“I Am the True Vine” [Matt's Messages] ~ Matt Mitchell

“I Am the True Vine”

Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of John

Lanse Evangelical Free Church

August 4, 2024 :: John 15:1-11

Here He goes again!

Once again, Jesus makes everything about Himself.

Six times so far we have heard Jesus make a grand statement like this about Himself in the Gospel of John.

Six times, He has said, “I Am” and then filled in the blank with an astonishing claim about Himself.

He said, "I am the Bread of Life."

He said, "I am the Light of the World."

He said, "I am the Gate for the Sheep."

He said, "I am the Good Shepherd."

He said, "I am the Resurrection and the Life."

And just a few moments ago, on this very same night, He said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.”

And now, the seventh “I Am” and the last one in this book, Jesus says, “I Am the True Vine.”

There He goes again. What did He mean by that?

It’s obviously a figure of speech, an extended metaphor. Jesus doesn’t mean that He is “Groot,” some kind of strange creature made of vines like the character from the Marvel movies. It’s a metaphor, but a powerful one. And an extended one. Jesus is going to explain what he means for 8 verses and then continue to refer to it beyond that. What’s going on?

Well, first we have to remember where Jesus was in chapter 15. This is the night that Jesus was betrayed. The night before the Cross. And Jesus has just told His closest followers huddled together inside that He is going away. So we often call this section of Scripture, “The Farewell Teachings of Jesus.”

His disciples are distraught and troubled so Jesus is giving them comfort and big promises that will sustain them and us[!] in the days to come.

In chapter 14, He has promised to make an eternal home for them and then come back for them to take them (and us!) there.

He has promised to answer prayers in His name about whatever and anything.

He has promised to personally pray the Father to give His disciples another Counselor (another Comforter, another Alongsider), the Holy Spirit to be with them and inside them (and us!) forever.

And He’s promised them (and us!) the gift of His peace.

And the last chapter ended with Jesus saying (14:31), “Come now; let us leave.” Now, it doesn’t say it outright, but my guess is that they all got up from the table then and headed out the door towards the Garden of Gethsemane. But Jesus doesn’t stop teaching them as they go. And my best guess is that they walk through a vineyard. And Jesus uses what is around them to teach them about their relationship with Him. And Who He truly is.

He said, “I am the true vine.”

Now, what they knew that we often miss is that in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was often symbolized by a vine. It’s all over the Old Testament. Israel was supposed to be a vine and vineyard full of life from God and producing much fruit for God. Israel was supposed flourish and be obedient and do great things for God, replicating the life of God in the world and for the world. Do you know that? Read Isaiah 5 this afternoon. Or Psalm 80. Or Ezekiel 15.

But, catch this, every single time Israel is called a vine in the Old Testament, they also are depicted as a FAILURE. A vine that does not produce good fruit. A vine that is disappointing to God. A vine that doesn’t do what the vine is supposed to do. Fruitless. Dead. Barren.

So what does Jesus come along and say about Himself?

“I am the TRUE vine.”

Jesus is what Israel was supposed to be all along. Jesus is going to succeed where Israel always failed. Jesus is going to flourish and have abundant life and fruit popping off of Him in every direction! Jesus is the TRUE vine. Just like He’s the GOOD Shepherd and the Bread of LIFE. He is the TRUE fulfillment of everything Israel was supposed to be. And the TRUE source of life for all who are vitally connected to Him.

There He goes again making everything about Him because, it turns out, everything is about Him.

Now, Jesus makes several points of analogy with his metaphor.

He says that He is the true vine. And He says that “His Father,” whom He loves to talk about, is “the gardener.” Verse 1.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”

Some of you may have “husbandman” or “vinedresser” or “viticulturist.” That’s the person who tends the vineyard.

Now, all analogies break down somewhere. This is not saying that Jesus is something completely different from God the Father. We have been learning that the Father is God and the Son is God (and the Spirit is God). But in this metaphor, Jesus is the true vine, and His Father is the gardener.

So who or what are the branches? It’s people, like you and me, who claim to be followers of Jesus. People who claim to be His disciples and who claim to belong to Him.

[VINE] This came from Josh and Katie’s little vineyard here in Lanse. Thank you, Josh. You are a viticulturist! You are a husbandman. These are some branches that were just cut off yesterday.

