Rejoice! God Loves Himself

Photo by David Köhler on Unsplash
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What is Maundy-Thursday? This is the day of Holy Week in which we come together to remember the Last Supper Jesus had with His disciples. It isn't the Last Supper in the sense that this is the last time that Jesus will eat with His disciples, as He will after His resurrection. It is the Last Supper because this is the Last Passover meal that will ever be observed in the Old Testament way. This is the moment where Redemptive History reaches a tipping point. Everything is going to be new. Elements that used to represent freedom from Egypt for over a  thousand of years, are, in a single meal, going to be redefined, given their true meaning.  Bread and wine are now going to represent the body and blood of Jesus poured out for them in the ultimate expression of love ever demonstrated. They will become the new signs, sacraments, of the New Covenant, a source of blessing and spiritual nourishment for Christians in the coming millennia. 

So what does Jesus do after that? Jesus changed the Passover and is about to go to the cross. What is he going to say to His disciples? What does He want them to know before He dies? Here we come to John chapter 15. It is an immensely popular passage for a reason. Doubtless you've all heard sermons out of it and maybe even have portions of it memorized. I'm willing to bet, though, if you are anything like me, you probably don't rejoice in it as much as you should. So I am going to lead you through this passage as we look together at some of the wonderfully comforting and challenging chapters in John's Gospel. We are going to look at How we are connected to God and How we grow in our connection with Christ.

At the end of chapter 13, Jesus tells His disciples that they are going to leave the upper room. Jesus is likely teaching along the way. Perhaps they passed the Temple along their way. At the time of Jesus, over the entrance of the temple was a golden vine with clusters of grapes the size of a man according to Josephus (Kruse)! Jesus could have pointed to that and then Himself with the immortal phrase "I am the true vine." This was one of seven of Jesus' "I am" statements. For Jesus to say "I am," He isn't just making a comparison. He is invoking the name that God gave to Moses in Exodus chapter 3 (I am that I am). 

So of all things to compare yourself to, why a grape vine? He could have chosen anything. A cedar tree would have suggested strength! An olive tree would have had a nice tie back to the Tabernacle furniture. Maybe even a mustard seed would have worked! But He chose grape vine for a very particular reason. As one scholar pointed out, often in the Old Testament, the nation of Israel is compared to a vine. Unfortunately, that vine is often missing fruit when it should have it. We can see an example of this in Isaiah 5:1-8 (Kruse). Israel was going to be the one to provide a blessing to the nations by pointing them to God. Consistently, however, they didn't. But now, the True Vine, the true Israel, is going to change that. Jesus is going to be the connection to Divine life. He will be the vine, and we will be the branches. 

This is a stunning picture Jesus draws for us. When He tells us later to "abide in Him," He doesn't have in mind living in Him like one would a house. When you live in a house, it provides safety and a predictable place to live the life that you want. The house doesn't have an opinion on that. In this picture, however, Jesus isn't telling us to live inside Him.  Abiding as He uses it here is a deep connection. A branch not abiding on the vine isn’t just out in the elements, exposed; it’s dead. You don’t just live IN Jesus; you live BECAUSE of Jesus. Your heart beats because of His. His life pulsates into your own. 

This picture of Jesus' life embracing and empowering your own gives us a whole new perspective on what it means to keep His commandments. Verse 10 tells us that abiding in His love means obeying His commandments. Abiding in Jesus is nothing less than obeying His word. If we say we love Christ than don't do what He tells us to do, we can't claim to love Him. Obviously, no one is perfect, but Christians can't help but produce fruit when they are connected to Christ. 

In fact, once you see just how involved the Trinity is in this picture, I think you will be very encouraged to produce fruit. 

Often, when we read this passage we zero in on Jesus being the true vine, but we can't lose what else is happening in this passage. Yes, Jesus is the True Vine, the culmination of Israel's history. Yes, we are the branches, pulsating with Jesus' own life in our souls. But there is another character in this passage: the Father. The Father is compared to the vinedresser. He has a specific role He is filling in this picture that of the remover and the pruner. One scholar points to vinedressing practices in Jesus' time. In the spring time, the gardener would cut back that which he wanted to produce more grapes. Those of us with hedges know how that works! In the fall time, however, branches that weren't producing fruit were cut off and burned (Kruse). One wouldn't want a vine's energy going towards leaf production when what you really want is fruit, so you get rid of those branches. 

