Faith without religion.
Abiding in the True Vine: Connection, Cleansing, and Fruitfulness
In our recent study of John 15, we delved into the profound metaphor of Jesus as the true vine and the Father as the vinedresser. This imagery beautifully illustrates the relationship between believers and Christ, emphasizing the importance of remaining connected to Him to bear fruit. As we explored the first eight verses, we discovered that mature Christians can expect to be pruned by the Father, a process that involves cleansing and purifying the heart and mind.
Jesus’ words to His apostles, “Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,” highlight the transformative power of His teachings. This cleansing is not merely external but deeply internal, affecting the heart and mind. The Word, when combined with the Spirit, moves concepts from the mind to the heart, increasing faith and purging fleshly perspectives.
The process of abiding in Christ is ongoing, much like the daily maintenance required for our physical well-being. Just as we brush our teeth regularly, we must continually engage with the Word to maintain our spiritual health. This constant pruning helps us grow in love and faith, enabling us to bear more fruit.
Jesus emphasizes the necessity of abiding in Him, stating, “Without me, ye can do nothing.” This underscores our utter dependence on Him for producing lasting, meaningful fruit. The imagery of branches being cast into the fire serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of detachment from the vine.
Ultimately, the goal is to glorify the Father by bearing much fruit, demonstrating our discipleship through love and faith. As we continue to abide in Christ, we participate in His victory over evil, showcasing the transformative power of His love in our lives.
Teaching Script:
Welcome
Explain.
Prayer
Music
Silent time
So last week we embarked on our verse by verse study of John chapter 15 – beginning with the first eight verses.
We talked about how Jesus calls Himself the true vine (and what that meant).
We also talked about how mature Christians, according to what Jesus says in verse 2, can expect two actions from the Father –
To be cut off or to be pruned or purged or cleaned – as the Greek word for pruned here in verse two means all three thing.
Finally we noted that the cleaning the Father does in human beings is on the heart and we supported this idea by noting that in verse 2 where Jesus says the Father will purge the branches that bear fruit so they will bear more fruit the Greek word for purge is clean.
We left off touching on verse 3 where Jesus says to His apostles:
“Now you . . . are clean . . . through the Word that I have spoken to you.”
We explained that the very same Greek word is used for clean in this verse as is used in explaining that the Father will purge branches that bear fruit, helping us to conclude that if Jesus has cleaned the apostles by speaking words to them the father cleans us branches in the same way, and that the purging or cleaning is all internal and focused on the heart and mind of believers.
SO let’s review our passages again – verse 1-8 before we pick it back up at verse 3.
John 15.8 Part II
December 28th 2014
Milk
John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
All right, back to verse 3 as we briefly return to the idea that God cleanses us (purges us) internally or from the heart and mind and in so doing makes it possible for the hands and tongues to follow.
Jesus then essentially echoes this principle found in verse 2 by telling His apostles that He has purged, pruned or cleansed them and that He has accomplished this “through the word that He has spoken to them.”
Again, “now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,” is what He said.
This could just as easily been translated, “now you are pruned through the word that I have spoken to you.”
If you have come to CAMPUS for any amount of time you know that I am relentless on reading and teaching the Word.
Why?
We could possibly provide a more humorous presentation. I know we can certainly provide a more feel good message (in terms of the flesh feeling good).
But, again, if you have been here for any measure of time you know that there is only one way for the human soul to experience reparations – the hearing of the Word by the Spirit.
They must both be present – the word alone is academia and has not the ability to move the concepts from the mind to the heart.
The Spirit alone – while able to guide and teach and govern – is the water to the seed of the Word, making it take root and grow fruit.
When Paul was speaking of marriage he said in Ephesians 5:25 “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”
And then, speaking of Christ loving the church and giving His life for it says –
“That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
We will read Jesus pray to the Father (in relation to the Apostles in John 17:17)
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
Father sanctify them through thy Truth – thy WORD is truth.
I say it often but this is why we all get together for on Sundays – and really for few other reasons than to have fellowship – its to be sanctified through the truth HIS WORD is truth.
In Acts 15 there was a movement afoot to put Gentile believers under the law. Peter confronted it head on. Listen to what he say beginning at verse 7:
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9 And put no difference between us and them (here’s the line) “purifying their hearts by faith.”
