Apart from me you can do nothing

(John 15:1-16)






• We need Jesus:
Like the branches need the vine
Like an infant needs its mother
Like plants need the sun
Like a plane needs its wings

• We need Jesus!
We often think we can do without Him
We live in our own strength
We rebel—one of the OT words for ‘sin’ (‘transgression’) has ‘rebellion’ as one of its primary meanings
When we rebel, we fall into self-doubt and begin to doubt God’s love for us, and His grace—like the prodigal son we say “I am no longer worthy to be called his son” - yet God, like a caring father, is waiting and longing for us to return:
"18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." (Luk 15, NIV)

• Jesus is our model—his dependence on His Father was complete:
John 5:19 19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
The Son has the Father’s approval (Jhn 6:27), ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ (Mat 3:17). We are also sons (Gal 4:6) and have that same approval from the Father. We need to rest in that relationship

• What does it mean to ‘remain in Him’? Two disciplines of prayer and obedience.
Prayer—We need to learn to ‘wait on the Lord’
The Psalmist pictures a person in prayer as like a watchman waiting for the morning:
Psalm 130:5-6 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
When we pray, we need to pray in expectation:
Psalm 5:3 3 In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.
Not like those praying for Peter’s release—they obviously didn’t have much expectation—when Peter knocked at the door and the servant girl rushed to tell the others who were fervently praying for his release, they didn’t believe her! Acts 12:15 You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel."
This is related to hope:
Isaiah 40:31 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

• Obedience—we need to obey his commands to love one another, and to bear fruit.

• We need Jesus:
Like the branches need the vine
Like an infant needs its mother
Like plants need the sun
Like a plane needs its wings