10-23-05-Who We Are-The Branches
John 15:1-11 (NIV) “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 (cleanses-NASB)a so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain (Abide) in Me, and I will 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 a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in Me, he is 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 given you. 8 This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. 10 If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. 11 I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
I remember when I was a little boy how my Mom taught me to plant a seed in a Styrofoam cup. She told me that a plant would grow out of it and make a flower. So I planted the seed and watered it and put it on the window sill so it could get sunlight, just like she told me to. The next day I looked at the cup and there was no plant. Mom told me I had to be patient and wait until the seed sprouted forth from the ground. So everyday I looked at the cup until one day, I saw a little green shoot coming up. Then day by day it got bigger until one day the flower appeared.
I learned from her that there are particular ways to take care of a plant to make it grow strong. Too much fertilizer can burn the plant up. Not enough water, and the plant will wilt. Too much water and the plant’s roots will rot. Not enough sunlight and the plant will be weak and sickly looking. Too much sun and the plant will burn up. Sometimes you had to weed out the plants so their roots wouldn’t get tangled up. Sometimes you had to pull dead leaves, flowers, or branches off.
We may think that growth as a Christian is instant when we get saved, but it is not—just like the plant did not spring up overnight. It takes time and proper nurturing. Jesus says in this passage that God is the gardener. That is good news because, our Father knows exactly what we need and He assures that we will get it at the proper time. He desires for us to grow up to be mature, strong, healthy Christians.
(“JESUS . . . is working in this passage with pictures and ideas which were part of the religious heritage of the Jewish nation. Over and over again in the Old Testament, Israel is pictured as the vine or the vineyard of God. “The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel” (Isaiah 5:1–7). “Yet I planted you a choice vine” is God’s message to Israel through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 2:21). Ezekiel 15 likens Israel to the vine, as does Ezekiel 19:10. “Israel is a luxuriant vine,” said Hosea (Hosea 10:1). “Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt,” sang the Psalmist, thinking of God’s deliverance of his people from bondage (Psalm 80:8). The vine had actually become the symbol of the nation of Israel. It was the emblem on the coins of the Maccabees. One of the glories of the Temple was the great golden vine upon the front of the Holy Place.”) [i]
There are 2 major themes in this passage:
1. Abiding or remaining in Christ.
2. Being fruitful
1. Abiding or remaining in Christ.
What does it mean to abide or remain in Christ? The word literally means to live or dwell, remain, stay, tarry, continue. The idea of abiding means that we are vitally connected to Christ. Jesus said He is the vine, we are the branches. As the vine, He is the one who provides the food, the nutrients, and the very life source that the branches need to survive. It is His roots that take the nourishment from the ground. It is His stem that brings that nourishment up to the branches. It is His life source that flows through us to bring us the necessary food that we need. He is the source of our life. He is the “sap” that we need to keep us green and fresh.
Psalm 92:12-15 (NASB) 12 The arighteous man will 1flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a bcedar in Lebanon. 13 aPlanted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish bin the courts of our God. 14They will still 1ayield fruit in old age; They shall be 2full of sap and very green, 15To 1declare that athe Lord is upright; He is my brock, and there is cno unrighteousness in Him.
Have you ever broken a twig and it found that it was dry inside? It broke easily. But if you try to break a green branch, it will be much harder. Why, because of the “sap” that flows through the branch. The “sap” gives each cell of the branch a strength and the branch will bend before it will break. As we remain vitally connected to Christ, we will bend when the storms of life come against us. We will draw on His strength and rather than snapping apart, we will bend over (bow down). So, the storms will cause us to humbly bow down, in an attitude of prayer if we are vitally connected to Christ.
Not only must we be initially connected to Christ when we get saved, but we must stay vitally connected. Abiding means that we remain hooked into Christ. If we decide to wander away from Christ, we disconnect ourselves from His life giving flow. We will find ourselves dry and thirsty and we will shrivel up and spiritually die, if we don’t get reconnected. Then when the storms of life come against us, we will break rather than humbly bow down.
