In Isaiah it is written where God likens Israel to His vineyard.  How He planted it on a very fertile hill.  He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the finest vines. He built a tower in the middle of it and even dug out a winepress there. He expected it to yield good grapes, but it yielded worthless grapes.  This vineyard had been prepared with care and planning to produce and flourish.  Yet, the yield was only worthless grapes.  Isaiah 5:7 states that, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the worthless grapes were the results of the many years of poor leadership of the many bad Kings that lead Israel into idolatry. 

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Now in the book of John, Chapter 15, Jesus states, I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  In the Old Testament the vine was a reference to Israel, but as in Isaiah, the vines only produced worthless grapes.  But now Jesus is saying that He is the True Vine.  Israel as the vine throughout the Old Testament was very inconsistent on the fruit that was produced; But John makes it very clear concerning Jesus, the True Vine.

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 5“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If we want to be nourished and grow in our relationship with Christ we must be attached to the vine.  When we are attached to the True Vine we will produce good fruit.  If we are not producing fruit the vinedresser will take those branches away, they will be gathered up and thrown in the fire.  But, every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  

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4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.   It is very clear in this verse and the last part of verse 5, that if we are not attached to Christ, we can do nothing!  If we are not connected to Christ we will not produce any fruit.  7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.  I just looked up that word abide and it means, To endure; to sustain; to submit to, to answer for; to suffer for. 

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A few verses latter Jesus tells us what we must do to abide in Him, 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love.  The foremost commandment to obey is love one another John 13:34.  As we function in this world we live in we are to show Christian love in all things.  If our actions or words were displayed on a billboard, what message would it send?  During my demanding career as a manager that had to accomplish what my superiors wanted, through the efforts of the people I managed, I was not always an example of Christian love in action.  But by the Grace of God my billboard is slowly changing.  There is quite a lot of pruning going on.  We can all live with the knowledge that God is not done with us yet.  It took Him only six days to create the world, yet He patiently waits years for us to come to Him.

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Now when we are bearing fruit here is what you will see; Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Wouldn’t this world be a better place if everyone just practiced at least one of those?

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