5 September 2020
“I Am the True Vine”
John 15:5-6 (NIV) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 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.”
The vine symbolises four characteristics of God’s people: 1. It is living: changing and dynamic 2. It is growing: always getting larger each day, not staying the same size 3. It is enduring: tough, able to survive adverse conditions 4. It is outreaching: growing, extending out shoots, branches.
The four characteristics of the vine are only characteristics, not the purpose for the vine; the purpose of the vine is to “bear fruit.” The vine’s purpose is so important that Jesus warns us by saying: John 15:2 ”He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”
Abiding in Jesus is essential to spiritual life - John 15:6 (NLT) “Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”
It is only through fellowship with Jesus that we can have life.
Abiding in Jesus will produce fruit - John 15:5 (NLT) “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
Genuine life produces fruit. If there is no is fruit, there is no life, and God “takes away” that dead branch.
Abiding in Jesus involves pruning - John 15:2 (NLT) “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”
Why do we abide in Jesus? R. A Torrey said, “If we are to obtain from God all that we ask from Him, Christ’s words must abide or continue in us. We must study His words, fairly devour His words, let them sink into our thought and into our heart, keep them in our memory, obey them constantly in our life, let them shape and mould our daily life and our every act. This is really the method of abiding in Christ.”