Jesus is the true vine
This week, Doug came and brought the final message of our I AM series to us:
1“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
9“I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. 16You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
(John 15:1-17)
When Jesus walked the earth, He wasn’t much to look at, but His words and actions drew people in. Jesus wants people to work out for themselves who He is.
We see in John 10:30 that Jesus tells everybody that "I and the Father are One”. Jesus couldn’t be more clear here! He’s saying that He is God in the flesh!
In Exodus 3, Moses was out in wilderness and encountered God in the burning bush. Moses asked who was speaking and the answer God gave was “I AM”. When Moses persisted, God said “I am who I am". He has always been, He was never created and He is life itself. In the Gospel of John, Jesus repeatedly says that He is the same person who was talking to Moses.
The context of today’s passage is that Jesus was talking to His disciples and celebrating Passover. Judas the betrayer had fled the scene and Jesus was talking to His remaining faithful ones. He was describing a Christian life using the visual aid of a vine and branches.
This metaphor wasn’t unfamiliar to Israel. Vineyards were common in ancient times and even featured in Old Testament Scripture:
1Now I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a rich and fertile hill.
2He plowed the land, cleared its stones,
and planted it with the best vines.
In the middle he built a watchtower
and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks.
Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes,
but the grapes that grew were bitter.
3Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah,
you judge between me and my vineyard.
4What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I have not already done?
When I expected sweet grapes,
why did my vineyard give me bitter grapes?
5Now let me tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will tear down its hedges
and let it be destroyed.
I will break down its walls
and let the animals trample it.
(Isaiah 5:1-5)
Verse 1 of today’s passage shows Jesus is the vine and the Father is the gardener. The Father prunes faithful Christians back and cuts off unfaithful people who pretend to believe in Christ.
In verse 4, Jesus tells us to remain in Him. Like a caving rope hanging in the abyss, any climber must hold onto their rope for dear life. We must do the same with Jesus.
The purpose of a grapevine is to produce fruit, but they sometimes can’t, due to overgrowth and dead branches. In spiritual terms, the problem is sin. Sin feels good and appeals to our flesh. If it didn’t feel good, we wouldn’t do it. If we’re trying to break a habit before it takes root, it’s like snapping off a dead twig. The longer the twig is allowed to grow, it becomes a branch. Branches need pruning back. This is what the Father does with us. He prunes us back so that we produce fruit and look more like Jesus.
Judas was a dead branch. He was treasurer of the group and would help himself to the money of Jesus’ ministry. He betrayed Jesus and disappeared for 30 pieces of silver. Judas was snapped off and thrown into the fire (cast into Hell), but the other disciples were pruned back for more growth.
Verse 7 is where Jesus tells us to ask Him for things in prayer. We must always be praying, as 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says. We ought to always be thanking God for what He has blessed us with and asking Him to grow us in Christ, praying without ceasing.
In verse 13, Jesus sums up the heart and pinnacle of the Christian faith. There is no greater love than laying down life for friends. This isn’t a film or story, but it’s what God has actually done.
Jesus was nailed to the cross for people who take His name as swear word, people who don’t care, people who betray Him, yet He shows His love through dying so that those who wish to have eternal life can turn to Him in repentance and faith and be born again.
The cross of Jesus Chris carries real power to change lives. If the cross is the answer, how big is the problem? We must choose to follow Jesus today. He has laid down His life so that sin could be forgiven.
As Christians, we must not only love God, but we should demonstrate our love for God by loving others, as Jesus says in verse 17.