Quick Note – John 15:1-2 – Pruning to Bear More Fruit

John 15:1-2 – 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.

As I was reading this passage in John 15 today, I started to think about pruning.  I was born and raised in the city making my knowledge of agriculture and farming quite limited, so I decided to look up what pruning and its purpose was.  I came to find out that pruning is a technique performed by gardeners to remove dead, diseased, or short branches.  It is performed to remove shoots from a branch that could rob nutrients that would go towards making fruit. 

This short research on the concept of pruning helped me to better understand what God does in each and every one of our lives.  God prunes the short, diseased, useless branches that robbing us from making good fruit.  Although this process can hurt, because we often don’t want to let go of the things that distract us from God, it is important in our growth as Christians.  We must willingly allow God to prune out the things that take away our focus from Him, for we are called to bear fruit. 

Now, how do we know what things need to be pruned and what things need to stay?  I think this can easily be found in this same chapter, because Jesus Christ tells us if we want to bear fruit, we must abide in Him.  Things that help us abide in Christ are the things that are essential, and anything else should be pruned.  One important thing that we should abide in is His words (John 15:7 – “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”).  God’s Word should constantly be in our hearts and lives.  We should be meditating upon it day and night for that is what leads to growth (Psalm 1:1-3).  Another important thing that we should abide in is His love (John 15:9 – “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.  Abide in my love.”).  The love of Christ should flow in and out of our hearts into the world.  This love is characterized by sacrifice, by a willingness to serve others and to lay down one’s life for another (John 15:13 – “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”).  We should also abide in Him by keeping His commandments (John 15:10 – “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”).  This means simple obedience – obedience to the Word of God.  This can all be summed up by abiding in Christ’s joy (John 15:11 – “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”).  Joy is more than just simple happiness, it represents a fulfillment of the heart.  Christ’s joy was to do His Father’s will, that is when He was fulfilled.  So when this passage says that His joy should be in us, that means that the fulfillment of our lives should also be in doing the Father’s will.  This will means that we love Him with all our hearts, soul, minds, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.   

If we choose to prune out anything that does not help us abide in Christ, we will bear much fruit.  This is what it means to have Christ live in us.  This is how we reflect Christ to the world.  In the chapter before, Jesus told His disciples, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:11).  Jesus Christ showed that He and the Father were one by obeying the Father and His commands.  This goes the same for us.  We show the world that we are Christians through our works and through our fruit.  Let us abide in Christ, so that our lives a reflection of God’s Son.  Let God prune out anything that takes away our attention from Him, so we can bear good fruit. 

2014 – New Year’s Resolutions

Psalm 1 – 1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

One of the traditions we have in our household every New Year’s Day is that once we are settled at home, right after the clock strikes twelve, we pray and read Psalm 1 to begin our new year.  I think the reason we read Psalm 1 is because it is one of my dad’s favorite psalms and is a short yet spiritually powerful psalm that helps us to frame our minds with the right perspective for the new year.  The whole psalm relays the walk of the righteous compared to the walk of the ungodly, reminding all hearers to adhere to the law of the Lord and to follow His way lest they incur the eventual wrath and judgment of God.  It provides the characteristics of a righteous man –  1)  He avoids the ungodly and wicked (vs. 1), 2) He studies the Scripture (vs. 2), and 3) He stays planted near the Source (the rivers of water – Christ) and produces fruit in its time (vs. 3).  But it also provides a description of the ungodly – perishing (vs. 4-6).  Knowing how we can live a righteous, fulfilled life, as disciples of Christ, let us make it our resolution to display the characteristics of the righteous this upcoming year of 2014.

