Be fruitful, be pruned

 

That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  --Ephesians 3:17-19

One of the first commands that God gave was to "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). In context, it was a command to reproduce, so that the world would be filled with God's most glorious creation.

One of the last commands given by Jesus before ascending to heaven was to "go and make disciples." The purpose was that the world would be full of growing Christians. In essence it mirror's God's first command, to be fruitful and to multiply so that the earth would be filled with His glory.

Several different kinds of spiritual fruit are named in the Bible. We bear fruit when we win others to Christ (Rom. 1:13). We are a part of the harvest (John 4:35-38). As we grow in holiness and obedience, we are bearing fruit (Rom. 6:22). Paul considered Christian giving to be fruit from a dedicated life (Rom. 15:28). "The fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22-23) is the kind of Christian character that glorifies God and makes Christ real to others. Even our good works, our service, grow out of our abiding life (Col. 1:10). The praise that comes from our hearts and lips is actually fruit to the glory of God (Heb. 13:15). (Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary).

As we continue our study of John, we see Jesus begin to speak of fruit and fruitfulness. You'll remember in the last vers of John 14, they were just leaving the Upper Room, the place where Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples and washed their feet. As they were going, they must have passed by a grapevine near the home as they made their way to the Garden of Gethsemene.  Jesus, who was a master of the object lesson, may have pointed to one of the vines.

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 bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them in the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. --John 15:1-8.

 A branch that is separated from the vine cannot bear fruit. It is fit only to be thrown into the fire. Our connection to Jesus, who is the "true vine", is essential. "It makes horticultural sense to state that branches are 'in' the vine and the vine 'in' the branches, but Jesus' remark is not spatial but relational. Even if the future of disciples includes being expelled from some place (16:1-2), their benefaction lies in being securely in another 'place,' namely the vine." (Jerome Neyrey, The New Cambridge Bible Commentary).

God the Father acts as husbandman, a divine caregiver of the vine. He prunes as necessary, so that the branch may be more fruitful. NT Wright, in his book John for Everyone, writes of his own experience in pruning a roses.

A rose bush, left to itself, will get straggly and tangled, and grow in on itself. It will produce quite a lot of not-so-good roses rather than a smaller number of splendid ones. It will, quite literally, get in its own light. It needs help to grow in the right directions and to the right ends. So you prune it to stop it wasting its energy and being unproductive. You cut out, particularly, the parts of the plant that are growing inwards and getting tangled up. You encourage the shoots that are growing outwards, toward the light. You prune the rose, in other words, to help it to be its true self. As far as I understand it more or less the same thing works with vines.

Taking that practical experience and making a spiritual point, Jesus is the Light. We are pruned by the Father so that we will not get tangled and grow in on ourselves; so that we will not produce a bunch of rotten fruit, but rather fewer bigger and more healthy fruit; and so that we will continue to grow toward the Light of Christ.

Bible commentator Merrill Tenney wrote, "The means by which pruning or cleaning is done is by the Word of God. It condemns sin; it inspires holiness; it promotes growth. As Jesus applied the words God gave him to the lives of the disciples, they underwent a pruning process that removed evil from them and conditioned them for further service.” 

That, I think, is what Jesus meant when He said in verse three, "You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you." Taken by itself, the verse makes no sense. The word for "clean" is the same word Jesus used in chapter 13 when Peter objected to Jesus washing his feet.  Jesus said to him, "If I don't wash you, you are not a part of Me." Peter responded, "Well, then, wash not just my feet by my head and hands, too."  Jesus then said, "Those who are bathed need only to wash their feet, but is already clean; and you are clean, but not all of you," referring to Judas.

We are cleansed by the word.  Ephesians 5:26 and 27 says, "That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." So we see that John 15:3, when Jesus said, "You are clean," He meant that they were already pruned and fruitful because of the words that they had heard from Jesus and applied to their lives.

What, then, is the purpose of our cleansing, of our being pruned? It is for the glory of God.  Many people take verse 7 out of context, as well. "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, you may ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you." This is not, as some might teach, encouragement for us to "name it and claim it" so that we can selfishly realize God's blessing by allowing us to possess wealth. Not at all.

The purpose of our pruning is to cut away anything that keeps us from growing toward the light. "By this My Father is glorified," Jesus said, "that you bear much fruit." This is true discipleship, not that we, by some divine right, can amass great wealth. Rather it is so that we can grow in holiness and obedience. It is to give to the poor. It is to exhibit the character qualities of love, joy, and peace; patience, kindness, and goodness; gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. All of this, so that we may see other people come to Christ.

This, says Jesus, is how to be His disciple.