“Foreign or Fruitful?” | John 15:1-8 Bible Study

Introduction

Foreign or Fruitful? Foreign or Fruitful? Will we be foreign to Jesus? Or will we be fruitful in Jesus?

Will we be faithful to Christ – even when we don’t want to?

You know, when I was growing up in my parent’s house, they had some rules that I had to follow – even when I didn’t want to.

“But Mom, Dad, why do I have to do this? Why do I have to do that?”

And many of us know the popular parental reply: “Because I said so!”

“As long as you live in my house, you have to live by my rules. When you get your own house, you can make your ownrules.”

You see, to abide in my parent’s house, I had to abide by my parent’s rules. Similarly, to abide in Christ, we must abide byChrist’s commands.

Now as I’m sure many parents know, sometimes adult children get to that point where they don’t want to follow the house rules anymore. When that happens, well, it’s time for them to look for another place to stay.

Oh you want to act independent? You want to refuse to follow the rules, but then also get free food, and shelter, and electricity? No, no, no – that’s not gon’ fly.

You see, there can be a lot of free, unmerited blessings when living in a good parent’s house – but you have to live by the good parent’s rules. But if you want to act independent, you’re going to have to live independent.

Similarly, there are lot of free, unmerited blessings when living in Christ, but we have to live by Christ’s commands. If we want to act independent from Christ, we’ll have to live independent of Christ.

Jesus makes this point in John 15, when He says that He is the true Vine, and we are the branches. And any branch that does not bear fruit – any branch that is not faithful to His commands – will be cut off.

If we don’t abide by His commands, we can’t abide in His abode. If we act like Christ’s words are foreign to us – we’re going to live foreign to Christ.

So the question is, will we be foreign or will we be faithful? Will we be foreign or will we be fruitful?

Context

Now, in context, Jesus is talking with His disciples in what is called, “The Farewell Discourse” (Jn 13:31-17:26).¹ Jesus is teaching them with what will be some of His last words to them – before the cross.

And, just as Christ’s last words from the cross were very important, so are His last words to His disciples [before the cross].

Earlier, Jesus has already humbly washed the feet of His disciples – including Judas, the one He knew would betray Him (Jn 13:1-17).

But, by this time, Judas has already left the table after the Last Supper. And, Jesus and the other Eleven disciples may have already left, as well.².

In fact, in the Temple, at the entrance of the sanctuary,³ there was a huge grapevine made of pure gold⁴ that was the size of a person.⁵

Wealthy people would actually bring branches, leaves, and grapes of gold to be added to this gigantic golden vine.⁶

And as Jesus and the disciples were walking from the place where they had the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane, they may have passed through the temple courtyard.⁷ And Jesus may have stopped at the Temple to teach.⁸

If so, they may have seen the golden vine – just as Jesus talked about the godly vine.⁹

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Conclusion

In conclusion, in contrast to Israel – Jesus says He is the True Vine. And God the Father is the vinedresser. God is the Gardener. Jesus is the Vine. We [disciples] are the branches.

The Father takes away all the barren branches – all of the dead weight. But the branches that bear fruit – the outward evidence of our inward connection to Christ – He prunes so that we will be even more fruitful.

Now we can’t bear fruit by ourselves. Just like a branch has to remain connected to the vine, we have to remain connected to Christ. We Americans love independence, but we have to depend on Jesus.

And, there are lot of free, unmerited blessings when living in Christ, but we have to live by Christ’s commands.

Christ dwells in us, abiding in us by the Spirit, as we strive to dwell in Him – abiding by His word. To abide in Christ, we must abide by His commands. We must be at home in His word.

If we act like Christ’s words are foreign to us – we’re going to live foreign to Christ. If we want to act independent fromChrist, we’ll have to live independent of Christ.

But if we remain in Him and remain in His word, we can have confidence when we pray in His Name – according to His will.

So will we be foreign or will we be faithful? Will we be foreign or will we be fruitful?

With the help of the Holy Spirit, let’s remain fruitful in Christ – to the glory of God the Father.

May the LORD bless you and keep you.

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Bibliography

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Burge, Gary M. “John” In The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary. Burge, Gary M., and Andrew E. Hill, eds. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012. [BIBC]
Burge, Gary M. John. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.
Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991.
Guthrie, Donald. “John.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 1021–65. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Second Edition. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014. [IVPB]
Keener, Craig S. The Gospel of John: A Commentary & 2. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012.
Kruse, Colin G. John: An Introduction and Commentary. Edited by Eckhard J. Schnabel. Second edition. Vol. 4. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2017.
Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1996. [LN]
Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003. [M-W]
Mounce, William D. Basics of Biblical Greek: Grammar. Edited by Verlyn D. Verbrugge. Third Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009.
Newman, Barclay Moon, and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies, 1993. [UBS]
Silva, MoisÈs, ed. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. [NIDNTTE]
Wallace, Daniel B. Greek Grammar beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.