When Jesus said that He was the true Vine in John 15:1, it would have immediately gotten the attention of His apostles.  Why?  Because in the Old Testament, Israel was the vine of God.

Jeremiah 2:21 (ESV)
²¹  Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

Isaiah 5:7 (ESV)
⁷  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!

Two things are clear in these passages—Israel was God’s vine of the Old Testament, and she was an unfaithful, unreliable plant.  In contrast to Israel, Jesus is the True Vine.  The Greek word for “true” means, “reliable, righteous, or real” (TDNT).  Unlike Israel, Jesus is trustworthy and reliable.  Let us remember this because everything we are as Christians, and everything we will ever be, is associated with our connection to this True Vine.

John 15:2 (ESV)
²  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

These words from Jesus make it clear that spiritual success depends on fruit-bearing.  If one does not bear fruit, he is useless and must be cut off from the Vine. Why?  Because the only purpose for branches on a vine is to bear fruit.  The purpose of the branch is not aesthetic.  Its job is not to just hang there and look pretty.  Its purpose is to bear fruit.  Period!

Some branches are pretty and perfectly formed and some branches are ugly and deformed, but that makes no difference to their value.  Some of the most crooked and deformed branches on a vine are sometimes the most fruitful ones.  On the other hand, a branch might be full of dark green leaves that are hearty and healthy in appearance, but they do not bring forth any fruit.  Guess what the vinedresser is going to do with those branches?  You know the answer—He is going to cut it off because it is not doing what it is meant to do.

Jesus does not beat around the bush in telling us what happens to the branches that lose connection to the vine.  Listen to verse six.

John 15:6 (ESV)
⁶  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

We can clearly see the essentiality of bearing fruit.  What kind of branch are you?    Are you a fruit-bearing branch or a fruitless branch?  That is a question we should all ask ourselves.  A fruitless branch is a child of God whose life consists of profession without practice.  Branches like that are unusable; thus, God, the Vinedresser, will not tolerate such branches.  Their destiny is to be thrown into the fire.

Eight times in the context of John 15 the word “fruit” is mentioned.  If you read the passage, you will notice a progression.  Jesus speaks of fruit, and then more fruit, and finally, much fruit.  We should be constantly moving forward in fruit-bearing. It is not something we do once; we should be bearing fruit regularly.  Fruit bearing is a recurrent theme in the life of one who is a healthy branch on God’s Vine.

What kind of branch are you?  Let’s all determine to be fruit-bearing branches.  Our eternal destiny depends upon it!

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.