“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser … .I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” John 15:1;5
This website is called The Vine because it is dedicated to the lost art of discipleship. Not discipleship in general, but the discipleship that Jesus taught his followers and what they then passed on to others. You cannot be his disciple without abiding in him. One abides through believing that Jesus Christ is who he says he is. It is through this abiding that we are transformed into a community of disciples that form his body on earth. As his body we are then called to go and call others into this same relationship. Even the Greek word for Church does not mean an edifice or building but a people “the called out ones.”
Abide also implies a death to the un-true vine, we have to die to the false self, sin and the powers of darkness that empower this world. Jesus also speaks of this dying to the old in John 12 23-26
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” ESV
These verses from John speak of Jesus’ call to us. He is not asking us to do something that he is not going to do. What a leader, What a Lord and Savior. This is the purpose of this website: to share my journey in being his disciple and to help others do the same. As he said, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me.” Following Jesus is not easy for any of us, but it is what we are called to do.