Last week, we were reminded that God created us to bear good fruit; the fruits of the Spirit! Jesus taught us that He is the vine and we, non-Jews who have accepted His salvation, are branches grafted into Him.
Our role as His disciples is to separate ourselves from the sinful vines that ensnare us and to firmly place and position and graft ourselves into Him. Jesus has promised to withhold no good thing and to richly provide in an abundance all that we need to live a fruitful life.
In fact, Jesus did not only offer it, He requires that we bear good fruit!
Our role as a branch is simply to stay connected to Him as we live by faith, to soak in the sun, and to live the good life.
John 15:1-5 (NLT)
1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.
Romans 11:18-24
consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
This week, we’re learning how we can live the life that we are called to and purposed for! We’re going to shift our focus off of the vine and onto the gardener tending us, the branches.
There, we find another Kingdom principle paradox that sounds like a contradiction.
Less is more.
In order to produce more good fruit, less is required. In gardening, this is called pruning.
Less is more!
If you ever drive by a professional vineyard used to create choice wines,
you might be surprised to see what an optimum grape vine looks like. A bare stick of a vine with a few branches and leaves here and there. Those vineyards are designed to produce the highest quantity, and more importantly, the highest quality of fruit that it can.
If you drive by a personal vineyard, you may not be able to see the vine at all due to the vast intermingling of branches and large amount of leaves.
Less is more. Pruning is how not only a grapevine reaches its full potential, it is also how we as Christians reach our full potential.
Sure, removing dead branches are a part of the pruning process that everyone can understand and see the value in.
However, pruning is also removing parts of the plant that may look healthy, but are not producing fruit. The branches might be large with many leaves and even have other branches growing from it.
However, if it is not producing good fruit, it will be cut off from the vine. If not, it will continue to steal away resources from the roots and compete for sunlight only to continue growing itself and producing nothing.
It may look healthy, but it is dangerous for the branches that actually produce fruit. If it is not cut off, it will ultimately reduce the quantity and quality of the fruit and can even kill the entire plant if not addressed.
Less is more.
We have a tendency to focus on the sins of other people which we are not tempted by and think that their sin is worse than ours. However, anything that causes our lives not to bear an abundance of the good fruits of the Holy Spirit are bad for us.
Jesus never taught us to compare ourselves to others nor to seek out sin in the lives of others. He told us to be fruit inspectors. He taught us to look at the fruit produced by people’s lives and in that way alone, we can tell who His disciples truly are.
Even if they call Him Lord, even if they prophesy, even if they perform signs, wonders, and miracles, they may get to Jesus’ judgement seat and be called evildoers (Matthew 7). It is not what we say or what we do, but WHO WE ARE that matters.
Are we producing the fruits of the Spirit? If we do not produce that fruit, we will be cut off altogether and cast into the fires of Hell as firewood.
Jesus shared recent news with a group of people about Galileans who had been murdered by Romans in the temple while they were offering their sacrifices to worship God. Tragic!
He warned the people that unless they repent, they will perish just like all other sinners. Just because some die because of their sins and others do not who are guilty of the same sin does not make them innocent of it.
Luke 13:6-9
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
Just because we do not suffer as we continue to intentionally sin against God the way that others may does not mean that we are any better than them.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
The only reason that we can continue to live our lives without perishing of our sin is the grace and mercy and patience and goodness of God. He is patiently waiting for us to repent; to see ourselves as He sees us. He isn’t approving of it nor ignoring it. He’s waiting for you to repent of it!
If we refuse to repent and just keep building up ourselves and continue to not produce the good fruits of the Spirit, we share the same fate as a branch severed from the root that died right away. We will both be pruned. Cut off from Christ and destined as firewood.
Luke 3:7-9
7 John (the baptist) said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Even if we produce good fruits, there is always room for growth and to produce even more. Even if our lives are producing the fruits of the Spirit, we will still be pruned.
John 15:1-3 (NLT)
1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.
That’s right, even when we are producing good fruit, we will still be pruned in order to live our absolute best lives.
Less is more, but do we trust our Heavenly Father enough to let go of things in our lives that are preventing us from reaching our full potential? Will we let go of things that seem good to us in order to receive the best?
Being fruitful in life isn’t being busiest despite our culture embracing that as truth. The fuller that our schedules get and the busier that we are, the less fruits of the Spirit that we produce and the more fruits of the flesh that we produce.
Less is more.
Jesus’ ministry was incredible fruitful and productive and impactful. He didn’t spend His life travelling all over the world meeting every single need, though. He set boundaries and priorities and lived very intentionally and purposefully. In fact, He even said:
Mark 14:7
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.
He often spent time alone in prayer, staying connected with the Heavenly Father. He said that His life was productive because He ONLY did what He saw His father doing. Jesus, Himself, did not just go around randomly doing lots of good things and seeking out good things to do.
Jesus spent His time seeking His Heavenly Father’s will and choosing only to do what He was lead to do.
We can do a whole lot of good things, things that we can even defend doing with the scriptures. We haven’t been called to do a whole bunch of good things, though. We have been called to live by faith and to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. That is the only way that we can produce the fruits of the Spirit; by walking in the Spirit.
God will intentionally prune away things that seem good to us if they are not a part of His plan or purpose for us. If they are not part of His plan for us, then they will cause us not to be as fruitful as we can be and will even eventually kill us.
If it is not a part of God’s perfect will for our lives, then it is a waste of our time, money, energy, and all other resources. It may look good and it may look like a healthy thing, but it will only steal away resources from the things that cause us to bear good fruit.
God will use whatever means necessary to prune us. As Jesus mentioned, He will use His own word to prune us. Reading and studying and meditating on God’s word will reveal to us things that do not belong in our lives.
God will also use other believers to lovingly show us things that we need to let go of in our lives.
God will also allow natural consequences to bring revelation to these things. If it is not His will, then He will not provide for it and we will wear ourselves out doing it on our own strength.
Psalm 127: 1-2
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat –
for He grants sleep to those He loves.
Pruning, cutting things out of our lives, is an act of love. It is an expression of God’s good and perfect love for us. It may not feel that way, but we must trust by faith that it is.
Pruning will enable us to produce thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times what was sown (Matthew 13). Talk about being fruitful!
This morning, God is calling to us drawing us near.
He wants to cut out of our lives anything that is causing us to not bear good fruit.
It’s not to harm us or embarrass us or take away anything fun from our lives.
It is so that we can bear an abundance of good fruits!
It is so that we can reach our fullest potential and live the good life!
Reconnect with Jesus, the root, and trust the Heavenly Father’s pruning process.
Life is about to get good!!!