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John 15.1-17 (ESV)
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 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. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 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. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
My wife can tell you I am not your first choice for a gardener. I can do the basics and the heavy lifting of tilling the soil, digging holes, and planting just about whatever, but I’m about the last person you would want to ask advice from regarding how to prune your plants or care for them. The color of my thumb is most certainly not green!
Jesus’ words in this passage always catch my attention as He speaks of Himself as the “true vine” (another I AM statement) and the Father as the vinedresser.
The point of the title wouldn’t be lost on first-century readers or on those who are skilled in gardening practices. Jesus is the source, the one on whom God’s purposes are resting and in whom God’s promises are being fulfilled.
For those that “abide” or “remain” in Jesus, they enjoy an intimate, personal relationship with Him where they are cultivated and grow, enjoying the fullness of life in Jesus and producing fruit, much fruit in fact.
Apart from Jesus, the picture isn’t great, it’s one of withering and dying because the life that we’re all craving and longing for is only found by being in relationship with Jesus.
As we abide in Jesus, constantly working to strengthen and grow our relationship with Him, both through our connection to the community of faith in the church and through our own personal efforts to know, love, and follow Jesus, then we can be assured of a couple of things.
First, we can be assured that we are walking in step in Christ, which means that our prayers are aligned with the Lord’s will. This helps us to understand what Jesus is saying in verse 7 when He states that what we ask for will be done for us. Jesus is not a cosmic wish-fulfillment customer representative giving us whatever we want whenever we want it, rather it’s our will and prayers that must be aligned with His will and purposes.
Second, Jesus clearly wants us to be fruitful which means that we’re in for a little pruning from time to time. The things in our life that are wild growth, not producing good godly fruit, but sucking life and energy away from being healthy and productive, those things must be cut back so that we can become increasingly fruitful as we grow in our relationship with the Lord.
In connection with being deeply and intimately attached to Jesus, the True Vine, is Jesus’ invitation for His disciples to keep His commands and to love one another.
The heart of this invitation to keep Jesus’ command must be understood rightly. It’s not that we keep Jesus' commands first and then He loves us, but rather that Jesus loves us first, and our loving response is to keep His commands, which He enables us to do because we are so intimately tied to Him, the True Vine.
What’s incredible is that the heart of that command from Jesus is to have His heart; a heart for the people around us, for the people that the Lord has given to us.
Dale Bruner, in commentary on John’s Gospel, said it best. “We are all given our own ‘one anothers’. The main thing Jesus wants from us [as we are connected to the True Vine], is to have a heart for the people given to us. Jesus cannot seem to remind us enough of this focusing responsibility—horizontally—to people around us.
It raises a great quest for us to consider this morning; “Who has the Lord given to you?”
Who is it that needs to taste and see the goodness of the Lord through the fruit that is manifesting itself in you?
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers.
Scott
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