Read:John 15:1-8

“I am the true vine”

Have you ever seen a vine? Maybe you have seen a grape vine or a passionfruit vine. A nice, healthy vine will have strong branches and leaves, and lots of juicy, ripe fruit.

Jesus says that he is the true vine. Of course Jesus doesn’t mean that he is a plant and that he produces grapes or passionfruit. Instead, Jesus uses the vine as a picture of himself. He produced perfect fruit throughout his life. Jesus is talking about the fruit of the Spirit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. As the true vine, Jesus was always perfectly loving, perfectly kind, perfectly patient and perfectly good. He always produced perfect fruit.

As covenant children of God, we are also part of this vine. We are the branches of this vine. This means that we are connected to Christ. Just like the branches of an actual vine will get water and food from the roots so that it can produce fruit, so we, as the branches of God’s vine, must be connected to Christ and so receive everything we need from him to produce fruit. To be connected to Christ means that we must love him, we must have faith in him, we must believe in him, and we must worship him. How can you be connected to Christ? By reading his Word every day, praying to him and trusting him in all things.

The Spirit also connects you to Christ and so helps you produce good fruit in your life. He will help you to show patience to your annoying little sister, to show love when someone says something nasty to you, and to show joy when helping with the chores around the house. He will connect you to Christ and so help you to produce fruit.

Reflection with your child:

Are you taking time every day to listen to God’s Word, to pray and to so be connected to Christ? Are you producing good fruit in your life?

Source: Sermon by Rev. H. Alkema