What Kind of Branch are You?

Posted on April 28, 2024

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Acts 8:26-40

Psalm 22:25-31

1 John 4:7-12

John 15:1-8

In my early twenties when I was attending Nazarene Bible College online, one of the classes I took was Spiritual Formation. One of the assignments for the class was to take a Spiritual Retreat. It could be taken in any amount of time increments that we chose whether it was a matter of days or a matter of hours. The point was to take a set amount of time just for you and the Lord to be in focused relationship time with each other. I took half a day at a lake by myself with my Bible, and an iPod that was full of Christian music. I spent some time at a picnic table by the lake with my Bible open but not really feeling it or getting anywhere. But then I took to some nature trails near the lake and my Bible was opened to John 15. In this passage Jesus talk about him being the vine and his disciples being the branches. In these moments walking through God’s nature and creation and reading this passage, it awakened in me with power and awe.

Jesus is the vine; He is the main part of the plant itself that connects everything and everyone to the gardener which is God the Father. The gardener cuts off all of the dead branches as it does not bear fruit and this disease of no fruit could spread on to the rest of the branches if it is not cut off. This is why it is removed. However, those branches that remain with the vine do bear fruit and the gardener prunes them so that they can produce more fruit. However, the branches can produce nothing if they are not connected to the vine because the vine is what brings nourishment to the branches. With this nourishment and life that the vine brings the branches can grow and produce fruit.

So, I am walking on this path reading this passage of scripture and all of these doubts run through my head. You see I was just getting started on this journey of a call to ministry and I had these doubts of whether this was right for me an whether God was really calling me to a life of ministry. I felt ill equipped for the job which was a big part of why was going to school to educate myself but it was more than that. I lacked confidence in myself to fulfill this role. Why would God choose me? You see I was very introverted and I did not like speaking in front of people and I really did not like attention put on me. I lacked the confidence that I could successfully even do the job and fulfill the roles of a pastor to even just get by let alone to even bear any fruit. I felt that I lacked the passion to preach and felt that I lacked anything worth while to listen to. I was at a point in which I could easily just turn away and follow a different path, an easier path, a simpler path with less bumps along the way.

However, reading this passage Jesus was talking to me, and I realized something. I was absolutely right. I had absolutely nothing to offer that I should be chosen for anything. However, Jesus was telling me that apart from him I could do nothing. If I was going to try to do this all on my own and according to my terms and my desires then I would get absolutely nowhere. Because my focus was not on remaining with the vine but focus was on seeking to go my own direction. But Jesus said that if I would remain in him. If I would abide in him. Be close with him. Then he would provide everything that I needed to bear fruit. Not only that but it is his desire and for the glory of God that I would bear more of an abundance of fruit. But to do that I must remain in Jesus. He is the vine, not me. I am his branch on that vine meant to serve what the vine desires and not what I desire. And if the vine desires me to bear fruit, then it is not from me or for me but for Him only. This means that if I would remain in Jesus then He would provide for me what I needed whether it be a confidence to preach or words to say or a heart to listen and to love His children, this would all come from him and not for me. This means that any success or failure that I may face in ministry I would not be facing it alone. And the Father would prune me of the things that don’t belong in my life so that I may be able to bear even more fruit for the kingdom. However, if I chose to, I could have been a branch that bears no fruit and the only way to do that is to not remain in the vine. The Lord cuts away this branch because it does no good for the vine. Unfortunately, there are people who have been in the world and are in the world and some in the church, that will be this branch that is cut off because it does not bear fruit. I had to make a choice that day on what kind of branch was I going to be. One that remains in Jesus and Jesus in me or one that only remains in myself, in my desires, and in my own fear.

Philip, a disciple of Jesus, was a man who decided to be a branch that remained very close to the vine. We know this by his connection with and obedience to the Holy Spirit. Our opening scripture shares that Philip is told by an Angel to go down the desert road that runs between Jerusalem and Gaza. He is not told why to go there or what he is supposed to find when he gets there. He is just told to go and he obeys. Once he gets on his way to his destination, he run into a chariot transporting an Ethiopian eunuch. Philip is still so connected to the vine that the Holy Spirit tells him to go up near the Chariot and he obeys. This was an important official and it is possible that the eunuch could have had guards for protection who could have seen him as a threat if he got up close. However, he obeys anyway. The eunuch is reading from the prophet Isaiah and Philip is able to hear what he is reading. Now Philip in being connected to the vine understands why he is there. He asks the eunuch if he understands what he is reading. The eunuch invites him up on to his chariot to explain the scripture to him. Philip proceeds to use this scripture to preach the gospel of Jesus to this eunuch and he comes to believe and asks to be baptized. As soon as they come out of the water, Philip, being so connected to the vine is taken away by the Spirit and appears in another town and he continues to preach everywhere he goes. I believe that the fact that he disappears miraculously also helped to solidify the faith of this eunuch. However, because Philip is being a branch that is solidly connected to the vine he is therefore, bearing much fruit.

1 John 4:7-12 tells us a way in which we may remain connected to the vine. We are called to love as Jesus loves. If we do not love then we cannot know or understand God because God is love. Love is the fact that God first loved us by giving us his son. If we love one another then God lives in us. We can love one another because we are connected to the vine that is love. By remaining in Jesus, God will prune away the things in our life that hold us back from love so that we can love even more and produce the fruit of love that is found in the vine.

There are times in life when you must ask yourself, what kind of branch are you? The world tries to live not as a branch but they try to be the vine themselves because they desire control to live however, they wish to live. The fruit that they produce will be based off of their desire for control and it will not be as good of fruit as the vine of Jesus produces. This is because the branches lack the nutrients that it needs to produce good fruit. The truth of the matter is that only one can be the vine and a branch can never be the vine as it does not serve in that role.

So, what kind of branch are you? Are you a branch that has withered away and will never produce anything? Such people will never choose to believe in Christ no matter how many chances they get and they will be cut off from the vine. Are you a branch that just has leaves but never bears fruit? Such people may act and behave well in life but they just want to live their life well and do nothing else. They have no desire to grow fruit from their limbs. They are satisfied with just their green leaves. Such branches will also be cut off in the end because they do not produce fruit. What purpose does a branch serve if it does not produce fruit? It serves the vine no purpose at all. This is why it too will be cut off even though it does not appear inherently bad. We must remain in the vine and then the vine will remain in us. We are the branches of Christ called to bear fruit. All we need is a willingness of heart to allow the vine to produce fruit in us. If we trust in the vine we will bear fruit. Are you a branch that produces good fruit?