THE GOSPEL OF JOHN: The Role of Pruning

Pastor Steven Osborne
Transcribed by DaVinci Resolve

Key Point 

When we think about, just, the pruning and cutting, I am sure—you know, not that the bushes can talk or think—but they might go, “Hey, why is this guy cutting us, pruning us,” not realizing you do it because the gardener really cares, and you wanna see them grow into their full potential.

Introduction

We’re in John chapter 15, and to kind of just set the stage for God’s Word this morning, about a year, year and a half ago, we moved into a new house in Piedmont Avenue—it was wintertime, towards the end of the wintertime—and right by our driveway is all these rose bushes. Probably about seven of them, and it just looked nasty, and it was winter, and so, yeah, you didn’t see the fullness of it, and we just like, “Oh, we’d love to clear that up a little bit and maybe put in some other plants and trees,” and so we did. We removed some of them, and there’s now still about three or four of them in there, and they are constantly work. I am amazed at how tough these guys are. I’ve been trying to maybe feed some of them, poison some of the roots, because like, they just keep growing. They’re just everywhere, and I’m constantly out there trimming and pruning them, and the more I do it, the better they look, and the more they grow, and it’s like, “‘Stop it!” Right? But then in the summer, I mean, it is beautiful, just as you drive in there, and all the colors are there, and you see the birds and the bees, and you stand there with your cup of coffee, and it’s just to really enjoy that beauty. And so now I’m in a place, so it’s just, you know, you want to continue to prune and give them water, and it’s like, “I want to have the best rose bushes in the neighborhood.” And so I will continue to trim, although it’s hard work, and a lot of times, I pick up some sort of medical emergency after you’re trying to cut all of them and prune them, right? They are dangerous, and really a pain to work with.

You know, it’s… when we think about just that, the pruning and cutting, I am sure—you know, not that the bushes can talk or think—but they might go, “Hey, why is this guy cutting us, pruning us,” not realizing you do it because the gardener really cares, and you want to see them grow into their full potential. And really, all of chapter 15 is about this image. It is truly about how much God loves us, can I hear an amen?

And then also, the invitation to all of those that believe in him to abide in him. And so this morning, we’re gonna look at why do we go through pruning? How do we abide? Why is that important? And then we’ll just take some time to pray and to really wait on the Holy Spirit to minister to us this morning. 

I Am The True Vine

So as we look through John chapter 15, today we will read one of the last “I am” statements. And so throughout the book of John, you have seven “I am” statements that Jesus shares with his disciples. And so we’ve seen “I am the bread of life;” “I am the light of the world;” “I am the door of the sheep;” “I am the good shepherd;” “I am the resurrection and the life;” “I am the way, the truth, and the life;” and then today, “I am the true vine.” And we’ll look at why that was so profound for us.

This is an image that was really familiar to the Jewish people, and I’ll share with you in a bit. So let’s—if you have your Bible with you—let’s turn to John 15. We’ll start in verse one. I won’t read all of it for the sake of time this morning. It says:

“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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; and apart from me, you can do nothing.”

And then we’ll jump over to verse 15.

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends [of] everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: love each other.”

Now, we know looking at chapter 14—at the end of chapter 14—that Jesus and his disciples now have left the upper room. We’re done with the Last Supper. They’re on their way to the garden. We’re in the last several hours of the life of Jesus Christ. His public ministry is over. And as they’re walking to the garden, at some point, he stops and he teaches, again, some valuable things/principles to his disciples.

And he gives them this, he starts off to say, “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.” Now, there’s several views on this. One of the views we read from some of the Jewish historians of that time, that Josephus shares that there was a huge vineyard design—or a vine design—on one of the pillars by the temple. So that’s one view that maybe as Jesus was passing that the temple that they were looking at this and that created that moment for him to share.

The other is, obviously, as you travel through Israel, still today, you see all these vineyards. And so the thought is maybe as they were traveling, walking to the garden, that they were walking through one of these vineyards, and Jesus took that moment to again share with them some of these principles and this image. And again, he just reminds them that he is the I AM.

All of these “I am” statements refers back to the moment of the burning bush where Jesus—or where God—revealed himself to Moses, and he said, “I am,” right? And so Jesus is using the same language to again reveal his identity to his disciples and to those that are following him. And so that’s why the “I am” statements are so important.

Staying Connected To The Vine

So again, just this image of the vineyard wasn’t uncommon for the Jewish people. They were very familiar with this. God actually used this image throughout the Old Testament to describe Israel, and a lot of times when he was doing that, it wasn’t very good, right? And so to give you one example, Isaiah chapter five, verse one and two, “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard.” So this is about Israel. “My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.” And so what is being communicated here is that God set up Israel to bear good fruit in their lives. He’s done everything and then he’s expecting good fruit in his people and somehow it doesn’t happen.

And so there’s a little bit… and throughout the Old Testament, you see some of the rebuking that happens because of this. And so again, they were familiar with this image. And now Jesus is saying, “I am the true vine.” Now, just reading that, if Jesus is the true vine, the implication is that there are false vines that we can or may be connected to and continue in.

Now let’s just ponder there because I think this is so accurate. Jesus in this passage is inviting us to abide, to stay connected to him. And yet, because we are sinners, and we are stubborn and all various other reasons, right, a lot of times we get connected within the wrong things. And that will cause us to bear bad fruit. And so that’s why even the pruning is so important. It really helps us to kind of get refocused, to really say, “Hey, this is an opportunity for me to get connected with the true vine and to get connected with Jesus, to abide in him so that I can bear good fruit.” 

Now, in this scripture, I want you to hear this. Don’t miss this. There’s always the temptation to think that we can come up with the fruit. We cannot do it. It is not in our might; it is not in our power. We have one responsibility and that is to abide in Christ. As we abide in Christ, then the power of the Holy Spirit and the sanctification work of God will work out the fruit in our lives, but we cannot do it. We have one job and one job only, and that is to stay connected, to abide, to rest in God. Can I hear an amen? And so you can spend a lot of energy and try and to create these things; you will not be able to do it. It’s a supernatural power and a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we stay connected with God.

The Role of Pruning

“The vinedresser is never nearer to the branches than when pruning them.” What a great quote from David Jeremiah. Like I said, a lot of times when we are going through a pruning season— I have learned over the years and different things, I’ve had people, when we had a different house, we had fruit trees, and you have to prune those in the right season. You can bring a lot of damage if you prune them in the wrong season, right? And so we go through seasons where God prunes us, where he cuts things off, and when we don’t have the right perspective, and if we can’t identify those moments, then guess what? We can get bitter, we can get mad at God, we can blame him and say, “Oh God, why am I going through this pain,” right? And somehow we’re missing this view of why he’s allowing some of these things in our lives. And in the meantime, he is pruning us and cutting away some things because he wants us to grow bigger and healthier fruit in our lives. And it helps us with our maturity in the faith.

And so we need to be able to identify even— and I don’t have the real answer, I was just pondering kind of this all week because I was thinking about different hard things that I have gone through in my life, and a lot of times it’s easier after a season when you’ve gone through some of those things and you look back, and you look at maybe some of the maturity that happened in your faith, then you can say, “Oh, this was pruning.” But a lot of times when you’re in the moment and when you’re dealing with some of the hard things, it’s not always easy for us to spot that. And then like I said, then we either sometimes get mad or we get better, and a lot of times we might even try and run away from some of that pain, or run away from God.

So why does God prune us? And is that really necessary for every believer? I was dealing with this conflict and this tension all week. As I’m reading some of these passages and allowing scripture to speak to me, there was moments where it just hit me. I started to realize how important the pruning process is. And then I was like, “Okay Lord… prune away!” And then I think about the consequences or the pain in that moment, and it’s like, “I’m not sure, Lord. Hold on, pause, pause, time out!” Right? And we all do it. We don’t like that process. We don’t like the pain and some of the stuff that we deal with. But at the end of the day, if we can hang in there and if we can trust God, then it is good for us. And then there will be good things that will come from this. 

So why does he prune?

To remove what is dead or dying. Sometimes there’s just some dead stuff that we hold on to in our lives. And it hinders us to grow in our love with the Father. And it hinders us maybe to experience the full fruit of the gifts of the Spirit. And so he wants to come and remove it. He’s not mad at you. He’s doing it because he loves you.

