September 17, 2021: Does Fruit of the Branch Grow on Its Own or Does the Vine Provide the Growth?

In preparing for today's message, I asked the Lord to direct me to a subject that would bring encouragement to our hearts. In reading Psalm 80 He brought me to the following verses:

Psalm 80: 8-11

You have brought a vine out of Egypt;

You have cast out the nations, and planted it.

9 You prepared room for it,

And caused it to take deep root,

And it filled the land.

10 The hills were covered with its shadow,

And the mighty cedars with its boughs.

11 She sent out her boughs to the Sea,

And her branches to the River.

Here in these verses, it is speaking of the nation of Israel as they came out of Egypt and God planted the nation of Israel into the "Promise Land". God cleared out the bad nations and made room for the nation of Israel to grow and prosper. Its branches reached as far as the river.

This Psalm also reminds us of what Jesus said about us as the "branches", and He as the Vine. Read the following in the Book of John:

John 15: 5-6 (NKJV)

"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. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered;

In the above verses, Jesus is the Vine, and we are the branches. Just as Israel was "ripe" for the picking after serving as slaves for four hundred years, we too must come to the "end of ourselves" and become the "branch" to the Vine (Jesus) and allow Him to work through us and let Him produce the fruit in us. So many times, we think we know what is right and want to do what we think God want us to do, but that is not the role of the branch.

The branch develops through the Vine, (Jesus), and the fruit is produced through the nourishment (the Holy Spirit) given to the branches, (us). So, the branches do nothing but to "abide in the Vine" and allow the fruit to grow and multiply.

PERSONNEL COMMENT

This is such a hard lesson for us to learn, and that is to let go of everything we think is right to do, and let God produce the fruit through us (the branch) as we come to "absolute surrender" all to Jesus and fully trust in Him.