Vine

“Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”
John 15:6 NLT

In the natural woods around me, I do not have to walk far before I find a tree branch that has fallen off, and lies mouldering amongst the leaf litter and the plants present on the forest floor. If I look up at the tree from which it fell, I can perhaps see the cause of the schism. Disease or damage has cut off the flow of the nutrient-rich sap, and the branch has withered and rotted until it no longer had the strength to resist the gales, falling to the ground often with a great crash. Skilled gardeners will examine their trees and shrubs, looking for signs of disease, and if they find any, out will come the pruning devices, to remove the offending shoots and branches before they affect the whole plant.

In Jesus’ spiritual example, He compared Himself as the Source of the life-giving “sap” so necessary for human beings to produce the fruit required of them. Some believers think that this verse, “Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned”, means that salvation can be lost. They surmise that anyone, believers who once believed in Jesus and followed Him, but who then turn their back on Him and cut themselves off from His life, can fall into the category of being a “useless branch” and are in danger of hell fire. Such a belief seems logical enough, if this verse is taken in isolation, but others believe that salvation cannot be lost, quoting Scriptures such as John 10:27-28, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me“, providing an assurance of eternal salvation regardless, or so they think. Another text supporting this position is John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life“. The problem is that some Bible translations interpret the Greek text in this and other similar verses as a once for all event, instead of what was intended, the continuous present tense. As an example, and looking at John 3:16, the text, “everyone who believes in Him” should perhaps be better read as, “everyone who [goes on believing] in Him”. But we are delving rather deeply here. To me the logical situation is as we read in Hebrews 6:4-6, “For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame“. Do such people become the “useless branch”Jesus was talking about? I’m sure everyone will have their own view on this.

But we pilgrims are firm believers, remaining in Jesus, feeding on the life-giving spiritual food that has only one Source. And the fruit we produce quietly grows slow and strong, on the only Vine that really matters, Jesus Himself. Yes, we will occasional feel Father God’s sharp knife cutting away the bits of us that are fruitless, but, amazingly, we grow stronger for that. And instead of being in a bonfire of “useless branches” we will instead find ourselves in a much better place one day.

Dear Master Gardener, we don’t like to be pruned but we know it’s necessary as we continue on our journey. We know we are not on our own and we than You for being with us. Amen.

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.”
John 15:1-4 NLT

These are well known verses, much referred to in the early days of the charismatic renewal. I can still remember a conference sermon based on these verses and preached in 1979 or thereabouts, where the speaker lambasted the charismatic audience for producing lots of leaves but no fruit. But Jesus’ illustration was clear. He described Himself as being like a grapevine from which many branches emanated, and there are as many branches as there are believers. The grapevine has always been of great spiritual significance to the Jews. For example we read about a vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7, about how God planted it with great care but instead of producing a harvest of sweet grapes, its fruit was bitter. And Isaiah finished with, “The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence” (Isaiah 5:7). ‭So, when Jesus described Himself as the Grapevine, the people of His land would know what He meant.

To a Christian, a true, born-again, believer in Jesus, His presence in our lives is indispensable. We cannot survive for long without Jesus’ life-giving spiritual nourishment sustaining us and providing the resources we need for our daily life and pilgrimage. Sadly, some try to live without Jesus. They will read their Bibles. They will do all the right things, singing all the hymns and saying all the prayers, following their denominational liturgies to a fault, but in reality they have been cut off from the true Grapevine. Their hope is that if they dig in and don’t do anything they shouldn’t, then they will get into Heaven. But Jesus went on to talk about fruit. Which brings around to the thought – what fruit are we pilgrims producing?

Jesus’ analogy was that He was the Grapevine but His Father was the Gardener. The thing about a vine is that it can’t just be left year after year, in the hope that the crop of grapes will never end. It has to be pruned. Dead and unfruitful branches must be cut off. The farmer and his staff therefore, and with great skill, know exactly where to prune to maximise the return on their investment. Some parts of the vine will stop producing the sort of grapes that are required, so those branches have to go. Other parts only produce small grapes – they are no good either. And so by careful husbandry, the vine is cleaned and fruitful. In a spiritual setting, the Master Vinedresser, Father God Himself, carefully does His pruning, and by doing do He allows even more spiritual fruit to be realised. What are we doing that we shouldn’t be doing? Can we feel the secateurs starting to cut? Are we producing fruit that is bitter and sour? Cut, cut. And so the process continues day by day, through God’s careful pruning.

Thankfully, the Master Gardener is very patient. In Luke 13:6-9 we read, “Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’ “The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”” God is in no hurry to lop off unfruitful branches but
in the end, fruitless branches are finally cut off and burned, and there is no way that they can be re-attached without repentance at the foot of the Cross. Thankfully, our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, will never reject a repentant sinner.

Father God, the Wonderful Master Gardener, we praise and thank You today. Amen.

Useless Branches

The Grapevine