THE BRANCH
Every Branch in me that Beareth Not Fruit, He taketh It away--John 15:2
Here we have one of the chief words of the
parable--branch. A vine needs branches: without branches it can do
nothing, can bear no fruit. As important as it is to know about the Vine, and
the Husbandman, it is to realize what the branch is. Before we listen to what
Christ has to say about it, let us first of all take in what a branch is, and
what it teaches us of our life in Christ. A branch is simply a bit of wood,
brought forth by the vine for the one purpose of serving it in bearing its
fruit. It is of the very same nature as the vine, and has one life and one
spirit with it. Just think a moment of the lessons this suggests.
There is the lesson of entire
consecration. The branch has but one object for which it exists, one
purpose to which it is entirely given up. That is, to bear the fruit the vine
wishes to bring forth. And so the believer has but one reason for his being a
branch--but one reason for his existence on earth --that the heavenly
Vine may through him bring forth His fruit. Happy the soul that knows this,
that has consented to it, and that says, I have been redeemed and I live for
one thing--as exclusively as the natural branch exists only to bring forth
fruit, I too; as exclusively as the heavenly Vine exists to bring forth fruit,
I too. As I have been planted by God into Christ, I have wholly given myself to
bear the fruit the Vine desires to bring forth.
There is the lesson of perfect conformity.
The branch is exactly like the vine in every aspect--the same nature, the same
life, the same place, the same work. In all this they are inseparably one. And
so the believer needs to know that he is partaker of the divine nature, and has
the very nature and spirit of Christ in him, and that his one calling is to
yield himself to a perfect conformity to Christ. The branch is a perfect
likeness of the vine; the only difference is, the one is great and strong, and
the source of strength, the other little and feeble, ever needing and receiving
strength. Even so the believer is, and is to be, the perfect likeness of
Christ.
There is the lesson of absolute
dependence. The vine has its stores of life and sap and strength, not for
itself, but for the branches. The branches are and have nothing but what the
vine provides and imparts. The believer is called to, and it is his highest
blessedness to enter upon, a life of entire and unceasing dependence upon
Christ. Day and night, every moment, Christ is to work in him all he needs.
And then the lesson of undoubting
confidence. The branch has no cure; the vine provides all; it has but to
yield itself and receive. It is the sight of this truth that leads to the
blessed rest of faith, the true secret of growth and strength: "I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
What a life would come to us if we only consented
to be branches! Dear child of God, learn the lesson. You have but one thing to
do: Only be a branch--nothing more, nothing less! Just be a branch; Christ will
be the Vine that gives all. And the Husbandman, the mighty God, who made the
Vine what it is, will as surely make the branch what it ought to be.
Lord Jesus, I pray Thee, reveal to me the
heavenly mystery of the branch, in its living union with the Vine, in its claim
on all its fullness. And let Thy all-sufficiency, holding and filling Thy
branches, lead me to the rest of faith that knows that Thou workest all.