John 15 Round Two: The Primary Goal of All Christians

A quiet walk to Gethsemane becomes a masterclass on purpose. We open John 15 and hear Jesus reframe success with a vineyard in view: the Father as Gardener, Jesus as the true Vine, and us as branches designed to live, flourish, and bear fruit through abiding. Instead of chasing outcomes, we talk about anchoring our lives in the daily choice to remain, let his words dwell in us, and trust pruning as a sign of care, not rejection.

We share why pruning is painful yet essential, how obedience becomes the trellis that supports joy, and what it means to move from servants to friends who carry the Father’s business. That shift changes everything about prayer, desire, and mission—asking in Jesus’ name with a heart shaped by his character. We get honest about the tension: when you pursue holiness, some people push back. Jesus’ warning is clear, but so is his provision. The Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, strengthens our courage, steadies our witness, and keeps us close when pressure rises.

If you’ve felt worn out by striving, this conversation will help you trade hurry for rootedness and metrics for fruit that lasts—love that sacrifices, joy that holds, peace that disarms. Our aim is simple and demanding: stay connected while God defines success. Listen now, share with a friend who needs courage to remain, and leave a review so more people can find the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Subscribe for daily chapter journeys and let’s keep walking in the Word together.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Purpose Of Podcast
• 1:10 Resource And Deep-Dive Recommendation
• 1:52 Context For John’s Gospel
• 3:45 The Vineyard Metaphor Introduced
• 5:05 Abide To Bear Fruit
• 7:00 Pruning, Joy, And Obedience
• 9:36 Friends Not Slaves
• 11:04 The World’s Hatred And The Spirit’s Help
• 13:20 Holiness Versus Happiness

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's Word together. Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon, another good one. I mean, I'm telling you, there are no bad chapters in the Bible. Let's get that out of the way. As a matter of fact, I don't think there's a single boring chapter in the Bible. There's chapters we don't yet understand, but the more we dig, the more we find. And this is one of those that is awesome. If I were to give today's chapter a title, it would be The Primary Goal for All Christians. Have you ever wondered what is the number one thing that God wants from us? What is the number one way for us to be quote unquote successful in this life? Well, Jesus is going to tell us. And we're going to jump into this and it's going to be great. He's also going to give us a warning that hopefully will bring some hope to you. But before we get into that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like this video on YouTube, subscribe to the channel. It really does help us get the word out. And if you were listening to the podcast, leave us a five-star review. It really does help all the algorithms and stuff like that. And I want to give you a resource really quickly. I have people ask me all the time for resources to help them enrich their Bible reading. And I want to give you this resource, and that is, it's got a very interesting title, but it's called the Naked Bible Podcast. Now, it is someone that was a mentor in my life, Dr. Michael Heiser. He and I were able to have kind of a long-distance relationship for a season, and he has recently gone on to be with the Lord. He has graduated, but there's some really great resources that really dive very deep. It's Christianity 401 kind of stuff. But if you're someone who's been walking with the Lord for a while and you would just love to know more about the depth of God's Word, I want to give you that resource, the Naked Bible podcast, and just really digging into some very deep theology stuff. Okay. All right. We're going to jump into John chapter 15 today, and it is going to be absolutely awesome. Let me give you some context real quick, and then we're going to jump in. So go ahead and get your NLT Bible open to chapter 15. Get your cup of coffee ready to go. And let me give you some context. Remember, this has been written, this was written inspired by the Holy Spirit, by then through rather the Apostle John. And he was like the best friend of Jesus while he was on this earth. And the one main message that John is trying to get to us is Jesus is God. So he's not interested in giving us a blow-by-blow account of every single thing that happened in the life of Jesus. He's really focusing on the final year of Jesus' life and the message that Jesus was sharing. And he's telling the local church. Most scholars believe that the primary audience that John was writing to were the seven churches that we hear about in the book of Revelation. These were likely the churches that John was overseeing. And he's writing the message of Jesus. And he's saying, while Jesus was on this earth, this was the message. And he's just saying, man, you may have 99 problems, but Jesus ain't one of them, that he is God. And all throughout the narrative, he shares with us seven different times when Jesus uses the holy name of God, I am, to say, I am this, I am that. I am God, and this is what I want to be in your life. The message that Jesus is God. And that's important because in our current context, people continually to try to downplay who God was, who Jesus is, and say, well, he was a really good man or he was a good philosopher and whatever. No, no, no. C.S. Lewis said it one time. He said, Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, a crazy person, or he's God. No one can say the things that Jesus said and not be one of those three. And so if he's a liar or a lunatic, we need to just get rid of that right now. But if he's God, we bow our knee and worship to him. And that's what John is telling us. And so now as we know that, Jesus is on his way to the Garden of Gethsemane. We've talked about how he had the Last Supper there with his disciples. And he said, This is the last time you, you and I, we're gonna have a meal before some stuff's gonna happen. He is finished with that, and now they are walking toward the Mount of Olives. So I want you to get this picture in your mind. It's after dark. People, there's not a lot of people around, probably. Everybody's having a feast, but there's some kind of meandering around and all this, and it's in the dark, and they are walking to the Mount of Olives. Now, as they're walking to the Mount of Olives, the garden where he is going to later be betrayed, Jesus would often go to this garden to pray. So they likely know exactly where he's going. But as he's walking by, he likely is seeing, you know, the people in town, different things, but he's also seeing the vineyards and the different things. And so he looks and he sees a vineyard, and he decides to use that vineyard as an example of who God is in our lives and the difference in the Trinity about the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And so now in our minds, we're walking with Jesus. He's walking to where he knows he's going to be betrayed. He's using a vineyard as an example. Let's jump into this conversation Jesus is having on the walk toward destiny. Here we go. Verse 1. Jesus says, I am, remember the I am statements, I am the true grapevine, and my father is the gardener. Verse 2. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit, that they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message that I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine. You cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Now listen to this, verse five. Yes, I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Now pause for a moment and realize, what is he asking them to do? Is he asking them to do great things? Is he asking them to change the world? No, no. He's asking them, stay close to me. If you stay close to me, then I will produce the fruit that I intend for you to do. Dear Christian, let me tell you this. God's plan for your life, his primary plan for your life, is for you to stay close to him. And as you stay close to him, you will produce the amount of fruit that he wants you to produce. But also notice that he says that our lives will go through seasons of pruning. Now, what happens for a vineyard is when a vineyard is growing and doing well, a novice will look at that vineyard and go, hey, it's doing well, let's leave it alone. But a seasoned vineyard owner will actually go in and he will cut back the plant. Not to kill it, but he knows that the only way for something to grow is you have to prune back the unhealthy parts so that it can grow back more healthy. So many times the message of the gospel will prune us, will cut us back a little bit, will discipline us so that we can grow better. Our goal is not to try to do all this stuff or try to even work against that. Our goal is to stay connected and to trust God in the process. All right, verse six anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch that withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burnt. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted. For when you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as my Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey my commands, you remain in my love, just as I obey my father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. This is my commandment. Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn't choose me, I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for using my name. This is my command, love each other. Now, what is he talking about about slaves and friends? Well, remember now, very practically, when Jesus called these disciples to himself, he was calling for them to come and be learners. So what they would do is they would come, and this would happen in various things. There are certain Pharisees that had disciples, learners under them. They were apprenticing under Jesus, and so he would go and he would teach them and they would follow. And what Jesus is saying is the time is coming when you're no longer going to be apprenticed under me, but you are now going to be teachers and other people. So he's already telling them about what is about to happen because he is going to be raised from the dead, go back to heaven. So he is saying the time is coming for you to carry the ministry on into others. And so he also is saying that when you obey what my commands, you remain in my love. So in other words, you want to feel the love of God, stay in freedom, walk in freedom, do what he says. Because if you think about it, everything written in God's word is for our benefit. What benefit does it do God to tell us to stay away from these things and to move toward those things? Neither one of those things affect his holiness. Everything written in God's word is for our benefit so that we can remain free and we can remain close to him. And so what he's saying is, you want to stay free, you want to stay in my goodness, do what I say, because I'm telling you these things so that you can stay free. All right, let's finish up. Verse 18. Here's the warning that God gives all Christians. If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belong to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. You remember what I told you? A slave is not greater than his master. Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all of this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. They would not be guilty if they had not come and spoken if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Anyone who hates me will also hates my father. And if I hadn't done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my father. This fulfills what is written in their scriptures. They hated me without cause. But I will send to you an advocate, the Spirit of Truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify about me. And you must also testify about me, because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry. Jesus starts off saying, I want you to focus on staying close to me, staying in my love. And when you do that, don't worry. You'll produce the fruit that I want you to produce. Your job is to not worry about the fruit. Your job is to worry about the connectedness. And I say not worry, but focus on the connectedness. I'll focus on the fruit. But then at the same time, he says, Oh, and by the way, not everybody's gonna like this. Do you know I've noticed in my own life that when I'm just kind of doing my own thing and struggling through life, nobody bothers me. But as soon as I decide to live for something better, and I and I will say, I am no better than you, I'm just better than I would be without Jesus. Then people have a problem with it because nobody minds if you struggle. People don't want you to do better because it starts to convict their own heart and their own life. And so what Jesus is saying is, is he saying, understand that when you pursue me, other people are not going to like it. Other people are going to come against you. Your job, once again, is not to please people, but to stay close to me and I will produce fruit. It reminds me of this gentleman said the other day, he said, most people are not on a holiness quest, they're on a happiness quest. And that's why so many times you can reach out to people but then reject it. And he uses as an example. He was in this auditorium and he said, How many of you people know somebody who is an atheist or not a Christ follower? Well, naturally, everybody raises their hands. And he said, Of those, how many of those people are actively pursuing truth, pursuing, wanting to know what's right, wanting to take the evidence wherever it leads them, or are they just looking for what makes them happy? He said, How many of those pursuing truth? Almost every hand went down. He said, How many just wants happiness? Almost every hand went back up. And he said, Now we don't know the intentions of people's hearts. He said, but that's the problem with most people when we try to spread the gospel, is they're not looking for truth, they're looking for happiness. And he said, That's why you'll be rejected. It's because Jesus came and he said, I am not interested in happiness first, I'm interested in your freedom, your holiness first. And because of that, the good news starts with bad news. And the bad news is we're broken, we're sinful. We need Jesus. And then the good news is, by the way, I know all of that, and I love you anyway. And I love you just the way you are, but I love you too much to let you stay that way. That's what I love about Jesus is that he knows us, he loves us enough to tell us the truth, and he doesn't go away. He stays right there and he says, now let's walk toward freedom together. I love that so much about our Savior. And the primary goal of every Christian is not to produce all the fruit, it's to stay connected. And stay connected long enough that God produces fruit through us. There's freedom when we let God choose the success of our life, we choose our connectedness. Now, let's pray together and we'll be through for today. Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your goodness. Thank you that you are for us in every possible way. I pray that every single day, our primary focus would be to stay connected to you and to let you choose what you do in us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Don't forget, if you would like to get these sent to you every day, you can text RLC Bible to 94,000 and we'll send these to you every day. And let's read the scripture and we'll be done for today. Remember, John chapter 20, verse 31 says, These things are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him, you will have life by the power of his name. I hope you experience that power today. And I'll see you next time for John chapter 16.