The True Vine, Part 2
Jesus is the Vine
4th October 2014
Following last week's introduction to John Chapter 15, let's begin a more detailed look at these amazing words spoken by Jesus. They begin like this:
John 15v1
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."
Last week we asked the question, "Do I really believe that God tends only one True Vine - Jesus?"
A vine is an image for us of something planted by God that bears fruit for Him. It would be easy to make the mistake of thinking that God's people are the vine but, in fact, God's Son is the Vine. God's people are only the branches.
Because verses like Psalm 80v8, Jeremiah 2v21 and Hosea 10v1 describe Israel as a vine, some people think that Israel is the True Vine but the Bible never says that. I've heard it said that Romans Chapter 11 describes Israel as the True Vine but it doesn't. It says that some Israelites were branches, and that some were broken off. Jesus says that He is the True Vine, and those who believe in Him are the branches. So, even before Christ came to earth, an Israelite was a branch of the True Vine if and only if he was in Christ.
The idea of being in Christ is found many times in the New Testament, including:
- Romans 8v1: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"
- Romans 12v5: "so in Christ we who are many form one body"
- 2 Corinthians 5v17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
We don't fully understand what it meant for someone to be in Christ in Old Testament times (or, at least, I don't). We do know that Paul wrote "A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly" (Romans 2v28) meaning that a real Jew is repentant, and that Jesus said, "If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me" (John 5v46) meaning that a real Jew has faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Many Jews may take offence at that, but it is what the Bible says.
You don't have to read the Old Testament very long before you realise that some of the Israelites were God-fearing people, but many of them weren't. The God-fearing Israelites - those who manifested repentance and faith - looked forward to the Messiah, waiting for Him to come and put everything right. When He came, many Jews accepted Jesus the Messiah, and many rejected Him, and taught their children that He was not the Messiah. Ever since, some Jews have been in Christ, and some haven't. Tragically, they're branches that have been broken off (Romans 11v17) from the True Vine.
Since then, many Gentiles have accepted Christ, and many have rejected Him. Those who accept Him are "grafted in" (Romans 11v17) to the True Vine. Those who reject Him are not.
Thus the Israelite nation (sometimes called the "Old Testament Church") is NOT the True Vine, and the New Testament Church (sometimes called "Spiritual Israel") is NOT the True Vine. Jesus is the True Vine. Believing Jews and believing Gentiles are all branches of Jesus the Messiah. That is, the People of God - both the Old Testament people and the New Testament people - constitute the branches of the True Vine, although Israelites believed first, starting with Abraham. "He is the father of all who believe" (Romans 4v11) both Jew and Gentile.
To put all that more succinctly, the ancient Israelite believers, the New Testament Jewish church and the Gentile church together are ONE CHURCH. "There is no difference between Jew and Gentile" (Romans 10v12) "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3v22b-23).
THERE IS ONLY ONE CHURCH. We make up denominations, and waste energy and dishonour God by claiming the superiority of our own nation, or our own denomination, or our own congregation (or local church). But the church is everybody who is a branch of the true vine. And those branches are in all nations and denominations and congregations. And, sadly, many are not in a congregation at all.
We need to say one more thing. Because Jesus says He is "the" True Vine, not "a" True Vine, we must accept that Jesus is the ONLY True Vine. Those who have not been grafted into Jesus Christ the True Vine are not among God's people. Again, this will be offensive to many (weirdly, it's even offensive to some people who don't believe in God at all). But Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14v6) and Peter said, "Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4v12b).
We Christians don't imagine we're better than anybody else, or more deserving that anybody else. We know that we fall far short of God's standards. We just give thanks to Almighty God that he chose us (although we don't think of ourselves as worthy of being chosen) and grafted us into the True Vine - Jesus Christ.
God's grace to us is truly amazing.
The True Vine was planted by God and tended by God, and we who repent and believe are its branches. And our purpose in life is to bear fruit for Him.