Are You Connected to the Vine?

Are You Connected to the Vine?

Westhill Community Church

Sunday 16^th July 2023

Reading: John 15: 1-17

This picture Jesus shared with his apostles, of himself as the vine and his followers as the branches, very likely took place as they made their way from the upper room, where they had celebrated their final Passover meal together, to Gethsemane, where he would later be arrested. The previous verse of John’s account, at the end of chapter 14, records Jesus’ words, “Come now, let us leave.” And assuming they left the upper room at that point, very likely as they went they passed a plot of ground where grape vines were growing, that served as a visual illustration of what he then shared with them.

Five chapters of John’s gospel, from chapter 13 to chapter 17, are devoted to what Jesus spoke on his final evening with his disciples, conversations with them and with his Father in Heaven. And there is one thread that runs through the whole account from start to finish that helps us understand what Jesus meant by fruit here in chapter 15. Repeatedly Jesus spoke of the Father’s love, his own love, and the love of those who followed him.

At the beginning of chapter 13, verse 1, John says about Jesus, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” And in the final verse of chapter 17 Jesus prayed, “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Then in verse 15 of chapter 13 Jesus said, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

In chapter 14 verse 15 Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commands.“ Then later in verses 21 to 24 He continued, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. … Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.

Then we read in chapter 15 verses 9 to 17, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. … My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. … This is my command: love each other.”

In chapter 16 verses 26 and 27 he said, “In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.”

Love is the theme that brackets this entire discourse and runs like a thread through it all. But it is not any old love. There are many types of love, and the Greeks recognised this and used many different words instead of just one as we tend to use. No the love Jesus was speaking about was the love the Father had for him and that he had for the Father, the love that he had then expressed to his disciples, and the love that he was now praying would be in us and expressed by us to one another. The fruit that Jesus is referring to, growing on the vine, is God’s love in us and through us. It is not primarily a righteous life, although that will no doubt follow. It is not primarily devoted service, although that will surely come. It is not primarily encouraging others to follow Jesus, although that will inevitably be our passion. As Paul taught in 1 Corinthian 13 we might move powerfully in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we might be devoted Bible students and inspiring teachers, we might have incredible faith so as to see mountains move, we might give everything we have for the needy, but if these things are not driven and motivated by the love of Jesus working in us and through us then in the end it is all for nothing and achieves nothing.

As he describes the vine and its branches and fruit Jesus uses imagery that we can all understand and relate to. We know how the branches have to be deeply and intimately connected to the vine and its roots, so that the sap and nutrients can flow and growth can be sustained. We know what happens when we cut flowers and put them in a vase. Although the water can sustain them for a short while there is an inevitability of them shrivelling and dying. No seeds will form; no fruit will develop. Within a few days we will discard them on the compost heap.

When speaking of the union between the branches and the vine itself Jesus uses a particular word. It is the Greek word “meno” which in the NIV version is translated “remain,” but which in the King James Authorised version was translated “abide.” The Greek verb “meno” has a corresponding noun “mone” which means a place of abiding, or an abode or residence. Now the problem is that these single-word English translations don’t convey to us the full sense of the original words of Jesus. I can well remember as a youngster listening to the instruction to “abide in Christ” and wondering what it really meant. We used to sing a chorus “Constantly Abiding” and although I sang it with gusto, it still left questions in my mind. And the word “remain” used today in the NIV immediately makes us think of staying, as in not leaving or not departing, and so our first impression is that Jesus was saying to his disciples, “make sure that you don’t get separated or disconnected, that you don’t give up on your faith.” I find the Classical Amplified Version more helpful here, because it doesn’t use just one word to translate the Greek word “meno.”

In this version verse 4 is rendered

“Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”

The word “meno” means “make your permanent home in.” Jesus used the noun version of this word when he said at the beginning of John 14 “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” He wasn’t describing temporary accommodation, a hotel room for a few days. He was describing a permanent home or residence, where your roots are put down and securely anchored. Earlier I quoted from John 14:23, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Here Jesus uses the word “mone,” the noun version of this same word “meno.” So when he describes the branches of the vine he points out that they are fully imbedded into the main trunk of the vine, deeply, vitally and permanently united to the trunk of the vine. And moreover, Jesus said, this isn’t a one-way process. Just as the branch is vitally united to the vine so the vine is vitally united to the branch. “Be fully resident in me,” said Jesus, “and I will be fully resident in you.” John echoed these sentiments in his first letter.

“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:15-16)

When John wrote “lives in” he used precisely the same Greek word Jesus used, “meno” – makes a permanent dwelling place in and is vitally united to.

You see, Jesus makes his permanent home in us when we put our trust in him and invite him into our lives. Christ’s death on the cross secures our forgiveness for all the ways that we fall short of God’s purpose for us. And his resurrection from the dead means that he and we will be vitally united together, so that we will in truth be a part of him, that we will bear his fruit.

