I don't pretend to be a gardener by any stretch of the imagination, or really all that interested in it, but last week I read a piece that made me sit up. I was in hospital preparing for surgery and this was my Bible reading for the day:
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.
You'll find this in John 15 and it forms part of the final teaching of Jesus to his disciples while at the last supper. The rest of the passage continues in a similar vein about the living relationship between him and his disciples, but it was, hardly surprisingly, these words which caught my attention. It was not as if I hadn't known them; just that they came home with a relevance I had not felt before.
God's aim for those who follow him is clearly laid out across the Bible, expressed in various ways, but with a common underlying theme. “Be holy, because I am holy” is one way the Old Testament puts it. Paul says that God's aim is that we should be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we should walk by the Spirit and produce the fruit of the Spirit. The writer in Hebrews says that God disciplines us with the aim of producing a harvest of righteousness. So what Jesus says about bearing fruit is another variant on this theme. God's desire is that we should grow in character that reflects him. What we often fail to realise is just how passionately committed he is to this.
Israel's commission was to be a holy priesthood among the surrounding nations, praying for them and representing God to them so that they knew what he was like. Old Testament history shows just how badly they did this much of the time, with God on occasion accusing them of causing those nations to slander him because of the way they, Israel, had behaved. But his aim for his people did not change because of that, nor has it changed for us. His desire is that we should bear fruit to his glory and he will work in us to ensure that we produce it. Hence John 15 and Jesus' teaching about pruning.
Gardeners will understand the metaphor: a fruitful plant must be pruned to ensure continued as well as greater fruitfulness. The pruning can appear drastic – indeed, vines are often stripped right back to the stump – but when performed by those who know what they are doing, it leads to a vastly greater crop. So it is with our lives. God knows that he is not going to see us grow without a pruning hand. If life continues swimmingly we often become complacent, lazy, self-centred and forget God who has given us everything. When life is threatened we realise our dependence upon him and our need for his grace in greater measure, so we turn back and pray to find his help not just for the trial, but also to be what he wants us to be in normal circumstances.
If that seems a little drastic we need to remember that God knows that our happiness is also bound up with this. The fruit he wants us to produce is a powerful and beautiful combination of character traits that both glorify him and benefit us. What can possibly be wrong with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Those are his aim for us, in greater measure (“even more fruitful”, as Jesus says) and permanently (“fruit that will last”), so he takes the steps needed to ensure this happens.
So there I am, lying on the hospital bed, waiting for some relatively drastic surgery, and Jesus tells me he is in this. I am not the victim of some ghastly lapse in God's planning or some fiendish scheme of Satan. This is the Master's hand and he will produce in me those qualities that reflect his grace, and as I remain close to him, he will ensure that it will be in abundance.
God's aim for those who follow him is clearly laid out across the Bible, expressed in various ways, but with a common underlying theme. “Be holy, because I am holy” is one way the Old Testament puts it. Paul says that God's aim is that we should be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we should walk by the Spirit and produce the fruit of the Spirit. The writer in Hebrews says that God disciplines us with the aim of producing a harvest of righteousness. So what Jesus says about bearing fruit is another variant on this theme. God's desire is that we should grow in character that reflects him. What we often fail to realise is just how passionately committed he is to this.
Israel's commission was to be a holy priesthood among the surrounding nations, praying for them and representing God to them so that they knew what he was like. Old Testament history shows just how badly they did this much of the time, with God on occasion accusing them of causing those nations to slander him because of the way they, Israel, had behaved. But his aim for his people did not change because of that, nor has it changed for us. His desire is that we should bear fruit to his glory and he will work in us to ensure that we produce it. Hence John 15 and Jesus' teaching about pruning.
Gardeners will understand the metaphor: a fruitful plant must be pruned to ensure continued as well as greater fruitfulness. The pruning can appear drastic – indeed, vines are often stripped right back to the stump – but when performed by those who know what they are doing, it leads to a vastly greater crop. So it is with our lives. God knows that he is not going to see us grow without a pruning hand. If life continues swimmingly we often become complacent, lazy, self-centred and forget God who has given us everything. When life is threatened we realise our dependence upon him and our need for his grace in greater measure, so we turn back and pray to find his help not just for the trial, but also to be what he wants us to be in normal circumstances.
If that seems a little drastic we need to remember that God knows that our happiness is also bound up with this. The fruit he wants us to produce is a powerful and beautiful combination of character traits that both glorify him and benefit us. What can possibly be wrong with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? Those are his aim for us, in greater measure (“even more fruitful”, as Jesus says) and permanently (“fruit that will last”), so he takes the steps needed to ensure this happens.
So there I am, lying on the hospital bed, waiting for some relatively drastic surgery, and Jesus tells me he is in this. I am not the victim of some ghastly lapse in God's planning or some fiendish scheme of Satan. This is the Master's hand and he will produce in me those qualities that reflect his grace, and as I remain close to him, he will ensure that it will be in abundance.
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