In His metaphor, Jesus is the True Vine, the trunk of the vine, the heart of the vine, so to speak, where all of the life and heart and sap and vitality is.

Is that here in this room? No. That’s over at Josh and Katie’s house. If we wanted to see what Jesus was, we would have to have church over there. But you can get the idea. Jesus is the true vine, and people who claim to be connected to Him are the branches. Like these.

What does Jesus teach about the branches? Look at verse 2.

“He [the gardener] 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.”

There are two different basic kinds of branches.

There are what we might call “fake” branches and what we might call “true” branches.

The Father/Gardener looks at the branches and sees if there is fruit. If there is no fruit, He cuts off that branch. It’s no good. It’s just “faking it” we might say. He determines that it’s no good, and verse 6 will tell us where “branches” like that end up.

This is people, perhaps, like Judas. They appear to be disciples, but the Gardener can tell by close inspection that they really are not.

But other branches, upon close inspection, bear fruit. They have grapes. They are the real deal. What does Father/Gardener do with them?

He cuts them, too. He prunes them. He doesn’t cut them off. He prunes them. Or the word in verse 2 could be translated “cleans them.” He cleans up the branch, taking off the little tiny shoots that will get in the way of greater fruitfulness.

My wife once explained to me that a plant’s natural inclination is not to bear fruit but to keep growing more branches, more leaves, etc. But with each bit of growth, a loss of energy happens. So when a plant is carefully pruned, it focuses the life in the plant to produce stronger, healthier shoots, leaves, and more and better fruit. Make sense?

So what’s the basic difference between the two kind of branches?

Whether or not they yield or bear fruit, right?

What is “fruit” in this metaphor? Well, if Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches, then I think that the fruit must be the life of Jesus coming out of our lives.

Fruit is the product of a process, right? It’s the natural result of life doing what life does. So if you have an apple tree, and it’s fruitful, you get apples. If you have a orange tree, and it’s fruitful, you get oranges. If you have phone tree, and it’s fruitful, you get more phones, right? That last one is a joke because our phone are not alive. At least not yet. If you have a phone tree, you get more phone calls.

If you have a true Jesus vine, then what comes off of the vine is little true “Jesuses.” It’s the true life of Jesus producing true life in Jesus’ followers. So it’s more followers of Jesus, and it’s more followers of Jesus living like Jesus!

I think it’s things like what the Bible calls “the fruit of the Spirit.” Can you list the ninefold fruit of the Spirit? It’s “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23 NIVO). That sounds a lot like Jesus to me. And if we are His branches, that’s the kind of fruit I would expect to find on us.

And so would the Father/Gardener. He looks us over and He says, “Yep. I see the fruit. This one is mine. Nope. I don’t see any fruit. This one wasn’t real. Cut it out of there.”

This one from Josh’s had some fruit on it. Here’s a little bunch of grapes. It would have been a keeper if we didn’t need it for this illustration.

What did Jesus say the Father does to those branches that do bear fruit? Does He just leave them alone? No. He prunes them. That sounds painful. He takes the snipper to them.

He allows pain and suffering into their life to help them grow bigger and better fruit. More love, more joy, bigger peace, bigger patience, bigger kindness, bigger goodness, bigger faithfulness, and bigger gentleness and more self-control.

That’s encouraging to me. That’s actually comforting because when my life gets to hurting, I sometimes think I must be doing it wrong.

But Jesus said that the Father snips so that I would more fruitful. He never cuts off anything that is actually vital. I don’t lack for anything. But things that hinder? Snip, snip. Things that might stop my growth? Snip, snip. Things that need to go, no matter how painful? Snip, snip. “So that [I] will be even more fruitful.”

Now, what kind of branches are you and I?

Jesus knew that the eleven disciples still sitting there with Him that night were the real kind of fruitful branches. Look at verse 3.

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

They had experienced pruning already. Judas who was not clean (or faithful or fruitful) had left the circle. These eleven had put their true faith and trust in Jesus and were saved (see John 13:10). Jesus knows that they will bear fruit and fruit that will last.

And here’s where He gives them their instructions and another promise. V.4

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you.”

I have four points of personal application this morning, but they call flow out of this big one.

