Every authentic branch connected to the vine would want to bear fruit and bear fruit abundantly. Notice in the second verse of John 15 Jesus says, Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he: the husbandman or the gardener taketh away. There are several interpretations rendered for this passage of scripture. What I will do is to list those interpretations and I ask you to allow the Holy Spirit to minister to your hearts and minds regarding them. The interpretations are as follows:
1.Every branch in me suggests that an person is in Christ yet is not fruitful. He or she professes Christ yet their possession of Christ is limited to where there is not a great outward show of him because there is no fruit.
2.Every branch in me suggests that a person who does not bear fruit is one who has lost his or her salvation and is cast into the judgment of hell. They presumed to be saved.
3 Every branch in me suggests that this is a believer who loses his or her rewards as is suggested in II Corinthians 5:10 and I Corinthians 3: 11-15. Both passages are in reference to “The Bema Seat Judgment which is the judgement seat of Christ where no sinners appear, only the believers and their works are judged.
4. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he taketh away; suggests or implies the premature death of the believer who does not abide in Christ. This interpretation references Acts 5: 3-11
What Flip the Scripts is planning to do with these four interpretations is have them as a topic of discussion on one of our vocalized forums on Saturdays at 12:00 noon. Contact information is at the right of the screen under “Podcasts”
Now, keep in mind believers this: The fruit displayed or bore on a tree shows what is in the vine or the root of the tree. Since the vine of the apple tree suggests that apples should be bore or displayed on the branches, we shouldn’t see any other fruit except apples correct? Any other fruit appearing on the branches other than what is in the vine will bring about confusion and questions to those of them who comes to the tree to get the fruit of the vine. We don’t anticipate a mixture of other fruit on an apple tree nor should we expect to see a mixture of any other fruit in the lives of the believer: fruit that isn’t in the vine. When we as believers display both the fruit of Christ and the fruit of sin…we confuse onlookers and such a ones who may have desired to taste of the Lord.
As we spoke earlier…the fruit on the tree is the indicator of what is in the vine……well….some believers are putting out some wrong information about what’s in the True Vine Christ Jesus. What some of us as branches in Christ bear says some awful untrue things about Jesus. Some of us branches in Christ display lies, meanness, greed, manipulation, sexual sins,selfishness, unforgiveness and bitterness. Some of us display envy and strife, hatred and backbiting. Some of us display jealousies and rivalry and the saddest thing about the Christian bearing these mixed fruit is…we won’t allow or go through the pruning process.
Not only does the mix fruit give out wrong information about the vine….it also sends out the wrong message to the unbeliever. Mixed fruit says to the unsaved “there is no need to change. Stay in your way of life and you’ll be just fine.”
Fruit unto God is a life style and character that reflects or displays God. This fruit can only be produced by God and the branches have to be conditioned to house and display the righteous fruit of God. WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING.
The analogy of the vine speaks to the believer: intimacy. The analogy of the vine says, “in order for one to obtain and attain fruit one must maintain his or her closeness with the vine. What the Lord said to me regarding this is, ” YOU MUST MAINTAIN YOUR CLOSENESS WITH ME. TO LOSE INTIMACY WITH ME MEANS YOU BECOME UNFRUITFUL AND THE FRUIT YOU’D ATTAINED IN ME BEFORE YOU LOST INTIMACY WITH ME WILL BEGIN TO WITHER”
Let’s hang out right here for a few minutes. The word wither means to lose liveliness, force or freshness, to become dry and weak, dry and sapless. Keep in mind that withering is a process as well. I am sure that a many of believers can attest to the truth of what the Lord spoke to me. I know THAT I can. There had been times in my walk with Jesus that I lost intimacy with him. I wasn’t praying a lot, not reading my word a lot and wasn’t taking time out for private conversations with him. I wasn’t doing a lot of meditation upon him or his word. Keeping this way for a while I didn’t really notice that I was withering or had withered until I found myself walking in the old way of life in many areas of my new life. My peace was gone. My joy was gone and frustrations as well as anxieties greeted me more often than I wanted them to. My mind wasn’t stay on the Lord nor on many things of the Lord. More distractions came and I gave way to those distractions. Though the Holy Spirit would tug at my spirit to come into the presence of the Lord it was as if I had lost the strength to move to the well to drink of The Water of life. What the Lord would do in those times was send someone not to minister to me but I to them. Ministering to someone else would rejuvenate me every time. Ministering to the need of another while I was yet in need myself would jump start me, recharge me and I’d run with all my might into the presence of the Lord. How many of us know that the Lord will show us the path of life: in His presence is fullness of joy; at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore? (Psalm 16:11)
So then intimacy has a very vital place in fruit bearing in both the natural and in the Spiritual. Before all of our modern technology man and woman became intimate in order to conceive and bear children which are the fruit of the loins and fruit of the womb. Technology may have changed the conception process to a certain degree but God hasn’t. In order to bear fruit unto God the first thing we must do is come to Jesus. The second thing to do is to remain or abide in him and the third thing to do is to obey. Sounds like intimacy to me.
We have one last thought on the subject of bearing fruit and then we’ll close.
The word abide carries some very strong meanings. Abide means to remain,stay, to dwell, reside, to continue in a particular condition; last; endure. To put up with, tolerate, to endure or withstand without yielding, to wait for, to accept without opposition or question, to comply with, submit to, and last but not least; to remain faithful to.
With all of these definitions we can rightfully see that Jesus is saying more than one thing when he said in verse 4 of John 15. “Abide in me and I in you.” This is a two fold statement that Jesus made. He said “we both abide in each other.” Meditate on the definitions, insert them in verse 4 and read them aloud. example: remain faithful to me and I to you. (Last definition) Selah
Flip the Scripts Admin.