This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom Holliday, and I want to welcome you to Daily Drive Time
Devotions. We're going to be looking together at John chapter 15 this week.
Today we begin our look at that chapter with verses 1 to 3, and as we begin our
look at this chapter, we are beginning a look at what Jesus says is the key, the
key to living the Christian life.

John 15 is the absolutely indispensable key, and it's not me saying that. This
is not some hype from some salesman, some preacher. This is Jesus Christ who
says this.

If you struggle with your relationships, John 15 teaches the key to a healthy
relationship with God and others. If you're disappointed in your
accomplishments, John 15 teaches the key to a satisfying, significant life. If
everything seems to be going great, but there just seems to be something that's
missing, John 15 is the key to everything that's missing.

Jesus has a word that we're going to be looking at together as we go through
this chapter about the satisfying, significant life. The word is fruitful, and
Jesus shows us in this chapter the way to a fruitful life, the way to a
significant life. He tells us that the way is abiding in him.

He talks to us about how life works. Jesus talks to us about the realities of
life, and I love the way that Jesus often makes things astoundingly,
astonishingly simple and yet extremely deep. In John 15.

1, he does that. Jesus says in John 15. 1, "I am the true vine, and my father is
the gardener.

" This is the last of the I ams in the book of John. Remember there are seven I
ams. We've looked at Jesus saying, "I am the bread of life.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am
the light of the world.

" All of these seem so significant, and they build towards this one, which at
first glance doesn't seem as significant. I am the vine. What is so significant
about that?

Well, for everyone who's ever looked at a picture of an eagle and immediately
thought of America because it's a symbol of America, or a picture of a maple
leaf and immediately thought of Canada because it's a symbol of Canada, you
understand the significance here. This vine that he talks about here, it is a
symbol, it is a picture of the people of Israel. The vine was etched on the face
of the temple.

Israel had often in the Old Testament been compared by God to a vine. The truth
is, not always to a good vine. Later in the Old Testament, God says that Israel
had become a wild vine, a vine without fruit.

It had in it the promise of life, but it was not bearing fruit. In Psalm 80
verse 8, "You brought us out of Egypt as if we were a vine. You forced out other
nations and planted us in the land, but then in Jeremiah 2.

21, 'But I planted you as a special vine, as a good seed. How then did you turn
into a wild vine that grows bad fruit? '" So when Jesus talked about a good
vine, when he talked about good fruit, that was a truth would have reverberated
in the heart of everyone from Israel.

In fact, this very night, as they're going to walk soon from the Upper Room to
the Garden of Gethsemane, they're most likely going to walk past the temple,
they're most likely going to walk past vineyards, they're going to see the vine.
When Jesus says, "I am the true vine," he's saying, "I am the fulfillment of all
that's in this picture. Draw your life from me Israel, draw everything from me.

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. " Jesus is the gardener in
this vineyard and some people say a vineyard is a more difficult gardening task
than any other. It requires more constant care, more wise care than any other
pursuit in our agriculture.

And God is the one who gives us, his people, that care. He is the one who tends
our lives. He's the gardener.

We were created in the Garden of Eden. God has the power as the grower of
everything. So anytime you're gardening, you're being reminded of God's work.

There's no higher work than gardening because God is the gardener. He's the
gardener of our lives. Jesus says, "I am the vine.

I am where the life is. " God is the gardener. He is the one who gives the life.

So what does that leave for you? What does that leave for you and me? Jesus is
the vine, God's the gardener, I am a branch of the vine.

Useful people, people who live significant, fruitful lives have gotten a handle
on exactly who they are. And God says, "Here's who you are. You're a branch.

" And he's very honest with us about branches. John 15, 2 and 3. He cuts off
every branch in me that bears no fruit.

While every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more
fruitful. You are already clean because of the word, "I have spoken to you. "
Here is this vine, this vineyard, where the vine is under the care of the
gardener.

And here are the branches that are dependent on the vine. And where that growth
happens, the fruit will be. And so the simple key to growth in my life and your
life is this.

Don't try to be the gardener. Don't try to be the vine. Be a branch.

What does the gardener do? Well, only God has the right to do what the gardener
does. The right to judge others, cut off those who do not trust in Christ.

That's the one who doesn't bear any fruit. This is the fruit of faith here. Only
God has the right to prune.

He is the one who cuts off and cuts back. Don't try to be the gardener. This
phrase that Jesus uses, "He cuts off every branch," has some people frightened.

And so there's a lot of talk about what the fruit is. I'll show you as we walk
through this this week why there are so much interest. Is this fruit prayer?

