Which Branch Are You? The Secret to Spiritual Fruitfulness
“Come let us be going,” said Jesus, as he ushered his friends and disciples from the comfortable upper room after dinner, for a walk through a vineyard.
He was about to tell them the secret to spiritual fruitfulness.
It’s not often I hear a message, remember every point, every illustration—and can give the message to someone else right away.
But that’s what happened on my recent trip to Brazil.
At a conference I attended, Dick Brogden from Live Dead spoke through John 15, telling us about the three kinds of branches attached to the grapevine (Jesus), tended by the gardener (God), and their relationship to fruitfulness (making disciples).
As he revealed the spiritual secret to fruitfulness, he asked us, “Which branch are you?”
That weekend, I traveled five hours south to a remote retreat where cross-cultural workers were training for overseas work in Muslim countries.
I woke early on a chilly, misty morning to walk through the beautiful grounds.
I thought about the spiritual secret—and the three branches—illustrated for me in the lush, green landscape.
As Jesus surveyed the whole vineyard, as I marveled at the scene before me, announcing,
“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.”
We are the branches (followers of Jesus), attached to the vine (abiding in Christ), and the branch (us) is what bears the fruit (disciples).
We know from other passages, that the fruit Jesus speaks of is making disciples. Not the fruits of the Spirit in Galations 15. It’s the make disciples command of Matthew 28.
Jesus probably then lifted a weak branch barely hanging onto the vine that didn’t have any grapes. He might have propped it up, as he explained the first kind of branch.
The first branch is the one that is attached to the vine, but is not bearing fruit. A follower of Jesus who is connected to Jesus, but isn’t making disciples.
Most translations say,
“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit…”
But the Greek word for cuts off is actually aero. This means to lift up or take up.
When a vinedresser notices a branch still green and attached to the vine, but perhaps laying on the ground, or hidden from the sun, so that it cannot bear fruit, he lifts it up off the ground. He takes it up and binds it to the vine in a better position to get more sun, or become stronger.
On my walk through the Brazilian grounds, I noticed floppy, weak branches propped on a strong stick, and wrapped with twine, so it could grow stronger with support.
Are you connected to Jesus but not bearing fruit? You’re about to be lifted up. God will shore you up with encouragement and provide circumstances for you to start growing fruit. Look for it. Be ready to be strengthened so that you can make disciples.
The second branch is the one that is attached to the vine and bearing fruit. I can imagine Jesus snapping off a stray part of a branch laden with grapes, saying,
“...he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”
On my walk through the grounds in Brazil, a banana tree proudly displayed its heart, bowed heavy with bananas. I could imagine the gardener trimming the branch back significantly after he picked the ripe bananas, so that even more bananas could grow.
Are you making disciples? You are about to be pruned. Perhaps the suffering, the hardship, or the pain we are experiencing is the pruning of parts of our life that don’t serve us well for making disciples.
Jesus assures us though, that we don’t need to fear that this pruning is a punishment.
He said,
“You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.”
Purified means to be washed clean. We’ve already been washed clean by the blood of Jesus. Also, we can imagine God the gardener lovingly washing the leaves free of dirt that tend to build up over time. It feels good to be clean.
Before illustrating the third branch, Jesus gave his disciples the secret to spiritual fruitfulness.
Perhaps he cupped both hands around a cluster of juicy, red grapes as he said,
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
To remain. To abide. In Greek, the word is meno. It is used 118 times in the New Testament. But the kind of meno we’re talking about is a verb. It’s active. It’s a continuous condition. And it means to stay.
Stay continuously, actively connected to the vine, Jesus.
What does this look like? It means to spend lots of time with Jesus.
Reading scripture, yes. But also walks with Jesus. Worship. Talking to him throughout our every day. Doing work alongside of him. Stay with him and he will stay with us.
That’s it. The secret to spiritual fruitfulness.
Stay continuously, actively abiding, remaining close to Jesus by spending lots of time with him.
We will produce much fruit. Not just one fruit or some fruit, but much fruit.
But there’s a third branch. If a branch isn’t connected to the vine, it can’t be nourished. After awhile, it can’t produce fruit, separates from the vine, laying on the ground apart from the vine. Eventually the branch shrivels up, turns brown, and dies.
Maybe Jesus picked up a few gnarled up branches, without any green leaves or grapes and started to pile them up, saying,
“Anyone who does not remain (meno) in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”
I saw branches hanging dead from green trees. They were brown and dry. The gardener would have no choice but to gather up these dead branches, and throw them in a big bonfire to burn up.
So, which branch are you?
Are you abiding, connected to Jesus, the vine, but not yet bearing fruit, not yet making disciples? God, the Gardener will lift you up, prop you up, bind you to the vine more securely, and give you more of Jesus so that you can start to bear fruit, and make disciples.
Are you abiding, connected to Jesus, the vine, and you are bearing fruit, making disciples of Jesus? You are going to be pruned, with some things cut away to make room for more fruit, more disciples.
Are you not continuously remaining, not spending lots of time with Jesus, the vine, and you’re not bearing fruit? Watch out. You will start to dry up. God the Gardener may allow you to live with your own choice, and you’ll be thrown away, useless in the Kingdom of God to make disciples.
So I passed on this message from Jesus, via Dick Brogen, to a few dozen future cross-cultural workers, eager to move to the ends of the earth to bring the Kingdom of God where it’s least known.
I told them, and I tell you too, if we want to live out Jesus’ last instructions to “make disciples of all the nations…”, we need to stay continuously connected to the vine, Jesus, by spending lots of time with him.
We’ll live out Jesus’ promise he spoke after he described the three branches,
“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
May it be so.
PS: Do you want to learn three more (little known) secrets to offering Jesus in winsome ways to people who don’t look like you or believe like you? I invite you to watch a free one-hour training that will give you confidence and courage and three simple ways to create bridges that feel genuine and authentic to share your faith. Plus, I share three paradigm shifts with three of the worst pieces of advise I hear, and what to do instead.