John 15:1-11: Abiding in the Vine

John 15:1-11: Abiding in the Vine

Please take your Bible and open it to John 15. If you’re using the Story Bibles we provide, that’s on page 747. We’ve been going through the Gospel of John passage by passage. So wherever the text goes, that’s where we go. And this morning, the text we have before us is John 15:1-11. John 15:1-11: 1 “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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

If I were to ask this morning for you to raise your hand if you’ve ever felt like you were at your wit’s end—if you’ve ever been just overwhelmed and almost at your breaking point—I’m pretty sure that just about every hand in this room would go up. At one time or another, I think pretty much everyone has felt like they were either at or at least close to their breaking point. Kind of like what a young military recruit goes through when they’re sent to boot camp. I’ve known several people who have gone to the Marine boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, and they’ve described it as unquestionably the most intense experience of their life. They told me how the purpose of boot camp isn’t so much to train you how to do different things like shooting, hand-to-hand combat, etc.—although that’s part of it. But the primary purpose of boot camp is to bring you to your breaking point—to put you through experiences like endless drills and sleep deprivation and drill sergeants yelling in your face that are designed to break you of all the things that will get in the way of you being a good soldier. In order to change you from an 18-year-old kid fresh out of high school into a warrior who’s able to face danger and even death head-on, they want to bring you to your breaking point. And even though most of us have never experienced Parris Island, we still face different things from time to time that have a similar effect on us. We may never have a drill sergeant screaming in our face after we’ve been deprived of sleep for three days, but we do face things that seem like they’re almost more than we can handle. Sometimes it’s a crisis moment like when we find out that a close friend or family member has unexpectedly died. And sometimes, it’s an extended season of life where a number of things come together bring us to our wit’s end and make us feel overwhelmed. 

Maybe that’s even how you feel this morning. And here in John 15, Jesus’ disciples also were about to feel a similar way. The person they had been following around for the past three years was about to be crucified. And they didn’t expect that. They expected Jesus to grow in influence and power until he was able to overthrow the Roman government and usher in a new golden age for the nation of Israel. But instead, Jesus was about to be crucified. And that would turn their whole world upside down. They were about to come to their breaking point. 

So in order to prepare them for that, Jesus says the things we just read in John 15. Jesus invites them to abide in him the way a branch abides in the vine. That’s the metaphor he uses. And that’s the only way they’re going to be able to get through the things they’re about to go through. Just like a branch abides in the vine, Jesus says his disciples need to learn to abide in him. And here’s what that means. Abiding in Jesus means that we’re continually looking to Jesus as our source for everything. It means we’re looking to him for spiritual strength and sustenance and nourishment and empowerment and guidance. Our gaze is directed toward Jesus for everything. He’s our source. We recognize that we don’t have within ourselves what it takes to face what we’ll have to face or live as we’re called to live. And so we look beyond ourselves direct our gaze toward Jesus. We’re abiding in him. Kind of like when I go to the car mechanic to get my car worked on. I barely know anything about cars. I know how to change the oil and that’s about it. So when something goes wrong, I usually have no clue what it is. That’s why I take it to the mechanic—because he’s the expert. I’m looking to him for everything. I need him to figure out what the problem is and I need him to do whatever is necessary to fix the problem. I’m relying on him for everything. And that’s similar to the way we need to rely on the Lord. So that’s the main thrust of what Jesus is saying. That’s the main point: We need to abide in Jesus the way a branch abides in the vine. We need to abide in Jesus the way a branch abides in the vine. And if we look more closely at what Jesus says here in John 15, we see that three things come out of that. According to Jesus, abiding in him is the key to three things: fruitfulness, salvation, and joy. And we’ll spend the rest of our time looking at those. Abiding in Christ is the key to fruitfulness, salvation, and joy. 

Fruitfulness

First, it’s the key to fruitfulness. Look again at verses 4-5: 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. So notice here that Jesus doesn’t say that apart from him we can do a little bit. No, he says “apart from me you can do nothing.” Before that, he says “the branch cannot bear fruit by itself.” Think about what happens when you cut a branch off of a tree. Not too long ago, I trimmed a tree we have in our front yard, and I cut off a lot of branches. And guess what happened when I cut off those branches. Well, at first they looked the same. They were full of life and healthy and looked great. But after a few days, they didn’t look so good. And then after a few more days, they really didn’t look good. And as time went on, they looked more and more dead. And they were—because branches can’t live by themselves. They need to have a vital and life-giving connection to the vine—or in this case the tree. And it’s the same way with us. The only way we can bear fruit is if we have a vital and life-giving connection to Jesus. In the words of Jesus in verse 4, “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” You see, it’s only as we’re empowered by God that we can be fruit-bearers for God. Let that sink in. It’s only as we’re empowered by God that we can be fruit-bearers for God. The only way we can be fruitful is by abiding in Jesus.

