It may not seem right to prime a healthy vine or tree by cutting off some of its good branches, but every gardener knows that pruning helps the vine to bear more fruit, healthier fruit, and bigger fruit. If the vine is sending nourishment out through branches that are unhealthy or even dead, then that nourishment is not being used as it should. Those branches need to be cut off, pruned, so that nourishment can be sent to healthy branches so it can produce good fruit.
THE TRUE VINE (15:1, 8-10):
I have counted 29 references to either Jesus or the Father in this text. Jesus begins by describing Himself as the “true vine.” The OT prophets had used the vine metaphor as a symbol for the nation of Israel. Jesus presents Himself as the true vine.
Glorifying the Father (15:8) is our purpose to God. It is our goal to bring honor and glory to God the Father. All love has its origin in God the Father (15:9). Jesus has loved us. It is, then, our responsibility to abide in His love. How do we do that? Verse 10…
Obedience is key to showing God that we love Him. To abide in Christ’s love, we have to keep His commandments.
THE BRANCHES (15:2-5):
Jesus is the true vine and every individual Christian is a branch off that vine. Just as God expected Israel to produce the fruit of righteousness, so Jesus expects you and me, as branches from the vine, to produce the fruit of righteousness as well.
Jesus demands that we bear fruit. If we do not bear fruit, secondly, He will “take us away.” Thirdly, if we do bear fruit, He will “prune” us so that we can bear more fruit.
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THE PRUNING (15:6-7):
Jesus has already introduced the idea of “pruning” back in verse 2. If we bear fruit, Jesus will “prune” us so we will bear even more fruit, be even more productive in our service to God. But the opposite of that idea is that if we do not bear fruit, then Jesus will completely trim us off the vine and (notice in verse 6), He will completely cast us away.
There is punishment waiting for those who do not obey Jesus Christ. We must take His commandments seriously. In the context, bearing fruit is the same as obeying Jesus Christ. If we obey Jesus Christ, we’ll receive the love God has to offer. If we do not obey Jesus Christ, then we’ll be cut off from the vine, thrown aside to dry up, and then gathered and thrown into the fire.
Now to the promise of Jesus that connects this paragraph with the overall theme of our series from the Gospel of John, living a life of joy with Jesus… Verse 11. John teaches us that we need to bear fruit, that is, live an obedient and productive Christian life.
The only source of true spiritual life is Jesus Christ, the true vine. Those who have been clean through the word of Christ are branches in that true vine. To bear fruit means we obey the commandments of Christ. To not bear fruit means we’ll be cut off and thrown into the fire.
To live a life of joy with Jesus, let us bear fruit.
Paul Holland
