John Chapter 15

¹ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

A husbandman is someone who cultivates land. Jesus says here that he is the true vine…. so here we have land that God has cultivated for us to be nourished by and we are connected to this nourishment by the vine who is Jesus. Jesus connects us to God and this connection brings us life.

² Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

The purpose of the branches off of the vine is to grow fruit. Sometimes a branch will grow and never produce fruit, so it is pruned off of the vine so that the other branches can benefit from the nutrients the useless branch is taking. God prunes the branches so they can be healthy and productive. It reminds me of the time my husband bought me a rose bush… the second year we went out and began pruning it. I saw him cut off a vivid green branch that seemed young and healthy, even though it didn’t have a single bud on it. I asked him why he did that, and he told me it was because this fast-growing branch would never produce roses or leaves, it was just taking the nutrients away from the productive branches and not benefiting the plant at all. The crazy part of it was these branches he was clipping off looked the healthiest and most lush. So they were really taking away the nourishment from the productive branches. After they were all removed, my entire rose bush started growing and producing beautiful roses…and still does to this day, 16 years later.

ADD the fact that an unpruned rose bush will go wild and stop producing rose, even if the plant looks healthy.

³ Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

• prune (v2 kathairei/καθαίρει, verb, Strong’s 2508)
• clean (v3 katharoi/καθαροὶ, adjective, Strong’s 2513)

These disciples were pruned by the word.
This keeps bringing James 1:22-25 to mind. When we use the word to judge ourselves and remove the nonproductive things from our lives, repent of sins and overcome… when we set the word as the standard we strive to live by, we are like branches connected to the vine. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus…when this actually happens, there’s evidence of it in how we live after we say this prayer to accept Jesus as savior… internally and externally…. changes will start happening.

⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

A branch that loses it’s connection to the vine dies.
When we open up and allow Jesus to flow through us, we will bear fruit. I used to wonder what fruit are we referring to in this verse, was it the fruit of the spirit or like fruit of ministry. The fruit of ministry is like winning souls, helping people get victory in their life, visiting the widows and orphans… etc. It’s both… we will have the fruits of the spirit and the fruits of ministering for Jesus. Humility comes when we realize that the VINE provides us with the ability to produce fruit…and without being connected to the vine we can’t produce Godly fruit.

⁵ I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Once a branch falls off a vine, the branch can’t produce anything because it no longer has a way to nourish itself or any fruit.

⁶ If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

⁷ If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

The Vine (Jesus) is our direct connection to the resources we need. Abiding in the vine means to walk after Jesus and his ways… to take up our cross and die to our flesh …we become doers of the word… not just hearers. We spend time in the word because we know the importance of knowing who Jesus is. When we look into the word, it confronts our sinful nature and brings us to repentance… the Word is a lamp to our feet and shows us our path.

⁸ Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

When we stay in the vine… in the word and we examine our own hearts, we stay productive and bear fruit. This commitment to the Word… Jesus… the Vine is the way of a disciple.

⁹ As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

¹⁰ If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
There is a saying, “We make time for the things we really love.” When we love Jesus, there is a draw to make time for him…. to learn about him. We pray and seek him out. I know the flesh is horribly lazy and unmotivated to do anything where the rewards aren’t instant and tangible in a fleshly way… meaning, there is no obvious, instant pay off for the effort. Jesus said it to Peter the best..Matthew 26:41  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. This was when Jesus had gone out to pray while Judas was off betraying him… the cross lay ahead and Jesus had taken Peter and 2 other disciples to pray before the guard came to arrest him. Jesus went to pray and came back to find them sleeping instead of praying. Earlier that day, Peter had stated he was willing to die for Jesus… his spirit was willing… BUT, he denied even knowing Jesus 3 different times that very night because his flesh was weak. So our flesh is weak… but our spirits are ….. willing. Willing… is not the opposite of strong…willing is a beginning…. the actions that follow the willingness are the things that make us strong…. and all of that strength comes from the VINE… it comes from abiding in the Vine and knowing who Jesus is…. and submitting to the husbandman, God. So… we do have to force our flesh to submit, die out to the desires of the flesh and seek the things of the Spirit…and that is to know and submit to Jesus.

¹¹ These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

Abiding in the vine, the pruning of our worthless branches, the fruitful reward of abiding in the vine…. all these things are told to us so that the Joy of Jesus stays inside of us and stays full. This is a key to a joyful life in Jesus.

¹² This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

This is how we both abide in the vine and bear fruit…. Love God and love others. Not the kind of love the world gives… Godly love.

