The Vine and the Branches

In the parable of the vine and branches in John 15, Jesus describes himself as the true vine and his disciples as the branches. By remaining attached to Him as our source of life, we will produce good fruit.

John 15:1-2 says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so it will be even more fruitful."

God expects us to bear fruit. This fruit can be spiritual virtues, such as the fruit of the spirit listed in Galations 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Fruit also means working to win others to Christ. We can't produce this fruit by our own efforts. We can be fruitful only if we stay connected to the life source, which is Jesus. John 15:4 says, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine."

Just as a tree branch has life only as long as the life of the vine flows into it, so we, as believers, have Christ's life in us only as long as we allow His life to flow into us through an ongoing relationship with Him.

It's critical that we stay plugged in to the life source. We do this by keeping God's Word in our hearts and making it the guide for our lives. We also do it by keeping Christ's commands and staying in right relationship with Him by resisting temptation and keeping our lives clean from sin. This means repenting when we fall to temptation.

God prunes us so we can become more fruitful. He wants to remove anything that hinders the life-flow of Christ into our lives. This can be painful sometimes, but it's necessary to remain in Christ.

The parable of the vine and branches makes it clear that we shouldn't believe "once in the vine, always in the vine" or "once saved, always saved." In this parable, Jesus gave his disciples a strong warning that it's possible for believers to fall away from faith, fail to remain in Him and ultimately face the eternal fire of hell.

The importance of this parable is to show our relationship with Christ is not based on a past decision or past experience. Instead, it must be a progressive relationship where we are consistently growing in Christ as He lives in us and gives us His power.