In a particularly vivid illustration, Jesus spoke of the relationship of believers to the source of all our nourishment and strength: Christ Himself. Eleven times in John 15:1-17, the Greek word meno, translated abide or remain, is recorded to emphasize the importance of utter dependence upon God for our spiritual well being.
In comparing our relationship to a vineyard, we are told that Christ is the vine and we are the branches. This beautifully demonstrates the helplessness we experience without a vibrant, intimate union with the Lord. For apart from the vine with its lifegiving and life-sustaining nutrients, the branches will wither and die. Further, only insofar as the branch is receiving the flow of life from the vine can there ever be fruit. Likewise, a believer who, through active sin or passive indifference, quells the steady rhythm of nourishing power emanating from a Spirit-filled life will exhibit a life with no evidence of triumph over temptation or effective exhortation and ministry (though there must be some fruit, or the very justification must be doubted).
In this illustration, Christ says that the Father prunes all the branches that do bear fruit. The Greek word for prune can also mean “to clean.” In other words, as a particular branch dips down into the mud, the Father, as Gardener, picks it up, cleans it off, and ties it ever closer to the vine. And He prunes it. He trims back the tips of the branch that are scarred or damaged. The snip of the sharp blade of correction is often painful, but remember this: the Gardener is never closer to the branch than when He is pruning it. When God must reprove (prune) us, He doesn’t do it from the far reaches of heaven; He comes right up to us, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, and lovingly convicts, gently reshapes, and so crafts our lives to take full advantage of the flow of life from the vine: the life that was given to us when we believed the gospel of Christ.
Without the pruning of God, without the constant and abundant filling of our lives by the Holy Spirit, we may sprout a few leaves, but very little fruit. Yet we were saved “unto good works” – that is, fruit. That is what God intends to see manifested in our lives. The beauty of grace can be realized in this picture: for what role does the branch play in receiving life from the vine? Jesus could have used a different illustration. He could have said, for instance, that we are travelers in a desert and He is the oasis, thereby emphasizing the idea that we had better get to the water and be filled before we die. Instead, He used a beautiful description of total reliance upon His strength, His care, and His provision. Our role? Faith.
We are conjoined by our faith to a life that pulsates with the energy of God’s Spirit. We are reminded by our faith that whatever the circumstances – however painful the pruning process – the Gardener is at work in our lives to bring about the results He desires. And we are rewarded by our faith when our desperate longing for His presence and His power is realized. As we examine ourselves, do we find such a faith? A faith that confidently relies upon the Spirit-filled life that God has prepared for us? It is His promise to those whose lives have been formed by the Spirit that they shall be filled by the Spirit that we may exhibit a life focused on the Spirit and His marvelous plan for our lives.
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