Vine And Grafted Branches

VINE AND BRANCHES

John 15:1-16

By William Akehurst, HSWC

Life Lessons from God’s Creation

Jesus is the true vine. God’s chosen people are His natural branches. We have the right to be grafted in, becoming a part of God’s family tree.

Today we will begin with a lesson in Botany

Props: a branch with leaves, some dead wood and a few broken branches.

A separate branch, to be used to demonstrate grafting

Rooted in

In order for a plant to grow, it must have roots

In order for us to grow spiritually, we must be well rooted in the WORD.

Vine, shoots, stems, branch

As with any plant, once the roots begin to grow, a shoot, must come up out of the dirt, it must emerge forth

Spiritually, we must emerge from the miry clay Psalm 40

Branch out

The shoot then puts out branches

Gives structure. Allows to not only have upward growth, but expansive growth

Gathering strength and developing

Buds and Blooms

Must put out new growth

Constantly growing

Blossoming and blooming

Colors

Spiritually, we are to bud, blossom and bloom, showing our colors

Blooms are for pollination, for reproducing

Blooms are beautiful

Others must see Christ’s love and beauty in us

When others see Christ’s love in us, it spreads.

We pollinate others with the love of Christ

Leaf – we are to leaf out in order to get nourishment

Leaves are what gathers sunlight which becomes food for the plant

We must feed on the SON’S light

Fruit

Our rooting, branching, leafing out, budding, blooming, pollinating, leads to fruit.

Fruit is

The Fruit is nourishment to others.

Fruit is known as Produce. Produce aisle in the grocery store. It is what was produced by the plant. A useable product

Spiritually, it represents our ability to perform, to reach the goal

Represents

Fruit and Fruitfulness represents

Success

Productivity – the sign of reaching the goal, the fruit of the plant

Abundance – shows how successful

Fertility – fruit holds seed to reproduce again

Effectiveness – the effectiveness of the plant’s performance to reach the goal

Fig tree in the garden. Jesus went to the tree, which should have had fruit, it did not, so it died. It was worthless for what it was made for.

We are made to GLORIFY GOD

1. ROOT IN, GRAFT IN

1st, we must be part of his family

Rooted in Christ, the RIGHTEOUS BRANCH

Jeremiah 23:5

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

God’s Chosen people of the OT were the Jewish nation of Israel.

This nation, was from the original ‘family tree’ of God.

But the Lord made it possible for others, outside of the ‘family’ to become family.

But God gave the right for us to be Grafted in.

Fruit trees are often started and grafted into another tree which has a better root system, or a stronger tree structure.

A branch is cut from one tree, and inserted in an incision in the bark of the rooted tree.

The bark is wrapped around the inserted branch and as the tree continues to grow, the new branch becomes infused into the rooted tree.

A branch that is grafted in, must first accept the vine to which it is grafted. The vine carries the nutrients to the branch. The branch which was once cut off, must be made alive by the graft.

The Bible tells us of the Righteous Branch available to all who accept Him

To be part of Christ, is to 1st believe. John 3:16

To be part of Christ is to accept

To be part of Christ is to confess

Matthew 3:6

And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Matthew 10:32

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

To be part of Christ is to obey

Jeremiah 7:23

But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

2 Thessalonians 1:8

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

The branch that does not produce is to be cut off and burned

John 15:6

If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

There is a hell! To which those who do not conform to Jesus, the righteous branch, will be cut off, gathered up, and cast into its fiery pit.