“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:1-2.
Although these verses were covered in “Abiding in Christ”, posted on 5-28-15, this will be a new treatment of the subject, and even so there will still be a lot of similarities between the two because of the subject matter.
Though it is a simile it is important to see ourselves as a branch literally so we can enter in to what the Lord is trying to impress the disciples, and us with.
The importance of seeing ourselves as a branch becomes clear when Jesus says, “I am the true vine…” If we think on terms of gardening it becomes clear that the branches cannot survive without the vine itself.
This is a powerful statement; we cannot survive as functioning Christians if we cut ourselves off from the main vine which consists of the root system and trunk.
Everything is held together by this, rooted, grounded and fed by it. And though it may seem a bit odd; the branches receive not only their sustenance but their character too, so to speak.
The branches of a vine are also useless for anything other than bearing fruit; you cannot build furniture with their wood nor will they make a decent fire.
Conversely those who have attached themselves to the untrue or wild vines of this world such as false religions, communism, socialism, or vain philosophies, such as hedonism, or asceticism have borne bitter fruit as the condition of the world testifies to today.
Trite sayings like “love is really all we need” or “make love not war”, have a nice ring to them but they do not stand up to the light of day. The problem is that these and other simplistic theories all leave out our sin nature.
Free love, as fun as it sounds, leaves the woman feeling empty and used after a while, especially with the inborn desire for stability in their lives, and for someone who is there to love and comfort them when they become fearful or stressed.
Men become cold and calloused toward women and begin to view them as needy and grasping; desiring to take away their freedom.
Children born out of wedlock grow up without a father to teach them empathy through their example or training. Empathy is learned from the father, not the mother as it is erroneously taught.
In fact, there is no one to teach them how to fix a faucet, or put in a light switch, teach them wisdom, or protect them from predators.
Children growing up under these conditions have no idea how to be a father, or a normal mother because the one they have is either continually busy working one or more jobs, or has gone on welfare becoming idle and insecure.
Children themselves never learn how to seek a job. Statistically the vast majority of children without fathers spend their whole lives in the poverty cycle.
Most youngsters living under these conditions learn their life philosophies from violent video games, comic books (usually amoral, or they blur the line between right and wrong); violent, lewd, sensual or obscene movies; and a school system that indoctrinates them in antichristian socialism, teaching them that the state is their mother and father.
Of the mothers giving birth to their first child in America 48% are out of wedlock. This is the perfect storm my friends and it will hit soon.
The only possible solution to this problem is for Christians to remain securely joined to the vine which is Christ. It is only when the body of Christ acts as a unit that this struggle for the hearts of the children in this country will be won. Christ has given us everything we need.
“…for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:12-16.
Jesus tells us that He is the true vine and that, “My Father is the vinedresser.” He then states, “Every branch in Me…” the words, in Me tell us that He is speaking to those who have accepted Him as savior, it is Christians then that are branches on the vine.
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away…” while this can mean exactly what it says, the disobedient believer dies as stated in 1 Corinthians 11 where the apostle speaks of those who take communion without examining themselves beforehand for unconfessed sin.
“For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” 1 Corinthians 11:30-32.
The word sleep in the first sentence above means death.
Many are spoken of as being weak and sick; this is a form of judgment by God on the misbehavior of His children.
“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.” Hebrews 12:11-13.
While the death of the believer is definitely on the table at all times, it is also possible that this phrase means that the vinedresser lifts up the tender plant and encourages it to grow.
“…every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” It seems as though you cannot win for losing here, if you do bear fruit you get pruned, not much incentive there.
However if we consider the plant, it is plain that they need pruning to flourish and no matter how unpleasant, we may often go through the things mentioned above in Hebrews 12:11-13 for our betterment.
There is an upside to this though; much of this pruning can be done painlessly by studying Scripture and allowing your heart to be sanctified and cleansed by the washing of the water of the word.
“…Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” Ephesians 5:25b-26.
When someone studies the word of God the sinful things in their life become apparent and as they recognize these sins and confess them, turning away from them; that person begins to judge themselves as stated in 1 Corinthians 11:30-32 above.
As we become more conformed to God’s word, the less chastening we will have to endure. Though that does not mean that it will cease entirely, we are very flawed human beings and sinful things will still rear their ugly heads.
It is really up to us, as they say, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way – it will get done though. Because of sin, life is hard no matter what.
A moral person can reject Christ in this world and with hard work perhaps have a pretty comfortable life.
Yet, even in a comfortable life there is chaos and the unexpected, rebellious children, divorce, drunkenness, drugs, adultery, unemployment, crime, taxes, and a greedy, freedom grasping government.
A person’s reward for struggling, enduring, and rising above it all whenever they fall is death and an eternity in hell, whether they have made great contributions to the human condition or not. Blunt, but true.
The Christian endures many of the same things, but not alone; we have the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, the one called alongside. In other words, Christ in you, it is He who comforts us, and smoothes out the hard patches in our life, gives us hope and a purpose in life.
It is He who will greet us in glory after a hard or easy life. The question we have to ask ourselves is, will we be glad to see Him or will we shrink back in shame?
“And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:28.
Here are two important life safety tips that I believe in; one is backed by Scripture and the other is implied.
The first is, if you judge, confess, and forsake a sin when you recognize it as such, you will either escape God’s chastening for it, or the chastening will be milder.
Of course a lot will depend on the sin; if it is murder or some other serious crime do not expect to just walk away.
The second tip is implied and is tied to the first. If you confess and forsake a sin here in life, Christ will not bring that sin up at the judgment seat.
“But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Romans 14:10.
“So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12.
The judgment seat of Christ is not Judgment Day when all unbelievers will be cast into the lake of fire.
The judgment seat of Christ is a time when all believers will stand before the Lord and their life will be examined and the person will either suffer loss or gain rewards for their service.
Be sure that you understand that the believer will not be standing before an angry, red faced Christ who pounds the table and screams at them.
It will be the same gentle Jesus that we know now; it is we who will regret not working harder for Him during the short time we had on earth.
“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.
The True Vine, John 15:1-2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 4-12-13, updated on 2-11-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.