Abide and Thrive
Why Righteous Living? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Today’s Reading from God’s Word:
Today’s Reading from God’s Word:
4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
Introduction
Introduction
Vineyards like this are common in Galilee, sprawling along the hillsides.
In season, the branches hang heavy with clusters of grapes — deep purpose, bursting with juice.
I want you to notice that as the grapes hang there, the branches did not hustle to produce that fruit.
They didn’t wake up worrying about numbers or striving to outdo each other.
They simply remained connected to the vine, drawing life from it’s roots, letting the sap flow through them.
This is where the fruit came from — not their effort, but their connection.
And on the night before Jesus went to the cross, Jesus looked at the disciples and said:
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
This is the picture He gave us for living the righteous life.
Series Recap
Series Recap
Throughout March, we’ve been on a journey discovering what righteousness is.
We began in Matthew 5:20.
For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
Our righteousness must surpass the Pharisees — not by more rule keeping, but through a gift we receive by faith.
Two weeks ago, we spent time in Matthew 22:37-40 and also the beatitudes — seeing the gift we’ve received is not just a status — it transforms our hearts, flowing out in love for God and neighbor, shaping us into people of mercy and peace.
Last week, Matthew 6:19-21; 33 showed us why this matters.
Righteous living reflects God’s kingdom,
storing treasures in heaven and shining as a witness in a world chasing what fades.
But today, we will summarize it all — How do we live this out for a lifetime?
Back to John 15
Back to John 15
The Pharisees tried to manufacture righteousness and came up empty.
You cannot sustain your spiritual life by grit alone.
Think about where Jesus was when He said this.
It is the night before the cross — in a room thick of tension.
He is about to leave His disciples — His closest friends — behind in a world that will hate them.
They are facing loss, fear, uncertainty.
But Jesus doesn’t abandon them to figure it out on their own.
Even as He prepares to go, He promises they are not cut off — and neither are we.
Just as a branch stays connected to the vine, drawing life even when the gardener is not in sight, we’re connected to Jesus.
Today…
Today…
we’ll see how abiding in Christ ties everything we have learned together — His gift, His love, His kingdom — into a life that bears fruit for His glory.
Righteousness Begins with Christ
Righteousness Begins with Christ
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
So here, on the night before the cross — a little more than 12 hours before his death—He is assuring them their standing before God isn’t shaky.
“Clean” is not just a casual word.
In the OT, it is tied to purity before God.
Leviticus 16 is full of instructions for the high priest and how he was to cleanse the people with blood on the day of atonement.
In Psalm 51:7, David cried out:
Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Jesus is saying, “my word, my promise, my coming sacrifice — has done that for you.”
“Clean” here means justified, righteous, and accepted.
This is not temporary — it’s permanent — rooted in His blood, not our behavior.
This is because of His promise — not their earning it.
His coming sacrifice will make it so.
I think Galatians 2:16 drives this home.
and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.
The Pharisees lived with their rituals — thinking they could grow their own righteousness.
Let’s go back to Matthew 5:20 where we were a few weeks back:
For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.
These men were the gold standard — meticulous rule-keepers, outwardly flawless.
But it wasn’t enough.
This is because God’s standard is perfection — and no human effort can scale that height.
But I want you to see that what Jesus teaches here in John 15 flips that:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
The Father does the work.
He cuts off what is dead.
He tends to what is alive.
He’s not a distant overseer; He’s hands on.
He cuts off every branch that does not bear fruit.
Removing what is dead, like unbelief or self-reliance.
And the branches that do bear fruit? He prunes so they’ll be even more fruitful.
A gardener prunes to strengthen.
God’s pruning is not punishment — it’s care.
To focus the vine’s life into fruit, not wasted growth.
We are the branches — not the vine.
Our righteousness is due to Christ’s gift:
His perfect sacrifice — credited to us by faith.
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
Not less.
Not something.
Nothing.
The starting line is not our performance, it’s His provision.
Imagine two branches of a vine.
One lies on the ground - severed - dry, brittle, fruitless.
Another nearby branch clings to the vine, green, and heavy with grapes.
You can’t do Christianity alone. You can’t grow only by sheer will power.
But the connected branch?
It’s thriving — not because it’s stronger — because the vine’s sap flows through it.
That’s us.
Pharisees are like the severed branch, piling up works, trusting in their own power/strength.
Yet, Jesus tells the disciples, stay with me.
We’ve been grafted into Him.
His righteousness flows to us — not from us.
So if you’re exhausted trying to prove your own worth, you need to stop.
Righteousness isn’t your burden — it’s Christ’s gift.
We need to rest in that.
Look again at John 15:3:
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Can you just take a moment and let that sink in.
His word, His cross, His blood are covering you.
If you’ve been chasing a Pharisee’s ladder — good deeds, perfect attendance, flawless image — you need to let that go.
It all begins, not with your hands clenched in effort, but open to receive.
Righteousness Grows Through Love
Righteousness Grows Through Love
Righteousness doesn’t stop with being a gift — it grows — and that growth happens through love.
