THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Gospel according to John
Message Three—The Organism of the Triune God
Scripture Reading: John 15:1-17
I. The true vine with its branches—Christ the Son with the believers in the Son—is the organism of the Triune God in the divine economy to grow with His riches and express His life—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 3:9; John 15:1, 5:
A. The function of the true vine as a sign of the Son is for the Triune God to have an organism in the Son for His multiplication, spreading, and glorification in His divine life—vv. 8, 16.
B. The Father as the husbandman is the source and the founder; God the Son is the center, the embodiment, and the manifestation; God the Spirit is the reality and realization; and the branches are the Body, the corporate expression—vv. 1, 4-5, 26:
1. All that the Father is and has is embodied in Christ the Son and then realized in the Spirit as the reality—16:13-15.
2. All that the Spirit has is wrought into us, the branches, to be expressed and testified through us; in this way, the processed Triune God is expressed, manifested, and glorified in the church—Eph. 3:16-21.
C. The organism of the Triune God in John 15 is the Triune God united, mingled, and incorporated with His chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people—14:20:
1. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coinhere with the disciples mutually, for the Triune God and the disciples are united, mingled, and incorporated into one—15:4-5.
2. The goal of God’s economy is this enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers.
II. As the branches of the true vine, we are the multiplication of Christ, the duplication of Christ, the spreading of Christ, and the enlargement of Christ—vv. 4-5, 16:
A. Christ, the infinite God, is the vine, and we are His branches; we are branches of the infinite God, organically one with Him—1 Cor. 6:17.
B. Because we are branches of the divine vine, parts of the organism of the Triune God, we are the same as God in life and nature—1 John 5:11-12.
C. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, He branched into us, and we became branches in Him—John 3:15.
D. For us to be branches in the vine means that Christ has become our life— 11:25; 14:6.
E. The vine is everything to the branches; from the vine and through the vine, we receive everything we need to live as branches—John 15:4.
III. As branches of the vine, we need to abide in the vine—vv. 4-5:
A. To be in the Lord is a matter of union; to abide in the Lord is a matter of fellowship—1 Cor. 1:9, 30.
B. Our abiding in Christ as the vine depends on seeing a clear vision that we are branches in the vine; once we see that we are branches in the vine, we need to maintain the fellowship between us and the Lord—John 15:2.
C. The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord—1 John 2:24, 27-28; 4:13.
D. To abide in the Lord is to be one spirit with Him—1 Cor. 6:17.
E. Our abiding in Christ is the condition of His abiding in us—John 15:4a, 5a.
F. Apart from the vine, we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing—v. 5b.
IV. The branches are for the bearing of fruit to express the riches of the Father’s life in the divine dispensing—vv. 8, 16:
A. The organic increase of the church is the multiplication of Christ in fruit-bearing by the branches of the true vine—v. 5a.
B. With the branches we have the glorification of the Father through the expression of the riches of the divine life in fruit-bearing—v. 8.
C. In verse 8 the word glorify means to have the intent, content, life, and the riches released from within and expressed in clusters of fruit.
D. By practicing the God-ordained way, we fulfill our destiny as branches to go forth and bear fruit—v. 16.
V. Effective prayers are the issue of our abiding in the Lord and of His words abiding in us—v. 7.
VI. When we abide in Christ as the vine, we have the church life—1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30; 6:17; 12:27:
A. The branches are one with the vine and with one another—John 17:11, 21-23.
B. When we abide in Christ, we participate in the wonderful fellowship among the co-branches; the inner life of all the branches is one, and this life should continually circulate through all the branches—15:4-5; 1 John 1:7.
C. The church life, the Body, is a life of loving one another—John 15:12, 17.
D. We can have the church life only by living in the mingled spirit—in Christ as the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit; we should remain in this mingled spirit for the church life—1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 1:2; 12:27.
Ministry Excerpts:
THE VINE, GOD THE SON
As the vine, the Son is the center of God’s economy. God the Son is the center of God’s business, of God’s operation, of God’s enterprise. God has an operation in the universe. This operation is His divine business. The Son as the vine is the very center of this enterprise.
This vine is the embodiment and manifestation of the Godhead. Colossians 2:9 says that in the Son the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” In Colossians 2:9 we see the Son as the embodiment of the Godhead, and in John 1:18 we see Him as the declaration, the manifestation, of God. So the very Son of God, who is God’s universal vine, is God’s embodiment and manifestation.
This vine is an organism full of life, like the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). It is not an organization without life, like the tower of Babel (Gen. 11:4, 9). The tree of life is an organism, and the tower of Babel is an organization. Which do you prefer to have—the tree of life or the tower of Babel? The tower of Babel was great and high, but the tree of life was probably the same height as we are. If the tree of life had been too high, it would have been awkward for people to reach it. According to John 6 the people tried to force Christ to be a king. This means that they wanted to make Him a tower. But He preferred to be the bread of life. This means that He wanted to be the tree of life.
