A believer may pass through much affliction, and yet secure very little blessing from it all. Abiding in Christ is the secret of securing all that the Father meant the [discipline] to bring us.– Andrew Murray
It’s so easy to complicate discipleship in our age of information and to-do lists. Yet even if we might be complicating discipleship toward more “doing” than “being” in Christ, we can rest assured that Jesus will prune us to become fruitful again. If you feel scattered and distracted as I often do, maybe these words spoken by God to Ezekiel will bring you some comfort and nourishment to your discipleship this week:
And he said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.’ Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as sweet as honey. – Ezekiel 3:3
It’s no wonder that what grounds us the most in our walk with God is simply to mediate (or eat in the case of Ezekiel) whole chunks of Scripture. Scripture is the sap that our tired branches need for revival.
A foundational discipleship-revival passage is John 15:1-17. Through the timeless canvas of God’s Word, Jesus beautifully paints a discipleship word picture. My friend, Bill Maston has a favorite phrase, “Root to Fruit” which in many ways encapsulates this beautiful picture of discipleship that Jesus painted for his inner circle of disciples toward the end of his ministry on earth. As a metaphor, Jesus describes a “Root to Fruit” relationship that his first disciples had with him. Today, if we “fill our stomach” with these words, they too will be “sweet as honey”, and will burst new fruit out of our branches. I pray that this simple study may bring some freedom and joy to your identity in Jesus. The outline of John 15:1-17 organically follows this “Root to Fruit” pattern:
-
IDENTITY: The starting point of discipleship is abiding in Jesus. Our identity must be rooted in what he has done for us, not what we can do for him.
-
FRUIT: Being rooted in Jesus will naturally grow fruit in three main areas:
-
Answered prayer according to his Word
-
Love for God, others, and ourselves
-
Unusual joyfulness resulting from listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice as we believe and immediately apply God’s Word.
-
IDENTITY: JESUS EXPRESSES HIS IDENTITY, AUTHORITY, AND CLOSENESS TO YOU
In the opening of John 15, Jesus establishes his identity, his authority, and a sense of confidence that he is near to us: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.” (v.1) In like fashion when giving the disciples the Great Commission, Jesus instills confidence in his followers that he has the authority to say what he is saying: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matt. 28:18) Then he sandwiches his commission with these comforting words of closeness: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus was always instilling confidence in his often-scared little flock of disciples. The same is true for you.
Jesus Calls His Disciples “Family” & “Friends”
As disciples, we are family. He loves us unconditionally as sons, & daughters. As disciples, we are also close friends of Jesus. He not only loves you like family but he likes you as the closest of friends!
Family
After affirming his identity in the Father, Jesus goes on to affirm his disciple’s identity in terms of “family” and “friend” language. There is no mistaking the emotional bond Jesus makes with his disciples in these words. In no way does Jesus want to “use” his disciples to accomplish his mission, rather he attaches himself to them in familial love and sacrificial, loyal friendship. One would have to be completely deceived (like Judas) to reject or detach from this love. Peter especially understood this, where, in the midst of one of Jesus’ more difficult teachings, he responded to Jesus with complete rest in that there is absolutely no better place to be than to be attached to Jesus:
And he said, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.’ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God. – John 6:65-69
So here again, in John 15 Jesus puts his affectionate, loyal, loving arms around his disciples, reminding them that they are now family with him: “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. (v. 3) Then he explains that like the vine, they are completely dependent on being rooted and attached to him:
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 15:4-5
And just in case there was any confusion, Jesus, with crystal clear clarity, says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” (v. 16) Discipleship is a family connection with Jesus and his whole church.
Friends
It is interesting that the analogy of family was not enough for Jesus to make his point. It is as if he wanted his disciples to know that not only did he unconditionally love them as family members (God’s design is that family is supposed to be the safest place on earth for people), but he goes further and uses the metaphor of “friends” to convince them that he really liked them as well. Not only does Jesus love you, but he really likes you!
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. – John 15:13-15
I remember when I was a high school kid, God distinctly used this verse above to show me his love as one of my youth leaders suffered intensely on a backpacking trip. God broke through my selfish, self-centered world and showed me as my leader suffered that he was a lot like Jesus. My leader had not come on this camp for himself, he was there so that I could hear about Jesus. And he was suffering greatly on my behalf. My eyes finally opened and I realized that this is exactly what Jesus had done for me. Even in my sin and selfishness, Jesus loved me and had suffered for me. Not because he had to but because he wanted to. That blew me away.
