Theme: Branches of the true vine, Jesus Christ
Text: Acts 9:26-31; 1 Jn. 3:18-24; Jn. 15:1-8
The grapevine has always been central to Israel’s agriculture and economy and was an important symbol for Israel’s relationship with God in the Old Testament. Isaiah spoke of the house of Israel as the vineyard of the Lord and Jeremiah said that God had planted Israel as His choice vine. Israel, however, was unfaithful and therefore could not bear the kind of fruit God expected. Instead of producing large delicious grapes - the fruit of righteousness - as the vine of God they produced sour grapes – the fruit of hypocrisy, greed and all kinds of evil. God expected to find peace but instead He found bloodshed; He expected to find justice but instead He heard cries of oppression. Israel could not produce the type of fruit that God had intended because they tried to produce it on their own – they tried to produce it their own way and not God’s way. Jesus Christ came to enable God’s people bear the right type of fruit and He spent His life teaching them how to do this. Just before His death on His way to the Garden of Gethsemane after the Last Supper with His disciples, they passed by the valley of Kidron, a vine growing area. Seeing the grapes and knowing that He would soon be leaving them, Jesus used the opportunity to again teach and remind them of what was involved in bearing the right type of fruit. This was very important to Christ because He would soon be leaving them and He knew the dangers they would face, dangers from the devil, from the world and from their own sinful natures. The only way for them to be preserved in the midst of these dangers and be able to continue to bear the fruit of saving faith is to be branches of the true vine Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ in His usual manner, using what He sees around Him and what the disciples could understand began to explain this to them with the words “I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser.” When Jesus calls Himself the true vine He is referring to being the One who is able to bear the right type of fruit, the fruit that Israel failed to bear as God’s vine. God had expected Israel to bear large, juicy, and tasty grapes, but the only grapes He got from them were small and sour. The vine is a picture of the union between Christ and His Church. Christ came as the perfect vine to perfect His Church. In a vineyard, the vine is the main trunk of the plant. The branches depend on the vine for all their nutrients. Just like the vine Christ is the source of life, strength and every blessing to His people. We depend on Him for everything for it is in Christ that we have all the nutrients of God’s grace. When Christ looks at our lives He has certain expectations. He expects to see the fruit of the Spirit and this is only evident when we are united with Him as branches are to the vine.
Our union with Christ should be that of an intimate fellowship. But like all human unions this is not always the case and sometimes instead of an intimate fellowship we just have a casual relationship. We can understand this by taking a look at marriage. We realise immediately that there are different types of union in marriage. Some people are married, and they have the marriage certificate as proof, but live miserable lives because there is no intimate fellowship. For such people marriage is just a casual relationship. Such marriages can be helped when those involved are encouraged to have intimate fellowship with one another. Where there is intimate fellowship the signs of love and fulfilment are there for all to see. If you are not enjoying your Christian life you need to develop an intimate fellowship with Christ. He is the true vine and therefore the source of all that we need as branches.
A branch is part of the vine. As branches of Christ God does not allow any distraction to prevent us from living for Christ and bearing fruit. Jesus declared, “every branch in me that does not bear fruit He lifts up” NKJV. This is something that frequently takes place in vineyards all over the world. Every gardener is concerned about vine that does not bear fruit. Studying vineyards in the Middle East and elsewhere, you will realise that very often some branches lie on the ground where people walk on them and where they get covered with dust and dirt. This prevents them from receiving the needed sunlight that is necessary for bearing fruit. But the branch is still valuable and the gardener has the responsibility to lift us such branches, clean them and tie them to poles so that they would no longer be walked on and are exposed to the sun. This allows the fruit bearing process to begin. To Christians in fellowship with God who are not bearing fruit, this can only mean encouragement and this comes through the word of God. God starts the fruit bearing process by encouraging us and He does this especially with new Christians by answering their requests. The fruit bearing process begins when they give thanks and praise to God for the Scriptures say that the praise of our lips is fruit to God – Hebrews 13:15. The New Testament repeatedly describes the believer as ‘in Christ.’ Therefore, it is possible to be ‘in Christ,’ yet to be like the branch that produces no fruit. Every branch in Christ that does not bear fruit God lifts up. Once the process of fruit bearing has began, God prunes so that they might bear more fruit. Pruning is the horticultural act of removing unwanted branches and cutting back the true branches to promote growth. This is a way of removing unwanted distractions that get in the way and suck the life that ought to be going to the branch. These distractions include what are called sucker shoots. They shoot out where the vine and the branches intersect and they siphon off the sap meant for the branch. The branch becomes malnourished and therefore cannot produce good and juicy fruit. To enable it produce the right kind of fruit, the gardener clips off these sucker shoots, cuts back the branches, and removes all dead wood that can harbour insects and disease and affect the whole vine. The Gardener is so concerned about His vine that He is continually working to improve the health of the true branches and He is able to easily distinguish between the true and the false branches.