To remove what’s infected or diseased. Back in biblical time, the method for vineyards and how they did it looked very different maybe than what we are used to seeing now. Those kind of grew—back in biblical times—they grew wild, on the ground. And so again, then the farmer needs to come out and he needs to pick up these bushes and inspect them for disease, or for disease, or for any insects. And then to kind of get rid of them to make sure that everything stays healthy. And the same way in our lives too, sometimes, you know, God will come and through the work of the Holy Spirit, and he will lift things up in our lives to remove some things there that is causing harm in our lives spiritually. And he’s not doing that to punish us. He’s doing that because he wants us to continue to grow in our faith in him.

God puts away excess: unnecessary burdens, relationships, or attitudes that hinder our spiritual progress.

And pruning readies us for new seasons of growth, equipping us for the challenges that lie ahead.

This is an ongoing process. As long as I stay in this house where we’re at right now, I will have to constantly prune those rose bushes. Every year, throughout the summer, in the fall. And in the same way in our lives, we go through the seasons where it is… where we can enjoy the fruit and the work that God has done in our lives. And then we kind of go back into the next cycle of maybe some pruning. And it is to be okay, and every time that we go through that process, if we do it in a healthy way, our faith grows, our understanding of God’s plan grows, right? And then it prepares us for some of the next big challenges and things in our lives. None of these things are just empty use of God’s timing and just doing it. Everything has purpose that God is doing in our lives.

Ultimately, the purpose of pruning is to bring glory to God by producing fruit that reflects his nature and character in our lives. That’s the ultimate goal—for us to be on a place where the fruit of the spirit and the Holy Spirit is so glorified in us that it reflects on our Creator, amen?

And so, here’s one of those scriptures that you don’t appreciate as a teenager, okay? Hebrews chapter 12, “For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child. As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?” When you see that happen, if a dad is here and he’s not disciplining his child, you’re probably gonna have some wild kid running around and doing whatever, right? But because you wanna discipline and you wanna train your child, you’re gonna steer him, you’re gonna discipline him so that he can develop good character. And the same way God is doing that in our lives. We should be concerned when we’re not experiencing the pruning and discipline of God in our lives. Then maybe there’s some sort of disconnection, because this should be an active role and experience in our lives. And again, just wanna mention this again: God is doing this because he loves you. It is not to punish you, it’s because he loves you.

How Does God Prune Us?

So how does God prune us? Well, here’s another one of those verses we can take out. James chapter one, verse two and four, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

And so when you’re in the middle of the trials, it’s hard, and especially if you don’t recognize that God is maybe at work and he wants to use this for his good to build that character—and even as Val shared with us this morning and being vulnerable for us—it is hard. It is hard when you deal with health challenges in your family, right? And what do we do in that moment? Do we just get bitter and angry, or can we be in that place and say, “Man, here’s an opportunity for me to rely on God, to abide in him, to trust him,” and to say, “Okay God, you’re building character. Yes, this sucks to go through this right now. But you’re doing something. You’re not done with me.”

How Do We Abide In Christ?

So how do we abide in Christ? That’s a great question. Just wrestle with this. Here’s kind of one quote, and then you can go home. This will give you all of the answers.

To abide in Christ means to keep up a habit of constant close communion with Him—to be always leaning on Him, resting on Him, pouring out our hearts to Him and using Him as our Fountain of life and strength, as our chief Companion and best Friend. To have His words abiding in us is to keep His sayings and precepts continually before our memories and minds, and to make them the guide of our actions and the rule of our daily conduct and behavior.

Go in peace, see you next week. That’s a mouthful.

So how do we kind of break that down? Because just again, the way that I’m wired, I wanna hear those practical things and maybe some ways to measure—Am I abiding? Am I seeing the fruit? Am I really abiding in Christ? Because he’s repeating this over and over and over and to say, “Abide in me, abide in me. Without me, you cannot do anything.” So this is key, so we wanna make sure.

So a couple of things, how do we do that?

