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Title: The True Vine: Meditations for a Month on John 15:1-16
Creator(s): Murray, Andrew
CCEL Subjects: All; Practical;
LC Call no: BS2615.4
LC Subjects:
The Bible
New Testament
Special parts of the New Testament
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THE TRUE VINE
Meditations for a Month
on John 15:1-16.....
By
Rev. Andrew Murray
"The mystery which hath been hid from ages, but now is made manifest
to His saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery...which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory."--Colossians 1.26,27
MOODY PRESS
CHICAGO
ONLY A BRANCH
"I am the vine, ye are the branches."--John 15.5
"Tis only a little Branch,
A thing so fragile and weak,
But that little Branch hath a message true
To give, could it only speak.
"I'm only a little Branch,
I live by a life not mine,
For the sap that flows through my tendrils small
Is the life-blood of the Vine.
"No power indeed have I
The fruit of myself to bear,
But since I'm part of the living Vine,
Its fruitfulness I share.
"Dost thou ask how I abide?
How this life I can maintain?--
I am bound to the Vine by life's strong band,
And I only need remain.
"Where first my life was given,
In the spot where I am set,
Upborne and upheld as the days go by,
By the stem which bears me yet.
"I fear not the days to come,
I dwell not upon the past,
As moment by moment I draw a life,
Which for evermore shall last.
"I bask in the sun's bright beams,
Which with sweetness fills my fruit,
Yet I own not the clusters hanging there,
For they all come from the root."
A life which is not my own,
But another's life in me:
This, this is the message the Branch would speak,
A message to thee and me.
Oh, struggle not to "abide,"
Nor labor to "bring forth fruit,"
But let Jesus unite thee to Himself,
As the Vine Branch to the root.
So simple, so deep, so strong
That union with Him shall be:
His life shall forever replace thine own,
And His love shall flow through thee.
For His Spirit's fruit is love,
And love shall thy life become,
And for evermore on His heart of love
Thy spirit shall have her home.
Freda Hanbury
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PREFACE
I have felt drawn to try to write what young Christians might easily
apprehend, as a help to them to take up that position in which the
Christian life must be a success. It is as if there is not one of the
principal temptations and failures of the Christian life that is not
met here. The nearness, the all-sufficiency, the faithfulness of the
Lord Jesus, the naturalness, the fruitfulness of a life of faith, are
so revealed, that it is as if one could with confidence say, Let the
parable enter into the heart, and all will be right.
May the blessed Lord give the blessing. May He teach us to study the
mystery of the Vine in the spirit of worship, waiting for God's own
teaching.
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CONTENTS
Preface
The Vine John 15:1
The Husbandman John 15:1
The Branch John 15:2
The Fruit John 15:2
More Fruit John 15:2
The Cleansing John 15:2
The Pruning Knife John 15:3
Abide John 15:4
Except Ye Abide John 15:4
I the Vine John 15:5
Ye the Branches John 15:5
Much Fruit John 15:5
You can do Nothing John 15:5
Withered Branches John 15:6
Whatsoever ye Will John 15:7
If ye Abide John 15:7
The Father Glorified John 15:8
True Disciples John 15:8
The Wonderful Love John 15:9
Abide in My Love John 15:9
Obey and Abide John 15:10
Ye, even as I John 15:10
Joy John 15:11
Love One Another John 15:12
Even as I have Loved You John 15:12
Christ's Friendship: Its Origin John 15:13
Christ's Friendship: Its Evidence John 15:14
Christ's Friendship: Its Intimacy John 15:15
Election John 15:16
Abiding Fruit John 15:16
Prevailing Prayer John 15:16
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THE VINE
I am the True Vine--John 15.1
All earthly things are the shadows of heavenly realities--the
expression, in created, visible forms, of the invisible glory of God.
The Life and the Truth are in Heaven; on earth we have figures and
shadows of the heavenly truths. When Jesus says: "I am the true Vine,"
He tells us that all the vines of earth are pictures and emblems of
Himself. He is the divine reality, of which they are the created
expression. They all point to Him, and preach Him, and reveal Him. If
you would know Jesus, study the vine.
How many eyes have gazed on and admired a great vine with its
beautiful fruit. Come and gaze on the heavenly Vine till your eye
turns from all else to admire Him. How many, in a sunny clime, sit and
rest under the shadow of a vine. Come and be still under the shadow of
the true Vine, and rest under it from the heat of the day. What
countless numbers rejoice in the fruit of the vine! Come, and take,
and eat of the heavenly fruit of the true Vine, and let your soul say:
"I sat under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to
my taste."
I am the true Vine.--This is a heavenly mystery. The earthly vine can
teach you much about this Vine of Heaven. Many interesting and
beautiful points of comparison suggest themselves, and help us to get
conceptions of what Christ meant. But such thoughts do not teach us to
know what the heavenly Vine really is, in its cooling shade, and its
life-giving fruit. The experience of this is part of the hidden
mystery, which none but Jesus Himself, by His Holy Spirit, can unfold
and impart.
I am the true Vine.--The vine is the living Lord, who Himself speaks,
and gives, and works all that He has for us. If you would know the
meaning and power of that word, do not think to find it by thought or
study; these may help to show you what you must get from Him to awaken
desire and hope and prayer, but they cannot show you the Vine. Jesus
alone can reveal Himself. He gives His Holy Spirit to open the eyes to
gaze upon Himself, to open the heart to receive Himself. He must
Himself speak the word to you and me.
I am the true Vine.--And what am I to do, if I want the mystery, in
all its heavenly beauty and blessing, opened up to me? With what you
already know of the parable, bow down and be still, worship and wait,
until the divine Word enters your heart, and you feel His holy
presence with you, and in you. The overshadowing of His holy love will
give you the perfect calm and rest of knowing that the Vine will do
all.
