Jesus is the true vine. The saved are the branches. Because a branch cannot live on its own, the branch has to remain held to the vine. The Father is the gardener. If he sees a branch that bears no fruit, it is cut off and burned. If you pass a vineyard, you may see a fire going on in the middle of a field. He also prunes the branchs bearing fruit so that it will bear more fruit. Pruning is not comfortable to us the branches, but it must be done. Our Father trims off the excess baggage from our lives. And so Jesus continues teaching his disciples.
15:1-10 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you,ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.
Again he promises to do whatever we ask if we remain in him and his words remain in us. This is to the glory of his Father, to bear much fruit to show ourselves his disciples. Obey him as he obeyed his Father.
The World Hates the Disciples
Jesus continues his teaching:
John 15:18-19 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
If we conform to the ways of the world, it will love us to no end. But, if we obey Jesus and his Father, we are going to be hated. We will not be loved because we cannot help but be different.
John 15:20-23 Remember the words I spoke to you; 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecute me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well.
They hate the saints because they do not know the One who sent Jesus which was the Father. When Jesus spoke against sin and amplified the law of God, the people hated him because they understood they were sinners, but some loved their sin more than the Father. They have no excuse for their sin, because the Father and Jesus have taught plainly against it. And we have been commissioned to do the same. And if we obediently do so, we will be hated. Shalom Chapitag