Is it joy? Is it love? Is it all of those?

Is it reproducing the life of the vine? Is it being like Christ? The truth of
the matter is all of this is caught up in what it means to be fruitful.

If I'm bearing no fruit, what should I do? Some people get afraid and think, "I
don't see enough fruit. Does that mean God's going to cut me off?

What should I do? If I'm bearing no fruit, I get attached to the vine. " Some
try to bear more fruit on their own energy to prove that they are worthy to be
attached.

That will never work. You are attached even though you're not worthy. And it's
only through being attached that you bear fruit.

Never get that one backwards. It's a frustrating life. In fact, it's a
devastating life if you get that one backwards.

To be like Christ, I got to remember my place in the garden. I don't become like
him by judging others. I don't become like him by depending on myself for life.

I am a branch. So I say to myself, in fact, you might even say this to yourself
in your mind right now. I am a branch.

And as you're saying that, there's a sentence that follows that. God tells us
the truth. If you're a branch, here's the truth.

You will be pruned. I am a branch. I will be pruned.

Branches have to understand pruning. If you don't understand pruning, you will
be continually confused in your life in Christ. You'll be continually asking,
what is God doing to me?

You see, pruning, we know this in a garden. We know this with a vine. It's
unavoidably necessary to produce fruit.

So to qualify for pruning, I've got to be bearing fruit. It's the fruit-bearing
branches that are pruned. And the reason for pruning is so that I can bear more
fruit.

If I don't understand that, it can get very confusing in life. I can say, God,
why are you pruning me? I'm bearing so much fruit.

I can say, God, why don't you wait? But God knows what he's doing. The vineyard,
the grapevine, is a perfect picture because those vines need drastic pruning.

Sometimes 90% to 95% of the branch is pruned in order to give more fruitfulness.
And sometimes I look at my life, you look at your life and think, God, why so
much change? Why did you change this?

Why didn't you let that keep going? The truth of the matter is, God's work in
your life and my life is under one simple criteria, and that is, how can I get
the most fruit out of this branch? You see, if your goal is the greatest length
of a branch or perfect leaves on the branch, the most beautiful branch in the
vineyard that everybody can be very, very impressed with how long and beautiful
this branch is with all these leaves, then you're going to miss out on God's
best.

You're going to miss out on what God's doing. But if your goal is God's goal,
the fruitfulness of the branch, then pruning begins to make sense. You
understand what God is doing.

And even understanding doesn't mean you don't go through the simple truth that
pruning hurts. Pruning hurts. From the perspective of the branch, there is no
pruning without pain because there's something that is lost.

But in much of their pain, here's the lesson of pruning. In much of our pain,
there is the promise of fruit. I grew up in an area of Northern California
that's called the wine country.

You couldn't go five minutes without seeing a grape vineyard. I remember that in
the summer, those grape vineyards were beautiful with the green leaves and the
fruit that was coming on or was ready to be harvested in the fall. I remember in
the fall, right after the fruit was harvested, the vineyard was still beautiful
because they had the leaves that were turning to golds and reds, and you'd look
at them and see the beauty of them.

But in the springtime, the pruning would happen. And when the pruning happened,
the vineyard didn't look nearly so beautiful. In fact, it looked pretty bare.

It looked like not much was happening. But the truth of the matter is,
everything was happening. The gardener knew just what to do to get the best
fruit out of the branch the next year.

And maybe you're going through a time of pruning in your life right now. If so,
what do you do? You trust the gardener.

You realize that he is working for his fruit in your life. Not only the fruit of
how many results you produce, but also the fruit of the Christ-likeness that
he's producing in your heart and in your life. God knows what he's doing.

Yes, pruning hurts. But yes, the gardener knows what he is doing. When it comes
to being a branch, you have to understand what it means to be pruned.

But as we continue to look through John, we're going to be talking tomorrow
about the most important task of a branch. But I'd like to end today by talking
to God and thanking him. God, we thank you.

We thank you that you are the gardener, that we can trust you. We can trust you
as the judge. We can trust you as the one who prunes.

We thank you for who you are. And Jesus, we thank you. We thank you as the vine,
the one from whom I can draw life today.

And thank you for helping me to understand who I am. I am a branch. I recognize
who you are.

I recognize who I am. And I pray, Jesus, in the simplicity of that, there would
be joy. There would be the joy of living out who you've made me to be.

There would be the joy of understanding that even when I don't understand what's
happening, you do. You're the gardener. I can trust you.

And so I trust you as much as I ever have. I trust you with my life today. In
Jesus' name, amen.