John 15:1 “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch which is part of me but fails to bear fruit, he cuts off; and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit. 3 Right now, because of the word which I have spoken to you, you are pruned. 4 Stay united with me, as I will with you — for just as the branch can’t put forth fruit by itself apart from the vine, so you can’t bear fruit apart from me.
5 “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing. 6 Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up.
7 “If you remain united with me, and my words with you, then ask whatever you want, and it will happen for you. 8 This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim.”
Uh, oh.
This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim (disciples).
This may be the biggest mirror in the whole Bible. Is yours as dim and murky as mine? I’m not sure I see myself clearly in this statement. And that worries me. Actually, no, it terrifies me.
What do we need to do to bear fruit? To answer this we need to first define fruit.
Believers throw this word around all the time like they know what they’re saying. And I think each of us has some vague notion of what it means. But for some reason we can’t quite describe it fully when put on the spot.
This shouldn’t be all that confusing, though. We are given the example here (in plain english ;-) and I think you’ll find the mystery vaporizes quickly when you pay close attention to what is said:
I am the vine and you are the branches.
An apple tree brings forth apples. Always. Even if you want pears, it still produces apples. You can put up a sign that says “Pear Tree” but come the harvest, apples. You can hang pears on an apple tree but it is still going to produce apples.
I have seen many people that are apple trees wanting badly to produce pears. And it never happens. They even cut the apple blossoms away in hopes that apples won’t come. Then they get frustrated when pears refuse to grow. A lot of people are in a vein where they do not belong because they either were told that’s what they should do, or they decided on their own that’s what they wanted to do. Mistaken identity. Pears. This inevitably leads to a tree that yields no fruit. And we all remember what happened to the fig tree that yielded no fruit.
This means we need to pay close attention to the type of tree we are.
Before we go off scouring self-help books and surveys causing us to grasp at fleeting ideas, why not just look to where you are connected.
We’ll begin by considering the grapevine. Newly emerged shoots will grow very rapidly as temperatures warm. The Gardener will then prune downward-facing shoots to ensure they all grow upwards, thus reducing the potential crop size but increasing the quality – a vine producing fewer grapes will usually produce more concentrated grapes. Pruning those wild shoots is critical because even though there is less fruit, it will be of better quality.
Kind of sounds like our life, right?
If Yeshua is the Vine and we are the branches, we can look at the fruit He produced and know exactly what fruit is expected from us. Same tree, remember? So if we can understand what He did, then it will be clear what we are to do.
This will give us a strategy for figuring out our lives. We just need to know what fruit Yeshua produced and do the same. Although there are many branches, there is only one Vine.
Fruit can be anything we want it to be, but we aren’t concerned with what we want, right? It’s the fruit of the Messiah that interests us. Fortunately, we have been given several accounts of His life to see exactly what He brought forth so the detective work is not all that complex.
What fruit did Yeshua bring forth? What is He known for?
Although we are told there were more miracles than were recorded, the ones we have shed great light on their purpose. Miracles seem to go directly against the natural order and there is no clear explanation as to how these things occur. The one thing we can extract from this, however, is there is a power involved we don’t understand:
It is important to note that while Yeshua confronted the Pharisees, his intention was not to vilify or condemn them as a whole. He desired to call them to repentance, to challenge their wrong practices, and to reveal God's heart for genuine faith and righteousness. His rebukes included the following:
We “know” so many things that simply aren’t true. Even the things that are true have been filtered through our wounds and experiences, and our view of reality is painfully skewed. When Yeshua came He spent a lot of time correcting these errors and opening up a brand new world to all who heard Him. The thing about teaching is that you can’t tell others to do what you haven’t done. First you learn, then you do, then you teach.
Performing miracles, rebuking oppressors, teaching truth. The fruit of the Vine. The same Vine of which you are a part.
Those who stay united with me, and I with them, are the ones who bear much fruit; because apart from me you can’t do a thing. Unless a person remains united with me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up.
Ok, pear tree, it’s time to stop trying to be something you’re not. In your quest to “just be you”, you are destroying the very fabric from which you are cut.
What are you called to do? How do you prove you are a disciple?
Perform miracles. Exercise power over decay, the body, the demonic, the earth, provision for others, natural laws, and death.
Rebuke the oppressors. Not because you are better but because you love them. This requires you to be in a really, really, really good spot. Tread lightly here.
Teach truth. Teach people how to treat others, self-correct, and behave. Teach them about their real Home, who they are to be, how things actually work, and where all of this is going.
Very, very simple.