The True Vine, Part 5

Pruning

John 15v2b

25^th October 2014

Jesus said:

John 15v1-2
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Our fourth enquiry about John chapter 15 is "Do I really believe that if I bear fruit I will be pruned, to make me even more fruitful? And am I willing for that to happen? Pruning always hurts, and it always involves loss.

I'm not much of a gardener, but I do understand that when a skillful gardener prunes a branch, making just the right cut at just the right time, his work results in the branch being more fruitful next growing season. Can we accept Jesus's analogy that God tends us in the same sort of way, for the same reason? Can we believe that the pain and loss we suffer in this life are God-given, that they help to shape us and enable us to bear fruit for our Lord? Paul thought so:

Romans 5v3-5
... we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Paul teaches that suffering produces character. I think he confirms this when he says later in the same letter:

Romans 8v28a (ESV)
...we know that for those who love God all things work together for good

Many Christian people have suffered much more than I have, so I'm not much of an expert. For example, I really can't know what it's like to be persecuted as some Christians are. But I can say that I believe that such pain as I have suffered has - by the grace of God - resulted in an improvement in my character. There was plenty of room for improvement and, to be frank, there still is. So I can expect more suffering yet.

Perhaps the most profound pain for a Christian comes in wondering if God still loves us, or even if an omnipotent, loving God really exists, in the light of the suffering we experience. We can't always find a reason why God permits a particular person or group to suffer, but we can pray for the faith to believe the there is a purpose in it. If we can accept by faith that our suffering is ultimately for our good, then we will find it easier to bear.

As well as my desire to bear fruit for my Lord by becoming a person of good character (a gradual business, made slower by the times I chose to disobey my God) I also have a desire to bear fruit for Him by telling other people about His grace and mercy, and seeing them born again into His kingdom. It seems to me that these two goals - growing in character and helping others to find God - are the two overriding purposes of the life of every Christian.

Do we believe that bearing fruit for God is more important than being comfortable? Will we permit God to shape us, train us, correct us and humble us, so that we can bear more fruit for Him? Will we accept the pain that is part of that process? Will we allow God to take from us what is not helpful, as well as add to us what is helpful? I suspect that if we truly believe that all the challenges we face are God-given and designed to make us more fruitful, then we will be ready to endure whatever we have to endure, and lose whatever we have to lose, for God's sake. Then we will be able to say, as Paul did:

Philippians 3v7-12
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.
I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.