(Line by Line) John 15:1-11 Abide in the Vine

Passage

John 15:1–11 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Intro

Have you guys ever lost something?

If you’ve ever misplaced your phone or wallet you know that naked feeling you get. Suddenly everything feels 100 times more stressful. I can’t call anybody, I don’t know how to get anywhere, I can’t buy anything. It feels like you are fumbling your way through otherwise extremely ordinary tasks but for some reason they feel like mountains we have to climb. All because we misplaced a stupid little brick in our pocket and a pouch filled with plastic squares. (Work in the 5 senses)

It’s a silly analogy, but what if we were to lose something much more important? How much bigger will those mountains get?

Jesus knows this about us. He knows this about his disciples.

On the night before his death on the cross, as they break bread and drink wine. Jesus speaks to his friends.

Line by Line

John 15:1–5 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Vine Metaphor

Jesus immediately begins with a metaphor. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. He is setting the scene, while quoting Old Testament scripture. Throughout the Old Testament, the vine is used to describe God’s people, Israel, but in almost every instance they fall short under the judgement of God, the judgement of the vinedresser.

We see this in Isaiah, Hosea, and Jeremiah.

(Isaiah 5:1-7, Hosea 10:1-2, Jeremiah 2:21)

Jesus flips the script and says, you are not the vine, you are the branches, and through me you will bear fruit. I will bear the judgement from the father.

The metaphor he is using here is of a Grape Vine. If you’ve ever seen a grape vine before they look almost like a viney bush or small twisting tree. From that central vine are the branches that have leaves and eventually bear fruit.

The vine is the central part of the plant that ALL branches are connected to. It is the nutrient superhighway to all parts of the plant to continue to grow its branches and produce fruit.

Jesus is saying “I am that vine, I am THE vine, I am the ultimate source of life.” He says that we are the branches. The branches are nothing without the vine. The branches are dependent on the nutrients the vine provides in order to bear fruit.

If the vine provides faulty nutrients the branches produce poisonous fruit.

If the vine falls away and dies, so do the branches.

What vine have you attached your branch to? Where are you choosing to dwell? Where have you built your house? Where is it’s foundation?

Is it your morning coffee? What if you woke up too late and didn’t have time?

Is it your job? What if you lost that today?

Is it your wife, father, mother, sister, brother? What if they passed away today?

Nothing of this world is permanent. If we pick something out as the source of our nutrients it will provide faulty nutrients and eventually die resulting in bad fruit or even death, just like the people of Israel in the Old Testament.

Our God is eternal and provides the nutrients that nothing else in the world can provide and the best part is that it won’t run out.

Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Fruit

Jesus says “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit…”

The fruit he is talking about here is the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;…”

He’s not talking about the natural goodness bestowed to us by being made in God’s image. He’s talking about a divine transformation of the heart and a renewed posture oriented towards God’s glory. This type of supernatural love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control can only come from a unity with God.

(Maybe go on a bit more of a rabbit trail here)

Abide

Jesus says “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” So what does he mean by “abide”?

In the English language, the word “Abide” can mean a few different things. The original greek word used here is meno which means to remain, stay, or dwell.

John uses the word meno several times in scripture not just to describe a spiritual dwelling but a physical dwelling as well.

John 1:32 “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

John 1:38–39 And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day.

In the way John is using the word meno, it could be simplified to “in union with” or “intimately in community with”.

The next thing Jesus says is:

How to Abide in Jesus?

John 15:6–11 “If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

I had a friend a few years ago that I was very very close with. We did everything together. We talked almost every day. We praised each other for the good things we had done. We told each other all the stories of our lives. He was my best friend.

Life got in the way and we stopped doing things as much together. Speaking every day turned into once a week, then once a month, then every once in a while. While he’s still a very dear friend of mine, we aren’t in active community with one another anymore.

All it took was for me to stop pursuing my friend as often as I once did and our unity fell apart.

Jesus says to “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,…”

What are these commandments you ask? We talked about them last week John 14:15 ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Guys its laid out on a silver platter. By loving him we keep his commandments, and by keeping his commandments we will ABIDE in his love.

Have you ever felt loved by someone who didn’t spend time with you? Who didn’t praise you for the good things you do? Who didn’t spend time trying to learn about you and your stories?

How well are you loving Jesus?

How often are you spending time in prayer with him? How often are you praising him in worship? How often are you spending time in the word learning about what the creator of the universe has done for us? How well do you know his stories? How often do you love those around you?

How well are you loving our God?

Guys these aren’t to-dos on your checklist. These are the ways that we dwell with the Lord. These are the ways that we love him. Constant and consistent community with him, or else we start to drift away.

Abiding in Jesus is not passive, it is an active pursuit of community and unity with our God.

What is the way the lord has been doing this in my life?

Where is the right place to put in the Gospel?

Share how the lord is working in me this week and how im not good at this either. Share how the lord has been showing me how easy it is for things to happen.

The lord has been very blunt with me recently, you may not be in that place. (Share the good news).

1 Thessalonians 5:14 “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

Pray