Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Sunday, March 22, 2009 10:58:32 AM
Continuing with John 15 and the church…
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” [John 15:1-4].
How does the vinedresser tend the vine? He removes the unfruitful branches and prunes the fruitful so that they will bear more fruit. And how does God do this? Christ tells His apostles and His people through them that, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” He refers to His word in the context of the fruitful and unfruitful branches.
Later in John’s Gospel Jesus gives us commentary on this parable, “[Father] sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is Truth” [John 17:17]. The word is used of God to conform the believer more and more into the image of His Son. The word also reveals the unbelieving heart as one unwilling to obey; he is conformed to this world and not willing to be 'transformed by the renewing of the mind' [Romans 12].
The healthy church is characterized by the faithful exposition of the word of God and a Biblical doctrine of regeneration. Spiritual regeneration is a necessity for bearing the fruits of the Spirit, and since men are dead in sin this work is of God alone…
“You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” [John 3:7-8].
Apostasy comes in when the sovereignty of God in regeneration is left off.