Happy Monday all! I hope you had a great weekend and are refreshed both in the spirit and physically for a brand new set of days. After church yesterday Marge and I went to Olive Garden and had soup, salad and breadsticks. It doesn’t sound that exotic but there’s no Olive Garden on Maui so it was the first time we’d had it in 2 ½ years. Oh, it was so tasty! Last night we went down to Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth for a nice evening stroll. What a great place that is. Such a nice space to sit, walk, visit and enjoy the ambience. We love Fort Worth!
This morning I start John chapter 15 and it’s Jesus’ discourse on ‘I am the true Vine’. In my opinion, one of the most beautiful, colorful, vivid and inspiring passages in God’s Word. Every time I read through it I am so moved, encouraged and touched that my heart leaps in my chest. It would take me weeks to expound and talk adequately about it, so this morning I’m going to do something new. Since it is so cohesive and so beautifully composed, I’m not going to split it up or comment on just a few verses, I’m going to insert the whole thing so you can enjoy the goodness of it in its entirety. Here it is, John chapter 15, verses 1 through 17, “I am the True Vine.”
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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 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.
Wow. God’s Word has such beauty, power, grace and hope. What a blessing we have that we can read the words of Jesus over 2000 years after He spoke them. Let’s look at a few key points.
The vine in the Old Testament is a picture of Israel (Hos 10:1, Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself). Right out of the gate Jesus is telling us that He is the ‘true’ vine. True can also mean ‘genuine’ in some translations. He is the genuine vine, the ‘real’ vine. This is a revolutionary statement as the disciples were steeped in the Old testament and knew no different. Jesus is making it clear here, what’s important is Him, not a religion, not a ceremony, not an organization. It stresses a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Notice also Jesus says He is the vine and the Father is the gardener. Jesus is the vine and the Father takes care of the vine.
The beauty of this passage is how practical it is. Think about a physical vine. It has branches that spread out from the vine in order to gather lots of light so that it can do what God created it to do…bear fruit. Go a little deeper. God’s Word is also called the living water (John 4:10). The branches need water, which is God’s Word, in order to thrive. In order to bear fruit, the branches also need sun light for photosynthesis to take place. Guess what? Jesus is the light of the World. (John 8:12) Wow, God’s Word is amazing how it all ties together. The water of the Word and the Light of Jesus can combine to grow us as branches so that we can bear much fruit. It’s the purpose of why God made us, to bear fruit ‘on the vine’ for His Glory.
Now let’s look at the fruit. The word fruit is used 6 times in the first 10 verses. Notice that there are three levels of fruit productions from the branches, fruit, more fruit and much fruit. As a Christ follower you can actually produce different levels of fruit! But what is the fruit? It’s the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, “but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control; against such things there is no law.” Can you imagine a world full of THIS fruit?
So we’ve touched on who the vine is, who the gardener is, and what the fruit is, but HOW do we produce fruit? First let me clarify that to be “in the vine” means you have to first be a Christian. What is a Christian? At one point in your life you realized that you were a sinner separated from God, turned from your sins and called upon the name of Jesus Christ who was born of a virgin, died for our sins and was resurrected to save us from the penalty of sin which is eternal separation from God. This is essential, without being ‘in the vine’ you can’t produce fruit ‘from the vine.’
The first step to producing fruit is to abide in Jesus. (14:8, whoever abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.) Abide in means to “live in” or “remain in”. Think about this, you abide in your home. Do you abide there only sometime? No, you LIVE there all the time. You sleep, eat and watch TV ‘inside’ your home. This is what it should look like to abide in Christ. We should live in Him all the time. That means home, work, school, parties, vacation, etc. The result, if we abide in Him? He will abide in us. (14:4, abide in me, and I in you)
The second step to producing fruit is being in God’s Word. (14:7 If you abide in me and my Words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you, By this my father is glorified and you will bear much fruit.) There is NO substitute for abiding in God’s Word. That’s the whole reason the 5MC even exists, to encourage consistent time in God’s Word. I cannot emphasize this enough (neither can Jesus) how important it is that a Christ follower abide or “live in” His Word.
The third step to producing fruit is Love. (14:9, As the Father has loved me, so I love you, abide in my love.) Love is a gift from God. You see it first existed between the Father and the Son and it is a gift to us. In fact, it’s what He commands us to do at the close of this passage in verse 17, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” Love ties it all together. Our lives are built around Love. Love for God, Love for Jesus and Love for each other. It reminds me of one of my favorite verses, Colossians 3:14, “and above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” I love that so much. It binds everything together in “perfect harmony.” And my friends, when God says perfect harmony that really says something!
So what’s the result of all this fruit production in our lives? Joy. A life full of joy. (14:11, These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.) You see when we abide in Jesus, abide in God’s Word and abide in Love, He will continue to prune us so that we can bear the most fruit possible for Him. As a result we will be full of joy and able to live life to the fullest. (John 10:10, I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the fullest.)
One year, Margie and I decided to plant a garden. We carefully tilled and fertilized the soil. We picked out quality seeds, planted them lovingly and then watered and tended them until they sprouted and grew. I’ll never forget the day that I first saw fruit. The beginnings of the plant doing what it was built to do. It was the ‘perfect harmony’ of the gardener, the vine, the branches, the water, the light and some Love all combined to achieve what the plant was built to do…bear fruit.
Let God use you today to bear fruit to a world that so needs it.
God bless you and those you love.
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