And of course, the first step toward that is turning to Jesus and embracing him and being born again into a relationship with him. But that also means we have to continue consciously looking to Jesus every day for the rest of our lives. As soon as we allow ourselves to function in a state of self-reliance—which seems to be what we naturally revert to more often than not—we’ve effectively cut ourselves off from the source of spiritual power and spiritual life. Now that doesn’t mean we’ve lost our salvation, but it does mean we won’t see any kind of genuine spiritual fruit in our lives as long as we remain in that self-reliant condition. We can fake it, but it won’t be genuine fruit. The only way we can truly be fruitful is if we’re consciously abiding in the Vine.

And I’ll tell you what that looks like. More than anything else, I believe, abiding in the Vine looks like devoting yourself to prayer. I once heard someone say that prayer is the litmus test of your reliance on Jesus. If you want to know how much you’re relying on Jesus and looking to Jesus and abiding in Jesus, I can diagnose that with one simple question: How much do you pray? And I’m talking about both the amount of time you set aside for prayer every day as well as the degree to which you maintain a spirit of prayer throughout the day. How much do you pray? Prayer is the behavior that most closely corresponds with this attitude of abiding in Christ. I don’t think it’s any accident that Jesus gives his disciples a promise about prayer down in verse 7, where he says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” He’s encouraging them to pray because prayer is the central behavior related to abiding. If you’re not regularly looking to God in prayer and devoting a healthy amount of time every day to prayer, then I’m not quite sure how you would be abiding in Jesus. I just don’t know how that would be possible. And if you’re not abiding in Jesus, then you won’t bear fruit. 

Salvation

So abiding in Christ is the key to fruitfulness—that’s number one. Then secondly, not only is abiding in Christ the key to fruitfulness, we also see that it’s the key to salvation. Look at verse 6: “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” Now, let me be clear: I don’t think this verse is talking about a true Christian who is struggling to pray and is maybe going through a season of not being as diligent as they should be in abiding in the Lord. I don’t think that’s who Jesus is talking about here. I think he’s talking about people who don’t abide in him at all. They’ve never been saved. They’ve never truly looked to Jesus to rescue them from their sins. And Jesus says that person “is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” And yes, I think that “fire” and burning means exactly what you think it means. Unless you’re trying to impose your own agenda on the text, the obvious reference there is a reference to hell. 

Yes, Jesus did indeed talk about hell. He actually talked about it a lot—more than anyone else in the entire Bible. And I understand that the idea of hell offends the modern sensibilities of many people. I get that. It sounds so harsh. I remember when I was in middle school reading that sermon by Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”—perhaps you read that as well. And I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, this is intense.” But I think the reason the idea of hell sounds so harsh is because we don’t really understand the seriousness and the vileness of our sin in light of the holiness of God. You see, if we really understood the holiness of God and how righteous he is and how worthy he is, we would see that any act of rebellion against God is a downright abomination. It’s scandalous, it’s outrageous. You know, as a side thought, we live in a society that seems to be quickly outraged by things—especially things that are tied to politics. Some public figure says this or that, and people are outraged by it. Every day, there’s a new occasion for outrage about something and to be honest, it becomes a bit wearisome. I actually find myself not going on Facebook as much for that reason. And that would probably do everyone in our society a lot of good—a little less Facebook and a little more Animal Planet or something. But if there was ever something to be outraged about, here’s what it is: any sin we commit against this infinitely holy and infinitely righteous God. That’s why the punishment of hell is a very appropriate punishment. God is that holy. So according to verse 6, “If anyone does not abide in [Jesus] he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” 

However, there is a remedy. And that remedy is Jesus himself and abiding in him. You see, God is not only holy, he’s also loving. And God loved us so much that he sent his only Son Jesus to enter this world, live a perfectly sinless life, and then die on the cross as our sin-bearer. He bore our sins on that cross, suffering the punishment for our sin so we wouldn’t have to. The Bible says he’s our Great High Priest in that way. Just like a priest in the Old Testament would offer a sacrifice to God in order to appease God’s wrath and satisfy his justice, Jesus also offered a sacrifice. But the sacrifice Jesus offered was the sacrifice of himself. He himself was the sacrifice. And because of his death and because he then rose from the dead, you and I can be cleansed of our sins and fully reconciled to this God we’ve offended and even have a relationship with God. However, in order to experience that, we have to abide in Christ, which means looking to him for rescue. If we refuse to abide in Christ, we’re held responsible for our sin, just like he explains here in verse 6. But if we’ll abide in him, we’ll gain life and joy and salvation.

And how do you know if you’re abiding in him? Well, do you see fruit in your life? Has Jesus changed you and made you into a different person? In verse 5, Jesus says that if we abide in him, we will bear fruit.  And in verse 8, he says that it’s by bearing “much fruit” that we “prove” ourselves to be his disciples. So you know that you’re truly abiding in him and are safe from the fire if you’re bearing fruit. That’s the evidence of your abiding.

