How well are you abiding? Abiding also involves utter dependence upon Jesus the Vine. If we branches don't continue intimately connected to the vine, our "sap" is cut off. We wither and whatever fruit might have been in the process of ripening becomes like dry raisins rather than lush grapes full of juice. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart [] from me you can do nothing. Jesus observes that the branch must remain connected to the vine to produce any fruit.
But we've seen this kind of language before. Jesus taught this truth again and again to his disciples:. There's something that perhaps we don't like about this. It diminishes Jesus' independence, we think. And perhaps we resent the statement, "apart from me you can do nothing," because it diminishes our own sense of independence. Part of our old nature loves the lines in William Ernest Henley's poem "Invictus" that read:. Something in our old nature wants to cry: I will be dependent upon no man -- nor upon God!
But the path of the Master is a different path than self-determination. It is a path of listening and obeying, of observing and following.
Jesus walked this path before us, doing exactly what he saw the Father doing. Now he beckons us to follow him in this same way. It is the path of a disciple following a Master, a Son following a Father. And it requires from us a humility that fully believes that apart from him we can do nothing. Oh, we can do things by ourselves. We expend great human effort in doing so. But the things that last, that count for eternity, these we cannot do without his leading and his power.
The older and wiser man or woman knows something that the young do not always grasp. Paul put it this way:.
It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Do you want your life to count for something? Then live your life abiding with Jesus, and with his direction and power accomplish something that lasts. So what does Jesus mean when he says, "Apart from me you can do nothing"? What is the value of things done without Christ? What is the final end of things done without Christ?
I live on a property with hundreds of trees. Not infrequently, as I walk around the property, I'll see a tree with a branch that is dry and brown. It may be diseased. It may have broken from high wind. Its vital connection with the trunk, however, has been severed, and the life from the sap no longer flows into the branch, bringing life.
The leaves turn brown, the wood becomes brittle. When I get around to it, I need to pull it into a pile and burn it -- or grind it into wood chips with a chipper. Jesus uses this analogy to impress on us the vital importance of staying connected to him, of abiding, continuing in him. To remain, to abide is a command verse 4 , not just an automatic condition.
That means that we must do something to obey the command -- not a work of righteousness in order to be saved, but active faith.
When Jesus talks here about withered branches being burned, is he talking about backslidden Christians or apostate Christians? I think he is talking about the Jewish nation, God's vineyard, whose leaders had rejected their Messiah, the True Vine. Jesus has explained the negative consequence of not abiding in him verse 6. Now he points to the positive benefits of abiding verses 7 and 8. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. If we abide in Christ and in obedience to his teachings, they we can ask anything in prayer and he'll give it to us.
Because we'll be praying according to his will and leading! We'll be requesting things that will expand his kingdom, not just selfish requests. As he gives us answers to our prayers, that is where the fruit-bearing will take place. Notice another indicator here of being a disciple of Jesus. True disciples bear fruit -- much fruit, "fruit that will last" And this abundance of fruit brings glory to God the Father.
As Jesus says in Matthew:. So what exactly does Jesus mean by "bear much fruit"? The word karpos means fruit, then, "result, outcome, product. Fruit applies to a new way of life, one's actions, to a way of living.
Fruit can be positive or negative Romans 6: False prophets can be identified by their "fruit" Matthew 7: Both Jesus and John the Baptist demanded repentance. John the Baptist commanded the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to his meetings, "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" Matthew 3: Concerning the whole Jewish nation that rejected him, Jesus said, "I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit" Matthew A number of verses identify fruit with righteous living Philippians 1: Some passages spell out what this kind of living looks like:.
This kind of righteous living is what grows on a tree watered by the Holy Spirit. In addition to speaking of the fruit of righteousness, Paul speaks of fruit as people won to Christ on his mission Romans 1: Especially in the case of people with an apostolic or evangelistic gift, such as his Twelve Apostles, one's righteous character would also be accompanied by people being won to Christ.
The same might be true of a person with the spiritual gift of teaching. The fruit would be people who learn the gospel from this teaching. Using our God-given gifts will produce results! Abiding in Christ produces the fruit of righteous character -- especially of love -- and influence of this character that brings glory to God. What is the nature of the fruit that comes from being connected to Jesus?
Is it accurate to define fruit as "souls saved"? What is the danger in this definition? John has a way of weaving themes in and out of Jesus' discourses -- both in John's Gospel and in the First Epistle of John. So we shouldn't be surprised that this discourse on abiding should come back to the love and obedience that we saw earlier.
