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Lowell Brueckner

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I Am the True Vine

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Some key thoughts in this article: The fruitful branch is trimmed drastically (vines more than trees) and pruned close to the vine… If the church would submit to such pruning, it would completely wipe out traditionalism… The pruning process removes distance (from Christ) and indirect connections are eliminated… Dependence on a program competes with dependency upon Christ alone… Success is not the same as fruit bearing… Material that the Holy Spirit uses to teach His people is Bible material… To pray without ceasing means that we are to habitually practice praying as Jesus commanded us to do: “When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Mat. 6:6)… His love is not humanistic and it is not, primarily, humanitarian. It exists and functions to give glory to God…

From Gardening Know-How: When it comes to pruning grapes, the most common mistake people make is not pruning hard enough. Light pruning doesn’t promote adequate fruiting whereas heavy pruning provides the greatest quality of grapes.

John 15:1-11

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” If we understand biblical principle, then it will not be hard to see that Jesus is saying that He is exclusively the only true, legitimate vine that exists. The best that all the vines in the world’s vineyards can do is to portray the characteristics of this vine.


He is the true vine, because He is the one that the Father tends. He is God’s business and all God’s purposes revolve around Him. Only God’s will is real: all else on earth is deception.

The Bible clearly teaches that that which comes from eternity and goes into eternity is true. It is just so with Jesus and is evident, as He taught on the bread that came down from heaven. In John 6:27, “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” His business concerns eternal things and is sealed by the Father. It is a similar lesson to that of the vine. In verse 32, he negated their belief that Moses gave them bread from heaven. No, “it is my Father who gives you the TRUE bread from heaven.” Why was manna not the true bread? Because “your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died” (49). But if it is bread from heaven, “one may eat of it and not die” (50).

Combating symbolic religion, which is a figure of the true, the writer of Hebrews presents the same thinking throughout his book; clearly in 7:23-24, for example: “The former priests… were prevented by death from continuing, but Jesus… because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.” In Hebrews, He is proclaimed the only true priest, the true tabernacle, and the true sacrifice for sin.

 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away.” Every branch is expected to bear eternal fruit, fulfilling the purpose of the Father. If it does not, it will be burned. The Gospels teach that God is intolerant of fruitlessness: “Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?” (Luke 13:7). We, individually, must fulfill God’s reason for our existence.

Pruning fruitful branches

pruning grape vines
“Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” The fruitful branch is trimmed drastically (vines more than trees) and pruned close to the vine. In our lives, not only that which is bad, but the good, as well, will be pruned periodically. The success and good results are cut back, until all that remains is Christ. It is a painful process, which leaves us feeling that the person, who we were before, has died. If the church would submit to such pruning, it would completely wipe out traditionalism. What is useful to God will grow back again in time and bear more fruit.

“You are already clean (pruned) because of the word which I have spoken to you.” It is eternal truth, which comes through the Word that does the trimming. At least twice, Jesus pruned His disciples. For instance, Peter’s store of fisherman’s savvy was reduced seriously by the word of Christ. What he knew as a veteran fisherman from a fishing community was challenged by this Carpenter and Peter cast his net upon His infallible word, bringing in an enormous catch. It crushed him to his knees in humble submission.

The pruning shears were sharpened again, after the disciples had followed the Lord for 3½ years. Peter, taking the lead as usual, was sure by now, that he was ready to follow Jesus to the death, but the Word said, “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” He sheathed his sword and started over again, this time through the Spirit’s sword and might.

The secret to fruitfulness

“He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” What can finite, temporal, weak, natural beings do towards that which is infinite, eternal, supernatural and spiritual? Abiding union with Christ is the secret to fruitfulness, as His life flows through us. The pruning process removes distance and indirect connections are eliminated. We learn to attune to His voice and expect to receive directly from Him.

The true vine’s function is never a program that can be followed to success. That would be detrimental to constant abiding. Success is not the same as fruitfulness. Working for Christ to the best of our ability will not bring fruitfulness. Also, we are not fruitful, because God does His sovereign work in spite of us, while we produce thorns and thistles, although this is often the case. We are fruitful, when we cooperate, as God works in and through us. We walk hand in hand with Him, moment by moment.

Praying with 100% results

“If you abide in me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We must utter biblical prayers, flowing from a close relationship with Christ. Especially in these days, we must become experts in the written word of Christ, but it must be taught by spiritual means and not through an educational system. I have lived long enough to prove that the material that the Holy Spirit uses to teach His people is Bible material. Those taught in this way are the only ones, who can pray according to the will of God. When we do not pray our own prayers, but simply say “amen” to God’s promises, we can expect 100% results that bear fruit.

Our prayer life can never develop as it should, unless we get alone with God. It is not enough to be mindful of God, as we go through our day’s activity, though I certainly am not criticizing such prayer. Simply, I am convinced that this was not Paul’s meaning, when he told the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing”. He learned from Jesus, who instructed His disciples that “they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (see Luke 18:1). He used the same term, stating that he remembered without ceasing their work of love and thanked God without ceasing for their reception of the gospel. To pray without ceasing means that we are to habitually practice praying as Jesus commanded us to do: “When you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Mat. 6:6) If we do not, we are disobedient to Him.

Glorifying God in Christ

Nothing short of a drastic pruning process will, in turn, cause us to depend only upon Christ, to look to His word, to think and walk accordingly, and pray. We pray, because we are convicted by the Holy Spirit that without Jesus we can do nothing. We will have to pray, if we are not deceived by self-sufficiency. Then, we will fulfill the purpose of our existence, which is exclusively to glorify God through our lives. “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”

 “You will abide in My love.” It is not our love that Christ desires, but His flowing through us, as we abide in Him. His love is not humanistic and it is not, primarily, humanitarian. It exists and functions to give glory to God and will burn a passion in us to that end. In His love also, we will do unto others, that which is best for their eternal good.


“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Jesus does not want to make us happy. He wants us to be so attached to Him, to abide in Him, so that His joy will flow through us. It is Christ’s joy; it is perfect and complete and doesn’t need emotional stimulus or motivational hype. Only as we abide in Him, do his attributes flow through us and thereby fruit is borne, which will endure for eternity, glorifying God.                        ■


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