Thoughts on the Vine

John 15:1-8 (NLT)
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch 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 for greater fruitfulness 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 apart from 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 parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father.

THE BRANCHES

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 it so that it may bear more fruit. (NASB John 15:1-2)

Fruit is the result of growth, which is the result of nurturing. Fruit does not just happen, He wants us to bear the fruit of the seed He has placed in us.

He does not make us to have but one crop. Each season has new growth and fresh fruit, To mature and grow, pruning is a must. Old branches must be torn away-pinched back. Then all the nourishment can feed the new fruit allowing it to grow to abundance.

How often do we refuse to let the old branches go? When we hold on to stuff we enjoyed in the past, we prevent new fruit from developing. We hang onto the old while screaming out to God to change us and give us abundance. It is our unwillingness that holds us back.

It is not our lack of faith or sin that keeps us where we are at; No, it is our unwillingness to be pruned. When we let the stuff in our lives go, the new fruit can be birthed and grow abundantly.

It should go without saying that none of this can occur without our pursuit of a close personal relationship with Him. We must trust Him completely, be in His word daily, and allow Him to change us.

YOU ARE CLEAN

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (NASB John 15:3)

There is no qualification necessary. As you stepped forth in faith and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, because He died for all your sin, you were washed clean. There is no work to be done before you can be what He made you to be.

When you purchase a used car, the dealership has gone through it completely. They replace any worn parts, put on new tires, touch up any rough spots, any give it a fresh coat of wax. Not only does it look almost new, it has that new car smell--the result o a new car spray they use on the inside.

We are born again, not refurbished like that used car. We are brand new and without blemish in His eyes. He sees us sparkling clean just like a new car driven out of the dealership on the first day.

There is no testing period before we are allowed to step out doing whatever He has for us. We are ready day one. Sure, we have a lot to learn. We are inexperienced. He knows that and He will never give us something to do that we cannot handle.

As we listen for His voice and obey, we gain experience and grow in Him. As we grow, He gives us more and our character becomes more Christ like.

BE FRUITFUL

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 apart from me. (NLT John 15:4)

I cannot tell you how often I have lived by that old adage "If you want something done right, do it yourself". Even now, when I am looking over someone's shoulder while they work on a computer problem, I want to push them aside and take over.

When we became born again, we were grafted into the vine. The vine's nourishment comes from Christ; He is the vine. Without Him our branch cannot survive; it cannot produce fruit and therefore is useless. Sure, we still have the ticket for the bus ride to heaven, but we are not doing what he destined us to do while residing in these mortal vessels.

Only as we stay connected do we walk bearing fruit. It is easy to notice when others are hurting and run up to them and begin to pray for their healing. When directed by the Holy Spirit, when God is in control of who we lay hands on, the fruit is plentiful.

We must be in God's word daily and we must let Him lead the way in all we do. As we do, He directs our path putting others needy of Him in places for us to minister. As we listen and obey, He moves in mighty ways.

STAY CONNECTED

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 parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. (NLT John 15:5-6)

A situation occurred a couple of days ago. I ran a long network wire, installed the cable ends and plugged both in. The computer I was networking to was an older Windows 98SE machine. I have not setup networking on one that old in a long time and was not sure of how to go about it. I googled to find a solution and came up with all kinds of possibilities. Nothing seemed to work, and then I thought of the connection. I cut the ends off the wires and installed new ones. With a good connection, the network worked and the Internet was accessible.

To produce fruit we need to be connected. If we are born again, He is in us. Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit and He did. He is only one-half of the connection. Without our consciously being in Him, the network will not work.

Remaining in Him requires we communicate with Him. We must be in God's Word so He can show us what we need to move forward--to stay connected. We must praise God in all we do and be continuously in prayer.

If we choose to disconnect, to part from Him, we will be thrown aside like a useless branch. Our destiny will change from one of life to one of death as we are placed in the pile to be burned in the eternal fires.

BE ELIGIBLE

But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! (NLT John 15:7)

When you are good friends with someone and they are in need, you do not think twice about helping them. On the other hand, if someone you have not had a very good relationship with called asking for help, you might hesitate or even come up with numerous reasons why you cannot be available for them.

We read this verse in John and assume "any request" means anything at all. Others modify it and say any request that falls in line with God's will. All we have to do is look at the first half of this sentence to know what it means. If we are joined to Christ and His words remain in us, then our request will never fall outside of God's will. If it did, we would no longer be in Him and no longer be eligible for having our request granted.

God supplies all our needs as we walk with Him, as we grow in our personal relationship with Christ.

HAVE FRUIT

My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. (NLT John 15:8)

When you walk into a model home and see the tasty looking bowl of fruit on the dining room table, you want to reach out and grab an apple. You can taste the sweetness of that first juicy bite. As you get closer and pick up the apple, you discover it is not what it seems; the fruit is actually made of plastic. It looks good but is not useful for anything but display.

Many are not who they say they are. In our culture, people spend a good deal of money on how they appear to others. They have their hair done to accentuate their good features. Hours are spent under tanning lamps for that golden brown, I just came back from the islands look. Health clubs abound with those looking to shed inches and keep their teenage bodies.

In addition to these external methods, hours are spent learning how to speak to get what you want from others. Techniques in manipulation are passed on from generation to generation. We learn how to say what others want to hear so we can sell them on the latest thing we have to sell. The who they know is the who we want them to see. The real me is hidden behind the clothes, the hairstyle, the tan, and the years of training to project the person I want them to perceive me as.

Then we get saved and a new person is birthed. To the world around us, we are still hidden behind the façade we created. That new person has to come out. As we allow God to change us and take on more of the character of Christ, cracks appear in that façade and we are revealed as His disciples.

We cannot hide who we are in Christ without staying behind those walls from before. We must come out into the open. This is the only way our fruit can be real and useful. Without the fruit there is no discipleship. Without fruit there is no evidence of a personal relationship with Christ.