A. G.G. has a vision she wants to share that tells how God explained abiding to her.
Jesus is talking a about permanence and steadfastness in His relationship with us as His disciples. “Abide” is repeated ten times in vv. 4–10. Jesus tells us that we must abide in Him. He amplifies the thought of abiding by saying that we must abide in his words, (15:7), and abide in his love, (15:10). The apostle John also says we must abide in his Spirit (1 John 2:27), abide in the light (1 John 2:10), walk as Christ walked (1 John 2:6), and not continue to sin (1 John 3:6). In fact, if you read 1 & 2 John you will see the word “abides” is used 18 times. John obviously got Jesus’ message about abiding. The idea of abiding is, without a doubt, living a life of holiness by which our union and communion with Christ is upheld and maintained. Let’s look at these verses about abiding:
A. Abiding in His Words (John 15:7)—Prayer with Confidence. We must feed on the Word of God so much that it becomes our very source of life. It is His Word that gives us life. It is also His Words that give us power in prayer. When we pray according to His Word, we are connected to Him in such a way that He promises to grant our prayers.
B. Abiding in His Love (John 15:10)--Assurance. We show that we love our parents by obeying them. So it is with Christ. We show our love for Christ by being obedient to what He tells us to do. If we are obedient to His command (Words) we abide in His Love.
C. Abiding in His Spirit (1 John 2:27-28)
“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him. 28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.“
It is the Holy Spirit of God who gives us His anointing. John says that anointing remains (abides) in us and teaches us. So when Jesus comes back for us we will be able to stand unashamed because His Spirit abides in us. We must continually allow the Holy Spirit to live in us and not grieve Him (Eph 4:30) by disobedience and unholy living.
D. Abide in the light (1 John 2:10)
NIV--“Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in himd to make him stumble.”
NASB--“aThe one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
The absolute hallmark of being a Christian should be the love we have for one another! There is an old song we use to sing in the early 70’s:
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the Spirit, We are one in the Lord.
And we pray that all unity will one day be restored.
They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
As we abide in His light we are filled with His love for the brothers—the church of Jesus Christ. This prevents us from stumbling or being trapped by the enemy by speaking bad of one another.
E. Walk as Christ walked (1 John 2:6)
NIV--“Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. “
NASB--“the one who says he aabides in Him bought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
As we are filled with His life, we should be an example of His life in the world. We are to be living epistles read by all men (2 Cor 3:2) that show the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to walk in humility and obedience to our Father.
F. Not continue to sin (1 John 3:6)
NIV--“No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.”
NASB—“No one who abides in Him asins; no one who sins has seen Him or 1bknows Him.”
As we abide in Christ, His righteousness flows through us. We cannot maintain a lifestyle of sinning and be vitally connected to Christ.
“That believers are branches of this vine, supposes that Christ is the root of the vine. The root is unseen, and our life is hid with Christ; the root bears the tree (Rom. 11:18), diffuses sap to it, and is all in all to its flourishing and fruitfulness; and in Christ are all supports and supplies. The branches of the vine are many, some on one side of the house or wall, others on the other side; yet, meeting in the root, are all but one vine. . . (Believers, like the branches of the vine, are weak, and insufficient to stand of themselves, but as they are borne up by the vine.)” [ii]
2. Being fruitful
A vine cannot bear fruit by itself (v.4-6). It needs the branches to do that. If a branch is separated from the vine, it cannot bear fruit. It dies and withers, and so it is with us if we do not stay vitally connected to Christ. But, as we continue that vital connection, He brings forth His fruit in us. It is His life in us that causes the fruit to grow.
Jesus is not only interested in us bearing fruit, but much fruit. The whole point of the illustration that He is the vine and we are the branches is that Jesus’ purpose in the believer’s life is to produce fruit (v. 5). Fruit is mentioned eight times in this chapter and a progression is seen: “fruit” (v. 2), “more fruit” (v. 2), and “much fruit” (vv. 5, 8).