The vine is very good for propagating life and for multiplying life. To propagate life means to spread life widely, and to multiply life means to reproduce life. With every kind of vegetable life we see the matters of propagation and multiplication. One grain of wheat is sown into the earth and grows into thirty, sixty, or a hundred other grains. This is both the propagation and the multiplication of life. If we consider deeply the matter of the Lord’s likening Himself to a vine, we shall realize that of all the plants, flowers, grasses, and trees, the vine is the best plant to show the propagation and multiplication of life. A vine is not noted for its blossoms or its materials; it is noted for its manifestation of the riches of life. Once a vine is full of ripened fruit, you can easily discern the riches of life. So the vine produces life. The Lord is not life for people to appreciate as blossoms; neither is He life to be used as some kind of material. Rather, the Lord is life to bring forth life and to produce life.
The propagation and multiplication of life are to express life for the glorification of the Father. When the life of the vine is expressed through the branches in its propagation and multiplication, the Father is glorified, because what the Father is in the riches of His life is expressed in the propagation and multiplication of the vine. (Life-Study of John, msg. 33)
THE BRANCHES LOVING ONE ANOTHER TO EXPRESS
THE DIVINE LIFE IN FRUIT-BEARING
We have covered the first part of John 15, verses 1 through 11, which shows the relationship between us and the Lord. The second part, verses 12 through 17, shows our relationship with one another. In this part of the chapter we see that the branches should love one another to express the divine life in fruit-bearing. These verses reveal that fruit-bearing has very much to do with our loving one another. We must keep a right relationship with one another in life, that is, in love by life. We must keep our relationship in love and love one another by the life that is in us. This life is the Lord Himself. Loving one another is the church life, the Body life. The Body life is a life of love and a life in love. We should not love one another with a human love but in the divine life and with the divine love.
We are not branches of many separate trees; we are all branches of the same tree. So we need to maintain a good fellowship with all the other branches as well as with the tree. This is why in this chapter the Lord also tells us to love one another (vv. 12, 17). If we do not love one another, it will be very difficult to bear fruit. If we do not love one another, it means that our fellowship with the vine tree has been cut off. Therefore, there is no way for us to bear fruit. In order to bear fruit we must love one another.
The life within all of us is one life. The life in you is exactly the same as the life in me. This resembles the circulation of the blood in our physical body. The blood in our body circulates through every member of our body. In like manner, the inner life of all the branches is one. This life should continually circulate through all the branches. Then all the branches will be so living and filled with the riches of life in order to bear fruit.
LOVE ONE ANOTHER IN THE DIVINE LIFE, WITH THE DIVINE LOVE, FOR BEARING FRUIT FOR THE GLORIFICATION OF THE FATHER
The branches have been chosen and appointed to bear remaining fruit. In verse 16 the Lord said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I appointed you that you should go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.” The King James Version uses the word ordained instead of appointed. I like the term ordained. We all have been ordained. To be ordained means to be appointed. Ordained is an old-fashioned word for the modern word appointed. All of the sisters, including the younger sisters, must realize that they have been ordained. Do you know that we all have been ordained? We have been ordained to bear fruit. Do not say that you are too young for this. Regardless of how young you may be, you have been chosen and ordained to bear remaining fruit.
In this chapter there are four ways of referring to the fruit: bearing fruit (v. 2), much fruit (v. 8), more fruit (v. 2), and remaining fruit (v. 16). How long the fruit remains depends on how much life we impart into it. It all depends upon the amount of life we impart into the new converts. This determines how long they will remain. Often in bringing people to the Lord we impart into them only a small amount of life. Therefore, they scarcely remain. It is difficult for them to remain for a longer time.
The branches need to love one another in the life of the Son, in the love of the Son, and in the commission of the Son which is to bear fruit for the glorification of the Father. We need to love one another in the Lord’s life, the divine life, in the Lord’s love, and in His commission of fruit-bearing. Life is the source, love is the condition, and fruit-bearing is the goal. If we all live by the Lord’s life as the source, in the Lord’s love as the condition, and for fruit-bearing as the goal, we surely will love one another. Having different sources of life, different conditions, or different goals will separate us and prevent us from loving one another.
Christians are fond of talking about loving one another. If we love one another in our human life, that will bring in death. If we love one another in an emotional way or for our own purpose, that also will result in death. We must love one another in the life of Christ, in the love of Christ, and in the commission of Christ. We must not love one another in our natural life, with our emotions, or for our own purpose. We must love one another in the divine life, with the divine love, and for the purpose of bearing much fruit that the Father may be glorified. (Life-Study of John, msg. 35)