What does remaining in the vine mean?

 John 15:1-17

To me this passage of scripture (John 15:1-17) shows us a wonderful picture of how God loves his children both as individual people and corporately as the Church of Jesus Christ. In these verses we are shown a picture of true fathering by a loving Dad.

It shows a love that nurtures, encourages, teaches, and disciplines. It teaches that we face consequences when we step out of line with the parameters (the Bible) that the Father has set for us, when we wilfully remove ourselves from his shade and covering and walk in disobedience to our loving Father.

God is love and he expects his children (the Church) to love one another as he loves us!

1 John 4:7-12 (NIV) 

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 

The Apostle John in his The Gospel of John and in his letters to the Church (1, 2 and 3 John) shows us in the way he writes, that he has such a special brotherly love relationship with the Lord and is thus able to write about God’s love for us with such truth and conviction. The heart of love he had both for the Lord and for his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, could very well be the reason why the Lord chose him to close off the Bible by bringing us the last and final chapter in the Bible to us, the Revelation of Jesus Christ to His Church!

Right, now that we have set the scene in love, let’s continue looking at our main topic of ‘remaining in the vine.’

From John 15:1-17 I will attempt to give a simple explanation of our topic by splitting the verses into three sections. Firstly verses 1 – 5, secondly verses 5-8 and lastly verses 9-17.

John 15:1-5 (NIV) 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 

 

When we examine our first section in verses 1-5 above, what do we see?

We see that Jesus is the vine and that God the Father is the gardener. He tends the vine, moulds it and shapes it. Jesus is in total submission to the will of the Father (Matthew 26:39) even unto death on a cross, just as a vine is to the one who tends it, the gardener.

Matt 26:39 

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 

• Jesus is the vine and we, the Church, both as individuals and corporately, are the branches. And when we are in Christ Jesus (born-again) the Father tends us as well, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

• God cuts off every branch that bears no fruit. What fruit should we be bearing? I believe it is the Fruit of the Spirit and the good works that proceed from us when we live life in the Spirit – when we are led by the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was when he was ministering on earth in his human capacity! Let the Fruit of the Spirit be manifest in us and through us to others. Just as they were in Jesus! We should continually bear good fruit just as we should be continually filled with the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

 

Ephesians 5:18 (AMP) 

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is wickedness (corruption, stupidity), but be filled with the [Holy] Spirit and constantly guided by Him. 

 

Jeremiah 17:7-8 (AMP) 

7 “Blessed [with spiritual security] is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord

And whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord.

8 “For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters,

That spreads out its roots by the river;

And will not fear the heat when it comes;

But its leaves will be green and moist.

And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of drought

Nor stop bearing fruit. 

•  As we walk in Christ Jesus, God leads us into maturity by pruning us so that we will bear more good fruit and will continue to bear good fruit. Sometimes this pruning can be quite painful as he cuts away the things of the world that are still clinging to us!

• Jesus tells us that we are already clean because we, if we are born-again, are in him. But……we must remain in him, being obedient to His Word (Bible) in every way and being led by the Holy Spirit. If we don’t remain in the vine (Jesus) there is a consequence! The Father will cut off every branch (any of us) that does not remain in Jesus and bear much fruit.

Let’s now examine verses 6 – 8 below.

 ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Let’s pause here from our topic and examine two words in verse six – ‘fire’ and ‘burned.’

The Greek word for fire used here is ‘pur’ (ref: Strongs 4442) and refers to the eternal or everlasting fire of God, or as we know it best, Hell! The place of eternal torment and separation from God – spiritual death. This is the same word for fire used in Matt 25:41 (NIV):

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

And now looking at the Greek word for burned which is ‘kaio’ – pronounced ‘kha-yo’ (ref: Strongs 2545) and means ‘I burn’ or ‘I consume with fire.’

What do we learn from verses 6 – 8?

• If we do not remain in him, if we fall away and don’t return in full, heart-felt repentance as the Prodigal Son did, we run the risk of withering and being thrown into the fire and burned. This speaks of being cast into Hell!

Once saved always saved? What about the great falling away – the Apostasy?

2 Thessalonians 2:3 (AMP)

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 

You can’t fall away from something unless you were first a part of it!

You decide for yourself! As for me, I we will remain in the vine and come back to the Lord very quickly with a repentant heart when I slip! But I will try my best not to slip! For me it is important to say sorry to my heavenly Father, just as I would to my earthly father, when I slip even though I am covered by the blood of the lamb!

•  If we remain in Jesus, our prayers will be heard and will be answered, if we ask with the right motives, in love and in accordance with the will of the Father.

James 4:3 (NIV)

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

 

Luke 22:42 (NIV)

 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 

•  When we bear much fruit – it will be to God’s (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) glory!

The next verses, 9 – 17, are all about the Father’s heart of love!

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

These last verses (9 – 17) in our topic passage are incredibly beautiful and expound the kind of love that the Father has for us and the kind of love that we should have for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ (His Church).

10 loving benefits we receive from remaining in the vine, John 1:1-17.

• We will be cleansed – purified (pruned) – vs 2. The word prunes here is from the Greek word ‘kathairo’ meaning: make clean by purging (removing undesirable elements); hence, "pruned (purged)"; eliminating what is fruitless by purifying.

• We will be fruitful – vs 2. The fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV)

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

•  Jesus will remain in us – vs 4.

• We can ask whatever we wish, and it will be given to us – vs 7 & 16. But remembering James 4:3 above.

• We will be His disciples – vs 8.

• We will bring glory to the Father through Jesus – vs 8.

• We will remain in His love – vs 10.

•  His joy will be in us and will be complete – vs 11. Joy is a facet of the fruit of the Spirit.

• We will be His friend and he will show us all that the Father has shown him through the Comforter he sent to us – the holy Spirit! – vs 14. The Holy Spirit leads and guides us in all truth and brings us the gifts of the Spirit.

John 14:26 (AMP)

 But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.

 

John 16:12-13 (NKJV)

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 

• We will be chosen and appointed – vs 16. We are a royal priesthood.

1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV)

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

On the downside if we don’t remain in Him:

• We will be cut off – vs 2.

• We will not bear good fruit – vs 4.

• We will not be able to do anything – vs 5.

• We will be thrown in the fire and burned– vs 6.

• Sin will rule us if we do not remain in the vine, remain in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:12-14 (NKJV)

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Who would want to be without Him?

Who would not want to remain in the vine?

Prayer:

Dear Lord, help me to remain in you always. Lead me and guide me in my daily walk in the power of your Holy Spirit. When I slip, Lord, help me to return to you quickly with a true repentant heart as your servant David did. Help me to be a man/woman after your own heart that my lifestyle, my actions, and my speech may glorify the name of Jesus. Help me, Lord, to love others as you love me. In the precious Name of Jesus. Amen.

 To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!

Jesus the Name above all names!

 

Remember: Reading this article is no substitute for reading and studying the Bible for yourself. My word is flawed the Bible is not!