Abiding in Christ: Embracing Our Dependence on the Vine

And as we live life together, Redeemer, in 2025, moving together to a place, hopefully, of fruitfulness and life and an abiding connection with Jesus. Jesus is crucial. For according to the verses we just read, it brings fruit. It brings life. A life with God is connected to Jesus in such a way that it looks like what, according to John? A branch connected to a vine. [00:53:08] (29 seconds)


And that vine, when it produces fruit, grapes and the wine that comes from those grapes, does so because it remains in vital connection to the vine. If it does, Jesus says, then it will bear fruit. New grapes, new wine. So the first thing we have to kind of unpack is what makes that connection. [00:53:39] (23 seconds)


So Jesus is about to leave, about to go to a cross, be resurrected and ascended. And he tells his disciples, I am the true vine. What's he saying? I am actually the true Israel. I am what the story of the Old Testament is all about. And good news, I have done for you what you have failed to do. To love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. [00:55:08] (32 seconds)


This Jesus has done that, and in doing so, he has made God known. As we talked about all through Advent, and each of the guys made it compellingly clear, this is what God looks like. This is what a true human is. He's the light to the nations, making good on the promises of God, the true word from the Father. And so John here is saying, Jesus is the true vine, the way of life, the way of connection to God. To be a part of God's family and story is to connect to this true vine. Who is Jesus? [00:55:40] (39 seconds)


What makes the connection between you and the vine that is Jesus? It's the belief that he, Jesus, is who he said he was. Now this is a massive move in John's gospel. Remember, Jesus has gathered his friends, and they're asking questions like, in chapter 14, Thomas asks, Lord, we don't know where we're going. How can we know the way? And Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. [00:56:51] (32 seconds)


And as a branch, you are called to what? Verse 4, abide in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Today is Epiphany. Christmas trees are at their ends. We haven't had a real Christmas tree in a long time. In fact, Danette grew up with them as part of her family tradition, but we always had a fake one. [01:02:55] (32 seconds)


But let me tell you something. That sucker's destined for the trash. It's no longer abiding in that root. It's not going to grow. And it won't stay green and lush forever. It will eventually dry out. It is actually in some ways dead already. It's just going to take some time for it to be fully put on display. This is why Jesus tells you, you are just a branch. [01:04:28] (35 seconds)


Now next week, we're going to talk about the joy of being a branch. But this word abide is used seven times in three verses. And what you need to hear, Redeemer, at the outset of 2025, is you are a branch and a branch has no life in it itself. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, Jesus says. Unless you abide in me. [01:04:42] (29 seconds)


Jesus is saying, life with him, with a God like him, is a life of complete dependence upon him for, everything. The radical idea is that true fruit, productivity for the Christian, is a passive endeavor. It is only through a connection to the vine, with a life marked by dependence and not independence, that you will know fruit. And part of that fruit is the epiphany, epiphany, of seeing that you need him. [01:06:00] (46 seconds)


To abide is to allow yourself to move in with him in such a way that you accept that he moves at a different pace. And he lives by a different rhythm. And all he wants from you, Redeemer, is to live with him in this posture of reception. If you understand what Jesus is saying, this is actually an oxymoron because he is commanding something from us where nothing needs to be done by us. [01:09:02] (38 seconds)


You see, you and I, we so often put our focus on what we do, on our busyness, on our serving. And Jesus instead invites us to simply be with him, in relationship with him, to receive from him. Because he's the vine and we are the branches. You see, branches don't work for the vine. They receive. They receive from the vine. And this, by the way, is grace for us. [01:09:59] (32 seconds)


We need, and it's out of this posture of neediness that we then pray, reflexively. Listen to what Paul Miller writes in A Praying Life. If we think we can do life on our own, we will not take prayer seriously. Prayer is simply not important to us because Jesus is already kind of an add-on. The gospel of God's free gift of grace in Jesus only works when we realize we don't have it all together. [01:15:13] (31 seconds)