OUR NEED FOR PURPOSE

This is a study about how Jesus meets our deepest needs. So this is one more of Jesus’ “I am” statements and how our lives can be filled with purpose. Many fill their lives with activity: work schedules, religious activities, sports (like the volleyball night that we all attended), family events, and community meetings. Many times we let ourselves get so busy that our true purpose gets lost at least temporarily. But the question underlying all the busyness is “What is the purpose?” Some people fill their lives with activity either to find a since of purpose or to mask the lack of purpose they feel. Many of these people never give Jesus a chance to give them a purpose in life. When we depend on Jesus and stay close to Him, He fills our lives with purpose. Jesus is the vine who empowers us to live productive lives for God.

Read John 15:1-3

These verses continue with Jesus relaying necessary truth to His as-yet-unsuspecting disciples- with two particular distinctions. It was later in the evening after the Last Supper. The location had shifted out of the upper room (14:3). Perhaps Jesus and the disciples were walking to the Mount of Olives and the Garden of Gethsemane, maybe they had already arrived or stopped along the way. However, they passed the Temple. On the front of the Temple was an elaborately embossed golden vine. Here Jesus mad an analogy that almost functions in John’s Gospel as the equivalent of a parable found in the other Gospels. This analogy connects beautifully with the last supper scene in chapter 13. The group had partaken of the fruit of the vine. So Jesus used the supper experience and said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vineyard keeper”.

Then Jesus began to teach His disciples with a metaphor instantly recognizable at two levels. One level was common, well-known rural life of the countryside (the Jewish world of Judea was rural). So the disciples had an understanding of vines, vineyards and those who tended to them. More importantly, the second level was religious. This analogy of Israel as a vineyard and God as the vineyard keeper was a common figure of Jewish prophets and poets (Ps. 80:8; Isa. 5:7; Hos. 10:1). To the disciples would be familiar with hearing about vines and vineyards in a religious or spiritual context.

With the symbol of the vine in the background of their thinking and the vine on the Temple before their eyes, Jesus stated that He was the true vine, the real and authentic vine. The nation Israel, symbolized by the vine, had grown wild, but Jesus had been obedient to the will of the Father. The Father was their gardener who tended and cared for the vine. The gardener of the vine was so careful that he pruned the branches to encourage them to bear more fruit and cut off the unproductive branches (v.2). He was not the kind of vinedresser who simply let his vines grow their own wild and undisciplined way. Instead, he exerted constant and concerned care over the vine so that it would be the most productive vine possible.

Jesus makes a distinction between two kinds of pruning: 1) cutting off and 2) cutting back branches. In other words, God must sometimes discipline us to strengthen our character and faith. But branches that don’t bear fruit are cut off at the trunk not only because they are worthless but also because they often infect the rest of the tree. People who don’t bear fruit for God or who try to block the efforts of God’s followers will be cut off from His life-giving power.

Read John 15:4-7

Lack of follow through is one of the key issues of following Jesus. That is why Jesus said, “Remain in Me”. Basically, this translates into maintain our relationship with Him. As the branches of a vine strengthen and sustenance from the vine, so were they strengthened and sustained by abiding in Him (v.4).  By abiding in Him they would be productive and fruitful. But the only way they could be fruitful was through abiding in Him. The relationship of unity between the believer and Christ is as close as that of the branches and the vine. In fact, Jesus made it more explicit when He said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (v.5). A branch could not live unless it had a life-sustaining relationship to the vine. In this application Jesus made it clear that the believer lived in that kind of life-sustaining union with Himself. Without that union they could do nothing. In that union they could be productive.

The fruit for the Christian is a Christ-like life. It is the production of those characteristics of life expressed in Jesus Christ Himself. As He lived in love and followed the Father’s will in obedience the believer is to be marked by those same traits. Verse 6 states that a pruning process goes on. With cultivation of any vine the dead wood is cut off and the branches are cut back so they can produce more. Judas Iscariot had already left the group. At one point, many turned back from following Him (6:66-what a likely verse number to state that).  Others whose commitment was only lip service would also leave. True disciples would remain faithful to the end. The discipline of the disciples would go on. They would face hard times and tough decisions during the arrest, trial, and crucifixion. Yet through the discipline of pruning a hardier, more productive vine results. The abiding relationship with the vine is essential for life.

One of the promises of the abiding relationship is answered prayer (v.7). Notice that the relationship with Christ is not simply emotional and subjective. As the believer abides in Christ and the words of Christ abide in Him, the believer can ask in prayer and receive the answer. It is not a matter of any whim being granted but of maintaining such relationship to Christ in faith and in conformity with His teachings that what one asks would be in line with God’s will.

What does “remaining in Christ” look like in our daily life? (I like the thought that our daily life should be such that the non-believer will not understand our life.)

Remaining in Christ means 1) believing that He is God’s Son (1 John 4:15, 2) receiving Him as Savior and Lord (John 1:12), 3) doing what God says (1 John 3:24), 4) continuing to believe the Good News (1 John 2:24), and 5) relating in love to the community of believers, Christ (John 15:12).

Read John 15:8

Many people try to be good, honest people who do what is right. But Jesus says that the only way to live a truly good life is to stay close to Him, like a branch attached to the vine. Apart from Christ our efforts are unfruitful. If we are not receiving the nourishment and life offered by Christ, the vine, we’re missing a special gift He has for us. When a vine produces “much fruit”, God is glorified. For daily He sends the sunshine and rain to make the crops grow, and constantly He nurtured each tiny plant and prepared it to blossom. What a moment of glory for the Lord of the harvest when the harvest is brought into the “barns”, mature and ready for use. How clear is that for bringing others to the saving of Jesus and having them also share their faith.

The Father is glorified through the answered prayer (v.8). The things they ask and what they want -would be in such conformity with the character of Christ and the will of God that the result would bring glory and praise to God. The proof of the disciple is a character in conformity with the character of Christ.

To summarize John 15:1-8, there are three things that are clear: 1) the vine analogy is a call to growth; 2) the vine analogy is a call to Christian community; and 3) the vine analogy is an invitation to salvation. What is a better purpose than this?

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