Lyrics
He’s the Vine
and we are the branches
And He’s called us
to bear good fruit
God’s blessed life,
Flowing from Christ
By the Spirit
that we may bear good fruit
.......
Let us shine forth
in this dark place
A city on a hill
Seeing good works
in this cold world
they ask us to explain…
We glorify the Father
.......
Oh we cannot shine without Him
and every branch that bears not fruit
asleep in the day
the Father takes away
dried up and cast into the fire…
.......
But every branch that does bear fruit,
will be pruned that it might bear more
and if they abide in the Son
How greatly will God’s life flow…
that we may bear much fruit
.......
Fruit bearing seed of its own kind,
be fruitful, multiply
Help and pray that those who hear
will foster it inside...
Little mustard seed,
growing up into a great large plant,
a new heart and a life transformed
And bear His image in ways that they can see
in constant, honest, integrity
.......
Love and joy and peace and patience
and kindness, and goodness, and faithfulness,
and gentleness and self-control
.......
Our Father we pray to You
Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven
.......
Composer's notes
He’s the Vine
and we are the branches
And He’s called us
to bear good fruit
God’s blessed life,
Flowing from Christ
By the Spirit
that we may bear good fruit
***
The third movement focuses on the Parable of the Vine and the branches in John 15. And the beginning of the third movement, Section A, presents the characters in the parable: the Father the vinedresser; Christ the true Vine, true believers, real disciples, as Christ’s branches. And I believe it is the Holy Spirit Who is the sap running from the roots through Christ into His branches. In addition to the characters, the central focus or goal of this parable is described as well: that by being branches in Christ, the branches should bear good fruit.
This raises two questions for me. First, in what way are we “branches”? And secondly, what is good fruit? Here are my thoughts in order.
Am I a branch or an island?
First in terms of being branches: I think this is a very important image/idea to absorb and incorporate into our thinking – both in our natural lives and in terms of our relationship to God. To see its importance, first consider the fact that our culture is so focused on raw individualism and self-determination, and then we will consider how the truth of being branches is so sharply at odds with how we view ourselves.
We are taught to think of ourselves as stand-alone islands. Even though we half-heartedly nod in the direction of the teaching that “no man is an island”, down deep many of us revel in rugged individualism. Many of us might respect and adore Mr. Rogers but we’d prefer to emulate John Wayne. This idea about how we are supposed to be greatly affects the way we understand the Word. When we speak of “being in right relationship with God”, many of us I believe think of ourselves standing separate and independent of God but oriented in our minds as agreeing with Him and even committing to some extent or other to obey Him . And in this mindset, when we think of grace, many of us imagine Him giving us strength to carry on and do the right things – albeit largely on our own as though He had given us super-strength or an Iron Man suit that gives us strength to do our own well-intentioned bidding. In this mindset, the drama of our own life story can be our own heroic and selfless efforts notwithstanding -- and importantly -- in the face of and overcoming in one great act our human weaknesses. In this comic book reality, we are the superhero and we get the glory. But this worldview fails to understand our design: none of us was designed function -- or be a being alive to Him or able to live in His Kingdom -- without His inward breathe in us.
If what I am saying is true, then the foundation that many of us are relying on just won’t suffice. Instead, the picture of life that it seems we are called to is, well, supernatural. Metaphorically, that life is like walking on the water, which we can’t do without Him.
To avoid confusion with the superhero model, we might start by saying that we can’t do it without His grace, and He won’t do it without our participation. The Lord bids us come and by faith we step out and obey – enabled so long as faith is sustained. This life requires a unity with Him in the spirit – to be of one spirit – to receive sap/life, to partake (as Peter said in 2 Peter 1) of the divine nature.
Without this unity, without this partaking from Him, we are missing major elements needed to be what He designed us to be, elements that are designed to be supplied by God, by His Spirit, the Only Source of Good and Goodness. In this picture of reality, it is God Who leads, it is God Who, unless we turn back to the world (as He won’t overturn our will) enables, and it is God Who gets the glory.
