Christ often used illustrations for us when explaining spiritual truths.
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.”
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Today, in John 15:1-11 we’re looking at the grapevine as an illustration of spiritual truth. And before we get started, I’d like for us to read through this passage together so we can all start on the same foundation.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 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. 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. 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. 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, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” - John 15:1-11 (ESV)
If you’ve listened to me teach before, read any of the articles I’ve written, or have been in any of the small groups I’ve led, you know that I like to ask a lot of why and a lot of what questions when reading through Scripture.
Why did Moses do this? What made Peter say that?
Well, for today’s passage, a question entered my mind, why a vine? Why did Jesus choose a vine for this illustration? Why not some other plant? For example, trees have a main source, the trunk, with branches that connect to it for life. So why a vine?
Well to start to answer this question, let’s look at the context in which this parable was given. The route from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives, east of the city, would have easily given Jesus and the disciples the sight of the great temple atop Mount Zion. I bring this up because at the top was a great temple. And one of the temples notable features was the large decorative vine that was affixed above the entrance into the Holy Place. This was a place that over years and years, wealthy Jews would bring gifts. Gifts of gold. Gifts of jewels. All to this gigantic piece of art. According to Josephus, some of the clusters of grapes on this vine were the size of a man. But to be completely honest, we don’t know for certain what prompted to use a vine in his parable. Maybe it was the closeness of the disciples, maybe the vines outside of a window in the upper room. Maybe the abundance of vines and vineyards that were common in Israel at that time, maybe it was the massive vine on the temple atop Mount Zion. But regardless, we have Jesus after saying the phrase at the end of chapter fourteen when Jesus says, “Arise let us go from here,” and he begins teaching them. “I am the true vine…”
You see, this phrase and imagery is one that would have resonated in an incredible way with the disciples. The vine was the symbol of Israel, the reason the temple was adorned with the image. Imagery that is conveyed in the Old Testament regarding the nation of Israel and vines that I think is a pretty powerful connection to this allegory.
For example, in Old Testament poetry we see King David say:
"You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.” - Psalm 80:8-9 (ESV)
This idea of bringing a vine out of Egypt, expresses God’s labor and care in planting His people in the Promised Land. The vine was God’s people. People from which He desired a rich harvest of fruit.
In Isaiah chapter 5, we have the nation of Israel being thought of in terms of a vine, and this only proves to reinforce the imagery that we have in John 15.
“For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts? is the house of Israel,?and the men of Judah? are his pleasant planting;?and he looked for justice,? but behold, bloodshed;?for righteousness,? but behold, an outcry!” - Isaiah 5:7 (ESV)
Then, in Jeremiah, God says:
“Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?” - Jeremiah 2:21 (ESV)
You see, for Israel, the grapevine was a symbol of the life of the nation. And it was in comparison to Israel’s failure to “produce fruit” (as we see in the passages in Jeremiah and Isaiah) that Jesus says, “I am the true vine.” I don’t know for you, but when I step back and look at this picture of Israel spanning across the Old Testament – Scripture saying it failed to produce fruit. Then Jesus says, “I am the true vine.”
Wow.
Israel had suffered from idolatry, wickedness. No fruit.
Then, how pleasing was the life of Jesus to God the Father? Perfect obedience.
I’d like to paint this picture for you. Christ has just said, “Arise let us go from here,” and we know that later that night they depart for the Mount of Olives. I’d imagine that there’s probably conversation among them.
Then Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser” and all conversation stops at such a powerful pronouncement. It’s like He’s saying in that one moment, “You all know how Israel is pictured as a vine, meant to bear fruit. Meant to produce refreshing fruit. Well, I am the fulfillment of everything that symbol suggests.”
The fruit that God desired from Israel but did not find, Christ fulfilled. The true vine from which Christians would abide in and bear fruit.
Again, wow.
Christ is the vine. Believers are the branches. God the Father is the Gardener.
Really a picture that when we look at it all together is that of a vineyard with true believers organically related to Christ (the sap that runs through the vine runs through the branches) and the Father walking among the vines. Lovingly caring for them so that they bring forth fruit.
And that’s the overriding emphasis of our passage today. Living in the true vine, bearing fruit. We see this in verses 2, 4, 5, and 8:
“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…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…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…By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” - John 15:2,4,5,8 (ESV)
I want to emphasize this today – not only is fruit-bearing the main emphasis, but Christ in this parable makes it the identifying mark of His believers.
Anyone who knows about vineyards can tell you that they require an incredible amount of tending. Otherwise, they’ll grow wild and fruitless. You see, it’s here that Jesus depicts the Father’s personal activity in tending to His cherished vine.
Now I’m going to say this, and I mean this with love for all of us and for the church. We all need to make a careful examinations of our own lives as to fruit-bearing. And I’m 100% included in that as well.
So what does that look like?
I think for a lot of us it looks like us immediately thinking of as many good things that we’ve done recently as possible, “How many people have I brought to church? I’ve been praying every morning and every night. Maybe something simpler like, I actually tipped my waitress 20% after-tax yesterday.” And sure, those are all things we might think of.
