I Am the True Vine
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Important messages
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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