I am the true Vine.--He who speaks is God, in His infinite power able
to enter into us. He is man, one with us. He is the crucified One, who
won a perfect righteousness and a divine life for us through His
death. He is the glorified One, who from the throne gives His Spirit
to make His presence real and true. He speaks--oh, listen, not to His
words only, but to Himself, as He whispers secretly day by day: "I am
the true Vine! All that the Vine can ever be to its branch, "I will be
to you."
Holy Lord Jesus, the heavenly Vine of God's own planting, I beseech
Thee, reveal Thyself to my soul. Let the Holy Spirit, not only in
thought, but in experience, give me to know all that Thou, the Son of
God, art to me as the true Vine.
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THE HUSBANDMAN
And My Father is the Husbandman--John 15.1
A vine must have a husbandman to plant and watch over it, to receive
and rejoice in its fruit. Jesus says: "My Father is the husbandman."
He was "the vine of God's planting." All He was and did, He owed to
the Father; in all He only sought the Father's will and glory. He had
become man to show us what a creature ought to be to its Creator. He
took our place, and the spirit of His life before the Father was ever
what He seeks to make ours: "Of him, and through him, and to him are
all things." He became the true Vine, that we might be true branches.
Both in regard to Christ and ourselves the words teach us the two
lessons of absolute dependence and perfect confidence.
My Father is the Husbandman.--Christ ever lived in the spirit of what
He once said: "The Son can do nothing of himself." As dependent as a
vine is on a husbandman for the place where it is to grow, for its
fencing in and watering and pruning. Christ felt Himself entirely
dependent on the Father every day for the wisdom and the strength to
do the Father's will. As He said in the previous chapter (14:10): "The
words that I say unto you, I speak not from Myself; but the Father
abiding in Me doeth his works." This absolute dependence had as its
blessed counterpart the most blessed confidence that He had nothing to
fear: the Father could not disappoint Him. With such a Husbandman as
His Father, He could enter death and the grave. He could trust God to
raise Him up. All that Christ is and has, He has, not in Himself, but
from the Father.
My Father is the Husbandman.--That is as blessedly true for us as for
Christ. Christ is about to teach His disciples about their being
branches. Before He ever uses the word, or speaks at all of abiding in
Him or bearing fruit, He turns their eyes heavenward to the Father
watching over them, and working all in them. At the very root of all
Christian life lies the thought that God is to do all, that our work
is to give and leave ourselves in His hands, in the confession of
utter helplessness and dependence, in the assured confidence that He
gives all we need. The great lack of the Christian life is that, even
where we trust Christ, we leave God out of the count. Christ came to
bring us to God. Christ lived the life of a man exactly as we have to
live it. Christ the Vine points to God the Husbandman. As He trusted
God, let us trust God, that everything we ought to be and have, as
those who belong to the Vine, will be given us from above.
Isaiah said: "A vineyard of red wine; I the Lord do keep it, I will
water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and
day." Ere we begin to think of fruit or branches, let us have our
heart filled with the faith: as glorious as the Vine, is the
Husbandman. As high and holy as is our calling, so mighty and loving
is the God who will work it all. As surely as the Husbandman made the
Vine what it was to be, will He make each branch what it is to be. Our
Father is our Husbandman, the Surety for our growth and fruit.
Blessed Father, we are Thy husbandry. Oh, that Thou mayest have honor
of the work of Thy hands! O my Father, I desire to open my heart to
the joy of this wondrous truth: My Father is the Husbandman. Teach me
to know and trust Thee, and to see that the same deep interest with
which Thou caredst for and delightedst in the Vine, extends to every
branch, to me too.
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THE BRANCH
Every Branch in me that Beareth Not Fruit, He taketh It away--John
15.2
Here we have one of the chief words of the parable--branch. A vine
needs branches: without branches it can do nothing, can bear no fruit.
As important as it is to know about the Vine, and the Husbandman, it
is to realize what the branch is. Before we listen to what Christ has
to say about it, let us first of all take in what a branch is, and
what it teaches us of our life in Christ. A branch is simply a bit of
wood, brought forth by the vine for the one purpose of serving it in
bearing its fruit. It is of the very same nature as the vine, and has
one life and one spirit with it. Just think a moment of the lessons
this suggests.
There is the lesson of entire consecration. The branch has but one
object for which it exists, one purpose to which it is entirely given
up. That is, to bear the fruit the vine wishes to bring forth. And so
the believer has but one reason for his being a branch--but one reason
for his existence on earth --that the heavenly Vine may through him
bring forth His fruit. Happy the soul that knows this, that has
consented to it, and that says, I have been redeemed and I live for
one thing--as exclusively as the natural branch exists only to bring
forth fruit, I too; as exclusively as the heavenly Vine exists to
bring forth fruit, I too. As I have been planted by God into Christ, I
have wholly given myself to bear the fruit the Vine desires to bring
forth.
There is the lesson of perfect conformity. The branch is exactly like
the vine in every aspect--the same nature, the same life, the same
place, the same work. In all this they are inseparably one. And so the
believer needs to know that he is partaker of the divine nature, and
has the very nature and spirit of Christ in him, and that his one
calling is to yield himself to a perfect conformity to Christ. The
branch is a perfect likeness of the vine; the only difference is, the
one is great and strong, and the source of strength, the other little
and feeble, ever needing and receiving strength. Even so the believer
is, and is to be, the perfect likeness of Christ.
There is the lesson of absolute dependence. The vine has its stores of
life and sap and strength, not for itself, but for the branches. The
branches are and have nothing but what the vine provides and imparts.
