The Scripture readings for tonight’s service are Psalm 92:12-15; Isaiah 5:1-7; Galatians 5:16-26; and John 15:1-8.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

One of the beautiful things about these “I Am” statements of Jesus is that, as we learn about who Christ is, we also learn about who we are. The first week, we heard Christ say, “I Am the Light of the world” (Jn. 9:5). That means we sit in darkness but are enlightened by Christ. The second week, we heard Christ say, “I Am the Door of the sheep” (Jn. 10:7). That means we are the sheep who have access through Him. The third week, we heard Christ say, “I Am the Good Shepherd” (Jn. 10:11). That means we’re His flock. Last week, we heard Christ say, “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn. 14:6). That means we are the ones who are on the Way, who are given the Truth, and who are made to live in Him.

Tonight, Jesus says, “I Am the True Vine,” but before He even calls us the branches, He adds, “My Father is the Vinedresser” (Jn. 15:1). That means God the Father prunes us. Being pruned isn’t always pleasant. It often comes with pain and confusion. Branches don’t know why, or to what end, they’re being pruned. But the vinedresser, the gardener, does. Pruning is rarely comfortable, but it is always purposeful.

Most of you know a lot more about plants and gardening than I do, so know that I’m open to any tips or suggestions you may have for me after the service. Again, I’m not a gardener, but I have done some pruning. At our house, we have a couple of lilac bushes – one of which is at the corner of our house where we have our two biggest windows. If we want to be able to see out of those windows, we need to keep that lilac bush in check, so we prune it.

‘Prune’ might be too delicate a word. At least twice in the sixteen years we’ve lived in our house, I’ve taken a chain saw, gotten as low as possible to the ground, and hewed that sucker down. I’m no Paul Bunyan. But give me a chainsaw and I can fell a lilac bush. The first time I used the chain saw, I thought the bush would die. (There was a part of me that hopedit would die so we could plant something that is less work.) But, sure enough, the bush came back. More shoots sprouted off the stumps. Leaves budded. I don’t remember if the bush flowered the next year, but it certainly did the year after. Often, we hack it down, about to the bottom of the windows. It’s at least a biannual battle between us and the lilac bush. It’s amazing how resilient some plants are.

I hack away at that lilac bush just so I can see out of a window. But a good gardener prunes with a higher purpose. He doesn’t prune just so he can see a lot of dead stuff on the ground. He prunes so the plant will bear more fruit, and he knows how much pruning a plant can handle.

The pruning we endure only makes sense when we remember that Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. We are not separate from Him. We wrongfully tend to think that Jesus is unaffected by the difficulties we face in this world. We imagine, since He has overcome death and has ascended into heaven, that He’s ‘semi-retired.’ It can seem that the risen and ascended Jesus is separate from our troubles, our difficulties, and our pain. That is not the case.

Dear saints, when the pruning comes – and it does come – Jesus is not watching from a distance. He is the Vine, and we are the branches. When there is difficulty, when there is pain, when there is pruning, Christ is right there in all of it. Remember when Paul encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus. Paul was persecuting Christians, throwing them into prison, and overseeing some of them being executed (Act. 8:1-3, 9:1-2). Jesus appears to him on the road and says, “Saul, Saul,” (using Paul’s given name), “why are you persecuting Me?” Jesus takes Paul’s persecution personally because it is personal. What Paul was doing to the Church, he was doing to the Church’s Lord (Act. 9:4-5).

When you are pruned, so is Jesus. Now, Christ doesn’t need pruning because He’s the Vine. We need pruning because we’re the branches. Dear saints, know that when there is pruning, Jesus is right there with and in all of it. So, when you face anything painful, know that your heavenly Father is using that thing, whatever it is, as His pruning shears. And He is much more skilled and intentional and purposeful in pruning you than I am when I hack away at our lilac bush.

Dear saints, your Father’s pruning is painful. And it’s hard for us to imagine that things that are painful are good for us. When we go through those painful things, we often only see them as painful and difficult. You can hear that pain throughout the Psalms and in Job. A person is suffering and asks questions like, “How long?” or, “Why?” Those are fine, Scriptural questions to ask. But don’t just stop at that question, “Why?” because you won’t learn more.

Here, Jesus tells you why. He tells you that there is a purposeful plan. Your heavenly Father, the Vinedresser, prunes you so that you may bear more fruit. When there is pruning, it is so there can be fruit bearing.

If there is no pruning, no hardship, no pain, that’s the worst sign. Jesus says, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.” If you’re just growing in whatever direction you please and aren’t being pruned, the end result is burning.

Pruning or burning – those are the two possibilities that lie before us. Jesus doesn’t give us a third option of forever escaping things that are uncomfortable. Either we can be pruned now, or we can be burned later. Consider the outcomes of the two disciples, Judas and Peter. By the time Jesus says this, Judas has already left (Jn. 13:21-30) and has stopped abiding in Jesus, the Vine. Even though Judas feels the pain of betraying Jesus, he doesn’t repent. There is sorrow, but there’s no repentance. No repentance means there’s no pruning. So, Judas’ eternal destination is the fire (Jn. 17:12).

On the other hand, you have Peter. He promised that he would abide in Jesus (Jn. 13:37), but before the sun can rise, Peter denies Christ three times. Right after his third denial, the rooster crows. In Luke, we’re told that Jesus simply looks across the courtyard at Peter, and that glance is enough to make Peter weep bitterly (Lk. 22:60-62). There is pain there, but that glance from Jesus is enough to prune Peter. After the resurrection, Jesus doesn’t chide and scold Peter. That glance was all it took to trim off the suckers that would have kept Peter from bearing fruit. Peter’s pain turns into Peter’s repentance. Peter’s repentance turns into Peter’s faith. Peter’s faith turns into Peter’s restoration (Jn. 21:15-17), and Jesus tells Peter, “Follow Me. I have more pruning in store for you” (Jn. 21:18-22).

This kind of honesty from Jesus – that there will be pain, either from pruning or burning – it isn’t something I like to hear. But Jesus speaks truth. And a hard, honest truth is always better than the sweetest-sounding lie. In these verses, Jesus doesn’t promise comfort. He promises pruning. That pruning is proof that you abide in Him. And that pruning results in you bearing much fruit and revealing to the world that you are His disciples.

The promise of bearing fruit, much fruit, is already comforting. But Jesus gives you a further picture of what His goal, His endgame is. We didn’t read it, but down in John 15:16, Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide.”

Dear saints, your fruit does not wither and rot. It abides. Always green. Always bearing fruit that is always abiding (Ps. 1:1-3; Jer. 17:7-8). Listen again to what Jesus says, “I Am the Vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5). What Jesus intends for you, His branches, is bigger and greater than you can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). 

Dear saints, abide in Him the True Vine. In Him is the eternal Spring, in Him is fruitfulness, and in Him is life everlasting. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:7). Amen.