On another note, when I was preparing for today I came across a short story, I’m just going to summarize it, but it was about a preacher who received a letter from a new Christian. A little girl, who was incredibly distressed. She hadn’t won a single person over to Christ yet, and yet Jesus said that she would bear fruit.
And sure, souls can be fruit that we bear. I think that was what Paul was referring to in Romans 1:13 when he said, “I have often intended to come to you…in order that I may reap some harvest among you.” But I don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind in John 15.
So let’s talk about that. And let’s start with Isaiah 5:1-2:
“Let me sing for my beloved? my love song concerning his vineyard:?My beloved had a vineyard? on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,? and planted it with choice vines;?he built a watchtower in the midst of it,? and hewed out a wine vat in it;?and he looked for it to yield grapes,? but it yielded wild grapes.” - Isaiah 5:1-2 (ESV)
What were these “wild grapes”?
Again, Isaiah 5:7:
“For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts? is the house of Israel,?and the men of Judah? are his pleasant planting;?and he looked for justice,? but behold, bloodshed;?for righteousness,? but behold, an outcry!” - Isaiah 5:7 (ESV)
He looked for justice. He looked for righteousness. He looked for inner qualities. Characteristics.
Similarly, Jesus is looking for the fruit of His life in us. If the inward graces of the Holy Spirit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23), are not in our lives, if they aren’t present (I don’t mean perfected, I mean present), then how can we expect to win over others for Christ? This is what I mean when I say that we need to examine ourselves.
And I’ll even argue this, this is a tougher test than the outward fruits such as the number of souls saved, people influenced, money raised. But it’s so incredibly important. When we examine ourselves and find the inward graces of the Holy Spirit, those inward graces will, in time, bring that outward fruit, that we’re so quick to count.
So here’s my next question: how do we get it?
Let’s look at the last part of verse 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.” - John 15:2 (ESV)
Here’s a way to look at it – the branches that are doing well. Those that best convey the life of Christ, the life of the vine, get pruned. Get the knife.
Anyone who has seen a vineyard in the winter understands what this is talking about. In college, one of the subjects I studied was horticulture. And at our lab, we had a small vineyard. In the winter it was just these bare, twisted trunks. Yet, when the semester ended, and summer rolled around, it was incredible. Lush, green, grapevines. Their health was/is directly proportionate to their pruning. Simply put, without being pruned, the vine isn’t going to produce anywhere near its potential.
And pruning is complicated. Viticulturists, or people who grow grapes, practice several different stages of pruning. See, there’s pinching to remove the growing tip so it won’t grow too rapidly, also a process called topping when a foot or two of new growth is removed to prevent loss of an entire shoot. They’ll thin out grape clusters to enable the rest of the branch to bear more fruit. They’ll also cut away the suckers to give more nourishment to the whole plant.
And it could be that Jesus has this whole process in view. You see, to those on the outside it looks cruel. It looks wasteful. But to those who understand, those who are experienced in this kind of life know that it is the only way to grow and bear much good fruit. So is our Christian life.
“Before I was afflicted I went astray,? but now I keep your word.” - Psalm 119:67 (ESV)
“It is good for me that I was afflicted,? that I might learn your statutes.” - Psalm 119:71 (ESV)
Pruning is painful.
Sometimes the pain of pruning comes because of our sins. I think that’s easy for us to comprehend and understand.
But let me say this, sometimes it’s simply because we are bearing abundant fruit and God wants us to bear more.
He may strip away something we see as good in order to grow more abundant and good (in His eyes) fruit. The knife gets applied to things like our priorities. Our values. Maybe it’s relationships that hinder our faith. And remember, this is vinedressing. Not punishment.
“For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.” - Hebrews 12:10 (ESV)
See, our natural selves want to escape pruning. Nobody naturally wants the knife. Nevertheless, the results of God’s pruning are beneficial for us and for Him. That we may share His holiness.
There’s this thing among Christians, and I think that a lot of us are guilty of it. I know I definitely am. We have this that R. Kent Hughes calls the “when syndrome.” He goes on to define with some examples:
“When I get spiritually mature, these things won’t happen to me.”?“When I get married, I won’t struggle this way anymore.”?“When I retire, life is going to get so much easier.”
No it won’t. And I don’t mean that in a negative way by any means. But that’s not what we’re promised as Christians, an easier life. Nowhere in the Bible does it say if we accept Christ that life is easy.
When we endure trials in life – when biblical parenting is overwhelming, when loving our spouse is difficult (and I know my wife can’t relate to that one, but moving on), when integrity in our workplace is hard, or when we experience even more severe trials. Sickness. Grief. Job loss. Persecution. We can always lift our faces to God, and know that He’s working that we might bear the fruit He desires from us.
I’ll put it this way, our afflictions would stop if they were useless, and that’s why they won’t. Without pruning, a vineyard would never be in full bloom. And further, much of what is noble in us has been accomplished by God’s pruning in our lives. It has come from the cutting we would have avoided. “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”
All of this pruning sounds hard. Painful. Afflictions. But there’s a comfort that we can find in it. When we’re being pruned, God’s hand is never closer than when He prunes the vine. Further, there’s a difference between something being painful and something being harmful. Pruning can be painful, but it isn’t harmful. Before we move on to the next section, I want us to leave this section of pruning with this:
When the gardener does his pruning properly, when he does it well, he leaves little more than the vine. The more we are pruned, the more of Christ there is in our lives. When we abide in Christ, there is sanctification.
