Stay Put

Introduction

The last of the “I am” statements presents not only the nature of Jesus but a test for the genuineness of discipleship.

John 15:1–8 NASB95

“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 bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

The Breakdown

There are three main characters in this illustration:

The Vine-dresser

He is the Father. He is called the husband man, the farmer as He is also known

His purpose is to tend to the vine by preparing the ground, pruning and cleaning the vine.

The Father is the one that planted the vine in the world

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 5:23 “so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

Acts 2:23 “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

Gal 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

The “True” Vine

The word true is the Greek term alethinos and it refers to that which is true as opposed to falsehood. It could also mean genuine. E.g. True bread Jn 6:32. Heb 8:2; 9:4. Jn 1:9

Why does Jesus have to establish this? It’s not like there are other vines. . .or are they?

Consider the following verses:

Isa 5:1-2 “Let me sing now for my well-beloved A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it And also hewed out a wine vat in it; Then He expected it to produce good grapes, But it produced only worthless ones.”

Ps 80:8-9 “You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground before it, And it took deep root and filled the land.”

Jer 2:21 ““Yet I planted you a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned yourself before Me Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?”

Israel was God’s vine, but they turned from God to be a degenerate vine with no evidence of a connection with God.

There is nothing to be gained by being an Israelite today:

Life, salvation and a connection with God was once in Israel but now, it’s in Jesus! This is why we stay put

The Branches

There are two branches described in the text:

Branches that bear fruit and are pruned

Jn 15:2 ““Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”

Jn 15:5 ““I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Branches that do not bear fruit that are taken away and burned

Jn 15:2 ““Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”

Jn 15:6 ““If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” [Isa 66:16; Ezk 30:8]

It’s hard to think about the false branch and not think of Judas in chap 13

Jn 13:2 “During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,”

Jn 13:27 “After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.””

Here’s someone who was “connected” to the vine but did not bear fruit. Have you ever wondered why the disciples asked “Is it I?” Jn 13:25 “He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?””

Judas was hanging with The True Vine, had the devil in Him, and no one knew about it.

CONNECTED but no life. Only Jesus knew (Jn 13:21-29)

Works of the vine dresser

Non bearing branches are cut off and eventually burned (vs.2 and 6). We are not given a timeline of this. We don’t know how or when God does this but it will ultimately happen. Ezk 15 uses a similar imagery and links it to the judgement of God.

Fruit-bearing branches are PRUNED [in ancient viticulture the process of pruning was described as cleaning. Removing things from a producing branch so that it can put all the energy into bearing fruit] Today we see this in tomato vines (plants). Consider verse 3, Jn 15:3 ““You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” [Jn 17:17 ““Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” Eph 5:26 “so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,”

Some pruning situations maybe: Job-loss, sickness, persecution, pressures, Pandemic. God may be doing some pruning. Maybe we have been getting too focused on the foliage and forgetting the fruit.

Jn 15:8 ““My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” - Why must disciples “prove to be” disciples? Maybe Jesus knows the reality of false discipleship? Like Judas! (Similar motif to Jn 8:31 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;”

The Father is glorified because bearing fruit is what he desires and expects. He has done all that is necessary for it to happen, just STAY PUT. Stay with the Lord

The Father is glorified when His work is accomplished in us - This is why it’s important to prioritize bearing fruit.

Bearing fruit is an expectation

For His disciples Jn 17:11 ““I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.” Jn 17:26 “and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.””

For Us Gal 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Rom 8:28-29 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;” Col 2:6-7 “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” Eph 4:20-23; Col 3:10

Bearing fruit happens when my alignment with God begins to show in my character. When I’m able to have peace in my storm, temperance in my temptation, joy in despair, faithful when I don’t feel like it, gentleness in hostility. . .

Maybe the situation you’re in is one where God has been doing some pruning. . .I’m sure you’ve been praying more, singing more, giving more, visiting more etc.

God could be right there in your problem with a knife, pruning!

Bearing fruit should be constant. Vines with the right care can live to over 100 years old. So as long as you are alive God comes with a knife ready to prune you.

Our focus can sometimes be on the wrong things and God comes with a knife to do some pruning.

It may sound hard to do, but remember Jn 15:5 ““I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” STAY PUT!

The job of the vine is to supply the branches so they can produce fruit!

Jn 15:7 ““If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” STAY PUT!

Jn 15:8 ““My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”

Let us Glorify God and remain in the vine. Stay Put!