Remaining

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

REMAINING

John 15:1-8

15:1 "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 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, and I will 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 a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is 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 given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

NIV

Again, Jesus speaks in metaphors that have a great meaning in the life of a believer. Of course, he is not an actual vine and we are not actual branches, however, the meaning is plain and has a significant application. Because we are in Christ, or a branch that is connected to the vine, our task, our one job, so to speak is to bear fruit. The only purpose of the branch or in the case of grapevines, the shoot, is to bear fruit. The Greek word translated branch means a young tender flexible branch. These are the shoots of the vine which has the fruit. The problem is that if we are not bearing fruit God will cut us off from the vine. Those are harsh words, but that is exactly what Jesus is saying. This fruit, we know as the fruit of the Spirit, which Paul enumerates for us in his letter to the Galatians. We could spend hours, days examining each of the fruit, and how they apply in our daily attitudes and our inner being. In fact, we have taken a long look into the first psalm, as well as searching out the same truth spoken by Jeremiah, only they both used trees, planted by the spring of living water, bearing fruit. We cannot confuse this fruit with good deeds, or actions, but it is simple those tracts within because we are connected to Jesus. If we are not connected to the vine or are not a believer than we cannot bear fruit. Yet there is more to this than either being connected or not, being a believer, or not. It would seem that we, as believers, can be fruitless. Those harsh words regarding us being fruitless should make us want to bear as much fruit as possible, and the only way we are going to do that is to remain in Jesus. However, even as we bear fruit, the Father prunes us, so we will bear even more fruit. What does that mean? What does being pruned look like? It is interesting that in the context of vines and branches, that would mean cutting back slightly so the branch is more productive. That seems to be how many might interpret that principle. However, Jesus also said they and that would mean us, are already clean because of the word, the logos, he has spoken to us. The Greek word translated as clean has the same root word as the word translated as prune. They are variations of the same word and some translations have footnotes which indicate that prune can also be translated as to cleanse. So then could it be said that as we bear fruit, the Father cleanses us so we bear even more fruit? In that case, the pruning is not such a bad thing, in fact, is it a good thing. Still, the point is in order to be fruitful we have to remain in Jesus. We cannot look at our abilities here. We cannot force or pretend to have love, joy, or peace. We cannot display patience, kindness, goodness, or gentleness from our own nature. If we were to take any branch from any plant, cutting it off, it would soon wither up and die, it would not produce and flower, or fruit. It cannot, nor can we. If we think we can force those tracts, those qualities within us, we only deceive ourselves. The only way for us to bear that fruit is to be completely connected to Jesus. The source of life for a branch is the vine. Our only source of life is Jesus. As we are connected or remain in him, he flows the source of life into our being and we bear fruit. Now, of course, it is actually the Spirits fruit, and He manifests His fruit in us, for Jesus has sent Him to us to do just that. But we do not have the Spirit unless we remain in Jesus. There is no good reason not to remain in Jesus. There are many good reasons to remain.