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Let’s suppose you lead someone to Christ. Who gets the credit? Of course, we know that Christ receives the glory, for He alone can beget life. But now let’s suppose that you have prayed, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and you share the same Gospel with another person. Is it your fault that they do not believe? Of course, Christ hasn’t failed, but it is His responsibility and not ours to bring about eternal life. Whatever God’s ultimate purpose in the life of that individual is, the fact is that it is up to God, and not us, to grant men and women the gift of eternal life. What I am saying is this: If you have prayed and are submitted to the leadership of Christ and you present the Gospel, He must be the one to bear fruit; we of ourselves cannot. This frees us in our witnessing, because we realize that responsibility rests with the vine and not the branch.

And precisely how much can the branch do without the vine? Nothing! Christians who concentrate on good works rather than their relationship with Christ are missing the point Christ is teaching here. It’s not a matter of what we do, but a matter of Who works through us that determines whether we are fruit-bearing Christians. John MacArthur writes, “Even strong branches cannot bear fruit independent of the vine. Cut off from the vine, even the strongest branches become as helpless as the weakest; the most beautiful are as helpless as the ugliest; and the best are as worthless as the worst.” That’s why learning to abide is absolutely essential in our quest to please God. Whatever we do independently of Christ is just so much dead wood.