John 15:1-7: Abiding in Christ
Preacher: Josh Tancordo Series: Various Sermons Topic: Default Scripture: John 15:1–7
John 15:1-7: Abiding in Christ
The passage of Scripture we’ll be looking at today is John 15:1-7. It says,
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.
May God bless the reading of his Word.
Let’s pray: Father, we understand from Hebrews 4 that your Word is living and active. So may it be living and active in our lives today. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.Before we begin our new sermon series going passage by passage through the book of 1 Samuel, I’d like to focus our attention today on something very important as we prepare to enter this New Year. I believe every New Year is a valuable opportunity for both reflection on how we’ve been doing spiritually over the course of the past year and also commitment as we look forward to the upcoming year. And if there’s one hope I have for each of us this upcoming year, it’s that we’d do what Jesus instructs us to do in John 15:1-7 and abide in him.
You know, if I were to ask those here today to raise your hand if you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your circumstances and like you were almost at your breaking point, I’m pretty sure most of the hands in this room would go up. I think just about everyone has—at one time or another—felt like they were either at or at least close to their breaking point.
Maybe you even feel that way right now. Maybe you’re experiencing significant turmoil in your marriage or in another close relationship. Or maybe you’re under a lot of financial stress or feel like your career is hanging on by a thread or are facing some serious health issues. Or maybe you’ve lost a loved one recently and are having a difficult time adjusting to life without them. Or maybe there are several difficult things that are all happening at the same time in your life and the combined weight of them all is making you feel like you’re close to your breaking point.
Well, here in John 15, Jesus’s disciples are about to feel a similar way. The person they had been following and learning from 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 eventually 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.
So, in order to prepare his disciples for that, Jesus says to them the things we just read in John 15 and invites them to abide in him the way a branch abides in the vine. That’s the metaphor Jesus uses. And that’s the only way his disciples would be able to get through the things they were about to experience.
Likewise, it’s critical for us to learn to abide in Christ as well—and not just when we feel like we’re close to our breaking point but all the time. Our entire lives should be characterized by abiding in Christ. And the reason for that, as we see in this passage, is that it’s only by abiding in Christ that we can bear spiritual fruit. That’s the main idea of this passage. It’s only by abiding in Christ that we can bear spiritual fruit. But perhaps you’re wondering, what exactly does it mean to abide in Christ? And what does abiding in Christ look like in the midst of everyday life? Those are some of the questions we’ll answer as we walk through this passage.
Look with me first at verses 1-2. Jesus says, 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. So, Jesus first states in very direct terms how important it is for us to bear fruit. Bearing fruit, in this context, refers both to the spiritual fruit of our personal character—such as the character qualities referred to as the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22—as well as the fruit we produce through our ministry efforts to others. As Christians, we should desire to bear fruit in the lives of others by leading them to Jesus and helping them grow in spiritual maturity.
And bearing fruit is so important, Jesus says, that “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he [the Father] takes away”—indicating that that individual isn’t truly a Christian. However, “every branch that does bear fruit [the Father] prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
Jesus then says in verse 3, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” The words of Jesus that we read in the Bible have a cleansing and sanctifying effect on us.
We then come to the central command of this passage in verses 4-5. Jesus tells his disciples, 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, Jesus’s instructions to his disciples in this passage revolve around the first three words we read in verse 4: “Abide in me.” Those words are the fulcrum—or hinge point—of this passage. And the reason it’s so critical that we abide in Christ is because it’s only as we abide in him that we can experience genuine spiritual growth or accomplish anything of real spiritual significance. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say that, apart from him, we can do a little bit. He says in verse 5, “apart from me you can do nothing.” He also says in verse 4 that “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 what do you think happened when I cut off those branches? Well, at first, they looked the same. But, after a few days, they didn’t look so good. 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 Jesus is saying in these verses that it’s the same with us. The only way we can bear fruit is if we have a vital and life-giving connection to him.
That means renouncing our natural mindset of self-reliance and self-sufficiency and looking instead to Jesus as our source for everything. Whereas modern self-help advice usually tells us to look within ourselves for help and strength, Jesus tells us to look outside of ourselves and instead look to him. Because the reality is that looking within ourselves 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 we look to Jesus—and “abide” in him—that we can be spiritually fruitful.