Connection to God before the Fall and After the Fall
In terms of being branches, we might think of this as a necessary addition to the original process, a way to restore fallen man to a direct connection with God in the face of the presence of sin (which wasn’t there to prevent direct unity at the time of creation). Or we might look at it as a function of, and therefore an underscoring for and illustration to Creation of God’s holiness and righteousness, and, given the Personal cost of this arrangement, also His great mercy and love.
The first connection was necessary and direct but could not be maintained in the face of sin
Let us remember that at the creation of man, God breathed into man and he became a living soul. There, man’s spirit was united with Spirit and receiving from Him. In the Young’s Literal Translation, this breathing is defined as present and continuous. But because of the Fall, that state and the resulting life to the soul being provided, was cut off. (see Genesis 2:7 and 2:17).
Restoring this connection, bringing life anew – being born again or being regenerated
This union and provision needs to be put in place again, the united soul being made again a living soul, if we are to be restored (albeit as spiritual babies at the start of this!). This rebirth or regeneration is of course what Christ tried to explain to Nicodemus in John 3. In line with our natural condition, magnified by our cultural orientation, most people think the breath of God was needed to turn a clay body into a living, thinking physical body, Pinocchio like. But in John 3 Christ points out that flesh is born of the flesh and spirit is born of Spirit.
With respect to flesh born of flesh, our physical body and our brain (which generates mind, will and emotion, which we call the soul) are born of flesh. These are made from physical elements and thus can God raise up children for Abraham from stones (Matthew 3:9). Speaking to a scientifically unsophisticated people Christ said even the hairs on your head are numbered. In reality, God, Who knows everything, knows our very composition and the patterns and interactions of the things which compose us. Raising up children for Abraham is increasingly conceivable even for unbelievers who solely take a science perspective. As for raising us up, using a metaphor, if we think of the brain as a musical instrument and the soul generated or projected by the brain as the complex music, we know that a song can be played on one instrument or another, so that raising us up is no more difficult.
In any event I don’t think the resulting bios life that arises from body including brain needs breath to start being what natural man is. But that organism, natural man, has no or too little capacity to self-generate real caring love on its own. Yes, we have natural instincts for natural friendship, blood relationships; we have sympathy and empathy that help contain our self interest and self-absorption to greater or lesser extent – but never so sufficiently as to generally and totally balance off our natural self-interest. Even the architecture of these concerns reveal that they were designed to function in a natural condition: isn’t empathy functioning by making my friend’s pain my own to some extent? But what’s needed to really be alive and to live in God’s creation is Him in us; the only Source of caring love and goodness supplying our need for such to live as we ought and to also manifest His character to His glory.
This spiritual element is what died in Genesis 2:17, died that very day, and what must be restored that we might be born again and enter the Kingdom of God. This too is the reason why John the Baptist, the best of all born of women, was said by Christ to be (at that point) less than the least in the kingdom! Without Christ, without the Holy Spirit, without the Father, we can only live lives that will draw His wrath and judgment. Only with Him and what He supplies might the requirements of the Law be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4).
But because of sin, the new connection cannot be direct
A holy God cannot wave off sin, saying “never mind.” His character is, or is the standard for, the very ethical nature of creation. Knowing all things, knowing His Own Nature and man’s – even before He created them, He knew that sin would come and would provoke His wrath, drawing judgment and, but for His (conscious and temporary) forbearance, sin’s eradication. To be able to address mankind’s sins at one point, not only to forgive and redeem but also to cleanse their from existence (justification) while also separating them from their prior state unto Him (sanctification), and to restore and maintain the connection to each person needed for their proper functioning (regeneration), would require a Sacrifice of great price – His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus the Word incarnated, living a sinless life, crucified, died and resurrected to pay the price, identified with and connected with mankind (and them with Him by faith, submission and baptism into His death and resurrection) would allow God’s life to flow by the Spirit through Christ and into His branches. Thus we are, and it is imperative that we be, branches of Him, that by this can unite with God and receive the Holy Spirit which works in us.
