Let us read from John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” We have to abide in the Lord always. We may be doing a lot of things but if it is not done by abiding in the Lord, it cannot be done in God’s will. If you want to live a God-centered life we need to abide in Christ. In verse 1 and 2 we read, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine-dresser. 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.” Pruning can happen only if you are abiding in Christ and when God shows us something in us that needs to be changed. We can be cleansed each day through what God speaks to us. If we don’t abide in Christ, we can slowly be like the branch that dries up because it doesn’t receive life from the vine. Jesus says that such branches will be thrown away. We can produce more fruit only if we abide in Christ. If we are like a branch that is connected to the vine, every day we receive encouragement and correction daily from Christ the vine. In verse 5 we read that we need to abide in the Lord and the Lord has to abide in us. It is a 2-way process. This leads to a continuous cleansing and pruning and thereby leading to bearing much fruit. This continuous attachment to the vine is required in our lives so that the Father can be glorified.
In Romans 12:4-8 we read, “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” God has set us here as part of the body of Christ and we all have our individual part to play. By being connected to Christ we can thereby have connection to our brethren. In 1 Corinthians 10:16, 17 we read, “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.” We need to have this attitude of sharing in the blood and body of Christ. We take part in the bread and cup witnessing that we are part of this body of Christ. In 1 Peter 1:4,5 we read, “And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Although we may be rejected by men because we stand for the truth, we are precious in the sight of God. And God is building all of us living stones to a spiritual house. We are to offer up our lives as a spiritual sacrifice that is acceptable to God. Even though ewe are afflicted and dejected on the outside, on the inside we can be strong if we have that connection to the vine.
In John 12:24 we read, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus mentions here that unless there is a dying of our self-will, we cannot bear fruit for the Lord. When we submit ourselves each day in the light of the word and put our self to death, we can bear fruit. If we love our life too much that we are not willing to die to our self, we will lose it in eternity. But we can hate our self, we can gain eternal life. In Luke 13 we read of the parable of the barren fig tree. Jesus is looking into our lives to see if we are bearing fruit. He gives us his word and looks expectantly to see if we are bearing fruit.
In Romans 6:22, 23 we read, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Notice the phrase ‘enslaved to God’. Being enslaved to God the outcome is eternal life and a daily sanctification. In Romans 7:4 we read, “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” The law could not make us free from sin and so we were made to die to the law and be joined to the body of God and be able to bear fruit for God.
In John 15:12-14 we read, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” Jesus wants us to love our brethren just as He has loved us. In verse 18 and 19 we read, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” Jesus has chosen us from out of this world and this should be our attitude to the world. We have no part with the world and the world will hate us. Let us seek to have no part of the world but be attached to Jesus the vine daily. May God bless us all.
