This article is going to be in three series and I've decided to start this series because I believe that if we are doctrinally sound it will (or should) affect our lives, and when our lives are transformed our home is healed, then the church is healed and subsequently our nation would be healed of the ills that has permeated every institution in our society.

Series 1 of this publication, I will be discussing The Vine, The Branch and The Gardner.

John 15: 1-6 "I am the vine true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruits, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned"

The Principle

Without Christ in You, you cannot do anything (this is not the knowledge of Christ but letting Him be the Lord of your Life.).

In the above principle Christ made comparisons that we need to study carefully.

Vine - Christ

Gardener - God

Branch - Humans

Life Application.

The Vine

John 15: 1-6 "I am the vine true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruits, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned"

Vine - vine is also called stem or tree trunk, the vine supplies the fruit that grows on the branches with the needed nutrients like water, and other chemicals from the soil. The vine is also anchored to the root for strength and stability. The fruit produced by the above vine is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5: 22-23).

Spiritually the root that the vine is anchored to is the essence of the God head, John 1: 1- 4

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made that has been made; without Him nothing was made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men"

The Bible further explained that this Word became flesh and dwelt among men.

Christ as our vine (resource center) and He paid with His life to be that resource center. He came into this world and lived in it for 33 years, the Bible says He was tempted and tried in every way that we will be tempted. He even told us that in this world we will face troubles, but that we should be cheerful because He already won the war and to lean on Him to win our battles.

He recognizes our frame and promises not to let us carry any burden beyond our capacity. To make life easy for us, he then said all we have to do is "Trust and Abide in Him", however, because abiding in Him requires "Holiness or a righteous living" many of us choose the other alternative of going it alone according to what seems good to us. We seek our nutrients from other sources like power, wealth, position, humanism etc and soon found out that other sources of nutrients are not balanced diet (Spirit, Soul and Body) and could cause spiritual "kwashiorkor".

Staying in the vine require some commitments, commitment to Holy living, commitment to pray and be in His presence daily, commitment to seek Him more through His word, commitment to fellowship with like-minded people, and commitment to be humble and be obedient no matter what it takes. If we are one leg in and the other leg out, we don't get enough nutrients and would die as well. God frowns at seeking help from somewhere else other than Himself. It is important to note that abiding in the vine would not stop the tree bugs and other things that affect the growth of a branch (and its fruit), but the nutrients supplied by the vine is nutritious enough to ward off the effects of anti-bodies.

As I wrap up, I want us to meditate on Philippians 4: 13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.

Copyright (c) 2006 Femi Awodele.