Remain in Me
TRANSLATION
(1) “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (2) He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, while he prunes every branch that does bear fruit so that it may bear more fruit. (3) Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (4) Remain in me as I also will remain in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you (bear fruit) unless you remain in me. (5) I am the vine…you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them, the same will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (6) Those who do not remain in me will be like branches that are thrown away and wither. Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and are burned. (7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (8) By this is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”
OBSERVATIONS
In this segment we find the last of Jesus’ great I AM statements given to us in John’s Gospel: “I am the true vine.” Repetitions again lead us to an ever-deepening understanding of its core message. “Vine” is found three times (vss. 1, 4, & 5). Jesus referred to God as “my Father” twice (vss. 1 & 8). “Branch(es)” occurred six times, twice with “every” (vs. 2) and four other times by itself (vss. 4, 5, & 6). The phrase, “bear(s) fruit,” was repeated five times, the first two alone (vs. 2), the third time with the adjective “more” (also vs. 2), and the last two with the adjective “much” (vss. 5 & 8). The key word Jesus used, “remain(s),” occurred seven times, five times with the words, “in me,” (vss. 4, 6, & 7), once with the words, “in the vine” (vs. 4) and once with the words “in you” (vs. 7).
OUTLINE
I. Because Jesus is the true vine that enables the branches to bear fruit… (1-3)
II …we are to remain in him so that God is glorified in us as his life courses through us. (4-8)
IDEA STATEMENT
Only by remaining in Christ, the true vine, can we as branches bear fruit that brings glory to the Father.
APPLICATION
Several Old Testament authors used the image of a fruitful vine as a metaphor for the nation of Israel. Psalm 80 portrayed God bringing Israel out of Egypt as a fruitful vine which he would plant in Canaan. Isaiah 5 picked up this figure of speech and described how God was disappointed to find that the vine he had planted in the Promised Land failed to produce fruit. Jeremiah used the same imagery in his prophecy where he stated, “Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?” (Jer. 2:21)
Here, in John 15, Jesus identified himself as “the true vine,” the vine which would finally fulfill God’s desire for a plentiful harvest. Israel never met this expectation. However, through his disciples and the church that they would build, Jesus will produce a harvest of “fruit…more fruit…much fruit,” the outcome which the Father had long sought. This will only happen when we as disciples remain in him and he in us. As Jesus said, “I am the vine…you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” Remaining means that we depend on him for everything so that his life infuses us and flows through everything we do. We are to do nothing in our own strength or by our own initiative. Only then will we bring glory to the Father by producing the harvest that he has long been seeking.