“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”  John 15:1-2, NKJV

Jesus uses this illustration of a vine and branch to illustrate our relationship with Him and the Father. This is a perfect illustration that addresses a few things.

  1. Our dependence on Christ to ”bear fruit”
  2. The penalty for not bearing fruit
  3. How the Father interacts with those who do bear fruit.
  4. How to continue bearing fruit

Jesus very quickly went on to say ”without me, ye can do nothing” in vs 5. If there is a twig laying on the ground would you look at it and expect some leaves to start growing? Yet, sometimes that’s exactly what we expect from Christians or even ourselves. To understand why we aren’t bearing fruit, first we have to understand the fruit.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Gal 5:22-23

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

  Rom 6:22

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

  Jas 3:18

Using three witnesses, we see here that fruit is directly related to our ”Godliness”. If we bear fruit, we are overcoming sin. If we don’t bear fruit, we are continuing in sin.

Notice that Christ says ”every branch in Me that does not bear fruit”.

We see that we can claim to be in Christ and Christ will acknowledge you even if you aren’t bearing fruit. We can be in Christ and have no signs of fruit or, rather, an overcoming of sin. But, what is the result of this condition? The Father will take him away.

If we aren’t actively overcoming sin, we are not bearing fruit and, therefore, we will be taken away from Christ. Without Christ, all we are left to is the Devil and sin.

Quick pause here, let’s determine what sin is.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

 1Jn 3:4

The Law is the Ten Commandments.

Therefore, if we aren’t becoming more able to obey the Law and show signs of temperance and loving-kindness, we are doomed whether or not we claim to be in Christ.

We see in the original text that God does this pruning to those who do actually bear fruit. Let’s examine the definition of ”prune”.

Prune – verb. reduce the extent of (something) by removing superfluous or unwanted parts.

I really like this because I fell it exactly illustrates what our Heavenly Father does. If we bear the fruit of obedience, we essentially give our Father the permission to cut off the parts of us that are unrighteous. Now, if He were to cut everything off at once, there would be no sign of progress. The damage would be so severe that we may not ”survive” the process.

This is why the idea of pruning perfectly illustrates the Christian walk. As we draw near Christ, more and more of our sin should be disappearing. Now, I imagine that pruning can be a little painful but it’s most needed if we are going to produce more fruit.

I had an avocado tree in my backyard. I never really knew it was an avocado tree. It never bore fruit so I had no clue (take note of this in terms of the Christian life). I was eventually told that it was an avocado tree and I wondered why on Earth I never saw an avocado pop out. Then the gardener explained to me that I never pruned it. You see, I didn’t understand that, in order for that tree to bear fruit, it must be pruned.

So too, we will never bear fruit if we do not give our Heavenly Father permission to prune us by our obedience.

How to Continue Bearing Fruit.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”  John 15:4, NKJV

Back to our original exposition. If we saw a twig laying on the ground, we would not see it start growing leaves. In fact, that’s absurd. How do we bear fruit? Obviously, by abiding in Christ. Well, how does one abide?

He gives us a hint in a couple versus below…

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

Joh 15:7

How can His Words abide in us? Well, by reading them. Reading the Bible is an absolute must to bear fruit. The Bible is the instruction guide for life. It’s our map. It’s a light that shows us where to go.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Psa 119:105

Without the Word of God, we can not even know what fruit is, much less, bear any. The Word gives us a clear indication of what we should be doing and the Holy Spirit will convict us when we don’t do it.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Joh 16:7-8

If we remain in the Word, we are abiding in Christ. But let me add, We must DO what we read or hear in the Word, not just know it.

For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Rom 2:13

Prayer is extremely important too. If you recall, Jesus said, ”you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you” in John 15:7. Clearly, there is a prayer aspect to this walk and, if His Words are abiding in us, our prayers will reflect His Will, not ours.

On prayer, the Word says..

pray without ceasing,

1Th 5:17

Finally, brethren and sisters, I leave you with this.

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

1Jn 3:6 Joh 3:3 1Jn 3:9 Joh 15:10-11