“I am the
true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every
branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the
branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more” (John
15:1-2. NIV).
In “Secrets of the Vine”, Bruce
Wilkinson shares truths that Jesus imparted to His disciples the
night before His crucifixion. They were some of His last words to His
faithful followers before the Garden of Gethsemane. In John 15 we
read His last words, and realize that Jesus was imparting what was
expected in each life. Each disciple was called to bear fruit. Each
life had been created for good works (Ephesians 2:10). Jesus knew He
would soon be gone, and He wanted each one of them to know the
importance of His purpose for their life. He knew that sometimes His
mission for them would be hard, but He also knew that it was only in
His mission that they would discover their ultimate fulfillment in
life. Jesus knew that a
life with “no fruit” would ultimately destroy the work He had
begun, and also destroy faith in each life. In the Upper Room only
minutes previously He had told them shocking news of denial and
betrayal, and that he was going to leave them. He had also told them
that they would not be left alone–that
the Holy Spirit would come to comfort and empower them. But now
their whole world was crumbling, and all He could speak to them about
was bearing fruit for the Kingdom. It was a message that was meant to
carry them in abundant fulfillment through this life into the next.
Jesus' last words are for us, too.
Jesus is the grapevine that springs from the earth and grows thick
like a trunk ending in a knot at about four feet in height. We are
the branches that spring from that knot and are supported by
trellises that keep us from destruction on the ground below. God is
the keeper of the vineyard. He trains how the branches grow, and
keeps them supported by His trellises of truth. He cuts off each
branch that doesn't produce fruit, and He prunes branches that
already produce fruit to yield even more. If our lives do not yield
any fruit, He will intervene to discipline us. He disciplines us when
there is sin that must be addressed. When self is an issue, He prunes
us back to bring forth greater yield. That pruning of self is
necessary. Letting self go in absolute surrender to His purpose in
our lives is what He desires. Both discipline and pruning can be
hard, but are necessary to produce the greatest bounty in our lives.
Whether we can grasp it or not–
to be remade in Him–to
be transformed in the renewing of our mind–brings the greatest joy in our lives. We grow closer to Him and lack
nothing in our knowledge of what He wishes to accomplish through us.
In Sunday school we are beginning a
study of “Secrets of the Vine”. Our purpose is to discover how
God can use our lives for His greatest impact. We long to produce the
greatest harvest–the greatest yield. It is abundant life to the
fullest. Bruce Wilkinson's calls abundance “the beautiful overflow
of true worth in a person's life”. It is what we were created for.
Jesus knew this and shared this great last truth with His disciples
on the way to fulfill God's purpose for His life. How can we not
discover what it means for our own?
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