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I Am The Vine
May 25, 2014
Jesus declared, "I am the vine, and you are the branches." We live in Him, and He lives in us if we follow Him and keep His commandments. Outside of Him, we are cut off, and experience spiritual death. - Bernie Parsons
I Am The Vine
by Bernie Parsons
Presented to Globe church of Christ on 05-25-2014
Presented to Load church of Christ on 06-15-2014
Some think that one is a Christian if he or she merely professes to be.
Others define a Christian as “one who follows Christ”, while others say that
it means “to be Christ-like”. Let us take the larger view that a Christian
is not merely a follower of Christ, but one with Christ.
John 17:11 "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world,
and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou
hast given me, that they may be one, as we are."
John 17:20 "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be
one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that
the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast
loved me."
Acts 17:27 “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after
him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move,
and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are
also his offspring.”
In this state of oneness, we are in Jesus Christ, and He is in us. We live
in Him, He lives in us.
John 6:53 "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you.
54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day.
55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in
him.
57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that
eateth me, even he shall live by me.
58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did
eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever."
1 Corinthians 10:16 "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the
communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the
communion of the body of Christ?
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers
of that one bread."
To be Christian means that we live in Christ – in His spirit, His attitude,
and His approach. Our daily lives are an extension of the life of Christ,
reflecting Him to those we encounter in life. As the apostle Paul describes,
we “put on” Christ – we wear Him, as it were.
Galatians 3:26 "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ."
Colossians 2:6 "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Christ.
9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and
power:
11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,
in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ:
12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;"
1 Corinthians 12:12 "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all
the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews
or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit."
Jesus explained that our sustenance is in Him. He is the giver of life, and
our fruitfulness stems from Him. If we are purged from that true vine that
is Jesus, then we shall die to God.
John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;
and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will,
and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my
disciples."
Living in Him brings us to fruitfulness, and we shall bear more than a
little fruit. As all livings things reproduce themselves through
fruitfulness, Christians beget more Christians as we exhibit the life of
Christ in us.
1 John 3:23 "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name
of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
24 And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And
hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us."
1 John 4:13 "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he
hath given us of his Spirit.
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the
Saviour of the world.
15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in
him, and he in God.
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love;
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."
We prove that we live in Christ, and in God, His father, when we are love as
God is love.
1 John 2:27 "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you,
and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth
you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught
you, ye shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we
may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth
righteousness is born of him."
The truth of God is expressed in the life and love of the Christian. We
cannot help but do those things of Christ and His heavenly father if we
truly abide in Him. He is the vine, and we are the branches. The fruit that
we bear in this world comes from the main vine that gives us life.
