The Right Connection

 

The “Parable of the Vine” is a symbolic analogy which can help Christians understand the relationship God wants us to experience with Him.  Branches are an integral part of the vine. They are there for one primary purpose – to bear fruit.  If you look at a vine, you see the branches woven together and bearing fruit; the core of the Vine-the root is not seen.  It is the branches, and the fruit which they bear, that depicts the vine. Christ compared Himself to a vine for our benefit; so we can understand who we are in Him. Christ, like the vine, is the source of our existence. In Him we live, breathe and have our being. Without Him we are nothing. All life and all goodness are from the Lord alone; He is the True Vine.

The Christian life is all about relationship. When we are born of God, we are a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15), we carry His DNA, so to speak (I John 3:9). We sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3, 2:6) and have direct access to the throne of God (Hebrews 4:16). At salvation, God placed us in Christ and sealed us (2 Corinthians 1:21 -22). But, how do we abide in Him? To abide in Him, we need to constantly accept the same grace that was made available at salvation and trust Him completely. We then become channels for getting the work done. He also constantly instructs us through the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:27 – 28).  Abiding takes effort! As a part of the Vine, we lose our identity. People should see Christ in us, in our actions, our speech, etc.  We should reflect God’s image! We walk as He walks (1 John 2:6).

Paul wrote in Romans 11:16, “If the root is holy, so are the branches.” We cannot confirm that Paul was thinking of the parable of the Vine but we can confirm that our righteousness and holiness come to us only because of our connection to the True Vine. It is only by our abiding in Christ—our attachment to Him—our close relationship with Him—that we produce any Christian growth. Faith requires both abiding in the Vine and allowing the sap to do His work in our branch. Christ will prune anything and everything in our lives that is not pleasing to Him. Any word or deed that we do that does not magnify His name will be brought to our attention (Colossians 3:17).

 If we resist the pruning of the Lord, there can come a time of being cut off (Luke 12:45-46;     I Corinthians 9:27). A question that we might ask ourselves is, “Are we living where God answers our prayers?” If not, why not and what are we going to do about it?  Our lives and works are a mixture of gold, silver, and precious stones along with hay, wood and stubble. We will be put to the test of God’s fire. Our hay, wood and stubble will be burned up so that our gold, silver and precious stones may remain. It is to our advantage to yield to the pruning of the Lord in this life, rather than in the next (I Corinthians 3:11-15).  

What a privilege to be called a friend by the very Creator of the universe. We didn’t choose Him, He chose us. He ordained us to bring forth much fruit. He promised to give us that which we ask for in the name of Jesus. That’s hard to comprehend, but it depends on our love for one another. John put it rather bluntly:  1 John 4:8, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”  1 John 4:20, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”  Just as a branch cannot bear fruit if it is cut off a vine, we cannot live the Christian life if we separate ourselves from the Lord.

Although this question asks that these verses be explained to the new convert, there is also a message here for the “mature” Christian.  It is a simple thing it is to be a branch, the branch grows out of the vine, and there it lives and grows and, in due time, bears fruit. It receives sap and nourishment from the root and stem. If Christians truly understood this about our relationship to Jesus Christ, our work would be changed into the brightest and most heavenly thing on earth. Instead of there ever being soul-weariness or exhaustion, our work would be like a new experience, linking us to Jesus as nothing else can. Too often the very work that He desires to do in us, and through us, is allowed to separate us from Christ. Many a laborer in the vineyard has complained that he has too much work, and not enough time for close communion with Jesus. Sad thought, that the bearing of fruit should separate the branch from the vine! The Christian life should be one of absolute dependence. The branch is nothing…it depends on the vine for everything. Could it be that we have looked on our work as something other than the branch bearing fruit? Every bunch of grapes that comes to our tables was absolutely dependent on the vine. The vine does the work, and the branch enjoys bearing the fruit of it.

Furthermore, it is the root that bears the tree (Rom_11:18), diffuses sap to it, and is all in all to it in flourishing and fruitfulness. In the same way, in Christ we have all supports and supplies. The branches of the vine are many, others on the other side; yet, meeting at the root, they are all one vine; thus all believers, though in place and opinion may be distant from each other, yet we meet in Christ, the center of our unity. Believers like the branches of the vine, are weak, and insufficient to stand by themselves, therefore, we are sustained by the root and become part of a strong and virile vine.