Jesus is "the vine" first in the sense that Israel was supposed to be the vine, but never lived up to it, so Jesus fulfills the OT expectations of Israel. Second, He is where the nutrition is, He is where the unity happens, His business is what the Father is attending to, He alone can produce the fruit, and judgment of the branches is based on one's relationship to Him. The imperatives are to abide in Him and to abide in His Word. Note, we are not commanded to bear fruit. We abide in His Word by knowing it and following it. We abide in Him by drawing our life from Him, doing His will, being busy about His agenda, worshiping Him, following Him. We must never get into following a set of rules, but following a person that we realize we draw our strength from, that our relationship with Him is how the Father will respond to us, that demonstrating that we are His disciples actually does glorify the Father, and that Jesus bearing fruit through us also glorifies the Father. The outcomes are eternal fruit borne through us and glory to the Father. It's really not about us. One personal prayer would be to transform my mind to be more motivated by glorifying the Father than by counting the fruit.

Church, according to this passage: - Has elders who need to guard the flock - The church is where the Gospel is proclaimed and spread to others - The church has all peoples as their goal - The church is led by the Spirit - The church is worth tears and sacrifice (and death) - A person's ministry is tied to the purpose of the church - The message of the church is about repentance, faith in Christ, and the Kingdom - The church has wolves within and without, and the pivot point will be the truth of the Gospel in its full, pure form - The church's anchors are the Spirit and the Word - The church prays - The church loves one another The church in 21st C America is seen as optional (talking of the true sense of "church," not just a building with programs). The modern Christian could grow in the area of believing that the church is not an optional part of his or her life. - Jesus purchased the church with His blood

These two ordinances are centered on Jesus and testifying to one's faith and trust in Jesus. They are instituted by Jesus, but they have roots in existing Jewish traditions. They are to be key habits of the church until Jesus returns. But they are different in two key ways (at least): 1) baptism is one-time, whereas the Lord's Supper is repeated and 2) baptism is something you do before the church body and the Lord's Supper is something you do with the church body. Baptism is important because it is a great wordpicture of a major spiritual event that cannot be seen directly. It demonstrates that in several different ways - washing of sin, being placed into, dying with Christ, being raised with Christ. The context of baptism here is the mission of the church to go and make disciples. I agree with the statement that the church exists because the mission exists. The church does not exist for its own purpose. And we could also say what Piper says, that mission exists because worship does not (i.e., because not everyone everywhere worships Christ, there's a mission). Therefore, you could also say that the church exists to increase worship of God around the world.