John 15:1-11
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.
A number of years ago Mark Noll wrote a very important book entitled The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. In that book, Noll argued that evangelical Christians are failing to value the mind properly and, as a result, are not thinking as well as we should. It was a troubling book and made a number of very important points. Even more troubling was a more recent book by Ron Sider that played off of Noll’s title. Sider entitled his book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience. Mark Noll’s basic thesis was that Christians are not thinking well. Ron Sider’s basic thesis was the Christians are not living well.
In an interview about the book with Christianity Today, Sider said:
“The heart of the matter is the scandalous failure to live what we preach. The tragedy is that poll after poll by Gallup and Barna show that evangelicals live just like the world. Contrast that with what the New Testament says about what happens when people come to living faith in Christ. There's supposed to be radical transformation in the power of the Holy Spirit. The disconnect between our biblical beliefs and our practice is just, I think, heart-rending.”
Sider went on to say that poll after poll demonstrates very little difference between Evangelical Christians and non-Christians in areas of divorce, pornography consumption and adultery. He points to John Green’s research and notes that “about a third of all evangelicals say that premarital sex is okay. And about 15 percent say that adultery is okay.” He also pointed to a Gallup poll which asked Christians of various denominations this question: “Do you object if a black neighbor moves in next door?” The responses showed that Catholics and non-Evangelicals had the least objection. Guess who had the greatest objections: Evangelicals and Southern Baptists.
On the issue of abuse, Sider said:
“Several studies find that physical and sexual abuse in theologically conservative homes is about the same as elsewhere. A large study of the Christian Reformed Church, a member of the nae, discovered that the frequency of physical and sexual abuse in this evangelical denomination was about the same as in the general population. One recent study, though, suggests that evangelical men who attend church regularly are less likely than the general population to commit domestic violence.”[1]
Sider is not the first person to point to the bad fruit so many Christians produce. In his wonderful book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Philip Yancey wrote that while “Christians profess ‘family values’…some studies show that they rent X-rated videos, divorce their spouses, and abuse their children at about the same rate as everybody else.”[2]
Furthermore, in Dallas Willard’s poignant book, The Great Omission, he writes:
“We have counted on preaching, teaching, and knowledge or information to form faith in the hearer and have counted on faith to form the inner life and outward behavior of the Christian. But, for whatever reason, this strategy has not turned out well. The result is that we have multitudes of professing Christians who well may be ready to die but obviously are not ready to live, and can hardly get along with themselves, much less with others.
Most statistical measures and anecdotal portraits of evangelical Christians, not to mention Christians in general, show a remarkable similarity in the life-texture of Christians and non-Christians.”[3]
Heartbreaking: “The result is that have multitudes of professing Christians who well may be ready to die but obviously are not ready to live…”
That stings me. It stings me because when I step back and look at my life I guess I have often thought of Christianity in terms of its benefits after death and not in terms of its benefits in life. In fact, to generalize, maybe unfairly but not completely so, I think we Southern Baptists are bad at doing this. We speak of the gospel as if all Jesus came to do was help us to get ready to die. But we know that is not the case.
In fact, when Jesus spoke of the Christian life, he spoke of in terms of a vine bearing fruit. The image of the vine was a very popular and frequently used image in the ancient world because, as Craig Keener has pointed out, “the only fruit trees widely planted were the fig, olive, and vine, which could resist drought.”[4]
It was a popular image among the Jews in particular because of its status as a national symbol. The vine was frequently used to speak of the nation of Israel. For instance, in Psalm 80, the Psalmist writes:
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
4 O LORD God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
18 Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
19 Restore us, O LORD God of hosts!
Let your face shine, that we may be saved!
This image of the vine bearing fruit was therefore a sacred and treasured image that spoke of Israel’s past deliverance out of Egypt, its present standing before God and its future hope. R. Kent Hughes has explained:
The grapevine was a symbol of national life. That emblem appeared on coins minted during the Maccabean period, their regard for it resembling our regard for stars and stripes. So precious was the symbol to the Jews that a huge, gold grapevine decorated the gates of the temple. The famous ole Calmets’ Dictionary says:
In the temple at Jerusalem, above and around the gate, seventy cubits high, which led from the porch to the holy place, a richly carved vine was extended as a border and decoration. The branches, tendrils and leaves were of finest gold; the stalks of the bunches were of the length of the human form, and the bunches hanging upon them were of costly jewels. Herod first placed it there; rich and patriotic Jews from time to time added to its embellishment, one contributed a new grape, another a leaf, and a third even a bunch of the same precious materials…this vine must have had an uncommon importance and a sacred meaning in the eyes of the Jews. With what majestic splendor must it likewise have appeared in the evening, when it was illuminated by tapers![5]
These cultural and contextual details add a dramatic element to this scene. Some have suggested that as Jesus spoke the words we find in John 15, he did so with the Temple as his physical backdrop. If this is so, it is possible that the disciples could see the carved vine and branches around the gate as he spoke.