(“When Jesus drew his picture of the vine he knew what he was talking about. The vine was grown all over Palestine as it still is. It is a plant which needs a great deal of attention if the best fruit is to be gotten out of it. It is grown commonly on terraces. The ground has to be perfectly clean. It is sometimes trained on trellisses; it is sometimes allowed to creep over the ground upheld by low forked sticks; it sometimes even grows round the doors of the cottages; but wherever it grows careful preparation of the soil is essential. It grows luxuriantly and drastic pruning is necessary. So luxuriant is it that the slips are set in the ground at least twelve feet apart, for it will creep over the ground at speed. A young vine is not allowed to fruit for the first three years and each year is cut drastically back to develop and conserve its life and energy. When mature, it is pruned in December and January. It bears two kinds of branches, one that bears fruit and one that does not; and the branches that do not bear fruit are drastically pruned back, so that they will drain away none of the plant’s strength. The vine can not produce the crop of which it is capable without drastic pruning—and Jesus knew that.”) [iii]
The purpose of the pruning (cleansing v.3) is that we bear much fruit—not to harm us (v. 2). The Father knows what it takes to make us bear much fruit and He will continue to prune away at us to see that happen. This is no different than a natural gardener, who will pull weeds, pluck off suckers from plants that rob them of nutrients, remove dead branches, and cultivate the ground. His purpose for all the hard work he does is to have the best crop he possibly can. If that is a natural desire of any gardener, then how much more should we see that our Father will do the same for us. He wants us to be the best that we can and bear the best fruit that we can.
We must remember the ultimate purpose for all this fruit bearing—to glorify the Father (v. 8)
“God is glorified, when we bear much fruit and show ourselves to be disciples of Jesus. The greatest glory of the Christian life is that by our life and conduct we can bring glory to God.”[iv]
“The glorifying of God is the great end of our lives, . . . God is glorified by men and women’s bringing forth much fruit, . . . And though men must be Christ’s disciples before they bring forth any fruit, yet their bringing forth much fruit is that which alone can evidence and make them appear to be the disciples of Christ.”[v]
“The branch that bears fruit is the Christian who is growing more like the Lord Jesus. As the children of God exhibit the likeness of Christ to the world, the Father is glorified. People are forced to confess that He must be a great God when He can transform such wicked sinners into such godly saints. . . . “So you will be My disciples.” . . . Others can then see that we are true disciples, that we resemble our Lord.”[vi]
The Holy Spirit works in us, as we allow Him to, and grows in us His fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22-23). We can only bear fruit from the life source that we are tapped into or connected to. What kind of fruit do you need in your life today? More peace, then check how vitally connected you are to Jesus, the Prince of Peace? Do you need more self-control? Tap into Jesus, the one who had such self-control that He gave His life as a sacrifice for our sins. Do you need more love? He is Love! Tap into His love and you will see the fruit of love growing in your life.
We ARE the branches; let’s keep our connection to the Vine (Jesus) strong and vital, so we can bear much fruit for the kingdom of God.
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a The Greek for prunes also means cleans.
[i]The Gospel of John : Volume 2. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
a Num 24:6; Ps 1:3; 52:8; 72:7; Jer 17:8; Hos 14:5, 6
1 Lit sprout
b Ps 104:16; Ezek 31:3
a Ps 80:15; Is 60:21
b Ps 100:4; 116:19
1 Or thrive in
a Prov 11:30; Is 37:31; John 15:2; James 3:18
2 Lit fat and
1 Or show forth
a Job 34:10; Ps 25:8
b Deut 32:4; Ps 18:2; 94:22
c Rom 9:14
d Or it
a John 11:9; 1 John 2:10, 11
a John 15:4
b John 13:15; 15:10; 1 Pet 2:21
a 1 John 3:9
1 Or has known
b 1 John 2:3; 3 John 11
[ii]Henry, M. (.). E4's Matthew Henry's Complete 6 Volume Commentary (electronic ed.). :: ,.
[iii]The Gospel of John : Volume 2. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
[iv]The Gospel of John : Volume 2. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.
[v]Matthew Poole. (.). Matthew Poole's Commentary on the New Testament (electronic ed.) (Jn 15:4). :: ,.
[vi]MacDonald, W., & Farstad, A. (1997, c1995). Believer's Bible Commentary : Old and New Testaments (electronic ed.) (Jn 15:1). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.