“Pruned for Love”

Scripture: John 15:1-17

Today’s text is about pruning – the shaping that our lives are desperately in need of. Anyone who has fruit trees or ornamental shrubbery around their home knows about pruning, and what happens if you don’t prune! In essence, the production and beauty of these living things is always enhanced by controlling those new “suckers” that are constantly springing up on the branches.

The same is true of our human lives – we simply use different terms and names in our own situations. “Production” is the spiritual fruit that comes from the lives we live, the “beauty” is the truth and fullness that is evident in our faith walk, and those same old “suckers” are also called by a new name – “SIN”!

Israel had always been referred to as the Lord’s Vineyard, and in Isaiah 5:1-7, we read of the Lord’s planting a great vineyard, in hopes of gaining a grand harvest of good grapes. But instead of a good harvest, it turned out to be nothing more than a bunch of “wild grapes”, so the vineyard would be left to ruin, without fences to protect it from intruders, and without pruning to improve the harvest.

And we, too, are in need of the Lord’s pruning and protection.

Read John 15:1-4

Jesus speaks of two vitally important needs in caring for a vineyard, or, for that matter, any bush or tree or living thing.

The first is pruning. As today’s text reminds us, we prune, not to just shape the growth, but to increase the fruit production. If the tree or vine is allowed to grow uninhibited, the fruit that it produces may increase in numbers, but the quality of the fruit will diminish dramatically. Pruning limits demand on the nourishment, and allows the fruit that is produced to be larger and more succulent.

The other issue that Jesus addresses is the “cutting” out of those branches that bear no fruit whatsoever. Dead limbs and branches are nothing short of ugly and dangerous, and serve no purpose whatsoever except to cause living limbs to become distorted.
Have you ever “googled” the internet for websites that list outdated laws that are still on the books? They’re a riot, and you have to wonder why they were never voted out of existence! They, too, are dead, and are never enforced, so why keep them?

Both of these concepts – that of pruning as well as cutting – is about removing growth – some new and some old - completely from the vine or the tree. Both processes are intended to eliminate those things that keep good fruit from developing. The pruning removes living limbs that lessen the quality of the fruit, and cutting removes those limbs that produce no fruit whatsoever. Neither condition – both the lack of life and the restriction of life - are beneficial to the orchard or the vineyard, or for the Christian life.

Read John 15:5-8

Jesus compares our life in him to the vine / branch type of relationship, and he is very specific in saying that HE is the vine – the source of nourishment and support for our lives – and that WE are the branches – the ones who are to produce good spiritual fruit for the kingdom.

“Pruning” is as important in our lives of faith as it is in a vineyard. Many Christians believe that joy and reward in their life comes from their constant involvement in church matters. They always seem to be at church - serving on as many committees as possible, being involved in as many projects and tasks as they can, and they believe that becoming more tired and burdened is, mistakenly, evidence of the depth of their faith. But is it?
Several years ago during a retreat, I counseled a young man who was, by his own choice, extremely active in his church. He was in a couple of bible studies, a young men’s group, served on several committees, and was seldom home with his wife and children. As a result, instead of feeling closer to God, he was becoming more distant, and was actually experiencing difficulty when he tried to pray. As we talked, he initially thought that he wasn’t doing enough or being good enough, but eventually he came to the realization that he was doing too much, that he needed to let some of his church “stuff” go, and I suggested that he speak to his pastor for guidance and support.

Another problem that develops over the lack of personal pruning is that others may be deprived of becoming involved within the church, because you are doing the very things that they are feeling called to do. It is so easy for us to forget that we might be undermining the “fruitfulness” - the ministry - of others by all that we keep for ourselves.

We also need to be involved in “cutting” those dead things of life from our spirit. I’m sure that we all have habits and attitudes that gain us nothing, so why keep them around? This is, of course, what sin is all about, and they can have no connection or place with the Lord and his call on our lives. So if they are useless and do nothing but drag us down, get rid of them! As Jesus tells us, they are only good for gathering up and being thrown into the fire! So let’s do that!

We need to be in the Lord, and in his way, if we have any intention of bearing good fruit for his kingdom. It is God’s greatest desire that we do all that he calls us to do, but at the same time, to avoid doing more than he asks of us. It may be a fine line, knowing what he would have us do and what we are to avoid doing, but that is what discipleship is all about – listening to the Lord’s voice, and following the leading of the Spirit.

Read John 15: 9-17

Sometimes, pruning and cutting in our lives hurts. It’s tough to give up those things that we see as our defining factors, those things that we have chosen to fulfill our purpose and direction in life. But Jesus tells us that they do far more damage to us in faith than any comfort we might receive in keeping them. And he says that the necessity for eliminating these damaging issues is all based in the love that he offers to us each and every day.

He compares the love that exists between him and the Father, to the love that he has for us and that which we must have for him. And without the love of God in our lives, our spiritual fruitfulness will suffer, and the joy that we can have by faith in Christ will also never be complete.
Why? Why is the love and joy of God so important for our life in faith? Remember the analogy of the vine and the branches – they must be one, they must exist in unity and harmony. Our fruitfulness is a function of the unifying spirit of God, and without it, our spirituality begins to deteriorate. In Mark 6:1-6, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth, but because the people didn’t believe in his divine nature, he was limited in power. Our faith, which comes from being connected to the Lord, is enabled by the love and power that flows to all who will trust and follow. And that relationship, our faith, can only exist when we are connected to the life-giving power of Jesus.

This relationship that comes through our friendship with Jesus is unlike anything else we will ever know in this life. Human friendships are fragile and tentative, and can easily break apart at the slightest provocation. But the relationship that comes by faith in Jesus Christ is eternal. It is complete. It is fulfilling. It is enabling. It is assured and evidenced by the joyful love that fills our life and overflows into the world. And this life of faith must be reflective of the life that Jesus led.

Which brings us back to pruning and cutting, in that the ways of earth will never be the ways of God. Over and over in the New Testament, we read about the difference between good and bad spiritual fruit. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we are told that we will be known by the fruit we bear (Matthew 7:15-20). In Matthew 12:33-37, we read that at the Judgment, we will be held accountable for the bad fruit we produce in this life. In John 12:23-26, Jesus says that we must die to the world, so that we might live and thrive and be fruitful in him. We receive a list of examples of good spiritual fruit in Galatians 5:22-26 – a list that begins with “love” and “joy” – as well as a list of the bad fruit that comes from the world in Galatians 5:16-21.

We must let the teachings of Christ be the pruning hook and the shears that remove those worldly influences from our lives. Our discipleship, our servanthood, our friendship with Jesus can only become complete through the pruning and cutting that obedience to his word will bring.

But we have to allow the shaping, for without it, we will miss out on the infinite love and the eternal joy of Almighty God. And that would be our shame for all time.