10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
The purging and cleansing and purifying of the heart (did you notice this – not the life but the heart) comes by faith.
And faith comes by? Hearing of the Word (Romans 10)
This is the means God reforms the human heart – by His Word.
First, His Word was made flesh and dwelled among us. He cleans the human heart of sin and guilt.
Then His Word was made print. By hearing it, reading it, the Holy Spirit carries its meanings and messages from the brain to the heart, faith is increased, and our hearts are purged of fleshly perspectives.
Paul makes this method beyond clear in Titus 3 when he wrote to converted believers:
3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (that’s being born again by faith in Jesus Christ), “and renewing of the Holy Ghost; “ (which is this purging and cleansing the vine dresser does in our lives as a means to produce more fruit of love).
Again, this process is ALL about bringing us to the point where we are exhibiting the greatest amount of love in His name and cause.
In harmony with all of this 1st Peter 1:22 says (now listen closely):
“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
So when Jesus tells his eleven in verse three.
“Now you are pruned or purged or cleansed through the Word I have spoken to you,” we know that what He is saying is they have had their fleshly souls and minds renewed.
Jesus has taught them – spoken words to them – and they have had their errant fleshly notions corrected, cut back, cleansed – and they are now prepared to go forth and bear more fruit.
Naturally, though Jesus says to them at this point that they were clean through the Word He had spoken to them they were not perfect nor would they escape further prunings.
It’s a constant process – and for a couple of good reasons.
First, we are humans – we are naturally in a state of decay. Everything requires maintenance.
Liken the cleansing we receive by and through the word in once sense to brushing our teeth.
We can get up and brush and floss – even go to the dentist for a deep tartar removing scrapping – and walk out for the time being with the freshest mouth in America.
But within hours we need to brush and floss again.
So it is with the purging and cleansing we all experience through the word. We don’t brush our teeth once for the year, we do it daily.
The second reason this pruning is processional and constant is the word works to bring us to increasing our output and state of love.
Milk will only go so far in nourishing a human babe. In time there is a need for meat for serious growth and strength.
Time in the word increases complexity, and the spiritual nutrients we couldn’t assimilate into our systems as babe.
But the process is processional and accumulative. Meaning, it is on-going, building on the foundations set in place from our earlier understanding and increasing in size and dimension and scope, like a snowball rolling down a mountainside.
The model is not one bit different for believers today.
After explaining clearing in verse one that “He is the true vine,” he says (verse 4)
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Remain united to me by a living faith. Live a life of dependence on me, and obey my doctrines, imitate my example, and constantly exercise faith in me and you will bear fruits of love.
Additionally, as you abide in me I will abide in you.
The Greek word for abide is meno and it simply means, “to stay.”
“Stay in me and I will stay in you.”
To be clear, being that we abide or stay in Christ Jesus by faith I think we can clarify these first words as Jesus saying,
“Stay in me (by faith).”
This is the prima facie first principle of biblical Christianity – faith in Him – or, in the context of this teaching, abiding in Him BY faith.
The first principle is NOT good living. It is NOT love. It is NOT being missional minded or serving the poor of going to church or anything else.
The primary means by which we all abide in the vine is to have faith in Jesus.
I mean it stands to reason that no branch can produce fruits unless it has first grown out of the vine, right? And since we are in the vine by faith, faith is primary.
I tell my daughters, “no matter what, no matter what information shakes you, no matter how badly believers treat you, no matter how hard life gets, or how far you may fall in your flesh, NEVER let go of your faith in Him.
Abide in the vine and He will abide in you. We note that the vine is always pushing its nutrients and juice out to the branches. The ONLY way for the vine to stop nourishing the branch is if the branch detaches from it.
For this reason Jesus tells them that “as they abide in Him (have faith in him) he will abide in them. It’s a natural result.
But if the branch should be cut off it would die and never produce fruit.
When Jesus says that the Father is the vinedresser and takes away the branches that are not producing fruit they only way for the branch of a vine to not produce fruit is because it is not being nourished by the vine.
Last week we talked about the reasons Jesus gives for fruitless plants. Remember, we said it was due to pressure and persecution due to the Word and/or life getting in the way.
