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      "Produce"
      John 15:1-11
      Theme: Fruitfulness (the proof of genuine faith) is impossible independent of simple obedience to Christ.

        1. The Fertility Stimulating Productivity – 15:1-7

          1. The Interest of God in Productivity– vv. 1-3

            1. Jesus, in the previous section, has assured His disciples that they are able to experience peace because of the certainty that God’s plan is going to be fulfilled because of His complete obedience.
            2. He now instructs them that the same ability to obey God is theirs if they "abide" in Him.
            3. The context here refers to believers – not unbelievers and therefore it is NOT referring to people finding condemnation.
            4. Jesus not threatening His followers with the loss of eternal life if they aren’t fruitful.
            5. Rather, He is emphasizing that if they abide in Him, their own ability to execute God’s most demanding commandments will be obeyed in the same degree as He is committed to doing
            6. He begins by defining the identities of those being described in the analogy:
              1. "I am the true vine, …" – Jesus is here contrasting Himself to Israel because of Israel’s fruitlessness – Jesus is the "true" vine – cp. Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1
              2. "… and My Father is the vinedresser" – this defines God the Father as the One who provides the widest, most tender and faithful care of the vine
            7. His attentiveness is described as intense – He will do whatever is necessary for the vine to be fruitful – "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."
              1. First, Jesus refers to the fruitless ones – "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit,…"
                1. This is not referring to unregenerate – He is addressing believers here.
                2. It is referring to those who, because of their failure to abide in Christ, have failed to be obedient (the essence of fruitfulness)
                3. There are several issues that can cause such fruitlessness:
                  1. … through "running to leaf" – attempting to live righteously through the arm of the flesh – cp. 2 Peter 1:8
                  2. … through "disease" or "blight" – cp. Titus 3:14
                  3. … through "aging" and "weakness"
              2. Such ones the Father "takes away" – ??????? – meaning "to raise, to take up, or to lift" in the effort to remedy the wilting and weakened state.
              3. For those who are fruitful, He wants to make them even more so – "and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.".
            8. This concept of "pruning" conveys the effort to enable greater productivity.
            9. However, Jesus notes the work that has already been done in them through the power of the Word of God – "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you."
              1. This conveys that they have already been lifted up and pruned = "cleaned" by means of Christ’s teachings.
              2. Thus, we find that the primary way by which God exercises His effort to tend the branches of His vine is through the power of Scripture.

          2. The Indispensability of the Son in Productivity – vv. 4-7

            1. Switching from the emphasis on the Father’s role, Jesus now emphasizes His own role – "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me."
            2. The nourishment that feeds the branches enabling them to produce fruit at all is received from the vine itself – that is, from Christ Jesus.
            3. Even as a branch that is starved of the sap of the vine, a believer who is estranged from Christ and disobedient to Him is unable to produce fruit – "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."
            4. Next we are informed that if a believer continually resists the nourishment that comes from proper relationship with the vine, he loses opportunity the privilege of producing fruit – "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up."
            5. The consequence of this spiritual destitution is that at the Judgment Seat of Christ, when the works of men are evaluated, the "dried up" wood, hay, and stubble will be burned – "and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned." – cp. 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; 2 John 8
            6. I do not believe that this is referring to the individual but to the accumulation of his works (note the change from singular to plural in this verse indicating the switch from the person [singular] to the works [plural]).
            7. In contrast to the ones who lose reward, "if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
            8. Thus, the eventual fruitfulness of a believer is completely determined on the basis of the enabling received from abiding in the vine.

        2. The Fitness Shown by Productivity – 15:8-10

          1. It Establishes the Value of Sanctification – v. 8

            1. When we are abiding in Christ and are therefore producing fruit, the Father is glorified – "By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit."
            2. God did not rescue us from our sin so that we could languish as fruitless, withering branches on the vine He tends for produce.
            3. It is the regenerating power of God in the life of the believer that causes them to be fruitful that ultimately brings Him the glory He is due.
            4. If the fruitful life of the believer is the means by which the glory of God is demonstrated in showing the value of the impact of Christ in one’s life, then it stands that an unfruitful believer becomes a dishonor to Him.
            5. Essentially, fruitfulness is the proof of the value of Christ’s work of redemption – "… and so prove to be My disciples"
            6. Thus fruitlessness conveys that Christ’s work is somehow deficient – robbing God of the glory He ought to receive in redeeming us.

          2. It Exhibits the Virtue of Surrender – vv. 9-10

            1. Thus, fruitfulness in the life of the believer is the only thing proper – it is to be expected.
            2. This section began as a discussion by Christ of how His disciples were able to be as obedient to Him as He is to the Father – this thought is now continued – "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love."
            3. Then Jesus provides us the defining feature of abiding – it is obedience – "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love."
            4. Jesus uses His own fidelity to the Father as the example of what is possible between His disciples and Himself – "just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love."
            5. Thus obedience to Christ is the essence of abiding in Him – choosing to bring oneself into conformity to His expectations produces the life-blood of fruitfulness.
            6. The fruit of abiding in Christ is thus an obedient spirit causing one’s motives, desires, attitudes, dispositions, words, and deeds to spring from compliance with what Christ desires – thus we are able to ask whatever we desire and it will be done for us.

        3. The Fulfillment Savored in Productivity – 15:11

          1. It is through Obedience that Joy is Acquired

            1. Jesus gives to us the reason that He has given these realities to us – "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you;"
            2. Earlier, He emphasized that the primary benefit of the obedience that results from abiding in Him is that the glory of the Father is accomplished, proving that their regeneration was indeed real and that they were disciples of Christ Jesus.
            3. Now the practical benefit to the disciples themselves is identified – it provides them with the basis for joy.
            4. Joy is essentially the emotion evoked by a sense of well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires
            5. When we abide in Christ – fulfilling God’s intention that we glorify Him by means of producing fruit through obedience to Christ Jesus – our reward is the joy of the Lord.
            6. There is nothing as miserable as a believer who is failing to abide in Christ, disobedient and unfruitful.

          2. It is through Obedience that Joy is Advanced

            1. It is in this way – through obedience – that joy is not only acquired but advanced – "… and that your joy may be made full."
            2. When we are abiding in Christ, there is a confident awareness of the great hope of our eternal destiny – an inheritance that is eternal in the heavens that is ready to be revealed – cp. 1 Peter 1:6, 8
            3. Thus our joy is intensified as we prove through obedience and fruitfulness that we are indeed the disciples of the Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

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