"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener" (John 15: 1)
When Jesus speaks of Him as the "true" vine, He means that it is something more than mere information that would be true. "True" here conveys the same meaning as the term "true friend" - meaning real, genuine, authentic, always there to support you in concrete terms.
But what about the winemaker, our heavenly Father? He maintains His vineyard perfectly, with love. It is His work to allow life to continue to flow through us and we can trust Him to put things in their place so they can grow. For this reason we do not have to worry about our lives while we live in Christ, grafted vine. We get a real flow of life from Jesus and the Father takes care of us.
If we are grafted in the vine, do not we naturally bear fruit? We know that we are safe and secure in Christ, pardoned by the Father's love. How could we not bear fruit as a result?
Again, Jesus gave us the key: "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch can not itself bear fruit unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me "(John 15: 4). That's another phrase that triggers an alarm signal for many Christians: "If ye abide in me." Some disciples are frightened when they read this. They create "must" and "must not" that cut actually real life.
It is true that the realization that Jesus did here is conditional, implying that we have our part to play. But the other part of the equation is: Jesus lives in us - and His presence in us is firm, constant, unwavering: "I forsake thee, and I will forsake you" (Hebrews 13: 5). When Christ said, "If you abide in me," He does not speak of our salvation - because our salvation was acquired once and for all on the cross. He talks about the fruit of the Spirit in our lives - our testimony, our walk in righteousness, joy and our peace.
