John 15 – The Vine & the branches

John 15 has been a favorite passage of mine for many years. This past semester I had the privilege of teaching it in CWH and my understanding of this passage was revolutionized because for the first time I was studying it within the context of studying the entire book of John. Below are some thoughts excerpted from my message specifically on why we can be assured of God’s love for us despite some challenging verses in John 15.

In verses 2 and 6 of this chapter we are faced with an the image of branches being cut off or taken away if they do not bear fruit. How should we understand these verses? First we have to understand that when Jesus used the image of the Vine and the branches, He wasn’t just using a word picture. He was speaking of a reality that existed then and continues to exist today. Jesus is the vine and we are in Him. Jesus was replacing Israel as God’s true vine. As the vine, Jesus came to give us His life—the very life that He shares with the Father.

The fruit-bearing in these verses is a sign that we are experiencing the life of the Father/Son. But the fruit is not the evidence by which we demonstrate that we belong in the vineyard. We are in the vineyard because God has placed us in the vineyard. That would have made complete sense to the disciples – that was how Israel viewed themselves. If you were an Israelite, then you were in the vine. Jesus is saying if you are a human, in fact, if you are anything created – you are bound up in Me (See Colossians 1).

Many people over the years have thought this passage is about salvation and the branches that are cut off and burned are about people who lose their salvation. When I look at this passage I don’t see how that can be true when you take into account several contexts. The overall context of the book of John would tell us that John doesn’t think that way about salvation. John’s view of salvation is that it is a finished work,that was accomplished by the Father/Son. In John 10:29 Jesus says, that those whom He is giving eternal life are given to Him by His Father and that his Father is greater than all; and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand. The immediate context of John 15 which is sandwiched in between 2 chapters on the Unearthly Assurance brought by the Holy Spirit, also points towards this passage not being about salvation. The rest of the John 15 also points this direction. The second half of John 15 is about the persecution the disciples will face from the world. The context of Jesus audience also pushes us away from this being about salvation. Jesus is speaking to His 11 disciples. Is Jesus really worried that one of his disciples is going to lose their salvation?

So to ask questions about eternal security from this passage is really trying to force it to answer questions that John never intended to answer with this passage. Those questions aren’t even in the ballpark. I don’t think they ever entered John’s mind.

So then, what does Jesus mean by the branches that get cut off and burned? I’m not completely sure, but here’s what I think. In verse 2 – when it says the Father takes a branch away or cuts it off, I think it is referring to the way the Father tended the vine of Israel in the Old Testament. If Israel was not bearing fruit, God would in a sense cut them off from Himself. He would cut them off from His protection and allow another nation to come in and rule over them. Eventually, Israel would turn back towards God and God would rescue them. But through all of that they were still His chosen nation – His vine. I think verse 6 is a continuation of this view. Jesus is saying, if you refuse my life, the life of the vine, you’ll be like a branch that is thrown away. If you refuse my life, if you refuse the very source of life, you’ll start to dry up. If you refuse my life, you’ll be moving towards destruction. Not destruction in the eternal sense, nowhere in this passage are we talking about our experience beyond this world. Jesus is speaking specifically about our experience in this world.

What does he mean by destruction or being burned? I think the burning is referring specifically to what they did to actual branches. I think this is just like the reference in John 12:37-43 about the hardening of hearts. In Dan’s message on that passage he talked about how God honors our choices. He honors the choices of people who choose not to believe that Jesus was the Father’s Son. He honors the choices of people who choose not to walk in the light that Jesus brings and instead stay in their darkness. He honors your choices. If you choose not to partake in His life, then you’ll start to dry up and wither away in your life on this earth. Jesus knows this and He really doesn’t want that to happen to his followers. He doesn’t want that experience for them and He doesn’t want it for other people either. He knows what is coming that’s why He wants us to abide in His life. In the second half of John 15 Jesus tells His followers to expect persecution from the world. The world is going to hate them because they are experiencing Jesus life. The world is going to hate them because the world has chosen not to believe. Jesus knows that the world will do whatever it can to separate them from His life. They will cast them out of the synagogues and even kill them. The worst thing that could happen after Jesus leaves would be for the disciples to renounce their faith. Now understand what I mean by that, if they renounce their faith, it doesn’t change anything about their salvation. Salvation is a finished work accomplished by Jesus & the Father on the cross. What renouncing their faith means is that they move back into darkness – the darkness of what the world thinks about God.

The danger is the same for us today. The world will do everything it can to separate us from Jesus and His Father and their life. Satan and the world will tell us lies:

• That God doesn’t love us…
• That salvation isn’t a finished work…
• That the circumstances in your life prove God doesn’t love you…
• That you have to be obedient for God to love you…
• That you have to accept Jesus for God to love you…
• That life is better without God…
• That you have to stop sinning for God to love you…
• That you have to spend almost every morning reading your Bible to have a relationship with God…

Remember, each of the bulleted statements above is a LIE!

The only thing that can keep you from experiencing Jesus love and life this very moment is your own decision to refuse it. Right now, at this very moment the Father loves you, He is crazy about you, He rejoices over you with singing, He is jumping up and down He is so excited to be with you!

Romans 8:31-39 (NASB)
³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
³³ Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;
³⁴ who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
³⁶ Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus words to you right now are the same words he gave to his closest followers…ABIDE IN ME! ABIDE IN MY LOVE!

Keep Seeking Jesus…Matt