The Vine And Its Branches

'I am the vine, you are the branches: He that stays in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing'. John15:5

When the Lord Jesus Christ was preparing to leave the earth, he gave a description of the relationship between the believer, Jesus and God the Father. This relationship is compared to the vine, its branches and the farmer. Why would Jesus make this sort of comparison? I believe the Lord wants us to understand how dependent on him we are for our wellbeing and existence. We will go through our study in two parts:

• The Vine And The Abiding Branch
• The Withered Branch: A Warning To Believers

The Vine And The Abiding Branch

'I am the vine, you are the branches: He that stays in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing'. John15:5. Every branch starts out growing from the vine but we know some drop off while some remain. We can liken this to every believer at the point of salvation. At this point, everyone has just been born and is attached to the Lord Jesus. The will of God is that all branches abide in Him. It is important to note that every branch starts out with potential but unfortunately not all will reach this potential. There are certain things we can pick from this scripture about the abiding vine:

• The Lord says not only must a branch abide in Him, He (Jesus) must also abide in the branch for it to survive. It is not enough to accept Jesus into your life, you must also accept and obey his life giving instructions into your life.
• If the process described above takes place i.e. the believer abides in Christ and Christ abides in him, he starts to bear fruit and goes on to glorify God by bringing forth much fruit. He brings forth the fruits of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. This believer will also bear fruit by bringing others to Jesus. ‘....the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.’ John 15:5b.  A lot of Christians struggle with fleshly traits of envying, adultery, murder, drunkenness, anger, strife etc. The Lord says the way out is to submit yourself to Him and the influence of His word and Spirit. If we do not allow Him to abide in us by receiving His words and obeying them, the process of spiritual growth will not take place.
• The believer that abides can expect to have power with God. ‘If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.’ John 15:7
• There is an assurance from Jesus that when the believer keeps His commandments, he will abide in Christ’s love. ‘As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue 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. John 15:9, 10

The Withered Branch: A Warning To Believers

'If a man abides 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'. John 15:6. The Lord warns all who are in Christ Jesus to be careful they do not think they are incapable of falling. Just as every branch originally started out with hope and promise, some eventually lost touch with the vine and withered. Romans 11:17, 20, 21 particularly show that the case of Israel should be a warning and example to all God’s people. ‘And if some of the branches (Israel) be broken off, and you being a wild olive tree (gentiles or other nations), were grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not high minded but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you'. This scripture gives us an insight into the things that can prevent us from abiding in Christ; it mentions pride and unbelief as things to watch out for. We must therefore walk with God in humility, faith and obedience to His words.

The desire of the Father is that we make it to heaven and there is grace available for us if we are willing and obedient. As we depend on him and remain vigilant, the Lord will take us to our destination in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Remain blessed and highly favoured. 

Titi Obishai (MRS)