John 15 - Jesus Chose Us Before We Could Choose Him!
John 15 - NIV
The Vine and the Branches
15 “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[a] 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.
In his gospel John is the master of metaphor. The living water, light and darkness, the bread of life, the gate for the sheep, and today, the vine and branches. In the Old Testament Israel is called the True Vine of God. God planted Israel in the middle of the world to bear fruit to the nations of God's love. In yet another "I am" statement from Jesus, He says he is the "true vine" and we are the "branches". The Father is the "gardener" and he prunes every branch so it might bear more fruit.
Branches that are not bearing fruit are cut off. Why? That seems harsh. But the bottom line is that this branch is sucking valuable resources from the Vine. When this branch is cut off those resources go to fruit producing branches, so the fruit grows exponentially.
The word for "prunes" also means "cleans" or "purifies". So Jesus using a play on words here. Though the branches are made clean by Jesus' death on the cross, they need to continued to be purified and pruned. We are saved or "purified", but we will continued to be pruned the rest of our lives.
Though we are clean we still need to "remain" or "abide" in Jesus. The only way a branch can bear fruit is by abiding in the Vine. In the same way without remaining in Jesus, we can bear no spiritual fruit.
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. 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.
Jesus teaches a humbling truth to his disciples when he says, "Apart from me you can do nothing!" - John 15:5
This verse is one of the most quoted verses in the Lutheran Confessions. To remain in Jesus is to do the things he would do if he were you. It is also the relationship we have with him, which we nurture through prayer and reading His Word, the bible. Jesus is at the center of the scriptures, so when we read the bible it is always pointing back to him. When we obey what he says we bear fruit as a result of abiding in him.
The Old Testament points to him. The gospels reveal him. The letters remind us of him.The last book of the bible tells us about his return.
We bear fruit when we show ourselves to be Jesus' disciples.
Fruit could be looked at in terms of the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Or, the fruit of the church accomplishing the Great Commission. I.e. Making disciples of all nations teaching them to obey all that Jesus commanded.
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.
Of course the greatest fruit is love. God is love, and God showed us his love by sending Jesus. Jesus showed us what true love looked like, which is sacrificial. It is looking at other's interests as greater than our own. - Philippians 2 Jesus gave us a new commandment to love each other as he loved us. That is a pretty tall order! After all, Jesus laid down his life and suffered on the cross to give us eternal life.
The other aspect of this is obedience to Jesus' commands, the primary one being to love others as He loved us. But there is a great promise he teaches us about here as well. When we live in this way, Jesus' joy lives in us too. He says that his purpose is that we might experience the "complete joy", he enjoys with the Father. The joy Jesus gives us is better than the happiness the world offers us. We can have joy in any and every situation even when we are suffering.
We were once at odds with God because of our sin, but now we have become friends with God through Jesus. Jesus' friendship with us included laying down his life for us and also sharing everything the Father had made know to him with us.
Jesus reminds us of something very important when he says, "You did not choose me, but I choose you!" We often use the term "I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior", which is great. But we always need to remember that Jesus chose us before we chose him. Better language might be that we received or accepted His great love for us. We have accepted the grace He has given us by faith.
In his first chapter John uses this language which is what I am getting at.
"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." John 1:12
A good question to ask someone would be have you received Jesus yet by believing in Him? This keeps it from being a work. It is like opening a gift someone has given you. Believing in Jesus is accepting the gift he has given you by restoring your relationship with God through his death and resurrection.
The World Hates the Disciples
18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’[c]
Unfortunately though love would be the calling card of Jesus' disciples, the world will hate them like they hated Jesus. The world hated Jesus, because he convicted the world of sin. As we live life as his disciples, it can often convict people of their sin. This will cause them to not like us, because it might reveal in them something they don't want to deal with.
Jesus revealed the love of God so when someone rejects his free offer of forgiveness they stand condemned. Anyone who has heard the gospel and rejects it now is responsible for their own sin. Jesus stood in our place on the cross, but if someone doesn't believe in Jesus, they will be accountable for their own sin.
There are not better or worse sinners.
Paul spells this out clearly in the book of Romans with these three verses, often called the "Romans Road".
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23
"The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus!" - Romans 6:23
"There is there for no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" Romans 8:1
Those who have heard this message and disregarded it have no excuse. There are still those who have never heard this message. I personally believe that is one of the reasons Jesus has not returned yet. God wants all people to be saved, and he has given the church the mission to reach all nations with the Good News.
Many churches do little to reach out and spread the gospel. They are content to have a nice little congregation, which keeps all its members happy. The only problem is that this is not the church Jesus started on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit spoke powerfully through the apostles, who also did great signs and wonders which drew people to Christ.
Although you can't judge a church by numbers alone, if a church is never reaching anyone for Christ, you have to wonder what is happening in that church? It is certainly not a New Testament church.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
We see the work and roles of the three persons of the Trinity. The Father sent Jesus. Jesus revealed the Father's love and plan of salvation. The Holy Spirit reminds us of everything Jesus has taught us and is with us forever. The Holy Spirit also convicts us of our sin and our need of a Savior.
As Martin Luther taught families in the Small Catechism about the Holy Spirit,
"It is not by own effort that I have come to know Jesus as Lord, but the Holy Spirit has called me, enlightened me, and kept me in the one truth faith."
What the church needs more of is the Holy Spirit. Let us pray together, "Come Holy Spirit and fill your church like on the Day of Pentecost, so we can reach all the nations with the gospel!"
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