Joy

Now so far we’ve seen that abiding in Jesus is the key to fruitfulness and it’s also the key to salvation. And then here in our text, we see a third benefit of abiding in Jesus: joy. Abiding in Jesus is the key to joy. In verse 11, he says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” So this is why Jesus has been sharing all these things in verses 1-10: quite simply, he wants us to have joy—real joy. Not just the cheap, shallow, temporary pleasures of this world but an eternal fullness of joy that only he can bring. And keep in mind what Jesus’ disciples were about to go through. Remember, he’s saying all of this to them in order to prepare them for the incredibly difficult time they’re about to go through. He’s about to be arrested and crucified, and when that happens their entire world will be turned upside down. So don’t miss the significance of what he’s saying here in verse 11. He’s saying that regardless of what you’re going through or what trials or disappointments you face, you can have a joy in him that rises above all of that. You can have a joy that’s not dependent on your outward circumstances. It won’t make you immune from suffering or heartache, but it will still be present in the midst of those things. If you’re abiding in Christ, you’ll only sink but so low. You’ll never really hit rock bottom—because you’ll always have reason to rejoice as a result of your union and closeness to Jesus. He’s the source of all joy and all satisfaction and all delight, and if you’re abiding in him, you’ll never be without those things. The joy of Christ is a joy that’s unshakeable, unassailable, and untouchable.

Conclusion

So are you weary this morning? Are you discouraged? Are you feeling overwhelmed? This invitation is for you. Abide in Christ! Stop following the silly self-help advice of Oprah and many popular authors you find in the bookstore that tell you to look within yourself for help. Nothing within you can help you. The only one who can help you is Jesus. Looking within yourself for help is a lot like trying to draw money out of a bank account that doesn’t have any money in it. It doesn’t work. There’s nothing there. It’s only when you plug into Jesus and start abiding in Jesus consistently that you can experience the fruitfulness and salvation and joy Jesus promises in this text. Now notice that I said “consistently.” That means it’s a decision you have to make every single day. There’s no autopilot here. There’s no setting it and forgetting it. There will be things every day that threaten to pull you away from Jesus and divert your attention from Jesus. It’s going to be a daily battle. So you have to fight that battle and press through to Jesus every single day.

And here’s what that looks like. First of all, repenting of sin in your life. Repenting of anything that might hinder you, the branch, from abiding in Jesus, the Vine. Don’t let anything get in the way. Remember what we talked about last week, how any time the Holy Spirit brings a sin in our life to our attention, we stand at a crossroads. We have a choice to make: God or the sin. Because we can’t have both. The quickest way to sever your life-giving connection with Jesus is to tolerate sin in your life. And that includes both sins of commission and sins of omission—both things Jesus tells us not to do that we do anyway and things Jesus tells us to do that we fail to do. Both of those kinds of sins will keep you from truly abiding in him. 

And also, in order to abide in Jesus, not only do you need to repent of sin in your life every day, but it’s also quite necessary to practice the spiritual disciplines every day—especially the disciplines of praying (like we already talked about) and reading the Bible. Now I understand how difficult it can be to establish that habit and do those things on a daily basis. I know what it’s like to get out of bed in the morning and just not be feeling it at all. Kind of like when you start your exercise routine—for those of you who exercise regularly. When you first begin your routine—especially if your routine is in the morning—you feel unbelievably sluggish. Every part of your body feels like it weighs three times as much as it actually does. Every movement is a struggle. And it takes a little bit of mental fortitude every day to get past that. But once you push past that initial sluggishness and get warmed up and get into your routine, how do you begin to feel? If you’re anything like me, you feel wonderful. A new energy and a new life has somehow come into your body. And you might think to yourself, “This is great. Why would I ever not want to exercise?” And likewise, when we approach prayer and Bible reading, we usually feel sluggish at first. There’s something within us that’s so resistant to doing those things. And yet, after we do them, we wonder, “Why in the world was that so hard? Why the sluggishness? Why the hesitancy?” How easily we forget how life-giving the spiritual disciplines are! And I think that’s why a lot of Christians are so weak and anemic, to be honest. They’ve never learned to push through the initial sluggishness they feel and lay hold of Christ on a daily basis. But that’s absolutely essential if we want to abide in him. You may remember me talking about George Mueller a few weeks ago. He once said that “the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.” “The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day is to have my soul happy in the Lord.” Are you making that your “great and primary business”? 

So let me invite you this morning to start abiding in Christ. Those two habits of repenting of sin and practicing the spiritual disciplines will help you do that. But abiding in Christ is most fundamentally a change in the way you think. If you’re not yet a Christian yet, it’s a change from looking to yourself for salvation to looking to Jesus for salvation. And if you are a Christian, it’s a progressive change where you learn to look to Jesus and lean on Jesus more and more. Are you growing in your practice of abiding in Christ?