“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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” John 15:1, 2
As a follower of Jesus, what do you do when hardship hits your life? What do you and I do when it feels like God is allowing, maybe even causing, pain to come into your life? There’s a fascinating observation we can make in John 15 where Jesus is comparing Himself to the vine of a grape plant that connects the branches to their source of strength and nutrients: the roots. There are two contrasted groups of people in this passage that Jesus talks about here in these few verses:
- One group is “in Him” but not bearing fruit – i.e., spiritual fruit. In His illustration this would typically describe a branch that had grown longer than it’s strength could hold up, and thus was being weighed down by the leaves of the branch. And distinctly absent of fruit.
- The other group of people are the ones “doing all the right things.” They’re faithful. They’re fruitful. They’re doing exactly what they were grown to do.
In the first case the “vinedresser” a.k.a. vintner, prunes the branch that has grown far from the vine (it’s source) and lacks the stability and strong connection to the vine to support it’s own weight. The vintner “takes away” or prunes (Greek: “airo” literally meaning “to lift up,” used to describing pruning) the branch back – cutting off length and leaves so that the branch can stay close to the root and concentrate more of it’s resources into doing what the vintner intended for it: to produce fruit.
God does this to us, when we allow the weight, sin, cares, and values of this world to weigh us down. We end up laying in the dirt. And no grapes grow where the branch touches the ground. We have to be lifted up. Pruned back. And that’s a painful thing. No one likes the pruning. But God’s desire in doing so is not to punish us. But to “lift” us up out of the dirt. God doesn’t rub our nose in our sin and brokenness. He wants to lift us up out of it so that we can grow and bear fruit. But that may require some pruning first.
But what of the second group? The “good” ones? The branches that bear fruit. Oh, well God just uh,… well God prunes those branches too…
Hey don’t get mad at me, that’s what Jesus said! The same Greek word (“airo“) is used to describe the vintner’s treatment of the fruitful branch also. And the motive is spelled out for us: “that it may bear more fruit.” On the surface, we tend to push back on what Jesus just told us here…
“Why would God prune the people who are doing the right things? How is that fair?”
But it’s not a question of fair. It’s a question of fruit. God’s desire for us is that we bear fruit, and then bear more fruit. His intentions for us are good! But sometimes God has to take good from us to give us better. And He gets to be the judge of what “better” looks like.
Maybe you’re not being pruned because you’re doing something wrong, but because you’re doing something right. Maybe you’re suppose to go through this pruning for your continued growth, and not because you’re being corrected.
Many of you who know God can accept what I’m saying, but you still have a frustrating question that is predictable, because we’ve all been there:
So how do I know the difference? How do I know when I’m being pruned because of sin in my life vs. when I’m doing the right things?
Are you ready for the answer..? You can’t. You don’t. Of course, if there’s something obvious that God is showing you, you might know – but aside from that, there is no way to tell the difference. God treats the two nearly identical, and bot for the same reasons – He loves us and wants His glory and our good in our lives.
And though you can’t often identify the reason God is allowing the pruning into your life, you and I are given the proper response to have from Jesus: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)
When difficulty hits, when hard times come, when you feel the pruning – regardless of the source or reason – abide in Him. Remain in Christ. Maintain your faith. Draw near to the “Root” where the strength and nutrients are. Don’t leave God and don’t abandon your faith – “For apart from Me, you can do nothing.”
The only thing worse than disappointment with God, is disappointment without God.
Stay strong. Endure the pruning. Allow God’s strength to be made perfect in your weakness. Abide in Him.
Blessings,
Pastor John