“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. 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.” - John 15:4-5 (ESV)
Christ tells us to abide in Him. What does that mean?
I believe it means the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The sap that runs through the vine and the branches. This parallel between remaining or abiding and being filled with the Holy Spirit. We already have seen that abiding in Christ, being connected to the vine produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It’s our job to set aside everything from which we feel as though we derive our own strength, our own merit, and lean in on Christ. Abide in Him. Remain in Him.
Christ tells us, “apart from me you can do nothing” in verse 5. I’ll argue this, there’s many things that we can do without Christ. We can recruit large numbers, raise huge sums of money, erect glorious buildings, even secure worldly power. On a personal level, we can accomplish many things for ourselves and for others completely separate from Christ.
So what does this mean, “apart from me you can do nothing”?
It means that no matter how much outward-facing fruit we tie onto our lives like ornaments on a Christmas tree, without Him there is no real fruit. The fruit of His character comes from the Vine. Not the branches. It means that apart from Jesus, all we accomplish is nothing.
“For me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21).?“I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
We’re to depend on Christ. In fact, we’re to deliberately depend on Christ, and it’s then that we see anything of real spiritual value.
As Jesus is the true vine, God seeks and demands that from His disciples come true spiritual fruit. Does this sound intimidating?
Do you doubt that someone like you, could really bear fruit for the Lord??I can tell you that every time I’ve stood in front of a congregation on a Sunday morning, this Graphic Designer, turned Project Manager, turned Communications Director, turned Associate Pastor still feels that way.
But it’s God’s promise that’s the good news. As long as we abide in Him, it’s He that will bear great fruit through us. If you doubt yourself, don’t doubt our Savior and Lord. If you will abide in Christ, and live with Him and for Him, I can tell you (through His Word) and also by just looking at my life that your prayers, your witness, will make a godly difference in lives around you. God will grow spiritual fruit, to His own glory. It’s a statement of fact that we get from Christ, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit...”
“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. 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, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” - John 15:6-11 (ESV)
It’s important and vital to read the Bible in context. Jesus’ teaching on abiding in Him is evidently of incredible significance and great importance, as seen not only by the fact that Jesus taught this parable on such a pivotal occasion as the night of His departure but also by the extended focus he gave to the subject.
I love how J. C. Ryle explains it:
“To abide in Christ means to keep up a habit of constant close communion with Him, to be always leaning on Him, resting on Him, pouring out our hearts to Him, and using Him as our Fountain of life and strength, as our chief Companion and best Friend. To have His words abiding in us, is to keep His sayings and precepts continually before our memories and minds, and to make them the guide of our actions, and the rule of our daily conduct and behavior.”
A result of abiding in Christ leads to power in prayer. “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,” Jesus taught us, “ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7).
Notice this nuance to Christ’s phrase, “and my words abide in you…” We must be praying with His Word abiding in us. This doesn’t mean that as long as you tag on, “In Jesus’ name we pray…” that Jesus has to do it. Rather, it’s when we are spending time in His Word, to the point that its contents become basically the substance of our being, when we’re connected to the vine, abiding in Him, and through the Father’s pruning and sanctification that we pray for the priorities that He has taught us in Scripture.
I’ll put it this way, as we abide, we pray more, and more deeply.
Moving on, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (v.8). There are many ways in which the fruit of our lives glorifies the Father. Christ’s fruit in our life glorifies the Father. Our changed lives vindicate our faith and God’s saving grace before the accusations of the devil. The fruit of our lives further glorifies God before the watching world.
Verses 9 and 10 add to this, saying, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” Simply put, love will fill our lives. As we abide in Christ, love will fill our lives.
Lastly, verse 11 states, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
The world almost insists that turning from a life of sin to that of a follow of Christ inevitably removes all pleasure out of life. What a glaringly obvious lie straight from Satan. Nothing better would serve Satan’s purpose than for the world to think that in God no joy exists.
It’s the opposite. Simply put.
Jesus insists this. He insists the opposite is true. The way to possess true and abiding joy – not the joy of the world – is to abide in Him. Christ doesn’t even call it “joy,” He calls it “my joy.” How incredible. Abide in Christ, and His joy will be in us.
Jesus isn’t speaking of some fairy tale happiness, in which all of our dreams come true. We don’t get a carefree life, and thank God for that, because instead we get the fullness of joy as His life grows in us. Christ endured the horrific torture that was the cross so that nothing could snuff out the eternal flame of His joy. Abiding in Him, living as a branch in the true vine, we experience His life flowing into us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We get to experience a deep blessing of spiritual joy as we abide in Him.
Jesus is the Vine, we are the branches, the Father is the Gardener, the vinedresser. Everything the Father and Son do is geared to enhance our abiding and fruitfulness. With each trimming, we become more like Christ, for God’s glory and for the blessing of others. For the blessing of the world around us.
