Many years ago, I purchased a grape vine for a Sunday morning children’s message in worship. I used the grapevine as a prop to talk about Jesus’ words in John 15:1-17 ESV - I Am the True Vine - “I am the true - Bible Gateway. Here, Jesus says, “ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” After the service, I took the grapevine home and planted it, and it has been there ever since. Each year, that vine produces grapes which we have made into jelly. As I write this, there are tiny little clusters of grapes already appearing on that vine. These grapes are so small, maybe as big as the head of pin. But they will grow and later in the summer, the grapes will be ready for harvesting.
The grape vine is probably one of the most heavily pruned of all plants. It bears more fruit with careful pruning. Although I am certainly no expert as a grower of grapes, I have learned that pruning does indeed help the grape vine to be more productive. Jesus tells us the same thing here in John 15. He reminds us that even those branches of his that are bearing fruit, he prunes so that they will become even more productive. So what does that look like? It looks like cutting back unproductive growth. Pruning can be painful, perhaps for the grape vine, but for our lives also. For our lives, pruning involves things like trials, challenges, failure, and loss. Who wants to go through stuff like this? No one! But our Master Gardener knows that such things can actually be used to make his beloved branches (you and me) to become more fruitful and productive.
Sometimes, we try to go through life by relying on ourselves and our own self-sufficiency. In our culture, a high value is placed on not being dependent or reliant on anyone else. But sometimes we have to learn the hard way that this just does not work. Jesus tells us here in John 15 that “apart from me you can do nothing.” The branches are nothing if they are not attached to the vine. No grapes will be produced if the branches think they can go it alone. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s all about abiding in Jesus. That word “abide” is used again and again by Jesus in John 15. It means to remain, to hold onto, to stay connected with. Like the grape vine is connected to the branches, so we are to be connected to Jesus. If we’re going to produce fruit in our lives – fruit that’s going to last – our lives have to be connected to Jesus. So what are these fruits? Paul the apostle identifies what are called the “fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians, contrasting these with what he calls “works of the flesh.” As Paul writes:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
-Galatians 5:19-23
Wherever there is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, there is the full and abundant life that Jesus came to bring (John 10:10). These are the fruits that the Vine is looking for in his branches; that is, in our lives. And it all flows from that cleansing word that Jesus has already spoken to us (John 15:3), sealed with his own blood that was shed for the forgiveness of our sins.
Recently, I read something that a man named Andrew Murray (1828-1917) wrote more than a century ago. I found this helpful and hope you do as well:
Have you ever noticed the difference in the Christian life between work and fruit? A machine can do work; only life can bear fruit. A law can compel work; only life can spontaneously bring forth fruit. Work implies effort and labour; the essential idea of fruit is, that it is the silent, natural, restful produce of our inner life. The connection between work and fruit is, perhaps, best seen in the expression, “fruitful in every good work” (Col. 1:10). It is only when good works come as the fruit of the indwelling Spirit that they are acceptable to God. Under the compulsion of law and conscience, or the influence of inclination and zeal, men may be most diligent in good works, and yet find that they have but little spiritual result. Their works are man’s effort, instead of being the fruit of the Spirit, the restful, natural outcome of the Spirit’s operation within us.
-taken from For All the Saints: A Prayer Book For and By the Church, Vol. I (New Delhi, NY: American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, 1994; pp. 1082-1083).
As I watch that grape vine in my backyard leaf out again this year, with little clusters of tiny grapes scattered all over it, I am reminded of what Jesus says in John 15. It’s all about abiding in him.