First of all, notice I have always used a capital ‘C’ in the word Church. This means I am referring to the body of believers the Bible refers to as the Church as opposed to the actual church building or Sunday service most people associate with the word.

This is important because realizing the difference between being a part of a Church congregation and being a part of a Church family is the first step to seeing real, lasting fruit in your life.

Much like a grape vine, in order to see valuable results in the life of a Christian, a structure must be in place from day one to train the branches to grow the most productive, beneficial way. The absence of this structure, even for a day, can result in undirected growth which can lead to many unnecessary fruitless seasons. For a grape vine, this structure is the trellis. For a Christian, this structure is the Church.

So many times, we as believers want to grow on our own. We want to enjoy an online service from the comfort of our own home and never really let ourselves be a part of an actual church family. It’s not a sin to miss church. But not allowing yourself to be a part of the structure God has put in place for your own benefit is only detrimental to you and the harvest you’re hoping to yield. Lacking this type of structure is the difference between an amateur gardener who only yields a few grapes to feel a sense of achievement amongst his friends and a commercial vineyard owner who produces enough quality fruit to make mass quantities of the finest wines distributed around the world.

It all starts with allowing structure to exist in your garden.

The first responsibility of a trellis is to lift the grapes from the ground, fully exposing them to the sun and air. If you were to study the development of grapes, this exposure to the elements is necessary for two reasons.

One, the amount of sun the branches need to photosynthesize will never be reached if the entire branch isn’t exposed to the sun. If half of it was lying on the ground, under grass or only half-exposed, the fruit that comes about will never fully ripen, will be under-developed, and will never impress anyone enough to want the fruit at all. This is true for Christians as well. Friends and leaders will expose you so much more to Jesus than you could ever do on your own. No matter how much the vine tried, without a structure to climb on, it would only ever be half-exposed to the sun and only partially valuable.

Did you know that there is a moisture-loving fungus that thrives amongst grape bunches and vines that aren’t exposed to air? With full exposure, the air is able to dry the plant out enough that the fatal fungus can’t exist in the fruit. There are so many things in this world that love finding under-exposed Christians to steal any amount of life or fruit they may have from them without showing the slightest trace they are there until it’s too late. Full exposure is the only way to be sure this type of disease is avoided all together.

That leads us to another reason the trellis is essential to producing quality grapes: Protection.

The act of being lifted from the earth protects the grape vine in many different ways. Firstly, do you have any idea how many ground-dwelling animals and insects there are that love grapes? Being attached to this structure allows grapes security against these dangerous predators. The fact is, being consumed by these guys not only eliminates the actual fruit, but because the seed lies within the grape, it eliminates any chance for future fruit to return. Scary, huh?

Besides providing protection from predators, the Church actually provides protection from you. See, if a grape vine was to simply grow on the ground and have none of the issues I’ve mentioned before; the mere weight of the fruit produced would crush most of the new fruit being formed and would eventually stamp out the branch at its source. This is proven throughout history by the Christians who decide they want to grow on their own, allowing the weight of the entire system to rest on their shoulders. 10 times out of 10, this extinguishes the branch in the end along with many other surrounding, innocent branches. The structure of the trellis allows for the weight of the whole plant to rest away from the fruit and allows for maximum life and harvest.

Lastly, a well-designed trellis will allow suspension for the fruit. This suspension is vital in the formation of grapes for two reasons. This suspension allows for easy access. Farmers are able to see the production of the branches much easier, they can make repairs much quicker and more effectively, and when it comes time to harvest, the fruit is right where they need it to be to effortlessly take to the fruit to where it’s needed. How many people have talent and gifts coming out of their ears, but never seem to have it affect anyone? Allowing the Church to work with you, allows for your talents and results to be easily seen by those who can put them to use. A grape is no good for a wine lying under a bunch of leaves hidden from the gardener’s view. If you want to really affect people’s lives, get where leaders can see what you got! Let them in your world and you’ll be put in the best place to draw fruit out of your branches!

Finally, the gravity that keeps the fruit semi-grounded helps pull the fruit into existence from the blooms. Without this gravity, many of the blooms never produce fruit. They are just could-haves. A well designed Church will allow for a similar suspension where you rely on the vine for your nutrients, but gravity to keep you grounded, forcing fruit out of you. Living life in reality, but supernaturally at the same time, is what the Christian is all about. A good Church will keep you grounded when you need it, but keep you connected to the miracle of Jesus when you need it more!

You see, the trellis seems like it’s a structure to just keep grapes in line and give them something to do while they exist between seasons, but if you actually look into it, without the trellis vines would never produce the fruit they do. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jesus required fruit from us, knowing exactly how the trellis worked and how he was leaving us with a full-proof way to produce mind-blowing crops harvest after harvest.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.

John 15:16

As the next few hours passed, I couldn’t help but think of these words and how we all want to be a branch that produces fruit and not one that is just dead weight, waiting to be cut down. Then came the question: If producing fruit is our goal, how can we be sure to produce the kind of crop that Jesus expects without pursuing the quota more than the fruit itself?

Let me illustrate.

We’ve all seen a movie, witnessed an event, or had an experience in life where a result was expected and someone had to deliver. It could be a sports game, it could be a sales quota, it could be a troubled teen that needs a little direction.

Have you ever experienced a time where the harder you tried to make something happen, the further you got from actually achieving your goal and the less genuine the pursuit actually became?

The more you chase a championship to simply look good to the pro scouts, the more your play becomes about you and the more your teammates resent your presence on the field. The more you chase your sales quota, the more your clients feel like a number and the more sleazy you and your profession appear. The more you struggle to keep your problem teen out of the newspapers and in the church choir, the further you push him away from not only yourself, but the entire idea of God and everything you are trying to teach.

Over time, you find yourself exhausted, desperate, and further from your goal than when you began. This is not what Jesus expects from us.

The real miracle of bearing fruit doesn’t come from the branch trying to make the grapes happen. You never see a grape branch sweating with over-exhaustion and anxiety from trying to make grapes burst from its ends. The fruit just happens because the branch is connected to the life-source and allows itself to be a part of the overall picture. The branch is simply a conduit for the vine to get the nutrients and necessary ingredients to the buds in order to produce valuable grapes. Without fruit, the entire vine is nothing more than a weed.

So how can we be sure, as branches, we yield the kind of fruit Jesus is asking us to produce? Or better, how can we assure ourselves that fruit will just sprout from our lives without a huge struggle and without years being taken off our lives from wasted efforts trying to create results? The answer lies in how the entire plant is designed to grow.

A grape vine is a climbing plant, which means it requires a structure to be set up around it to grow the type of fruit that is expected. Without this structure, the vine just lies on the ground, very much alive, but never produces the fruit it is capable of. We are in a way designed the same way. While grape farmers build a structure called a trellis for the branches to latch on and allow many crucial phases of the fruiting process to take place, Jesus has built a similar structure around us to be sure He gets the same result: Fresh, ripe, abundant fruit. Everytime.

So what is this miracle structure that makes the difference between a dead branch being cut from the vine and a living, vibrant, fruit-bearing Christian?

The Church.

To Be Continued…

History tells us that the eunuch converted by Philip in Acts 8, returned to the Ethiopian region of the day and is credited for eventually converting the queen to Christianity. She in turn decides to build the world’s first rock church. Architecture that was admired and later used to create many of the impressive European churches we tour today.

Over the next couple of generations, the queen’s devout Christian faith faded into mere knowledge as the nation turned more and more to a polytheistic religion (belief in many different gods).

In the 4th century, a merchant from Tyre, Meropius, along with his 2 nephews, were returning from India, when they pulled into a port that had recently withdrew its treaty with Rome. The entire ship was mercilessly massacred, but the two young boys, Aedesius and Frumentius, were spared and taken in as slaves. Meropius had been a descendant of a family impacted by the ministry of Paul and a few of the other apostles and had taught the boys of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Over time, the two gained approval from the emperor and were made his cup-bearer and treasurer.

To make a long story short, the entire royal court was eventually converted and they were freed from slavery, but asked by the widowed queen to help run the country and raise her young son in their Christian ways. This emperor, Ezana, did away with the “Emperor System”, realizing he was not God and claimed Ethiopia as the world’s first official Christian nation in 330 AD!

All this was a result of four young people living a life led by the Holy Spirit. The thing is, the eunuch or the two slaves would have no doubt been unable to speak directly to the emperor or their families. The leaders would have noticed something different about them from the way they lived their every-day lives.

Living a Holy-Spirit, God-Inspired life is a decision we make every day. The verb ‘filled’ used in Ephesians is a continual verb meaning ‘to be being filled’. This means, it’s an active verb that’s more than just a one time occurrence. A better way to express the term ‘Living a Spirit-Filled Life’ is to say ‘Living a Spirit-Compelled Life’. The way you live gets far more attention then what you could ever say.

Ephesians 2:6

So many times I’ve just read over this page in my Bible, covered in highlighter and penned notes, but not given any renewed attention to this verse.  Paul makes a statement here that is SO powerful I can’t believe I haven’t recited it over my life every day!

