Don't Be a Stick
4/23/25 Bible Thought (John 15)
At my former church, there was one property the church owned that had two massive trees. I mean MASSIVE. Now, they weren’t particularly pretty trees—this is coming from someone who does love trees, and they didn’t contribute much to the property.
That is except for an unfathomable number of leaves to clean up in the fall and the constant array of sticks that would be scattered throughout the yard anytime the wind blew. These trees would drop branches like no other tree I’ve ever met, which was a pain when it was your responsibility to mow the grass.
What’s interesting is that a stick is really just a branch, but one that is no longer connected to the tree. Formerly, it had life, but in its separation from the tree, it’s now useful for nothing but kindling.
The Lord Jesus shares a similar metaphor in John 15, the only difference is He uses a vine rather than a tree. His goal is to showcase the need to “abide” or to remain in Him. Why? Because disconnected branches become sticks, and they have no life-source in them. Truly, the only reason that a branch can be fruitful is in its connectedness to the vine—Jesus.
Jesus shows us at least two clear implications that we must consider today through this metaphor. First, we must remain in Him and as a result bear fruit. He says,
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (Jn. 15:1-2).
The Father seeks fruit on the branches, and prunes those without fruit. Jesus would later say, “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples” (Jn. 15:8). Genuine discipleship is shown through outward fruit-bearing evidence.
Remaining in Christ, first in the faith and then intentionally abiding in Christ through a relationship characterized by prayer and study of the Scriptures and other spiritual disciplines is necessary for bearing what Jesus considered to be necessary spiritual fruit.
The second thing that we should see so clearly today is that not only is fruitfulness to be expected, but that any fruit we do bear is only a result of our being connected to the vine.
Again, Jesus says,
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5, emphasis added).
It’s a humble acknowledgement that I need Him. Not just to save me at the outset of the Christian life. I need Him every day. He is my source.
Jesus Christ is the fount from which springs everything good that is in me. Any real contribution that I make, anything I am able to do for the glory of God is merely the result of the grace of God at work in me.
As the apostle Paul once declared concerning his own apostleship,
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).
If fruitfulness is expected and it is dependent upon our connectedness to Him, what are you doing to abide in Him, today?
I love this message.
To be in Christ is deeply humbling and yet wildly empowering. When I think of all the things I can now do through Him, things I could never do in my strength, the possibilities throw me out of bed in the morning.