Biblical Success - Running Our Race - the "D" Vine StrategySample

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” In the opening sentence of this compelling parable-like narrative, Jesus uses the metaphor of a vineyard to represent God, Himself, and all His disciples. Father God is the “Vinedresser,” Jesus is the “Vine,” and each of us as Christ-followers is a branch of the “Vine." I love this vivid illustration and our Lord's message through these verses.

First, His Word identifies The Father as the ‘Vinedresser.” In a vineyard, the vinedresser is responsible for the health and maintenance of the entire vineyard. He examines all of the branches of the Vine individually relative to their fruitfulness by the vinedresser. The branches that produce fruit are pruned to produce more fruit, and those with no fruit are pruned and thrown away. The branches are the vehicles or conduits necessary for fruit production and the means of the growth and expansion of the vineyard. The scriptures often refer to God’s people as a vineyard, and in today’s world, that’s us Christ-followers. We are the Church, and God expects that His vineyard is fruitful and produces “much fruit and more fruit.”

As branches, we are attached to the Vine as our source of all nourishment and ability to grow. In a literal vineyard, the nourishment of the branch flows to it through the vine as sap. In our lives as disciples, our nourishment is supplied to us by The Holy Spirit who flows to us through The Word and prayer and worship and community and building intimacy with our Vine or “abiding” in Him. He says in verse 4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” and in verse 5 “,,, for without Me, you can do nothing.” And in verse 6, He continues, “If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Apparently, “abiding in Christ” and producing or “bearing” fruit is huge. We will define them in future studies, but to prepare for tomorrow, let’s think that you and I live in two very different dimensions of life; life in “the flesh” and life in the “spirit.”

We are NOT physical beings who have occasional spiritual experiences; we ARE spirit beings who have a temporary physical experience. The Word is very clear about it. Our bodies in which we live our physical experience will die, and the physical experience will end. Our spirits which at new birth are joined as one spirit with our Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17), will live on in a different life form. It is the same life but transitioned from an “earthly” to a “heavenly” body and never to be changed again.

Some of what we do while living as we are will have value in heaven, and some will be worth nothing in our life to come. Let’s soak in this overnight. What can abiding in Christ have to do with bearing fruit? And what effect does fruit-bearing have on our lives in heaven? Read and reflect on the following scriptures, and we’ll check back tomorrow.