Bearing fruit – Christ Alone Wyoming

What Vine are you Abiding In? (Part 2)

Please take some time and read What Vine are you Abiding In? (Part 1). In Part 1, we looked at the context and background for our passage John 15:1-11 and Jesus’ teaching regarding the vine and the branches. We also had to face the tough question: “What vine are you abiding in? Jesus, the true vine? Or one that is untrue?

Now, in Part 2, we’ll ask another tough question: “What fruit are you bearing?”

BEARING FRUIT

Let’s jump back into our passage from John 15:

John 15:4 “…As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

So, what kind of fruit are you bearing? Are you bearing any fruit at all? Surely you are bearing fruit…its either good fruit or its bad fruit.

The purpose of the branch is to bear fruit. It is completely useless if it does not bear fruit. Notice how, from Part 1, the branches are pruned, cut off, and taken away, but the vine is never pruned or cutoff. There is no other purpose for the branch than to bear fruit. In order to bear fruit the branch must be fully connected to the vine. The branch gets all its sustenance from the vine. All the water and nutrients come from the roots to the vine to the branches in order to bear fruit. If the branch is disconnected or partially connected, it will NOT bear fruit…and we know what happens to that branch.

Jesus mentions “FRUIT” 6 times in this passage, do you think he is serious about it?

BAD FRUIT

Are you abiding in one of these unTRUE vines? One of these FALSE vines described earlier which makes you bear BAD FRUIT? False fruit? What does bad fruit look like? Let’s consider several passages from the Apostle Paul:

Romans 1:28-32

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Any of these sound familiar? Recognize any of those fruits in your life? How about these: Continue reading →

One of my favorite passages in scripture is Jesus’ teaching on the vine and the branches. Let’s look at what it means for Christ to be the vine and for the believer to be the branch.

John 15:1-11
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
Before we get into the meat of this passage we need to consider the context and set the stage a bit. Just two chapters previous to our passage, we see Jesus and the disciples entering the upper room to celebrate the Passover together. This was likely just a few hours before Jesus teaches on the vine and the branches. In the upper room, Christ knows he is on his way to the cross his time has come. While in the upper room during the Last Supper, we see Jesus teach his disciples these humongous truths:

(a) Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and introduces servant leadership – to love one another (John 13:1-17)
(b) Jesus tells of a disciple who will betray him. (John 13:18-30)
(c) Jesus introduces communion – (Mat 26:26-29)
(d) Jesus introduces the new covenant of his blood (Luke 22:20)
(e) Jesus introduces a new commandment – love one another (John 13:31-35)
(f) Jesus foretells of Peter’s denial (John 13:36-38)
(g) Jesus drops the deity bomb by declaring that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through him…and if you have seen him you have seen the father. (John 14:1-14)
(h) Jesus promises the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16)

Christ, after casually dropping these huge topics on his unsuspecting disciples during this dinner, he says in John 14:31: “Rise and let us go from here!” The disciples, I’m sure, are sitting at the table looking at each other a bit shell shocked asking, “What did he say? Another is coming? A Helper? Who? What was that about eating his body? Blood what? Hey, what about the blood?” As Jesus gets up and moves on…probably leaving the disciples at the table scrambling to catch up with him.

I AM THE VINE AND YOU ARE THE BRANCHES
Christ and the disciples leave the upper room that evening, likely dark by then, and make their way towards the Garden of Gethsemane. It is sometime during this walk that Jesus teaches on the Vine and the Branches. According to various commentaries, there are a couple of possible reasons why Christ compares himself to a vine and defines himself as the TRUE Vine.

Continue reading →