THE TRUE VINE (1)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I will abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me” (John 15:1-4).
This is without a doubt one of the most amazing statements we find in the great Gospel of John, though admittedly it would be impossible to rank them. It is interesting and enlightening and encouraging for a number of reasons.
First, because of who made the statement. The greatest teacher who ever lived and the greatest man who ever lived were one and the same. Christ is the perfect embodiment of God’s law, the only perfect man who ever lived. Every word he said was right. Everything he did was right. He never sinned and he never left undone that which he needed to do.
There is only one who understood the principles of spiritual living, and that is Jesus. No one can tell us more about what God would have us to do and how he would have us to live than Christ. He does not ask the way, he is the way. He does not seek the truth, he is the truth. He does not lead to life, he is the life.
Everything that he said pointed to himself, and in that way he is distinct and different from any other teacher who ever lived upon the earth. There is no way to overestimate the importance of these words concerning the true vine, for they contain his most dramatic and straightforward teaching concerning what the life of God is all about and how it is to be lived.
When we come to a realization that we are sinners, the only thing we can do is trust in Christ. If we were able to keep the law of Christ to perfection, we would still be unprofitable servants, having done only that which is our duty to do (Luke 17:10). Being saved based on what we have done in and of ourselves is not an option, once we have sinned. It is too late to save ourselves by what we do—to try to offset our bad deeds with good deeds. God’s righteous requirements have been met by only one man, Jesus Christ our Savior.
Because of his perfection in the keeping of God’s law, salvation comes to us as a free gift (Romans 6:23). It cannot be bought or attained, but only obtained by faith. It is important that we strive to please Christ, but not in efforts to earn anything from God. We serve him from a heart that overflows with thankfulness in response to the salvation he has provided for us through his son. We must work out of a heart of total reliance upon Christ or our works will profit us nothing.
Those who are saved are required to serve Jesus faithfully if we are to remain in a saved relationship with him. As long as we are faithful to Christ, we can never be lost. What is faithfulness? It is taking those steps of faith that people who truly have Christ in their heart will take. It is “walking in the light” (1 John 1:7), “walking after the Spirit” (Romans 8:1), and “abiding” in Christ (John 15:4). It is a lifestyle of living for Jesus.
This is the foundation of Christian living that our faith is designed to lead us to. Abiding in Christ is the goal of salvation, to cause us to continue in his word (John 8:31). There is no condemnation for the faithful Christian who is serving Christ out of an attitude of love and a desire to follow him until the end (Romans 8:1). No condemnation means there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ as we abide in him. God has sought intimate fellowship with his creatures since the beginning of time and has stopped at nothing to bring us back to himself. It is through Christ that the reconciliation of God and man has been accomplished.
If God saves our soul, then he must get our hearts. He must be the center around which our lives are built. We are saved for a purpose and that purpose is to make us like Christ. It is for us to abide in union with him. “For the grace of God that brings salvation had appeared unto all people, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present evil age, looking for the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself his own peculiar people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).
Because he is the true vine, we will do what he says (John 14:15). Nearness to God, closeness with God, and a personal relationship with God are maintained only by those whose lives are controlled by the Holy Spirit through the word of God (Romans 8:14; 1 John 2:3). No one can claim to love God who rejects his word.
Dewayne Dunaway
