Abide in Christ as Christ Abides in You
Prayer for Understanding
Holy Spirit, move in us and among us as we listen to the Scriptures read and interpreted. Open our minds and hearts to receive the Living Word so that we may be transformed to live as your beloved and to bear the fruit of love.
The world’s largest and oldest grapevine is the ‘Great Vine” at Hampton Court Palace in England. It was planted in 1768 (so now 256 years old) and is still producing an average of 272 kg of black dessert grapes. It measures 4 meters around the base, and the longest branch is 40 meters long.
In November, when the Vine is dormant, it is pruned to remove old, non-productive ‘rods’ or stems, and scraped off of all loose bark. The Vine keeper cuts off a third of the flowers when they first appear in May, so the Vine can put its energy into the remaining bunches of grapes. That is how the Great Vine has produced large, juicy, and sweet grapes for over 250 years. But, today, we are going to study not the Great Vine but the True Vine.
Today’s text, “I am the True Vine” is the last of seven “I am” declarations of Jesus recorded only in John’s Gospel. Last Sunday, we studied “I am the Good Shepherd.”
Today’s text is also part of the Upper Room Discourse, which is from ch 13 to ch 17. The Upper Room Discourse is what Jesus told His disciples on the night before the crucifixion while they were having the Last Supper in the “upper room” and is the most intimate and loving sermon.
However, even though we call it the Upper Room Discourse, today’s illustration of the vine and the branches was probably taught while walking and perhaps stopping near the vineyards. Because the last words of ch 14 are “Come, let us leave”, which indicates that Jesus and the disciples left the upper room and walked to the Garden of Gethsemane.
Vineyards have often been used symbolically in the scriptures. Psalm 80 is one of many Old Testament passages employing this symbol: “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land”.
The psalm expressed God’s labor and care in planting His people in the Promised Land. The vine was the Lord’s people, from which He desired a rich harvest of fruit.
The Vine and the branches illustration can be divided into two sections and each section begins with Jesus’ claim to be the vine. The first section begins in verse 1, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower,” emphasizing the importance of growing spiritually.
The second section begins in verse 5, “I am the vine, you are the branches,” stressing the significance of drawing strength from the True Vine, Jesus.
In verse 1, Jesus introduces God the Father as the Vine-grower (or the Vine Keeper) and then teaches what the Vinergrower does, removing and pruning. Look at verse 2. Jesus says “He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”
The Vine-grower cuts off dead branches that do not bear fruit. These branches are the pew-warmers who have no spiritual life growing in them. They don’t have faith. They don’t have love for Jesus. Their life does not reflect Christ.
What the Vine-grower does with these people is that He removes them. In other words, they are separated from the vitality of the True Vine, Jesus Christ.
The second thing that the Vine-grower does is prune the branches that are bearing fruit. If you like gardening you know how important pruning is for every tree to bear a lot of fruit. Last couple of weeks, some of you have been busy, spending a lot of time in your garden, pruning and clearing the garden. Pruning helps to grow healthy trees and bear good fruits.
Sometimes, we are dry branches that have no vitality; sometimes, we are tangled with other branches; sometimes we suffer from fungal diseases; and other times we are spreading in the wrong direction, blocking other branches from growing.
There may be things that you try to hold on to, things that God wants you to let go of. There may be an area that is sick, and unable to grow to its full potential. There may be a part that needs to be removed for you to grow, especially your sinful habits or distorted mindsets.
Sometimes God will keep you focused and on the right track by pruning many unnecessary branches. Practically, this can look like busyness. We can become so passionate about many things that we forget to do things with God at His pace.
The whole purpose of the vineyard is to bear many grapes. Fruitfulness is the purpose. So God the Vine-grower prunes away those things from our lives that keep us from growing and bearing much fruit as Christians.
In v 5, Jesus tells us that His followers - we - are the branches. And then in verse 6, “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing.” This is the key verse in this passage.
You probably noticed already that Jesus mentions the verb ‘abide’ over, and over. The word is
repeated 8 times in today’s text. Jesus wants us to be close to Him and to “abide” in Him.
The branches have to abide by the vine because, without the vine, they are fruitless; they can do nothing. It’s dead. Yet, abiding is more than just being connected. Abiding is a relationship - an organic relationship - the giving and receiving of genuine love and faithfulness.
Jesus offers not a mere connection because that is not enough to grow and bear fruit, but a genuine and organic relationship that will nourish and bear abundant fruit.
Then what does it mean to bear fruit? What kinds of fruit does the Vine-grower expect us to bear? Essentially, it is becoming like Jesus. Spiritual fruit will show itself in our lives as a change in our character and outlook. As we spend time with Jesus and get to know Him better, His thoughts will become our thoughts. His purpose will become our purpose. We will become like Jesus.
And our life will naturally bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit - Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. The spiritual fruit is the natural result of a healthy Christian.
Jesus tells us that if we abide in Him—if our hearts are fixed on Him and we are filling our minds and hearts with His Word—we will bear fruit. We do not need to struggle to bear fruit because a branch draws strength, nourishment, protection, and energy from the vine.
If it is broken off, it quickly dies and becomes unfruitful. And, often, we don’t realize that we are living fruitless lives. If we are not abiding in Christ properly, even though our lives may be filled with church-related activity, we bear either no fruit or bad fruit.
Prophet Isaiah says in ch 5, God “dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choicest vines; then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.”
This afternoon, I will be flying to Spain with my husband. We will meet our daughters and some of their friends there and start the Pilgrimage walk - Camino de Santiago. In 2018, we walked the first quarter of the whole path. This time we will continue from where we stopped 6 years ago.
Each day, we will be walking about 20-25 km. Even though we start together and meet at the next albergue (hostel), while we’re walking, we walk individually. It will be a long and quiet walk daily.
This pilgrimage walk is necessary for me now. It has been a year since I started serving Langley Presbyterian Church. It’s been such a wonderful, grateful, and blessed time, but at the same time, it’s been a busy year.
I need to pause from what I’ve been doing and reflect on my life, ministry, and my walk with Jesus. Sometimes, I’ve tried to bear fruit with my strength and effort. We know that if we do not abide in Christ, no matter how hard we try, we bear unhealthy fruit or no fruit. Apart from Him, I can do nothing.
As I walk the path alone with my Lord, I pray that God prunes dry and unfruitful rods of my life and ties me to the Vine more securely. I pray that the True Vine flows His life, energy, strength, and love to me so that I can be more fruitful and bear the choicest fruit that glorifies my God the Vine-grower.
Friends, How’s your branch? Are you bearing fruit? Is your life bearing good fruit? Or do you feel like you need some pruning? Or do you feel like you are being pruned and it’s painful? Or are you in the dormant stage? Or do you think you’re too old?
The 256-year-old Great Vine is still bearing a huge amount of juicy grapes. You are not too old to bear fruit. How can we bear healthy fruit? Abide in Christ who is the source of our strength, nourishment, and life. That’s the only way. You do not have to labor hard or wrestle to bear fruit. Abide in Christ as Christ abides in you.
Let us pray.
Gracious Lord, Thank You that You are the True Vine and we are the branches. Help us abide in You as You abide in us so that we can bear good fruit and glorify God our Vineg-rower. Help us encourage one another to bear much fruit on our pilgrims’ journey together. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.