John 15:1–8 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 am 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.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

So last week we looked at Jesus as the Noble Shepherd, and Jesus is a Man full of metaphors.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes seven “I am the…” statements.  It can be a good exercise to consider them all together, but don’t “miss the trees for the forest”—if I am allowed to reverse the saying.  Today, Jesus tells you, “I am the True Vine.”

Jesus is the Vine, the Father is the Vinedresser, and you are the branches.

God uses this same imagery in Isaiah.  In Is. 5:1-7, God speaks about His vineyard.  He had given it all the advantages and protections He could, but still the vineyard produced worthless, wild grapes.  God throws up His hands and asks, “What more could I have done for My vineyard?”  God destroys the worthless vineyard.  God starts over, and in Is. 27:1-5, God again is pictured as a Vinedresser.  God keeps His vineyard night and day.  He even wishes that He had thorns and briers to battle.

Now, Jesus uses this same imagery to describe your relationship to Him.  Jesus describes two types of branches.  The first type of branch is the not-bearing-fruit kind.  As a good gardener/vinedresser should, the Father gets rid of it.  He takes those fruitless branches away.  The other type of branch is the bearing-fruit kind.  As a good gardener/vinedresser should, the Father prunes those.  Those branches are made clean of any imperfections so that those branches continue to grow correctly and keep bearing fruit—more fruit and better fruit than they are baring even now.

This idea of pruning is carried into v. 3, but it comes so quickly, and we translate it differently in English so we miss it.  Jesus says, “Already you are clean/already you are pruned (same word) because of the Word that I have spoken to you.”

The difference between the branch that bears fruit and the branch that does not bear fruit is the Word.  The Word gives life.  The Word makes you pruned/clean.  The Word declares to you that your sins are forgiven, it continues to make you clean, it  continues to make you bear more fruit.  It is all about the Word.

In v. 6, Jesus says, “Anyone who does not abide in Me and in My Word is like a dead, fruitless branch and is thrown away.”  Those dead, fruitless, thrown-away branches are gathered, cast into the fire, and burned.  This is eternally serious.

Look at Dt. 6:4-9 and see the importance God places on the Word.  God places such an emphasis on hearing and learning His Word which declares that you are a sinner who does not love God with all your heart and soul and might.  Confess that sin and hear the Word of God which says that He forgives you.  Hear from the Word that through faith, you do love Him as Christ loves Him—with all your heart and soul and might.

Jesus is the Vine, the Father is the Vinedresser, and you are the branches.

Apart from Jesus, apart from being His branch, apart from His Word, what can you do?  You cannot do anything.  You can do nothing—nothing.

This spring, I went after one of our lilac bushes because it was growing crazy.  I hacked away many of the branches.  Those branches have been sitting in my yard and drying out.  I really don’t expect them to bud and sprout any lilacs.  I do expect those that are still connected to the roots to bud and flower, and they are.  Those other branches are simply waiting for me to throw them in the fire.

Jesus is the Vine, the Father is the Vinedresser, and you are the branches.

Apart from Jesus you cannot do anything.  There is absolutely nothing that you can do apart from being connected to Jesus, the Vine.  When you disconnect yourself from the Word, you disconnect yourself from the Vine.  Remaining in the Word is absolutely essential because the Word continues to make you clean.

Jesus says, “Apart from Me you are not able to do nothing.”  Jesus here uses an emphatic double negative, in Greek it doesn’t cancel out.  There are a couple ways to take this and both are true.  First, apart from Jesus, there is nothing that you can do.  Everything you accomplish, all your strength, all your abilities, all of your faculties come to you from God.  Apart from Him you can do nothing.

Second, there are individuals who are apart from Jesus and don’t acknowledge that their gifts and faculties are from God.  And they do lots of things.  Yet, what they do amounts to nothing.  Suppose, for the sake of argument, a person decided to completely follow perfectly the Commandments and did (again, this is impossible).  Nothing they did would amount to anything because it is without faith.  Apart from Jesus not even the best deeds count for anything.

Your best works, your best deeds, if they’re apart from faith, fall flat on their face.  So do not sever yourself from Christ.  Do not remove yourself from Christ and His Word.  The Father will continue to prune and cleanse you so that you bear more fruit.

Don’t let Satan use these verses to cause doubt.  Don’t let his lies get you caught up in thinking, “I need to bear more fruit.  I need to show more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in my life,” then go out and try to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and do better.  You won’t.

Apart from Jesus and His Word, you can do nothing.  Confess your inability to do those apart from Jesus and His forgiveness.  Hear the Word declare, “Already you are clean because of the Word I have spoken to you.  The only the branches that get pruned are bearing-fruit ones.  You are bearing fruit.  You are going to continue to be pruned and cleaned so that you can bear even more fruit.  In this I, your Heavenly Father, am glorified.”   The Father will cleanse, prune, and cause more fruit to be borne because that fruit glorifies the Father.

Jesus is the Vine, the Father is the Vinedresser, and you are the branches.

Abide.  Jesus’ call through this text is to abide, remain, stay in Him—the Vine.

Abide, we don’t use that word very often.  You don’t ask someone, “Where did you abide as a kid?” or, “Where do you abide?”   No.  You ask, “Where did you grow up as a kid?  Where do you live?”  Abiding gives a picture of constancy in the midst of change.  The Word of God remains constant despite this changing, dark, sinful world.  The Word of God remains constant.  Abide in Jesus; abide in His Word.  You will remain clean, and you will bear much fruit.

I mowed our lawn Tuesday.

My older two kids have been asking if they could mow the lawn.  Eli just turned five yesterday—happy birthday Eli—and Anna is three.  Neither of them are nearly old enough to mow on their own, but I thought since our lawnmower is self-propelled, I would let them help mow a couple of passes.

When I brought Anna outside, I showed her how to run the lawnmower.  I showed her how to hold the bar down so the engine would keep running.  I showed her how to push the lever to engage the self-propel feature.  I showed her where she should try and keep the line of the grass so that she would steer straight and not miss strips of grass.  I gave her all the information she needed to be able to mow the lawn.

I started the mower.  She didn’t know how, and I’m not going to teach her either.  She ignored my repeated directions to hold down the bar to keep the engine running.  So I did that.  She forgot to hold the self-propelling lever.  So I did that for her too.  She didn’t pay much attention to where she was going.  So I helped her steer.

She isn’t strong enough to start the mower.  She isn’t tall enough to push the mower on her own.  She isn’t coordinated or concentrated enough to keep the mower running and moving.  She isn’t focused enough to steer the mower.

Knowing all this and desiring that she mow when she is older, I wanted this first mowing experience to be a good one.  So I did it all.  Basically, I mowed the lawn standing off to the side so I would not step on my daughter.  I strained the muscles and tendons in my arm and twisted my back and mowed a couple of passes back and forth.

I felt like charging admittance, but it maybe wasn’t as impressive as a Cirque de Soli performance.

In the midst of my concentration and struggle to mow, my lovely daughter looked up at me and said, “This is easy!”

Anna was abiding in her earthly father.  As far as mowing is concerned, apart from me she could do nothing.

Abide.  Abide in Christ.  Abide in His cleansing Word.  His Word comes to you today and declares to you, “Your sins are forgiven.  Already you are clean because of the Word I have spoken to you.”  His Word comes to you and abides in you because apart from Him you can do nothing.

Abide in Him.  The Father is glorified in the fact that you do bear fruit because of His cleansing.  And in the forgiveness He gives you in His body and blood you bear even more fruit.  Amen.