I am the True Vine
Jesus used ordinary, everyday situations to convey His extraordinary message. Living in Israel 2,000 years ago, Jesus frequently used commonplace examples that people could easily identify with:
•	Fishermen understood when He said, “I’ll make you fishers of people”.
•	Arable farmers got it when he said His words were like seed sown
•	Shepherds identified with Him when He said, “I am the good shepherd”
If Jesus had come today, He would use illustrations from IT, public health - illustrations from YOUR line of work - to convey His extraordinary message.
On one occasion He and His followers were walking by a vineyard. Nothing unusual about that. The hillsides were full of small vineyards. But then it happened again. The ordinary became extraordinary. Jesus stopped, looked at the all the vineyards and said, “I am the vine, the true vine.” He was saying, be present, fully present in this moment, because I’m revealing something profound about me... And about you. There’s something about these vines that illustrates who I am and who you are too.
Vines a symbol of Israel. Israel was often described as being like a vine or a vineyard. God had planted Israel, like a gardener plants a vine, to grow and bless others with its abundant fruit:
“You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land”         Psalm 80:8-11

“I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest of vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.								              Isaiah 5:1

But then it all started to go wrong for Israel. Israel began to do what we can so easily end up doing. Israel forgot: God blessed Israel so that Israel could bless all nations
	“Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.” 
Isaiah 5:2
Then Jeremiah got in on the action:
“I have planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock.     How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?” 
Jeremiah 2:21
What began as a healthy vine, created to grow and to bless others with its abundant fruit, became wild, over-grown and fruitless. Many no longer believed God had anything to say to them.
Jesus said, “I am the TRUE vine”. Recognising that Israel had become twisted and self-serving,      Jesus proclaimed, “I am the TRUE vine”  The real deal. The original from which all else are copies from. Jesus saw Himself as the TRUE Israel. Jesus was what God had called Israel to be but what Israel had never become (i.e. a light to the ‘Gentiles’, the gateway between heaven and earth…) It’s as if the roots were developing beneath the surface through Egypt, Exodus, Exile… then, in Jesus, they burst through. AND IT WAS COMING TO A HEAD WITH ISRAEL REJECTING CHRIST
1.	Remain in me (stay connected to Christ)
Jesus said, “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” Don’t drift away when things get difficult, too demanding. You have a choice – you can choose to remain or choose to leave. If we remain in Christ, we become part of the new Israel – they are God’s true people because they belong to Him.  In Christ, we can become what we were always meant to be – our true selves.
2.	Remain with each other (stay connected to each other)
Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branchES” – plural. Christianity is not something we just do on our own. When you become a Christian you become connected to millions of other Christians. 
Jesus said, “No branch can bear fruit by itself.” If we become disconnected, we wither – the ‘sap’ ceases to flow. Not immediately, but eventually, we dry up, become jaded, twisted.
3.	Remain fruitful - It’s all about the fruit
Those who tender vines do so because they want to see the fruit. I like the fruit of the vine – and what skilled winemakers can do with it. God is looking for fruit in our lives. Jesus said, “You can’t bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Jesus said, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit” “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Fruit matters. What fruit are you producing? A vine is more obviously a vine when you see the fruit hanging from it But fruit for fruit’s sake leads to rotten excess. It’s fruit to bless others
4.	Remain open - fruit requires pruning
Left unattended, a vine will grows in on itself. Its branches become tangled and twist around each other, blocking out the light. To be fruitful, vines need to be pruned. We too need pruning, removing dead bits and pointing us for growth. We often don’t like it at the time. But God disciplines those He loves. Even Jesus, God the Son, was ‘pruned’ by his Father. Pruning brings JOY: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and so that your joy may be complete” (v.11)
Jesus enables all this by His sacrifice on the Cross.
This could just have been a profound life lesson (and it is) But the fruit Christ - the true vine - produces becomes the wine that reminds us of Christ’s blood that was sacrificed for us.
You and I are the fruit of Christ’s work.

DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk 
07840 046020