FRUIT: 3 TYPES of FRUIT THAT GROW OUT OF DEPENDENT REST IN JESUS (PRAYER, LOVE, & JOY)…
After establishing that he wanted His disciple’s “roots” to be anchored in their identity in Christ as family and friends, now Jesus paints the grapes on the vine. Naturally, healthy vines bear good fruit. And although the Scriptures list a variety of fruit (of the Spirit) throughout the Bible, in this account, Jesus highlights three specific “fruits” that will naturally grow out of a healthy rooted, abiding relationship with Jesus.
-
1. PRAYER: Answered prayer according to God’s Word (prayer for personal growth and interceding for others)
It is interesting that Jesus first mentions prayer and his desire to answer them. He wants to give us what we long for as long as those desires are bubbling out of the Spirit’s desires. We can discover and embrace the Spirit’s desires the more we know God’s Word. Jesus says it this way, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (v. 7). He goes on: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” (v. 16) Answered prayer is one of the fruits of discipleship.
-
2. LOVE: Love for God, others, and ourselves through obedient abiding
The second fruit he mentions is love: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”(v. 9-10) He goes on: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. (v. 12-14) And, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (v. 17)
PAUSE FOR PRUNING
It is important to pause now and mention one of the barbed and challenging aspects of John 15, where Jesus says, “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.”(v. 6) It seems this statement is motivated by Jesus’ fierce, jealous love for his disciples. Jesus is going to guard the fruit of love and I suspect that when Jesus started talking about the fruit of love as evidence of discipleship, the disciples may have been reminded of a previous encounter and training session with Jesus where, confronted by some very stubborn “fruitless” scribes who were “dead branches”, Jesus did some pruning:
The reality is that dead branches are dangerous for the vine. They are easy targets for bugs and bacteria. They can become diseased or serve as hosts for destructive forces that will endanger the health of the vine. Nature is an objective teacher. If you own vines and want them to bear more good fruit, you just have to cut out the bad, dead branches. That of course is the Vine Dresser’s responsibility, not ours, but there is great comfort for the disciples here that where there are enemies of love, God will be just and deal with it. We can just carry on, rooted in the love of Jesus, and living vulnerably and innocently loving those around us.
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, ‘Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. – Mark 12:28-31: 28
IMMEDIATE APPLICATION LEADS TO JOY
-
3. JOY: Fullness of joy through listening to the Holy Spirit’s voice as we believe and immediately follow God’s Word
The last fruit Jesus mentions on the vine is Joy: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (v. 11) Joy will come to Jesus disciples. But it can also be allusive if we become insensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. It seems from other times Jesus taught, that one of the most dangerous Joy-takers is when we hear His word but stubbornly refuse to immediately obey Him. “Immediate application” is a significant theme in discipleship which if practiced helps us experience the fruit of joy in our lives. In Luke 6:46-49 Jesus taught a parable that highlights the importance of both “listening to him speak” and “immediately apply” what he says:
Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. – Luke 6:46-49
Bearing much fruit… Looping back to Identity
Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark. He attaches to us, keeps us rooted in the soil of relationship with Him, he speaks to us, loves us, likes us, and guides us. Our part is to listen and say yes. When we do, so much fruit will flow… “and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (v. 2) “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” (v. 8) As Jesus closes the loop on this Vine analogy for discipleship, he (as so commonly in his teaching) comes full circle back to an emphasis on “Identity” and “Dependence” in him: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” (v. 16).
ROOT TO FRUIT
He does not leave us on our own to figure out discipleship. At the end of the day, all we need to do is just “be with Him” daily (Mark 3:13-15), in full dependence as our Shepherd. As we let go and rest in Him, our roots will stay healthy. As we know from nature, if the roots are healthy and well-watered, the vine will bear fruit. Not because the vine knows what it is doing, but because the vine has healthy roots and a perfectly loving and involved Vinedresser.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
-
Looking at the aspects of “Identity”, and “Fruit” in this account, which aspect caught your attention more as you read through John 15:1-17
-
How does it affect you to be reminded that Jesus not only loves you but he also really likes you, as a friend?
-
Try to think of a few of your friends who have demonsptrated the three fruits that Jesus mentions: 1) He answers their prayers, 2) They love others in ways that you would like to become more like them, 3) There is a fullness of joy in them that obviously comes from a deeper source than worldly happiness. Ask them to be your teacher in these fruitful areas of discipleship.
-
What is one way you could commit to getting back to a simple and undistracted pattern of discipleship that naturally grows “Root to Fruit?” Maybe find a verse you could memorize or a prayer or quote you could consistently reflect on to keep you abiding in your identity in Christ this week.