Bear Fruit (4 of 4)
Series: The Basics of the Christian Life
Tim Melton
John 15:1-6
As we look at John 15, we must remember the context. Jesus was talking with His disciples. It was the end of the Last Supper, right before they walked to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would be arrested.
Jesus had just told them that one of them would betray Him. He had talked of how He was leaving and where He was going, they could not come. He informed them that king of this world, satan, was coming. He told them how the Father would send a Helper, the Holy Spirit to be with them. He talked of how by faith they greater things than even would do He had done and that they were to love one another as He had loved them. That is how the world would know that they are His disciples.
Now as His words sunk in and the impossible weight of the burden pressed down on their shoulders Jesus spoke these words.
''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.''
Jesus was taking a very common idea that the disciples would have been familiar with and using it to illustrate a timeless truth. Jesus is the True Vine. In the Old Testament the imagery of the vine was used to represent the people of Israel, but on almost every occasion it is used to describe them in a negative light. Jeremiah talks of how they had become a corrupt and wild v ...
Series: The Basics of the Christian Life
Tim Melton
John 15:1-6
As we look at John 15, we must remember the context. Jesus was talking with His disciples. It was the end of the Last Supper, right before they walked to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus would be arrested.
Jesus had just told them that one of them would betray Him. He had talked of how He was leaving and where He was going, they could not come. He informed them that king of this world, satan, was coming. He told them how the Father would send a Helper, the Holy Spirit to be with them. He talked of how by faith they greater things than even would do He had done and that they were to love one another as He had loved them. That is how the world would know that they are His disciples.
Now as His words sunk in and the impossible weight of the burden pressed down on their shoulders Jesus spoke these words.
''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.''
Jesus was taking a very common idea that the disciples would have been familiar with and using it to illustrate a timeless truth. Jesus is the True Vine. In the Old Testament the imagery of the vine was used to represent the people of Israel, but on almost every occasion it is used to describe them in a negative light. Jeremiah talks of how they had become a corrupt and wild v ...
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