Monday, October 3, 2011

Secrets of the Vine...which aren't really secrets

I just finished reading a book by Bruce Wilkinson (who also wrote The Prayer of Jabez), called "Secrets of the Vine."  I had to start out with that sentence so I didn't get nailed for plagiarizing the title and thoughts here.  And he identifies pretty quickly that they aren't really 'secrets' (because they're written in the Bible for everyone to see) but he did bring it out in a new way I hadn't thought of before.  Now, I know what I'm talking about, and you don't, so you are probably wondering where I'm going with this.  If you're patient, I'll explain.
Recently, I was filling out a character worksheet for a drama class I'm in, and part of it was to identify the character's greatest fear.  On the paper, I was also supposed to talk about the similarities and differences between the character and myself, so naturally I began thinking about what my greatest fear was.  And I went through a couple things in my mind, but then as I was thinking about it, I realized really my greatest fear is not being effective.  I want to make an impact.  I want to do something worthwhile.  I want my life to count for something.  And my greatest fear is not fulfilling that.  I want to bear much fruit.
Bearing fruit was also a big deal to Jesus.  He wants our lives to count for something, and He wants us to bear fruit!  In John 15:8 he says, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit."  So God gets glory when we're bearing fruit for Him.  There's more than one way to bear fruit in our lives.  I always kinda used to look at that chapter as just about soul-winning, and although that's a big part of it, I think the fruit refers to all that stems from our life in Christ, which glorifies God!  The fruit of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, etc.  I think, deep down, all of us want to bear fruit.  But sometimes it seems like we're not.  And in John chapter 15, Jesus identifies some main reasons.  In "Secrets of the Vine", Bruce Wilkinson identified a couple stages people can be at.  No fruit.  A little fruit.  More fruit.  And much fruit.  He gives a picture of walking through a vineyard at harvest time and looking at the baskets and seeing no grapes in one, a few grapes in the other, but still not very many, a much more full basket a little later, and then a basket that's absolutely overflowing with grapes.  That's the kind of life I think we're all striving for!  One that's overflowing with fruit!  But we are in different stages sometimes.  As we look at the basket of our lives, we will see different things, and there are reasons for that.  We're all at different stages.
Some people are bearing no fruit.  Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away."  Now I always looked at that "taking away" as being cut off and cast aside.  The branch is useless so it's thrown out.  But that's not what the Greek word actually means.  The Greek word is: G142 αἴρω airō  ah'ee-ro A primary verb; to lift; by implication to take up or away; figuratively to raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind); specifically to sail away (that is, weigh anchor); by Hebraism (compare [H5375]) to expiate sin: - away with, bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, make to doubt, put away, remove, take (away, up).
And it's the same word used for Simon 'taking up' Jesus' cross, and Jesus 'taking away' the sins of the world, etc.  It means 'to lift up'.  In a vineyard, the vine dresser will look for branches that are hanging on the ground, in the dust, and not bearing fruit.  They can't bear fruit because they're in the dust and getting dirty and are trailing on the ground.  But the vines are worth too much for the vine dresser to simply get rid of.  Too much potential.  Instead, he picks them up, cleans them off, and ties them up to the trellis so that they can begin producing fruit.  This isn't always an easy, painless process.
If you're looking at your life, and you're not bearing fruit and something is stinting your growth, then the first thing you need to look at is if there's sin in your life.  That's the primary thing that will hinder you from bearing fruit.  But you're not alone.  The vine dresser will help you overcome that, and He wants you to bear fruit.  But it may involves some suffering.  Hebrews chapter 12 reminds us that whoever the Lord loves, He chastens.  He doesn't want us to be involved with sin, and He wants us to repent so that we can begin bearing fruit, and He's willing to pick us up and inflict some suffering on us so that we can live up to the potential which He intended.
The next thing Jesus says is, "and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit.  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you."  Now the next stage we might be bearing a little fruit, or more fruit, but we are still going through something.  It may be that God is pruning you, and getting all the distracting, excess, hindering stuff out of your life so that you can bear even more fruit!  In this case it may not be sin, but a "weight" that hinders you and brings you down.
Whereas these last two stages involved God taking initiative by chastening or pruning us, this last stage involves us taking initiative.  "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the branches.  He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without me, ye can do nothing.  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned."  This is an imperative point, and it's not easy.  "Abide in me" is an imperative command, and it requires effort.  You don't have to tell somebody to do something that comes naturally, but you do have to tell them to do something that doesn't, like 'eat your broccoli' or whatever.  It's the same here.  The reason "Abide in me" is a command, is because it's something we have to do.  Once we're bearing fruit and things are going good, we have a tendency to focus more on bearing fruit, than on our relationship with God.  It's similar to what Martha did in Luke 10:38-42.  She got caught up in doing things for God, and neglected spending time WITH Him.  Jesus really emphasizes the point here that the only reason we're able to bear fruit at ALL is because of Him. If we begin focusing more on what we're DOING for God, rather than our relationship with Him, (whether its teaching Bible studies or Sunday school, singing at church, witnessing, doing outreach programs, being a friend to someone, doing good works, helping out in a soup kitchen, starting a ministry, or whatever) we will become fruitless.  The less we focus on bearing fruit, and the more we focus on Him, the more we bear fruit!  Even though this sounds like a paradox, it's true!  Because our life flows from Him.  Without Him we can't do anything.  Ezekiel 15:1-4 brings up the fact that while other kinds of trees have uses after they've been cut down, whether for building houses or coat racks or whatever, branches from a grape vine have no use once they've been cut off from the source other than being cast into the fire as fuel.  Once we have been cut off from the source of our life, the source of our fruit, the only thing we're good for is fire fuel.  He's the one who actually causes us to bear fruit.  Fruit will naturally being to overflow from our lives because of the work of His Spirit. But we have to stay connected to Him.
So whatever stage you're at, maybe this little analysis will help you to either repent, trust, or begin abiding more fully in God.  It sure helped me.

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