“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:1-8 ESV
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The vine and the fruit. Jesus teaching us that we must remain connected to Him. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. We are pruned by God-getting rid of everything not good. The result? Off the vine, bearing no fruit, we are dead. On the vine we bear fruit. So much fruit it can exceed our wildest expectations. But why are we on the vine? What do we do with the fruit?
If we read the rest of the verse it is clear why we are on the vine. Christ says we are on the vine for the Glory of God. This is how we are to show that we are his disciples. Discipleship is obedience. Christ was the obedient son to God. Not a surprise that us being on the vine is about our obedience. The concept is clear throughout the Bible. On the vine of Christ everything is singularly about following God.
So what is the command Jesus wants us to follow? In verse 12 Jesus says “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” If there is any confusion about the type of love Jesus is talking about he clears it up in verse 13: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus then defines who his friends are in verse 14: “You are my friends if you do what I command.”
How does this define love for us? Love costs-US. Love is freely giving of yourself. That is the purpose of bearing fruit on the vine. We are meant to give the fruit we bear to others. Freely- without regard to our feelings for the person. We are to love everyone-friends, family, acquaintances and enemies. Jesus demands it.
Christ also talks about the permanence of his fruit in verse 16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” God not only gave us the ability to bear fruit, but also made it everlasting. How could that be? Because the fruit of love effects people permanently when we give it to others. The simple act of waiting to hold a door changes someone’s life. If a hundred different doors get held for that person the effect magnifies and snowballs. And we can all go way beyond opening a door.
We can also make huge sacrifices of love in a single moment. I have seen others make those calls. I remember a patient who discovered breast cancer in the middle of her pregnancy. They had three kids already. Treating the cancer meant aborting the baby. The mother never wavered in continuing the pregnancy. Those choices are hard. But Christ never asks us to do anything compared to the sacrifices he has made for us. We also can be more ready to give this kind of love by staying close to God. If we love the way God commands us we will be giving of ourselves constantly. That will help us prepare for those tough, large, live changing sacrifices.
As we discussed this topic in jail today another thought occurred to me. I was looking at a poster that Gloria made(She makes great artwork every week!). This particular poster had vines with actually bunches of plastic grapes hanging from it. Roses and flowers abound. As I looked at it I wondered what happens to grapes left on the vine?
Is your fruit rotting on the vine?
I ask the inmates we were talking to what they thought about grapes left on the vine. We had one vote for raisins and a whole bunch of vote for rotten grapes. What a horrible waste. If we don’t give to others all those cool things that God gave us they don’t ever get used. Tragic.
I am determined not to leave a single piece of fruit on my part of the vine. I pray that you don’t either. Let’s all magnify God’s glory by giving our fruit away. Then we can wait for our next crop of grapes to come in. What can we do while we wait? We can get sustenance from watching the gifts we give away work in others. And we can pray that that they bear and use their own fruit as well. Amen.
God Bless,
Mark
Docmarks Place's Blog 
Terry Pluto said,
February 22, 2013 at 1:20 am
Very nice.
docmarksplace said,
February 22, 2013 at 6:13 pm
Basically my jail talk from Wednesday