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I Am The Vine (John 15:1-8) Jesus encourages His disciples to continue faithfully with Him. |
I Am The Vine (John 15:1-8)
Jesus exhorts His disciples to continue faithfully with Him.
- As the vine, He has a special relationship to the Father
- He and the Father are One (John 10:30).
- The husbandman would care for the vine and thus also for the branches on the vine.
- They trusted in God (John 14:1), now he calls on them to trust and follow Him as well.
- As the vine, He provides life for the branches.
- He has already presented Himself as the only source of life (John 11:25, 14:6).
- Being attached to the vine is necessary for life and fruit-bearing (v4-5); yet some see no need for abiding in the vine (Matt. 7:21-23) and others have accepted substitutes (Eph. 1:22-23, 4:4-6).
- We must abide in the vine by initial and continued obedience to His will (Gal. 3:27; Acts 2:47; Jn 8:31, 15:7-10).
- As the vine, He is the source of fruit-bearing.
- Bearing fruit is a necessity of the Christian life (v2) and brings glory to the Father (v8).
- Again this requires being in the vine and all who do not bear fruit are cut off (v2).
- The fruit of the christian life ought to be evident in all (Matt. 5:16; Gal. 5:22-23; 2 Pet. 1:5-8).
John wants us to see and to know Jesus (John 20:30-31); Jesus invites us to come and know Him, learn who He really is, and He ends with the invitation to abide with Him! Will you?
