“I heard it through the Grapevine”
John 15:1-8
There we were sitting in the middle of our neighbor’s back yard. There was no fence and we were certainly allowed to be there but what we were doing wasn’t really allowed. Our neighbor grew a variety of things in his back yard and one of those things was watermelon. I’ve never met a kid who didn’t like watermelon. I was about 6 at the time.
That day in the hot sun I remember we took that watermelon which had not gotten very big—I pulled it from the vine and smashed it on a rock to break it open. And the feast began. I think it was one of my brothers who was with me and we there we sat in the hot sun eating hot watermelon. It was not until later in life that I learned two things about watermelon. (1) Watermelon is really better served cold. The colder the better. Something about refrigeration brings out the flavor. (2) Watermelon tastes much better if you let it fully develop and grow to it’s full size. When you allow fruit to stay on the vine and ripen the flavor is much better. When you yank it from the vine to early the fruit is not as good — because the fruit simply is not ready. Or it can also happen if you leave the fruit on the vine too long. It can become rotten and then it serves no purpose.
We’ve all had that experience before I suppose … biting into a piece of fruit that’s not really ready—not ripe—it’s hard rather than soft—the taste has not developed and perhaps you have also picked an apple to eat and quickly took a bite only to discover a dark spot or worse, you find a hole where a worm has gone in. When either of these things happen it’s not ripe or it’s rotten we usually just toss it and get rid of it.
The picture I have just described is much like the picture the scripture describes in John 15. In this passage we get a picture of 3 things. And here they are. The gardener. The vine and the fruit.
Vv. 1-2. So we learn right away here what two of these represent. (1) he says my father is the gardener. (2) Jesus is the true vine. How many of you have ever grown a garden? Not me. But I have benefitted from the gardens that others have grown. I’ve had people bring me fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, okra. So there are definitely benefits to having one. Jesus begins this passage by giving us these words. He says I am the true vine. It occurs to me as soon as I read this verse that there is a good reason why Jesus tells us that He is the true vine. This tells me that there are others out there who may also claim to be the vine and they are false vines; they are false sources of information. Jesus wants us to understand that there may be many vines but there is only one true vine and He is it. And He reminds us again in v. 5… “I am the vine.”
Now the vine, specifically grapevine can be defined in a couple of ways. It is a vine on which grapes grew but we also know it as a way that gossip or a rumor can be spread. Someone tells us something that we think doesn’t sound just right and we say just where did you hear that and they say oh I just heard it through the grapevine. The message is this. A grapevine contains something; information that can be true or false, something helpful; something hurtful; but the bottom line is it is like a highway to transport something from one place to another. Jesus as the vine becomes our source of life.
Now He has told us that His father is the gardener. Our heavenly Father is the gardener and he shows us two things the gardener does to the branch.
(1) If the branch does not bear any fruit, he cuts the branch off…it’s useless.. so He removes it. Now why is that? It’s simple. The purpose of the vine is to bear fruit. If it doesn’t it’s not fulfilling it’s purpose so the gardener takes one of His tools and the scripture says He cuts it off—any of the branches that lack fruit…He removes.
Now sometimes we try to take on this job. Somebody’s not doing what they are supposed to, so whack—we just cut them off. Could be a family member, could be an employee, might be a friend but we somehow determine that they are no longer any good and whack they’re gone. We need to remember it’s not our place to do that. That is the role of the gardener and you and I are not the gardener. It’s not our place to judge someone for what they are doing or not doing in Kingdom work.
The Bible says not to judge not, lest you be judged. Do you realize that many times when we judge others we are seeing faults in them and we have the identical ones in us? That’s what this scripture means. Now perhaps we can be fruit inspectors. In other words we can at least know whether the fruit someone is bearing is the right kind or if it’s healthy. Just don’t get too involved in the process of inspection. Remember that’s the job of the gardener. Then a 2nd thing the gardener does
(2) if the branch does bear fruit, he prunes it so that it will be even more fruitful. Is pruning painful? I say yes. When a vine is pruned it is cut back-just a bit. If you don’t know, pruning is defined as the cutting or removing of branches for the purpose of improving the growth of the tree. One of the things I read this week says you must be careful that you educate yourself before you prune a tree or a vine because “no branch should be removed without a good reason.”
Best thing to remember here again is we are not the gardener. God is. There is a difference in how trees are pruned and it depends on whether the branch is young or whether it is mature. I read more about pruning this week than I want to share but the bottom line is this…if the tree/branch is mature it requires very little pruning. It is the immature ones that really need it. Let that sink in.
Most of us don’t like this process so I’ll tell you what the solution is really quick. Grow up. Be mature. Act your spiritual age. Here‘s a thought…for a young tree, an immature tree the roots are mostly found 6 to 12 inches below the ground. Pretty shallow. In a mature tree, the roots can grow up to 3x the height of the tree. You have a tree, 25 feet tall.. that means the roots can be up to 75 feet deep. Now this brings me to the BIG TRUTH that I want to give to you today. Here it is.
If we are going to grow deeper, pruning must occur from time to time. While it may be painful, it is much better than the alternative. Pruning is necessary
if we plan to grow deeper.
Now to make this happen there is very simple word we must follow. This is it. Remain. Remain in me and I will remain in you. In other words stick with Jesus and you will grow. Remain. He uses that word 11 times in this passage. Remove yourself from Jesus and you will stop growing. How do I know that? Unfortunately I know it from personal experience but I also know it from this passage.
Remember, “no branch can bear fruit by itself.” You cannot be a lone ranger Christian. You can’t say I love God but I don’t like the church. You can’t separate yourself that way. You must put yourself in the path of other believers in order to grow.
You have heard no doubt of the giant redwood trees in California, maybe you have seen them. They are so huge that cars can actually drive through them. These trees reach so high you can't see the top of the tree but you may not know that they have a very shallow root system. The roots practically lay on top of the ground. So when you think of the height and the weight of the trees, it is amazing that these trees don't come crashing down during a storm.
They call it the grove factor, the trees growing in close proximity to one another. What happens is the roots reach out in all directions and they get tangled up with the roots from other Redwoods. The roots grow together, and this helps each tree continue to stand. A lone Redwood tree growing by itself wouldn't last long, but a Redwood forest can last for thousands of years. That’s the way it is for us.
Dr. Paul Cho, pastors the largest church in the world, Central Gospel church in Seoul Korea. He was walking near his home in downtown Seoul. He said as he looked at the great hole they were digging, it seemed that nothing could ever fill it. Laborers were everywhere digging. He stopped and asked them why are you digging so deep? The engineer looked at him and smiled and said, we are going deep because we plan on building high.
