I.　The true vine with its branches—Christ the Son with the believers in the Son—is the organism of the Triune God in the divine economy to grow with His riches and express His life—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 3:9; John 15:1, 5a:

A.　The function of the true vine as a sign of the Son is for the Triune God to have an organism in the Son for His multiplication, spreading, and glori-fication in His divine life—vv. 8, 16.

B.　The Father as the husbandman is the source and the founder; God the Son is the center, the embodiment, and the manifestation; God the Spirit is the reality and realization; and the branches are the Body, the corporate expression—vv. 1, 4-5, 26:

1.　All that the Father is and has is embodied in Christ the Son and then realized in the Spirit as the reality—16:13-15.

2.　All that the Spirit has is wrought into us, the branches, to be expressed and testified through us; in this way, the processed Triune God is expressed, manifested, and glorified in the church—Eph. 3:16-21.

C.　The organism of the Triune God in John 15 is the Triune God united, mingled, and incorporated with His chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people—14:20:

1.　The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coinhere with the disciples mutually, for the Triune God and the disciples are united, mingled, and incorporated into one—15:4-5.

2.　The goal of God's economy is this enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation of the consummated God with the regenerated believers.

II.　As the branches of the true vine, we are the multiplication of Christ, the duplication of Christ, the spreading of Christ, and the enlargement of Christ—vv. 4-5, 16:

A.　Christ, the infinite God, is the vine, and we are His branches; we are branches of the infinite God, organically one with Him—1 Cor. 6:17.

B.　Because we are branches of the divine vine, parts of the organism of the Triune God, we are the same as God in life and nature—1 John 5:11-12.

C.　When we believed in the Lord Jesus, He branched into us, and we became branches in Him—John 3:15.

D.　For us to be branches in the vine means that Christ has become our life— 11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4.

E.　The vine is everything to the branches; from the vine and through the vine, we receive everything we need to live as branches—John 15:4.

F.　Christ as the vine does everything through the branches; without Him we can do nothing, and without us He can do nothing—v. 5.

III.　As branches of the vine, we need to abide in the vine—vv. 4-5:

A.　To be in the Lord is a matter of union; to abide in the Lord is a matter of fellowship—1 Cor. 1:9, 30.

B.　Our abiding in Christ as the vine depends on seeing a clear vision that we are branches in the vine; once we see that we are branches in the vine, we need to maintain the fellowship between us and the Lord—John 15:2.

C.　The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord—1 John 2:24, 27-28; 4:13.

D.　To abide in the Lord is to be one spirit with Him—1 Cor. 6:17.

E.　Our abiding in Christ is the condition of His abiding in us—John 15:4a, 5a.

F.　Apart from the vine, we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing—v. 5b.

G.　Only when the branches abide in the vine can the vine be everything to them.

IV.　The branches are for the bearing of fruit to express the riches of the Father's life in the divine dispensing—vv. 8, 16:

A.　The organic increase of the church is the multiplication of Christ in fruit-bearing by the branches of the true vine—v. 5a.

B.　With the branches we have the glorification of the Father through the expression of the riches of the divine life in fruit-bearing—v. 8.

C.　In verse 8 the word glorify means to have the intent, content, life, and the riches released from within and expressed in clusters of fruit.

D.　By practicing the God-ordained way, we fulfill our destiny as branches to go forth and bear fruit—v. 16.

V.　Effective prayers are the issue of our abiding in the Lord and of His words abiding in us—v. 7:

A.　When we abide in the Lord, and His words abide in us, there will be a desire in us that comes out of His words.

B.　We will touch the Lord's feeling and understand His intention; then spon-taneously we will have His desire in us.

C.　His desire will become our desire, what He wants will be what we want, and we will pray according to this desire.

D.　The Lord will answer this kind of prayer, because it issues from our abiding in the Lord and from His words abiding in us.

VI.　When we abide in Christ as the vine, we have the church life—1 Cor. 1:2, 9, 30; 6:17; 12:27:

A.　The branches are one with the vine and with one another—John 17:11, 21-23.

B.　When we abide in Christ, we participate in the wonderful fellowship among the co-branches; the inner life of all the branches is one, and this life should continually circulate through all the branches—15:4-5; 1 John 1:7.

C.　The church life, the Body, is a life of loving one another—John 15:12, 17:

1.　The Body life is a life of love and in love—Eph. 4:16; 5:2.

2.　We need to love one another in the life of Christ, in the love of Christ, and in the commission of Christ—John 15:16.

D.　We can have the church life only by living in the mingled spirit—in Christ as the life-giving Spirit mingled with our spirit; we should remain in this mingled spirit for the church life—1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 1:2; 12:27.