How does this work in our lives? The Father will trim those who are producing fruit. Oftentimes that can look like things going well then all of a sudden a great loss that ultimately drives you closer to God. In the midst of it, it doesn't make sense. But when you see the fruit that comes of it, you can see why you went through it. The Father isn't doing this to be mean. In fact, as we are about to see, all of this is an act of love, but perhaps not in the direction that you think. 

You see, in verse 8, we see that the Father is glorified by you producing much fruit. And who is it that is making you produce the fruit in the first place? The Son, Jesus Christ. And Who connected you to Jesus? The Holy Spirit. John 14:17 tells us that the Holy Spirit is going to be the one living inside us! So, the entire Trinity is involved in this metaphor (with the Holy Spirit in the background as He often is!), all of them working towards your producing fruit. The Holy Spirit connects us to Christ, who provides the power to produce fruit, which is further enhanced by the Father! 

Now, why do they do that? Would it surprise you to know that it is simply because they love each other? We see in verses 9-10 there is a great love that is between the Father and the Son, displayed by the Son's obedience to His Father. A couple of chapters later in John 17:6-7 we get a glimpse into that relationship and how it works. Jesus thanks the Father for the people He has given Him (including us, v 24) and joyfully reports that he hasn't lost any of them except Judas, and only because the prophecy of God was to be fulfilled. In this prayer, you can see the obsession that Jesus has with the Father's glory, and in the end of the Bible, we see the Father's joy in placing all things under the Son's feet. The Father glorifies the Son, the Spirit glorifies the Son (John 16:14), which ultimately glorifies the Father! The Son's loving obedience was rescuing God's people, and empowering them to bring Him glory by producing fruit! 

So what does all of that mean for you? If you struggle with assurance of salvation, let me set this out for you very plainly as it was for me by old John MacArthur, probably 15 years ago for me. You, as a Christian, are a love gift from the Father to the Son whom the Son redeems and gives back to the Father all with the Holy Spirit revealing the Son to the people and sanctifying them to glory to live with them forever in heaven. This doesn't diminish any of the Trinity's love for you. Jesus loves you the same way the Father does Him. All I'm telling you is that you are being drawn up into a love between the Godhead that staggers the mind to even comprehend! 

Further, your salvation couldn't be more secure. Jesus isn't going to drop you not only because He loves you, but ALSO because to do so would bring dishonor to His Father. The Father won't let you coast in bearing fruit NOT ONLY because He loves you (after all, He did send His Son for you), but ALSO because He has a people He wants to give to His Son as a bride. Therefore, as one scholar put it, "No fruit-bearing branch is exempt" (Carson, 514). But what about those branches that get cut off? Given all that we have said here, this isn't talking about real believers who slipped away. Jesus doesn't lose anyone. As one scholar argues, you can't stretch the image too much (Kruse). But there is a real warning there. If you aren't producing fruit, it isn't because Jesus isn't putting in the work. The entire Trinity is on it! If you aren't producing fruit, you probably aren't connected. 

Y'all now is the time. Abide in Christ. Put your trust in Him. Maybe you've been producing fruit, but you've hit a dry spell. There's been some pruning going on. Do you feel that cut from the sheer? Listen to it. The Father is working on you! He sees your branch! He is saying, "Son, let's work on this one." Don't resist. Instead pursue obedience to Him, because when you do you will find joy. How do I know? Because that is what He says in verse 11. One scholar put it this way, "The Son does not give his disciples his joy as a discreet package; he shares his joy insofar as they share his obedience, the obedience that willingly faces death to self interest (12:24-26)" (Carson, 521). Have you lacked joy? Is there something you are resisting? Let it go. The whole Trinity loves you. They love each other. So join the party.