Who You Are in Christ: You Are a Branch

The Bible uses many word pictures and metaphors to help us understand God’s truth. Some of these word pictures can seem strange until we understand the meaning behind them. That is true with toady’s revelation of who you are in Christ. You are a branch.

Wow, that sounds exciting. I’m a branch. I can’t wait to tell all my friends.

The night Jesus was to be betrayed by Judas, Jesus was talking with the eleven disciples. He was trying to prepare them for His terrible death upon the cross. He was giving them many assurances and said to them:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (John 15:1-4)

Jesus is the one who calls you a branch. Vineyards were a popular site in Israel. The long, straight lines of vines lifted off the ground so the clusters of grapes could hang without touching the ground. The vine dresser does this to ensure that the grapes get the proper sunlight, aeration, and do not spoil by lying on the ground.

Your heavenly Father is the vine dresser. He is the one who watching over your life. You are not alone and you have an expert ensuring that your life is fruitful and abundant. The Father knows the things that will rob you of life and He is there to help you prosper.

This abundant fruitfulness only comes as you abide in Christ and in His word. Just as a branch cannot have life without being connected to the vine neither can you. The vine is planted in the ground and supplies the branch water and nutrients it needs to be fruitful.

This speaks of the incredible connection you have with Christ. When you are connected to Him His life flows into your life. Apart from Him you can do nothing. Connected to Him you can experience the fruitful life God desires you to have.

An important part of the vinedresser’s work is pruning. He must carefully go through the whole vineyard inspecting the branches to make sure that the crop is healthy and bears the most amount of fruit.

If a branch does not bear fruit it is cut off. That may sound cruel but a branch that has no fruit will take nutrients away from the branches that are bearing fruit. Not cutting these branches off will lessen the fruitfulness of the whole vine. I was just looking at a diagram of a vine and the branches that are not the main part of the vine are called suckers. That’s appropriate because all they do is suck life away from the rest of the vine.

That is why the Father comes into your life to point out the things that are sucking away your fruitfulness. It is not because He is being mean and uncaring. The very opposite is true. Sure, it hurts when He takes His pruning shears and lops off a branch, but without it we will not prosper.

I just watched a video about pruning from YouTube. The speaker is a vineyard owner. He says the most important part in the wine-making process is pruning. He goes on to show how he prunes the branches back to about six inches. From this pruning two branches will grow each bearing two bunches of grapes.This type of pruning takes place in the Fall after the harvest. I’ll include a link to the video below.

The other time pruning takes place is in the Spring. This is when the new branches are grown and everything looks fruitful and alive.

The vine dresser does what is called shoot and cluster pruning. He looks through the vine and if there is more than two shoots coming off vine he cuts them off. He also looks for extra clusters that are forming on the branch and plucks them off so that there are no more than two clusters. This ensures maximum growth in the grapes.

The Father is always looking over your life seeking to take away the things that will hinder your growth and fruitfulness. He lovingly prunes away all that will get in the way of you experiencing life as He intends it to be.

As funny as it may sound you are a branch. Every time you think of it just remember:

• You are connected to Jesus.
• His life is flowing into you.
• God loves you and wants you to experience great fruitfulness.
• God cares enough about you that He will prune away the things in your life that are stopping His fruitfulness in you.
• Apart from Jesus you can do nothing.