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Jesus describes Himself
as the true vine and a deep message is associated with this
description. This message is revolutionary to the flesh of man, but
extremely necessary for every disciple of Jesus who wants to bear good fruit
for God. “ I am the true vine,
and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh
away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now
ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide
in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye
are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without
me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and
cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my
words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto
you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall
ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you:
continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in
my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his
love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in
you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay
down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you
friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto
you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain:
that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it
you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.” (John 15:1-17 AV) Vine
A grapevine grows best in
a warmly and sunny location. The vine root system is strong and powerful and
because of that, roots dig deeply into the earth. The vine feels comfortable
on ground, which has plenty of good nutrition, and it also needs a lot of
moisture, especially during the period of growth. In the beginning, the vine
sprout is aromatic and because of that it must receive plenty of moisture. As
the vine ages and its root system collects moisture from deep within the
ground, it needs less irrigation.
If you want a good
harvest from the grapevine, the vine must be cut. The grapevine brings forth
plenty of young grapes, but all the grapes don't arrive in time to grow
and mature, but they remain little and of poor quality. The grape grower’s
intention is to improve the quality and amount of grapes maturing. A trimming
of the grapevine also improves the grapes' grade; in other words they taste
better as a result of the cutting operation. Often cut away are those leaves
which cast a shadow over the grapes, so that the grapes’ growth and
maturation is improved. Grapevine grape plants ripen slowly, so a man needs
plenty of patience while he waits for the harvest. Grapevine spiritual message
Jesus is the grapevine
whose roots are strong and powerful. Jesus’ roots are deep; His roots reach
the throne of God. Jesus' disciples are the branches of the grapevine. Now we observer the branches which are the disciples of Jesus. Branches Jesus said that He takes away every branch, which is in Him, which does not
carry a good fruit. John 15:2 uses the words “taketh
away”, which is one word, airoo, in
Greek. This word means to raise up, carry and
take away. Jesus finally takes away only the branch which doesn’t want to
walk in Jesus’ way as described in the Bible. Jesus takes away the man who
wants to stay and live in sin. The man who wants to live in sin is thrown
away like a dry branch, which is thrown into the fire. We people are like the grapevine,
which bears fruit of a poor quality. This poor quality is sin, and for that
reason Jesus has to also cut off those parts of the branches, which don’t,
produced a good fruit. Jesus also purified His disciples so that they can
produce good fruit. The meaning of the cutting off is not that Jesus
abandons a believer, but through purposeful cleaning, Jesus’ disciples can
carry abundant and good fruit to God. I remember an incident,
which happened to my daughter when she was 6 years old. She hurt herself in
the yard during the summer. She got a wound on the tip of her toe. My
daughter come to me and showed her toe to me, but when she walked to me, her
toe became dirty and sandy. She came inside and cried a lot with tears
falling down her face, because of the sore accident. When I saw the wound, I
realized that it needed to be cleaned before being bandaged. My daughter said
that I can’t touch her toes, because then it hurt even worse. She said that I couldn’t put any cleaning stuff on her toe,
because that would hurt too much. Now I had a big problem, this situation
needed a very wise decision. I said to my daughter: “In that wound is dirt,
which can expose the tip of your toe to every kind of bacteria which would
then infect the toe. If the worst happens, your toe can get blood poisoning
and after that problems are truly large.” When my daughter heard this, she extend her foot towards me as she accept the purpose for
cleaning her toe. Jesus deals in the same
way with us. Sin which lives in a man’s heart destroys a man, and for that
reason Jesus cuts off those branches, which produce fruit to sin. And through
this cleaning operation, disciples of Jesus can grow in a healthy way and so
they can produce good fruit to God. Abiding in Jesus Christ
means the same thing, so that when branches cling to the trunk of the vine,
only in that way can the branches get nourishment, through the roots and
trunk. But if the branch is taken away from the trunk, it dries
and is burnt in the fire. Jesus used the word abide (King
James version) 8 times in the gospel of John chapter
15 and the word abideth once. Jesus
emphasized the importance of abiding in Him, that's why he repeated it so
often. Let’s abide in Jesus Christ, so that way we can get healthy and
godly nourishment in Him, through the Holy Spirit and through the word of God. Stay in Jesus
The grapevine
branches' intention is to produce ripe grapes and grapes which taste good. In
the same way, Jesus' disciples’ purpose is to bear good and mature
fruit to God. The grapevine branch is able to produce good grapes only
if the branches remain in the grapevine. In the same way, Jesus' disciples
can bear good fruit only if they remain in Jesus.
How can we remain in Jesus - what does that mean? When man
lives in this world, so the Bible teaches, man is in absolute slavery to
sin and in Satan’s confinement. For the wages of sin is death, eternal death
and everlasting separation from God. For that reason, Jesus died on the
cross of When man
repents his sin and admits that he has sinned against God, and then he
can receive God’s salvation in his life. In this way a man is transferred
from the power of Satan into childhood in God. Through
believing in Jesus, God forgives a man his sins. When a man has come to faith
in Jesus through the great grace of God, then God gives a man the
power to be and stay His child. This power is the Holy Spirit, which
every disciple of Jesus receives. Only through the Holy Spirit
do you have communication with Jesus. Only through the Holy
Spirit can you remain in Jesus. The Holy Spirit opens the word of
God to you and changes your heart so you are able to live the kind of life,
which is in harmony with the will of God. Man becomes a new creation by
believing in Jesus. God saves a man because He is full of mercy; because
He loves you and me. The evidence of God's love is the death and
resurrection of Jesus. Man’s flesh
has no ability to produce fruit of the Spirit because man’s flesh is allied
with sin. Our flesh is not a breeding ground for belief, but
God affects it through His word and Spirit in our heart. God speaks to your
mind directly through His word and Spirit and steers your heart,
mind and life in a new direction. The effect of this is that Holy Spirit changes you and gives you power to live
a life in harmony with God's will. I have an example: Before an alcoholic comes to believe in
Jesus, his internal human lusting craves alcohol because his internal
life is broken by sin. As this alcoholic comes to believe in
Jesus, his brokenness is still driving him to drink, but the word of God
says: ".Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess;
but be filled with the Spirit. " He is driven to alcoholic drinking
by his old life, but in his new life he doesn't want to drink, but
to be filled with the Spirit. The word of God shows us a new
creation, a new life direction, so consequently the Holy Spirit
gives us the power to live in that new life, which is in harmony with
the will of God. Weapon against sin
How can a
former alcoholic win his battle against lust for alcohol? How can
man win against the lust of the flesh leading to sin? How is it possible
that man not fall into sin? We are all familiar with these
questions. Jesus has an answer to our
questions. The Bible teaches: 1 Peter 4:1,2: Forasmuch then as
Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the
same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That
he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of
men, but to the will of God. Jesus said
that the life of a believer is like that of a grain
of wheat. If a grain of wheat dies for itself, so it
bears a lot of good fruit. Man’s flesh loves lusting after sin, that's
why man’s flesh wants to live a sinful life. When sin begins to tease our
minds, if we want to win against that temptation, our flesh has to
suffer because in that way our flesh can’t accomplish its
lust. Flesh suffers then, as it can’t accomplish its
lusts. If we allow our flesh to suffer, we don't fall into sin and we
have won over the temptation with the help of God. God has promised to
deliver us from all temptation, those temptations which
are lifted against us. For a while we endure suffering, but by fighting in
the Spirit the lust goes away, and then we have won
over a temptation by the grace and help of God. I remember
one true story of a certain brother in the faith. This brother had been
a believer for a short time, and he had
used plenty of alcohol in his former life. One day that
brother got into an argument with his wife. As a result of this
argument, very strong thoughts arose in his mind that he must drink
alcohol. That brother had a habit of handling troubles by drinking. So he
left his house, slamming the door behind him, full of anger and blaming
his wife, intending to go drinking. This brother was, however,
a believer and so his God spoke straight to that brother's
heart. The Holy Spirit lifted the following Bible verse to that
brother's heart: “ Eph 5:18: And be not
drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. “ The brother's
mind was influenced by anger and his mind felt
lust to drink alcohol. But the Spirit of God recommended that the solution is
not drinking alcohol, but the right solution is to forgive his wife and also
to ask her forgiveness for his bad behaviour. This brother was
undergoing an internal battle: his flesh wanted to drink, but the Spirit
of God recommended to him that he forgives his wife and goes back to his
home. That brother's internal life was a very hard fight. He knew that
drinking is wrong, but he had no power in his flesh
to resist this temptation, and he knew that he was forced to drink. The
Spirit of God, however, testifies that drinking is a sin and for this reason
this brother wanted to do the will of God. This brother struggled very hard
in his mind - his flesh wanted to drink, but a new creation in him
wanted to forgive his wife. That brother's flesh was suffering because his
flesh couldn’t accomplish its lust. He
struggled in his mind for about half an hour and then the Spirit of God got
the victory over that brother's flesh. He didn’t fall into the
sin of drinking alcohol, but he decided to forgive his wife and to go
home. In this way,
this Bible verse was fulfilled: “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered
for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that
hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.” The
brother did not become perfect, but he won over his
temptation by the grace of God and help of the Spirit. Freedom from
sin means that we can triumph over those sins, which are before us,
through the help of God's Spirit. This means also that we have to die for our
flesh and its lust, so that the good aroma of
Christ will spread all over the world through us. As a believer
becomes experienced in his spiritual life, so then he learns to
abandon a sin without a very hard battle. But a believer doesn't
become so experienced that he doesn't have to occasionally engage in
a difficult battle against sin. A
basic Biblical principle is that flesh has to suffer
so that we win over a sin. The Bible also teaches joy, which is
God's effect on us, so our spiritual life very gladly matters. Fruit glorified God
Jesus said
that if we bear a lot fruit, so then God comes to be glorified. The fruit of
the Spirit is not causing glory to you or me, but the Spirit
of God is causing glory to God. When man produces good fruit to God,
then man easily becomes arrogant, but the glory for this good fruit
belongs to God who has affected our heart through
His word and Spirit. If we take the honour which belongs to God, then God can’t
produce any good fruit in us and we stay unfruitful. Permanent fruit
Jesus is the
true vine and He is Truth. Jesus said : “ If ye continue
in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the
servant of sin. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be
free indeed.” Truth gives
man freedom from slavery to sin. Jesus and the word of God is
truth. Life, which is reached according to the word of God, brings freedom
from slavery to sin. Freedom in Christ is the freedom to walk in a
righteous life. If Jesus makes us free, so then we are surely free. Jesus said also : “ John 15:16: Ye have not chosen me, but I have
chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and
that your fruit should remain.” How does the fruit of the Spirit become permanent?
This question often occupies our minds. The fruitful Spirit remains only by one manner, which is that we love
God. That love results in our keeping His instruction, which is written
in the Bible. Jesus loves
you and through the Holy Spirit you be able to love God and your neighbour.
Through the Holy Spirit you can live your life like it is written in the word
of God. Also when our branches are cut off, this means
that Jesus is cleaning our heart from sin, and we have a guarantee that the fruit of Spirit will stay
permanent in our heart. Learn about Jesus and follow Him
Jesus
invites us to learn about him and that we follow Him. The Greek word, which is translated as "follow"
means following and imitating. Jesus said that
He is a true vine, so you can henceforth follow Jesus and
likewise be a vine. The true vine
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