Good fruit
When we are living lives that reflect this character, we are bearing the image of God. Of course, God is spirit and the world cannot see God per se but they can see believers living lives with motivations from the heart that generate acts that reflect these things, this “fruit” of:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control... (Galatians 5:22-23)
Such a life should characterize a real believer’s life and if really occurring would be so different from the normal course of this world, lives of natural mankind that produce bad fruit which are the deeds of the flesh.
***
Let us shine forth
in this dark place
A city on a hill
Seeing good works
in this cold world
they ask us to explain…
We glorify the Father
***
In Section B the branches proclaim their acceptance of this calling but they couch it not as bearing fruit but as being a light in a dark world, being a city on a hill, being good works, i.e., lives that come from God’s life flowing through Christ by the Spirit into us, causing our hearts to be filled with good motivations and desires which result in outward lives that express and make manifest that inward state. Further, the branches understand that such lives are a rare thing in the world, so rare and suggesting the existence of qualities that will draw many to come to investigate and ask what has this community discovered? What secret has this community found and will they share it. And these branches know they will share their secret and the outcome in doing so will be that God is glorified.
Built to be a light…bulb?
Consider the fact that we have the natural capacity to behave in ways that can manifest love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc., but we just seem to not be able to do so. Why do so many have a prevailing feeling if not sense that people generally know the right things to do but just can’t do them. For the nonbelieving scientist: of what value is that sense or feeling? Wouldn’t evolutionary forces have focused on refining what’s needed to be efficient in a selfish, self-determined world?
In the first drafts of the lyrics for the third movement, I had included words describing people as light bulbs – our range of potential behavior including the ability to live in love, joy, peace, etc., but that this potential behavior is like the filament in a bulb – a filament that won’t light up unless the bulb is screwed in and the power (of the Holy Spirit) turned on. The world separated from God can’t see the electricity flowing into and out of the bulb but it can see the glowing filament, a light so bright in this dark world, so promising in light of people’s questions about meaning and purpose, that it would draw these people who would want to know why we have this light in our lives.
But when the power is off we can stare at this filament – this thing of potential – and know that our optimal selves – the best of who we MIGHT be -- requires us to understand, respect, care for others. But our ability to do so, to balance our self-love with the love of God and others, and to walk in a way that is consistent with God’s requirements, requires us to be connected to Him and partaking of His divine nature…the fruit of the Spirit: against such things there is no law!
***
we cannot shine without Him
and every branch that bears not fruit
asleep in the day
the Father takes away
dried up and cast into the fire…
***
In Section C the movement returns to a fact that Christ raised immediately in the parable: that there are two important classes of branches: those that bear fruit and those that do not. First, we must understand that no one can bear fruit without Christ. We must consider (and we will below) how to receive this grace. But also, for those that do not bear fruit, John 15 says that branches that don’t bear fruit are taken away, and more specifically, that anyone who does not abide in Christ is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and “they” gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. (v.6)
This may conflict with your puzzle map of reality but we should pay attention because if they are branches they had accepted Christ, and if they fail to bear fruit, they are taken away; that they can’t bear fruit without abiding in the Vine (v 4) but if they fail to abide in Christ they are thrown away as a branch (v 6). We will talk about abiding in Christ farther below but first let’s consider a number of other parables that provide similar lessons about falling short. These other parables provide different perspectives that help round out the picture. For instance, consider the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:1-23 (which we have previously discussed): good seed sown, certain plants begin to grow up but ultimately do not endure for various reasons (affliction, persecution, pressures, worry of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, temptations) and fail and die. Or the Parables about the Cost of Discipleship in Luke 14 which emphasize not only the cost of discipleship but the need to endure:
27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Luke 14:27-30
Or the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16), teaching us that endurance for life is required but the period of labor (from when saved to the end of life) may differ from person to person, some longer and some shorter, but all receive the same “pay”.
Or the Parable of the wise and foolish builders in Matthew 7:24-27, where one man was building his house on the rock but another on sand. How easy it is to think that the sand stands for the natural life or a false doctrine riddled life far removed from my own “religious” life. I think we would do well to tighten the focus and examine ourselves.
