His Ambassador Blog

The final ‘I AM’ statement is upon us. It has been so eye-opening being able to read parts of the book of John again and learn something new that I had not learned before. I love how God will teach us things in different ways in various times of our lives.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”

John 15:1

Jesus has such a beautiful way taking concepts and forming them in a way that makes sense to us. The first 14 verses of chapter 15 describe Jesus as the True Vine, as well as what it looks like to be connected to Him. Today, we are going to dive into those ideas and see what we can gather about what God has to teach us.

Observation 1 – When we are cleansed from sin, we can then live a life honoring to God.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites had rules upon rules of what they could and could not do. There were specific instructions on how to make sacrifices to God to be cleansed from sin, there were things they couldn’t do, or they would be unclean again, there were places they couldn’t go, and people they weren’t allowed to come into contact with. The Israelites weren’t able to be connected to the True Vine, therefore they weren’t obedient to God and could not produce any fruit. But Jesus has said here that the disciples have been purified from their sins, meaning God has forgiven the disciples because of Jesus. Therefore, to do work for His, God must cleanse us from our sins first. This involves repenting, believing that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, and confessing with your mouth that He is your Lord and Savior. I pray that each of you reading have accepted the gift of salvation but if you haven’t and you are looking for answers, I encourage you to read the book of John and/or the book of Romans to gain a better understanding of what salvation is.

Observation 2 – We are to abide in Jesus and He is to abide in us.

Now, if we have accepted that gift of salvation, we have the Holy Spirit living in our hearts. This means that He can work in and through us. What Jesus does when He purifies us from our sins is bridge the gap that sin created between God and ourselves. Therefore, we are now to abide in Christ and allow Him to abide in us. We should make it a habit of being in the presence of God. What exactly does that look like? Consistently seeking the presence of God means reading His word so that you can know His voice, praying to Him to keep that line of communication going both ways, and running away from evil. 2 Timothy 2 verse 22 says, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” To stay in that close relationship with God and begin to grow in Him and learn more about His goodness, we should flee form sinful things. Don’t misinterpret my words here, though, this is not to say that if you sin you will lose your salvation. I know that I sin everyday, despite my best efforts not to. But we should seek good things! 1 John 2:6 says, “He that saith he abides in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Our goal in abiding in Christ should be to represent Jesus here on earth. And when He does abide in us as well, we are able to follow his commands and live as He does! John describes this in 1 John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

Observation 3 – True fruit comes from being connected to the True Vine.

Suppose you and I both try to grow an apple tree. We plant our trees in the same dirt, we give them the same amount of water, and they both receive the same amount of sunlight. The three branches on your tree produce 100 apples. (I feel like this is turning into a math problem.) But the three branches on my tree have not produced any apples. In fact, my tree hasn’t even grown, even though we both planted our trees at the same time and gave them the same amount of water and sunlight. I take my tree back to the gardener we bought the saplings from, and it turns out that mine was fake!

Our relationship with Jesus must be genuine and real. Because no matter what we do to grow that ‘tree,’ such as going to church, feeding the hungry, tending to the sick, etc. nothing will change if the ‘tree’ is fake. Meaning that the works we do in Jesus’ name without having that relationship with Jesus, mean nothing. Verses 4 and 5 of chapter 15 of John say, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” What good is the fruit of our labor, when we are not connected to the true vine of life?

Observation 4 – Our reward for abiding.

There is a great privilege that we can take part in when we are truly abiding in Jesus. Verse 7 says, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” When we are abiding in Jesus and continuously living in His presence, we are then open to receive the blessings that He has for us. This verse even tells us that we can ask for what we want, and He will give it to us. Now this isn’t a free for all. You can’t demand that God give you the things you want in the way you order pizza toppings. The effect of abiding in Christ is that our hearts will begin to change. Our desires become more aligned with the desires that God has for us. Therefore, those good things that we wish for our life, that are according to God’s will and word, we have the reward of asking for those things and receiving them!

Observation 5 – Abiding in Jesus brings us immense joy.

Verse 11 says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Abiding in Jesus is the foundation for joy. It is only in Him that we find lasting and eternal joy. When we studied the fruits of the Spirit, we learned that joy and happiness are different. Being happy is a positive emotion triggered by a positive life experience. Being joyful is a feeling of great pleasure or delight despite recent life experiences. Perfect joy only comes from Jesus Christ. We can remember and delight in His salvation and faithfulness even in times of trials and temptations in our lives.

Observation 6 – Loving others is the basis for how our lives should be lived.

Jesus says, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) He also describes in other gospel accounts that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. It is only when we first love God with all of our being and then love our neighbor as ourselves can we produce the fruits of the Spirit. If we really think about it, the 10 commandments, for example are about loving God and loving others. If we then take into account the fruits of the Spirit, the 8 fruits after love are simply love in action. For example, joy and peace come from Christ’s love for us, the others are showing others love. I love 1 Corinthians 13 because it paints the picture of what love is. Specifically notice the first three verses, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” If we do not let love for Christ and love for others be the foundation for all our actions, it will be worth nothing!

Observation 7 – Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice which allows us to receive salvation and bear fruit.

Agape love: the sacrificial service to consistently seek out the benefit of others whether it is deserved or not. This is the kind of love that God loves with. This is the kind of love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13, which we mentioned above. This is the love that Jesus had for us when He gave His life for us on the cross. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) The greatest form of love is willingly sacrificing your life for someone else so that they will live. This love seeks to give others abundant life, which Jesus has has promised to the believers. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was the greatest act of love EVER. It is because of this love; this sacrifice, that Jesus has freely given to me that I will devote my life to Him. I will be His hands and feet and carry His message to the world.

Observation 8 – Obedience is love in action.

Finally, we must recognize that obedience is love in action. In verse 14 Jesus says, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Amazingly we get to have a personal relationship with Jesus because of the previous truth: that Jesus gave His life for us. We don’t become His friend by being obedient. Instead, because of His love for us and His gift of salvation we are obedient out of gratitude. We can show our love and appreciation to Jesus by obeying His word and His teachings.