¹³ Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Here is an example… Jesus loves us so much that he gave his life for our sins. This isn’t just reminding us that Jesus died for us… it’s instructing us to love one another enough to die to the fleshly desires, too…. to endure a wrong without needing revenge… to forgive those who hurt us. This is part of counting the cost of our salvation… sometimes we are going to have to let go of a horrible wrong and walk in love towards someone who absolutely hates us. Our flesh doesn’t know how to do this at all…. we have to walk in the willing spirit… and let Jesus love through us. Forgiveness is not a feeling… you can forgive someone even when you are still hurting and upset. Remember when Jesus was praying before they came to arrest him… he prayed in Luke 22:42  “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” When we are hurt we can pray, “Father I forgive them because it is your will…. your will be done.” Just like Jesus submitted to the cross to die for us… we can submit to the cross and die to the need for revenge…and chose to forgive others who hurt us. Our flesh won’t feel like it… but we don’t walk by feelings, we walk by faith. We chose to walk in love towards others by restraining the flesh and dying to the desires of the flesh. This is how we submit our will to God.

¹⁴ Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

Jesus would never ask us to do anything that was impossible. Jesus is why it is possible…. when we abide in the vine…. his love flows through us.

¹⁵ Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

¹⁶ Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

When we are walking in the will of God we won’t be praying for things that we shouldn’t be praying for…. we will instead be praying the very will of God.

¹⁷ These things I command you, that ye love one another.

LOVE…. the key is to love. Jesus is telling us to love one another… and our flesh will often lie to us and tell us that love is not an act of the will… we either love or we don’t… but if Jesus as commanded us to love…it’s because it’s in our power to do it.
The following is a story shared by Corrie ten Boom that has stayed with me all these years.

Healing was linked to forgiveness, Corrie wrote.

Each had something to forgive, whether it was a neighbor who had turned him in to the Nazi authorities or a vicious camp guard or a brutal soldier.

In mid-May 1945 the Allies marched into Holland, to the unspeakable joy of the Dutch people. Despite the distractions of her work, Corrie was still restless, and she desperately missed her beloved Betsie. But now she remembered Betsie’s words: that they must tell others what they had learned.

Thus began more than three decades of travel around the world as a “tramp for the Lord,” as Corrie described herself. She told people her story, of God’s forgiveness of sins, and of the need for people to forgive those who had harmed them.

Corrie herself was put to the test in 1947 while speaking in a Munich church. At the close of the service, a balding man in a gray overcoat stepped forward to greet her. Corrie froze. She knew this man well; he’d been one of the most vicious guards at Ravensbrück, one who had mocked the women prisoners as they showered. “It came back with a rush,” she wrote, “the huge room with its harsh overhead lights; the pathetic pile of dresses and shoes in the center of the floor; the shame of walking naked past this man.”

And now he was pushing his hand out to shake hers, and saying:

“A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”

And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course — how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?

But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. I was face to face with one of my captors, and my blood seemed to freeze.

“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard there… But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein” — again the hand came out —“will you forgive me?”

And I stood there — I whose sins had again and again to be forgiven — and could not forgive. Betsie had died in that place — could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?

The soldier stood there expectantly, waiting for Corrie to shake his hand. She “wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do. For I had to do it — I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us.”

Standing there before the former S.S. man, Corrie remembered that forgiveness is an act of the will — not an emotion. “Jesus, help me!” she prayed. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”

Corrie thrust out her hand.

And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart.”

For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then. But even so, I realized it was not my love. I had tried, and did not have the power. It was the power of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

¹⁹ If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

²⁰ Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

We as American Christians have never experience actual persecutions for our beliefs. I know a lot of Christians who think having someone insult them for their faith is persecution, but it’s not. There are countries right now with laws in place to put a person who professes Jesus and follows Christianity to death…. right now there is a 16 year old boy who is facing this for his faith in Jesus under his countries blasphemy laws. We need to stop thinking that being opposed for our beliefs in a comment on facebook is the same as being persecuted ….but we also need to remember that strong opposition is the beginning of a move towards actual persecution. We see this right now with the people who support the liberal political position, they oppose Christianity because it stands against their strongly held desires and ideas…for example… the right to end the life of a baby in utero, support and pandering to the sins of homosexuality, the transitioning of little children with drugs and surgeries that mutilates their natural bodies….. etc. Christians are against these things and so, the liberals are against Christians and this leads to the liberals supporting anti-christian groups like the Hamas.

²¹ But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.

²² If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

²³ He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

²⁴ If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

²⁵ But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

²⁶ But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

²⁷ And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning