A lady driving on a narrow country road nearly went into a ditch when a car came around a sharp turn on the wrong side of the road. When she yelled, “Watch where you’re going!” as she passed his window, the offending driver shouted, “Pig.”

The stunned woman shot back, “Who are you calling a pig? You’re the pig!” and was still fuming in anger when she spun around the curve ahead and nearly crashed into the huge pig that was wallowing in a mud hole in the center of the road.

Some warnings are only understood too late.

In the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus now moves from words of comfort to words of warning to his 11 apostles. The first one: stay close to me.

A missionary recently related a story of a trip to Thailand and he was offering firm, repeated warning to his son “Don’t let go of my hand!”

He was concerned that he’d get lost in the underground marketplace: lots of people, the child too small to understand yet totally incapable of  taking care of himself or finding his parents if he were to get separated from them. And besides: this was a country that was known for kidnapping children and selling them as slaves.

“Don’t let go of my hand” had a very special meaning, didn’t it? But how do you explain to a young child such things when he approaches everything on a very innocent, simplistic level?

If you understand that frustration, you can relate to what Jesus must have felt as He considered His disciples’ future.

Jesus was leaving, that much He’d explained. The Spirit was coming, that they understood. Were the 22 eyes looking at Him on that occasion filled with confidence…wisdom…or were they filled with concern and uncertainty?

Jesus says five times in six verses: Remain in me!

In these opening verses, our Lord uses a similar homespun illustration — that of a vine and its branches — to teach His disciples the importance of fellowship with Him. This was an ancient metaphor that Israel’s prophets had used for centuries. He gives His followers a handful of reasons why they must remain close to Him.

Vineyards were everywhere, and it may be that they passed several on the road from Jerusalem to Gethsemane. They were certainly partaking of juice from the vine at their Passover feast.

* Five points of  resemblance between the vine and the gardener are given:

– 1. Remain in Me because “I am the right stock…the true vine.”

¹  “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

The first essential in planting a vineyard is to have the right stock. Every nurseryman guarantees that the plants he sells will run true to type.

The story of Israel’s relationship with God had more “ups and downs” than a yo-yo.

One minute they were worshipping God and the next minute they’re putting up Asherah poles or dancing around golden calves.

This verse describes their behavior: (Exodus 32:6)  “So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

What prompts such unfaithfulness (then and now?)

What enables a Christian to slip out the back door or a church building and step into the side door of an adult bookstore?

What leads a disciple to let go of the hand of Christ and raise his hand in abuse against his wife or children?

What seduces the Christian into dancing with the devil?

Our problem? We often become enamored with imitations…the fake vine that claims to be rooted in something good is simply that: fake!

It looks succulent and good…others have chosen to drink of its nectar so we do too. That false vine comes in the form of money…power…pleasure…fame….the list needs to come from your lips.

No matter how sweet and filling these items may be today—they are destined to dry up and blow away—as will all people who have joined themselves to them!

2. Remain in Me because “My Father is the husbandman…the right expert (gardener).”

⁶  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

Every vineyard must be pruned by an expert. The vinedresser had to know how and when to prune and fertilize the vine, so that it would produce the maximum stock.

Jesus indicates that God is both the owner and the manager of the field. It was His to tend as He saw fit. And there is one goal in mind: to get the most good fruit possible from the vines under His care.

The concept of pruning involves the removal of some shoots in order to enhance the fruit bearing of the other branches. Christ assures his followers that God had already pruned and cleaned their branches and that he would continue to tend them as they grew.

How does He do this? Through the discipline and trials we go through as Christians. “Trials only stop when it is useless: that is why it scarcely ever stops.”

But pruning also involves cutting off the branches that bear no fruit. And we simply cannot ignore the scriptures that speak of this process:

(2 Thess. 1:7b-9)  “…This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. {8} He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. {9} They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power.”

Cutting off barren branches is serious business. The fear of an eternity in hell outside of the presence of God exists for a reason: the gardener will not tolerate barren branches.

A while back I was told of a funny video that was in German; but you didn’t need to know German to get the point. A young woman asks her father how he likes the new iPad she gave him for his birthday. He says, “Good.”

But then she watches him use his iPad as a cutting board for chopping his vegetables. She is horrified as he rinses it off in the sink and puts in the dishwasher! A caption in English informs us that no I-Pads were harmed in filming the episode.

In real life, it’s no laughing matter when you see something costly not being used to fulfill its intended purpose, or even worse, being used for something contrary to its purpose.

But the saddest of all is when people who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ fail to live for the purpose for which He saved them.

They drift through life like the unredeemed people around them, living to accumulate more stuff that they think will make them happier before they die.

But they never stop to consider what God wants them to do with the few precious years and the gifts that He gives them.

3. Remain in Me because You Can’t Bear Fruit Alone…the right culture.

²  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

³  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

These verses talk of Christians who are habitually unfaithful to the cause of Christ. It isn’t spiritual immaturity or laziness or struggling lifestyles. These are people who have lost their connection/allegiance to Christ.

(2 Peter 2:20-22)  “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. {21} It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. {22} Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.””

4. Remain in Me because if you do, I’ll make you fruitful…the right contact.

⁵  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

The process of pruning must never sever the fruit-bearing branch from the main vine. Cuttings will often bear leaves independently through the vitality resident in them, but they will never bear fruit.

In scripture, fruit, more fruit, and more fruit is the divine order! Growth brings increase in fruitfulness, and the more mature a Christian becomes, the more is expected of him.

Trying to bear fruit on our own is like trying to turn on a light that isn’t plugged in. We can check the bulb and flip the switch as often as we like, but if it isn’t connected to the power source, it will not work!

5. The right fruitage: “The same bears much fruit.”

. ⁸  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

God blesses those who abide in Him:

1. Prayer is answered.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” (vs. 7)

2. God is glorified

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (vs. 8)

3. Our life will be motivated by love.

“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.” (vs. 9-10)

4. Joy will be ours in abundance.

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (vs. 11).

A pair of scissors consists of two single blades. Yet the blades, regardless of  how sharp or shiny, are useless without one essential element — the small metal screw that holds them together.

Can you imagine trying to cut some paper or fabric without that tiny screw? Of course, you could put a blade in each hand. But think of the effort and difficulty involved in trying to make an even, precise cut that way. But when that tiny screw brings both blades together, suddenly the cutting becomes effortless.

In our relationship with God, abiding in Jesus is the screw that holds everything together and makes us useful to Him.