John 15:1-17. Jesus is on the move. He left the Upper Room in Chapter 14 and is now headed for the Garden of Gethsemane. It is Passover. Jesus passed by the temple as is required by law. The full moon would have been shining on the hand-crafted gates, imported from Greece by Herod, made of bronze, with a golden vine woven around the members. The vine represented Israel and Judaism as being the genuine way. Now, Jesus is making a revolutionary claim to His disciples. "I am the true vine." In other words, neither religion or membership in certain nationalities or institutions is going to cut it. The Way is only through relationship with Me.
There are certain foundational elements found in verses 4-5. There is a promise of uninterrupted relationship with Jesus. "Remain in me and I'll remain in you." "You can't bear fruit by yourself." "I am the vine. You are the branches." "Apart from me you can do nothing." There is a true picture of humility painted here. He is the vine. We are simply His branches. Apart from Him, we can't do anything. I also like to couple that truth with Phil. 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". These truths go together like peas and carrots.
Verse 7 again expounds on prayer. As we are united with Jesus, assuming our rightful place, we should submitfully ask Him to do what He wants to do in each of our circumstances and situations and contentedly agree with Him in a spirit of cooperation. I'm reminded of Lazarus' mom when she approached Jesus. She simply brought her situation to Him. She didn't ask for anything, actually. She just cried out to Jesus. He knows what we want and need. May we present our challenges to Him and ask Him to act in them as He wishes. None of this makes sense unless we continue to choose to live for His glory and not for ourselves, as mentioned in verse 8.
From Weirsbe: The first section is told as a parable, which always must explain a main truth. Jesus is explaining the importance of abiding in Him to bear fruit. There is no controversy over losing salvation in this passage. Verse 6, in context, means you are capable of putting yourself in a position, by choice, where you are not producing fruit. So, abiding in Jesus isn't about trying to keep ourselves saved. Our salvation is Jesus' gift to us. Instead, abiding means living in His word, praying, obeying His commands, and keeping our lives clean through His Word. To be a branch in the vine means we are united with Jesus and share His life. His life flows through us and makes fruit. God cleanses us by His Word to be more fruitful. This explains why dedicated Christians must go through suffering. Believers should move from producing "fruit" to "more fruit" to "much fruit" over time.
A short test of whether we are abiding in Jesus? 1. Do we have a sense of Jesus' love? (v.9) 2. Are we obedient to His Word? (v.10) 3. Do we experience answered prayer? (v.7) 4. Do we have joy? (v.11)
The second section in the passage is about the commandment: love one another. Love for Christian brothers and sisters is a mark of a disciple. Jesus proved His love on the cross and calls us friends. We prove our love for Him by loving His children.
Some circular reasoning simply weaves the cords of solid relationship: if we keep His commands, we are loving Jesus. If we are loving Jesus, we are keeping His commands.
He intends for us to bear fruit in this life, as we are connected to Him. What is this fruit that lasts? It is the fruits of the Holy Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control". These fruits are very plainly contrasted in the paragraph before in describing living for the flesh, "sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fists of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, etc." There lies the choice. Choose Christ and live by the Holy Spirit. Or choose self and live for satisfying our flesh. Even as we must make these choices, we find that He has chosen us! And if we belong to Christ, we have crucified the flesh with it's passions and desires (Gal.5:24).
In summary, the first section of Chapter 15 (v.1-11) describes believers' relationships to Jesus. The second section (v.12-17) depicts believers' relationships to other Christians. Thirdly (v.18-27), it's about believers' relationships to the world. Note: our relationship is intended to be first established with Jesus. If we abide in Jesus, we will love the brethren and gain victory over the hatred in the world. We'll tackle that next week...
