John 15:1-2 –Pruning is required if we are to be more fruitful

Vine had figuratively been likened to Israel. Psalm 80:8 clearly illustrates this. God was said to have removed a vine from Egypt, drove out the nations and planted it. From the book of Exodus, we learned that God did precisely that. Then in Isaiah 5, the prophet revealed that instead of bearing expected fruit, Israel, as God’s vineyard, bore wild grapes. That had certainly brought much disappointment to God. Now here in John 15, Jesus declared Himself to be the true vine, and in saying that, He indicates that He in Himself is the true Israel. It is on Him the ultimate purpose of God now rests. Those who believe in Him are the true members of the people of God. And as we, believers in Christ described here as branches, truly continue to remain in Him, we will bear fruit.

John 15:1-2 speak of the relationship between Jesus, God and the believers. Christ is the true vine, believers are the branches, and the Father is the vinedresser. Taken together, this is truly the picture of a vineyard. When believers are healthily relating to Christ, God the Father would come lovingly caring for them, so that they will bring forth fruit. The emphasis in the vine, the branches and the gardener illustration, is about bearing fruit. Being fruitful is a hallmark of Christian living. The authenticity of faith in Christ is best determined by the fruit we bear. We need to be fruit-bearing Christians to show the reality of Christ in our life. Many have mistakenly liken evangelism alone as bearing fruit. As important as evangelism is, it cannot replace the need to build Christ-likeness in Christian living. A fruitful life is a Christ-like life. We all need the Holy Spirit of God to work in our life to bring forth Christ-likeness. When we, the branches of God, rightly relate with Christ the vine, we will bear the fruit of Christ-likeness. It’s a life full of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s a life of love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Verse 2 tells us two things the Father does to the vineyard. Firstly, He removes branches that do not bear fruit. This tells us that among the people of God, there won’t be believers that are fruitless. God would have progressively removed them. Secondly, the Father ensures that every fruit-bearing branch will bring forth more fruit. It suggests that every believer has the capacity to bear fruit. And as we bear fruit, we find the Father pruning us to make us more productive. Notice the pruning is not on branches that do not bear fruit, it is done to branches that bear fruit. The purpose of pruning is to enable more nutrient to flow to the right place, in a branch that’s already bearing fruit. This would then enable it to be more fruitful. Christ is talking about removing our other goals and ambitions in life that will hinder us from bearing more fruit. God wants us to stay focused. Though some activities in our life may not be wrong, they do demand and compete for the time we should give to the primary task cultivating a Spirit-filled life. The Father will help us to adjust our priority and then to prune those unimportant ones so that we can have time to concentrate on the needful part of Christian living. This will cause us not to be distracted from the primary purpose of life. Here is a call to allow God to help us remove the needless activities of life so that we can stay focused and be fruitful. Would we allow Him to prune us?