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Jesus and His disciples were headed from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane. His betrayal and arrest were now only a few short hours away. More than likely, they were walking through a vineyard in the Kidron Valley. It would have been a full moon, so they would have been able to clearly see all that was around them. Never being one to waste an opportunity, Jesus used the vineyard to teach them – and us – a foundational truth.(1)
As i write this, i am reminded of a trek that i and a few friends made through a city in China several years ago. Some of the members of our group were from the US, and some lived in that city. Our Chinese friends were giving us a guided tour of some of their favorite sites. Along the way, we stopped at an art shop that had beautiful, colorful drawings hanging on the walls. And most of the sketches included a wise saying that was also penned in Mandarin on the canvas.
We came upon one that was a beautiful drawing of a grapevine with clusters of grapes. i asked one of our friends to translate the words that were inscribed beside the drawing. She read, “I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit, but without Me you can do nothing.” She was speaking the exact same words that Jesus had spoken to His disciples in the vineyard that night. She was reading this important truth – the essence of what Jesus wanted His disciples to remember in the hours, days and years to follow. He wanted them to remember who He was, who they were and what their purpose was.
A number of us in the group had heard that verse before. But some of our friends were reading it for the very first time. They wanted to know where the saying came from and who said it. Having never read it before, or seen a Bible, or studied about Jesus, they proceeded to tell the rest of us that this saying was about a relationship between two people – one was the vine and the other was the branch. They perceived that the branch’s purpose was in the vine and that apart from the vine, the branch was incapable of doing anything! Our friends clearly understood the truth of what Jesus was saying – the very first time they ever heard it!
The owner of the shop had been quietly listening in the background. Having heard our friends’ comments, she pulled out her Bible, and together we had the opportunity to show our friends where the saying was written and who had said it. Later, having given each of our friends a Bible, we encouraged them to read more about Jesus – who He is and what He has said. But, as i already said, they got it – the first time! They understood this simple truth that Jesus is the Vine, and as His followers, we are the branches. All our friends needed to know now was, who this Jesus is.
That night in the vineyard, the disciples knew who Jesus was. You and i know who Jesus is. The question is, do we truly understand the truth He was sharing? Like our Chinese friends said, it is all about a relationship between two people – you and i, personally and individually, in a relationship with the Person of Jesus Christ.
He is the VINE. It is in Him and through Him that all we need for life and nourishment flows. It is in Him and through Him that we have life – life that is abundant and fruitful. We are the BRANCHES. Jesus has made the way for us to be grafted into His Vine – by repenting of our sins and believing in Him, and trusting Him to be our Savior and LORD. The branch apart from the vine is dead, and so are we, if we are apart from Him. Our branch is drying up and decaying. But through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, He made the way for us to have life – to be grafted into the Vine and through Him, to have everlasting, abundant life.
And Jesus, right at the beginning, told His disciples that this was the Father’s plan. The Father is the VINEDRESSER. He sent the Vine. He prepared the way for the branches to be grafted and He even selected the branches – so that through the branches, the Vine could produce fruit. Fruit that remains – inner fruit and outward fruit. Fruit that is full and sweet.
And the Vinedresser tenderly cares for His branches so that they produce the fullest crop possible. When the branches fall into the dirt, the Vinedresser doesn’t throw them away or abandon them. He lifts them up and cleans them off and helps them to flourish again so that they can bear fruit. So it is with you and i. God didn’t graft us onto the Vine so that we might grow and become beautiful branches. He grafted us onto the Vine so that through us He can bear fruit. And the Vinedresser lovingly does in our lives, all He needs to do to maximize His crop.
As we understand our relationship (as the branch) to Jesus (the Vine) and to the Father (the Vinedresser), there are three principles that our LORD would teach us regarding the work He is doing through all of our lives, in order to bear fruit that is full and sweet.
First, if your life consistently bears no fruit, God will intervene to discipline you. Branches that are covered in dirt won’t bear fruit. Air and light can’t get in. The branch sags. No fruit develops. Our sin is just like that dirt. It prevents the Light of God’s Word from shining in and through our lives. It keeps us from getting the nourishment we need. It causes our lives to “sag”. But, because God loves us and desires His best for us, and desires to cleanse us and free us from sin so that we can live a more abundant life for His glory, He disciplines us. Not to punish us, but to move us from barrenness toward fruitfulness. Allow God’s discipline to train you and cleanse you; not only to escape sin but also to grow you in maturity. Don’t resist His discipline; respond to it – and in so doing allow Him to take you to a new level of fruitfulness.
Second, if your life bears some fruit, God will intervene to prune you so that you bear more fruit. The Father’s strategy for coaxing a greater harvest out of His branches is not the one we would prefer. His plan is to prune, which means to thin, to reduce or to cut-off. The Vinedresser’s secret for more … is less. In the process of pruning, He will cut away immature commitments and lesser priorities to make room for more growth. The vinedresser removes the growth that is preventing the sun from reaching into the area where fruit should form. So it is with the Father, He will prune away the areas of our lives that are preventing the S-O-N from reaching in and producing fruit.
We so easily get caught up in appearances – how we look and what we have. We’re more concerned with how we as branches look. But the branch’s purpose isn’t to look good, or even feel good. The branch’s purpose is to bear fruit. Our Father, the Vinedresser, will prune away anything that is keeping us from bearing more fruit. Pruning is about our values and our personal identity. When Jesus told His friends what it would cost to follow Him, many turned back. Yet the impact of those who didn’t turn back is still shaking the world. His artful pruning is not just “taking away”; He is faithfully “making room” to add strength, productivity and spiritual power in our lives, so that through our lives, He can shake the world.
Lastly, God does not want us to do more for Him, He wants us to be more with Him. He is inviting us to abide more deeply in Him. Abiding isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command! Abiding doesn’t come naturally. It’s a choice and an action we must take. It means placing our complete trust and faith in Him. It means seeking, longing for, thirsting for, waiting for, seeing, knowing, loving, hearing and responding to … His Person.
Abiding is the connection to the Vine. It is the place through which all of the life nutrients flow through which the fruit is produced. The amount of fruit isn’t dependent on the size of the branch, it is dependent on the size of the connection – and what flows from the vine through the branch as a result of the connection. And the harvest that results, brings great joy – and great glory – to the Vinedresser.
Yes, our friends in China were right on target. It all comes down to a relationship with a person – the Person of the Vine – Jesus! If we desire to walk with the Master, we must do so as we abide in Him – for apart from Him we can do nothing.
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You can read about Jesus’ teaching that night in the vineyard in the Gospel of John, chapter 15.
The post is taken from chapter 38 of my book, Taking Up The Cross. For more information about the book, click here.
(1) John 15:1-8 (NLT)
“I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of Mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in Me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are My true disciples. This brings great glory to My Father.”
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