The first thing that we must resolve to do this upcoming year is to separate ourselves from the things and people that will cause us to stray from Christ, as indicated in vs. 1.  There are three phrases used here that share a common root meaning of “Avoids the wrong,” but each phrase has a slightly different specific attribute of “avoiding the wrong” that it wants to address.  The Psalmist begins by stating that the blessed and righteous man “walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.”  Here the Psalmist shares that the blessed man will not go in the way of the ungodly or in other words, he will not follow and obey the example of the ungodly.  This phrase addresses the physical aspect of sin and how the righteous man stays does not commit sin.  The second phrase “…Nor standeth in the way of sinners…” addresses the resolution of the heart of a person to do what is wrong.  The word standeth refers to taking one’s stand on an issue, and in this case, taking one’s stand in and for the way of sinners.^[1]  A righteous man will not ever take a stand for what is wrong but will stand against it.  The third phrase “…Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” is in reference to where one abides or dwells or settles. ^[2]  Once again, a righteous man will never settle into sin but will run as far away from it as soon as possible.  Interestingly, when you carefully examine all three phrases, you see a progression of threes of some sort.  First, you see the progression from walking to standing to sitting – from doing the sin, to standing strong for it, to settling into it where it may not even bother you anymore.  Second, you see the progression of placement – first, you only take the counsel of the ungodly but that advances to walking in the way of sinners to finally ending in sitting and agreeing with the scornful.  Sin can easily take us from clean and pure to downright dirty; therefore, as disciples of Christ, we must take heed to run from it as fast as we can.  When sin is around, we must flee, as Joseph did.  Surely, we have had some “pet sins” that we have been keeping around this past year of 2013 that we know the Lord has been calling us to let go of to Him.  Let us take this fresh start of a new year to put away, destroy, and eliminate the sin which doth so easily beset us and continue running the race for a pure and holy life that is a reflection of Jesus Christ in us.

The second thing we must resolve to do is meditate on the law of God.  Vs. 2 reminds us that the blessed and righteous man finds his delight in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night.  It is said that a majority of Christians have never once read through the entire Bible; that is a sad commentary on the state of the Christian church today.  We claim that the Bible is God’s Holy Word, His instruction manual for His children, His love letter to His church, and His way of communication to each and every one of us; yet we fail to spend time studying and meditating on His Word.  Instead, we go around watching TV, playing computer games, working at a career, and participating in the countless other meaningless activities which do nothing to strengthen our eternal relationship with Him.  If we want to know God more, we must spend time reading His Word.  I encourage you to follow a Bible reading plan this new year that will allow you to finish reading the Bible in a year.  There are many plans out on the Internet that are of free use and even more apps for your phone or tablet that can remind you to read it every day.  For example, I am likely going to follow the Our Daily Bread reading plan this year on (odb.org) which provides a daily devotional as well as a plan for getting through the Bible in a year.  You can also follow a chronological schedule on backtothebible.org.  You can even use any of those same apps that remind you to read to generate a specific plan for you.  Whatever you decide, I exhort you to spend time in His Word for that is the only way you can grow closer to Him and more righteous each day.  But do not forget that reading His Word is not enough, you must also meditate on it, which means to really think and consider His Word and how it applies to your life.  It is not good enough to simply read it as if you were reading a novel, but it must be studied and intensely thought about throughout the day, as you allow its words to encompass your whole life.  Read and meditate on God’s Word both night and day throughout 2014.

The third thing we must resolve to do is to stay planted near the Source and produce fruit.  This third resolution can be found in vs. 3 and is actually just a result of the first two resolutions, for when one stays away from sin and meditates on God’s law, he cannot help but abide in Christ and thereby bring forth fruit.  John 15 reminds us that if we desire to bear fruit we must abide in the Vine, who is Christ.  Also, we must take notice that Christ is not only the Vine but also the Living Water (John 4), who we should be planted right next to if we seek to grow and produce fruit.  If we want to be like that fruitful tree, then the first step is to be founded on Christ, trusting Him as Lord and Savior and continuing to grow in Him throughout the rest of our lives.  It is so easy to be like the church in Ephesus and get caught up in the work of God that we forget about our relationship with Him.  The church in Ephesus was rebuked for losing their first love, for they became engrossed with “Christian work” that they likely neglected their own personal relationships with Him.  If we really want to produce fruit, we must continue to cultivate that relationship and always have Him first in our lives.  By spending time in His Word, we can get to know Him better, strengthening that relationship.  By running away from sin and drawing near to God, He will draw near to you (James 4:8), growing that relationship even more.  If we seek to have a transformed and closer relationship to God this upcoming year, then let us make an effort to stay grounded in Him instead of being pulled away by the things of this world.

I implore you this upcoming year of 2014 to transform your relationship with God from where it is today to a thousand times stronger.  You may not have any relationship with God yet, so start it today by asking Him into your heart to be your Lord and Savior.  What a way to start a new year!  Having a new Lord, Master, Savior, and Friend!  You may be saved but have backslidden or grown stagnant in your relationship with Him, then remove the sin in your life and draw near to Him today.  You may already have a growing relationship with Him then remember to keep your eyes on Him, focusing on your personal growth in Him instead of only the opportunities to serve.  God will meet you where you are as long as you are willing to come to Him.  Have a Happy Blessed New Year!  And make use of it to grow ever closer to our God.

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^[1] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vol. 1: Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (243). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.

^[2] Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vol. 1: Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (243). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.