Written ~ 04-24-2024
Read John Chapter Fifteen
John 15
The first eight verses of chapter fifteen have been favorites of mine for as long as I can remember! I can’t wait to dive into these verses!
John 15:1-8…
1 “I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of Mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me.
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 Anyone who does not remain in Me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are My true disciples. This brings great glory to My Father.”
All I can say when I read these verses is “THIS IS SO AWESOME!”
When I think about a grapevine with healthy, green leaves and plump, juicy clusters of grapes… I can’t help but also notice the vine tendrils. The next time you get to see a grapevine (whether in person or in a picture) notice the tendrils. They wrap around and coil themselves around the support. You can see them reaching out, looking for its strength (could be a trellis or a fence) to cling to and attach itself to. What a wonderful visual! As those tendrils wrap around the vine, so we are to wrap ourselves around the Word of God! What is the result? Beautiful, healthy, juicy fruit! And what are the fruits we bear when we stay fastened to the Word of God? “Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control…” (Galatians 5:22)
What if we decide to loosen our grip and the tendrils of our heart begin to unwind, what will happen then? They will dry up and start to wither, eventually everything can fall apart, get trampled on and become crushed. John 15:6 says… “Anyone who does not remain in Me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers…” The result of us not remaining attached and “coiled” around Jesus and the Word of God is a withered spirit. If we don’t reattach soon we can fall away and be trampled on and crushed, it’s possible we will allow our sinful nature to become the support for our coiling tendrils. Verse 15:4, “…Remain in Me and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me.”
I love the way The Message Bible (MSG) translates verse 15:4…
4 “Live in Me. Make your home in Me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with Me.”
The warning in this passage is to not allow yourself to be unattached to The Vine. Which could mean you either haven’t given your heart to the Lord, so you have never attached yourself to Him in the first place, or you have allowed the darkness of this world to steal your joy and you pull yourself away from the Lord. It’s possible to become so withered that you become a useless branch. Anyone who is not attached to The Vine will wither and be thrown into the fire (vs.15:6).
But the promise! If we remain in the Lord and His Words remain in us and we produce much fruit, we are His true disciples. We bring glory to God when we cling to the Lord and allow Him to nourish us from the inside out!
After this wonderful illustration Jesus continues…
John 15:9-14…
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love. 10 When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is My commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command.”
You and I are not perfect, there is no way we can love the way Christ loved us without His help. Verse 15:12 says that this is a commandment from the Lord to love each other in the same way He loved us! Jesus came to this earth to serve, to show unconditional love to those who were sick, hurting and dying, to show a way to life. Our purpose as born-again believers is to serve one another, to love unconditionally, go beyond the call of duty to show a sacrificial love, to lead others to the life altering love of Christ. That’s difficult sometimes, isn’t it? Especially if your life circumstances are much less desirable than what you had planned. But God does not give us any exceptions to the command to love another. He doesn’t say if your circumstances are difficult, or if your life isn’t going the way you had planned, then it’s ok, you don’t have to love and serve one another for a time, you can wait until your life gets better, then you can love the way Christ loves. No, if we have the love of Christ within us, we must obey, we must serve, we must love, at all times.
Some may think that following a bunch of rules and regulations would be oppressive and cause life to be dull and boring. But quite the opposite is true when you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul. The Lord produces within your spirit a joy that can only come from Him. Life can be a delight, even if your circumstances are less than desirable. The joy of the Lord can and should break through! Every single one of us is going through something, with varying degrees of difficulty, but we are called to love.
So… Where is our joy hiding? Where is the love and servanthood concealed? It’s understandable to have a rough go of things, things happen in life that throw us for a loop, and it may take time to regain some sort of normalcy. And during that time, you may find your joy is tucked away, so hidden that it’s almost nonexistent. In your circumstance, whatever that looks like for you, we are all different, whatever is keeping you from living life to its fullest, ask Jesus to fill you each day with His love, ask for His joy to overflow your spirit. And start practicing it out loud! If you only keep it locked away deep within, how is that loving one another as Christ loves? It’s nearly impossible to show the love of the Lord to those around you if you just want to keep it for yourself. Joy is extremely contagious when you let it out and share it with others!
We have read what Jesus says about remaining in Him and having His Word remain in us… we have read that it is vital to love one another as He has loved us… we have read that our joy can overflow… and we have read that we are the Lord’s friends if we do as He commands. Everything seems pretty great, right?
But we will find out that this chapter does not continue with fruit, love and joy… No, it continues with another warning…
John 15:18-25…
18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you. 21 They will do all this to you because of Me, for they have rejected the One who sent Me. 22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Anyone who hates Me also hates My Father. 24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate Me and My Father. 25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated Me without cause.’
As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, we are no longer apart of this world. The world does not see Jesus the way we see Him. So our message of Salvation may not go over very well for those who do not want to accept it. Anyone who has not yet put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is a part of the world who hates Him! Think about that! If you haven’t given your life over to the Lord, if you have chosen not to believe in who He is, in reality you are just as bad as those who persecuted Him in the New Testament! Verse 15:20 says quite plainly, “…Since they persecuted Me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to Me, they would listen to you.” So, fellow believers, we have a target on our backs with the world’s refusal to know the Lord aimed right at us. We need to have wisdom and remain in the Lord and come to terms that because of that hatred they do not want the message of Jesus’ love and life giving Salvation to change their minds. So they will do whatever they can to stop our message from getting out. If you are reading this and don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, think about it… what have you done or said that has caused the message of Jesus Christ to be silenced. If you have made your decision to refuse the Word of the Lord as Truth, you have fulfilled what the Scriptures have said about Jesus… “They hate Me without cause.”
Ok… let’s end with a bit of good news!
John 15:26-27…
26 “But I will send you the Advocate – the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about Me. 27 And you must also testify about Me because you have been with Me from the beginning of My ministry.”
The Holy Spirit’s work within us will help us testify who the Lord Jesus Christ is, He is the truth and He’s the only way to the Father. The Holy Spirit will go before us as we proclaim the Name of Lord! He will help pave the way. So even if verses 15:18-25 seemed a little hopeless, we have got to remember we have the Power of Heaven behind us every step of the way! Through our love, through our joy we will spread the Good News of Jesus Christ!
Quick review of chapter 15…
I am the Vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!
Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
I will send you the Advocate – the Spirit of Truth.
When you produce much fruit, you are My true disciples. This brings great Glory to My Father.
~AMEN~