Christ is the True
Vine
John
15:1-11
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”
What is a Vine? It is the
portion of a plant that transfers vital nutrients from the roots to the
branches of the plant.
It is interesting to note
that if the roots are cut, the vine can manufacture new roots. Also if the branches are cut the vine can
produce new branches.
So the Vine is the central
most important part of the plant. Just as The Lord Jesus Christ is to be the central most important
part of our lives.
The Vinedresser is someone
that cultivates and prunes vines.
When the branches get dangly
and unproductive the Vinedresser prunes them away so that the productive
branches can receive more nutrients for their growth and production.
God the Father in His perfect
justice and righteousness both shuts doors for us and disciplines us so that
our hearts are pruned for producing the best fruit possible. 1 Cor 11:28-32; 2 Tim 3:16; Heb 12:6, 10;
Rev 3:7, 19
John
15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He (Father) takes away;
and every
branch that bears fruit, He prunes
it so that it may bear more fruit.”
We have been entered into salvation not just to be saved
but to do the work of God in our lives.
Jesus Christ desires to pump the vital nutrients of His
Word into our beings so that we can produce much fruit. And not just any fruit but the plumpest,
tastiest fruit ever.
As we receive these nutrients it also has a cleansing
effect on our souls so that we become stronger and healthier. This is a cleansing of the Sin Nature's and
the World's influence over our way of thinking.
"He
prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."
“Takes away” is the Present tense, Active voice, Indicative mood of
airo, airoô (ah'ee-ro )
A primary verb; to lift;
by implication to take up or away; figuratively to raise
(the voice), keep in suspense
(the mind); specifically to sail away
(that is, weigh anchor).
“Prune” is the Present tense, Active voice, Indicative mood of
kaqairo, kathairoô (kath-ah'ee-ro)
It comes from the word, Katharos;
to cleanse, that is, (specifically)
to prune; figuratively to expiate: purge.
kaqaros, katharos (kath-ar-os')
Clean (literally or figuratively):
clear, pure.
Even when you think you are doing many great and diverse
things for God, you can find yourself focused in wrong areas of ministry.
The ministries you have may be good ones but some of
them are not for you, nor are they done the best that they can be done, because
they are not intended for you to do them.
There are many branches that come from the vine and each
is intended for its own fruit production.
Be careful not to produce someone else's fruit because
it will not be as bountiful as God desires and you may be casting a shadow on
another branch's ability to grow and produce.
John
15:3 “You are already
clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”
Divine production begins with the relaxed mental attitude of knowing your
eternal fate is sealed and secure.
At the moment of your salvation, God cleansed your soul through the
forgiveness of all your sins. John
13:1-10
You believed in the Word of the Gospel message and where placed in union
with Christ forever. 1 Cor 1:22; Eph
1:13: 4:30
Eph 1:13 “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of
your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy
Spirit of promise.”
You were given a perfect nature (clean) called the Human Spirit so that
you could have an eternal relationship with God.
God tells us we must rest in our relationship with Him in order to
produce. Heb 4:1-3
If you are constantly worried about your salvation, you will never get
beyond that point to the point of producing fruit.
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you.
As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in
the vine,
so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
"Abide" is the Aorist,
Active, Imperative of meno,
Meno (men’-o) - it means to remain, stay with or
continue with someone or something.
The imperative is a strong appeal, desire or command.
1 John 3:24 explains this:
1 John
3:24 “The one who keeps His (Christ's) commandments remains with Him, and He in
him. We know by this that He remains (Present, Active, Indictative) in us, by the Spirit whom He has given
us.”
The Spirit speaks with our spirit so we know and
understand when Christ is working in us. Rom 8:16
Rom 8:16 “For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we
are God’s children.”
You can not produce bountiful fruit if your relationship with the Lord is
casual or occasional.
Remaining with the Lord means a consistent and continual relationship
with Him, reading His word, studying His word, applying His word - daily.
And you can not fully receive the nutrients of Christ apart from your
Pastor Teacher in your local church who feeds you those nutrients. Eph
4:16
Eph 4:16 “From whom the
whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies,
according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of
the body for the building up of itself in love.”
John
15:5 “I am the vine, you
are the branches; he who remains in Me and I in him,
he bears much fruit,
for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
John
15:6 “If anyone does not remian in Me, he is thrown away as
a branch and dries up;
and they
gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”
Here we see the Vinedresser tending to the branches of the vine that are
non-productive and don't have a shot at further production.
The believer who ignores their relationship with God and stops receiving
the vital nutrients from the vine will shrivel up and wither away in their
souls. (Black out of the soul.)
Because of the lack of the Word of God in their soul, they have nothing to
sustain their spiritual life.
"Burned in the
fire" does not say that you will loose your salvation and be thrown into the
Here the context is divine production, not salvation.
The Bible tells us in 1 Cor 3:9-15
and 2 Cor 5:10 that all believers
will stand before Christ and He will judge our fruit bearing as if going
through a fire. Fire typically stands
for judgment in the Bible and all judgments are not the same.
2 Cor
5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each
one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has
done, whether good or bad.”
Fruit bore with the nutrients of Christ and the Holy Spirit will be
rewarded.
Fruit bore with human power and the sin nature apart from God's power
will be burned up, yet the branch will be saved.
1 Cor 3:15 “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself
will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
For the unbeliever, all they are able to produce is human good and they
are called fruit from the vine of the earth, (a reference to Satan). Rev
14:19
Rev 14:19 “So the angel swung
his sickle to the earth and gathered the
clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press
of the wrath of God.”
Just as
there is no salvation for the unbeliever, there is also no reward, only loss.
John
15:7 “If you remain in Me, and My words remain in you,
ask
whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Here we see that nothing can be truly accomplished without prayer.
Phil 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And
the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thes
5:17 “Pray without ceasing;”
So we
see that we can not produce divine fruit without first going to the Father in
prayer, in the name of the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit.
CONCLUSION
God did not create us for condemnation nor for non-production. He created us for salvation so that we could
bear much fruit.
In order to bear fruit, we need to tap into the vine of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We need to take in the Word of God on a consistent basis through our
right Pastor-Teacher in our right local assembly.
Once we take in the Word, we then must apply it to our every day lives
and the ministry God has specifically chosen for us.
And we always need to remember to offer our petition as well as our thanksgiving
prayers to God prior to every endeavor; whether it is the intake or application
of God's word or the special ministry God has for us.
When we do, we will be producing
the fruit that God intended for us as noted in Gal 5:22-23.
Gal 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness,
23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
When we do, God is
glorified in and through us.
John
15:8 “My Father is
glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you;
remain in My love.
10 If you keep My commandments,
you will remain in My love;
just as I
have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
Eph 5:8 “For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk
as children of Light
9 (for the fruit of the Light consists
in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.”
Copyright
2004, Property of:
James H. Rickard Bible
Ministries.
All Rights Reserved.