Jesus is the Vine and the only One whom we must stay connected to in order to live out this life of faith. Join me as I study John 15.
Please read John 15:1-2
Jesus Is the Vine—Followers Are Branches
1 “[a]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 continues to bear fruit, He [repeatedly] prunes, so that it will bear more fruit [even richer and finer fruit].
Have you known His pruning? Behaviors or words you no longer use? Ungodly character flaws He’s removed? Believe and stay connected to the Vine.
Please read John 15:3-4
3 You are already clean because of the word which I have given you [the teachings which I have discussed with you]. 4 Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me.
Only in connection with Jesus can we ‘bear fruit’ which also according to Scripture is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Goodness, Kindness, Gentleness and Self Control. Found in Galatians 5 as gifts of the Spirit who is the third member of the Triune God who has been given to us who believe.
Please read John 15:5-7
5 [b]I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken off] branch, and withers and dies; and they gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in Me and My words remain in you [that is, if we are vitally united and My message lives in your heart], ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
Verse 5 is one of those easily proven verses. Yet who once with Him wants to leave? Not me. Yet you can try this, or just believe it. Remain in Him. It is a vital union.
Please read John 15:8-11
8 My Father is glorified and honored by this, when you bear much fruit, and prove yourselves to be My [true] disciples. 9 I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me; remain in My love [and do not doubt My love for you]. 10 If you keep My commandments and obey My teaching, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 I have told you these things so that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy may be made full and complete and overflowing.
So produce fruit… because that glorifies the Father and honors Him and not just that but also proves you to be His true disciple. And being that puts you in Him and His love is all over your life. Do not doubt it. He loves you. And in that you can find Joy and Delight and it can be complete and overflow in to your life and all you encounter.
Please read John 15:12-15
Disciples’ Relation to Each Other
12 “This is My commandment, that you [c]love and unselfishly seek the best for one another, just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love [nor stronger commitment] than to lay down his own life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father.
This is my commandment
that you love one another that your love may be full.
I don’t know why, but that song is all I hear with these few verses and those before them.
Please read John 15:16-17
16 You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. 17 This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.
There’s a verse in Acts that this reminds me of. The ‘placed and purposefully planted you’ part. Here’s the part in Acts
Acts 17:24-27
24 The God who created the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, because it is He who gives to all [people] life and breath and all things. 26 And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands and territories. 27 This was so that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grasp for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
Please read John 15:18-21
Disciples’ Relation to the World
18 “If the world hates you [and it does], know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love [you as] its own and would treat you with affection. But you are not of the world [you no longer belong to it], but I have chosen you out of the world. And because of this the world hates you. 20 Remember [and continue to remember] that I told you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But they will do all these [hurtful] things to you for My name’s sake [because you bear My name and are identified with Me], for they do not know the One who sent Me.
There will always be those who do not believe. For the One we follow is Omnipotent and always with us. Which is how we bear His Name. And also how God knows us as His.
Please read John 15:22-25
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates Me also hates My Father. 24 If I had not done among them the works (attesting miracles) which no one else [ever] did, they would not have [the guilt of their] sin; but now [the fact is that] they have both seen [these works] and have hated Me [and continue to hate Me] and My Father as well. 25 But [this is so] that the word which has been written in their Law would be fulfilled, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’
Can you hear the disappointment as well as the definitive decision? Those who do not believe, despite hearing and seeing his works, well, other books in Scripture tell what will happen to them.
Please read John 15:26-27
26 “But when the [d]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, He will testify and bear witness about Me. 27 But you will testify also and be My witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
The gift for those of us who believe. This is how we will be known, we are known by Him. He knows not just who you are but where you are every moment of every day and exactly what you’re doing as you do it and before you make the decision to do it that you will. Omniscience is what you call it, but there’s no need to think that way, just know He knows you completely. What you will do, and what His plan is for you specifically.
Grow your faith.
Footnotes
[a] John 15:1 -“[a]I am the true Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.- The seventh of the memorable “I am” statements. See note 6:35.
[b] John 15:5 –[b]I am the Vine; you are the branches.- See note v 1.
[c] John 15:12 -“This is My commandment, that you [c]love and unselfishly seek the best for one another, just as I have loved you.- See note 13:34.
[d] John 15:26 -“But when the [d]Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby) comes,- Greek Paracletos, one called alongside to help.
Menu for this study.
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