LEARNING DAILY

John 15:5, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  Jesus

At different times of the year, we have a number of people come to our door wanting to trim our trees; they want to remove branches that have no leaves or trim lower branches so the trees will grow “better”. Sometimes we have allowed them to do work and other times have said no. I try to watch and understand what they do. When I have not been there, they seem to remove more branches than I think they should have. The thought process is for the trees to grow more fully and become beautiful, providing shade and all God intended them to be.

As Jesus is speaking to His disciples, knowing he was going to be arrested and was about to fulfill the Father’s purpose in Him, he was encouraging His disciples to bear fruit when He was gone. That meant they were to live what He had taught them, to share His gospel, and make disciples for the kingdom of God. To encourage them He used a very familiar analogy of the process for growing and taking care of grapes. In doing this He claims again His divine nature (I am the vine), He relates how God relates to man (you are the branches), and the “vinedresser is My Father” (verse 1). John 15:1-8 relates to the disciples that God moves in His people much the same way people plant and nurture the plant in their garden – the process includes pruning and the removal of dead or diseased branches.

It is important for Believers to know, just like the disciples in the Upper Room, that Jesus is with them even though He is not physically present. Jesus wanted the disciples to know that when He was no longer with them, He would continue to “nourish and sustain them” just like roots and the vine nourishes the branches while they develop fruit. He wanted them, and Believers today, to know as long as they stayed connected to Him, His energy, His love would give them all they needed to be productive in sharing His love to others and helping others to be saved and changed by Him. “Abiding in Him” involves walking the narrow way with Him, “hungering and thirsting for His righteousness” (Matthew 5:6), and desiring His kingdom before everything else (Matthew 6:33). That would include keeping His commandments (John 14:21).

Jesus gave a clear picture that God expects His people to grow in His Word and be productive in their spiritual lives. In His analogy, Jesus described the removal of branches that did not bear fruit and the pruning of those which did in order for them to be even more productive (verse 2). What did he mean by “a branch that does not bear fruit”? it seems to refer to a branch that appears to be connected to the vine but is not. It is dead and never will produce fruit. There are those who act like a Christian and talk “Christianese” but have never been saved by the blood of Jesus – they just appear to be. God is not fooled and will remove them in order to make room for those branches that are productive.

For those branches who are close to the vine and doing the good works they are called to do, the vinedresser prunes so they may produce even more fruit. Pruning is not always an easy process for the Believer as it often involves trials and difficulties in their lives. God allows them to come in order for growth to occur, for the Believer to grow and mature in their faith and their trust that He is with them through the process. It is the process of sanctification (being set apart and made into the image of Jesus Christ) as they walk the narrow way! It is to know the importance of being obedient to the Word of God. Pruning is necessary for growth to occur and happens to every Believer as they do all they can to stay close to Jesus Christ, to abide in Him.