Unshaken: Chapter a Day

John 15 Discussion

• Pastor Plek

Share episode

Send us a text

What if the secret to a steady, courageous life is not trying harder but staying closer? We dive into John 15 and explore what it means to abide in the true vine, why pruning is a gift, and how friendship with Jesus turns love from a feeling into a fierce, joyful practice. Along the way we open up the thorny history behind the filioque, trace how the Spirit proceeds and empowers, and show why that doctrine still shapes everyday discipleship.

We walk through the chapter’s arc: abiding that bears real fruit, commands that define love by obedience, and the sober warning that the world will often push back against truth. Expect pruning that removes what steals life, and expect the Spirit of truth to bear witness through you. The difference between artificial faith and true union comes into focus with the image of branches that look connected but lack life; pruning reveals what is genuine and strengthens the church. And when Jesus says, apart from me you can do nothing, He is not shaming us—He is inviting us to rest in the source that never runs dry.

Prayer gets sharper in this frame. If His words live in us, our desires start to echo His, and our requests find power and precision. We talk practically about how to stay near the vine through Scripture, community, and mission, and how to face criticism without bitterness. The Spirit is not a distant idea; He is the Helper who fills, guides, and emboldens ordinary people for faithful witness and sacrificial love.

If this conversation helps you see Jesus more clearly and live more courageously, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs hope, and leave a review so others can find it. Got a moment from your week where you sensed pruning or fruit? Tell us—we’d love to hear your story.

Text us at 737-231-0605 with any questions.

Pastor Plek:

And welcome back to a chapter day. Keeps the devil away. I'm Pastor Pleck. That's Pastor Holland. We're talking John chapter 15. We're going to outline it, find some observations, get into some interpretation, land the plan with some application that you can take along with you today so that you could remember Jesus all day long. All right. So uh verses one through eight of chapter 15 talks about the true vine and what it means to abide in Christ. Then in 9 through 17, uh, Jesus then reveals like the friendship of abiding love. And this is what the classic verse, greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends, which then kind of elevates sacrificial love, the highest agape love, if you will, which Jesus demonstrates for us on the cross. Then you got verses 18 through 25, where you've got the world's hatred and the roots of that hatred. Uh, and then you've got verses uh uh verses 26 and 27, uh, where you've got the spirit's testimony and the persecution's reality, and then we get the filioque of where uh the Holy Spirit is sent from. All right, so uh now let's get into uh some uh some observations. What do you got?

Pastor Holland:

Well, since you brought up the filioque, which we kind of mentioned uh a little bit in the last chapter.

Pastor Plek:

In our last chapter yesterday.

Pastor Holland:

Um it's uh it's a word that a Latin word, right, that means um and the son. And so it's referring to the addition in the um Nicene Creed, and the line where it says the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father, um they added who proceeds from the Father and the Son. And this verse right here, verse 26, is you know a major scriptural defense for that addition where it says, When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. So you get you get Jesus speaking here, saying, I will send you the Spirit from the Father. So you see a partnership in a sense, uh, a a dual kind of sending from the Father and the Son. Eastern Orthodox, this so the this is the East-West split or schism in 1054, right? Right? Okay.

Pastor Plek:

Um there was a lot of there's a lot of reasons for the schism.

Pastor Holland:

This was probably the the This was kind of a major theological um part of the um the split. And so uh the West kept the and the sun, the East rejected that, and so Catholics keep and the sun, and then Protestants from Reformation time also kept and the sun. Right. So that brings us to today, Wells Branch Community Church. Do we affirm and the sun?

Pastor Plek:

We affirm it. All right. We affirm now what's interesting. Are you ready for just the the scuttle butt across ecumenical lines? Go for it. Uh we had on November 28th, uh Pope Leo uh got together um for the 17th, 1700th anniversary of the Ninecene Creed uh with um uh patriarch Bartholomew the First. Okay, and they got together and the Pope in an ecumenical, which means going across denominational boundaries, did not say, and the son in his recitation of the Ninecene Creed, blowing minds across the world of anyone who cares.

Pastor Holland:

Interesting.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, but personally, like personally, if you're just gonna ask me, because you know, everyone wants to know my opinion of this because it's very important. Um, you know, what do I think? I think it's it's it says that the that the Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus, but proceeds from the Father, but I I still think you could say it's you know, the father, their son send the Holy Spirit, right?

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. I I I land on the uh Protestant Western tradition side of that, uh mainly based on this verse uh right here.

Pastor Plek:

So um although I'm not sure if I would split the church over including that statement in a 19 Christian like I mean, I'd be like, there's other fish to fry.

