THE TRUE VINE

By Stephen Marcano

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. (John 15:1)

 

Christ is the true vine. He is the true source for us because the source of Christ is God.

Many people today seek their own vine, their own source, their own version of truth. Many look to the various television news channels, newspaper articles, to the scientists and celebrities of the world. Some unfortunately go even further, and seek to know the truth through horoscopes, tarot cards, and mediums. The common denominator for those seeking this kind of truth is that they are doing it to help themselves, to gain an advantage over others, or to be seen by other people as wise or (dare I say it) good!

This is of course a great deception because the source of most of the aforementioned in the world is of “the prince of the power of the air.”

Ephesians 2:2a:
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air....

As followers of Christ, we are encouraged not to speak of the wisdom of the world, or the princes of this world, as they are nothing.

1 Corinthians 2:6:
Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

I just love the fact that God has given us his word of truth, and he tells us straight: the wisdom of the world, and the princes of the world... are nothing... ZERO! This is why Christ says we will accomplish nothing without him.

John 15:4:
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Unlike the children of the world, we as followers of Christ are looking to achieve something for God, for Christ, and for Christ’s Kingdom. We want to reach the unsaved, and we are not here to live for ourselves.

Or are we? Are we going in the way of the Church of Galatia, still listening to the “old man” nature, our flesh, which is selfish, sinful and decaying? Is this our source of wisdom and truth?

Galatians 3:3:
Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Christ said that He is the true vine. That means there must have been and still remains a false vine.

Deuteronomy 32:32:
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

Here, God is speaking of the Israelites who, after everything the Almighty had done for them, gave themselves over to a “vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah.” Let us have a look at the previous verses to see what happened.

Deuteronomy 32:9:
For the LORD’S portion [possession] is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

God is sovereign. At the time, there were many nations in the earth, however God decided that Israel should be his people, and that they should receive his guidance, protection, and favor.

Deuteronomy 32:10-14:
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
13 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

But look at their dreadful response to his goodness!

vv. 15-18:
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

We in the Church in the western world have grown fat, and kicked; we have lightly esteemed (lightly valued) the Rock of our salvation! By not making time to fellowship with the Creator, or in the teachings of our Lord, we allow the enemy into our lives. Thus we seek these strange gods, which disguise themselves in that “harmless” late night show we watch, or that magazine which is filled with gossip, fashion, materialistic things, and doctrines of seducing spirits. We sacrifice our time to internet sites, and the making of money and gain rather than spending time abiding in the true Vine, the source of all that is good, he who opens our eyes.

Luke 4:18:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

We must examine ourselves for the days are getting so much darker, and we need light in these dark days, so that we may see. Will your light be a light made with your own hands, or the light which is Christ? When our Lord returns, will you be as one of the five virgins who runs quickly to get oil for your lamp in the dark, or will you greet him with a lamp that burns brightly? This can only be achieved if we cast off the old man nature, our flesh, which does not want to serve and abide in Christ, but would rather hide in the dark so that its deeds are not made known in the light. Personally I would rather deal with the sin that is within me here and now than have to explain to my Lord why I did not abide in him to overcome my old man nature, and be ashamed at his arrival.

1 John 2:28:
And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

Let us not go after the poisoned and bitter fruit that is of the false vine, but let us instead surrender and abide in him, knowing that we, like the children of Israel, are the Lord’s portion. We are his, and he is our Lord and Master. He is a good and faithful King who will help us to bring forth with patience fruit that is true, sweet and healthy.

 

 

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From the July 2007 issue of The Vine & Branches