The True Vine

It’s sad to see many people wasting their lives. They pursue temporal things and lose eternal blessings. Unfortunately, even God’s people waste their lives by pursuing the things of the world. John 15:1-8 tells us how we can be fruitful and make our lives count for God’s glory.

We can learn four lessons from the seventh and last ‘I AM’ saying of Christ. The first lesson is: Jesus is the true vine and the Father is the vinedresser (John 15:1-3). In this metaphor, the vine is Christ, the Father is the vinedresser (cf. Isaish 5:1-7). The farmer or the gardener has a key role in raising a crop. You and I are under the care of the heavenly Father! Both the Father and the Son are at work in us to bear fruit in our lives. Even the Spirit plays a key role in sanctifying us to make us fruitful.In contrast to Israel, Jesus is the true vine and his followers produce fruit as they abide in him. Earlier, Jesus is referred to as the true light (John 1:9) and the true bread (John 6:32). Jesus, not Israel, is the true vine. Jesus is saying that being Jewish is not enough. One has to trust Jesus for his or her salvation. In order for the vine to be fruitful, the Father or the vinedresser does two things. (a) The vinedresser takes away the branches that do not bear fruit and (b) The vinedresser prunes the branches that it may bear more fruit.

The second lesson we can learn from this ‘I AM’ saying is: If we abide in Jesus, we will bear much fruit (John 15:4-5). Now some people read verses 4 and 5 and think that we can merge with Christ just like Hinduism teaches about the merging of the soul with the Brahman. But Jesus is not teaching such a concept here. The entire Bible maintains that we are distinct from God. As God’s people, we are already connected to Jesus. And our responsibility is to remain in him. Jesus commands his disciples to remain in him because the world is hostile towards them (John 15:18-25). Genuine disciples of Christ bear fruit. In a medical emergency, the medical professionals check for vital signs like pulse, breathing, and heartbeat. When God checks our spiritual pulse, will be able to find the fruit in our lives?

The third lesson one can learn from the seventh ‘I AM’ saying is: If we don’t abide in Jesus, we will be judged (John 15:6). A fruitless Christian is an oxymoron. Those who profess to be disciples of Christ will be judged. If you have not yet received Christ as your Lord, repent of your sins, and surrender your life to Jesus today. Those who begin well but later become apostates will be judged. They will be thrown into the fire and burned.

Are you tempted to leave Jesus? Are persecution, temptations, trials, or difficulties causing you to shipwreck your faith? In that case, you must abide in the Lord all the more. Otherwise, you will be judged. We must heed Christ’s warning.

The final lesson one can learn from the last ‘I AM’ saying is: The ultimate goal of fruit-bearing is God’s glory (John 15:7-8). Jesus says, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (v. 8). Fruitless people demonstrate that they don’t belong to Christ. But when we bear much fruit, we demonstrate that we are Christ’s disciples (John 8:31; Matthew 7:20; Luke 6:43-44; 1 John 2:24). Fruit-bearing is evidence that we are true disciples of Christ. When we are fruitful, God is glorified through the Son! We must be fruitful not just for the sake of being fruitful, but we must be fruitful so that we can bring glory to God.

Abide in Christ so that you will bear much fruit and glorify God.