John 15, (1) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.... (4)Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing... (11)These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. Galatians 5.22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Psalm 16.11, Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. My grandpa is the gardener of the family. The only reason I have yet to kill my plants I have, I contribute to him. Growing up, us kids would help him prepare his garden for the season. Tilling, planting, all that good stuff. One year, he got all these seeds and we ended up planting 3 rows of squash. That was like 30 hills. Now just a couple hills was all that was needed to sufficiently provide squash for the entire family for the summer.... but there were about 30 that we ignorantly planted. And those plants grew, took off, and there was SO much squash. He was giving it away to anyone that would take them. They kept producing more and more fruit. My grandpa ended up letting them die off in the end because we couldn’t keep up with them. Last year was "the year of COVID", that was "the year of squash."
John 15 is such a full portion of Scripture, we can’t go through it all in a short time so we are just going to focus on this one aspect given in the verses we’ll read. (1) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.... (4)Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing... Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit... (11)These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. Within this portion we see the analogy given of a plant. The Lord is the true vine – not just another vine, but THE true vine. The branches are the lives of believers. This portion is not talking about salvation. He was talking to His disciples so this concerns those who are already saved. He is the vine, we are the branches. I visualize those squash, or perhaps grapes, or maybe some tomatoes. The vine is the source of... everything. It is the main part of the plant. A branch by itself won’t grow, it definitely won’t produce any fruit, it’ll shrivel and die. “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me...” If we, as branches, are to gain sustenance and life from the vine, we must abide in the true vine. To abide is to live, continue, or remain. It first of all means having a life-giving connection to Him, but also implies dependence. The branch is dependent upon the vine but not vise versa. If the branch isn’t attached and close to the vine, there will be no water, nutrients, or growth provided to it. Again, this isn’t talking about salvation, but as believers, we can move ourselves away and disconnect from The Vine and attempt to live life and produce superficial fruit on our own. But that never goes well. Without the vine, the branch is useless, lifeless, powerless. We are completely dependent upon Jesus for everything that counts as spiritual fruit (v. 4). One of the fruits of the Spirit? Galatians 5.22-23, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Psalm 16.11, says, ...in thy presence is fulness of joy; Without the closeness and dependence on Him, there won’t be genuine fruit in our lives. Apart from him, we can do nothing (v. 5). “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit...... These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” He desires that fruit from (His glory) and for us (our good -joy). He desires for us to abide in Him. He desires for us to have that close, connected, dependence on Him every day. A personal, meaningful relationship with our Creator is the only way to bring forth much fruit. An intimate relationship with Christ produces a genuine heart and life change. Only then do you find the source of true love, abundant joy, lasting fruit, spiritual maturity, emotional stability, and purpose in life. But what does your relationship with Him currently look like? If your daily time with Him was the equivalent to how much time you spent with your best friend, could you even count them as your friend? If your prayer life translated into a conversation, how long would it last? If our phone is our connection to our friends, and our Bible would be our connection to what He has to say, which one would you be more concerned about losing? If it were spending time watching TV vs spending time in His Word, which would we choose? And yet, we make that decision daily. When we value people in our life, we make them a priority. We don’t haphazardly “wing” relationships that matter – we are intentional with them. Are you intentional with your relationship with Him? Are you abiding in Him or are you content with being like a shrively branch?
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Lizzy parkerMarriage.
Motherhood. Ministry. Missions. Archives
January 2023
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