THE BRANCH LIFE
A few years back, I had the privilege of listening to a series of broadcasts that aired on Christian radio by the late Theologian Dr. R. C. Sproul. These series of broadcasts were excerpts from one of his many books called, “Knowing Christ–The “I AM” sayings of Christ. The broadcast covered the seven “I AM” utterances of Jesus, such as, “I am the Bread of Life, The Way, the Truth and the Life; The Good Shepherd; The Light of the world; The Sheep Gate; Before Abraham was, I AM and “I am the True Vine.” These are all found recorded in the gospel of John. Dr. Sproul noted that there seems to be an identity crisis even among believers, when it comes to knowing and understanding who Jesus Christ really is. He went on to explain how the “I AM” sayings of Christ “reveals the true identity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and shines a light on his person.
Remember in Matthew 16:13-19 when Jesus met with his disciples at Caesarea Philippi, and he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” And the disciples responded with various answers, including John the Baptist, Elijah and Jeremiah. Then he turned back to the disciples and asked, “Well, who do you say that I am?” And it was on that occasion that Peter gave what is called “The great confession,” when he declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” However, in understanding the I AM sayings of Christ the focus shouldn’t be so much on other peoples’ view of Jesus, but on Jesus’ view of himself. In other words, who did Jesus say He was? These statements of Jesus reveal to us His own self-understanding. And in declaring his true identity to the people during his earthly ministry, He used this very unusual structure to identify different characteristics of his person, which the apostle John recorded for us believers.
This essay titled, “THE BRANCH LIFE,” is going to focus on the seventh “I Am” saying of Christ, as recorded in John 15:1-8. In this passage of scripture, Jesus says, “I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit he prunes, that they may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the words which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, without abiding in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit; for without me, you can do nothing.” And he goes on from there.
The first part of the text which is often overlooked is the first statement that Jesus makes, when he says, “I am the TRUE vine, as opposed to the false or corrupt vine. Obviously, those who were hearing Jesus speak knew exactly what he meant. The metaphor of the vine was pretty familiar to his audience—the Jewish people. Vineyards were a very important and prominent thing in the Jewish culture at the time. It is also important to note that as Jesus introduces this symbolism, he evokes Old Testament ideas of God as a Vine dresser, relating to his people Israel as the Vine, much the same way a farmer or gardener might grow or nurture a plant, which includes such things like pruning and removal of dead or diseased branches (John 15:2)
The second part of the text has to do with our productivity as Christians—of bearing fruit, by virtue of our remaining connected or plugged into Christ as branches, the same way branches are connected to the vine.
Merriam Webster describes a branch as “something that extends from or enters into a main body or source such as a tree branch or a stream that flows into another usually larger stream. In a business, a branch office in an organization is a location that serves as an extension of the main office. Notice that the thread that runs through each of these descriptions is their connectedness.
In referring to us as branches in this text, Jesus is telling us where we can find life. Staying connected to Jesus is a 24/7 COMMITMENT. “Remain in me as I also remain in you.” (John 15:4a) is all about being connected to God. The word, remain clearly does not mean an occasional occurrence, where we kinda use God, when it’s convenient to be a Christian and enjoy his blessings and his favors, then we kinda unplug from him at other times. Now that’s the challenge for us believers, isn’t it? The KJV uses the word, “ABIDE” . To abide has a lot of synonyms. It carries the connotation of complying with, obeying, observing, following, conforming to, acting in accordance with, paying attention to, consenting to, acknowledging, respecting, deferring to, etc. Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said that to enjoy all the benefits that come with having a relationship with God the Father, we have to remain in Him (Jesus) the son and to abide in him always.
Christian author, Kay Arthur wrote: “If you don’t plan to live the Christian life totally committed to knowing your God and walking in obedience to Him, then don’t begin, for this is what Christianity is all about. It is a change of allegiance. So if you have no intention of letting Christ rule your life, then forget Christianity. It’s not for you.” Staying connected to Jesus means relying on Him for everything. Psalm 16:5-11 says, “You Lord are all I have, and you give me all I need.” In Luke 22, Jesus tells us not to worry about our food or clothing, because God knows we need them and has promised to provide them for us.
Staying connected to Jesus is the source of all fruitfulness in our lives. Consider what he says here in V4: "Abide in me and I in you.” As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me.” Later on, of course, He will say “Apart from me you can do nothing.” This is a very striking statement, when you think about it, that Jesus is saying unless there is a connectedness between you and me, your lives will never be fruitful. This is the real key to our understanding of how we’re going to be fruitful in the Christian life. Just as the branch draws upon the vital source of the vine to produce fruit, believers are to remain connected, plugged in to our Lord and Savior in order to become fruitful. That’s the relationship between the branch and the vine.
Notice that not only would we (branches) bear fruit, but Jesus amplifies it with the word “much.” (15:5b) Bearing much fruit means we are spiritually productive in the Kingdom of God. We do this by discovering our spiritual gifts and talents and expressing them through active service in the body of Christ, in our family circles, in our communities and in the world. It means that we walk, talk, think and act like we are followers of Christ. Bearing fruit reflects a new life in Christ, displayed through obedience to his word and to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Bearing much fruit means becoming daily transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, which is the ultimate fruit.
Galatians 5:22-23 introduces a Super Fruit (Fruit of the Spirit) This Super Fruit contains seven beneficial ingredients to strengthen our spiritual growth and health, as follows: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control. This is a good indication of the branch life. Expressing these virtues ought to be organic, but it may have to be forced initially as well, in order for it to become organic.
John 15:2b: “Every branch that does not bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” I don’t presume to be a farmer by any stretch of the imagination. However, I have learned a thing or two about what a vine dresser does. Also known as a Viticulturist, when a vine dresser is looking after his vines, he prunes them for two reasons: Firstly, He wants to cut away what will not bear fruit; hence, “every branch in me that does not bear fruit he prunes.” Secondly, the vine dresser prunes in order that the vine may bear richer, better fruits. From the outside looking in, what may appear to be a very mean, even violent activity on the part of the vine dresser is actually intended to be a very fruitful activity for the vine.
If you ever visit the vines of California, you will see miles and miles of vines nurtured and nourished in the soil by irrigation. But that’s not all you see, because all over the vineyards, you will also see millions and millions of twigs scattered all over the place, as if someone just vandalized the vineyard. But that actually is why the vines were so fruitful. If vines could talk, as it were, perhaps their reaction to the vine dresser would be, “Ouch! That hurts!” and perhaps the vine dresser would respond, “It is well, just wait until you see the grapes. You wait until you see the grapes.” This is how the Father works, isn’t it? We find this illustrated in so many lives in the pages of scripture. The Christian who is never pruned is the Christian who will never grow. The vine dresser cuts nothing away, which would not have been a loss to keep, and a gain to lose. And don’t you know that sometimes we won’t understand what the pruning is all about? I’m sure Joseph wondered about that, while he languished in an Egyptian prison. He only knew God was up to something, working everything together for his good. And this ought to be the believer’s towards our heavenly father’s act of pruning.
God will allow hardships and adversities in our lives to shape us and help us become more fruitful. Adversities are always inconvenient, and sometimes even unbearable circumstances that show up in our lives. Hebrews 12:5-11 talks about taking God’s discipline seriously, because it is much better than that of earthly fathers, in that “it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have experienced it.”
John 15:5c “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Connection to the world produces nothing of lasting value. This statement is pretty blunt. Acts 17:28 says, “In him we live and move and have our being.” This simply means that if God decides to take an oxygen break even for a second, we’ve got a major problem across the entire world. When we stay united, or plugged into the vine, we’ve got all we need to live a beautiful, productive and victorious life. Even if and when life happens and we hit rock bottom, Jesus is the rock at the bottom, when you remain connected to him.
John 15:6: “If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” Remaining unplugged from Jesus is the worst place to be. This cautionary statement is not intended to frighten us, but solely to remind us of what happens to those who reject God’s love, his mercy and forgiveness. These are basically unbelievers who by their individual choices and decisions think that they got it figured out better than God does. Those who decide to say, no thank you to the vine, I don’t need to be plugged into Jesus, I don’t need to receive everything that I need from him, I’d figure it out myself.
The beautiful conclusion here is the result or outcome of abiding in or staying connected to Jesus (the vine) This is captured in John 15:9-11, where Jesus promised, “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.”
The most obvious fruit of this connectedness is our love—vertical and horizontal love toward Almighty God and each other. They will know we are Christians by our love. This is not any kind of love, this is Christlike love. “Herein, says Jesus, is my father glorified that you bear much fruit.” That fruit means that people will see that we are disciples of Christ because we love one another the way Jesus Christ loves us. When Christ’s word abides in us, we bear much fruit and the Father is glorified. As the father has loved Jesus, so Jesus has loved us. And we abide in his love. And as we abide in his love, that love is on full display one to another.
So, the challenge for us is, how do we remain and abide in the Lord, how do we (branches) remain vitally connected to the Vine (Jesus) 24/7?
May I suggest these five simple ways, which are also a good depiction of The Branch Life.
- Daily time in the word of God- the ability to get into God’s word and let God’s word get into us on a daily basis. (Thy word have I hidden. (Psalm 119:11.)
- Daily Prayer time (Sweet Hour of prayer) Prayer is the key to our spiritual growth. To abide in Christ is to have constant communication with him, He likes to hear from us and He is pleased to have us spend time with Him in prayer, worshiping, praising and adoring him and acknowledging his goodness, loving kindness and tender mercies. It includes petitions and requests for His divine favor, guidance and direction in our lives.
- Coming together in Worship. (Not forsaking the assembling of us together) We should be an active part of a well-balanced bible believing church community, where we use our gifts and graces to become effective disciples who will grow to disciple others.
- Confession and Repentance. The Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, the truth is not in us.” God’s grace is sufficient. However, a true believer desires to be free from sin, not to sin freely. God already knows I am a sinner, but he seeks to have us agree with him that we are sinners in need of his forgiveness and restoration. God will always welcome and appreciate a broken heart of contrition and humility.
- Small group Bible studies. This is where we learn God’s ways and learn how to abide or remain in him, as we grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
So, what are the signs of a healthy branch?
- Embrace a 24/7 commitment to abiding in Jesus. Because our connectedness to Jesus is the source of all our fruitfulness.
- Understand adversities (pruning) as a good discipline that God is using in our lives. This can be pretty hard to do, but it requires a paradigm shift in how we think about it.
- This relationship is nurtured and nourished by the Word of God. Spending time in God's word is the most profitable use of our time.
- Be an active part of a biblically well-balanced church community, where you grow and produce fruit to the glory of God.
- Collaborating with others through small group Bible studies enhances our spiritual growth, as iron sharpens iron. (Proverbs 27:17)
Leslie S Campbell (
