John 15:6

“If a man does not remain dwelling in me he is thrown out as a branch and is withered, and they gather them and toss them into the fire, and they are burned up.”

The branch whose connection with the Vine is not fully functional, which is not abiding in Him, will soon reveal its fruitlessness by the way it lives, and the result will be that it will be thrown out, tossed on to the fire and be burned up (compare Matthew 13:41 where this is said to be the work of the angels at the end time). So its end is worse than its beginning. There was one among the disciples of whom, alas, that would soon be true. Judas would not remain in the vine and he would be cut off. The branches of a vine are of such a nature that they are useless for anything but fruitbearing (see Ezekiel 15:3). They have no other use, they are worthless. All who are not His are spiritually worthless.

There could be no more vivid description of the Christian life. It cannot be too strongly stressed that it is not the church which is the vine, but Christ. Indeed parts of ‘the church' are too often like the vine that God condemned, dead and fruitless. The Vine is Christ. And if we are His then it is to Him that we must be attached, and from Whom we must be receiving life. If our church is being faithful it will be stressing to us our need for a personal response to Christ and seeking to enable us to maintain our full connection with the Vine. If it is not pointing us towards such a responsive faith in Him then it is failing in its responsibility, and betraying us.

As Jesus is telling us here, we must have Him dwelling within us, and we must remain dwelling in Him by trust, obedience and prayer. The test of whether we are Christians is not whether we have joined the church, but whether we have received Christ in personal faith; whether He has entered our lives and made us His own;, whether we are continuing in Him. Baptism may connect us to the church, but it will not necessarily connect us to Christ. It is only the work of the Spirit that ‘baptises, inundates' us into the true body of Christ by our being united with Him (1 Corinthians 12:13). That comes from responsive faith alone, and is finally revealed by godly, compassionate, and considerate living. The secret of the Christian life is in letting Christ live through us. “It is no longer I who live”, says Paul, “It is Christ Who lives through me” (Galatians 2:20).

As we shall see later we are exhorted to love one another and to demonstrate that love to the world. And that does include the ‘gathering of ourselves together' (Hebrews 10:25) to worship and pray together as ‘a church' composed of living members. The church, however, must direct us towards Christ, not make us look to itself. We gather together because we are ‘in Christ', we are not ‘in Christ' because we gather together.

It should be noted that as with all pictures different people interpret the details differently. But doctrine must never be established on the basis of the interpretation of these pictures. A picture illuminates a truth but can never give the full picture and becomes dangerous if overpressed. The truth is that there can never be such a thing as a permanently fruitless genuine Christian as the New Testament makes clear. ‘By their fruits you will know them' (Luke 6:43; Matthew 7:16; Luke 3:8; James 2:18). If they were fruitless it would mean that God had failed in His purpose towards them to work in them to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). It is strange how some of those who strongly affirm the sovereignty of God in salvation can then affirm a different doctrine with regard to the fruitfulness which is a part of that salvation. Carnal Christians there may be, but not totally fruitless Christians, for, if they are truly His, God will have done a work in them which must reveal itself, even if only gradually.