1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. 2Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. 5I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
8“In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. 9Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.
12“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. 16You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
17“I command these things to you, that you may love one another. 18If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23He who hates me, hates my Father also. 24If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. 25But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
26“When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. 27You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
The Servant Leader
Jesus Teaching the Crowd on the Grass
There are many books written about becoming a servant leader. Jesus is the best example of that. Jesus’ words in this passage are haunting. “It shall not be so among you.” Jesus is saying that in the Kingdom of God, things are not as they are in the kingdoms of this world. The world is about dominance, competition, and exercising authority over others. The kingdom of God turns all of that on its head. It’s a different paradigm. Whoever desires to be “great” in the Kingdom of God must not act as a ruler, but BE a servant. A servant leader gets out in front and shows his followers how it is to be done. He or she does not dictate it from on high. They are in the trenches with those whom they lead. Jesus leads us by example. He shows us how to live.
My earthly father was a servant leader. There were no barking orders from on high with him. When it was time to rake the leaves in the yard, he was there with a rake in his hand, moving through the task while he gave orders to each of us on what we were to do. Dad would show us the service of others by laying down his life and tending to his patients with all his heart. I think I only saw him lying down during the day on a few occasions in my life. Once, he had a bad case of the flu or something. The only other time I remember him lying down for an extended period of time was when he had a moment of depression. I asked my mother, “What’s wrong with Daddy?” She said, “He loved a patient very much and tried to save him, but he died this morning. Daddy is just grieving.” Dad led us by serving the family and others.
Our heavenly Father loves us more than any doctor ever loved a patient or more than any earthly father ever led his children in yard work. Jesus showed us what service is by all that He said and did, as recorded in the gospels. He told us that all men will know that we are His disciples if we love one another. Likewise, He told us, “13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 KJV) And that, my friends, is precisely what He did for you and me. God loved us so much that He came as a servant leader and laid down His life for undeserving people like you and me. Let us pattern our lives after Him, loving and serving others whether they deserve it or not! Jesus was very clear that if we want to be leaders in the Kingdom of God, we must become servants. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. And so, we too must not insist or expect to be served, but to serve.