I Am The True Vine

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it might bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As my Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have  kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

-John 15:1-11

I was reading these versus today and their meaning really struck me. Jesus reveals through John that our relationship to him and to his Father, God, is the same as that between the branch, the vine and the vinedresser.

Without the vinedresser to maintain the vine, it's branches would grow wild and grow in their own direction. The vine brings life and nourishment to the branches; without it, the branches could not exist. We, believers in Christ, are his branches; every branch that does not bear fruit is removed from the vine of Christ, every branch that does bear fruit is pruned so that it may grow and yield more fruit.

If you believe in God and believe that Jesus is his son and is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one may get to the father except through him [John 14:6], then you have to understand what this parable means in your life and in your relationship to God.

What does it mean to bear fruit? How do we know if we are bearing fruit? Does bearing fruit in our lives mean doing good deeds, treating people with kindness and respect; does it mean being upright and moral... what does it mean? When these versus refer to "bearing fruit", it means bearing fruit in your spiritual life, to grow in the knowledge of the Lord through the spirit, the holy spirit.

Many people who have been saved, who have accepted Christ as their savior, live under the premise that once they've been saved they have achieved the pinnacle of their spiritual journey; that Jesus died for their sins and now that they are saved, they are going to heaven and that's that. There is no need to read the bible because it's just a boring book that's hard to understand and there's no need to go to church, because they have a relationship with Christ; they talk to God, they pray. What else is there to it, right? I'm saved, I'm not going to hell, my sins are washed away and I pray to him when I need him.

In John 15, Jesus says, "Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." OK. Well, what does it mean to abide? I'm saved, so I am abiding, right? I've got this. Well, the definition of abide is:

abide |əˈbīd|verb1 [ intrans. ] ( abide by) accept or act in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation) : I said I would abide by their decision.2 [ trans. ] ( can/could not abide) informal be unable to tolerate (someone or something) : if there is one thing I cannot abide it is a lack of discipline.3 [ intrans. ] (of a feeling or a memory) continue without fading or being lost.• archaic live; dwell.

OK, so abide means to accept or act in accordance with. OK, so if you accept Jesus you are abiding in him, right? Well, I wanted to seek out the biblical definition to this to get a deeper understanding and came across this:

” In John 15, the abiding of the Christian in Christ refers to his maintaining unbroken fellowship with Him. He makes his spiritual home in Christ. There is nothing between himself and his Savior, no sin unjudged and not put away. He depends upon Him for spiritual life and vigor as the branch is dependent upon the vine. The abiding of Christ in the Christian is His permanent residence in Him and His supplying that Christian with the necessary spiritual energy to produce fruit in his life through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.” – Wuest, K. S. (1997, c1984). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament

Now, the word abide is mentioned 9 times (if I counted correctly) in these versus. I emphasis it so much because understanding the meaning of the word and how it relates to our relationship between Jesus and ourselves is crucial to understanding our own spirituality. Let's go back to the definition the dictionary gives us. The phrase "act in accordance with"; that means to be in full agreement with and to act out that agreement in our lives. So, to abide in Christ means that we must agree with and act out the belief of that full agreement with who Christ is and what he says in the bible in our lives and to keep his commandments. Period. That's what it means. So if you don't read the bible and don't go to church, how do you know who he is, how do you know what his commandments really are? Based on what you were taught in Sunday school decades ago? Through prayer? Through your own interpretations and assumptions planted in your head based on what society says Jesus is?

