Introduction
Throughout John’s gospel, the Lord Jesus has used a number of images to describe himself.
Back in chapter 6 he described himself as the Bread of Life. In the past, the Israelites ate manna in the wilderness, but then they died. However, he is the true Bread of Life because he has come down from heaven to give everlasting life to all who believe in his name.
In chapter 8 he described himself as the Light of the World. In the past, God led the Israelites through the wilderness and to the Promised Land by means of his glory-cloud: that pillar of cloud and fire which shone brightly. And the Lord Jesus has come as the Light to lead us through his dark world to the Promised Land of Eternal Life.
In chapter 10 he described himself as the Good Shepherd. A shepherd will risk his life in order to keep his sheep safe from wild animals and predators. But the Lord Jesus not only risked his life, but he gave up his life to save us from destruction and to give us everlasting life in God’s presence. And he’s not only the Good Shepherd, but he’s also the gate for the sheep. He’s like a closed gate in that he keeps his people safe. And he’s like an open gate, because we go through him to find eternal life.
In chapter 11 the Lord described himself as the resurrection and the life. That is to say, he is the source or he is the cause of resurrection-life. His people will be raised from the dead to live for ever because of him.
In chapter 14 the Lord described himself as the way and the truth and the life. In knowing him, we know the way to eternal life in the presence of God. And in knowing him, we know the truth about God, because the Lord Jesus is God. And in knowing him, we know the life, because he has all life in himself and he gives eternal life to his people.
And so, the Lord has used these different images to describe himself. And in today’s passage he uses another image. And it’s the image of the vine. He is the true vine and his Father in heaven is the gardener and his people are the branches. And we, his branches, will produce fruit because we’re united with him.
This image of the vine and its branches dominates the passage from verses 1 to 8. However, between verses 9 to 15 he talks about something else. He talks about love. As the Father has loved him, so he has loved us. And we’re to remain in his love. And in the final two verses of today’s passage, he talks about both things: the vine and its branches and love.
And so, that’s what we’re thinking about this evening: the vine and its branches and love. And you’ll remember that this is all part of the Lord’s farewell speech to his disciples. They gathered together in the Upper Room for the Last Supper. And after Judas Iscariot left them, the Lord began to teach the disciples. And he taught them that he would soon be leaving them to prepare a place for his people in his Father’s heavenly house. And when everything is ready, he will return for them. And he taught them that he’s the only way to the Father and no one can come to the Father except through him. He taught them that he is in the Father and the Father is in him so that to see him is to see the Father and to know him is to know the Father. He taught them that they will do even greater things than he did, because he’s going to his Father in heaven. And he taught them that he will send them the Holy Spirit to help them after he has left. And not only will we have the Holy Spirit to help us, but the Father and the Son will indwell us as well. God and his people will be wrapped up together in love. And we display our love for the Lord Jesus by obeying his command to love one another.
Those are some of the things he taught his disciples as part of his farewell speech to them. And in today’s passage, he teaches them about the vine and its branches and he teaches them again about love.
The Vine and its Branches
And we’ll start with what he says about the vine and its branches.
Now, in several places in the Old Testament, the people of Israel were described as a vine. For instance, in Psalm 80, the psalmist tells us how God brought a vine out of Egypt and he cleared the ground for it and planted it. He was talking about how God rescued the people of Israel from Egypt and settled them in the Promised Land. We find the same image in Jeremiah 2 where the Lord said about the Israelites: ‘I had planted you like a choice vine….’ And in Isaiah 5 the people of Israel are likened to a vineyard which the Lord cared for. And the same imagery is used in several other places in the Old Testament. The Jews were described as a vine which the Lord had planted and cared for.
However, very often the Lord used that image to bring a complaint against his people. He complained that the Jews were like a vine which had become wild. Or he complained that they produced only bad fruit or no fruit at all. In other words, they had become corrupt and worthless.
And so, here’s the Lord Jesus. And he says in John 15: ‘You know what? I’m the true vine. Despite all the love and care God gave to his people in the past, they became corrupt and worthless and good for nothing. But I’m the true vine and my branches will produce good fruit.’
And if the Lord Jesus is the vine, who or what are the branches? Well, his people are the branches. And just as an ordinary branch receives its life and its ability to produce fruit from the vine, so we receive life and the ability to produce fruit from him. He’s the source of our fruitfulness.
Now, the Lord doesn’t mention faith here, but Christians have already understood that we’re united with Christ through faith. God the Father produces saving faith in our hearts when we’re born again by the Holy Spirit. And through faith, we cling to Christ for salvation. By faith we’re joined to him. Even though he’s in heaven and we’re on earth, we’re united with him by believing in him.
And through faith in him, we’re justified so that we receive forgiveness for all that we have done wrong; and God regards us as righteous in his sight and worthy of eternal life for the sake of Christ. And through faith in Christ, we’re adopted into God’s family so that we receive all the rights and privileges of sonship. We can call God ‘Father’ and he treats us as his beloved children. And through faith in Christ we’re sanctified, which means that God works in us by his Spirit to bring us to perfection. He enables us to die to sin more and more and to do what is right more and more.
And so, once we’re united with Christ by faith, we receive these three spiritual benefits: justification and adoption and sanctification. And the Lord is really talking about our sanctification whenever he refers in this passage to producing fruit. He’s talking about our sanctification, because the fruit we produce through our union with Christ is Christlikeness. Just think about it. A branch that is attached to a grapevine will produce grapes. A branch that is attached to an apple tree will produce apples. A branch that is attached to a pear tree will produce pears. And a person who is attached to the Lord Jesus will produce the character and the qualities of the Lord Jesus Christ. We’ll become more and more like him, which is what sanctification leads to.
Fruitfulness
Sanctification leads to Christlikeness. So, when the Lord’s life and power are flowing into us through faith, it will affect how we think about other people; and it will affect how we talk about other people; and it will affect what we do to other people. With Christ influencing us in every way, we’ll become more and more like him, so that whoever sees us will recognise that we belong to him. Isn’t that the point of verse 8? Look at what the Lord says: ‘This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ So, people will recognise that we’re his disciples because our life here on earth will reflect his perfect life.
And our fruitfulness, our sanctification, comes from him. So, look with me at verse 4 where he tells us to remain in him, because no branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. That’s true in the vineyard, because a branch that is detached from the vine doesn’t have the ability to produce any grapes. And it’s true for us as well, because unless we’re united with Christ we cannot become like Christ.
And look now at verse 5 where he says something similar. He is the vine. We are the branches. If we remain in him and if he remains in us, then we will bear much fruit. On the other hand, apart from him, separated from him, we can produce nothing. So, unless we’re united with Christ by faith we cannot become like Christ. We cannot bear the fruit of Christlikeness unless we’re attached to him and his life and power are flowing into us.
The Gardener prunes the Branches
And so, the Lord is the vine and his people are the branches. The fruit we produce through our union with him is Christlikeness. That’s what we’ve been thinking about so far. But what about the Father?
We haven’t said anything about him so far. But according to the Lord, he has an important role to play because the Father is the gardener. And what does the gardener do? Well, he prunes fruitful branches to make them more fruitful. Do you see that in the second half of verse 2: ‘every fruit that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful’.
Now, I’m not a gardener, but I know that in order to encourage greater growth, the gardener needs to cut back a bush or a tree or a plant. And I’ve seen some people do this with what seems to me to be almost careless abandon, because it seems to me that it’s just snip, snip, snip, snip, here, there and everywhere. And all these twigs and small branches and leaves are cast all over the ground. Snip, snip, snip. This is what you’re meant to do if you’re a gardener. And apparently the gardener will do this, not only to encourage this year’s growth, but to ensure that the plant is strong and healthy for years to come.
And just as the gardener prunes his plants, so God the Father will prune believers in order to make us more like Christ.
How does he do this? I was listening to a sermon on this passage and the preacher suggested that the way the Father prunes believers is through all the circumstances of life. And in particular, the Lord uses the troubles and sorrows and disappointments of this life to cut away all that is wrong in us and to encourage the growth of Christlikeness in us. Think of the gardener, pruning the vine, cutting the branches this way and then that way, cutting off all that will keep the vine from producing its fruit. And so, the Lord uses this circumstance, and this trial, and this painful experience to make us more like Christ.
And, of course, this is what our Bibles teach us to expect. In the book of James we read: ‘Consider it pure joy… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.’ Trials come into our lives to test and to strengthen our faith so that we learn to endure and become mature and complete Christians. And then in Hebrews 12 the author writes about how God disciplines us or he trains us for our good. Through the things that happen to us, God is at work to train us up as Christians. And then there’s Romans 8 where Paul teaches us that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. He works in and through all the circumstances of life. For what purpose? So that we will be conformed to the likeness of his Son.
So, God the Father goes snip, snip, snip in our lives, one cut here, another stroke there, another wound here. And he does it, not because he hates us and not because he’s angry with us. He does it because he’s our loving, heavenly Father and he wants to make us more like Christ.
Now while that is true, I’m not so sure that the Lord is thinking about that whenever he talks about pruning here. Take a look at verse 3. The Lord is addressing his disciples and he says to them: ‘You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.’ The word translated ‘clean’ in that verse is related to the word used for ‘pruning’ in verse 2. When the gardener prunes a branch, he is, in a sense, cleaning it, because he’s removing from the branch all the unwanted growth: all the little unnecessary shoots and leaves. So, in verse 3 the Lord is saying to his disciples that they’ve already been cut clean. And how did that happen? Look at the rest of the verse: ‘because of the word I have spoken to you.’ You see, not only does God use all the circumstances of our life to make us more like Christ, but he also uses his word to teach us and to transform us.
Whenever we hear his word, God pinpoints things in our life which are not right. He shows us how we have fallen short. And he reveals to us our sins. And he uncovers all the ways we have been unlike Christ. He uses his word like a pruning knife, and it cuts deeply into our hearts to convict us and to show us the actions and the desires and the thoughts and the attitudes which need to be cut from our lives.
And his word also has a positive effect, because whenever we read his commands, and whenever we read about the Saviour and the example he has left us, he’s showing us how we should live and what we should do.
God uses his word in our lives to change us and to make us more like Christ. And that’s why we should pay attention to the reading and preaching of God’s word and that’s why we should study God’s word at home, praying at the same time for God to use his word in our lives to change us and to produce his fruit in our lives so that we become like Christ.
Unfruitful Branches
So, the Lord has spoken about the vine and its branches and the gardener who prunes the branches to make them more fruitful. But the Lord Jesus also issues a warning about those branches that are not attached to the vine. So, he’s talking about unbelievers. And we’re looking at verse 6 where he says that if anyone does not remain in Christ the Saviour, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. It withers because it’s not attached to the life-giving vine. And a withered branch will eventually be picked up and thrown into the fire to be burned.
And so this is a warning to all those who do not believe in the Saviour, because he’s warning them that unless they trust in Christ for salvation, they will die. And afterwards they will be condemned and sent out of God’s presence to be punished for ever for all that they have done wrong. And so, every person who does not believe should give up their unbelief right away and cling to Christ by faith. And whoever clings to Christ by faith is justified and adopted and sanctified so that they become more and more like Christ.
The Lord’s love for his friends
So, verses 1 to 8 are about remaining in Christ as a branch remains in the vine. In the following verses, the Lord goes on to speak about remaining in his love.
And I’m going to jump right away to verse 13 where he describes his love for us. He says in verse 13: ‘Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.’ That’s what the Lord did for us, because when the guards came to arrest him, he gave himself into their hands and they took him away and crucified him. And in this way he gave up his life to pay for our sins. He took the blame for what we have done wrong and bore the punishment we deserve. And he laid down his life for us because of his love for us. Because of his super-abundant love for his people, he was willing to lay down his life for our salvation.