We have no way of knowing whether Jesus literally stood in front of the Temple or not, but this much is sure: His proclamation of Himself as the true vine would have been taken by the Jews as a startling claim. When Jesus says, “I am the vine,” He is saying, in essence: “I am Israel. All of the hopes of Israel find their fruition in Me. All of the promises pointed to Me. All of the covenants were for Me. I am the true vine!”
So there is a powerful Messianic claim in the words of Jesus. There is also a powerful explanation in these words concerning our relationship with Jesus and our life in Christ. Let us consider what it means for us and Jesus that He spoke of Himself as “the vine.”
The Organic Design of our Life in Jesus (v.1-3)
Jesus begins with a straightforward pronouncement of a fascinating metaphor:
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2a Every branch in me…
In v.1 and v.2a, Jesus lays out the three key figures in the Christian life and where each fits in the vine imagery:
· The vine = Jesus
· The vinedresser = The Father
· The vine branches = believers in Christ
God the Father, then, tends to the vine. God the Son is the life-giving vine. The believer is the branch through which the life-giving and fruit-producing power flows. Furthermore, though it is not explicitly stated here, John 15’s proximity to Jesus’ amazing Holy Spirit discourse in the latter half of John 14 makes it reasonably clear that God the Holy Spirit is the life-giving, fruit-producing power flowing from the Father, through the vine and into and through the branches.
Please notice that Jesus depicts the Christian life as an organic relationship. Meaning, the Christian life is not staid, inactive or sedentary. By its design, it is a living, relational reality.
It is very important that we hold on to this image and this metaphor. Sometimes we speak of the Christian life with a strong emphasis on the legal imagery. To be sure there is a legal reality in our salvation: the guilty sinner is declared right before God the Judge and the penalty for our crimes is paid by another. There is also strong familial image in scripture. Paul, for instance, says in Romans 8:15 that we “have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”
The various images used in Scripture to communicate the reality of our salvation are all important, for they all bring to light certain important truths about what it means to be a believer. That being said, this image of the vine truly must be reclaimed in our day if we are to live the types of lives were called to live in Christ. This is because the vine image, perhaps more than any other, calls to our minds and our hearts the great truth that we were made to bear fruit. This organic relationship means, necessarily, that we should and must bear fruit.
Jesus continues:
2b 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.
So crucial is the fruit we are called to bear that Jesus reveals two realities in our relationship with Him, both of which involve our fruitfulness:
· Non-fruit-bearing branches are taken away from the vine.
· Fruit-bearing branches are pruned back so they may bear even more fruit.
This is a daunting but necessary reality. Branches that do not bear fruit reveal that they are not a part of the vine. I believe it is best to see these branches as never having been part of the vine. They are imposter branches, dead branches, branches that had the appearance of union with the vine but never had the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit flowing through them.
It is absolutely essential at this point to ask yourself whether or not you have truly accepted Christ and come to Him in faith, whether or not you are joined to the vine in truth. Being close to the vine in proximity does not mean that you are joined to the vine in reality. Growing up around the vine does not mean you are part of the vine. Knowing a lot about the vine does not mean that you are joined to the vine. No, the true branches, those that are not taken away and cast into the fire, are those that exist in organic union with the vine and that, as a result, bear fruit.
Those that bear fruit are pruned. This means they are cut back so that they may bear even more fruit.
When I was a boy, we would go “to the country” to see our grandparents. Perhaps many of you say the same thing: “We are going to the country to see our grandparents.” Perhaps you are the grandparents in the country!
My paternal grandparents lived in a small house, though I certainly did not know it at the time. It was a wonderful place to visit and I relished my time there. I recall two things about the yard: a large pear tree that we used to climb and a grape vine.
Now, my whole life that vine was huge. I do not really recall ever getting grapes off of it, though I’m sure there were grapes to be had. It always seemed fairly overgrown, a large tangle of branches and vines that stretched up the posts and across the crawlers in one, big, tangled mess.
Well, the old house is gone now. It has been torn down. My grandparents are both with the Lord and I miss them dearly. My dad now has a little workplace there on the old lot where he builds doghouses and picnic tables on the side. His only sister, my Aunt Judy, leaves on the adjoining property behind their parents lot. The country has now become his place to relax and get away.
The last time we were home we drove out to the country. The pear tree is now gone. As for the vine, I was startled by what I saw when I looked at it. It looked gone. It looked decimated. The big, tangled vine that I recalled from my youth had been stripped back. Now there was just one or two little vines crawling along a wire.
I asked my dad about this recently. He explained to me that the vine had not been pruned in so long that it had grown out of control. Yes, it was smaller, he explained, but it could now breathe and it was now healthier. He told me, to my amazement, that this little vine was producing more fruit than the big vine that I recalled ever produced.
He also told me that when he went to prune the vine, he pulled masses of tangled branches out and burned them. Then he cut the overgrown vine way back. He said for a moment he was afraid he might kill it, but that a friend who knew how to work vines had encouraged him to continue the work because it was necessary for the health of the vine.
Friends, Jesus prunes the fruitful vines so that they might bear more fruit. To be sure, this is a pretty scary process for the vine! Perhaps vines initially resent the pruning. Perhaps they question why the vinedresser would treat them thus. But soon they realize (if you’ll allow the image) that the vinedresser never prunes except in love and care and anticipation of a greater yield of grapes.
God prunes because God loves. God prunes because God cares. God prunes because God wants you to know the joy of a greater yield.
Do not begrudge the pruning hand of God. Do not resist His pruning.
Could it be that we often complain about realities in our lives, begging God to take this or that painful reality away from us, without realizing that it is through these circumstances that God prunes the branches? Is it not possible that we might miss the blessing of more and better fruit because we are too busy complaining against the God who prunes us so that we might produce this fruit?
Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. The Father tends the vine. What He does He does only for the health of the vine and the fruit of the branches.
This is the organic reality of our relationship with Jesus.
The Fruitful Intent of our Life in Jesus (v.4-7)
We were made to bear fruit. It is the intent of the Father that we bear fruit by abiding in the Son. Jesus continues:
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.
Jesus introduces a new word into this fascinating picture: “abide.” We bear fruit as we abide in Christ, as we live in Him, as we draw nourishment and sustenance from Him. You can bear fruit in no other way.
I ask you: are you abiding in Christ?
Oftentimes people complain about a lack of success in their Christian lives. “I do not have any joy. I do not have any victory. I do not have any peace.”
Then you ask, “Are you abiding in Christ?”
Oftentimes people will reveal that, in point of fact, they are not. They are not walking with Jesus in daily prayer. They are not consistently nourishing themselves on His Word. They are not living out His teachings. They are not, in short, abiding.
Do not bemoan something that you have never really tried. Do not write off a truth you have never really walked in. Perhaps this is what G.K. Chesterton meant when he wrote that Christianity had not been “tried and found wanting, it had been found difficult and left untried.”
You were made to abide and, by abiding, to bear much fruit. What is this fruit? Perhaps the greatest expression of the fruit we are designed to bear can be found in Galatians 5.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
What a beautiful list! I suspect all of us desire to bear this kind of fruit. The problem is we have failed to appreciate the reality of this great image. As a result, we come to Jesus for salvation then try to produce these virtues on our own. In other words, we externalize Jesus to such an extent that we do not abide in Him.
But “as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” (v.4) Do not expect fruit outside of abiding. Do not expect the presence of these great virtues outside of discipleship with Jesus.
Jesus did not come simply to punch your ticket. Jesus did not come simply to get you to Heaven. Jesus came to equip you, through abiding life in Him, to bear much fruit. You cannot do it otherwise.
The Glorious Result of our Life in Jesus (v.8-11)
When we abide and bear fruit, much happens.
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.
What are the results of fruit-producing abiding?
· God is glorified. (v.8a)
“By this my Father is glorified.” God gets the glory when you produce fruit. Jesus said the same in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, Jesus said:
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Fruit brings glory to God. As you abide in Christ and the Holy Spirit brings forth fruit, the watching world marvels and God gets the glory.
· Our relationship with Jesus is proven. (v.8b)
Jesus has called us to “bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” Do you wonder about your relationship with Jesus? Do you have doubts whether or not you are saved? Do you question your love for Him or His love for you?
Abide in Christ consistently, walk in His ways, bear much fruit, and you will be strengthened in your understanding of who you are in Christ. Fruit not only blesses those around you, it blesses you as it proves your relationship with Jesus.
· We receive the joy of Jesus. (v.11a)
The next result of abiding in Christ is as surprising as it is wonderful: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you.” Before we consider the second part of that sentence, let us marvel at the first: Christ was joyful. He was the joyful Christ, and we may be sure that the joy of Jesus was just as complete and perfect as all of His other attributes.
But then the second part: that joy is given to us. Note that a non-abiding person cannot receive this joy. It is only when we abide in Christ that our hearts are opened to receive the joy that He longs to pour into them. We often speak of the “imputed righteousness of Christ,” the idea that Christ’s righteousness, which is alien to human beings who are by nature children of wrath, is imputed to us and reckoned to us when we receive Him. We receive, in other words, a righteousness we do not natively have. But should we not also speak of “the imputed joy of Christ”?
Christ’s joy is reckoned to us and given to us. It is alien to us. We do not, by nature, know anything like it. It is outside of us. When we are redeemed, however, it is given to us as a free gift. When we abide in Christ, we receive the joy of Jesus!
· Our joy is filled up and completed. (v.11b)
And there is a quantitative component to this joy: it fills us up to completion. Imagine the great joy of abiding in Christ! He pours His righteousness and joy and peace into us…we who do not deserve any of it!
Abiding in Christ is not, therefore, God’s way of working us for more. He is no slave master. No, it is God’s way of saving us, of transforming us from doom to hope, from despair to joy, from heartbreak to gladness.
Are you abiding in Christ?
Are you a branch of the vine?
Come to Jesus the Vine, this day, and let Him pour His joy into your life.
[2] Philip Yancey. What’s So Amazing About Grace. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), p.203.
[3] Dallas Willard, The Great Omission. (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2006), 69.
[4] Craig Keener, The Gospel of John. Vol.2 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003), p.989.
[5] R. Kent Hughes, John. (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), p.351-352.