God is not satisfied just because we are saved. Salvation is important but the reason we are saved is to bear fruit. It is like looking for a job but after being employed you turn up at the office and refuse to work. The reason for your employment was to work and bear fruit for the company. The reason we are saved is to bear fruit – fruit that will reflect the character of God and impact the world. This is the Gardener’s purpose when He begins to cut and prune and cleanse. He does not do it indiscriminately but specifically by cutting out the dead wood from our lives to prevent disease or rot. He also cuts back the live wood until He sees fruit in us. Left to ourselves, our flesh will always produce rotten fruit because there is nothing in us capable of pleasing the Gardener and He therefore moves among us with His Pruning Knife to remove those dead things from our hearts, such as bitterness, resentment, selfishness, anger, self-centeredness, arrogance, and pride. He knows exactly what He is doing, and He always follows a plan. If, for instance, there is something in our life that is preventing us from producing love, He will work in us until we fulfil that purpose. What is there in your life preventing you from producing the fruit of joy, or peace, or kindness? Is God working in your life to remove the problem? The pruning process doesn’t just last for one day, or for one week, or one year. It takes an entire lifetime. Our Heavenly Vinedresser prunes us repeatedly and constantly. He is removing from us what we do not need - what hinders our growth and our witness. It may be painful for a time, but we need to remember that these are things that may prevent us from enjoying a full life in Christ. God uses whatever He desires to prune us but very often it is His Word. He may use circumstances, relationships, illnesses, or various trials to make us pay attention to His Word. Every Christian undergoes pruning in life because even the best Christians are still weak and sinful and often associate with the wrong people. It is inevitable, inescapable, and necessary. It is a process that God uses to remove certain sins from our lives that we sometimes cling to and are unwilling to let go of. Sometimes we undergo certain trials to build character in us and to remove sins in order to make us better Christians.
God wants us to be fruitful. He is not satisfied. He is not satisfied with some fruit or more fruit. He is only satisfied with much fruit - a godly character and a holy life. So He works on us, separates us from the wrong people, prunes away the deeds of the flesh, purges our hearts and lives so that we will become more holy, more devoted and more obedient. To bear much fruit requires abiding in Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, many Christians stop abiding when everything seems to be going well. They begin to think that they can manage on their own and no longer need to be attached to the vine. Abiding in Christ, however, is most important for a branch that does not abide has only one use – as fuel for a fire. Unlike the olive tree, whose wood has found many uses since ancient times, the grape produces wood that is brittle and small. Ezekiel in 15:3-4 wrote that wood taken from the grapevine cannot be used to make any object and that its only use is to be thrown into the fire for fuel. When we are not abiding, we wither and die and become of no spiritual use. In other words, if we don’t abide we are useless and our lives won’t produce any fruit. Christians who stop abiding experience God’s fiery trial, God’s fire of judgement in this life. Many of those who have stopped abiding are burning – some in the fires of loneliness and depression and others in the fires of marital, health and financial problems. This fire is designed to bring them back to abide in the vine and will only go out when they do so. If we learn to abide, we will experience a breakthrough in our lives and become vine branches overloaded with fruit. When our life bears a lot of fruit, God will invite us to abide more deeply with Him. His purpose is not that we will do more for Him but that we will do more with Him. Only by abiding can we enjoy the most rewarding friendship with God and experience the greatest abundance for His glory. “When we abide in Him and His words abide in us, we will ask what we desire and it shall be done for us.” God answers our prayers when we are abiding because we will know how to use what He gives us. We will not use it on our own lusts but use it to glorify Him by bearing much fruit. When we abide in Him we make Him look good wherever we show up. We should be seen abiding in His love, keeping His commandments, and bearing the fruit of the Spirit. There should be no more cursing and fighting, no more drunkenness and sexual immorality, no more bribery and corruption, and no more cheating and deception.