If we allow ourselves to really think about it, these things are just manifestations of failing faith in Him.
Of failing to look to Him as our every thing, as our vine, and instead allow external pressures or persecutions or the things of life to sever us from his influences upon us.
So Jesus plainly says, “Abide in me, and I in you.”
Look to me as the primary first response to everything in your existence and trust that I am with you and you in me and you will produce the fruit the Father seeks from all who are His.
We noted this before but when we note our love for others drooping and waning, it is a direct reflection on our reliance upon Him the vine drooping and waning.
Abide in Him and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Himself will be flowing though us – and we WILL love!
“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
And at the risk of being extremely redundant, we produce fruit as we are in Him, and we abide in Him by faith, and faith comes by the Word, and so the import trusting in the Word (Jesus) and being in the Word (the Bible) with the illumination of the Holy Spirit cannot be overstated.
(verse 5)
(emphatically)
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
This passage really needs no elaboration but let me say this:
If you want a litmus test on how Christian your life, and church, and community, and family is, remove Christ from it and see if it would continue standing.
For example, you could take a number of religious institutions – all their programs, events, teachings, and services – and take Jesus out – even all the way down to His very name, and that religion would continue forward without skipping a beat.
A sure sign that such a religion is as far away from being truly Christian as you could almost get.
Take you family or your marriage – remove Jesus. What’s left is the percentage that is not Christian.
I gotta tell you rhetoric aside if you took Jesus out of my family there would not be a family left.
He saved me and my family.
Take your individual life. Take Jesus out. What remains?
Here in verse five Jesus says,
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
The Greek word for nothing here is oodice. You know what it means?
Absolutely nothing at all ever.
Now, we know that many many people do all manner of things with their lives who have no care or relation to Jesus at all.
SO what on earth could Jesus mean?
I would say that He is clearly telling all who will hear that unless we are tapped into Him by faith whatever they accomplish, in the eternal scheme of things, will burn.
It will be lost. It will be nothing.
Consider the universe – consider this galaxy – one of billions in the universe. Consider this solar system. Consider this world and its entirety.
What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?
In other words who would exchange life eternal for a mess of pottage called Godless success?
I suppose more than we can imagine.
Jesus taught it this way:
5 I am the vine of eternal living, ye are the branches that extend from me: If you stay in me, which means I will therefore stay in you, you will bringeth forth much love (which will continue on into the eternities) but without me ye can do nothing that will last.
I suppose we cannot overstate the uber strong expression of utter dependence Jesus is presenting here.
Throughout John – whose purpose was to prove the deity of Jesus – we are constantly reminded that He was more than just a good man, more than just a prophet, more than just a human sacrifice for sin.
John 1:3 actually says that He created all things.
John 1:4 says that He was the original source of life.
John 6:33 says that He, as our mediator, gives life to the world.
Abide in Him and His life-giving force will continue to pulse through us into the eternities because that force is love, and God is love, and the only thing that will last beyond the dusty grave is the love we exude which first came from Him.
There is a subtle benefit for us human beings who are seeking the Christian walk in these teachings of Jesus.
We truly recognize and admit that anything good that comes out of us is the result of Him. And humility abounds.
That the proportion of love we have and share is a mere reflection of the proportion of Him in us and boasting has no place.
And that when others fail to live the love of Jesus we know it has nothing to do with how good or bad that they are, but how much or how little of Jesus is in them. This goes a long way in helping us not condemn or commend other people.
(Verse 6 – a warning which is merely an elaboration of what He described the vine dresser doing in verse 2) So He says:
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
First of all, we can remove Man and Men from this passage – the words are not in the original.
The better reading might be “If anyone abides not in me they are cast forth as a branch and is withered and are gathered and cast into the fire where they are burned.”
In verse 2 Jesus says that the branches that don’t bear fruit are taken away.
Here he says that the branches that don’t abide in him they are cast forth.
In the end, same difference. To be in Him IS to bear fruit – can’t be helped. To no longer look to Him is to become detached.
Now, the imagery of the outcome of those that do not remain is unsettling, isn’t it?
We have to look at these words in a couple of ways.
First, what was the context and to whom was Jesus speaking and secondly, how does it apply to us now?
First, the context of the teaching then and there.
Jesus came to the house of Israel. They were His ministry and mission when He walked the earth. He makes this point abundantly clear.
Only once His work among them was complete – ending with His death at their hands, and His returning judgment upon their heads – was His kingdom universal and spiritually applied (meaning to us in our day and age).
So first, what was the immediate, contextual meaning of Jesus words?
“I am the promised Messiah. Stay with me, and I will stay with you and if you don’t you will be cast off and burned.”
Last week we talked about how a vinedresser is not in the game of viticulture to produce vines and branches but fruit.
To show the worthlessness of fruitless vines and branches (as Israel was to God at the time) Ezekiel chapter 15 says:
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, What is the vine more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
3 Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
4 Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?
5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned?
6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
7 And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.
8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.
When Jesus came to the House of Israel fulfilling prophecy, He was rejected. They would not accept nor abide in Him.
His woeful promise to them – you will be cast into the fire.
Matthew 13:24 Jesus teaches a parable and says:
24 “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Six verse later we read:
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, “Declare unto us (explain to us) the parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; (the end of this age, mind you – aion – not the end of the world – kosmos) and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
We note that here in John 15 verse 6 Jesus, in describing the end of the branches that do not abide in Him “are cast forth” just as the tares here in Matthew 13 are described.
Did this occur?
Absolutely. At the destruction of Jerusalem all of this imagery that Jesus is sharing and teaching His eleven was met and completed.
Those who stayed with Him not only bore fruit but were NOT cast forth (into the burning Valley of Hinnom where Gehenna was situated).
So that is the literal and direct contextual meaning of these passages – they applied to the House of Israel, His apostles and all the early believers.
Abide in Him and you will not only produce fruit you will NOT be cast forth as a dead branch at burned at the destruction of Jerusalem which occurred when the Jews by law gathered at Jerusalem in 70 AD and were wiped out by the Romans.
So if that is the fulfillment of the teaching then what is the application to us believers today?
First of all, we experience all of these teaching spiritually now.
Where over a million Jews were killed (and literally burned in the fires of Gehenna) withered, fruitless branches today experience the same spiritual fate at death with fruitful branches (fruitful because they staying in the vine) going to heaven but the detached also being cast into another burning place, or as Revelation 20:15 says:
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Two very important constructs to remember here.
John 15:6 says:
“If any abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and is gathered and cast into the fire, and they are burned.”
First, we note that Jesus does not say they are destroyed or lost or obliterated. They are burned.
The Greek term for burned is kai yo and it means consumed by fire or by light.
With the Lake of Fire being located in the presence of Jesus and His angels (Revelation 14:10) I would suggest that the branches experience purging apart from the comforting support of the vine, in preparation for them to ultimately be grafted back in, once healthy.
When Jesus asks,
“What does it profit a man if He gain the whole world but loseth His soul I would suggest that the burning by light in the lake of fire is the purging away of the soul of a person who failed to experience purging at the hands of the vinedresser while abiding in the vine.
We all experience the purge folks – and for all of us, it is a trial by fire. The question is do we want to experience it while being fed and nourished by the King of life and light, or experience it having been removed from our first love, alone.
In my opinion verse seven does apply in some manner to believers today but were especially given to the eleven as Jesus adds:
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
These men were going out on His errand and He gives them a special promise relative to His establishing the early church.
So addressing them He says the means by which they can know He is there to support them and guide them is for them to first abide in Him and then His words would abide in them and then (as a natural flow of things) whatever they ask will be done (as in healings, miracles, etc., which they did.
In our last verse Jesus reiterates the point of all of this, saying:
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
In and through this relationship of you abiding in me, and I in you, and therefore much love being produced, my Father receives glory, is glorified, is esteemed glorious.
Why? How?
First of all I suppose the answer to this doesn’t matter – Jesus said it so it must be true.
But God, who is love, in having victory over this dark world of selfishness and evil, could not help but be seen as more glorious as fallen human beings actually begin to produce the fruits of love and extend them out to others.
This is really only a matter of Him overcoming evil with good, overcoming evil with love, overcoming death with life.
And when this is the case, when we join in with Him in producing such fruit, He, who so loved us and sent His Son in response to save us, is gloriously victorious.
And we are seen by Him and others as truly His disciples.
Q and A
PRAYER
