City Life Starter

Written by Jason Scherzer

The Word

¹⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

Exegesis

In the Old Testament or Tanakh, “vine” is a figure that points to the people of Israel. In chapter 15 of John’s gospel account, Jesus continues His message to the disciples (but possibly not in the upper room anymore) – His topic now is that He is the true vine, the real Israel. The people of God will be one with Him, and so we see in this chapter the vine, and the branches – inseparable and infused with life. The vine cannot be separated from the branches, and the branches cannot be separated from the vine – except branches that do not produce any fruit. The disciples of Jesus must remain in Him and derive life from Him.

The oneness is so close, that Jesus tells His disciples that He does not call them slaves, but friends. Friends tell each other what they really think and believe; Jesus has disclosed the mind of God to His disciples.

He says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” It is a great mystery, and very hard for humans to grasp. The mind of God is much deeper, and His thoughts much higher than that of mankind.

⁸ “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah 1:4-5

We truly do not fully grasp why God chose particular people to be prophets out of many thousands of possible choices, why Jesus chose His disciples, or why He chose us who are living on the earth today. We can know from Jesus’ words that He both chose and appointed His disciples so that they would bear fruit, a lasting, enduring fruit that will never whither.

If the people of God are united with Him as one, then Jesus says that they may ask anything of Him; He will not hold back the great winds of heaven; He will not withhold tens of thousands of angels to afford protection, comfort and help to His people. He will not even withhold the Holy Spirit, whom He promised in John chapter 14. The asking for something may not be done from selfish motives; the asking must be done upon the very authority of His Christ, by a requestor who is one with the Vine. The Vine is Jesus.

Jesus is repeating what He has said in verses 7-8: His disciples may ask anything, but they must ask with His words remaining in them. The evidence that a person is truly in the Vine is love for others. Without love, all works are useless and not connected with the Vine.

Application

The members of the Vine who are rooted in Him, must derive their life-giving, sustaining nutrition from the Vine. The invitation is given to all: “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved…” (Acts 16:31). There is not any room for an exclusive “club” which would prevent others from joining the Vine, or refuse to share the good news. Only Christ has all authority as King, which was given to Him by the Father. As believers in Him, we are commanded to remain in Him and show the evidence of who He is to the world.

Prayer

LORD, you know that is a great mystery to us how we are to be rooted in the Vine, in You. Yet you have illuminated our hearts to see Your glory and to know that You are good. Thank You for the treasure of Your Word planted in our hearts like a seed that has properly taken root and grows to multiply ten times, a hundred times, and a thousand times. Keep us carefully and reverently rooted in You and not in our own understanding. In Christ alone. Amen.