Branch Life

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Branch Life

INTRODUCTION:Jesus taught in parables. His students and audiences were mostly uneducated folk so he

used illustrations that they could relate to and understand.

However, we study His parables 2,000 years later and do not always relate to the same illustrations He used, they, nevertheless, make clear and profound illustrations that all can easily understand.

In John 15, Jesus used a grapevine and grape branches to explain the necessity of a Christian remaining affixed (abiding) to Himself in order to be productive in the Kingdom.

Unless grape branches are pruned or periodically cut back, the branches will

grow longer, produce more leaves, and poorer quality grapes. Thus, in this parable, Jesus tells us that God, The Father, oversees the vineyard and is the one that applies the pruning cutter. After all, the purpose of having a vineyard is to produce grapes instead of long branches and leaves.THE TWO MAIN POINTS:

This parable emphasizes two main points; 1) Stay in close communion with Christ (the Vine), and 2) Expect to have worldly things taken away (pruned) so that they will not interfere with your Kingdom productiveness (fruitfulness.)

We, more than the people Jesus was teaching, have multitudes of worldly things that tend to consume our time and energy (e.g. entertainment, comforts, friends, vacations, sports, prestige, etc.) As a result, we think it is difficult to abide in Christ though we know that we should. That is where the pruning comes in. God, The Father, will remove some of these consuming items from our lives though they may be good things. If the good becomes the hindrance or enemy of the best, God, The Father, may take it away from us.

It is easy to get a mindset that you do not have enough time to do much abiding. Another activity cannot be added unless something is removed to make the time.

We are all encouraged to think on eternal things and not let the temporal things of this world consume us.

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Branch Life

HOW DO YOU ABIDE IN CHRIST?Unless a Christian disciplines his life, he will not be an Abider in Christ. The world system has

provided too many time consuming attractions to let us think that we can add anything to our overscheduled life. As a result, our churches are filled with carnal (lukewarm) Christians and lukewarm Christians make lukewarm churches which have become irrelevant to the community in which she is located!

The two major daily disciplines needed are personal Bible study and prayer. Both of these take time. Only when a Christian determines that these two disciplines warrant priority over some of the activities that consume him will he make the time to practice them.

Failure to practice these two daily disciplines will leave the Christian with the notion that he will have to serve Christ the best way that he can without giving up anything. But in the parable we are studying, Jesus says that that won't work. Specifically, He says, "Apart

from Me you can accomplish nothing!" The writer of this student manual will testify to the reality of Jesus' declaration. Christian carnality will only lead to frustration and lack of Joy!

Oh, we can do a lot in the flesh but it will have no lasting value and will certainly not be rewarded in heaven.

Though such activity may be encouraged by others, the resulting fatigue and lack of visible spiritual fruit causes one to want to quit.

There is no substitute for the exhilaration of being a spiritual fruit bearer and to be a fruit bearer, one must remain in Christ. The Vine provides the life sap (Holy Spirit) to energize the branch. The Vine is the fruit producer and the branch can be the fruit bearer; never will the branch be a fruit producer without the Spirit of the Vine.

Hearing from Him via His written word and talking to Him via prayer is how to Abide in Him.

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Branch Life

REMAIN and OBEY:Jesus instructs us to live like fruit bearing branches. Branches cannot leave the vine.

Branches are permanently attached to the vine unless someone removes them by pruning. We are never pruned away from Christ our Vine. Branches also are very responsive to the Vine; disobedience is not a Branch option. As Andrew Murray says in his book "Absolute Surrender", though we are engaged in work and family responsibilities with our brains all during the day, we

Abide in Christ with our heart so we have no cause to cease our abiding.

Since Jesus is God and is omniscience, He instructs us to be obedient. His commands are very beneficial to our life of Joy and is the grand plan for the salvation of mankind. To know what His commands are, we must study the Bible (His Word) and

meditate on scripture.We are the great benefactor of His love and

we are not to keep His love to ourselves.

Isn't it amazing that God loves us so much and wants to be our friends?

We have been rescued, loved,

empowered, and made friends to the God of the Universe! To maintain this divine fellowship, we are told to abide and obey.

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Branch Life

FIVE TRAITS OF ABIDING BRANCH LIFE:1. Absolute DependenceWe use photos of baby birds and baby humans to illustrate absolute dependence. Neither of

these will grow into maturity without the complete attention of their parents.Now that we have

become adults, however, we are capable of taking care of ourselves and we have been trained to do just that. When we were born-again, we have been taught to start depending upon another: Christ. This is probably the hardest lesson to learn and practice.

The Bible instructs us to "Lean not unto your own understanding but to trust God in all things and He will direct your

life." (Proverbs 3:5-6). An abiding branch does not have this choice as we do. In the case of real grapevines, separation from the vine means instant death unless grafted back into another vine.

2. Deep RestfulnessSheep do not like rough water. They much prefer still or restful water. We are sometime

referred to as His sheep and He being our Shepherd. As we learn to abide in Him, He promises to lead us to still water.

Frustration and fatigue are not supposed to hinder the Christian but often does when we draw away from our divine Vine.

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Branch Life

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Branch Life

3. Much FruitfulnessUnless grape branches bear grapes, they are pruned and burned! In our case, we are not

expected to bear grapes but we are told to bear Kingdom fruit, which are primarily other people. We each know people away from God that other Christians do not know.

We are specifically commanded to go and make Disciples of Christ and to teach them to Obey all that we have been taught. That is what a branch does. It bears fruit in obedience to the Vine. If it is a grape branch, try as it may, it cannot bear apples. Using this illustration, the branch cannot be choosy about which grapes it will bear. Neither are we to be choosy about who we are to make Disciples of Christ. The more we obey, the more fruitful we become and the more fulfilling our lives become.4. Close Communion

The word communion is a concoction of Common Union. Certainly branches are an excellent illustration of close communion. Jesus instructed His disciples to always remember what He has done for them each time they eat the bread representing His body and drink the fruit of the vine representing His life blood. This practice has now become one of the church ordinances. It

is a holy occasion to examine our heart for anything that would hinder our fellowship with Christ, confess it and repent. Jesus went on to say that we too should remember Him each time we partake of these elements.

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Branch Life

5. Absolute SurrenderSurrender is typically thought of as being cowardly. In the case of the Christian, absolute

surrender is giving up self and granting Jesus the throne of ruler-ship of our lives. We remain infant or carnal Christians until we come to the state of absolute surrender or Lordship of Christ.

Andrew Murray has written a book by this title and we highly recommend it for all Christians.

Frustrations and lack of real Joy are often the preceding symptoms of absolute surrender. Lack of Christian Discipleship results in new Christian's trying to live the Christian life by using their skills, and natural talents rather than trusting Christ with their life. This can be illustrated by a grape branch that has been separated from the vine. Such a branch can do nothing as far as effective Kingdom work is concerned.Conclusion:

Branch life is the life that our Heavenly Father intended for us to enjoy while waiting to join Him in heaven eternally. Too often, we think that we can handle our lives better ourselves while separated from Christ. Oh, how foolish we are.

We recommend that you read Andrew Murray's "Absolute Surrender", the last chapter on "Ye Are the Branches." This has been written by John Overton for Lost Sheep Ministries.

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