John 15:1-5 Lessons from the Vine

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Lessons from the Vine and the Need to Abide in Christ

Good to be together today. Excited for what God has for us this morning. I'm excited to bring the word of God and just share what God has been sharing with me the last couple weeks as I've been working on this message.

I've entitled Lessons from the Vine. Thank Pastor Don for this opportunity. As most of you probably know, he's in Indonesia. Coming back this week, I believe on Tuesday. Do I have that right? So yeah, good.

Good, so praying for safe journeys for Don and the Lloyds. So I gotta start out just by thanking Recast. Recast, you guys support us and our work at Youth for Christ. I was at the juvenile home already this morning helping bring the word to the young people that are there.

Thursday night in our chapel service, we had four of the young people pray and ask Jesus to come into their life. And so just excited to be part of the ministry of Youth for Christ. And just wanna give you a quick update before I go into our introduction for today.

I asked over two years ago that you would be praying that God would lead us to our next ministry center. We outgrew our ministry center that was on Crosstown Parkway. And by faith, we sold that building knowing that God had something for us.

And we've been renting space in a building on East Main ever since. Well, little did we know as we were praying and searching for a building that the very building we were renting space in is the building that God is blessing us with.

So we have a beautiful building on East Main right in the middle of the East side neighborhoods where young people will be able to just walk or ride their bikes to come and be loved on and learn the story of Jesus.

And we are in the fundraising phase of it right now. We are gonna totally renovate the entire building. We are gonna build a gym onto it, which Youth for Christ in Kalamazoo, we've never had our own gym.

So we are super excited because we know that more young people are gonna be learning the good news of Jesus. So just pray with us that the funds will be provided for that building. God has just continues to blow us away on people's generosity.

We just really kicked off the campaign and well over a quarter of it's been raised already of the entire need. So super, super excited about that. In 1978, I was a 20 year old young man who was very lost and in darkness.

Had gotten to the point in my life where I just didn't feel like there was much hope for my future. Through a series of really, really bad decisions in high school that started out with smoking marijuana, which can take you down all kinds of dark paths.

It made me really sad when they legalized that here in Michigan because I know the harm that it can cause from personal experience. I was lost and in darkness and the Lord reached in and he rescued one of my best friends from this very lifestyle that I was trapped in and he was so changed and transformed that I knew as he shared with me the story of Jesus and he told me that it was Jesus in his life who was setting him free that I knew it was a miracle of God.

It was undeniable the change in my friend's life. And so as I learned the story of Jesus, I asked him to come into my life and he began to change and transform me. I quickly discovered what a treasure his holy word is and I began to dig into God's word and I began to learn of who he is and how he wants us, his people, to live.

And I was so grateful for his salvation that like every commandment I read, I'm like, okay, I want to obey that, I want to obey this. And I was trying to live out what I was reading in the word, but I kept coming up so short of it time and time again, I failed.

I was trying to get free from my old lifestyle and the old habits and I would often fall into temptation and I would feel that guilt and shame and I was struggling in my own strength to break free. I wanted to tell other people about Jesus and I was doing my best to do that and I wanted to serve God, but I just kept feeling like a failure in that.

Sometimes like a coward because I wouldn't even open my mouth for Jesus and then I would feel that shame and I'm wanting to obey God and I'm wanting to please him. Anybody ever feel like that? You feel that?

Feel that struggle? Feel like I just can't do this? That's how I felt, I just can't do this.

And you know what?

I discovered that's a good thing. When you come to the place where you admit, I cannot live this life, because there's good news, Jesus said, you're right. So open your Bibles with us, we're gonna read John 15, verses one through five.

We'll start in verse one, John 15, one through five. This is Jesus speaking and he calls himself something very interesting. He says, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, or also that can be translated, he takes up.

In every branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because the word that I have spoken to you 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.

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. I remember as a new believer, reading this passage and those words just jumped out to me where Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing.

And it was as if the father was saying, you're right, my child, you can't do this on your own. You're struggling in your own strength. But if you allow my life to live in you, I can do it through you.

