By The 700 Club

No one said it would be easy, God's blessings may result in suffering and difficult circumstances.

CBN.com -
Author Bruce Wilkinson makes a special appearance on The 700 Club to discuss "The Secrets of the Vine."

Jesus, The Living Vine

As Christians, many of us have heard about the upper room and the climatic scene of the last meal with Jesus and His disciples. In His final message, Jesus knew the words He spoke that night would echo in their memories for years. Wilkinson says these final words as indicated in John 15 are so little understood that he calls them "secrets."

"I'm convinced that Jesus meant for their meaning to be clear," says Wilkinson. "After supper, Jesus takes the disciples to a garden on the Mount of Olives. 'I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit…By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.'" John 15 verses 5,8 . The last message Jesus conveys to us has to do with bearing fruit in every area of our lives.

What is fruit? Wilkinson says he has traced fruit and good works and through the Bible they are nearly interchangeable. While many read this passage to mean a general call to Christians to bring others to Christ, Wilkinson says it extends beyond that.

In practical terms, Wilkinson says that fruit represents good works -- a thought, attitude or action of ours that God values because it glorifies Him. "We are here to fulfill God's dream -- that we bring Him glory through a remarkably abundant life!" says Wilkinson.

Baskets Of Fruit

There are four distinct levels of fruit described in the Bible:
1. No fruit. Some branches bear no fruit. The harvest basket under this branch sits empty.
2. Fruit. Some branches are at least not barren. Several clusters of grapes nestle in the bottom of the basket.
3. More fruit. Producing fruit isn't enough. The vinedresser wants more. Plump grapes nearly fill the basket.
4. Much fruit. Each branch produces fruit. The basket strains under the weight of the fruit that spills over the rim.

God wants us to produce so much fruit that He actively tends to our lives so that we keep moving up from a less to a more productive branch. We have been created for abundance.

Wilkinson reminds us that the Bible says that He chose us for abundance. Bearing fruit is the natural result of being connected to Christ and having his life-giving love flowing through us.

Barren Branches

Every branch in Christ that does not bear fruit, He takes away. Once, when Wilkinson was at a pastors' conference, a man, a vineyard owner, asked Wilkinson if he understood John 15. He said not completely.

Wilkinson listened as the man explained how he spent hours walking the vineyards, tending the grapes, watching the fruit develop and waiting for the perfect day to begin harvest. When a branch becomes useless and sick, instead of cutting it off and throwing it away, he lifts it up and ties it around a trellis. Soon it is a thriving branch.

For Christians, sin causes us to be sick and useless. Our branches wilt and no fruit develops. If our branches consistently bear no fruit, then God will have no alternative but to intervene. God will reach into our lives and correct us until we are cleansed and brought back into a proper relationship with him.

Wilkinson says, "This is the best good news you didn't want to hear." While discipline may be uncomfortable, God is lifting us away from our own destructive pursuits. But understanding how God goes about correcting us and how we respond to Him so the correction can end is part of the secret that takes us to the next level of fruitfulness!