When we abide in Christ we will become like Him in our behaviour, in our way of speaking and in our way of doing things. We will develop His character because the Spirit of the Lord becomes the source of our life. When we abide in Christ and His love, we will produce the fruit of a real, visible, living and working faith. It will be a life lived for Christ in submission to His word and in obedience to His commandments. It is a life bearing the fruit of a godly character, a life of purity, integrity, love and faithfulness. It is a life that experiences His joy. Joy is not just a good feeling. Joy is when your world is crumbling on the outside and you still have peace and are relaxed on the inside. Joy is the ability to see God at work when nothing appears to be working. An example of abiding is seen in the story of Mary and Martha. Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to Him teach while Martha is working hard to accommodate her guests. Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping her with the work. Jesus reply was that Mary had chosen to do the right thing. Martha, however, allowed the serving of guests to distract her attention from Christ. This passage reveals to us that Jesus desires to have us abiding in Him and worshipping Him rather than serving Him. It is out of our love for Jesus that our service flows, not the other way around. Unfortunately, many Christians stop abiding when everything seems to be going well. They begin to think they can abide in Jesus without obeying Him. They begin to think they can manage on their own affairs without Christ. But Jesus Christ says that apart from Him we can do nothing. We are not capable of doing anything that pleases and glorifies God without Him. Sometimes God moves in our lives in such a way that it causes us pain. When we are hurting it may be God working in our life to cleanse us of what we don’t need. We need to know that much of the time God is working a great work in our lives, even if we do not understand what is happening at the moment.
When the branches fall into the dirt, God doesn’t throw them away or abandon them. He lifts them up, cleans them off, and helps them flourish again. For the Christian sin is like dirt covering the grape leaves. Air and light can’t get in. The branch languishes, and no fruit develops. God’s purpose is to cleanse you and free you of sin so that you can live a more abundant life for His glory. If God is speaking to you about a particular sin or sins in your life and you desire to bear fruit and experience more of God’s fullness, then you must confess the sin in your life and let go of it. God has a divine purpose for our lives when we come to Him. He will not leave us on our own but will take care of us and makes us fruitful. God can do in us and through us what we could never do by ourselves. Like the vine whatever the gardener does to it is not to punish, to hurt or to damage the branch. It is to prepare the branch to bear more fruit. In the same way God wants to use us to our full potential. God is not satisfied when we do not bear any fruit so He encourages us. Neither is He satisfied when we bear some fruit, so He prunes us. He is only satisfied when we bear much fruit because He is glorified in it. He is so concerned about our bearing fruit that He is continually working with us to keep us in the vine. He knows that it is only by abiding in the vine that we will find fulfilment as we develop more righteous attitudes and actions. God desires an intimacy with us that is more real than any other relationship in life. In this relationship Jesus himself will live in us and give us the power to be all that God wants us to be. He does in us what we can never do for ourselves – He enables us to be like Christ. Abiding in Christ means believing the gospel that Jesus Christ is the Son of God’s Son, receiving Him as Saviour and Lord, being obedient to Him and relating in love to the community of believers. Which branch portrays your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you feeling distant from God and experiencing pain and hardship? Or are you feeling close to God and free from guilt, yet are experiencing trials? Maybe the Holy Spirit is convicting you to spend time with the Lord and abide in Christ. God might be asking you to repent of particular sins. He might even be inviting you to know Him for the first time. He might be disciplining you in order to build character in you. But if you have been abiding in Christ, then the Lord is getting ready to open the floodgates of blessing in your life. Let us abide in Christ by spending time with His Word, by fellowshipping with other believers, by praying and by obeying Him. Let us bear much fruit as branches of the true vine Jesus Christ. Amen!