Pastor Holland:

Well, you know, so it has to do with, you know, Council of Nicaea, big thing was Arianism, right? Where they're denying the divinity of Jesus. Or yeah, the deity of Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

He was a created being. And and so they were um Arian was really close to Constantine at the time. And so Athanasius had to really come in there and battle him over this thing of Jesus. There was, I think the phrase was, there was a time when Christ was not. And they had to say, no, no, he is of the same substance, he is one with the Father of all time.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Yeah. And so it it arose, I I think, um, you know, in part of this conversation against Arianism, um, and really trying to affirm the deity and divinity of Jesus, um, but the you know, Eastern Orthodox guys saw it as kind of diminishing the role or or um diminishing the place of the Holy Spirit and you know, denying the Father as kind of like the only source sender um in terms of the order, relational order in the Trinity. So, you know, it's it's one of those things that seems kind of goofy to talk about now today, but it's we have the benefit of you know, all these people hashing this stuff out 1700 years ago um so that we can uh you know have our study Bibles and commentaries today and have our solid theology and but they had to sort all this stuff out back then.

Pastor Plek:

That's very good. That's very good. Yeah. All right, let's get into some other observations. Jesus is the master gardener of souls, yeah. Like he is able to bring out the fruit of even the most withered vine by connecting it to himself. And our responsibility is just to stay plugged in.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, stay. So this is the final I am statement. I am the true vine uh in verse one, or I am the vine in verse five. Count those as one I am statement, same thing. Um, so you got seven I am statements now of Jesus really claiming the divine name, um, ego a me in Greek, I am. And you know, in this one, um, the vine, he says, my father is the fine vine dresser, actually. Um, he's the vine. And so uh, in terms of the gardener, the father's like the gardener in the metaphor, right? But uh later, you know, we'll see at the end of John, uh, at the resurrection, um uh he gets mistaken for a gardener, actually. So there's Jesus as a gardener is a theme later in John as well. Um, kind of pointing back to um Adam in the garden, Jesus being the true gardener. Um yeah, it's good. So a lot of garden imagery, which I think is really neat. How about the father prunes?

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Like he is into clipping our wings. No, it's probably mixing metaphors, clipping our leaves. I don't know. Clipping uh to prune us to make us more fruitful, and that can sometimes be painful.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. Yeah. You know, when you have got a little tomato garden in your backyard or something, and you got a branch that's coming off and it's not producing anything, all it's doing is sucking energy that could be going to those other branches that actually have tomatoes. Um, and so you cut that one off and it, you know, powers up your tomatoes in a sense, um, makes them more fruitful on the other branches. And so um the the idea here is that if you're not bearing fruit, um you're gonna be clipped, you're gonna be pruned, uh, so that those who are bearing fruit bear more fruit, right? All right, are we? What does that mean?

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, is this a salvation thing? What do you think? If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown in the fire, and burned. Yeah. That's right. Does that so either A, you were never really connected to Jesus in the first place, but it sure feels like you were connected to Jesus because you had some sort of life at one point from the source. Yeah, I think you know Is this where we just take the analogy too far?

Pastor Holland:

Well, maybe, or just think about you know, Judas, Iscariot here. Right. He is connected to Jesus in a sense. Oh, yeah. Um, but it's really kind of an artificial connection. He does not, he clearly does not have faith in Jesus. Um and, you know, he's he's regarded, you know, as someone who's uh, you know, a he's he's an enemy, he's hostile to Jesus. He Satan enters his body, you know, at the um at the betrayal of Jesus. So you have Judas who's artificially connected, he follows Jesus for three years. Right. He spends time with him, he participates in, you know, the feeding of the five thousand and stuff like that. Like he's he's uh legitimately a part of Jesus' ministry, and yet he does not abide in him by faith. And so I think you can um take this analogy here to mean that um those who are are only artificially connected to Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

So how could you be that? And this is the the way that I see this is the body of Christ, the Jesus that is tangible today is the church. Yes. And that you could be a part of a church, you could be living the church, and then you fall away. You're like, you and the when you stop hanging out with the church, you wither because there's no life outside. And then at some point it might reveal the fact that you were never saved to begin with. Yeah. Is that fair? Is that a fair way to put this?

Pastor Holland:

Because you have the church, meaning the elect, right? Those who uh, you know, who are chosen by God from before the foundation of the earth, who, and you know, and then have been justified and who are dwelt and dwelt with the Holy Spirit, you have the church, but that's then you also have you know the idea of like the visible church, those who are, you know, members of a um a local church somewhere who may or may not be saved. Um, you can, you know, there's been people at Wells Branch who have been a member of Wells Branch Church, but have then said, I'm not a Christian. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, and that that's normal. That happens. Um and uh you're not revealing what was actually already there. Yeah, you don't know who those people are. All you can judge is their profession of faith, uh, you know, the evidence of what looks like spiritual fruit in their lives, but only God knows their heart. And the reality is there are people who are artificial Christians and God will prune them to make the actual Christians more fruitful. Um, so a church that is, you know, has a lot of artificial Christians, God might prune that church from those artificial Christians so that the true Christians there might be more fruitful. Okay.

Pastor Plek:

Oh, absolutely. I think you're nailing it, uh, which it I think that's hard for people to wrap their head around. All right. So let's talk about verse 26. That the helper's gonna come. Uh, and he was gonna say he's gonna bear witness, uh, and he proceeds from the Father, sent by Jesus. He will bear witness about Jesus, and then they will also be empowered. We also be empowered, which I thought that was interesting. That the Holy Spirit empowers but also indwells believers. Yep. Um, should we get into some of our uh character of God, nature of man uh thoughts here? Yeah, let's do it. All right, so um, how about this? And maybe the the emphasis here on the spiritual vitality is like we grow best when we are connected to Jesus. Yeah. Uh that might be the I think sometimes I get I get wrapped around like so am I withering? Yeah. Yeah.

