iv. Jesus starts 15:1 by stating that He is the true vine. In the Old Testament, the vine is a common symbol for Israel, the covenant people of God (Ps 80:9-16, Isa 5:1-7, Jer 2:21, Hosea 10:1-2). Psalm 80 helps us to understand this idea to understand Israel as the vine, and yet here, Jesus that He is the true vine. Jesus was stating here that He is the true Israel. Jesus was making it clear that only those who were in Christ, would have life in Him.

v. Psalm 80 is important to understand because it shows us exactly what Jesus says in 15:1. Jesus states that God is the vinedresser, the gardener, and in Psalm 80, God is the one who plants and cultivates the vine.

vi. So what does this vinedresser do? Every branch that is on the vine that does not bear fruit, He takes away. Many people have translated this as takes away or cut off. Generally, it is understood the same way that people translate verse 6 but it seems that this term of “cut off” is not accurate. This word here should better be translated to lift up or pick up. If it is translated as pick up, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, He lifts up, that is to keep it from trailing on the ground.

vii. This is a better translation because the Father looks at the fruit and sees if the fruit is still abiding on the vine. If the branch is still connected to the vine, then it makes more sense that the Father would lift up the branch, to prop it up and let it receive the nutrients it needs to grow. This makes more sense because Jesus is talking to believers in Christ. Remember, His audience right now is to the disciples as He was explaining to them before He would be betrayed.

viii. It seems more likely that Jesus is telling the disciples that some will bear fruit but also, there are times in our lives that we don’t bear fruit or as much fruit. The question here is not that the branch is separated from the vine, but rather, a branch that is not bearing fruit.

ix. We know in verse 6 that if a branch is not abiding on the vine, then this branch will be thrown away and cast into a fire to be burned. But the vine in question here in verse 2, is a vine that does not bear fruit. It is a branch that is still connected to the vine, but not bearing fruit. This helps us to understand that there are some seasons in our lives, we aren’t bearing as much fruit. It is encouraging to know that although we don’t bear fruit in some seasons, God lifts us up, to give us nutrients that we might bear fruit. It is encouraging to know that God gives us time and takes care of us even when we are dry.

x. The second function the vinedresser does is He prunes the branch so that it might bear more fruit. The word there means to cleanse, to make clean or purify. So when it says that God prunes the branches, He is causing all the things that cause us to not bear fruit, to be cut off. This pruning process is painful because He takes away the things that we have come to love.

xi. This pruning process is the case of maturing. God causes all believers to mature and He causes the things that cause our growth to be stunted, He prunes so that we would bear more fruit. This is sometimes extremely painful, but through the pruning, it grows our confidence in Christ. When we persevere and continue to abide in Christ, it grows us and grows our confidence in Him.

xii. This causes us to grow more fruit which is what Jesus is speaking of. As we are pruned and gain our confidence in Christ, we bear more fruit.

xiii. Jesus concludes by telling us that we are already clean because of the word which He has spoken to us. Notice that the word is what cleanses us. Unless the Word cleanses us, unless we believe that the Word is the only means in which we are forgiven, the words in which Christ has spoken, then we are not forgiven. But the only means in which we are forgiven primarily is to be in Christ. We must be connected to Christ, that we might be cleansed by the Word.

b. Abiding in Christ causes growth (15:4-5)

i. Jesus tells us that if we abide in Him, then we can bear fruit. Jesus says that as a branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. Jesus is telling us that we must abide in Him and that He must abide in us. When I think about the branches that don’t bear fruit, this is exactly the reason why we don’t bear fruit.

ii. We don’t bear fruit because we can’t bear fruit. Based upon my studies of growing plants, a vine needs to be cultivated at least three years before being allowed to produce fruit at all. That is, it must be trimmed and allowed to grow, then be trimmed and allowed to grow again, and so on for a considerable length of time. Only after this does it become useful for bearing fruit. Similarly, there are times in our lives when we seem to go on for considerable periods, undergoing rather radical treatment at the hands of the Father and seeing little fruit come from it. In such times we doubt if there will ever be fruit. But that is only because we cannot see as God sees. We do not have his perspective. Do not get discouraged if that has happened to you.

iii. It is like what Jesus said in verse 2. Every branch in Christ that does not bear fruit, what does He do? He lifts it up so that it can bear fruit. And not only that, with branches that do bear fruit, He prunes it so that it can bear more fruit. What we see here is the delicate care of the Father but the point stands, there are some seasons of our lives where we don’t bear the fruit we should. The devil uses these seasons to discourage us and causes us to think that we won’t bear any fruit.

iv. But it’s important to be reminded here that God causes the growth. God prunes us and if we are in Christ, we will bear fruit. If we are discouraged, stop yourself and cling to Christ more. Listen to the words that Jesus is telling us. If we don’t abide, if we don’t walk with Christ, if we don’t spend time with Christ, if we don’t fill our minds with the person and work of Jesus Christ, what will we do? We will walk our own way and forget who Jesus is. We will follow our own sins and stray away from God.

v. This is why Jesus tells us that He is the true vine. He is the only one who stands forever and never strays from the Father. He is true because He is perfect and the enduring vine which has fulfilled and accomplished the task of God.

vi. This is how the Christian can accomplish great things for God. The great message behind this is, there is a great task before us. What is the great task of the church? It is to build the kingdom of God. It is to make disciples of all the nations. Jesus’s point here is that whatever we do, we can bear much fruit in doing, if we put our trust in Christ.

vii. What does this mean? It means to pray before we do the task we are about to do. Whatever the situation, we are praying and asking the Lord to do the work. When I think about the church, and the task before us, it’s easy to want to give up. It’s easy to say that we can’t do this. But before we come to this conclusion, we must believe that the church is not mine. It is His and because it is His, when we pray and trust in Him, we must abide in Him. We must continue to walk and trust in Him and when we do, He will keep His promise. His promise is, if you abide in me, you will bear much fruit.

viii. I pray that we would be a trusting church, a vibrant church that trusts and abides with Christ that we might bear fruit for His glory.

3. CONCLUSION