Or the Parable of the Dinner in Luke 14 (verses 16, 18-21, and 24 excerpted)
16…. “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ 19 Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ 20 Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ 21 And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry…. 24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”
Was it a sin to buy land or oxen and work the land or marry and spend time with your wife? None of these is sinful in and of itself. But these guests didn’t want to continue on to join God, make Him first in their lives. If they had, they would still be in physical bodies that in this stage of existence would require work, the ownership of the means to work and extract providence from creation, to marry and so on. But here they didn’t even want to pursue the Kingdom, they just wanted their natural lives – even if we were to assume they could do these things without sin in the execution of them, their lives would never entitle them to partake of God’s life so to bear fruit.
Nonetheless, God is merciful and long suffering. For those who are not bearing fruit He will make special efforts and provide helps to induce fruit bearing, though such may not be successful and in which case the efforts will cease and the plant will be cut down. Consider the Parable from Luke 14:6-9:
6 And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. 7 And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”
God is a rewarder of those that believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently pursue Him. Proceeding from the last to the next preceding, God will work to help induce fruit bearing. Yet despite that, we see men that believed but did not want to diligently pursue God – at all! Next, to those who are seeking to build their house but are doing so out of focus on the Truth, leading to a weak house that will not endure the assaults encountered in the refiner’s fire. Next to those who start out on the right path, understand the Word and even know the Truth but pressures and temptations overcome them. In this regard we might consider again the mechanism described by James in 1:14-16.
All these may supplement our understanding and inform us in our walk about reasons that branches may not bear fruit and the serious consequences that followed.
***
but every branch that does bear fruit,
will be pruned that it might bear more
and if they abide in the Son
How greatly will God’s life flow…
that we may bear much fruit
***
About the positive side of the picture portrayed in the parable, Christ tells us about the Father’s treatment of those that start to bear fruit, and of the conditions for going on to bear much fruit. The first part – that God prunes or cleanses those that start to bear fruit so that they might bear more – we should understand there is no suggestion here that pruning is punishment - though it may be painful or vexing in some way. We should not immediately fear that the pain is an indication we did something wrong, but perhaps it is an important work for helping you generate more fruit.
Abide in Christ
In terms of bearing much fruit, Christ tells us this can only occur if we abide in Him. By “abiding” we can think of staying and remaining with Him. But we should be careful not to think of “staying and remaining” as tied to a single geographic place or a static state. It may be helpful to think of abiding with Christ as living and continuing with Him even as we are following Him (as He commanded us to do in Matthew 16:24) or as we are being led by the Spirit as Paul described in Romans 8:14.
Similarly in John 8:31-32 “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” How should we understand abiding in His word? I think this is best understood as more like holding fast, taking in, and living in accordance with, His word. If abiding in and learning and developing from the Word is progressive how does this correlate with knowing the truth? Does it come at the beginning, at the end, or …? Thus, I think there is a connotation of coming to know The Truth as progressive, we should stay in the Word and working it out in our lives, and in that process we keep learning truths within The Truth. Continuously moving forward with Him and His word as we follow and learn and develop and contribute to the body and hopefully walk in the works He prepared for us. And the risk we are considering is NOT abiding, which would be to follow after our own ways, to not arduously, tenaciously, consistently, obediently follow after Him. We can assume that day laborers were not allowed to take long breaks, they had to focus on their work just as the slaves given talents were to focus on multiplying the resources given to them by their Lord (see the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-30 and the worthless slave!). In terms of thinking about what it takes to abide, I think steadfastness to Him and His word is imperative. Consider the words of Peter in 2 Peter 3:17-18:
17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
***
Fruit bearing seed of its own kind, be fruitful, multiply
Help and pray that those who hear will foster it inside.
Little mustard seed,
growing up into a great large plant,
a new heart and a life transformed
And bear His image in ways that they can see
in constant, honest, integrity
***
I think that we can bear fruit in two forms. First, in terms of character, developing the character traits described in Galatians 5:22-23 (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control). Second, by participating in the dispatch of the Great Commission, by which new disciples are created, in a spiritual sense being fruitful and multiplying. Consider:
Be fruitful and multiply…those who have spirits born of the Spirit
If we live lives called for by the faith, if our lives reflect the fruit of the Spirit in a world that is in deep bondage, to those who crave an escape from the ways of this world, who crave freedom from bondages in their lives, who crave meaning and answers to their many questions about their very existence, many will be drawn to at least investigate what is happening, how this can be. And our explanations, our gladly provided full disclosure, will be from the Word of God. And the promised outcome? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (and even the hearing comes by the Word). Romans 10:17
Be a light that is consistent, sincere and lacking hypocrisy
Now we come to the last part of the lyrics I am focusing on in this subsection. Why did I qualify the last line about bearing the image of God (living lives that reflect His qualities) in constant, honest, integrity?