Pastor Holland:

We grow only when we're connected to Jesus.

Pastor Plek:

We grow only. How about that? We grow only. You can do nothing. There you go. Nice.

Pastor Holland:

That's uh that's a pretty extreme statement.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, apart from me, you can do nothing. Uh there's autonomy is ultimately evil.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. And and self-destructive. You know, you disconnect yourself from Jesus, and you know, you've you've thwarted any hope of a fruitful life or a uh you know a life at all.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, I think that's why we we caution against isolation so passionately. Yeah. All right, uh, how about this? Um uh the profession of love falters without uh costly obedience. Look at verse, I think I'm getting that verse nine and ten. Um as the father's loved me, so I've loved you. Abide my love, you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my commandments and abide in his love. His keeping the father's commandments cost him everything, but then ultimately shielded them by his unbelievable love. And I think we're asked to kind of be able to do on some not the same level as Jesus, but that's sort of like the call to love people with that uh extravagance, your benefit at my expense. What else you got?

Pastor Holland:

Um the wor if the world hates you, the this whole section here, verse 18 to um yeah 25.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, if they persecute me, they're gonna persecute you.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and you know, here's the nature of man is to hate the truth and to hate um to hate God and to hate his people. That is the sinful nature of man is to rebel against God and to hate him. And so to align yourself with God as a Christian is to, you know, set yourself up for some criticism. Yeah. And you know, it's like if if you don't have any enemies, you should you should really do some soul search. Are you really following Jesus? If nobody hates you, um, right? I mean, this is what he says, right?

Pastor Plek:

Uh that's such a if the world hates you, know that it hated me first. That's a downer. All right, let's get to the happy parts. Yeah, I think that's the truth. It's just like the if if the world hated Jesus and you align yourself fully to Jesus, the world will hate you. Yeah. All right, how about let's get to the character of God. Um God prunes. Part of your growth is your pruning. Yeah. Um, yeah. And and so I the vine dresser has two things. He's cutting off dead wood and then he's and then cleansing you from disease, you know, clipping off like things that are darkened or sick, and so that you can be a healthy um vine. Yeah. Or part of the vine.

Pastor Holland:

Um, God loves the character of God.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah. Yeah. Um about God commissions the servant, or sorry, the spirit to be a cer to be with us so that we might be better servants, empower us for ministry.

Pastor Holland:

Yes. Yeah, God, um the the name here, um, where is it? The spirit of truth, verse 26. Um, the character of God, he's truthful. So he's he's loving, he um, he's truthful.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, that's good. And all right, what about let's just jump into some application. Uh what about we have a sin to confess or avoid, a promise to claim, example follow, command obey, or knowledge to believe. What you got in that one? I think maybe a sin to uh avoid or confess is just uh not abiding, like getting your um satisfaction or getting your life from the world as opposed to from Jesus.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, that's good. Abide in me is a command to obey here. Verse four. Um, love one another as I have loved you, verse 12, another command to obey. And, you know, as I have loved you is is really important qualifier there. Because I think we get confused culturally on what love means, you know, and whether love means just kind of accepting someone as they are, affirming someone for you know what they believe, um, or love merely like an emotional affection or something. But Jesus is when he says, as I have loved you, you think about okay, what does Jesus' love look like? And it's self-sacrifice, it's service, it's um teaching, it's truth, it's righteousness. His love uh was a very robust kind of love. And that's what he commands us to do.

Pastor Plek:

Uh here's a promise to claim whatever you wish, ask whatever you wish, it'll be done for you. Verse 7.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah. A conditional promise.

Pastor Plek:

Oh, right, conditional.

Pastor Holland:

Verse if you abide in me and my words abide in you. That's a great condition.

Pastor Plek:

Yeah, you know. So if you are fully invested in what Jesus is doing and you ask for his will to be done, it will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Pastor Holland:

Yeah, and I I love that idea. I mean, it's like it's like the idea of like love God and then do whatever you want. Yeah. Because like if you love God, if his words are abiding in you, you're abiding in him. Well, the things that you're gonna want and will and wish for are gonna be the things that God loves and that God wants.

Pastor Plek:

So good. Uh okay. Anything else? How about yeah, any other things that you want to pass on before we head out today?

Pastor Holland:

Um, a servant is not greater than his master. He says, Remember, here's a command to obey. Remember the word I said to you. So just just remember that that um being a Christian means being hated by the world. So have a great day.

unknown:

Gosh.

Pastor Plek:

All right, we can't land on that. All right, how about this? I keep landing on it. I appreciate Holland and his womp womp attitude, but I'm gonna give you a little something to the Holy Spirit is with you today to empower you for ministry. So talk to him, walk with him, be filled up with him as you go about your day today. And we'll see you next time on a chapter of day.

Podcasts we love

Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.