Number one, trusting in Jesus’ love for us. Now, don’t let that just go over your head this morning. This is a big one. As I was reading this chapter this week for the first time—and I’ve read through this chapter so many times—this was either around Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, I can’t remember the exact moment—I was reading it, and somehow the Holy Spirit just revealed something different to me. Not just with words, but I just understood his love for me in a brand new way that I haven’t experienced before. It just, this passage just clicked, and I went like, “Man, this is all about his love for me.” And we will struggle to abide in him if we struggle to believe that he really loves me. When we read Matthew, we see where Jesus is teaching and he’s reminding us, he says, “Man, you see the birds and the flowers, how much more do I care about them…” or “care about you than for them,” right? And it’s like God provides all of these things for them, their food and clothing and stuff. But I want you to know this morning that we can and we should trust in God’s love for us. Don’t make what he did on the cross cheap, and don’t think it’s not for you. So many times when we look at our past and some of the mistakes that we have made, it’s easy for us to kind of cancel God’s love, at least in our minds, or we build up this wall and say, “Well God can love everybody else but me.” And I have wrestled with this probably most of my college years. This was a big thing in my life. Until again, one day where I just experienced God’s love in such an amazing way, and I knew that he loved me, with all of my shortcomings, with all of my issues. And just reading this, I was so amazed this week, just again, how the Holy Spirit just… I don’t even know how to communicate it to you, but it just got a hold of my heart. And I just realized again, like, “Steven, this is about God’s love for you.” And we need to trust in his love for us. I wanna encourage you. Keep growing in that. Don’t try and avoid, or cancel, or come up with reasons why God doesn’t love you. He loves you. And start to believe in this promise.

Number two, how do we abide? By cultivating a spirit of worship. We have to learn how to be worshipers. There’s something powerful that happens when we learn how to worship, not just at church on a Sunday morning, but really when it’s so part of our lives, when you can wake up— It was so funny this morning, Venessa thought it was… my alarm went off at four, and the dog made a funny sound. We thought we needed to get the dog outside. And so at four o’clock, Venessa’s jumping up, and she thought it’s Monday. And so we’re making coffee, still half asleep, and she starts to just sing worship songs. It’s like, “Well, I know you’re not on the worship team, but we can call Christo and say, you can join the worship team this morning. It was fun to see, even just in her, like at 4:30 in the morning, there was worship. But then she went back to bed.

And worship is more than just singing songs. I mean, we have the radio, we can sing all kinds of different songs, but worship—and true worship—is, even for us when we come on a Sunday morning, and we reflect on the words, and we allow it to minister to our hearts, and we, in those moments, connect with God’s heart. That’s worship. That’s abiding. And so we need to learn, really, to be able to become worshippers. A lot of times I’ve found that men struggle in this area, and to even just be vulnerable, see it as being silly to worship, but it is more. So we have to train. We have to come even in on a Sunday morning and to say, “Man, my worship, the purpose of my worship this morning is to abide, to connect with the Father’s heart.” It will change your entire Sunday morning experience. So don’t just try and connect and remember the words. Those are all good things, but allow the words to speak to you. And even if you don’t sing the words, maybe you just have a prayer, and you’re just connecting with God. That’s good, that’s worship. And practice it in the shower. Practice it in the car. I really enjoy sometimes going to the cities, and I’m in the car by myself, and I’ll crank up some of that worship music, and then Hailey isn’t there, I know there’s gonna be no judgment, there’s not gonna be any snarky comments—and so in that moment, I’m just letting it rip, right? But I’m learning again to just worship.

Confession and repenting of sin. This is huge for us to become aware of moments where we fell short, where we’ve maybe done some things where the Holy Spirit convicted us, and we did it in any case. But part of that abiding is to live in that attitude of confession and repentance.

And then big one, to study God’s Word. We cannot abide in God if we don’t study His Word. We have to do it. This is him speaking to us. This is the Father’s heart being communicated to us, and he’s teaching us through his Word how to really connect with him. And so don’t skip out on this.

Meditation Question

So just a question for us this morning as we get ready to worship: What practices do you implement to help you maintain your connection to Jesus? What practices do you implement to help you maintain your connection with Jesus? Be very intentional. Over and over in this chapter, we have this invitation to abide in Him.