Untitled Sermon

John 15 & 16

Jesus is going to the Father and telling that plainly to His disciples. He spoke of the disciples relationship to Him (15:1-11) to each other (15:12-13, 17) the reason for their relationship and the means of their relationship (15:15-16) and their relationship to the world (15:18-27).

Jesus is the vine, God is the vinedresser, and we are the branches. The branches are not able to grow or bear any fruit apart from abiding in the healthy vine (15:5) and even more the branches that aren’t healthy fall off or are thrown off and burned - they have no use for a healthy tree, they only contribute to the flames.

It must be said that bearing fruit is an effect of abiding in the healthy vine. Fruit is not the end goal of abiding in the vine, but rather the glory of God (verse 8).

To abide in Christ is to be at least a few different things but with the same goal. It is to be in Christ and to have Christ in you (to be unified to the person of Jesus by being reconciled by the propitiation of Jesus to God the Father and for Christ to have personal residence of the Holy Spirit in the heart and mind of the believer) Union always leads to Lordship.

It also means to be walk in the plan and purposes of Jesus. This is also Lordship as seen through the transformative faculty of the word in the heart and mind evidenced through a new walk and a new way of thinking (1 John 2:6, John 15:10)