This week’s topic for the “Foundations:  Christian Living” class was “Abiding in Christ.”  I wanted to begin here because I believe it is the foundation for everything else that follows in the Christian life.  Assisted by some great photos (most taken by friend Deb Heefner on her visits to a German vineyard, and used with her permission), we explored the relationship between the vine and the branches from John 15.  Jesus may very well have paused at a vineyard on the night he was betrayed and selected an actual grape vine as a visual for these final instructions to His disciples.  In the first 16 verses of this chapter, He uses the word translated “abide” in the NAS eleven times!

So, the big question is:  What does it mean to abide?

Come join me on a walk through the Father’s vineyard…

“I am the vine, you are the branches…”  (John 15:5a)

Here you can see what a grape vine (the trunk) and its branches look like.  The stronger vine supports the weaker branches.  How does one become joined to the vine?

 

1)  To abide in Christ, we must first be grafted in to Him.

Grafting is a common practice in a vineyard, where a weaker branch is joined to a stronger, hardier vine.  Both are cut at corresponding angles, taped together, and sealed.  The branch becomes a permanent part of the original plant.

There can be: “No graft without wounding—the laying bare and opening up of the inner life of the tree to receive the stranger branch.  It is only through such wounding that access can be obtained to the fellowship of the sap and the growth and the life of the stronger stem…In the death of the cross, Christ was wounded, and in His opened wounds a place prepared where we might be grafted in.”  (Andrew Murray)

When I first read this quote, it took my breath away.  What a beautiful illustration of our salvation!  What a beautiful Savior!  Have you been grafted in to Him?

2)  To abide in Christ, we must trust the Father’s heart.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” (John 15:1)

I absolutely love this picture of the vinedresser as he is tending to his vineyard.  I also love this description of the vinedresser’s care for his vines:

“A vinedresser, or husbandman, is more than a mere farmer.  Grapes are more than an annual crop.  The vinedresser’s grape vines remain with him for decades.  He comes to know each one in a personal way, much like a shepherd with his sheep. He knows how the vine is faring from year to year and which ones are more productive or vigorous than others. He knows what they respond to and what special care certain ones need. Every vine has its own personality. And the vinedresser comes to know it over the years. ”  (Dr. Earl Radmacher)

“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away…” (John 15:2a)

Now hold on!  Does this mean I’d better step up my fruit production or I’ll get the axe? Abiding in Christ means we trust the Father’s heart, even when His words are confusing.

“It would be a strange vinedresser who immediately cuts off such a branch without even giving it a chance to develop properly. But it would be wise and customary for him to stretch the vine on an arbor or use some other means of raising it to the air and sun…” (James Boice)

In this photo, the elaborate trellis system, used to train and support the branches, can be seen.  In fact, the word translated “takes away” can also mean “to lift up.”  It typically takes three years for a vine to produce fruit, and of course there are also seasons when the vine is resting, or dormant.

 

Abiding in Christ means we trust the Father’s heart, even when His ways are confusing.

“…every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2a)

In this particular vineyard, only one branch remains on each vine after being pruned.  Ouch.  The vinedresser does this to focus all the energy of the vine for maximum fruitfulness.  It’s painful to have things stripped away.  But we can endure when we know and trust the One who holds the pruning shears.  He is committed to our welfare.  He knows what He is doing.

There is still one more action the vinedresser takes on the branch in the process of preparing it to bear fruit…

He breaks it.

Why would a good and loving vinedresser do this?  For the same reason God sometimes allows brokenness in our lives.  The breaking stimulates the flow of sap, the source of life and growth, into the branch.

3)  To abide in Christ, we must draw our life from His Spirit. 

“…the branch cannot bear fruit of itself…” (John 15:4b)

“As the branch partakes of the nature of the tree, is nourished by its juice, and lives by its life, so (you) must be made partakers of my Divine nature, be wise in my wisdom, powerful in my might, and pure through my holiness.”  (Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible)

When it comes to fruit-bearing, it’s all about the sap!  Unconfessed sin and self-effort hinder its flow.  Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it abides in the vine, so neither can we, unless we are allowing the sap of His Spirit to completely fill and empower us.

And the result?

 “…he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit…”  (John 15:5b)

A life of abundance!  And a beautiful picture of the Trinity:  Father (the vinedresser), Son (the vine), and Spirit (the sap), working together in us (the branches) to create nourishing, life-giving FRUIT!

Abide in Him…trust in Him…live in Him, and you will always have something life-enriching and life-sustaining to offer a hungry world!

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”  (John 15:8)

*Many thanks to Deb Heefner for sharing her wonderful photos!