Jesus Teaches: The Vine and the Branches

John 15:5

 “I am the vine, you are the branches; He that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.”

     As a follower of God, we have the promise of the Holy Spirit who is in us.  This is God in us.  Jesus promised the Comforter and Counselor to the disciples before he departed.    The Comforter who gives us an everlasting peace and the Counselor who teaches us what to do and say.  The Comforter and Counselor are one, the Holy Spirit.  This is a great comfort knowing that Jesus is with us all the time.  He is with us on good days.  He is with us on those most awful days.  God is in us for a purpose, and it isn’t just for our own protection.  God loves us and stays close to us.  We don’t always accept that Jesus is this close to us, but Jesus is.  He is always near waiting on us to do our part.

     After leaving the upper room with his disciples where Jesus had given them the promise of the Holy Spirit, he tells them the parable of the vine.  This isn’t first time in scripture where the people of God are referred to as the vine.  Isaiah 5:7 refers to the vineyard as the house of Israel: “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant.”  Since the vineyard belongs to the Lord, the Lord is the husbandman of the vineyard.  So, John starts chapter 15 with “I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”

     Since Jesus is the vine, the branches are those who are his followers, Christians.  The branches will produce blossoms which will grow into fruit.  If no one takes care of the branches, the branches will not produce any fruit.  The branches grow because they are connected to the vine.  When we abide in Jesus, we grow into stronger Christians.  When a branch does not bear fruit, it is no good and is cut off.  The branch which bears fruit is purged so it will produce more fruit. The branches that are cut off are the superficial Christians who do not truly serve God.  They don’t know God and are cut off.  The purged branches are Christians committed to serving.  Purging is when these men and women are disciplined by God to make them stronger and more fruitful.  We are nothing without Jesus.  Jesus calls us to serve.  We chose to serve because we love God and desire to abide in Christ.

     Jesus said to the disciples, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask in my name, he may give it to you.” (John 15:16)   Jesus was letting these eleven men know that they were chosen.  They were selected by God to teach the gospel of Christ.  Being the branches connected to the true vine, Jesus Christ, they did go and bring forth much fruit.  After receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, they boldly preached the gospel and thousands over the Roman Empire believed.  Today, when Jesus calls you, will you go and share the gospel?  Will you believe?  Accept Jesus and become a fruitful branch in the family of God.

More scripture referencing God as the husbandman of the vineyard. 
Isaiah 27:1-13 from Berean Study Bible (https://biblehub.com/bsb/isaiah/27.htm)
The LORD’s Vineyard
In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan, the fleeing serpent —Leviathan, the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea. In that day:

“Sing about a fruitful vineyard.

             I, the LORD, am its keeper.
           I water it continually.
        I guard it night and day
           so, no one can disturb it;
           I am not angry.
        If only thorns and briers confronted Me,
            I would march and trample them,
            I would burn them to the ground.
         Or let them lay claim to My protection.
             let them make peace with Me—
             yes, let them make peace with Me.”
         In the days to come, Jacob will take root.
             Israel will bud and blossom
             and fill the whole world with fruit.
          Has the LORD struck Israel as He struck her oppressors?
             Was she killed like those who slayed her?
          By warfare and exile You contended with her
              and removed her with a fierce wind,
              as on the day the east wind blows.
         Therefore, Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for,
             and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this:
          When he makes all the altar stones
              like crushed bits of chalk,
           no Asherah poles or incense altars
               will remain standing.
          For the fortified city lies deserted—
               a homestead abandoned; a wilderness forsaken.
          There the calves graze, and there they lie down.
                they strip its branches bare.
          When its limbs are dry,
                they are broken off.
           Women come and use them for kindling.
                 for this is a people without understanding.
           Therefore, their Maker has no compassion on them,
                 and their Creator shows them no favor.

In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered one by one. And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.