#1. STAY.

Jesus says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.”

Some of your versions will say, “Abide” which is a beautiful word that we need to bring back. But we just don’t use it very much in English these days. We also don’t use it’s noun form, “Abode.” A place to “abide.” A place to dwell.

The Greek word here is “meno.” Which is the same root at the word for “dwelling places” or “rooms” like in chapter 14, verse 2, “In my Father’s house are many rooms....” “Monays.” We might say, “A place to stay.”

Jesus says that we should “remain” in Him. And He’s going to use that word “remain” at least 10 times from here to verse 11!

“Remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain, remain.” I think He means it!

And means to do it Himself. “And I will remain in you.” Ge will stay connected to us. He asks us to stay connected to Him.

What does that mean? What does that look like?

Well, this is one of those places where the analogy continues but also kind of breaks down, right? I mean the branches of a grapevine don’t get to decide whether or not to stay attached to the rest of the vine, do they?

But that’s the very thing that Jesus is telling us to do with Him.

Stay connected to the true vine. Stick with Christ. Keep trusting Him. Draw your life from Him. Stay close to Him. Persevere in faith. Stay dependent on Him.

This is not about earning your salvation. This is about not abandoning your Savior. Not departing from Him. Stay. Stay dependent on Jesus because there is no life outside of Him. He’s the true vine. Look at verse 4.

“Remain in me, and I will 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.” Verse 5. “‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Stay. Stay dependent.

Anybody know what this branch is going to look like in a few days? It was just cut off yesterday, and it’s already brown around the edges. It was vibrantly green yesterday!

These grapes will be no good, and there will be no more grapes.

“Apart from [Jesus] you can do nothing.”

What does that mean? People who don’t trust in Jesus can do lots of things. You can do lots of things without Jesus, but nothing of eternal value. You can’t yield true fruit without being vitally connected to the true Vine.

Stay. Reside. Abide. Whatever you do, don’t leave. Because...look at verse 6.

“If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”

That’s Judas, right? That’s the people who look like disciples of Jesus maybe for a time but then they bail on Jesus. Like those people in chapter 6 who just couldn’t accept that Jesus was the Bread of Life and walked away (John 6:66).

And Jesus asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?”

And Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (Jn. 6:67-69 NIVO).

The Eleven stayed. They will have their ups and downs. They will be tried and tested and go through trouble. They will be pruned. But they will remain. They will abide. And they will bear fruit.

In fact, we in this room are a part of that fruit!

Stay. Stay dependent. Don’t try to do the whole Christian thing on your own. Some people think that they have to somehow produce fruit in their own power. That’s like asking this vine here to pop off some more grapes. Not going to happen! This isn’t about doing good works to somehow impress the Father/Gardener. This is about resting and trusting and staying vitally attached to Jesus the True Vine. Does that make sense? Do you see what I’m saying?

There’s a warning here, for sure. It’s for those who stop trusting in Jesus and walk away (in their hearts). Don’t be like Judas. Don’t depart. “Such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”

Stay. If you stay, you will bear fruit. It’s inevitable. The true life in the True Vine will pulsate from the True Vine to the True branches and produce true fruit. Jesus says (v.5 again), “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” Guaranteed! You can count on it.

Do you want to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control? I do! I want to be (like we talked about last week) transformed into the image of Christ.

I want to be fruitful. I want more followers of Jesus, and I want to be a follower more and more like Jesus. Here’s how you get there: STAY. Remain in Jesus. Abide in Jesus. Dwell in Jesus. Allow the pruning. Submit to the snipping, painful as it can be. Stay. Keep trusting Him. Keep drawing your life from Him. And it will happen. “He will bear much fruit.”

And your prayers will be answered! Look at verse 7.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”

That’s point number two this morning, but you can see how it’s really just the same application.

#2. ASK.

Jesus tells His disciples if they remain in Him, and His words remain in them, they can pray about “whatever,” and it will be answered. I think that “my words remain in you” is pretty much the same thing as “I remain in you” (from verse 4), but the emphasis is on Jesus’ teaching. If they have filled their minds with Jesus’ teaching, they will increasingly pray for the things that Jesus would want, in line with Jesus’ will.

And we learned in chapter 14 (verse 13&14) that the Son will answer our prayers in His name in the way which the answers will bring the most glory to the Father.

If we are abiding in Jesus, then we will see amazing answers to prayer! Have you seen your prayers answered? Have you been praying? Have you been asking?

I think we read a verse like this and we take it of the context of everything else the Bible says about prayer. We shouldn’t do that. So this doesn’t mean that the answer won’t sometimes be, “No.” Jesus was abiding in His Father, and the Father told Him, “No.” That’s true, too.

But also shouldn’t also KEEP FROM ASKING because we don’t believe these words! This is Jesus telling us to ask. Ask, seek, knock. The True Vine says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” Sometimes you have not because you ask not. Stay and ask.

And that will bring the glory to the Father. Verse 8.

“This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

This is why our church exists. Right here. What is our purpose statement as a church? Lanse Evangelical Free Church exists why?

"To glorify God (“This is to my Father’s glory”) by bringing people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ." In other words, to get people connected to the True Vine. And as they do, they will bear much fruit, and we will show ourselves to be His true followers!

The Gardener gets the glory! The Father/Gardener walks through the vineyard, and says, “Have you seen the size of my grapes?!” He gets the credit. “This is to my Father’s glory.” As we show ourselves to be Jesus’ disciples. Which means that we obey Him. That’s point number three.

#3. OBEY.

But, again, it’s really still the first point. Stay. Remain. Look at verse 9.

“‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain [same word] in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.”

Now, don’t get the wrong idea from these two verses! It might sound to you like, “If you don’t obey me, I’ll stop loving you. My love is completely dependent on your obedience.” Like an abusive parent. But that’s not at all what it’s saying!

It starts with Jesus’ love, and it says that He has loved us as the Father has loved Him! That’s amazing just all by itself! “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” That’s not like an abusive parent! That’s a sacrificial parent. We’re going to see, next week, in verse 18, just how much He loved us. He loved us enough to lay down His life for us.

And that’s what we are going to remember at His table in just a minute. Do you know how much He loved you?

Jesus says that He wants us to remain in His love. To stay in His love. That’s the same thing as staying in Him. Abiding in Him. The emphasis isn’t on His words here (like in verse 7) or His Person (like in verse 5), but in His love.

We need to not depart from His love! We need to live in His love. Dwell in His love. Depend on His love. Enjoy His love. Draw our life from His love. His love is the “sap” so to speak. His love is like the living energy that’s being transmitted through the True Vine to the true branches. His love is pulsating from Jesus to us.

Don’t walk away from that! Don’t detach from that! Because that will empower your obedience. Right?

That’s how it worked for Jesus. See what He says in verse 10? “Just I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” The Son’s obedience didn’t create His loving relationship with the Father. It just furthered it. Nurtured it. Continued it.

The Father loved the Son, and the Son lived off of that love and loved the Father back by obeying Him which made the Father just love Him the more! Which made the Son just want to obey Him even more (see John 14:31). If “even more” is even a way we can talk about Trinitarian love!

Stay in the love of Jesus by obeying Him. Obey. Do you know His commands? Next week, we’ll remind ourselves of some of them. Don’t disobey. Don’t conform to this world. Don’t step away from His love. Don’t step away from enjoying His love and trusting His love. When we go off and sin, we are saying that His love is not enough for us. Reside in His love. Stay and obey His commands.

And you will have joy.

#4. REJOICE.

Look at verse 11.

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Yes, Jesus makes everything about Him.

But that’s because everything is about Him. So if we our lives about Him, then we will enjoy His joy! He told us that He is the True Vine so that we could get “His joy” inside of us. Last time, it was “His peace” that we get.

Now it’s “His joy” which could be just the joy that is a gift from Jesus. And that would be good enough. But I tend to think that He’s actually promising to give us a taste of His own joy, Jesus’ joy, His own divine happiness in having Himself. His own blessedness transferred from our vital connection from the True Vine into His true branches!

The fruit of the Spirit is joy! We get His joy as we remain in Him. And not just temporary joy. Here today and gone tomorrow. But He says (v.11), “That your joy may be complete.” Full of joy.

Joy, joy, joy. Deep in my soul! Stay. And rejoice. Forever.