The believer is called to, and it is his highest blessedness to enter
upon, a life of entire and unceasing dependence upon Christ. Day and
night, every moment, Christ is to work in him all he needs.
And then the lesson of undoubting confidence. The branch has no cure;
the vine provides all; it has but to yield itself and receive. It is
the sight of this truth that leads to the blessed rest of faith, the
true secret of growth and strength: "I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me."
What a life would come to us if we only consented to be branches! Dear
child of God, learn the lesson. You have but one thing to do: Only be
a branch--nothing more, nothing less! Just be a branch; Christ will be
the Vine that gives all. And the Husbandman, the mighty God, who made
the Vine what it is, will as surely make the branch what it ought to
be.
Lord Jesus, I pray Thee, reveal to me the heavenly mystery of the
branch, in its living union with the Vine, in its claim on all its
fullness. And let Thy all-sufficiency, holding and filling Thy
branches, lead me to the rest of faith that knows that Thou workest
all.
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THE FRUIT
Every Branch in me That Beareth Not Fruit, He Taketh It Away--John
15.2
Fruit.--This is the next great word we have: the Vine, the Husbandman,
the branch, the fruit. What has our Lord to say to us of fruit? Simply
this--that fruit is the one thing the branch is for, and that if it
bear not fruit, the husbandman takes it away. The vine is the glory of
the husbandman; the branch is the glory of the vine; the fruit is the
glory of the branch; if the branch bring not forth fruit, there is no
glory or worth in it; it is an offense and a hindrance; the husbandman
takes it away. The one reason for the existence of a branch, the one
mark of being a true branch of the heavenly Vine, the one condition of
being allowed by the divine Husbandman to share the life the Vine
is--bearing fruit.
And what is fruit? Something that the branch bears, not for itself,
but for its owner; something that is to be gathered, and taken away.
The branch does indeed receive it from the vine sap for its own life,
by which it grows thicker and stronger. But this supply for its own
maintenance is entirely subordinate to its fulfillment of the purpose
of its existence--bearing fruit. It is because Christians do not
understand or accept of this truth, that they so fail in their efforts
and prayers to live the branch life. They often desire it very
earnestly; they read and meditate and pray, and yet they fail, they
wonder why? The reason is very simple: they do not know that
fruit-bearing is the one thing they have been saved for. Just as
entirely as Christ became the true Vine with the one object, you have
been made a branch too, with the one object of bearing fruit for the
salvation of men. The Vine and the branch are equally under the
unchangeable law of fruit-bearing as the one reason of their being.
Christ and the believer, the heavenly Vine and the branch, have
equally their place in the world exclusively for one purpose, to carry
God's saving love to men. Hence the solemn word: Every branch that
beareth not fruit, He taketh it away.
Let us specially beware of one great mistake. Many Christians think
their own salvation is the first thing; their temporal life and
prosperity, with the care of their family, the second; and what of
time and interest is left may be devoted to fruit-bearing, to the
saving of men. No wonder that in most cases very little time or
interest can be found. No, Christian, the one object with which you
have been made a member of Christ's Body is that the Head may have you
to carry out His saving work. The one object God had in making you a
branch is that Christ may through you bring life to men. Your personal
salvation, your business and care for your family, are entirely
subordinate to this. Your first aim in life, your first aim every day,
should be to know how Christ desires to carry out His purpose in you.
Let us begin to think as God thinks. Let us accept Christ's teaching
and respond to it. The one object of my being a branch, the one mark
of my being a true branch, the one condition of my abiding and growing
strong, is that I bear the fruit of the heavenly Vine for dying men to
eat and live. And the one thing of which I can have the most perfect
assurance is that, with Christ as my Vine, and the Father as my
Husbandman, I can indeed be a fruitful branch.
Our Father, Thou comest seeking fruit. Teach us, we pray Thee, to
realize how truly this is the one object of our existence, and of our
union to Christ. Make it the one desire of our hearts to be branches,
so filled with the Spirit of the Vine, as to bring forth fruit
abundantly.
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MORE FRUIT
And Every Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Cleanseth, That it May Bear
More Fruit--John 15.2
The thought of fruit is so prominent in the eye of Him who sees things
as they are, fruit is so truly the one thing God has set His heart
upon, that our Lord, after having said that the branch that bears no
fruit is taken away, at once adds: and where there is fruit, the one
desire of the Husbandman is more fruit. As the gift of His grace, as
the token of spiritual vigor, as the showing forth of the glory of God
and of Christ, as the only way for satisfying the need of the world,
God longs and fits for, more fruit.
More Fruit--This is a very searching word. As churches and individuals
we are in danger of nothing so much as self-contentment. The secret
spirit of Laodicea--we are rich and increased in goods, and have need
of nothing--may prevail where it is not suspected. The divine
warning--poor and wretched and miserable--finds little response just
where it is most needed.
Let us not rest content with the thought that we are taking an equal
share with others in the work that is being done, or that men are
satisfied with our efforts in Christ's service, or even point to us as
examples. Let our only desire be to know whether we are bearing all
the fruit Christ is willing to give through us as living branches, in
close and living union with Himself, whether we are satisfying the
loving heart of the great Husbandman, our Father in Heaven, in His
desire for more fruit.
More Fruit--The word comes with divine authority to search and test
our life: the true disciple will heartily surrender himself to its
holy light, and will earnestly ask that God Himself may show what
there may be lacking in the measure or the character of the fruit he
bears. Do let us believe that the Word is meant to lead us on to a
fuller experience of the Father's purpose of love, of Christ's
fullness, and of the wonderful privilege of bearing much fruit in the
salvation of men.
More Fruit--The word is a most encouraging one. Let us listen to it.
It is just to the branch that is bearing fruit that the message comes:
more fruit. God does not demand this as Pharaoh the task-master, or as
Moses the lawgiver, without providing the means. He comes as a Father,
who gives what He asks, and works what He commands. He comes to us as
the living branches of the living Vine, and offers to work the more
fruit in us, if we but yield ourselves into His hands. Shall we not
admit the claim, accept the offer, and look to Him to work it in us?
"That it may bear more fruit": do let us believe that as the owner of
a vine does everything to make the fruitage as rich and large as
possible, the divine Husbandman will do all that is needed to make us
bear more fruit. All He asks is, that we set our heart's desire on it,
entrust ourselves to His working and care, and joyfully look to Him to
do His perfect work in us. God has set His heart on more fruit; Christ
waits to work it in us; let us joyfully look up to our divine
Husbandman and our heavenly Vine, to ensure our bearing more fruit.
Our Father which art in Heaven, Thou art the heavenly Husbandman. And
Christ is the heavenly Vine. And I am a heavenly branch, partaker of
His heavenly life, to bear His heavenly fruit. Father, let the power
of His life so fill me, that I may ever bear more fruit, to the glory
of Thy name.
THE CLEANSING
Every Branch That Beareth Fruit, He Cleanseth It, That It May Bear
More Fruit--John 15.2
There are two remarkable things about the vine. There is not a plant
of which the fruit has so much spirit in it, of which spirit can be so
abundantly distilled as the vine. And there is not a plant which so
soon runs into wild wood, that hinders its fruit, and therefore needs
the most merciless pruning. I look out of my window here on large
vineyards: the chief care of the vinedresser is the pruning. You may
have a trellis vine rooting so deep in good soil that it needs neither
digging, nor manuring, nor watering: pruning it cannot dispense with,
if it is to bear good fruit. Some tree needs occasional pruning;
others bear perfect fruit without any: the vine must have it. And so
our Lord tells us, here at the very outset of the parable, that the
one work the Father does to the branch that bears fruit is: He
cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.
Consider a moment what this pruning or cleansing is. It is not the
removal of weeds or thorns, or anything from without that may hinder
the growth. No; it is the cutting off of the long shoots of the
previous year, the removal of something that comes from within, that
has been produced by the life of the vine itself. It is the removal of
something that is a proof of the vigor of its life; the more vigorous
the growth has been, the greater the need for the pruning. It is the
honest, healthy wood of the vine that has to be cut away. And why?
Because it would consume too much of the sap to fill all the long
shoots of last year's growth: the sap must be saved up and used for
fruit alone. The branches, sometimes eight and ten feet long, are cut
down close to the stem, and nothing is left but just one or two inches
of wood, enough to bear the grapes. It is when everything that is not
needful for fruit-bearing has been relentlessly cut down, and just as
little of the branches as possible has been left, that full, rich
fruit may be expected.
What a solemn, precious lesson! It is not to sin only that the
cleansing of the Husbandman here refers. It is to our own religious
activity, as it is developed in the very act of bearing fruit. It is
this that must be cut down and cleansed away. We have, in working for
God, to use our natural gifts of wisdom, or eloquence, or influence,
or zeal. And yet they are ever in danger of being unduly developed,
and then trusted in. And so, after each season of work, God has to
bring us to the end of ourselves, to the consciousness of the
helplessness and the danger of all that is of man, to feel that we are
nothing. All that is to be left of us is just enough to receive the
power of the life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit. What is of man must
be reduced to its very lowest measure. All that is inconsistent with
the most entire devotion to Christ's service must be removed. The more
perfect the cleansing and cutting away of all that is of self, the
less of surface over which the Holy Spirit is to be spread, so much
the more intense can be the concentration of our whole being, to be
entirely at the disposal of the Spirit. This is the true circumcision
of the heart, the circumcision of Christ. This is the true crucifixion
with Christ, bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus in the body.
Blessed cleansing, God's own cleansing! How we may rejoice in the
assurance that we shall bring forth more fruit.
O our holy Husbandman, cleanse and cut away all that there is in us
that would make a fair show, or could become a source of
self-confidence and glorying. Lord, keep us very low, that no flesh
may glory in Thy presence. We do trust Thee to do Thy work.
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THE PRUNING KNIFE
Already Ye Are Clean Because of the Word I Have Spoken Unto You--John
15.3
What is the pruning knife of this heavenly Husbandman? It is often
said to be affliction. By no means in the first place. How would it
then fare with many who have long seasons free from adversity; or with
some on whom God appears to shower down kindness all their life long?
No; it is the Word of God that is the knife, shaper than any two-edged
sword, that pierces even to the dividing asunder of the soul and
spirit, and is quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
It is only when affliction leads to this discipline of the Word that
it becomes a blessing; the lack of this heart-cleansing through the
Word is the reason why affliction is so often unsanctified. Not even
Paul's thorn in the flesh could become a blessing until Christ's
Word--"My strength is made perfect in weakness"--had made him see the
danger of self-exaltation, and made him willing to rejoice in
infirmities.
The Word of God's pruning knife. Jesus says: "Ye are already clean,
because of the word I have spoken unto you." How searchingly that word
had been spoken by Him, out of whose mouth there went a sharp
two-edged sword, as he had taught them! "Except a man deny himself,
lose his life, forsake all, hate father and mother, he cannot be My
disciple, he is not worthy of Me"; or as He humbled their pride, or
reproved their lack of love, or foretold their all forsaking Him. From
the opening of His ministry in the Sermon on the Mount to His words of
warning in the last night, His Word had tried and cleansed them. He
had discovered and condemned all there was of self; they were now
emptied and cleansed, ready for the incoming of the Holy Spirit.