Some Christians have confused obedience with a kind of legalism that moves away from God's grace, his unmerited favor, to a place of earning favor with God by strict obedience as the Pharisees tried to do. This isn't what Jesus is saying. Rather, he is explaining that obedience is the natural result of love. If you love someone, you try to do what pleases that person.
Think of a disobedient child. Perhaps he loves his parents, but he has a poor way of showing it. They love him, but instead of being able to relax with him, they always have to maintain discipline. Only with children who are obedient can the parents relax in their joy with them. And this joy is what Jesus wants us to experience. As we'll see in verses 14 and 15, Jesus desires to move his disciples from the place of servants, who obey because they have to, to friends, who obey because they want to. Obedience from the heart, the cessation of rebellion, enables free-flowing fellowship. As John says in his First Epistle:.
Is obedience an obstacle to a joyful relationship between you and the Lord? Jesus comes back to his themes of love Love each other as I have loved you. It means, "pertaining to having a special interest in someone, beloved, dear, loving, kindly disposed, devoted," then as a substantive, "one who is on intimate terms or in close association with another, friend. In another place he refers to his disciples as "my friends" Luke Jesus shows his ultimate love by laying down his life for those loves.
Amazingly, Paul reminds us, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5: Don't take verse 14 like you can earn friendship by being good. That's not the point. Jesus is saying that you doing what he commands is an indication that you love him. Servants obey because they have to. Friends obey because they want to. If you go to work at a shoe store, you are taught how to fit shoes to people's feet.
But if you are the owner's son, then you are taught every aspect of the shoe business. And, dear friends, Jesus' family business is the Kingdom of God. Jesus' friends have the privilege of sitting down with the Master and understanding his Kingdom. Yes, he is King, but he is inviting them to share in his Kingdom, to be part of his administration, to "rule and reign with Christ" 2 Timothy 2: The Twelve became the foundation for the Church that mushroomed in the first century and beyond.
In teaching his disciples all about his Kingdom over three years, Jesus is explaining the inner workings, the philosophy behind his Kingdom, how to heal, how to pray, how to trust, how to undergo and understand persecution. Jesus spoke in parables to the crowds, which included his enemies, "but when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything" Mark 4: You are Jesus' friend.
You get to share in his joy and plans for the future. You get to be a participant in advancing his kingdom. What a wonderful privilege. What privileges do "friends" enjoy according to verse 15?
What happens when we take for granted this privilege? Now, as he concludes this part of the Farewell Discourses, Jesus reminds his disciples that they didn't become Friends by their own choice or hard work. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Jesus sums up in verses He reminds them of answered prayer In Lesson 28 Notice that Jesus adds the element of election in verse 16 -- God's choice and God's appointment. Popular evangelical terminology tends to cloud this point of election.
We speak of "accepting Christ," of "receiving Christ," of "being born again," as if it were our choice. We come back here to the mystery of predestination that we discussed at 6: Surely we must "accept" Christ, we must "receive" him, and we must be "born again.
And we must respond to our destiny, unless we are fools who resist Christ and finally turn from him. Certainly, Jesus chose, commissioned, and appointed the Twelve. But the Great Commission extends not just to them, but to all whom they lead to the Master, to the third and fourth generation of Christ followers, on and on until Christ returns. Until then you and I are appointed to "go and bear fruit -- fruit that will last. This has been a very rich passage, replete with important lessons for Jesus' disciples:. Every activity we engage in involves time and energy.
Are we spending our time and energy on things that are helping us to become better people? Are we being drained of energy that we know could be better used somewhere else in our lives? Sure, there are life commitments that we must undertake. Some are difficult and draining, but we must live them nonetheless. We also need to trust that the Divine Vine-Grower will empower us to do that, if we are open to it.
Those pruning shears may be our key to more abundant growth. Are we fruit bearing or non-fruit bearing branches? Researching the concept, this metaphor of the vineyard is also found in the fifth chapter of Isaiah. Here, God has planted a vineyard. The vineyard produces an abundance of grapes, however, the grapes are sour.
They are no good for anything. They were making alliances with other nations. They were allowing worship of other gods in the kingdom. In other words, they had lost their connection to the true vine. Therefore, God, the vine grower, allows the vineyard to be destroyed. The branches are people. They are people who have heard the words of Jesus, been with Jesus or they have seen the miracles of Jesus.