Of course, abiding in Jesus begins by looking to Jesus to rescue us from our sins. The Bible teaches that each one of us has sinned against God and is therefore captive to our own sinful desires and also destined to be punished for our sins forever in hell. However, God saw our wretched condition and, in an act of extraordinary mercy, sent his own Son Jesus to this world in order to save us.
Jesus entered this world as a real human being, lived a life of sinless perfection, and eventually died on the cross as our sin-bearer. Essentially, Jesus suffered the punishment for our sins on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to suffer that punishment in hell. He was then triumphantly raised from the dead so that we can be rescued from both the power of sin in our lives and the penalty of sin in eternity and instead live forever with him. However, in order to experience that, we have to put our trust exclusively in Jesus to rescue us—or, we might say, abide in him. It’s only by abiding in Christ in this way that we can be saved from the power and penalty of our sins.
Yet that’s not the end of it—because, in our main passage, Jesus presents abiding in him not just as a one-time event but as an ongoing lifestyle. This means having an ongoing mentality in which we’re dependent on Jesus and looking to Jesus as our source of strength, sustenance, nourishment, empowerment, guidance, and everything else.
And here’s the thing. This is actually the main connection to our lives I’d like to emphasize this morning. The chief way in which this mentality of dependence on Jesus is expressed is through prayer. So, what does abiding in Jesus look like when it comes to our everyday lives? More than anything else, it involves being prayerful. I once heard someone say that prayer is the litmus test of our reliance on Jesus. If you want to know how much you’re relying on Jesus and looking to Jesus and abiding in Jesus, you can determine that with one simple question: how much do you pray? And I’m talking about both the amount of time you set aside for focused prayer each 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 mentality of abiding in Christ.
The greater Reformer, John Calvin, describes prayer as “the chief exercise of faith.” Think about that. Prayer is the chief exercise of our faith. In other words, prayer is the chief way our faith in God—and dependence on him—is expressed.
In addition, Jonathan Edwards says something very similar to this. He states that “Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is to life.” Again, “Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is to life.” Now, I’m no medical expert, but I’m pretty sure that, if you’re alive, you’re breathing. I don’t it’s possible to be alive—for very long at least—if you’re not breathing. And just as breathing is an expression of life, prayer is an expression of faith.
Notice also that Edwards uses the word “natural.” He says that “Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is to life.” The fact is that you don’t have to remind yourself to breathe or make any deliberate effort to get in the habit of breathing. It happens naturally. You breathe throughout the day without even thinking about it. Similarly, to the extent that we’re operating in a mentality of faith in God and dependence on him, we’ll naturally find ourselves praying. Prayer will be just as natural for us as breathing if we’re depending on Christ and abiding in him.
So, if we ever find ourselves wondering why we don’t pray more than we do, the answer’s actually quite simple. It’s because we struggle to have a mentality of abiding in Christ and are instead operating in a mentality of self-sufficiency and independence from God. I actually heard a preacher say one time that prayerlessness is our declaration of independence from God. I’ve also heard prayerlessness described as “practical atheism.” Although we may profess to believe that God exists, we go about our day as if he doesn’t.
So, let me encourage you, first of all, to change the way you view prayer. Prayer isn’t merely something extra we do “on the side” or in a manner that’s disconnected from the rest of our lives. Rather, it’s a natural extension of the faith by which we’re saved and a natural expression of a continued mentality of faith as we go about our lives. So, when we talk about becoming more prayerful, we’re not merely talking about incorporating an additional element into our morning routine. Rather, we’re talking about a fundamental shift in our mentality. In the words of Jesus in our main passage, we’re talking about going from a mentality of not consciously abiding in Christ to a mentality of abiding in Christ.
And growing out of that, let me also encourage you to pray not just during a certain portion of the day but also throughout the day. Be in a spirit of prayer as you go about the various tasks and activities of your day. This is what Paul means when he tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “pray without ceasing.”
You know, we often use the terminology of having a “personal relationship with God.” But, in reality, it’s hard for me to see how having a “personal relationship with God” is anything more than an empty cliché apart from prayer. What relationship with God can we possibly be referring to if we don’t pray? Practically speaking, in order to have a relationship with someone, there has to be communication between the two of you. Without some kind of communication, it’s not much of a relationship. Similarly, our relationship with God consists, in large part, in our prayer life.
I’d also like to note that the relationship we have with God is one in which God is our Father. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in heaven….” And God’s not just any Father but a Father who loves his children and delights in giving them good things. In Matthew 7:9-11, Jesus says, 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” In other words, if those of us who are parents—even with all of our sinfulness and shortcomings—enjoy giving our kids good gifts, how much more does our heavenly Father delight in giving us good gifts? How much more does his heart go out to us whenever we come to him in prayer?
And when you really begin to view God as your Father, it’ll revolutionize the way you pray. You’ll approach him not as some distant deity who’s reluctant to answer your prayers or perhaps annoyed at your constant asking but rather as a loving Father who delights in showering his children with innumerable blessings in response to their prayers.
In fact, as we return to our main passage, Jesus reminds us in verse 7 of just how ready he and the Father are to answer our prayers. Jesus first says in 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.” This means that the complete absence of the mentality of abiding in Jesus means that you’re not a Christian.
Jesus then says in verse 7, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Isn’t that an astounding promise? “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Now, before we form any wrong conclusions, let’s take note of the two conditions Jesus identifies for having our prayers answered. The first is abiding in him. This means that we’re not just going through the motions of prayer but are praying as an expression of our genuine dependence on him.
In addition, the second condition Jesus identifies is for his words to abide in us. This means that our hearts and minds are saturated with the Bible and that the Bible is shaping our desires and ordering our priorities. As a result, when we pray, our focus isn’t merely on secondary things that revolve around our earthly comfort. Instead, our central concern in prayer is to see God glorified. That should be the cry of our heart and what we seek in everything else and above everything else in our prayers.
This means that many of our prayers will revolve around people who are currently far from Jesus being brought to faith in him and people who are already Christians growing in their spiritual maturity. As John Piper has famously said, prayer was given for a purpose, and that purpose isn’t as a domestic intercom that’s used to call for more comforts in the den but rather as wartime walkie talkie that’s used to accomplish a mission of critical importance. And that mentality toward prayer is an outgrowth of the words of Jesus abiding in us.
So, those are the two conditions Jesus identifies for having our prayers answered. And if those conditions are met—“if you abide in me, and my words abide in you,” Jesus says—“ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” What a breathtaking promise!
And there are plenty of other similar teachings in the New Testament as well—astounding statements about the power of prayer. For example, Jesus states in Matthew 7:7-8, 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Jesus also says in Matthew 21:22: “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Similarly, he states in Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Jesus also promises in John 14:13-14: 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. And in John 16:23-24: 23 …Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
And we find plenty of similar statements in the letters of the New Testament as well. James 4:2 states that “You do not have, because you do not ask.” James 5:16 tells us, “…The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” And, finally, 1 John 5:14-15 declares, 14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
So, as you can see, the New Testament’s filled with astounding statements and extravagant promises about prayer, including the one we find in verse 7 of John 15. So, why, then, don’t we pray? Why don’t we devote ourselves to prayer? In addition to the lack of a mentality of abiding in Christ that we talked about earlier, could it also be that we don’t really believe what the Bible teaches about the power of prayer? It’s hard to escape that conclusion, isn’t it?
Brothers and sisters, the simple fact is that God answers prayer. And I can give you an incredible number of examples from my own life of God answering prayer. I have them written down. Many of them have to do with this church. When Becky and I first moved to Pittsburgh in 2014, we had almost nothing. We were starting completely from scratch. The only person we knew in Pittsburgh was our real estate agent—so we had no network of pre-existing relationships. In addition, I had never been a pastor before or even on staff at any church. We also had no building and virtually no funding outside of my own personal salary. My tithe was our church budget. And I really didn’t know what I was doing. I had read literally one book on starting a church, and that was it. And it wasn’t even a very good book, either—it was kind of mediocre.
And I remember going into my backyard one day that first month we were here and looking up at the sky and telling God that, if anything was going to come from our efforts to start a church, it would have to be entirely by his power. The only way a church was ever going to come into existence is if God brought it into existence. And very gradually, that’s exactly what God did—as we were faithful in prayer.
And I could spend hours telling you how, in response to our prayers, God always provided exactly what we needed exactly when we needed it. When we needed a place to meet on Sunday mornings, we prayed, and God provided a church building for us to meet in. That building was owned by a Methodist church and was located right at a major intersection—Library Road and Saw Mill Run Boulevard. And since the congregation that owned the building only had a 9:30am worship service, they allowed us to use the building each Sunday at 11:15am and only charged us $200 a month in rent. Like, who would have ever thought that we could use an actual church building on Sunday morning for only $200 a month?
And the list just keeps going of different meeting locations becoming available exactly when we needed them, godly and capable leaders being provided when there was a desperate need, people being saved whom many would have probably considered to be very unlikely converts, weather forecasts being drastically changed to accommodate various outreach events and outdoor baptism services, sizeable financial gifts being given exactly when we needed them, and of course all kinds of things that had to fall into place related to this building becoming available and us being able to purchase and renovate it. And every one of these things—plus many others—was very clearly the result fervent and deliberate prayer.
So, if you haven’t been a part of this church very long, I want you to know that the story of this church is a story of answered prayer. That’s one of the most important things for you to understand about the history of our church and it coming into existence. The story of this church is a story of answered prayer. “If you abide in me,” Jesus says, “and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
A famous fourth-century preacher named John Chrysostom once wrote as follows: “The potency of prayer has subdued the strength of fire; it has bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, expelled demons, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, healed diseases,…rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. Prayer is…a treasure undiminished [and] a mine which is never exhausted…. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings.”
What a great reminder about the power of prayer. And let’s remember that God’s more willing to answer our prayers than we often are to pray them. Martin Luther once said that “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of his willingness.” Again, “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of his willingness.”
So, will you lay hold of God’s willingness this upcoming year? Will you determine that, whatever else you seek to do in 2025, you’re going to give yourself to prayer? And will you pray bold prayers in which you claim God’s promises and take him at his word?
Charles Spurgeon writes, “We glorify God when we plead his promises. Do you think that God will be any the poorer for giving you the riches he has promised? Do you dream that he will be any…less holy for giving holiness to you? ...Faith lays hold upon [God’s promises], and it does not delay, saying, ‘This is a precious promise, I wonder if it’s true?’ but it goes straight to the throne with it, and pleads, ‘Lord, here is the promise, Do as you have said.’ …When a Christian grasps a promise [and] does not take it to God, he dishonors [God]; but when he hastens to the throne of grace, and cries, ‘Lord, I have nothing to recommend me but this, “You have [promised] it,”’ then his desire shall be granted. Our heavenly Banker delights to cash his own notes. Never let the promise rust. Draw the sword of promise out of its scabbard, and use it with holy violence. Think not that God will be troubled by your [persistently] reminding him of his promises. He loves to hear the loud outcries of needy souls. It is his delight to bestow favors. He is more ready to hear than you are to ask. The sun is not weary of shining, nor the fountain of flowing. It is God’s nature to keep his promises; therefore go at once to the throne [and beseech him] “Do as you have said.”
I hope these quotes from Chrysostom in the fourth century, Luther in the sixteenth century, and Spurgeon in the nineteenth century are helpful reminders for us all of the power of prayer. And my hope for our church this upcoming year is that we’d be as strong in prayer as we are in the Word. By God’s grace, I think our church is very strong in the Word of God. We’re very focused on biblical teaching and very deliberate about guarding sound doctrine. And I certainly hope to continue on that trajectory. But I hope that this upcoming year we can become just as strong in prayer as we are in the Word.
And that includes us praying together in contexts like Community Groups and the monthly Prayer Gathering that we have on the first Wednesday of each month—including this coming Wednesday, by the way—as well as us praying individually. Hopefully, if you don’t already set aside time for focused prayer every day, you can start doing that. And hopefully that focused time of prayer each day will expand to such an extent that you find yourself in a spirit of prayer throughout the day.
Jesus says in John 15:4, “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.” Will you abide in Jesus in prayer this upcoming year?
other sermons in this series
Dec 22
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John 1:14-18: The Word Became Flesh
Preacher: Josh Tancordo Scripture: John 1:14–18 Series: Various Sermons
Dec 15
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John 1:6-13: That All Might Believe
Preacher: Josh Tancordo Scripture: John 1:6–13 Series: Various Sermons
Dec 8
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John 1:1-5: Life and Light
Preacher: Josh Tancordo Scripture: John 1:1–5 Series: Various Sermons