"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you."
There are some very important words in these 3 little verses that need our attention today...
Jesus is the vine... He is the living God and our life as a Christian flows from him to and through us because we are branches.
The Father is the vinedresser... He is looking for fruit in the lives of all Christians.
In me... These verses talk about Christian people. The words, "in me" denote a relationship with Christ whereby life, his life, his righteousness, flow from him to his people.
The branch that does not bear fruit... This is not a dead branch, it is a living one. Remember the words "in me". Yes, Christians can have a living faith and go through periods of fruitless living. What does the vine dresser do?
He takes away... Here's where the most accurate translation is helpful. The Original Greek DOES NOT SAY "he cuts off". Here's an excerpt from Bruce Wilkinson's book, The Secretes of the Vine. Bruce was having coffee with a vineyard worker in California who explained it this way. "New branches have a natural tendency to trail down and grow along the ground. But they don't bear fruit down there. When branches grow along the ground, the leaves get coated in dust. When it rains they get muddy and mildewed. The branch becomes sick and useless." Bruce asked, "What do you do? Cut it off and throw it away?" "Oh no!" he exclaimed, "The branch is much too valuable for that. We go through the vineyard with a bucket of water looking for those branches. We lift them up and wash them off. Then we wrap them around the trellis or tie them up. Pretty soon they're thriving."
That's a great illustration to ponder. In our struggle to contend with the OLD mann, even the NEU mann will experience fruitless periods of time. That's when the world's dust and dirt needs to be washed so that the branch does not die.
Now, there's still some controversy around this interpretation. After all, the vinedresser is looking for fruit and there will come a judgement. James says, "Faith without works is dead!" Lying in the dirt of worldly living will eventually kill us. Dead, we would fall from the vine and from the life he wants to give us. When a Christian examines himself, as we do before communion and preferably every day, we confess our sins and repent. God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us. he "takes us away" from the dirty ground and lifts us up.
Branches that produce fruit are pruned... Our lives need the attention of the pruner's knife. It doesn't kill the branch to get rid of some of it's useless and weak parts, rather it allows more life from the vine to invigorate and produce more excellent fruit. Missionary and Martyr, Jim Elliot used to say, "he is no fool who loses what he can not keep to keep what he can not lose."
You are clean because of the Word... It is God's Word that made us clean through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We need God's Word to daily keep us in a clean condition.
Lord, thank you for keeping me alive in Christ. Thank you for cleansing my in His blood and bringing forth fruit in my life. During those fruitless times I pray that you will forgive me and make me strong. Cut away, with your pruning knife, the OLD mann, so that the NEU mann is strong and bears much fruit. In Jesus' name, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment