Grafted In or Cut Off

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:1-2

Jesus continues to teach his disciples what true discipleship looks like and what you can expect as a disciple. Throughout this chapter He speaks of fruit-bearing and encourages, yet warns his followers of the rewards for producing fruit and the result of not producing fruit. What shouts at me today is the fact that He says, “He cuts off every branch in Him that bears no fruit.”  The preposition “in”, indicates that they are both “in Him.”  Those who chose to believe but refused to grow He cuts off.  Let that sink in, just because you once prayed a prayer of repentance and believe in Jesus, does not guarantee heaven, at least according to this and other passages in the Bible.  Your eternal security rests in the vine, the source of your salvation.  If you choose to be grafted in and then refuse to grow, you will be cut off.  That’s a scary truth in this passage.

But the question remains, what does the fruit of the vine look like? How do we know if we are growing? So often in the church the fruit that was overwhelmingly emphasized was the fruit of soul-winning. If you hadn’t won a soul in the last year, you were not bearing fruit. But I believe the fruit spoken of here includes so much more.  Galatians tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, kindness, and self-control.  You only obtain this fruit by staying in the vine, in constant communion with the source of life. You produce fruit unto righteousness that looks just like the vine itself. Your fruit includes faithfulness, humility in repentance, continual watering of the Word, acts of compassion, obedience, suffering for Christ’s sake, and self-control in your daily life.

Jesus, we know You are the vine and source of life. Thank You for grafting us into the vine. Thank You for sending the Spirit of truth to teach us what it looks like to be in the vine. Thank You for supplying grace and mercy that we might produce fruit unto righteousness and for pruning us to increase our fruitfulness. You supply everything we need to grow and be fruitful. Thank You for being our Master Gardener.