Prunning the vine

Pruning the vine

Today we're going to look at one passage attributed to Jesus and found in the Gospel according to John.

You may remember that John was probably a cousin of Jesus (his mother and Mary being sisters) and was certainly the brother of James. Before meeting Jesus, John and James were in the fishing business with Peter and his brother Andrew.

The Gospel was probably the last gospel to be written at about 95 AD and among John's last writings. It is the memoir of an aged apostle; in fact John was the longest lived apostle and was the only Apostle to die a peaceful death in AD100 in Ephesus after returning from exile from the isle of Patmos.

John writes with a clear purpose in mind, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31).

Read John 15 - The Vine and the Branches.

We're going to use a technique useful when studying the bible. We will ready the passage, the dissect and discuss the passage and then read it again. On the final reading the passage will come to life. So let's dissect and discuss it…

Dissect John 15

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.

• Who is the vine, gardener and branch? Jesus/God/Us
• What is the fruit Jesus is talking about?

Galatians 5:19-26

19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

• What might pruning refer to?
• What do we learn about the behaviour of vines?

3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain 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. 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.

• What does Jesus mean by "clean"? Sanctified/justified/reconciled/purified…you made be saved – but this is only the beginning
• How do we remain in Jesus?
• Apart from Jesus we can't bear fruit

6If 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.

• What does Jesus mean?

7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

• What does it mean for his "words to remain in you"?
• Ask whatever you wish…wow!

9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

• To remain in him/remain in his love is to obey his commands/his words remaining in you
• Not only will we bear fruit but "your joy may be complete"

12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.

• And what is his command? "Love each other as I have loved you" How has he loved us?
• Should we do this we will be counted as Jesus friends; not his servants as you might expect.
• Why does Jesus tell us that we didn't choose him? And why tell us that here? The fact that we are a branch on the vine is a privilege and the result of God's grace/mercy/love not because of our own cleaver actions. We are called, we a special and we have a purpose/responsibility to produce much fruit.

So let's summarise:

We are like the branches on a vine (Jesus). We exist to produce fruit such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We can only produce fruit if we stay on the vine. God frequently prunes us to make us more fruitful – this is usually painful. If we stop bearing fruit we are thrown into the fire and burned. If we stay on the vine we can receive whatever it is we ask for as this brings glory to God. We stay connected by obeying his commands. His commands are mainly concerned with loving each other sacrificially. If we do this then our joy will be complete. But let us make sure that we don't take all of this for granted - God called us and expects us to bear fruit. This is an honour/privilege/responsibility not a reward for choosing him.

Now let's read the passage one last time…

Read John 15.