But you say, what about verse 6 in this passage from John 15 that we read together:

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

Does this mean that if I don’t keep following Christ closely I might be in danger of being rejected by him and facing eternity without him? Well you might perhaps think that way if you just understand the word “remain” to mean “keep going,” or “don’t give up.” But that isn’t the sense in which Jesus used the word. He pointed out to his disciples that branches are in one of two states: they are either vitally connected to the vine, or they are totally disconnected. Perhaps he indicated some broken branches on the ground nearby when he made this point. And those disconnected branches, he said, have no possibility whatsoever of bearing good fruit. But the connected branches, on them the Father devotes his loving attention to maximise the amount and quality of fruit that they bear. Did you notice the astonishing thing that Jesus said about the Father’s cutting and pruning? He said that it is “every branch in me” that the Father cuts and prunes. Jesus said it is him that the Father prunes. He is not cutting and pruning those who are not in Jesus, but those who are. If there is no fruit at all he may cut a branch right back; if there is some fruit he still prunes the branch. When we put our faith in Jesus we become vitally united with him, and in a very real sense we become part of Jesus himself. That is why elsewhere in the New Testament we are described as the body of Christ.

But you say, what if I’m one of those branches that bears no fruit at all; might God cut me off? Well when God cuts back it is to produce fruit for his glory. He cut back Joseph of old when he was sold into slavery. He cut back David when he had to flee from Saul and lived in exile. He cut back Daniel and his colleagues when they were dragged away as captives to Babylon. He cut back Jesus when he went to the cross to bear the sins of the world. But all these cuts all achieved a greater weight of glory; they achieved fruit that remains. Be assured, dear child of God, that when your Father cuts you back it is to achieve much fruit for his glory. And the Holy Spirit has assured us that even when our stubbornness and lack of submissiveness and obedience means that we hardly bear any fruit at all, still God loves us and will embrace us on the day when all accounts are settled. When the prodigal son returned home he expected to be rejected as a son, but instead was embraced and joined a celebration party. When writing to the church at Corinth, guided by the Holy Spirit, Paul said,

For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved – even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor 3: 11-15)

The prodigal son brought nothing back with him of any value or worth at all, except himself. And that alone caused the Father to rejoice and celebrate.

The topic this morning takes the form of a question: are you connected to the vine? So let me ask you that question: are you connected to the vine? Do you belong to Jesus, vitally linked and connected so that you are in him and he is in you?

This is not meant to be a difficult question, requiring much consideration and heart searching. There is no long questionnaire to fill in to arrive at the answer, no extensive checklist to tick off, such as: do I go to church regularly, do I serve in some capacity in the church, do I tithe my income, have I been baptised, do I confess my misdemeanours regularly, do I receive communion, do I try to live a godly life, am I a good neighbour?

Jesus said,

All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. (John 6: 37)

All that is required to belong to me, he said, to be a branch of the vine, is to come to me. The first disciples came to him when Jesus said, “follow me,” and they followed him. Zacchaeus came to him when Jesus said “let me come to your house,” and Zacchaeus welcomed him in.

After saying the words, “whoever comes to me I will never drive away” Jesus continued,

“This is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6: 39-40)

When Jesus said “look to the Son and believe in him” he was alluding to the occasion in the wilderness journey of the Children of Israel when many of them were bitten by venomous snakes. God told Moses to put an image of a snake on a pole. Everyone who gazed upon that image was healed. Nothing else: they didn’t have to make their way to the image and touch it; they didn’t have to make penance; they didn’t even have to pray and ask for healing. They just had to gaze at the snake on the pole and they were healed. They needed faith, but the amount of faith they need was just that amount to stir them to go and look.

And Jesus said everyone who looks to him and believes in him will belong to him, will share his eternal life, and will one day in the future be raised from death even as he was, to share in his eternal glory.

So when I ask, “Are you connected to Jesus, the vine?” I am really asking, “Have you come to Jesus and believed in him?” You may ask, how much faith do I need? Just enough to look to me, said Jesus. Just enough to come to him and simply ask him to receive you and make you his very own.

If you have never come to Jesus and asked him to receive you and make you his very own that I encourage to do so right here and now. I am going to say a prayer, and I invite you to quietly repeat it after me.

Lord Jesus, you said whoever comes to you, you will not drive away. I come to you right now. Please forgive me for all I have done wrong. Let your love fill me and control me. Let your life flow through me, and produce fruit that will last for eternity. Let me be a part of you, and you a part of me. Thank you for receiving me. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer I urge you to share this with one of the prayer ministry team later in the service, so that they can pray for you and encourage you.

What does Jesus ask us to do, as those who are part of his vine? Well in our reading we read, “Now abide in my love.” Stay rooted in and fully embedded in my love. And how did he say we should do this? “If you keep my commands, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and abide in his love.” Determine to do what he tells us to do. Live to carry out those things that he wants us to do. Well, surely that must be difficult, musn’t it? When he speaks of his commands surely this implies a long list of instructions for us to obey, doesn’t? No, not a long list. Just one instruction. Here is what he said,

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. (John 15: 11-12)

First a reassuring promise, that in union with him we will have a joy that will fill our hearts completely to overflowing. And then just one instruction: to love each other as he has loved us.

So each morning as we awake we ask the Lord what do you want me to do today? And he responds today I want you to love others as I have loved you. When we come to church our thinking is not what benefit will I gain from attending this service, but what opportunities will I have to show the love of Jesus to someone today? Our task, our passion, our calling – all of us who are branches in the vine which is Christ Jesus – is to love others with his love, every day of our lives, everywhere we go. And as we do that God himself our heavenly Father ensures that the fruit will grow, fruit that will remain for eternity.

Amen