As my Bible’s section header indicates, the author discusses in this chapter how we have been made alive in Christ. He reminds us that Christ’s grace is the only reason we have been saved and through this grace, He has given us life when we were dead. We weren’t dying, but DEAD!

In this particular verse, he notes God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms.  Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. On the throne. And so are we!

The important word here is with. There are two versions of this word used in the Bible. One with the prefix “meta” which means “beside of”. This is like: I came with my friend to the party. The other word, used here, has the prefix “sun” which means “intimate, indissoluble union”. This is the word Jesus used with the criminal on the cross when He said: “Today you will be with me in paradise”.

We are seated on the throne with Christ, in Christ! We’re not beside Him, begging for His attention, but on the throne with Him!

What does this mean for us?

We are given the authority Jesus has on His throne. Colossians 2:10 says Jesus is head over every power and authority. There is nothing Jesus is not master of and we have this same authority! We have to remember every day that we are not ordinary people that are thrown around by our circumstances. We have the authority of God to make the changes we need.

So many times, we lie crying on our kitchen floor hoping Jesus will feel sorry for us and come down to our circumstance to make it all better and then wonder why change doesn’t come. The reality is Jesus has already come down here, clothed in flesh, and walked through those circumstances. He’s now risen above all that and been seated on the throne and He took you with Him! You’re above that! We need to stop saying, “Jesus, come down here”, because He’s trying to say, “Why not just come up here!?”

Understanding this small verse has completely changed my outlook on life. It’s been said, the way you stand depends on where you sit. We see this with Congressmen. The more powerful roles have special seating that signifies their authority. The president or Queen of a country has a seat that is theirs and everyday they walk around with an air of power because of this. We are just another example of the power that’s tied to a seat.

Living from the throne, gives us every ounce of authority we need to live a life that is alive and powerful. A life given to us as a gift, completely because of Christ’s grace and mercy.

One of the most effective killers of change, personal improvement, or dreams for that matter is the lack of confidence one has for himself. This is something that is rarely admitted, but many failed attempts at transformation were preceded with a less than positive view of the individual’s personal ability to handle the next step.

The truth is often we don’t already possess skills and traits to be successful at the next level, but the point of the journey is developing what you need along the way. Believing this will happen is your next move of faith toward your goals!

A few years back, my wife bought me a wristwatch as a gift, something I had never owned. I loved it from the moment I saw it, however, after wearing it for a few hours I realized the dial was rubbing against a part of my hand that wasn’t used to having something attached to it. This change had begun to make my wrist very sore to the point I considered retiring the watch and giving up on the dream of mobile time! As I began to accept this reality, I decided: NO! I’m going to give it some time and see what happens. Within days, my wrist developed immunity to the pain and the watch was no longer irritating or painful. I now wore a watch!

As pointless as this story seems, it illustrates a good point.

I decided I wanted to start wearing a watch, something I had never done before, but always wanted to. It was exciting at first, but as time passed I began feeling the repercussions of the change. The pain was very real. My skin had grown very red and sore and with every movement of my hand, I could feel the piercing watch on my wrist. Retreating was my first thought, but never my path. Eventually, the pain receded. My body developed what it needed to survive the change and now, I can put on any watch I chose and I barely notice it is there. Get my point?

My body wasn’t ready for the change. I had never worn a watch before, so why would I assume it would just be natural? Quickly, I adapted to the change and developed what I needed to survive. Sure it wasn’t pain-free or as easy as I imagined, but had I given up, I would have never developed into a watch-wearer. I would have failed and attempting the move again in the future would be even harder to try!

This is the same with any change or dream you decide to chase. It’s not natural to excise everyday when you’ve never done it before! It’s not easy to sit in a classroom for 3 hours when you haven’t listened to a speaker in years. But you adapt. You develop what you need to succeed along the way.

Allowing yourself to surprise you is one of the biggest things people with dashed dreams fail to do.

If you don’t possess a skill, go after it. Start taking classes. Talk to a specialist in that field. Allow yourself to start developing that skill that will take you to the next level. You’ll be surprised what you are actually capable of doing!

Surgeons weren’t born with the natural ability to transplant a person’s lung; they learned how and let themselves develop into a surgeon throughout the journey.  Sure it was hard, but they allowed themselves to develop the skills they needed and in end, they get a white coat and a few letters after their name.

Believing in yourself is how you achieve transformation. You already have what it takes to succeed and if you don’t… you’ll have it when you need it. Just trust the process!

So, how do you keep positive about change and yourself, even when you don’t want to or it seems too hard? The final part of this series will tell you how and when implemented, will change your life forever!