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: (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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: (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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: (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
2. The goal of God’s economy is this enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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: (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
C. When we believed in the Lord Jesus, He branched into us, and we became branches in Him—John 3:15. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
D. For us to be branches in the vine means that Christ has become our life— 11:25; 14:6. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
III. As branches of the vine, we need to abide in the vine—vv. 4-5: (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
C. The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord—1 John 2:24, 27-28; 4:13. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
D. To abide in the Lord is to be one spirit with Him—1 Cor. 6:17. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
E. Our abiding in Christ is the condition of His abiding in us—John 15:4a, 5a. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
F. Apart from the vine, we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing—v. 5b. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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: (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
A. The organic increase of the church is the multiplication of Christ in fruit-bearing by the branches of the true vine—v. 5a. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
D. By practicing the God-ordained way, we fulfill our destiny as branches to go forth and bear fruit—v. 16. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
V. Effective prayers are the issue of our abiding in the Lord and of His words abiding in us—v. 7. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
VI. When we abide in Christ as the vine, we have the church life—1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30; 6:17; 12:27: (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
A. The branches are one with the vine and with one another—John 17:11, 21-23. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
C. The church life, the Body, is a life of loving one another—John 15:12, 17. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)
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. (2005 ITERO-F, msg. 1)