And this was very freeing for me to hear Jesus say, apart from me, you can do nothing. You can't do it. It's very freeing for me for ministry in working with the young people that I serve and just encountering such darkness and struggles and in myself, I have nothing to give them.

But Jesus says, abide in me and I in you and you'll bear much fruit. And so this morning, I'm excited to look deeper into this connection between the vine and the branches. And again, I've entitled this message, Lessons from the Vine.

So we're gonna see what we can learn from the vine today. So let's pray together and then we'll have some beautiful time of worship. Father, just thank you that you are the ever present spirit. That you live in us as followers of Jesus by your Holy Spirit.

That you are so fully aware of us, our struggles, our hopes, our dreams, our failures. And you continue to love us through it all. Lord, I just read in your word yesterday that nothing can separate us from your love and thank you so much for that.

And thank you that we can be totally honest with you because you already know us inside and out and you are not shocked by anything we might tell you because you already know about it. And you are the one who can heal and transform anything in our lives.

Thank you so much for that. And we're just praying, Father, that you would meet with us here in a special way, Lord. Many of us have perhaps had a tough week. Lord, been discouraged and we just so need a word from you this morning.

And just pray as we worship together now that your praises will just restore some joy back in our hearts as we focus on your beauty and glory. So we're just asking that you would do something really special here this morning.

And you are so worthy of praise and just thank you for the gift of music and that we can praise your name now this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Open your Bibles up to John 15. I'm guessing many of you have read John 15.

It's a really well-known chapter, really important chapter. And I would encourage you if you haven't explored it, maybe spend some time this week going through that chapter. I'm gonna primarily focus on verses one through five this morning.

And again, we're gonna look at lessons from the vine. And of course, we see clearly that Jesus takes on kind of a unusual name here. In fact, let's read verse one of chapter 15 together. Jesus said this, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser.

Now that's an unusual thing to call yourself. Wouldn't you agree? Just, you know, kind of out of the blue, I am the true vine. I picture Jesus and his disciples, you know, they were often walking the trails.

And in Israel, there were a lot of vineyards back in that day. I'm assuming there's still a lot of vineyards in Israel today. We have a lot of vineyards in Manawa and Papa, don't we? Like, it's amazing how many grape plants there are.

And I just picture maybe that they've sat down along the trail and Jesus, everywhere he went, he's just, he's teaching the truth of God. And, you know, maybe they even had pulled some grapes off and they were eating these delicious, yummy grapes.

And Jesus points to the vine and says, look at the trunk of that grape vine. Look at the branches, look at the fruit. This is a picture of me and you, my followers. And then he says, I am the true vine.

And I want to say with that, that he is saying that he is the heavenly vine and that the earthly vine with the grapes and beautiful vineyards are so pretty that Jesus is saying that that vine is a picture of who he is and what he can be in our lives.

A vine is something that's living and life-giving, right? It's the trunk, it goes down into the ground with the roots and it brings forth that delicious fruit. Well, Jesus is the living one who can bring forth beautiful fruit from our lives.

And, you know, I want that. You know, I kind of come from a line of grouchy people. My dad was grumpy a lot of the time and it seemed like it didn't take my mom very much to get in a bad mood. Of course, at that time they didn't have Jesus in their life and I think that makes all the difference.

But you know what, I realize sometimes maybe I can be difficult. And I think we all are at times, but Jesus is saying I can bring forth beautiful fruit from your lives. And this immediately made me think of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5, verse 22.

And I just wanna read this beautiful list of this lovely fruit that God wants to bring forth from our lives and kind of think, is this like, does this characterize my life, the way I respond to maybe my spouse or my children or my coworkers?

It says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That's some beautiful fruit right there, right? Those are the kind of people I wanna be around that are like this, not the bitter ones, the grumpy ones, so to speak.

Well, the vine is the life source of the branches. In fact, what happens when you cut a branch off from the vine? It's not gonna do very well, is it? In fact, it's gonna wither quickly. Well, I think Jesus is trying to tell us that he is the true and essential life of his people and that he lives in us by his Spirit.

I wrote this down, Jesus is the root and stock from which the branches, his people, derive their sap and nourishment. It is as we are connected to him that the Holy Spirit flows in us and fills us and ultimately bears fruit through us.

So if you think of the sap coming from the vine, the life source of that great plant, right? And that sap coming into the branches and giving the branches life and bringing forth that fruit, that's a picture of the Holy Spirit in us, his people.

Turn with me to Ephesians 5, verse 18. I wanna show you an interesting command. Ephesians 5, verse 18. Speaking of this sap, the Spirit in us. Ephesians 5, verse 18. It says this, and do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

That's a commandment. And God is telling us, don't let that alcohol fill you and influence you. Let my Spirit fill you and influence you. Kind of a comparison there, because for those of us who have drank in alcohol before, it alters something in you, doesn't it?

It gives you a feeling, and the more you drink, the more it affects you, doesn't it? You've seen people act foolish because they've drank too much, perhaps. Maybe it's happened to you before. It alters us, and God is saying, don't let that happen, but let my Spirit fill you and influence you.

And in the context of this word being filled, it means to continually be filled. I've heard it often said that we, as believers, are leaky vessels. In other words, yes, I can connect with God, and I can become alive in the Spirit and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and all of a sudden, I go out into my real world, and some things are going wrong, and that guy is tailgating me, and I'm about to step on my brakes, and all of a sudden, that's kind of spilled over me.

It seems like it's leaking out, right? Like I need to be like, Father, fill me, I'm sorry. All that the vine is to the branches, Jesus will be to his people. He'll supply the life and strength and all that we need.

Look at 2 Corinthians 3 with me for a minute. You know, I've been in ministry for a long time, and you know, I still feel inadequate. I've been working with teams for 33 years, teaching, preaching, discipling, and I still feel so inadequate, and that's good, that's good, because I'm not sufficient in myself.

Look at what it says here, starting in verse four. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.

Where does it say our sufficiency is from? It's from God. Okay, so for me to say, I can't do this, Lord. I mean, getting up here and preaching his word, in and of myself, I have nothing to offer. But with his spirit leading and guiding me in the treasure, in the life-giving word, we have so much to offer to a lost and dark world as we allow Jesus to shine through us.

One of my favorite authors, he was a missionary in Africa and kind of became a worldwide known Bible teacher and wrote lots of devotional-type books. His name was Andrew Murray. Anytime you see an Andrew Murray book, that's some good teaching there.

And he wrote a book called The True Vine, and I'm just gonna quote something that he wrote about this. I am the true vine, he who speaks is God in his infinite power, able to enter us. He is man, one with us.

He is the crucified one who won a perfect righteousness in a divine life for us through his death. He is the glorified one who from the throne gives his spirit to make his presence real and true. He speaks, oh, listen, not to his words only, but to himself as he whispers secretly day by day, I am the true vine.

All that the vine can be to its branch, I will be to you. Jesus is that vine. He is the life source to his people. And if you feel kind of dry and withered, Jesus can, he can restore your soul. He can bring life into your soul.

He's so beautiful in doing that. So in John 15, come on back there, we see Jesus, he's called the true vine, and then the father has a unique name given here also. John 15, one, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser.

So think of what would be the job of a vine dresser, right? Well, taking care of the vineyard. And vineyards need to be taken care of just like gardens need to be taken care of. And we could take the word gardener and place it in here that God is the gardener.

And you know, when I read this and started thinking about gardens, how important is a gardener to a garden, right? I mean, my job is to get the dirt ready and that's what I do. So I go out there and I dig it up for my wife, Cheryl, who is the gardener because I'm not.

If I took care of our garden, you probably wouldn't be able to find the vegetables in it because they would be hidden under all the weeds. But my wife, she loves to garden and she's a good gardener. But who's done a little gardening here, okay?

Right, is it important to take care of your garden if you want fruit to come from it, right? Okay, man, it's amazing how quickly weeds grow, right? I like God did that to cover the earth and man, he did a good job because man, they will take over in no time at all.

Or if we go through a period with no rain, it doesn't take long before those plants start to wither, right? Because they need water and a gardener is so important. And God says, I am your gardener. Jesus is our vine.

And I want you to see what a beautiful gardener God is. So turn with me to Isaiah chapter 27. Isaiah chapter 27. And read with me, we're gonna look at verses two and three of Isaiah 27. And this is God speaking.

Says, in that day, a pleasant vineyard, sing of it. I the Lord am its keeper. Every moment I water it, lest anyone punish it, I keep it day and night. Now look at what kind of gardener our Father is. Now the vineyard here is speaking of God's people.

That's what it's talking about, his people. It's talking about us followers of Jesus. We are his vineyard. And it says that he is our keeper. And I looked this word up in the Hebrew and it means to guard, to protect, and to maintain.

So this is a diligent gardener watching over the garden. Because there's even little critters that can get in and get your stuff, right? So there's things you can do to keep the little critters out to guard, to protect, to maintain.

You know, my wife, when her garden is gone, you know, every day she's out there pulling some weeds out. Because, you know, again, those weeds will quickly take over and you can see how diligent our Father is in taking care of us.

He says, I keep it night and day. He protects it night and day. That's comforting and assuring to me because we live in a crazy world, I'm saying, okay? And there's some dangerous things out there, right?

I mean, I cover my family every day in prayer asking the Lord to protect them. And he is so faithful in taking care of us and protecting us. He says, I keep it night and day. And then think of how important water is to a garden.

So I do a little gardening. I grow watermelons every year. That's my part of the garden. I do it in a different section and I just enjoy watering it. That's the fun part, you know? I don't like pulling the weeds, though, so much.

But water is so important to a garden. And what is this water that God is talking about here? If he's talking about us as the vineyard and he waters it every morning, or he waters it every moment, in Ephesians 5 .26, the word of God is compared to water.

Isn't that interesting? This I'm just gonna quote from Ephesians 5 .26. It says that he might sanctify her, speaking of the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. The word is life-giving.

You know, we can't live without water, can we? Like, only up to four days without water and we would perish. It's so important. And it's so refreshing, right? Nice drink of cold water. I'm kinda thirsty right now, but I feel funny, like, drinking in front of you guys, so.

But water is so refreshing, right? And it washes us and cleanses us. And God's word is like water. It's as we spend time alone with God in his word that he is able to water us and nourish us and help us grow.

Those times alone with the Father, in his presence, with his book open, asking him to speak to you, that's when you're gonna be renewed in your soul and refreshed, and that's where healing can take place in us as we learn to listen to his voice and we spend time in his word.

It has a cleansing effect in our souls and a renewing effect. I know that there is no way I would still be in ministry at Youth for Christ after 33 years had I not spent time every day alone with God in his word.

Every day of those 33 years, that's the only way I can do it. And so many times I have sat down so beat up and discouraged and just opened his word and said, Father, I need you speak to me. Opening the Psalms and just hearing God speaking into my soul and reminding me, I love you, my son, I'm with you.

And learning the beautiful truths of who he is. That is so nourishing to us as believers. You know, how important it is to eat, right? I mean, it keeps us alive. How important is it to eat spiritually, to be in his word?

And you know, at times, even his word can be dry to us, but we stay in it. And oftentimes, I know when it becomes dry to me is I'm just reading it in my own intellect or out of a sense of duty. But when I get honest and real with God and just say, Father, speak to me through your word.

And it's not how much I read at a time, if it's a paragraph. And God gives me a truth that can keep me walking with him through that day. That's how powerful his word is. So I ask you, fellow believer, do you feel dry and withered?

Like you're drying out on the inside? If that's true, find a quiet place and get alone with your father and open up his book and ask him to speak to you. Ask him to water and refresh your soul. And he can do it.

How many times have we sat down totally defeated and discouraged and poured out our hearts to God and opened his word and let him renew our minds and we rise up differently than we sat down? Amen? You experienced that?

That's what we need daily. Once a week isn't enough. Like eating dinner once a week, that's just not somehow gonna cut it, is it? And you know, I'm not trying to put a guilt trip on anyone here, okay?

