John 15:4

John 15:4 – Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain on the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

In this chapter Jesus gives us a picture of our life in Him. Think about a vine or tree. It starts as a seed, but then grows roots, a trunk and finally branches. The plant needs food and water to survive. 

Water and food comes in through the roots and then the vine and finally makes it to the branches. If you break off a branch it will lose its source of food and it will not survive; it will wither up and die. It may look healthy for a little while, especially if you put it in water, but without the vine it is only a matter of time.

Our lives in Christ are the same. He is the vine and we are the branches. If we stay connected to Him we will be able to get all we need to survive, but if we cut ourselves off from Him we cannot survive. Just like the branch we may last for a little while, but no for very long. Eventually we will wither up and die. And if we are not connected to Christ there will be no fruit.

As a branch we are the ones who are responsible for bearing the fruit. Jesus is the vine. The vine does not bear the fruit, just the branches. Ultimately it is the vine working through the branches, but it does come off the branches. This is how it works with us as well.

Jesus sustains us and provides everything we need to live and everything we need to produce fruit. So in looking at this picture we can understand that we cannot bear fruit without the life we get from Christ. He flows through us to feed those around us. That is why we must stay connected to Him

John 15:5

John 15:5 - “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.”

Jesus paints us a picture of how our life in Him works. He is the vine, we are the branches. Think about that for a moment in the sense of a grapevine. First the vine; the vine is the main part of the plant. It is attached to the roots. All of the food and water come through the vine to feed the branches. If a branch gets disconnected or broken off the vine it can no longer receive what it needs to live; so it withers and dies.

In order to maintain the plant you trim off the branches that do not bear fruit, or at least the parts of the branch that are not doing anything. That way the food and water will be better dispersed to those parts that are producing good fruit.

Again, this is a picture of how our life is in relation to Jesus. If we become disconnected from Him we will wither and die. Jesus is our source of life and growth. Without Him we have nothing. Apart from Him we know that we can do nothing. We must stay connected  to Him in order to grow and flourish.

But what about the trimming part? Think about your life. We all have areas that could use a trimming. There are things that are not producing fruit, but we are still putting a lot of energy into them. Those may need to be trimmed. If you cut those off, or at least “trim” them back you will be able to put more time and energy into those things that bring life.