John 15:6-7 Now Available feat. Joel Limpic

John

May 10

John 15:6-7 is now available on all streaming platforms!

The Verse

[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. [7] If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Vines and branches. Connection and fruitfulness. There’s a beautiful intimacy and vibrancy found in Jesus’ words in John 15 about the relationship between the Vine and branches. We hear hints of the way life should be, similar to the Garden of Eden before things went awry in Genesis 3. For as lovely as this imagery is, we’re left with an inevitable question... What is the fate of branches that don’t abide in the Vine (Abiding is a description of those who trust in Jesus and follow Him in John 15)? What happens to them?

Though all branches were created to abide in the Vine and bear fruit, when they don’t they understandably wither. Verse 6 tells us how things unfold for the un-Vined branch. Just as a flower cut from its life source immediately begins to die, so too a detached branch can’t live or produce as they were intended to. A detached branch is a withering branch. In a very real way, branches can only be understood in the context of a Vine. There have never been and there will never be autonomous or independent branches; by definition branches are dependent! Like dry dead branches gathered by a gardener and separated from the branches that are bearing fruit, so we’re told the fate of non-abiding branches: gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. This imagery is one of separation from its source and eventual destruction. Jesus doesn’t want to candy-coat it for us: the fate that Adam and Eve experienced in the first garden (judgment, death, and separation from God) is the same fate for any branch in subsequent gardens who seek the same sort of independence from the Vine.

On the flip side, we’re told that a branch that abides in the Vine (Jesus) and Whose words abide in them, we’re told that they can ask whatever they wish and it will be done. What a statement! Far from the picture of a withering branch, we’re given another marked by true life and flourishing. In verse 7, we find a picture of intimacy, communion, and a promise on Jesus’ part to answer the requests of the branches as they come to Him. At first glance, it seems like Jesus is telling the branches He will do whatever their whims happen to be in the moment. What it fails to see is that as the Vine’s life is taken into the branches and permeates every part of their existence, the branches’ desires and wishes increasingly are in line the the desires and wishes of the Vine. The flourishing life of branches is embodied through a vibrant prayer life; abiding leads to prayer, and in turn prayer to more abiding. Note what’s abiding in the branches: the Vine’s words. Cut a branch open and you’ll find Jesus’ words coursing in their life-stream.

Mediate on these two verses:

Which branch do you relate to? Do you feel like you’re flourishing or withering?
If someone were to cut you open, what would they find?
What are you abiding in? What are you meditating on?
What are some ways you can fill your mind and heart with more of Jesus’ words and less of whatever else might try to lure you in? Ask Jesus, the Vine, to fill you with His life and His words!

The Artist

Joel Limpic - Vocals
Jonathan Allen Wright - Backing vocals
Taylor Armstrong - Guitars, percussion, and everything else you hear.

Written by Joel Limpic.
Produced and recorded by Taylor Armstrong in San Diego, CA.
Joel’s vocals recorded by Corban Roberts in Denver, CO.
Mixed by Michael Keith Lewis and mastered by Thiago Silva Gomes.
Jonathan Allen Wright threw in some Beach Boys backing vocals for good measure because who doesn’t love the Beach Boys.