Because I believe that much of the American church is not living this life. And even more, many so called believers are not living in this love for others, this love for those in bondage and need, but are judging and condemning nonbelievers for the way they are living. Yet if we believe the bondage of the nonbeliever is real (and see my discussions about the second movement re Romans 6 and Ephesians 2:1-3), then condemning, judging, political warring, etc., can accomplish little that is positive. They can’t understand or conform to what you are saying. And even worse: if those who are condemning are also living far short of the gospel requirements while doing so (and mind you I believe that this posture is already a failure and a contradiction of love), but especially if their lives aren’t supernatural but are mean, even Hobbesian, then not only is little accomplished but the preaching will be perceived as a great hypocrisy. This not only besmirches the name of our Lord, but it may be hurting those that are spiritually blind and crippled for it will cause them to choose to stay away from, not believe, even disbelieve the Truth that could otherwise heal them.
Also, while having less to do with the natural person's inability to comply but everything to do with being a light especially if we are making differences based on prejudices, let us remember that the Great Commission was to all, not to some or that some were better than others, and (as discussed in connection with Garden Lost) that in Christ, among believers, there is no male or female or gentile or Jew (Galatians 3:28). And with respect to the lack of distinction between Jew and Gentile there also does not appear to be any basis to justify separation or prejudice by one group of gentile believers against another, especially on the basis of their skin color! If you perceive that you are bound by prejudice in your way of thinking, living or in your witness, I believe you should humble yourself and ask God for grace to see it as He would have you see it and to remove any barriers in you to the love He would have you express to the world.
Let us take the point about bearing fruit one step further. Let me merely suggest a line of thought for you to ponder. The Word not only describes believers as branches of the Vine, but in other places it describes people as trees that can bear either good or bad fruit. Consider Matthew 7:17-20:
“Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad trees bear bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
We have seen that if we plug into God and abide we will bear good fruit. But what have you tapped into if you are bearing bad fruit? This is not of God:
For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully. (2 Corinthians 11:4)
We should examine ourselves and see how we are walking and the fruit we are bearing. If we are not bearing good fruit, if we have gotten away from Truth, let us come out of the situation in which we are living, let us repent and redouble our efforts to abide in Christ and in His word.
We want to be good trees that bear good fruit that provide good seed that is taken in by others that they might become good trees too. In this way, Genesis 1:12, Genesis 1:28 and Matthew 28:19 seemingly go together.
But we must remember that the Way is narrow. Though the burden He imposes is light, we must not be deceived. We must be born again, we must be led by the Spirit, we must be freed and then escape the corruption that is the world by lust, we must partake of the divine nature, working out what He works in us, that we might bear good fruit, to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, to His glory, and to be fruitful and multiply so that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
We are called to an active faith, a life of overcoming the flesh, of being joined to our God and allowing Him to work in us, to make us living creatures that we might will and do His good pleasure, walking in caring love, being a light to the world, giving glory to God. A life where love and obedience are different sides of the same coin, where grace and faith are the way in which He accomplishes His great goal and magnificent work.
***
Our Father we pray to You
Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven
***
The third movement ends with the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer. This project has focused on the Fall, its effects on mankind, and God’s plan of restoration, with a focus on elements of that plan that I felt to underscore in this time in which we live. This restoration is God’s will for mankind and His creation. So ending by praying to Him, in a prayer in which we agree with and pray for His will to come about, seems a fitting ending for this project.
A final encouragement from the words of Peter in 2 Peter 1:10-11:
Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things [see vs 5-8!!], you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.
To God be the glory! In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen!