Remaining in Christ
By Carla A. Ramos, Cleveland, Tennessee

(Carla is a public school teacher who teaches Bible studies and co-teaches Marriage Enrichment Seminars with her husband John.)

This summer, my husband John and I had the privilege of serving as Interim Directors of the SHAPE International Christian Servicemen’s Center in Mons, Belgium. In the dinning room of the parsonage, there was a picture on the wall of a winding grapevine with clusters of luscious-looking grapes. Written on the picture was this scripture:

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 (John 15:5).

Often as I sat with a cup of coffee in the quiet of the morning, I looked at that painting and meditated upon its meaning. I read and re-read the 15th chapter of the Book of John.

After some study on grapevines in Israel, I discovered that the true vine is the main vine from which all other branches grow. As the true vine grows and ages, it becomes woody like the trunk of a tree. It is possible for the true vine to become more than a foot in diameter and grow to stand thirty feet high. The true vine is strong and is not easily broken, but the branches are weak and can be easily torn from the vine.

Verses 1 and 2 of John chapter 15 say, I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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.

Jesus is our true vine. It is from Him and through Him that we have our existence. He is our life and our nourishment. Just as the branches are weak, so are we. Everything the branches need come from and through the true vine. We are totally dependent upon Jesus for our life and breath. We can do nothing without Him.

The Father is the gardener. He cares for the vines to make sure they produce abundant, healthy fruit. If left on their own and unattended, grapevines will grow at an incredible pace which will lead to the overgrowth of the vine and leaves, with a low crop yield of inferior quality. In order to produce an abundant amount of a quality fruit, the plant must go through a pruning process each year. The gardener accomplishes this by cutting off dead and fruitless branches. The gardener is careful to prune for the best results. He must know exactly where to cut, how much to cut, and at what angle to cut. The gardener must be careful, or he could destroy a whole crop. It is important to remember that the goal in all this pruning is that the vine and branches together bear much fruit and that the fruit is good fruit.

Psalms 139:16 says that even before we were born, the Father had a plan for our lives. He knew exactly what His will was for us before we were born. He works in our lives to form us into the person He wants us to be. Pruning is a necessary tool that the Father uses in our lives to mold and shape us. Although it may at times be painful, He sometimes allows unpleasant things to happen because it is for our best. In the same way that a gardener cuts off limbs in order to shape a hedge or a decorative tree into a particular shape, our Father prunes our lives with this plan in mind. John chapter 15 is very clear that our destiny is to bear fruit.

How does the Father prune us? Obviously, He doesn’t physically actually cut off our arms or legs, so how does he accomplish this? Ephesians 5:26 says that Jesus prepares His bride to present her to Himself “by the washing of the water of the Word.”

In the same way, the Father uses the Word to prune our lives. As we read God’s Word, it reveals to us the ways that are pleasing to Him, it sheds light on our path as the Holy Spirit shows us the way we should go. God’s Word reveals the condition of our heart and the Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin. It may also be necessary for the gardener to allow unpleasant circumstances in our lives to bring about changes in us. While this pruning may not be enjoyable, it is good for us. Just as pruning is the most important part of the grape-growing profession, it is most important in our lives, because it causes us to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).

What is our part in the process? Jesus makes it very clear. In John 15:4, He says, 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 (NIV).

Our part is to make sure that we live in Christ. Galatians 2:20 says that the life we live in the body should be lived through Christ. We are to remain in Him. He makes it clear that without Him, we can do nothing—we cannot even live without Him.

We may ask, “How do we remain in Him?” The Amplified Bible says that we must be “vitally united to the vine” in order to bear fruit. What better example of a vital connection to the Father can we have than the relationship Jesus had with the Father? We should follow His example. 1 John 2:6 says, Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did (NIV).

Throughout the Gospels, we see that He withdrew from the crowds in order to go pray. Often He would pray all night long. If Jesus needed to spend time in prayer with the Father, we do, too. He knew that it was from his Father that He would obtain strength and guidance. We too, need to spend time with the Father, talking to Him, worshipping Him, and listening to Him.

Jesus also did and said only what the Father told Him to do and say. “Whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say” (John 12:50). Jesus said that “When he (a man) looks at me, he sees the one who sent me” (John 12:44). Oh that people could look at us, His children and see the Father. What great fruit we would bear if our relationship with the Father was like the relationship Jesus had with the Father. We would remain in Him and He would remain in us and we would bear much fruit.

This is what the Father desires of each of us. That we remain in Jesus and bear much fruit. In this way we would glorify the Father and prove that we are His disciples!

Site by WinWorld