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. 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. 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.
John 15:4-6 (ESV)
Jesus has made it clear that he is the vine. He is the source of life. If any fruit is to be produced it will be because of his roots and stability. This vine will produce the fruits that display the true nature of God. This will finally reveal a people who fulfill what God had in mind when he created Adam.
We are the branches. We are highly privileged to be a part of such a life structure. But what is our job?
Abide! Stay put! Remain where you are! That seems too simple. Surely we should do more than that. That seems passive.
The original disciples who heard this and lived it out were not passive, but neither were they driven to do something for God. Of course, Peter had to be pruned by Jesus' word of rebuke when he tried to cut off the soldier's head, and all of the disciples had to learn to live by the word of the new covenant as they began to blossom as branches on the vine. Jesus himself had modeled the life of "abiding." He had told them that he was living in response to the Father. Whatever he heard from the Father, he spoke. Whatever he saw the Father doing, he did (John 5:19-23). They learned to live that way, too. They valued the Scriptures as they discovered they were all about Jesus. They valued their fellow believers as they saw the multifaceted grace of God in them. They trusted the leading of the Spirit as he continued to make the presence of Jesus real to them.
Humility could be defined as knowing who you are in relation to those around you. We know that Jesus is the vine. We are the display racks for the fruit that comes from him. If we get obsessed with the amount of fruit associated with us, we began to think we are producing it. We can slip into comparing the fruit on our branch with other branches. And it is not a large step into redefining the fruit. Some have tried to find some sense of satisfaction in producing evangelistic results while displaying a life of loveless competition. Jesus has defined the fruit. "Love one another as I have loved you." If that fruit is not present, all the rest are sour grapes.
Branches that do not abide in the vine but try some other way to relate to God are useless and are gathered into piles to be thrown away. Some have used this text to prove their position that believers can lose their salvation if they don't live up to prescribed standards. I believe, however, that Jesus is speaking of those who, like Judas, choose to reject Christ even after associating with him and the disciples. There will always be those who adopt the Christian terminology and ascribe to Christian associations but don't choose to abide in Jesus the vine. Not every one who professes possesses.
Our joy is that we are counted blessed to be so vitally connected to the vine that the very life of the vine flows through us. We are to live every moment conscious that we are in him and he is in us. With that as our platform, we live in love.
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