The unity with Christ

In the parable of the vine and the vinedresser, Jesus Christ explained to us in the gospel of John chapter fifteen the meaning of being in unity with Christ and how to abide in this unity, saying ”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.” (John 15:1-2.) He continues to explain more explicitly saying, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered”(John 15:5-6.) Christ is the vine, that is the origin of the tree. He is the trunk of the tree that carries the branches.

The branches are us, the church. The Father is the vinedresser. Jesus, Himself says to us in this parable that the branch that does not bear fruit is cast out and is withered. Though the branch is on the tree, yet it does not bear fruit.

Why is that branch unfruitful?
Because it is not fully united with the trunk and not abiding to the Vine. It looks like it is in the tree. From outside we see it is in the tree but it does not feed on the living juice of the trunk which makes it fruitful.

What is this living juice that the branch must feed on?
It is the Holy Spirit. After the branch being left in the tree for sometime without being nourished, it will dry and wither and does not bear fruit.

Why did Jesus say that this unfruitful branch, the withered one, must be cast out?
Because its dryness will affect the rest of the branches. The withered branch if left in the tree, it will make the attached ones to it all wither because it blocks the juice from passing through to the other branches. So it must be cast out and another branch must take its place for the sake of the wellness of the whole tree.
This parable explains clearly how we must be fruitful branches in the body of Christ, the tree, the church. We must be united with Christ in the Holy Spirit and abiding in His love. If we are united and abiding in the love of Christ, the life of christ will be transferred to us in the Holy Spirit.
This parable gives us no chance to deceive ourselves as believers. If we are true believers, we must be consistent in the love of christ, abiding in His life, and obeying His commandment which is to love one another.

What is the obstacle that separates us from the life of Christ and abiding in it?
The obstacle is sin, whether it is the sin of impurity, hatred, or anything that separates us from Christ's love and our love for one another. When you ask for eternal life through repentance, supplication, and a willing decision to reject sin, the Holy Spirit comes to fill your entire being with the life of Christ, so all you have to do is to accept it and receive it with joy and submission.
At the same time, the evil one, Satan, who is the enemy of man, will wage war against you. He will try with all the power of sin to resist you and send you temptations and thoughts of sin again. But what is new here is that you made a covenant to reject sin with your free will and that you already received the new nature. All this does not prevent the devil from resisting you with sin, but the life of Jesus within you will give you the power to resist the devil and his temptations.

So You must continue to resist the devil until you condemn him, and that your free will declares your love for Christ, the conqueror of all sin. So, every time the devil comes upon you with his war, you must reject him from all YOUR heart. But if you do sin on purpose, this indicates that you did not receive the new nature, even if you are a regular goer to the church. Why?
Because when you choose to obey the voice of sin, planning to fulfill it, and keep doing it, you are not a true believer. If you all the time obey the voice of  the Holy Spirit within you, but sometimes you are not able to do it successfully, pray asking for the help of the Holy Spirit, to give you an overcoming power over sin. St John is encouraging us in his first epistle chapter two saying, “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also
for the whole world.”(1John 2:1-2.)
So brothers and sisters, if you fall into sin, get up immediately and first wash yourself from it with Jesus’ forgiveness, Second repent, and expel the spirit of sin that entered your being quickly. And if you did hurt your brother or sinned against anyone, go and apologize and soothe his wound, and show him the love of God that is in you. If you do this every time, the time will come when you will not respond to all the temptations of the devil, whether it is thoughts or actions from the people around you.

The last question left in today's lecture is:
How to resist persistently the temptations of the devil and win the battle in our
spiritual war?
There are three things you have to do every day in order to live a victorious life:

1- To Sit before Christ every night and check all what YOU did in the day, and ask yourself, What did I do today? Did all my actions today did glorify the name of Christ or not?
if you committed a sin, you offer repentance for it and cleanse yourself by the blood of Jesus in the Holy Spirit.
2- you read every day a chapter from the gospel with enlightenment and ask yourself what does Jesus want to tell me and teach me today?
3- Take the word of the Lord in the Gospel which you read, pray, and ask for the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit.

AND NOW MAY THE LOVE OF GOD THE FATHER AND THE GRACE OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON AND THE COMMUNION OF THE Holy Spirit BE WITH YOU ALL IN JESUS’ NAME. AMEN