God is our Gardener

This picture was taken from a grapevine in the backyard of my husabnd's auntie in California. Look at the pruned and cut branches on the vine. My husband's auntie said that if the vine is not pruned, it will not bear much fruit but only leaves.

What is the fruit? People have interpreted "fruit" to be more church members or more "converts" or people we train. But I believe the fruit is WHAT WE BECOME in Christ, what God wants us to be. THE FRUIT IS FOR THE GARDENER, GOD, TO SEE AND EAT. Have you ever seen a plant trying to bear fruit so other plants would see how much fruit it has? In the same way, I believe the fruit God wants us to bear according to the verses above is the fruit of being in Christ. When we bear fruit as branches connected to the vine, who is Jesus, we are showing God (and God alone) how we are becoming like Jesus.

It is natural for a grapevine to produce grapes, it does not need to try to produce grapes. A person who is a branch who remains in Christ, the vine, does not need to try to produce fruit. If he remains in Jesus, he will bear fruit.

But a person who is detached from Christ, who does not remain in Christ, can never fake his fruit before God. It is God Who knows our hearts and He knows when we are just trying to be "righteous" apart from Him. Righteousness is from God, it can never come from us, from our own effort. Righteousness is only gained through faith in Jesus.

Philippians 3:8-9

What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

Remember the Lord Jesus used the grapevine analogy when He was talking to His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane. He was talking to agricultural-minded people who knew that grapevines were grown to make grapes, which were then made into wine. A grapevine in a vineyard that does not produce grapes is not what a gardener wants. A gardener wants grapes on his vine.

John 15:1-8
Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

In the same way, God, as a gardener, tends us as vine branches. He wants us to be like the vine, Jesus. He wants to see "fruit" in us. He tends us so we will be fruitful in His sight. Fruit is proof of remaining in Christ. If you don't have fruit, you are not remaining in Christ.

In Hosea 14:8, God says, "your fruitfulness comes from Me". Jesus also said in John 15:4 "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

Christianity is not a system of morals, it is the worship of a Person, William Lecky once said. Christianity cannot be faked. Christianity is a relationship with Jesus. It is the worship of Jesus, the fearful reverence, and extravagant respect of Jesus. You cannot fake a relationship with God BEFORE GOD. He knows if you are really in the vine or not. He will look at the fruit HE SEES.