Believe me, that's the last thing I wanna do. I just want you to know, if you haven't discovered it already, that this word is a treasure because it's the very word of God and he can speak to us through it.

He can speak to you. He loves you. He wants to speak to you through his holy word. Jesus said in John 7 37, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Wow, it doesn't take long to get thirsty, does it?

Right?

Man, people are thirsting so much today. People ask me, Bill, you know, the young people at the juvenile home, are they open to the word? Like if you came and sat in one of our chapel service, you might be shocked at how open they are because they're thirsty and they're searching.

But sadly, as humans, so many are searching in the wrong places. If I can just have this or that, or if I could have that car and that nicer house and even, you know, searching for it in things we're taking in our bodies to find that relief and that escape.

And our country is in a drug epidemic because people are so thirsty and they don't know what they're thirsting for. And Jesus is the one who can quench that thirst like no other. Our wonderful father is the gardener and we are his plants.

He wants to spend time with us, nurturing us and cultivating our hearts. He wants to plant seeds of truth in us and water them so that they'll spring up into beautiful fruit that will bless those around us and bless our heavenly father.

Every gardener, okay, when we plant our vegetables and our fruit trees and my watermelon, ultimately, what are we hoping for? Some delicious vegetables, some delicious fruit, right? Okay, how disappointing to put all that work into a garden and get nothing out of it, right?

Like, man, my wife, she just gets so happy to go out to her garden and pick some green beans, okay, or some nice tomatoes and bring them in and we have these healthy, yummy vegetables. I love it when I get to cut open my watermelon and share them with somebody and they're like, ah, this is pretty good, okay?

That beautiful, delicious fruit. And fruit is mentioned frequently in John chapter 15. Turn back there with me and I want you to see how often fruit is mentioned in this chapter. So in John 15 to Jesus says this, every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

Just in that verse, three times fruit is mentioned. Verse five, I am the vine, you are the branches, whoever bides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. Verse eight, by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so prove to be my disciples.

Verse 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide. God wants every one of us as believers in Jesus to be healthy and flourishing spiritually and he wants to bring forth that beautiful fruit that we read about in Galatians, the fruit of the spirit.

Kind of a serious question is what kind of fruit is your life bringing forth? What kind of fruit is your life bringing forth? Is it bitter? Could it be rotten? Sometimes that comes out of us, doesn't it?

Sadly, that bitterness, that rottenness because there's something not so healthy inside of us. Or is it good? And if it's not, God can bring some beautiful fruit from our lives. Again, this beautiful list, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Man, that's some beautiful stuff right there, right? And that's what the Holy Spirit can bring forth from us. I am glad to tell you that even though I do come from a line of grumpy people, I'm not a grumpy people, okay?

In fact, when I do get a little bit grumpy, it usually shocks the people who know me. They know something's troubling me.

And I do get like that, I do.

But I know where to go with it. And I know my Father can change that. The vine dresser and the vine. And I need to reconnect with this beautiful vine. So we have the fruits of the spirit. The Bible talks about the fruit of praise.

I wanna look at that just for a moment. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews 13. And we're gonna look at verse 15. And it starts out, through him, and it's talking about the vine. It's talking about Jesus.

That's who this is talking about. In Hebrews 13, verse 15, it says this, through him then let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips that acknowledge his name.

Let us continually offer this sacrifice of praise to God. The fruit of our lips. Praise to God is fruit. It's something that's, you know, good fruit is delightful, isn't it? Like, you wanna know if there's a God?

Eat a piece of delicious fruit, right? How in the world could that come out of created self? Seriously, I mean, I call fruit God's candy. Because it is sweet and delicious. And God says, when praise is coming forth from our hearts, that's beautiful to our Father.

That's a connection. And we should be praising God. I like the way the King James translates it. It says the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. And there is just something powerful about practicing gratitude.

We have to look for the blessings because we are surrounded by so much negative, right? It is so easy to get our mind on the negative. And then it just, it's like a little poison in our hearts. And all of a sudden, we become that negative person.

