SEASONS IN THE SON | WEEK 5
Aug 4, 2024
JARED CARL

 

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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, as I also 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are 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 done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:1-8

The purpose of the Christian life is to glorify God.

• What is necessary to glorify God?

1. Pruning

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.
John 15:1-2

2. Abiding

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
John 15:3-6

• How do we abide?

1. Scripture

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:7

2. Prayer

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:7

Outcome of Abiding

1. Repentance that leads to fruit.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
Matthew 3:8

“Vinedressers in the time of Christ didn’t have metal stakes supporting the vine and hardened steel clippers as we have today, but otherwise the process has changed very little.  To the untrained eye, vinedressing (the act of pruning) looks like someone stripping a full vine back to a bare stub incapable of coming back.  To the left of the pruning vinedresser are bushy vines covered in canes, in front of him is a vine undergoing transformation, and to the right are slightly prickly but otherwise bare cordons branching out from the knobby trunk of each vine.  It is these remaining cordons and trunks that are the true vine, where all of the ultimate life and vibrancy of the plant awaits the onset of Spring.  The canes that now lay at the vinedresser’s feet bore fruit the year before, not because they were full of life but because they were connected to the source of life found in the vine.  Some are removed entirely; others are left as small spurs containing two buds that will form the canes for next season.  It looks like drastic carnage but in reality, is an artful exercise in balance and foresight.

Any misconception about the vines’ fate, however, is quickly dispelled in Spring as the seemingly bare vines rapidly sprout new canes.  In contrast, if the vines had been left without pruning, Spring would bring fresh leaves and even a few flower clusters destined to become grapes, but the transformation would be minor and largely ineffective.  Pruned vines produce not only more fruit but better fruit.  To make things worse, it would be harder yet to efficiently prune the following year.”
Ian Anderson