If you believe in Jesus but have never moved beyond the introduction of him, the part that he's your savior and that's it, I want to challenge you to take away the full meaning of John 15 with you today. Jesus says [John 15:6], "If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned." That doesn't mean you are going to hell. If you are saved, then you are saved. This verse, this statement of being thrown in the fire and burned is referencing the day of judgement [2 Corinthians 5:10]; "For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

Paul spoke to believers who have experienced salvation in Christ about two types of lifestyles believes choose after they are saved. He (Paul) issues a strong warning to "take heed" how one lives their life in God because it will be tested/evaluated by the fire of God on that day. 1 Corinthians 3:9-15, Paul tells us that we are God's building, that Jesus has laid the foundation... that no other foundation laid will work other than Jesus as our foundation, and that anyone who builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, straw; each one's work [life] will become clear for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; it will test each one's work [life] of what sort it is. Those whose works endure [building on their foundation with precious metals and jewels] will receive a reward; those whose works are burned [building on their foundation of Christ with hay, straw and wood] will suffer loss; he himself will be saved but saved through fire.

In order to understand the full meaning of "abide in Jesus" and how it specifically applies to our lives, we must tie in these other scriptures. The message in John 15 is that once we are saved, we are to be in full agreement with what Jesus says and who he is [abiding in him]. We can't be in full agreement with him if we don't know him.

The lifestyles Paul spoke about refer to two typical paths that believers travel once saved. Two earthly elements are used to illustrate the point. Elements such as gold, silver and fine jewels are elements found deep in the earth. They take years of effort, planning, resources and commitment to obtain. Elements such as wood, straw and hay are found on the earth's surface and in contrast are much easier to obtain. Both of these elements are symbolic for the paths we take in our spiritual lives. If we stay at the introductory level of our knowledge of Christ, we are seeking out a path of wood, straw and hay. If we are to seek out gold, silver and fine jewels, we must dig deeper in the word and in our knowledge of God. The illustration is meant to show that in order to seek God it takes a sincere effort, time and commitment to obtain that knowledge and that that knowledge is to be sought after as fervently as precious jewels.

If you simply accept the saving grace of Jesus and put no effort into pursuing a deeper knowledge of him, you will suffer deep loss [probably similar to regret] when the works of your life are burned up in the fire on the day of judgement. There will be no acknowledgement for the works of your life, it will be as if your life was wasted and you had not lived.

The reason pursuing the knowledge of Jesus takes effort is because you have a watered-down vision of who he is. If you had a glimpse of who he really is, it would be no effort for you to desire to seek him. At first, the bible seems boring and is hard to understand. Many churches seems to be museums for righteous people when they should be hospitals for the sick. Your incorrect ideology of God keeps you from digging deeper into the knowledge of God. You are God's temple; his spirit lives in you, but if you don't put effort into seeking him out he will not reveal himself to you and you won't feel his presence within you. God's word is food for our spirit; without it, our spirits remain dull and starved and malnourished.

If you, by faith, can believe that the knowledge of God is as precious as riches and gold; if you make a commitment to yourself to try to learn more, read your bible and pray for him to reveal himself to you, I promise you it will change everything about you. If you need motivation to read the bible, listen to some of these sermons that have inspired me to go deeper in the word.
http://www.ihop.org/onething/
go down under the main video to "Notes & MP3s"; you can download and listen to the audio files and/or download the sermon notes in word or pdf.

If you have areas of your life that bring you pain, if you have unresolved guilt in your life or pain from your past, the only way to rid yourself of those is to seek out the knowledge of God in you. We were created to be incomplete without him; that driving force within you that makes you seek out education and money and fame and beauty and material things, that force was designed for one purpose, to make us unhappy and incomplete without God. If you believe the things that are broken in you can be fixed through reflection, self-realization, self-help, monetary achievement, or the adulation of others ALONE, you are believing the lies of this world and you will never be complete, never satisfied. You can try to prove me wrong and spend your life trying to obtain it on your own, or you can take a leap of faith on the remote chance that I am right. Give it a week or a month; really try to read the bible or listen to these sermons. Set out with an open mind that knowledge of the spirit within you will be revealed just enough to keep you interested. If you do that, I promise you, the love of God is a virus that will spread throughout your life, infecting every part of you, and bring with it the power to heal you in every way and bring meaning and purpose to your life like never before.