“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.
This is not a suggestion.
It is the essence of what it means to abide.
The love between the Father and the Son — perfect, eternal, unbreakable — flows to us through Jesus — the vine.
How do we remain in Christ’s love?
Look at the next verse:
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.
How do we summarize up God’s commands?
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
The sap of the vine - is love - pumping through us, shaping our hearts from the inside out.
The Pharisees (and us to) missed this.
We can keep rules to look righteous - but have cold hearts - loving status more than people.
Righteousness is not a checklist - it’s a current.
Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.
It’s mutual. It’s a dwelling.
As we abide, His love fills us, and the fruit grows naturally.
Humility, mercy, peace — think al the beatitudes we talked about.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Filled how?
Not by striving, but by staying connected to the vine.
It is the love of God that satisfied our hunger for righteousness.
Our righteousness grows as we dwell in Him — staying connected to the vine — letting His love satisfy that hunger.
This isn’t about forcing fruit, it’s about reflecting the vine’s life.
Think if it:
The Father loves the Son
The Son loves us.
We abide in that love by loving others.
The branch doesn’t decide what fruit to bear — it mirrors the vine’s life into.
Our righteousness grows as we dwell in Him, not as we chase our own goodness.
As we said a few weeks ago - righteousness transforms our hearts - not just our habits.
Love is the lens.
John 15:9-10 shows us the source.
As we abide in Christ’s love, the beatitudes will come to life — fruit we can’t grow on our own.
Righteousness Reflects the Kingdom
Righteousness Reflects the Kingdom
Let’s go back to v. 7-8:
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
Righteousness isn’t just for us — it’s kingdom sized, reflecting the rule of God to the world.
The fruit we bear isn’t ours to hoard — it’s for God’s glory.
“Glory” here, refers to God’s splendor, His heavy, radiant worth.
After Moses completed the construction of the tabernacle, Exodus 40 says:
34 The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
35 Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud rested on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
Here in John 15:7 Jesus is using that same word to say that our fruit — love, generosity, peace — puts that weighty glory of God on display.
It is never about us - it is about the Father’s majesty shining through, proving we’re his.
Look at v. 11:
“I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
Generosity, peace, joy.
Treasures in heaven, like Matthew 6:20 says.
Look back at v. 7:
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.
His truth shapes us.
It is what aligns our hearts with His kingdom — and so our lives shine — not fade.
And see how Matthew 6:33 ties it all together:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
abiding in the vine means prioritizing His will — trusting in Him to provide.
This is discipleship:
fruit that makes God’s holiness and love visible, not ours.
The branch doesn’t hoard sap; it gives grapes for the harvest.
Our righteousness, abiding in Christ, lifts the Father’s glory—a testimony so substantial the world can’t ignore it."
Our light shines brightly when people see our:
peace in the midst of chaos
Generosity in a culture of greed
Hope during despair.
I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
Much fruit.
Not some.
Why?
Because It’s his life flowing through us, reflecting His reign to a world obsessed with rust and moths.
It’s a quiet witness, like a light on a hill.
The Pharisees sought applause.
Jesus calls us to glorify the Father.
Abiding in Him turns our righteousness outward — fruit that feeds others, pointing them to the vine.
A pruned life — bears fruit — kingdom fruit — showing God’s strength in weakness.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.
Matthew 6:20 comes alive when we see that it is referring to treasure no storm can touch — reflecting his reign to a broken world.
As We Close
As We Close
Righteousness starts with Christ—it’s His gift, not our grind.
Righteousness starts with Christ—it’s His gift, not our grind.
John 15:3 says we’re clean by His word, echoing Matthew 5:20.
This righteousness surpasses the Pharisees because it’s His, tended by the Father’s hands.
Righteousness grows through love.
Righteousness grows through love.
John 15:9-10 roots us in Christ’s love, flowing out as Matthew 22’s command to love God and neighbor.
The beatitudes were given to us for the purpose of shaping our hearts.
Righteousness reflects the kingdom
Righteousness reflects the kingdom
John 15:8 says our fruit bears the Father’s glory, storing treasures in heaven like Matthew 6:33 taught us last week.
It’s one truth: abide in the Vine, and His righteousness flows—received, grown, reflected.
Conclusion: Abiding for Life
Conclusion: Abiding for Life
"This isn’t three separate steps—it’s one life.
Jesus, the true vine, gives us righteousness, grows it through love, and sends it out to reflect His kingdom—all by abiding in Him.
John 15:5 says, ‘Apart from me you can do nothing,’ but with Him?
Much fruit, for His glory.
It’s not about striving harder; it’s about staying closer.
The Pharisees built their own ladders and fell; we’re branches, drawing life from the Vine, bearing fruit we couldn’t grow alone.
So… if you’re not in Christ, if you’ve never trusted this vine for its gift, now is the time.
If you need the strength to abide, we’re here. Let’s live this righteous life together — connected, fruitful, glorious.