And so, instead of loving his own life, and instead of thinking of his own safety, he forgot about himself. He set aside his own safety and he laid down his life for his friends.
The Lord’s friends obey him
Well now, here’s a question for you: Who are his friends? If he laid down his life for his friends, who are his friends? Well, he tells us who his friends are in the surrounding verses. And that’s what I want us to think about now. Who are Jesus’s friends?
And the first thing we learn is this: the Lord’s friends are those who obey him. Look at verse 14 where the Lord said: ‘You are my friends if you do what I command.’
Now, we need to make a careful distinction here. We need to distinguish between how we become his friends and how we recognise his friends. Think about pupils at school. A child becomes a pupil in a school by doing well in the entrance exam and by being accepted by the school. That’s how a child becomes a pupil in a school. And once the child has become a pupil, how do you recognise them? By their uniform. People see the uniform and the badge and they can tell you go to the Boys Model or to BRA or to Methody or wherever.
So, becoming something and recognising something are two different things. And it’s the same when it comes to being a Christian. You become a Christian, or you become a friend of Jesus, by believing in him. Through faith, we’re united to Christ and we become one of his people But then, once a person has become a Christian, how can you identify them? How do we recognise the friends of the Lord Jesus? We recognise them by their desire to obey him. The Lord’s friends are those who obey him.
And his people are happy to obey him, because we regard him so highly. After all, he’s the one who loved us so much that he laid down his life for us. And so, it’s no trouble at all for us to obey him. We’re happy to obey him, because he loves us and because we love him in return.
The Lord’s friends love one another
And if the Lord’s friends obey him, then what does he want us to do?
Look at verse 12 where he says: ‘My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.’ And then look at verse 17: ‘This is my command: Love each other.’ The Lord Jesus wants his friends to love his friends. He wants his friends to love and care for one another. And that means that every member of the church should be able to count on the other members of the church for help and support and encouragement. We should be able to count on one another, because the Lord commands his friends to love his friends. He says to us: ‘Do you see all those people in church? Perhaps they’re a bit different from you. Some are older. Some are younger. Some dress differently from you and they have different interests than you. It doesn’t matter, because I want you to be friends with them. I want you to love them and care for them the way I have loved and cared for you.’
Sometimes a person is reluctant to become a Christian because he’s worried that it will mean he will lose his old friends. You know, he’s worried that his old friends who aren’t believers will not accept him if he becomes a believer. Or a Christian in school will hesitate to admit she’s a Christian because she’s worried that she will lose her friends. But the thing is: Being a Christian will mean that we have many, many, many new friends, because the Lord wants his friends to be friends with one another. And whenever someone becomes a Christian, or whenever someone starts to attend a church, they’ll soon discover that they have many, many new friends, because all of these people in church have now become their friends.
The Lord chooses his friends
And the final thing to say is that the Lord chooses his friends. Do you see that in verse 16? ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you.’
And what’s remarkable about this is that there’s nothing in the Lord’s friends which makes them stand out. There’s nothing in us that would commend us to him. It’s not as if he looked at us and said to himself: ‘He’s really good. She’s really good.’ No, he looked at us and he saw that we are sinners. He looked at us and he saw all that was wrong in our lives. He looked at us and saw all that was shameful. He saw that we deserved nothing but condemnation. But how wonderful! How wonderful! Even though he knew we were sinners, he chose us. He said: ‘I want him. I want her. Come and be my friend.’
And look at the result of his choice. Verse 16 again: ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.’ So, when he first saw us, we were covered in sin and shame. And yet, because he is gracious and full of kindness, he chose us and he justified us and he adopted us into his family and he then does what? He sanctifies us. He works in our lives to bring us to perfection. He works in our lives to make us more like Christ. He chose us to bear fruit so that we will become like the Saviour more and more.
And that brings us back to the first part of today’s passage. Even though we’re sinners, the Lord chose us to become like Christ. He chose us to be conformed to the image of his Son. He chose us so that the fruit of Christlikeness will be produced in us. And this is to the Father’s glory: that we bear much fruit, showing ourselves to be his disciples.
