He Is – The Seven “I AM” Statements of Jesus – Part 3 “I Am the Vine”

Introduction

John 15:5 (ESV) 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.

The Gospel of John is a unique gospel. 92% of the material is original or unique among the other 3 gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke; together they are called the Synoptic Gospels). John inserts unique and fresh material and perspective that the other gospels leave out. (John assumes you already know and are familiar with the content of the previous gospels. John is best read alongside the others and see what he adds or develops that otherwise gets left out of the other 3. John wrote His gospel many decades after the other 3 were in circulation.) It does us well to pay very close attention to narrative and unique ways John gives us a presentation of Jesus.

• 7 titles of Jesus in the first chapter — John 1:29-51
• 7 signs (miracles) — John 2-11
• 7 “I am” statements (égō eimi) — John 4-18
• 7 “I am” statements with a specific description — John 6-15

Often the last of these “7’s” wraps up and explains or develops the previous 6. There are multiple themes to pay attention to in the gospel, but one major theme that is crucial to understand while reading this gospel is that it is a “Gospel of Relationship.” Relationship is a key and critical theme that John desires to communicate to us.

“The disciple whom Jesus loved” — this is how John, the author, identifies himself. He does not describe his own identity by his name, but only in his relationship to Jesus. John finds his value and identity only in his relationship with Jesus. John wants to present Jesus in the same way to us, that our deepest value is not in our role, status, job, income, or other relationships or groups we belong to, but in being a loved friend of Jesus. This is where he wants us to find our own value and identity, in Jesus himself.

“Our deepest need is to be loved, and our deepest identity is to be loved by Jesus.” ~ John Vanier

John 15:5 (ESV) I am the vine; you are the branches…
Moses asked, “Who am I?” To which God responds, “I AM.”

Body

John 15:1-8 (ESV) I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 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. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Concept 1:

Jesus’ disciples would hear this statement and be confused. They had assumed from their reading of the Scriptures that Israel is the vine.

Psalms 80:8-11, 14-15 (ESV) You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River… Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.

Isaiah 5:1-7 (ESV) Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

“Justice” — mishpat (mish·pät’); “bloodshed” — mispach (mis·päkh’) “Righteousness” — tsĕdaqah (tsed·ä·kä’); “outcry” — tsa`aqah (tsah·ak·ä’)

Jeremiah 2:21 (ESV) Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

Jeremiah 6:9 (ESV) Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape gatherer pass your hand again over its branches.”

Ezekiel 15, 17, 19

Hosea 10:1 (ESV) Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit. The more his fruit increased, the more altars he built; as his country improved, he improved his pillars.

(When God restores His people, they are once again described as a vine:)

Isaiah 27:6 (ESV) In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit.

Hosea 14:7-8 (ESV) They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.

Israel failed at their vocation. They were called to be God’s representatives to the world (“Blessed” to be a blessing — Genesis 12:1-3, and a “Kingdom of priests” — Exodus 19:6) by following His covenant and bringing His light and life to the nations. They consistently rebelled and failed at their mission. God (YHWH, “I AM”) is taking personal ownership of their failure, taking into Himself their rebellion and fulfilling their vocation. Now, those who “abide” in him are called to participate in that vocation of blessing the world and being a kingdom of priest, but not on our own ability to obey; only in “abiding.” This final “I am” statement wraps up how we are to respond to all the previous 6 statements: relationship. In relationship we connect with Jesus as “bread, light, gate, Shepherd, resurrection and life, way, truth, & life” in order for us to bring Jesus as those things into the world, fulfilling our vocation by grace and not works (or simply hoarding Jesus for ourselves).

Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…

Concept 2:

Jesus notes that this relationship is not static or stagnate, it is living (“abiding”). He notes that in this relationship, it is not us who are in charge, but the Father as the Gardener. This relationship is intended to be a progression toward greater levels of intimacy: “no fruit,” “fruit,” “more fruit,” and “much fruit.” And it is the Father that “gardens” our lives within the context of our relationship with Jesus.

John 15:1-2 (ESV) I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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.

John 15:1-2 (TPT) I am a true sprouting vine, and the farmer who tends the vine is my Father. He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest.

The pruning process that the Father leads us through is often a painful one. Throughout our lives we tend to accumulate attachments to things of this world, attempting to draw our life from their source, or assuming those things as our identity. Attempting to draw our life and identity from these “false sources” will ultimately lead to a fruitless life. When we attempt to draw our life or identity from our roles, or social or economic status, or our jobs, or our skills or gifting or abilities, or our level of income, or other human relationships or certain groups we belong to, the Father will gracefully attempt to prune those away so that you will be able to bear more fruit in your relationship with Jesus. If you have stagnated in your relationship with Jesus, ask the Holy Spirit to make you aware of attachments you have that are unhealthy, or a false identity you have assumed based on anything other than your relationship with Jesus. The Father wants to prune you, not to hurt or harm you, but to enable you to bear more fruit, become all He has created you to be in your relationship with Jesus.

John 15:4-5 (TPT) So you must remain in life-union with me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine. I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches. As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless.

Living a powerless life is not what the Father intends for us. His desire is that we bear MUCH fruit. Us bearing much fruit, us fulfilling our vocation, is what brings glory to God.

John 15:8 (ESV) By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

Concept 3:

Jesus uses a very powerful word to describe what this relationship is to be like: “abide.”

John 15:4-5 (ESV) 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.

John 1:32 (ESV) And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

John 14:10 (ESV) Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father whodwells in me does his works.

John 14:16-17 (ESV) And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:23 (ESV) Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

To “abide” is to remain and dwell, to take up residence and make a home in and with. Jesus makes the statement about “abiding in Him” in John 15 following His statements in John 14 where He uses the same word (“abide”) to describe the intimate relationship He has with the Father (John 14:10) and desires to involve us within that intimate relationship (John 14:23) by the agency of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). The love and fellowship and intimacy experienced within the Trinitarian God as a community of love, Jesus is inviting and enabling His disciples to participate and “abide” within that intimate love and fellowship through relationship with Him (through the Holy Spirit). It is from that intimate relationship that is to be the source of our life, that produces new life (“fruit”) within us that is intended to be “borne” for the world.

What John is presenting to us in these words from Jesus is that as a beloved disciple of Jesus, what is to define us, animate us, not merely inform us, but transform us is Jesus Christ Himself present with us, us dwelling with him. This also speaks to what the heart and soul of being a Christian, a follower and disciple of Jesus, us not ultimately about being Christlike (though that is nice and good and desirable), but being united with Jesus, dwelling and abiding in and with and through us, drawing us into the intimate love and fellowship of the Father, Son, and Spirit.

“Our lives are to be so interconnected with the life of Jesus that we cannot be explained; we do not live, except by dynamic and essential communion with Christ.”2 ~ Gordon T. Smith

We abide in Jesus through 3 main ways: through the Word (John 15:7), the Spirit (John 15:26, 16:12-15) and the Sacraments (John 1:14).