His Joy In Me

JOHN 15:1-11

The lynchpin of our relationship with God is joy. The parable of the True Vine and the Branches is about connectedness and relationship. Then, Jesus closes by saying this teaching is for the sake of joy. The joy of the LORD (Jesus) in you and your joy growing to full bloom is His holy purpose, and bountiful fruit is the precious evidence.

Ten time in ten verses Jesus uses the word “abide”. This word means to “dwell, remain or continue”. It speaks of both connectedness and relationship that are alive and flourishing and nourishing. The vine is fruitless and incomplete without the branches and the branches cannot bear fruit without the vine.

The joy of the LORD in me is the nutrition and hydration that flows from the vine into the branches. Without this, the branch would die. Storms come and go. The heat of the day is persistent and predictable. The winter’s cold forces the plant to draw in and protect itself. No matter what, the vine provides the joy that flows through the branches so the branches can survive.

My full joy is the healthy condition where the best fruit comes forth. True enough, it is the “fruit of the vine”, but it come out of the branches only. It is His fruit, but it is born of joy. When anxiousness steals your time and troubles occupy your strength then your fruit is less than impressive. When the joy of the LORD is my strength and my joy is in full bloom I am serving Him in love and living my new life in His grace and He produces an abundance of fruit through me.

For this to happen, I must abide in Jesus and Jesus must abide in me. The saved relationship is so beautifully expressed in this teaching about the body of Christ, the church. How precious, indeed, is this unity when we gather together in communion, connected to one another because each of us is connected to Him.

You cannot bear fruit alone.

For this to happen, I must abide in truth. His word and His will feed me and His fruit is produce through me as I obey. He blesses others when I forgive them as He forgives me. He blesses others when I consider their needs above my own. He blesses others with salvation as I share the gospel as I live my life. His word is not a nicely-bound book resting undisturbed on my nightstand. His word beacons us to bear fruit in our obedience.

You cannot bear fruit on your own terms.

For this to happen, I must abide in His love. The powerful bond that holds all things together is the love of God in us. To love Him with my all and love people as myself is the key to a life pleasing to God. In my words, folks should hear love. In my eyes folks should see love. In my actions, folks should feel love. The branch, you see, is a miniature version of the vine from which it grows.

You cannot bear fruit in your image.

When the time for harvest comes and the branch struggles under the weight of the cluster of grapes … what do I see? I do not see the storms and I do not feel the heat or the cold. I see only the byproduct of His joy and the full bloom of my joy.

The world can now enjoy His fruit.