The Vine and the Branches

"I am the true vine" - The nation of Israel in the Old Testament was referred to as God's vine. And only through God's "vine" could someone come close to God Himself. Here Jesus is telling me that He is the true Vine. The vine of the Old Testament was just a precursor to the true Vine of the New Testament, Jesus. Just as only through the ancient nation of Israel could someone come to the Father, it is only through this true Vine that someone can come to the Father today. The nation of Israel pictured God's chosen people and only through Jesus can we become God's chosen people today. God has always had a relationship with His people because He is a relational Being. Throughout all history God has revealed the way for human beings to become aligned with Him, to connect and have a relationship with Himself. And Scripture says that it is only through Jesus Christ that that happens today.

"and my father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful" - Ask most people and they will say that the "fruit" Jesus refers to are converts, new believers, people who go through the new birth and become new persons. But I am not totally convinced that this is the fruit Jesus was speaking of. I mean, that certainly does apply here but I believe Jesus was referring to the fruit of Christlikeness. Galatians 5:22-23 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." These are the attributes or "fruit" I believe Jesus was referring to. And while the apostle Paul had yet to pen these words, the attributes themselves certainly existed. And Jesus had just promised the "Counselor" or Holy Spirit to come after He goes away. He promised that by means of this Counselor, He would dwell in me and I in Him and us in the Father. This leads me to believe that Jesus was saying that those who claim to follow Him but show no evidence of that union would be cut off, and that those who did become Christlike would be pruned to bring forth even more fruit. Christ is saying that He will live in me by His Holy Spirit and that that Spirit would bear fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) in true believers. But not all believers would possess these characteristics and they will be cut off as waste.

It's important to note though, that the branches of the vine that produce fruit will be pruned. That means cut back, and forced to grow in size rather than length. When a branch sprouts off the vine it grows rapidly in length and will put all its energy into becoming longer rather than putting the energy into producing plump, plentiful fruit. There lies the true value of the vine. It isn't how long I've been a Christian that matters, it's the size and quality of the "fruit" that counts. It's how Christlike I become that matters. And to produce the choicest of "fruit" will require being pruned or cut back. That's why I have struggles in this life. I am being pruned. I do not think for a moment that God cannot prevent an incident from happening in my life to spare me the trauma. Rather, I must be awake and fully aware that God is allowing these incidents to affect me. Because if I lack patience, I will be given situations in life that require more patience. If I lack kindness, I will be given situations to endure that will build kindness in me. The thing to remember is that I can never have enough of these fruits. I will never have enough patience or enough kindness or enough self-control so I will be continually pruned back over and over again to produce more of the fruit that is being pruned away. That's why I am told to be thankful in tribulations; because I am being groomed to produce more of the character of Christ, the true Vine.

"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." You can put a branch on your table and wait for it to grow or produce fruit but nothing will happen. Apart from the vine the branch will just lie there and dry out. Likewise I can't just tell myself to have more fruit and have my fruit increase. It does no good for me to tell myself to have more patience. My patience won't increase one smidgen. It is only through irritation after irritation after irritation that my patience begins to grow. That's why I am told to praise God during persecution and trials. That's why I am told to be thankful in everything. Because by enduring these things I grow in Christlikeness. And I must be sober here, only by enduring these things can I grow in Christlikeness. I cannot sit here and will myself to bear fruit. It will never happen. The only way I am going to produce fruit is if I'm connected to the vine. How many people do you know who have cut themselves off from attending church who have gone on to produce more Christlike qualities and characteristics over time? How much fruit of goodness or faithfulness, how much self-control does one develop outside of the Vine? Scripture tells us, none.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" - When Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," He was saying that it is only through Him, the true Vine, that life flows to the branches. I must stay connected to Christ my living Vine to accomplish anything. And only by remaining in Him can I grow any fruit. I can leave that branch on the table for 20 years and it will never produce a single fruit on its own. That is because there is no life in the branch. It is dead; disconnected from the vine. So no matter how long I work at producing fruit, I will never produce a single grape. I produce fruit only by remaining in the true Vine, the true Israel: Christ. Because, in reality, it is only Christ's life flowing through me that fruit is produced. I don't ever grow fruit on my own. Christ grows it through me. The sap of the Vine is the very Life of Christ flowing to produce the desired fruit.

"If anyone does not remain in me and I in him, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned" - When a vineyard is pruned, all the "dead" wood (that part of the vine that isn't producing fruit) is cut away and gathered up and thrown into the fire because that's all it's good for. You can't get lumber from a grapevine; no one can build things out of vinewood. If it's not producing fruit it's only good for burning.

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I've had a pretty busy week so far. That's why I'm just now getting to my blog. Sunday was church and then the Blessing of the Bikes. (An out-reach in the community, seeking souls that are rarely ever seen in a church or church setting. The rolling foothills where we live are populated by an unusually large number of motorcyclists during the good weather of spring, summer, and fall. So as an outreach, my church hosted a picnic and invited members of a motorcycle gang to come join us for a blessing.) We had a really great time. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if I saw some of those same people sitting in a church pew sometime in the future. And then after the Biker picnic (I didn't eat anything) I had a bar-be-cue to go to at my son's house later that evening. Then Monday we had small group that ran long because we had a luncheon after our short study. Then I spent the rest of the day preparing for a Lay Pastor meeting that night. Yesterday we had a memorial at the church for a member's son who had committed suicide and I was down at the church from noon until after 4:00. Today I actually had nothing to do so I made out attendance cards for 27 households, which took about 2 hours, ( I'm sure it would probably take longer to explain that than either one of us has to devote to it, so I'll let it go with what I've written) and then I played on my computer until now.

Tomorrow morning I will get my hair cut and run errands and then prepare for the Deacon Board Meeting tomorrow evening which in turn means that I will begin preparing for the Executive Board meeting next week. I hope to get my hair cut really, really short so all I have to do is finger style it and let it go. I just don't have the time to spend on my hair anymore and with the hot weather coming I thought REALLY short would work best for now.

I've brought you up on current events so I'll do my best to blog again Friday. Until then...