Vines and Branches

Article # four: The Vinedresser (Part 2)

J E S U S : My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:1,2)

The Father prunes you. If you didn’t know it before you know it now. It’s the word. Now you must progress from knowing to realizing. To realize is to abide in the awareness of something you know. Realizing is apprehending a truth. Meditation (or purposeful consideration) helps us advance from fruitless knowing to fruitful apprehending.

This is vital: The Father only prunes those who want to be and ask to be pruned. He works through (as He saves through and sanctifies through) our cooperation, never trespassing the free will He has given. Pruning is a beautiful thing, and you get as much as you want and petition for.

And it is important to know the Father’s methodology. How does He prune us? Christians have imagined some scary tactics the Father uses to prune His children: Causing (or allowing) accidents, sickness, various heartaches, even temptation. John 15 teaches how the Father clips the bad and useless and ugly from our lives.

J E S U S : You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (John 15:3)

To prune means to cleanse. The eleven had been made clean by the pruning (or cleansing) of Jesus’ teachings, “the word which I have spoken to you.”

I can hear you!…. But I thought it was the Father who does the pruning! The Father prunes through Jesus. (As the Father does everything through Jesus.)

J E S U S : The words which you hear are not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. (John 14:24)

Again, what the Father does He does through His Son.

P a u l : There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. (1Tim. 2:5)

Jesus is the go-between, the Father on one side, christians on the other. We attained the Father through Jesus, the Father attained us through Jesus. For all eternity we relate to the Father through Jesus, for all eternity the Father relates to us through Jesus.

This is what the vineyard of John 15 looks like: Jesus is the vine…. you are one of many branches…. attached to you are clusters of grapes…. some neighboring branches have more grapes, some less…. the Father is the vinedresser…. the pruning shears are the Father’s truths as taught by Christ via the Holy Spirit.

J E S U S : By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. (John 15:8)

The Father was glorified by the fruit of Christ’s life. Since, He has been glorified through His obedient adopted sons and daughters.

J E S U S : I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. (John 17:4)

C h a l l e n g e : You have one chance to glorify your Father on earth. Fruit-bearing season is coming to a close. Soon you will be gone, living elsewhere, opportunity either lost or seized.

P r a y e r : Father, we invite Your Spirit to deal with our hearts and minds that we may glorify Your name on earth as did our Elder Brother. (And hopefully the reader says, “Amen!”)