Manifested Love Pt 18: Remain in me
John 15:1-8 1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5“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. 6If 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. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
In the 21st century we have become progressively more distanced from working the land than any previous generation. So it is probably helpful to understand the vine/vinedresser metaphor Jesus is using to describe the relationship between the Father and his people. One hears occasionally about relationships developing between a shepherd and his flock and one can understand since sheep are thinking animals, but an oddly similar relationship exists between the vinedresser and the plant. In this case though, it’s a matter of the plant’s chemical interaction with the soil, the plant’s health, age, strength and other physical attributes. Nonetheless, over the decades, the vinedresser comes to know the characteristics of each plant, what is necessary for it that isn’t necessary for a near-by plant and that sort of thing.
That knowledge is necessary for the vinedresser to properly take care of the plant. Dried or withered shoots are cut off, “pruned”, so they don’t take valuable nutrition from the more healthy areas. The vinedresser may want to encourage growth in a certain direction to take advantage of better conditions there, or perhaps even one vine is choking off another.
I am the vine
If you recall, this whole section of Scripture is taking place on the night before Jesus is condemned to death by the Pharisees. We have seen the foot-washing, predictions of Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial, and the institution of the Last Supper. In fact, remnants of the meal were no doubt still on the table; scraps of bread and small swirls of wine still in the goblets. So it seems no accident that Jesus uses these remnants to speak about things of true importance. “You see these scraps?” Jesus seems to say, “they are necessary for your life, but true sustenance is found in me.”
Here is Jesus’ meaning: Real value is found in the core of a thing. Yes, the branches support the grapes from which comes the wine, but no grapes at all are possible without the nourishment provided by the root system. So while there is evidence of temporary nourishment all about the disciples, such nourishment doesn’t even approach the value of the eternal nourishment offered by Jesus.
My Father is the Gardener
It is not Jesus who is the vinedresser; that’s God the Father. God the Son is the provider of nourishment, but the Father who has done much of the ‘advance’ work. It is He who tills the soil to prepare it to receive the new plant (you and I). It is He who prunes away diseased branches—this might be a tendency towards alcoholism, or a wandering eye. It is He who gives the tender-hearted care that promotes growth in righteousness and holiness. It is also He who will cut back the plant who is diseased beyond care. Maybe you have heard of the occasional church leader who has been exposed in some illicit activity. That exposure is not the first correction by the Father; it’s the last. The Father has been nudging, even directing, that errant leader to leave that activity and return to holiness. When finally the conscience of the leader is seared closed, the Father turns him over to the consequence of that activity so there is no damage to the rest of the Father’s ‘vines’. He is, in essence, burned in the fire.
But remember this is not a ‘one-off’ activity by God. Just because a believer has accepted Jesus as Savior and is therefore cleansed of his sins does not mean he has no more growth to do. Every good thing we do, every moral decision we make, every change for the better we achieve brings us closer to God. It becomes a positive spiral: Closeness to God makes us want to do more to please Him, which leads to more good deeds, moral decisions, and changes for the better. The end of this is a believer who has grown in Godliness far beyond what he or she ever expected.
You are the branches
We have seen the vitality of the vine lays in its core, that is, in Jesus. But the fruitfulness of the vine lays in the branches. While it is true that the vine cannot succeed (= grow) without the core, it is also true the vine won’t flower and produce fruit for the Kingdom unless the branches are healthy. Jesus says in v5 that the disciples (and by extension, us) are the branches. Remember we said the vinedresser will prune away unhealthy or unproductive branches so the plant becomes healthier? That’s why Jesus commands us to remain in him. Accepting Jesus as Savior is a once-and-for-all thing; having done so a person who does nothing else for God won’t thus lose out. But do we really want to act that way towards Someone who gave us eternal life?
So remaining (abide in some translations) refers to what we do with the rest of our lives. We all know people who do bad things; we also know people who do good things and seem to succeed in everything they do. We understand those who do bad things won’t go to heaven. But understand this: Neither will the people who do good things if they have no personal relationship with Jesus. Doing good things to look good ourselves has no value; doing good things because we love Jesus and want to please him has great value. Remaining then means to avoid those things that pull a person away from Jesus. Certainly it means to not murder someone, but maybe it also means not to hold a grudge. Maybe it means to avoid television because of all the sexual innuendo. It means to be scrupulously honest and moral in everything a person does.
What about me?
All of this is fine sounding, even intellectually understandable, but can that understanding make the 16” journey from head to heart? Good information isn’t useful if it’s not put into practice. But it’s not easy. Those things God wants to prune from your life are no doubt there because of years of habit. Believer, I ask you, go to God with great sincerity; ask him what there is in you he wants removed. Have no fear, this is an easy conversation. God wants nothing but the best for you, which in this case means the removal of sinful behavior. It will be hard because of habit, but extremely beneficial. Ask, agree, act: Good things will come.