But if we, like, Father, thank you for getting me up this morning. Thank you for giving me another day. Thank you that I can walk to the coffee pot. Thank you for some nice coffee this morning. Thank you for a wife who loves me.

Thank you for our children. Thank you for our grandchildren. Thank you for your forgiveness. I mean, it's endless, the things to thank God for. And practicing that gratitude is powerful. I've been making that more of a focus in the last week.

Because, you know, all of us see the ugliness, right?

All around us.

And man, we gotta see the blessings too. We gotta practice that gratitude. Man, just those simple words, even when someone expresses to us, thank you. Thank you for doing that, right? Isn't that a blessing, just to hear those words?

And, you know, I gotta guess that it blesses our Father, when, you know, oh, Father, thank you for this delicious apple. How simple is that, right? Father, thank you for my guilt and shame. Because it brings me to you.

If I didn't feel guilt and shame, I would just continue in my sin. Thank you that I feel guilty and ashamed. And I confess it to you, and I thank you now for your beautiful forgiveness, because you promised, if I confess my sin, you are faithful and just to forgive me and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

The fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. The fruit of acts of kindness and service. Right, we've all been blessed by that. We've all been blessed by that before. Matthew 5, 16. In John chapter four, Jesus had met with that woman who was an outcast at the well.

You know the story? And she was amazed that he knew about her five husbands. And she was also amazed he was not coming at her with condemnation. He's like, I'll give you the living water. She's like, oh boy, I gotta run back to my village and tell everybody who's out here at this well.

And she did, she ran back to her village, and she said, hey, come and hear a man who told me everything about me. Could he be the Messiah? And Jesus' disciples come back with the food, and they're like, aren't you hungry?

Here's the food. And he says, I have food here that you don't know about. My food is to do the will of my Father in heaven. And then he talked about the fields being white to harvest, and he said, Jesus said these words.

He said that those who are teaching others about who he is and how they can know them, that they are gathering fruit for eternal life. That's what he said in verse 36, that they are gathering fruit for eternal life.

That's a beautiful fruit. When we are able to help people come to know Christ, when we support missionaries as they go out, maybe we can't go where they go, okay? But you are taking part in that fruit when you are praying for the salvation of a coworker, and you're seeking to live out that fruit of the Spirit before them and waiting for that opportunity to share Jesus with them.

And the ultimate blessing of seeing someone come to Christ who maybe you had a little part in that, that's for eternity. That's some good fruit right there. The point is, is that God wants his children to be fruitful.

He wants us to be a blessing to those in our circle of life, to our loved ones, to our coworkers, to our fellow students at school. And God can change, he can change us. I've seen him take some hateful people and make them into really loving people.

That's amazing, all right? I've seen him take racist people and turn them into the most loving person you ever met. That's the power of Jesus. That's the power of his life in us. So the Father is this beautiful gardener who can help us grow, and Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches.

That's what I wanna see next and close with this thought of us being branches. Go ahead and turn back to John chapter 15. So we've looked at the vine dresser, we've looked at the vine. Now look at verse four.

Jesus says this, abide in me and I in you as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He's making it pretty clear who the branches are, right?

He's talking to his followers, to the disciples. In verse three, he talks about you are clean through the word that I've spoken to you. He's talking about people who have experienced the beautiful forgiveness that Jesus paid for at the cross with his precious blood.

We're forgiven. And now he wants us to begin to grow and to be alive and healthy in the spirit so that he can begin to shine through us in this dark world. We are the branches of Jesus. We are connected to Jesus in a living and vital relationship.

When you look at that branch, it is part of the vine. You typically wouldn't go, oh, there's a vine and some branches, right? It's one, you see them as one together. And that's the oneness that we have with Jesus.

That's the oneness that we need to grow into in Jesus. Warren Wearsby, anybody ever read any of Warren Wearsby's books? He just has a unique way of saying stuff. And I read this in one of his commentaries.

He says, our union with Christ is a living union so that we may bear fruit, a loving union so that we may enjoy him, a lasting union so that we need not be afraid. Isn't that beautiful? What does a branch need to do to bear fruit?