It is as the soul gives up its own thoughts, and men's thoughts of
what is religion, and yields itself heartily, humbly, patiently, to
the teaching of the Word by the Spirit, that the Father will do His
blessed work of pruning and cleansing away all of nature and self that
mixes with our work and hinders His Spirit. Let those who would know
all the Husbandman can do for them, all the Vine can bring forth
through them, seek earnestly to yield themselves heartily to the
blessed cleansing through the Word. Let them, in their study of the
Word, receive it as a hammer that breaks and opens up, as a fire that
melts and refines, as a sword that lays bare and slays all that is of
the flesh. The word of conviction will prepare for the word of comfort
and of hope, and the Father will cleanse them through the Word.
All ye who are branches of the true Vine, each time you read or hear
the Word, wait first of all on Him to use it for His cleansing of the
branch. Set your heart upon His desire for more fruit. Trust Him as
Husbandman to work it. Yield yourselves in simple childlike surrender
to the cleansing work of His Word and Spirit, and you may count upon
it that His purpose will be fulfilled in you.
Father, I pray Thee, cleanse me through Thy Word. Let it search out
and bring to light all that is of self and the flesh in my religion.
Let it cut away every root of self-confidence, that the Vine may find
me wholly free to receive His life and Spirit. O my holy Husbandman, I
trust Thee to care for the branch as much as for the Vine. Thou only
art my hope.
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ABIDE
Abide in Me, and I in You--John 15.4
When a new graft is placed in a vine and it abides there, there is a
twofold process that takes place. The first is in the wood. The graft
shoots its little roots and fibers down into the stem, and the stem
grows up into the graft, and what has been called the structural union
is effected. The graft abides and becomes one with the vine, and even
though the vine were to die, would still be one wood with it. Then
there is the second process, in which the sap of the vine enters the
new structure, and uses it as a passage through which sap can flow up
to show itself in young shoots and leaves and fruit. Here is the vital
union. Into the graft which abides in the stock, the stock enters with
sap to abide in it.
When our Lord says: "Abide in me, and I in you," He points to
something analogous to this. "Abide in me": that refers more to that
which we have to do. We have to trust and obey, to detach ourselves
from all else, to reach out after Him and cling to Him, to sink
ourselves into Him. As we do this, through the grace He gives, a
character is formed, and a heart prepared for the fuller experience:
"I in you," God strengthens us with might by the Spirit in the inner
man, and Christ dwells in the heart by faith.
Many believers pray and long very earnestly for the filling of the
Spirit and the indwelling of Christ, and wonder that they do not make
more progress. The reason is often this, the "I in you" cannot come
because the "abide in me" is not maintained. "There is one body and
one spirit"; before the Spirit can fill, there must be a body
prepared. The graft must have grown into the stem, and be abiding in
it before the sap can flow through to bring forth fruit. It is as in
lowly obedience we follow Christ, even in external things, denying
ourselves, forsaking the world, and even in the body seeking to be
conformable to Him, as we thus seek to abide in Him, that we shall be
able to receive and enjoy the "I in you." The work enjoined on us:
"Abide in me," will prepare us for the work undertaken by Him: "I in
you."
In--The two parts of the injunction have their unity in that central
deep-meaning word "in." There is no deeper word in Scripture. God is
in all. God dwells in Christ. Christ lives in God. We are in Christ.
Christ is in us: our life taken up into His; His life received into
ours; in a divine reality that words cannot express, we are in Him and
He in us. And the words, "Abide in me and I in you," just tell us to
believe it, this divine mystery, and to count upon our God the
Husbandman, and Christ the Vine, to make it divinely true. No thinking
or teaching or praying can grasp it; it is a divine mystery of love.
As little as we can effect the union can we understand it. Let us just
look upon this infinite, divine, omnipotent Vine loving us, holding
us, working in us. Let us in the faith of His working abide and rest
in Him, ever turning heart and hope to Him alone. And let us count
upon Him to fulfill in us the mystery: "Ye in me, and I in you."
Blessed Lord, Thou dost bid me abide in Thee. How can I, Lord, except
Thou show Thyself to me, waiting to receive and welcome and keep me? I
pray Thee show me how Thou as Vine undertaketh to do all. To be
occupied with Thee is to abide in Thee. Here I am, Lord, a branch,
cleansed and abiding--resting in Thee, and awaiting the inflow of Thy
life and grace.
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EXCEPT YE ABIDE
As the Branch Cannot Bear Fruit of Itself, Except It Abide In the
Vine; No More Can Ye, Except Ye Abide in Me--John 15.4
We know the meaning of the word except. It expresses some
indispensable condition, some inevitable law. "The branch cannot bear
fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. No more can ye, except
ye abide in me." There is but one way for the branch to bear fruit,
there is no other possibility, it must abide in unbroken communion
with the vine. Not of itself, but only of the vine, does the fruit
come. Christ had already said: "Abide in me"; in nature the branch
teaches us the lesson so clearly; it is such a wonderful privilege to
be called and allowed to abide in the heavenly Vine; one might have
thought it needless to add these words of warning. But no--Christ
knows so well what a renunciation of self is implied in this: "Abide
in me"; how strong and universal the tendency would be to seek to bear
fruit by our own efforts; how difficult it would be to get us to
believe that actual, continuous abiding in Him is an absolute
necessity! He insists upon the truth: Not of itself can the branch
bear fruit; except it abide, it cannot bear fruit. "No more can ye,
except ye abide in me."
But must this be taken literally? Must I, as exclusively, and
manifestly, and unceasingly, and absolutely, as the branch abides in
the vine, be equally given up to find my whole life in Christ alone? I
must indeed. The except ye abide is as universal as the except it
abide. The no more can ye admits of no exception or modification. If I
am to be a true branch, if I am to bear fruit, if I am to be what
Christ as Vine wants me to be, my whole existence must be as
exclusively devoted to abiding in Him, as that of the natural branch
is to abiding in its vine.
Let me learn the lesson. Abiding is to be an act of the will and the
whole heart. Just as there are degrees in seeking and serving God,
"not with a perfect heart," or "with the whole heart," so there may be
degrees in abiding. In regeneration the divine life enters us, but
does not all at once master and fill our whole being. This comes as
matter of command and obedience. There is unspeakable danger of our
not giving ourselves with our whole heart to abide. There is
unspeakable danger of our giving ourselves to work for God, and to
bear fruit, with but little of the true abiding, the wholehearted
losing of ourselves in Christ and His life. There is unspeakable
danger of much work with but little fruit, for lack of this one thing
needful. We must allow the words, "not of itself," "except it abide,"
to do their work of searching and exposing, of pruning and cleansing,
all that there is of self-will and self-confidence in our life; this
will deliver us from this great evil, and so prepare us for His
teaching, giving the full meaning of the word in us: "Abide in me, and
I in you."
Our blessed Lord desires to call us away from ourselves and our own
strength, to Himself and His strength. Let us accept the warning, and
turn with great fear and self-distrust to Him to do His work. "Our
life is hid with Christ in God!" That life is a heavenly mystery, hid
from the wise even among Christians, and revealed unto babes. The
childlike spirit learns that life is given from Heaven every day and
every moment to the soul that accepts the teaching: "not of itself,"
"except it abide," and seeks its all in the Vine. Abiding in the Vine
then comes to be nothing more nor less than the restful surrender of
the soul to let Christ have all and work all, as completely as in
nature the branch knows and seeks nothing but the vine.
Abide in Me. I have heard, my Lord, that with every command, Thou also
givest the power to obey. With Thy "rise and walk," the lame man
leaped, I accept Thy word, "Abide in me," as a word of power, that
gives power, and even now I say, Yea, Lord, I will, I do abide in
Thee.
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THE VINE
I am The Vine, Ye Are The Branches--John 15.5
In the previous verse Christ had just said: "Abide in me." He had then
announced the great unalterable law of all branch-life, on earth or in
Heaven: "not of itself"; "except it abide." In the opening words of
the parable He had already spoken: "I am the vine." He now repeats the
words. He would have us understand--note well the lesson, simple as it
appears, it is the key of the abiding life--that the only way to obey
the command, "Abide in me," is to have eye and heart fixed upon
Himself. "Abide in me...I am the true vine." Yea, study this holy
mystery until you see Christ as the true Vine, bearing, strengthening,
supplying, inspiring all His branches, being and doing in each branch
all it needs, and the abiding will come of itself. Yes, gaze upon Him
as the true Vine, until you feel what a heavenly Mystery it is, and
are compelled to ask the Father to reveal it to you by His Holy
Spirit. He to whom God reveals the glory of the true Vine, he who sees
what Jesus is and waits to do every moment, he cannot but abide. The
vision of Christ is an irresistible attraction; it draws and holds us
like a magnet. Listen ever to the living Christ still speaking to you,
and waiting to show you the meaning and power of His Word: "I am the
vine."
How much weary labor there has been in striving to understand what
abiding is, how much fruitless effort in trying to attain it! Why was
this? Because the attention was turned to the abiding as a work we
have to do, instead of the living Christ, in whom we were to be kept
abiding, who Himself was to hold and keep us. we thought of abiding as
a continual strain and effort--we forget that it means rest from
effort to one who has found the place of his abode. Do notice how
Christ said, "Abide in Me; I am the Vine that brings forth, and holds,
and strengthens, and makes fruitful the branches. Abide in Me, rest in
Me, and let Me do My work. I am the true Vine, all I am, and speak,
and do is divine truth, giving the actual reality of what is said. I
am the Vine, only consent and yield thy all to Me, I will do all in
thee."
And so it sometimes comes that souls who have never been specially
occupied with the thought of abiding, are abiding all the time,
because they are occupied with Christ. Not that the word abide is not
needful; Christ used it so often, because it is the very key to the
Christian life. But He would have us understand it in its true
sense--"Come out of every other place, and every other trust and
occupation, come out of self with its reasonings and efforts, come and
rest in what I shall do. Live out of thyself; abide in Me. Know that
thou art in Me; thou needest no more; remain there in Me."
"I am the Vine." Christ did not keep this mystery hidden from His
disciples. He revealed it, first in words here, then in power when the
Holy Spirit came down. He will reveal it to us too, first in the
thoughts and confessions and desires these words awaken, then in power
by the Spirit. Do let us wait on Him to show us all the heavenly
meaning of the mystery. Let each day, in our quiet time, in the inner
chamber with Him and His Word, our chief thought and aim be to get the
heart fixed on Him, in the assurance: all that a vine ever can do for
its branches, my Lord Jesus will do, is doing, for me. Give Him time,
give Him your ear, that He may whisper and explain the divine secret:
"I am the vine."
Above all, remember, Christ is the Vine of God's planting, and you are
a branch of God's grafting. Ever stand before God, in Christ; ever
wait for all grace from God, in Christ; ever yield yourself to bear
the more fruit the Husbandman asks, in Christ. And pray much for the
revelation of the mystery that all the love and power of God that
rested on Christ is working in you too. "I am God's Vine," Jesus says;
"all I am I have from Him; all I am is for you; God will work it in
you."
I am the Vine. Blessed Lord, speak Thou that word into my soul. Then
shall I know that all Thy fullness is for me. And that I can count
upon Thee to stream it into me, and that my abiding is so easy and so
sure when I forget and lose myself in the adoring faith that the Vine
holds the branch and supplies its every need.
_________________________________________________________________
YE THE BRANCHES
I Am The Vine, Ye Are the Branches--John 15.5
Christ had already said much of the branch; here He comes to the
personal application: "Ye are the branches of whom I have been
speaking. As I am the Vine, engaged to be and do all the branches
need, so I now ask you, in the new dispensation of the Holy Spirit
whom I have been promising you, to accept the place I give you, and to
be My branches on earth." The relationship He seeks to establish is an
intensely personal one: it all hinges on the two little words I and
You. And it is for us as intensely personal as for the first
disciples. Let us present ourselves before our Lord, until He speak to
each of us in power, and our whole soul feels it: "I am the Vine; you
are the branch."
Dear disciple of Jesus, however young or feeble, hear the voice. "You
are the branch." You must be nothing less. Let no false humility, no
carnal fear of sacrifice, no unbelieving doubts as to what you feel
able for, keep you back from saying: "I will be a branch, with all
that may mean--a branch, very feeble, but yet as like the Vine as can
be, for I am of the same nature, and receive of the same spirit. A
branch, utterly helpless, and yet just as manifestly set apart before
God and men, as wholly given up to the work of bearing fruit, as the
Vine itself. A branch, nothing in myself, and yet resting and
rejoicing in the faith that knows that He will provide for all. Yes,
by His grace, I will be nothing less than a branch, and all He means
it to be, that through me, He may bring forth His fruit."
You are the branch.--You need be nothing more. You need not for one
single moment of the day take upon you the responsibility of the Vine.
You need not leave the place of entire dependence and unbounded
confidence. You need, least of all, to be anxious as to how you are to
understand the mystery, or fulfill its conditions, or work out its
blessed aim. The Vine will give all and work all. The Father, the
Husbandman, watches over your union with and growth in the Vine. You
need be nothing more than a branch. Only a branch! Let that be your
watchword; it will lead in the path of continual surrender to Christ's
working, of true obedience to His every command, of joyful expectancy
of all His grace.
Is there anyone who now asks: "How can I learn to say this aright,
`Only be a branch!' and to live it out?" Dear soul, the character of a
branch, its strength, and the fruit it bears, depend entirely upon the
Vine. And your life as branch depends entirely upon your apprehension
of what our Lord Jesus is. Therefore never separate the two words: "I
the Vine--you the branch." Your life and strength and fruit depend
upon what your Lord Jesus is! Therefore worship and trust Him; let Him
be your one desire and the one occupation of your heart. And when you
feel that you do not and cannot know Him aright, then just remember it
is part of His responsibility as Vine to make Himself known to you. He
does this not in thoughts and conceptions--no--but in a hidden growth
within the life that is humbly and restfully and entirely given up to
wait on Him. The Vine reveals itself within the branch; thence comes
the growth and fruit, Christ dwells and works within His branch; only
be a branch, waiting on Him to do all; He will be to thee the true
Vine. The Father Himself, the divine Husbandman, is able to make thee
a branch worthy of the heavenly Vine. Thou shalt not be disappointed.
Ye are the branches. This word, too Lord! O speak it in power unto my
soul. Let not the branch of the earthly vine put me to shame, but as
it only lives to bear the fruit of the vine, may my life on earth have
no wish or aim, but to let Thee bring forth fruit through me.
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MUCH FRUIT
He That Abideth in Me, and I in Him, the Same Bringeth Forth Much
Fruit--John 15.5
Our Lord had spoken of fruit, more fruit. He now adds the thought:
much fruit. There is in the Vine such fullness, the care of the divine
Husbandman is so sure of success, that the much fruit is not a demand,
but the simple promise of what must come to the branch that lives in
the double abiding--he in Christ, and Christ in him. "The same
bringeth forth much fruit." It is certain.
Have you ever noticed the difference in the Christian life between
work and fruit? A machine can do work: only life can bear fruit. A law
can compel work: only love can spontaneously bring forth fruit. Work
implies effort and labor: the essential idea of fruit is that it is
the silent natural restful produce of our inner life. The gardener may
labor to give his apple tree the digging and manuring, the watering
and the pruning it needs; he can do nothing to produce the apple: "The
fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy." The healthy life bears much
fruit. The connection between work and fruit is perhaps best seen in
the expression, "fruitful in every good work." (Col. 1.10). It is only
when good works come as the fruit of the indwelling Spirit that they
are acceptable to God. Under the compulsion of law and conscience, or
the influence of inclination and zeal, men may be most diligent in
good works, and yet find that they have but little spiritual result.
There can be no reason but this--their works are man's effort, instead
of being the fruit of the Spirit, the restful, natural outcome of the
Spirit's operation within us.
Let all workers come and listen to our holy Vine as He reveals the law
of sure and abundant fruitfulness: "He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit." The gardener cares for one
thing--the strength and healthy life of his tree: the fruit follows of
itself. If you would bear fruit, see that the inner life is perfectly
right, that your relation to Christ Jesus is clear and close. Begin
each day with Him in the morning, to know in truth that you are
abiding in Him and He in you. Christ tells that nothing less will do.
It is not your willing and running, it is not by your might or
strength, but--"by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Meet each new
engagement, undertake every new work, with an ear and heart open to
the Master's voice: "He that abideth in me, beareth much fruit." See
you to the abiding; He will see to the fruit, for He will give it in
you and through you.
O my brother, it is Christ must do all! The Vine provides the sap, and
the life, and the strength: the branch waits, and rests, and receives,
and bears the fruit. Oh, the blessedness of being only branches,
through whom the Spirit flows and brings God's life to men!
I pray you, take time and ask the Holy Spirit to give you to realize
the unspeakably solemn place you occupy in the mind of God. He has
planted you into His Son with the calling and the power to bear much
fruit. Accept that place. Look much to God, and to Christ, and expect
joyfully to be what God has planned to make you, a fruitful branch.
Much fruit! So be it, blessed Lord Jesus. It can be, for Thou art the
Vine. It shall be, for I am abiding in Thee. It must be, for Thy
Father is the Husbandman that cleanses the branch. Yea, much fruit,
out of the abundance of Thy grace.
_________________________________________________________________
YOU CAN DO NOTHING
Apart From Me Ye Can Do Nothing--John 15.5
In everything the life of the branch is to be the exact counterpart of
that of the Vine. Of Himself Jesus had said: "The Son can do nothing
of himself." As the outcome of that entire dependence, He could add:
"All that the Father doeth, doeth the Son also likewise." As Son He
did not receive His life from the Father once for all, but moment by
moment. His life was a continual waiting on the Father for all He was
to do. And so Christ says of His disciples: "Ye can do nothing apart
from me." He means it literally. To everyone who wants to live the
true disciple life, to bring forth fruit and glorify God, the message
comes: You can do nothing. What had been said: "He that abideth in me,
and I in him, the same beareth much fruit," is here enforced by the
simplest and strongest of arguments: "Abiding in Me is indispensable,
for, you know it, of yourselves you can do nothing to maintain or act
out the heavenly life."
A deep conviction of the truth of this word lies at the very root of a
strong spiritual life. As little as I created myself, as little as I
could raise a man from the dead, can I give myself the divine life. As
little as I can give it myself, can I maintain or increase it: every
motion is the work of God through Christ and His Spirit. It is as a
man believes this, that he will take up that position of entire and
continual dependence which is the very essence of the life of faith.
With the spiritual eye he sees Christ every moment supplying grace for
every breathing and every deepening of the spiritual life. His whole
heart says Amen to the word: You can do nothing. And just because he
does so, he can also say: "I can do all things in Christ who
strengtheneth me." The sense of helplessness, and the abiding to which
it compels, leads to true fruitfulness and diligence in good works.
Apart from me ye can do nothing.--What a plea and what a call every
moment to abide in Christ! We have only to go back to the vine to see
how true it is. Look again at that little branch, utterly helpless and
fruitless except as it receives sap from the vine, and learn that the
full conviction of not being able to do anything apart from Christ is
just what you need to teach you to abide in your heavenly Vine. It is
this that is the great meaning of the pruning Christ spoke of--all
that is self must be brought low, that our confidence may be in Christ
alone. "Abide in me"--much fruit! "Apart from me"--nothing! Ought
there to be any doubt as to what we shall choose?
The one lesson of the parable is--as surely, as naturally as the
branch abides in the vine, You can abide in Christ. For this He is the
true Vine; for this God is the Husbandman; for this you are a branch.
Shall we not cry to God to deliver us forever from the "apart from
me," and to make the "abide in me" an unceasing reality? Let your
heart go out to what Christ is, and can do, to His divine power and
His tender love to each of His branches, and you will say evermore
confidently: "Lord! I am abiding; I will bear much fruit. My impotence
is my strength. So be it. Apart from Thee, nothing. In Thee, much
fruit."
Apart from Me--you nothing. Lord, I gladly accept the arrangement: I
nothing--Thou all. My nothingness is my highest blessing, because Thou
art the Vine, that givest and workest all. So be it, Lord! I, nothing,
ever waiting on Thy fullness. Lord, reveal to me the glory of this
blessed life.
_________________________________________________________________
WITHERED BRANCHES
If a Man Abide Not in Me, He is Cast Forth as a Branch, and is
Withered; and They Gather Them, and Cast Them into the Fire, and They
are Burned--John 15.6
The lessons these words teach are very simple and very solemn. A man
can come to such a connection with Christ, that he counts himself to
be in Him, and yet he can be cast forth. There is such a thing as not
abiding in Christ, which leads to withering up and burning. There is
such a thing as a withered branch, one in whom the initial union with
Christ appears to have taken place, and in whom yet it is seen that
his faith was but for a time. What a solemn call to look around and
see if there be not withered branches in our churches, to look within
and see whether we are indeed abiding and bearing fruit!
And what may be the cause of this "not abiding." With some it is that
they never understood how the Christian calling leads to holy
obedience and to loving service. They were content with the thought
that they had believed, and were safe from Hell; there was neither
motive nor power to abide in Christ--they knew not the need of it.
With others it was that the cares of the world, or its prosperity,
choked the Word: they had never forsaken all to follow Christ. With
still others it was that their religion and their faith was in the
wisdom of men, and not in the power of God. They trusted in the means
of grace, or in their own sincerity, or in the soundness of their
faith in justifying grace; they had never come even to seek an entire
abiding in Christ as their only safety. No wonder that, when the hot
winds of temptation or persecution blew, they withered away: they were
not truly rooted in Christ.
Let us open our eyes and see if there be not withered branches all
around us in the churches. Young men, whose confessions were once
bright, but who are growing cold. Or old men, who have retained their
profession, but out of whom the measure of life there once appeared to
be has died out. Let ministers and believers take Christ's words to
heart, and see, and ask the Lord whether there is nothing to be done
for branches that are beginning to wither. And let the word Abide ring
through the Church until every believer has caught it--no safety but
in a true abiding in Christ.
Let each of us turn within. Is our
With Christ in the School of Prayer
