Abiding and Abounding

Beliefs, Bible Studies / By

WHAT THE PASSAGE SAYS …

John 15:1-8 NIV  ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.  4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.   6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.   7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

WHAT THE PASSAGE MEANS

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. “… and my Father is the vinegrower. (NRSV)

  • Jesus begins with a metaphor. The Father is the vineyard keeper, and Jesus is the vine. As we go on, there is some wordplay among the words for “prune” and “removes” in verse 2, and “cleansed” in verse 3. The root verb for both prune and remove is the same and is related to the word used for clean/cleansed.
  • Why “true” vine?
    • Isaiah 5:1-7 … Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:  2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.  3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
    • 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?   5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:  6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.  7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

2 He cuts off (removes – NRSV) every branch in me that bears no fruit,

  • The idea of pruning/removing doesn’t mean God kicks anybody out. It means “making clean.” The same word used for “clean” appears in John 13:10-11 at the Last Supper, where Jesus says to the disciples that “not all of you are clean.”

while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. (to make it bear more fruit)

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

  • 3 You have already been cleansed[b] by the word that I have spoken to you.
  • The disciples (and believers like us) are already cleansed, and the idea in verse 2 is that God the vineyard keeper continues cleansing us by his love with the goal of making us stronger and more fruitful.
  • John 6:63 … the word(s) Jesus spoke were spirit and life

4 Remain(abide-NRSV) in me, as I also remain (abide) in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain (abide) in me.

  • 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
  • Jesus says to abide in him as he abides in us.
  • Too often we interpret this as something we have to do, rather than thinking of it as something we are. We know that we are completely forgiven, loved, accepted, and included in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relationship because of Jesus — the way he lived a life of love and complete connection to the Father even when humanity’s hate demanded that he die. And he did it, so that hate and death would be put to death once and for all. What if abiding in Jesus means living in who we are in God — completely forgiven, loved, accepted, and included?  He abides in us, so there’s nothing we need to do to get him to abide in us more, other than abide in knowing that we are who he says we are. We live knowing that he is with us, and we are with him. This enables us to bear much fruit, this leads to a life that is abundant.

5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches.

If you remain (abide) in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

  • 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
  • Here’s an “I am” statement. Jesus declares himself to be the vine; we are the branches of that vine. Apart from him, it says, we can’t do anything.
  • Most of the time, I hear this interpreted as “without staying close to Jesus, we can’t produce any good fruit.”
  • But have you considered this also means that there is no way we can escape our connection to him?
  • Branches are connected to the vine. Apart from him, we would cease to exist. “In him we live and move and have our being” is how Paul described our relationship with Jesus, sharing a quote from a poet (see Acts 17:28).
  • Jesus abides in us, and as we learn to live in the light of who God says we are, we experience that abundant abiding and fruit-bearing Jesus talked about.

6 If you do not remain (abide) in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

  • 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
  • This verse can be problematic because it seems to contradict what we know to be true about God. God doesn’t throw anyone away. No one is a hopeless case.
  • IF we view God as a harsh judge, we might think that as vineyard gardener, he’s chopping off branches all the time. While most gardeners will know this is what vinedressers do every year, as part of their routine to get rid of unhealthy branches and shoots, we also know God’s will is that none should perish (1 Peter 3:9).
  • So we realize this metaphor breaks down, as all metaphors do, when we talk about God’s work with people.
  • His goal is the opposite of cutting us off to perish.
  • What is the answer? To stay connected to the vine.

7 If you remain (abide) in me and my words remain (abide) in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

  • 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
  • As we rest in the truth of who we are, our prayers become different. They become more in tune with what God is doing in a particular situation. Jesus himself prayed in the garden, “yet not what I want but what you want” (Matt. 26:39, NRSV).

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

  • 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become[c] my disciples.
  • As we get used to being confident of who we are in Christ, and that God loves us so much that he sent Christ to die for us even when we were his enemies, the way we live and pray aligns with that truth, and as this happens, we “bear much fruit.” Abundant life comes from embracing the truth of who we are in Jesus Christ.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY …

The passage is about FRUIT-bearing and ABIDING-in-Christ, not loss of salvation.

  • NB… frequency of fruit and remain/abide.
  • NB… word fire is used only once.
  • NB… A fire is not necessarily a bad thing.
  • 1 Corinthians 3:15 … If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
  • 1 Peter 4:12 … fiery trials
  • Numbers 31:23 … things passed through fire … to become clean
  • Jeremiah 6:28-30 … fire for refining rebels
  • Zechariah 13:9 … one-third to pass through the fire … to be refined …
  • Malachi 3:1-3 … the Lord … is like a refiner’s fire … He will sit as a refiner and purifier … He will purify … and purge ….
  • Hebrews12:29 … consuming fire (cf. Dt.4:24; Dt.9:3)
  • BUT … an even more important question .. What kind of God do we worship?
  • Leviticus 18:21 ; Deuteronomy 18:10 … don’t let any descendants pass through the fire to Molech
  • 2 Kings 16:3 … making sons pass through fire … an abomination

Jeremiah 32:35 … causing children to pass through fire … an abomination to God

So … What about fruit-bearing and abiding-in-Christ should we take away?

1.  GOD EXPECTS (not just wants) US TO BEAR FRUIT

  • 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.  3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
  • Why does the Father cut off branches? … Because they’re not bearing fruit.
  • Why does the Father prune branches? … To make them more fruitful.
  • Also … NOTE the progression … fruit … more fruit … much fruit
  • QQQ … the 2 most important days in one’s life … 1) the day he was born … 2) the day he finds out why he was born
  • In the case of a Christian, I guess it would be 1) the day he was born again … 2) the day he found out why.
  • What we’re seeing today … we were born again to bear fruit.

2.  TO BEAR FRUIT, WE MUST ABIDE (remain) IN CHRIST

  • 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
  • 5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
  •   6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

3.  TO BEAR MORE FRUIT, WE MUST EXPECT REMOVAL AND PRUNING

  • 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

4.  TO BEAR MUCH FRUIT, CHRIST MUST ABIDE IN US … by His word(s)

  • 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
  • 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

CONCLUSION

  1. John 15:1-8 is NOT a threat to those who don’t bear fruit, BUT, on the contrary … an encouragement to us to stay connected to Christ so that we can bear more/much fruit …
      • NOTICE John 15:11 (NRSV)  I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 
  2. ABIDING in the Vine … is what makes ABOUNDING possible.
  3. Life from the Vine abiding in us .. is what will make MORE ABOUNDING possible.
  4. Staying connected to the vine enables us to bear fruit (much fruit) … to have that abundant life.
  5. It begins with knowing our identity — who we are in relation to God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).
  6. It involves knowing that the vinedresser – the owner of the vineyard – and the Vine, Himself, are both determined that we should grow into fullness, knowing who we are and living abundantly.
  7. Let us REMEMBER that WE ARE inextricably CONNECTED TO JESUS because of his death, resurrection, and ascension and … as a result, we are part of a dynamic relationship with the Father, Son, and Spirit. With Jesus as our vine and God the Father as the vinedresser (gardener), we never need to worry that “we aren’t growing enough.” This does not mean that we don’t care, but it means that we don’t need to worry.
  8. Let us PARTICIPATE IN the ABOUNDING of fruit-bearing … BY ABIDING in the truth of who we are in Jesus and then letting our actions come from that same truth. When we believe we are loved and valued for who we are … we treat others differently … we look for ways to collaborate and bless others … and we realize that every decision we make must spring from love, first and foremost.

 

 

 

 

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