True Vine
Notes
Transcript
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
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.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 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.
5 “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.
6 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.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
In light of last nights military actions, this passage is of upmost importance.
There are many competing voices in this world and we need to recognize and be fed only by the Voice of the Lord.
1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Jesus is telling us straight forward that He is out source of life.
We can look to anything else and only find malnutrition, even good things.
We can look to our:
Spouse, Kids, Self-Reliance, Humanitarian Acts, Jobs, Education, Nature, Mediation… It all lacks soul fueling capacity.
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.
So what does it mean to produce fruit?
Fire Bible (Chapter 15)
To produce spiritual fruit means to develop godly character (see Gal 5:22–23; Eph 5:9; Php 1:11),
set a godly example (see Mt 3:8; 7:16–20),
do effective service and
lead others to Christ.
God is the gardener who takes care of the branches in order that they may be fruitful God expects all of us to grow and produce spiritual fruit
John (A. Abiding in the Lord (15:1–8))
Boice escapes the difficulty of interpretation by translating cuts off (ai-rro) as “lifts up,” certainly one of its meanings.
He argues, “This translation makes better sense of the passage in every way, and in addition it is much better theology.
First, the emphasis of this opening section of the parable is, quite rightly, upon the care of the vine by the Father. It would be strange, granting this emphasis, if the first thing mentioned is the carrying away of unproductive branches.
But it is not at all strange to emphasize that the vinedresser first lifts the branches up so that they may be better exposed to the sun and so the fruit will develop properly” (Boice, IV, p. 228).
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 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.
8 times in these 8 verses we are told to “Remain in Me”
This also goes to say that this parable is not about salvation as some may argue. If one is apart of the Vine that means that they have been saved.
Jesus said that whom the father has given me, I lose none. (John 6:39)
Secondly, you can’t remain in something that you have never been apart of.
Jesus also tells us why it is important to remain in Him…
To remain in Prayer
To remain in His Word
To remain in communion with each other
If we neglect any of these three things we lack fruit bearing properties.
5 “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.
We cannot generate our own fruits, our very life is dependent
No branch has life in itself; it is utterly dependent for life and fruitfulness on the vine to which it is attached. The living branch is thus truly ‘in’ the vine; the life of the vine is truly ‘in’ the branch.
D. A. Carson
It makes me think of caring for infants… they depend on us for every little thing that sustains life. Their warmth, their food, their milk, everything….
6 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.
The fruits of our life will be judged.
All that we have done will be tested by fire, what remains is good fruit that is eternal.
I recently heard a story about a man who was on his death bed and states that he is not afraid of death because he knows thet he is saved, but that he is ashamed because he did nothing with his salvation, he didn’t share it, he did nothing fruit bering.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
So Many times we focus on the tail end of this verse,
To ask anything and it will be done…
The key here is that if remain in Him our hearts and our minds will become conformed to Him and the things that we want will match that of God’s desires.
This will overflow into every part of life
how we act, how we love, how we spend our money, how we walk and talk… everything will be conformed to Him.
8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples
D A Carson, The Gospel according to John (a. The Extended Metaphor (15:1–8))
Christians must remember that the fruit that issues out of their obedient faith-union with Christ lies at the heart of how Jesus brings glory to his Father.
Those who are contemplating the claims of the gospel, like John’s readers, must reckon with the fact that failure to honor the Son is failure to honor God.
Take Home Question
Are you remaining in the vine and bearing fruit?
