Jesus’ Words in Red Pruning for Fruit

Jesus’ Words in Red

Pruning for Fruit

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”

A good gardener has to make decisions

The gardener needs the right plants

With grapes, it is the right vine

We have all seen grape vines growing wild

Without proper pruning the vine will be unfruitful

Are you in the Vine Jesus?

Are you In the Word?

Are there things in and around you that keep you from producing fruit?

Do you evaluate the things growing around you?  

Do you annually evaluate your fruit? 

Pruning for Fruit

A good gardener has to make decisions.

The gardener needs the right plants.

With grapes, it is the right vine.

We have all seen grape vines growing wild.

This past summer I had a property that

the grape vines took over trees and fences.

 It was a lot of work to remove them.

These wild vines produced no grapes,

they just took over everything else.

Jesus is the right Vine.

"I am the vine; you are the branches”

The gardener has to control

the branches on the vine.

There are branches in

Jesus that do not bear fruit.

Branches that do not bear fruit take the

life energy from the vine and reduce

the life energy to the outer branches.

I had a peach tree I

planted several years ago.

I have cut some branches each fall and winter to

give more of the tree’s life energy to the branches.

 

Yet, every year I get thousands of peaches, but

they do not grow much bigger than the seed inside.

 

If I am to have good fruit next year

I need to make some hard decisions.

Which branches do I cut off the tree?

I read I need to cut off branches

that keep light from other branches.

I also need to cut branches that cannot

support the weight of the peaches.

There are obviously too

many branches on my tree.

All of them produce a beautiful blooming

 tree in the spring and there is lots of

fruit on the tree, but no good fruit.

   

It is a great looking tree, but not fruitful.

There is too much going on and the

life energy of the tree is too spread out.

This fall I will have to get very radical and remove

a lot of branches if I want good fruit next year.

Although we need to make

room for everyone to be in Jesus…

We need to beware of too much

going on in our lives and the church.

So often we can have so much going on

and it looks good until you evaluate the fruit.

Branches that don’t bear fruit not only don’t produce,

they take the energy from the other branches.

Jesus says our Father the

Gardener cuts off those branches.

I have to say as it has been hard to

cut off the branches of my peach tree.

It has also been hard to cut off the people

and things in my life that take away

the life energy to produce good fruit.

We need to recognize the life energy

comes from the Word of God…

 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you,

ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”

The branches that don’t take in enough

of the Word are unfruitful branches.

If the Father is trying to prune things that

keep you from the Word of God or remove the

shadow you are hiding behind, let Him cut them off.

Every year the gardener has to remove

branches if he wants good fruit.

That means you and I should be willing

to have God remove things from our lives.

If we are not willing to let those things go, even

some relationships, we will find ourselves

unfruitful and our branch cut from the vine.

The Good Gardener is not concerned

with how big the vine gets.

He is not concerned with how full of

blossoms and beautiful it is in spring.

 

The only thing that matters is fruit.

Each year we should examine our lives

and if it is not as fruitful as it ought to be.

Start cutting. 

Scripture Reading

John 15:1-8 NIV

15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will 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.

5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.