The True Vine
"I Am the True Vine" is the final "I AM" statement that Jesus made during His time here on earth. In previous posts I covered He is the Bread of Life, He is the Light of the World, the Gate and the Good Shepherd and the Ressurection and the Way the Truth and the Life. I have used the book, Finding I Am, by Lysa Terkeurst as a major inspiration for my posts. Lysa does a wonderful job of leading you through these declarations of Jesus in her bible study. I highly recommend you go through her study to dig deeper into these concepts and apply them to your life. I also recommend reading all of the book of John to gain a greater understanding of all of these statements and Jesus' life and purpose.
Jesus is the True Vine
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
John 15:1
The above statement is such a relief to me. It helps me to realize two things. First that I belong. How often do we feel like we don't belong? Jesus is where we belong. He is with us no matter where we are. And we were made to belong with God. If we don't fit in anywhere else, we will fit in with God. Churches are filled with humans who are flawed and dealing with their own sinful natures. We will always risk being let down by other humans. Jesus is our True Rock and True Vine. We can always abide in Him.
Secondly, it is reassuring that I am defined by God. He is my hope and salvation. I am a child of God. No one else can take that away. I chose how close I am to Him by how much I abide in Him.
Remain in me, as I also 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.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
John 1:4-5
Jesus is how we are able to be effective people. He supplies us with what we need. We just need to remain in Him.
What Does it Mean to Remain
What does it mean to remain? We can also think of it as abiding, continuing, or persisting. When we continue to spend time with Jesus, we will bear much fruit.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25
Pruning
Often times before we can bear fruit, we must go through a pruning process. This can be a painful process, but necessary. God knows what we need and what we do not need. Sometimes we are holding onto a person, place or thing too tightly. Or we may be holding on for the wrong reasons. When we are doing this, God can sometimes prune our life like a farmer would prune a vine. This is to cut away what we don't need to allow us to grow the way we should. Once the dead branches are removed from the vine, it can begin to grow new and better fruit.
During the pruning and after it is finished we need to remain or abide in the vine. This means we need to continue to be close to God. He is our source of life, just like a vine is the source of life to its branches. We can abide in many ways. But think about your closest friends and family. How do you develop and continue in relationships with them? You spend time with them. You give them a priority in your life. With God, we can talk to Him any time and anywhere. Even with this, He likes to have quality time that is one on one time with us as well. How often do you go out with your best friend or spouse, putting them in a place of importance? God would like to be included in all aspects of our lives. He is worthy of complete devotion. We often fail at this. But He doesn't expect perfection. It is all about the heart behind our actions. Our motives. Do we try, do we want to try? These are all steps in the right direction. As Paul says in Romans:
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Romans 7:15-20
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Romans 8:1-4
It is an internal struggle for everyone. Our sinful nature is powerful. But, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are stronger. It is a choice each day to listen to or ignore the Holy Spirit. The beautiful thing is that we can start over day after day. We can ask and receve forgiveness each and every time we drift away from God. But the more time we spend with God, developing an intimate relationship with Him, our drifting becomes less frequent and not as far away. Remember that the spirit is here to help us.
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:26-28
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Romans 8:37
God knew we would struggle and provided the Holy Spirit to help us.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.
John 15:9-17
We Are Not Alone
Don't forget that a vine has many branches. We are remaining and abiding in the Lord alongside others. We are not in this life to hunker down till the end. We are to love others which is the ultimate way to love others. We are to ensure they know the to salvation, but we are also called to love by meeting each other's physical needs as well.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
James 2:14-17
By doing for others, we are abiding in Him
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:40
We are the hands and feet of Jesus. We are His vehicle to show others His love. When we have the right reasons, when we are doing the things for His glory, we are abiding in Him.
If you'd like to check out the other posts from my I Am series, you can do so with the following links: