Abiding in the Vine, Living as Friends

Abiding in the Vine, Living as Friends

John 15:1-17

Over the last several weeks, we have had a number of storms come through our area, and every time another storm rolls through, more sticks and branches seem to end up scattered across my yard. I have not been as diligent about picking them up as I should have been, so this past week I finally walked around gathering them. Some of those branches had been lying there for several days, a few others for a couple of weeks. When they first fell, their leaves were still green. If you tried to break one, you might have had a hard time because there was still moisture in the wood. But after several days, those same branches had changed. The leaves had curled and turned brown, the wood had dried out, and they became very brittle. When I picked them up, I could break them without much effort to put in the yard cart.

What happened? The branch had been separated from its source of life. It did not become brittle immediately. For a while it still looked alive, but once it was disconnected from the tree, it could not sustain itself. The same principle applies to our spiritual life. When we become disconnected to the source of life, we become brittle and dried out more easily to be broken by the world. 

It may be through distraction and busyness or it may be through secret rebellion against God’s word, regardless you feel spiritually dry. If you are a Christian, this message will invite you back to the source of all life. If you are not a Christia , this message is to invite you to the source of life for the first time. 

When we feel dry, our instinct is often to say, “I need to try harder. I need to get myself together. I need to be stronger.” We want to place the emphasis on the “I.” But the Lord Jesus does not tell the branch to become stronger, he simply says, “Abide in me.” The Christian life was never meant to be lived independently from Christ. We never graduate from needing Him and his people for Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

In John 15:1–17, Jesus gives us two beautiful pictures of what it means to belong to Him. First, we are branches connected to the Vine and we are friends loved by the Savior. So I want us to ask two questions this morning: Are you abiding in the Vine? And are you living in the friendship of Jesus?

Are You Abiding in the Vine? (vv. 1-11)

Chapter 14 ended with Jesus telling his disciples,  “Rise, let us go from here.” The disciples are on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane after having the Passover together in the upper room. The conversation continues either as they are traveling or when they arrive in the Kidron valley or in the Garden. There are three things I want us to see as we ask ourselves our question, the first.

1. Jesus is the True Vine  (vv. 1-3)

Jesus begins, John 15:1, 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.”

When Jesus says, “I am the true vine,” His disciples would have recognized the image immediately. Throughout the Old Testament, God pictured Israel as His vine. Psalm 80:8, says “You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.” 

God rescued Israel from Egypt and planted His people in the land. In Isaiah 5, God describes Himself carefully preparing a vineyard, planting choice vines, building a watchtower, and digging a wine vat. He had done everything necessary for the vine to flourish, yet when He looked for good grapes, Isaiah 5:2 says, “It yielded wild grapes.” Meaning God did see righteous deeds, but sin, injustice and rebellion.

Jeremiah (2:21), Ezekiel (15, 17, 19), and Hosea (10) use the same imagery. The story is consistent. God planted the vine and cared for the vine. God expected good fruit from the vine, yet Israel repeatedly failed to produce the fruit God desired. 

Israel was chosen to display God's glory among the nations. Notice again Jesus’ words for He does not merely say, “I am a vine,” He says, “I am the true vine.” Everything Israel was called to be ultimately finds its fulfillment in Him. Israel failed to produce the fruit God required. Jesus will not. The blessing God intends to bring to the nations ultimately flows through Christ.  Jesus continues, John 15:2,  “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” 

The Father is actively caring for His vineyard, and pruning the branches. One of two things will happen, the first, like me in my yard, God will remove all the dead branches that do not bear fruit. Some interpret this referring to believers who do not bear fruit as Jesus says, “every branch in me.” I think a better interpretation is that these branches claim to be connected but never truly believe. This has been a common teaching in John and the branches in verse 2 seem to be the branches in verse 6, “the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” Fire is a common symbol for divine judgment. 

The second thing that Father will do is He will prune the branches that are already bearing fruit. Sometimes the Father's careful attention hurts. When I began as an athlete, I did not enjoy receiving corrections from my coach. Fix your stance. Move your feet. Do it again. Who likes to be corrected, but something my coach told me has helped shape Christian life. He said, “Kiehn, if I stop correcting you, that is when you should worry because it means I don't think you can get any better.” That changed the way I thought about correction. The correction was not evidence that he had given up on me. It was evidence that he still believed I could improve. He saw potential for me to bear more fruit if you will. 

Kids, there is something here for you too. Sometimes it can feel like your parents are always correcting you. Clean your room. Watch your attitude. Tell the truth. Be kind to your brother or sister. Do what you were asked the first time. You may wonder why they correct you so often. One reason is because they love you and believe in your potential to bear fruit for the Lord. Good parents correct their children because they care about the people they are becoming. 

Beloved, God prunes what He intends to make fruitful. Sometimes He exposes sin we would rather ignore. Sometimes He removes something we desperately wanted to keep.

Sometimes He allows disappointment, correction, or circumstances we never would have chosen. Some of you may be experiencing that right now. Do not immediately conclude that the Father's pruning means the Father has abandoned you. The hand holding the pruning knife belongs to the Vinedresser who loves His vineyard and intends to produce greater fruit.

Then Jesus reassures His disciples in verse 3, “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” The word translated “clean” is closely related to the word translated “prunes” in verse 2. Jesus does not want the disciples to mistake pruning for condemnation. Judas has departed, but these eleven have received Christ’s word and belong to Him. They are not made clean by their fruit; they bear fruit because Christ has made them clean through His word. The Christian life begins with the cleansing word of the gospel, and it continues as that same word exposes sin, corrects our desires, and shapes us into the likeness of Christ. Before Jesus commands them to abide, He reminds them of what His grace has already accomplished: “Already you are clean.”

2. Abide in Christ and Bear Fruit (vv. 4-8)

Jesus says, John 15:4,

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” 

Here is the heart of Jesus' illustration. A branch does not bear fruit by trying harder. It bears fruit because it remains connected to the vine. The vine supplies the life. That is what I saw in my yard. The branch could look alive for a little while after it fell, but eventually its condition became obvious. Once it was separated from its source of life, it could not sustain itself.

That is why Jesus says, “Abide in me.” To abide means to remain, continue, or stay. Christianity is not coming to Jesus once and then gradually learning to live without Him. We never graduate from dependence upon Christ. The Christian life begins by depending upon Jesus, continues by depending upon Jesus, and ends with us still depending upon Jesus. Even in heaven, we will be dependent upon Jesus. We never outgrow our need for Christ. 

Jesus makes that even clearer, John 15:5,

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” 

Those words confront our self-sufficiency. We try our wisdom, our plans, our abilities, and our resources, and then when everything else fails, we pray. Jesus says we need Him for everything.

You cannot overcome sin apart from Christ. You cannot faithfully love your family apart from Christ. You cannot endure suffering apart from Christ. I cannot preach faithfully apart from Christ. We cannot build a healthy church, make disciples, or reach our neighbors apart from Christ. Whatever gifts, experience, resources, or plans we may have, none of them can substitute for the life that comes from Jesus. 

One way to discern your self-sufficiency is to consider how you respond when someone corrects you or offers to help you. Do you become defensive, short, or bitter when someone questions your judgment or suggests another way? Do you resist asking for help because you want to prove that you can handle everything yourself? Our reactions often reveal how deeply we believe everything depends on us. A branch does not need to prove that it can survive alone. It receives everything it needs from the vine. Abiding in Christ means humbly admitting, “I cannot do this on my own,” and gratefully receiving the help He provides through prayer, His Word, and His people. 

Jesus tells us how we abide in him in John 15:7,

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” 

We remain in His Word. We pray in dependence upon Him. We obey His commands. We gather with His people. We keep returning to the gospel in repentance and faith. None of those things earns life from Jesus. They are the ordinary ways we live in dependence upon the One who is already our life. And where there is life, there will eventually be fruit. Jesus says,  John 15:8,

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

Fruit does not make us Christians; fruit gives evidence that we belong to Christ. The life of the Vine should become visible in the branches. 

I once heard a friend ask, “If someone followed you around looking for evidence that you are a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” Would they see it in the way you live, the way you speak, and the ways you are changing? Would they see you putting off the old self with its deceitful desires and putting on the new self, as Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 command? Not perfection, but real transformation. Not a sinless life, but a life in which sin is being confessed, old desires are being resisted, and the character of Christ is increasingly taking shape. If we are abiding in the Vine, His life will eventually become evident in our lives.

Beloved, there is also an outward direction to this fruit. Remember the larger context of this discourse, in John 14, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit and later Jesus says: “You also will bear witness.” God changes us so that through our lives and our words other people might see Christ. Our godliness bears witness. Our love bears witness. Our marriages and families bear witness. The way we suffer bears witness. And when we open our mouths and share the gospel, we bear witness.

Church, God has not planted us here simply to enjoy being part of His vineyard. He intends for us to bear fruit by making Christ known. We want our families, neighbors, city, and the nations to see and hear the good news of Jesus through us. The branch bears the fruit, but the Father receives the glory. Our fruit has a purpose. It is make Christ known. It is not to make us feel better about ourselves. We want others to see Christ in us and give him glory. Like Psalm 115, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.”

Again, John 15:6, provides a very clear and strong warning for everyone here,

“If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.”

There is a difference between being around Jesus and abiding in Jesus. You can grow up in church, know the songs, even be a member of a church, and still never possess the life that comes through faith in Christ.

John Flavel warned about exactly this danger:

“Because they took no heed to keep their hearts with God in those duties: this is that fatal rock, upon which thousands of vain professors have split themselves eternally: they are curious about the externals of religion, but regardless of their hearts.”

They may spend hours hearing, praying, and reading while neglecting the great work of keeping the heart with God. You can display all the outward signs of Christianity and still miss Christ Himself. The question is not simply, “Am I religious? Am I active in church? Do other people think I am a Christian?” The question is whether there is spiritual life in you because you are united to Christ by faith.

So ask yourself: Am I actually connected to Christ? And if I am, am I living like someone who knows how desperately I need Him? For if not, you are in danger of being gathered up with the other dead branches and thrown into the fire.

3.  Abide in Christ's Love  (vv. 9-11)

In our culture it is easy to hear the command of Jesus and to think Jesus is a harsh taskmaster ready to pull out his whip if you step out of line. Jesus says in John 15:9-11,

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

There is an astonishing truth here: Jesus loves His people with the love He has received from the Father. He does not say, “Earn my love.” He says, “Abide in my love.” The Christian life is lived from the security of Christ’s love, not in an attempt to secure it. We obey Him not to make Him love us but because He already does.

Yet love for Christ is more than a feeling. Love listens. A husband cannot meaningfully tell his wife, “I love you,” while continually ignoring everything she says. In the same way, we cannot claim to love Jesus while treating His commands as suggestions. We may sing passionately about loving Christ while refusing to forgive or having bitterness in our hearts to others. Beloved, Jesus refuses to separate love from obedience. And obedience that flows from a heart that loves him and delights in his commands. 

For notice His goal is not a joyless obligation. Jesus gives us His commands “that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” The world tells us that joy comes from escaping authority and following our desires. Jesus tells us that fullness of joy is found in remaining in His love and walking in His ways. A branch does not become free by disconnecting from the vine; it dies. Jesus wants us to know true and lasting joy comes through abiding in his love. 

Then Jesus makes this relationship even more personal. The One who tells us to abide in His love looks at His disciples and says, “I have called you friends.”

Are You Living in the Friendship of Jesus? (vv. 12-17)

It is always important for us to ground Jesus’ commands in his love for us. He is not a harsh taskmaster but a kind and gracious Savior. Three things I want you to see in regards to the friendship of Jesus.

1. Jesus Laid Down His Life for His Friends  (vv. 12-13)

Jesus says, John 15:12,

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” 

Before we talk about how to become better friends with one another, we need to understand the friendship Jesus has shown toward us. That is especially important after everything we have heard about fruit and obedience. We could easily walk away thinking, If I bear enough fruit, maybe God will love me. If I obey enough, maybe I can earn His favor. Jesus turns that upside down. And if you are a non-Christian, this is our separates christianity from every other religion. Our love begins with His love: “As I have loved you.” And then He tells us what

His love looks like, John 15:13,

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

Within hours, Jesus will show them exactly what He means. He will lay down His life for his disciples by hanging on a cross. What makes His love even more remarkable is that we were not naturally His friends. Paul says in Romans 5:10, 

“While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.”

 Jesus laid down His life to turn enemies into friends. 

That is why one accusation against Jesus was that He was “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” They meant it as an insult, but it reveals the glory of the gospel. Jesus welcomed sinners, ate with them, and called them to repentance. He did not draw near because their sin did not matter. He drew near because He came to save sinners. Christianity begins not with our love for Christ, but with Christ’s love for His enemies.

This is the gospel. We are sinners who cannot remove our own guilt. We cannot produce enough fruit or perform enough good works to reconcile ourselves to God. So the eternal Son of God took on flesh. He lived the righteous life we failed to live and willingly went to the cross, bearing the judgment our sins deserved. On the third day He rose from the grave, conquering sin and death. The resurrection is proof that there is life for all who turn from their sins and believe in Christ.

The gospel is not about how you can work your way into friendship with God. It is the good news that Christ has done everything necessary to reconcile sinners to God. We receive that salvation by turning from our sin and trusting Him. We were enemies, but through Christ we are brought near and called friends. We do not obey Jesus so that He will love us. We obey because He has loved us. We do not bear fruit so that He will accept us. We bear fruit because He has given us life. If we get that order wrong, we become like someone trying to tie a dead branch back onto a tree and expecting it to bear fruit. No amount of string can give the branch life. It must be livingly connected to the vine.

There is tremendous comfort in having a friend you know will still be there when you mess up. You do not have to hide your failure or wonder whether one mistake will end the friendship. You can confess what you have done because you trust your friend’s love. Jesus is a far better friend. He knew every sin you would commit before He called you His friend, and He went to the cross to bear them all. His grace does not give us permission to sin; it gives us the security to bring our sin into the light, repent, and return to Him.

Some of us know grace well enough to explain it but still live as though God's disposition toward us rises and falls with our performance. When we have had a good week, we feel like we can come close. When we fail, we pull away. Christian, your confidence cannot rest on how well you performed this week. Look at the cross. The Savior who commands you is the Savior who laid down His life for you. You do not have to convince Jesus to love you. He already has.

2. Jesus Chose and Brought His Friends Close  (vv. 14-16)

Jesus says, John 15:14,

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.” 

Calling us friends does not mean Jesus has stopped being our Lord. He still commands, and we still obey. Friendship with Jesus does not make our relationship with Him casual or irreverent. The One who calls us friends is still the Son of God and King of kings. Then Jesus says, John 15:5,

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” 

What changes is the closeness of the relationship. A servant may receive an assignment without knowing the master's plans. A friend is brought close. Friends share what they are thinking. They know what matters to one another. Friendship involves knowing and being known.

Jesus says that He has brought His disciples close and revealed the Father to them. That connects directly to John 14. Philip said:

“Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” (John 14:8)

Jesus answered:

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

Christianity is more than believing the right doctrines and obeying the right rules. The Christian life is knowing God. When you open your Bible, you are listening to the words of the One who calls you His friend. When you pray, you are speaking with the One who knows you completely and laid down His life for you. When you obey, you are responding to a Savior who loves you and has brought you close. 

One of my worst work experiences came when I spent two days as a caddie at a ritzy golf club outside Chicago. At the beginning of the day, all the caddies lined up so the golfers could choose one of us. I was eighteen years old and had just graduated from high school, standing beside eleven- and twelve-year-olds who could barely carry a golf bag. Yet I was still one of the last caddies chosen. It was humiliating. There is something painful about standing there while everyone else is chosen before you.

Yet how wonderful it is to be chosen; especially when the One choosing you is Jesus. He says in John 15:16,

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” 

Their friendship with Jesus began with His initiative. Jesus went looking for them. He called fishermen from their nets. He found Philip. He called Matthew from the tax booth. And if you belong to Christ, grace came looking for you too. Our salvation ultimately rests not on the strength of our grip on Christ but on His grace toward us.

Yet He chose us for a purpose. Jesus brings His friends close and then sends them out. Jesus intends to produce fruit both in us and through us. He produces fruit in us as He changes our character and makes us increasingly like Himself. And He produces fruit through us as our lives become instruments of His grace in the lives of others: as we disciple our children, strengthen other believers, proclaim the gospel, and invite sinners to come to faith. Jesus has chosen us by grace and brought us near as friends, not merely for our own enjoyment, but so that our lives would bear fruit for His kingdom, fruit that lasts.

Jesus also provides everything we need to fulfill the purpose for which He chose us: “so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” This is not a blank check for every personal desire; it is a promise of abundant provision for the work He has appointed us to do. We do not bear lasting fruit through our wisdom, strength, or resources. We ask the Father in dependence upon the Son, and He supplies the grace, wisdom, strength, and opportunities we need. The One who appoints us to bear fruit also provides everything necessary for fruitfulness.

3. Jesus' Friends Love One Another (v. 17)

Jesus concludes, John 15:17,

“These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” 

Everything Jesus has said about His friendship with us should shape our friendships with one another. We have been loved, so we love. Christ moved toward us, so we move toward others. Christ brought us close, so we bring others close. Christ laid down His life for us, so we learn to lay down our lives for one another.

We desperately need this because we live in a culture where we have never been more connected and yet often feel profoundly isolated. We can communicate with hundreds of people while being deeply known by almost no one. Jesus calls His church to something deeper than being friendly on Sunday mornings. He calls us to genuinely love one another.

Christians are certainly not the first people to recognize the extraordinary gift of friendship. Cicero said, “Friendship is the only thing in the world concerning the usefulness of which all mankind are agreed.” Charles Spurgeon went even further, saying that friendship is as necessary to a comfortable life as “fire or water, or even air itself.” Perhaps J. C. Ryle said it best: “The brightest sunbeam in it is a friend. Friendship halves our troubles and doubles our joys.” That is a beautiful picture of what friendship does. When sorrow comes, a friend helps carry the weight. When joy comes, a friend gives us someone with whom to celebrate it. God never intended us to walk through the Christian life alone.

Three things that build true friendship:

 Biblical friendship requires intentionality. Deep friendships rarely happen accidentally. Sometimes we wait for friendship to happen to us. “Nobody invited me. Nobody called me. Nobody pursued me.” There may be genuine hurt behind those words, but Christian love asks another question: “Whom can I pursue? Whom can I invite? Whom can I encourage?” Instead of merely waiting for someone to become a friend to you, consider how you can become a friend to someone else.

Friendship also requires time and consistency. We cannot build deep relationships with people to whom we never give time. Sometimes loving people means changing our schedules. Invite someone to lunch. Stay after church. Open your home. Take a walk together. Check in again after someone tells you they are struggling. Remember the prayer request and ask about it next week. Deep friendship is usually built through hundreds of ordinary moments together.

Friendship also requires vulnerability. Many of us are very good at controlling what other people know about us. Someone asks, How are you doing? and we instinctively answer, “I’m good.” Meanwhile we may be discouraged and hurt. Vulnerability does not mean telling everything to everyone, but every Christian needs brothers and sisters before whom we can stop pretending. We need people who know where we struggle and are weak.

What hinders friendship? Drew Hunter observes that “in our busy, fast-paced, mobile world, we’ve lost this rich view of friendship and instead settled for shallow acquaintances.” Busyness can become a respectable way of saying, “I do not have room for you.” We may not intend to say it that way, but when every evening is full, every conversation is hurried, and every invitation feels like an interruption, that is often what others experience. Church, let us not be too busy for people. Let us make room in our schedules to pursue one another with the love Christ has shown us.

Pride tells us we do not need anyone. Insecurity tells us that if people really knew us, they might not want us. Distraction keeps us so absorbed in our phones, schedules, and endless responsibilities that we never slow down long enough to truly know anyone. The gospel frees us from having to manage everyone else’s perception of us. Jesus already knows us completely, and He laid down His life for us. Because we are secure in Christ, we are free to know others and to allow ourselves to be known.

And church membership gives this friendship a particular shape. When we covenant together as a church, we are saying something like, “I am choosing to love these people, and these people are choosing to love me.” The world can form friendships around the same age, stage of life, or background. In the church, Christ takes people who might never otherwise have chosen one another and makes them brothers and sisters.

Jesus has already told His disciples in John 13:35,

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

What might that look like here? It may look like a retired member sharing a meal with a college student who is far from home. It may look like a young family making room at their table for a widow. It may look like people from different generations, backgrounds, and life experiences truly being friends. 

The world expects people to gather around shared interests, politics, age, or social standing, but when people who have little in common naturally love one another because they share one Savior, the world sees something it cannot explain apart from Christ. Our differences do not have to divide us. In Christ, they can make the beauty of the gospel shine more brightly, like light reflecting from different facets of a diamond.  

So what if we made a commitment to one another as a church? Let’s work at becoming better friends with one another. Let’s cultivate the kind of friendships Jesus describes here. Do not wait for someone else to make the first move. Ask yourself, “What is one thing I can do this week to deepen a friendship in this church?” Maybe invite someone to lunch or call the person you have not seen in a few weeks or ask someone how they are really doing, and then…listen. We cannot manufacture deep friendship overnight, but we can take one intentional step toward one another this week. And let's ask the Father to give friendship to our church. We are branches of the same Vine. We are friends of the same Savior. And because He has loved us, we can love one another.

Jesus knew that within hours His disciples would fail Him, yet He looked at them and said, “I have called you friends.” Then He went to the cross to make that friendship possible.

That is our hope and our pattern. Christian friendship is not loving people only when they are easy to love or when they can give something back to us. Jesus loved His friends knowing they would fail Him, and He laid down His life for them anyway. Because we have received that kind of love, we can choose to keep moving toward one another when we are hurt and forgive when someone sins against us.

Beloved, that love should not stop inside these walls. Christ laid down His life while we were still His enemies, so that enemies could become friends. We cannot save anyone, but we can move toward our neighbors, welcome the lonely, and show the love of Christ to those who do not yet know Him. Let us abide in the True Vine and live as friends of the Savior, loving one another and holding out the friendship of Christ to a world that desperately needs Him.