“He cuts off every
branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He
prunes to make it even more fruitful.” John 15:2
This metaphor of
pruning branches that Jesus used has an overarching idea most people would understand.
God removes unfruitful people. He grows fruitful people so they will become
more fruitful. God enables fruitful people to advance His purposes more.
To understand this
verse better, we must understand why a fruit farmer would cut tree branches.
Jesus plainly explained the first reason. Farmers cut off dead branches from a
tree to cause healthy growth of the rest of the tree. Without cutting off the
dead branch, the tree will continue to send nutrients toward the dead branch
instead of extending its nutrients to parts of the tree that will grow. Cutting
off dead branches leads to more growth in other parts of the tree. This
illustrates the metaphor's beginning.
Pruning the healthy
parts of a fruit tree has several benefits. First, it strengthens the tree.
Where before the tree’s sap was to grow fruit, pruning allows the tree sap to
make the branch harder and stronger. Instead of sap going to grow fruit, it
goes toward growing the branch. Going through hardships can cause a person to
grow stronger in his faith and relationship with God.
Second, pruning a healthy
branch can improve fruit production and fruit quality. Pruning stimulates new
growth—offshoots—so more branches grow. As a result, each of those branches produces
fruit instead of just the unpruned branch growing fruit. God’s pruning of His
child causes that person to grow in many areas, so new spiritual fruit and
Christian offspring grow from that believer. Pruning grows a person’s
relationship with God. The deeper relationship with God causes growth of
spiritual fruit, like patience, wisdom, compassion, joy, and peace. The deeper
relationship with God grows the quality of that fruit, causing a deeper faith, greater
peace, etc. Growth from a closer relationship with God leads to sharing the
gospel and a personal testimony about God more. These lead to other people
believing in Jesus and His saving them. Pruning may cause brief pain mental,
heart, and/or physical. This pain is worth it to see more people saved by Jesus
and experience a deeper relationship with God.
Third, pruning a
branch helps a tree become more pest and disease resistant. Pruning causes
growth in strength and resilience. Like a person’s health, outside influences
can cause a tree to grow stronger so the tree can withstand forces that would
cause it to shrivel, produce less fruit, and/or die. God allows a person to
confront challenges for growth, not destruction. By going through trials, like the
burnishing of metals, God removes impurities from His children. His strength
alone is how they withstand adversity. Christians can progress despite adversity.
James, Peter, and Paul wrote about perseverance, endurance, testing, patience,
and building Christian character in James 1, 1 Peter 1, and Romans 5:3-5. Trials,
though unwanted, have benefits just like pruning healthy branches has benefits.
Fourth, pruning
trees opens the tree canopy so sunlight can reach more limbs and fruit. For
this reason, fruit trees are wide and not very tall. More sun causes more fruit
to grow on the tree. Also, by pruning the canopy, fruit does not grow higher in
the tree. This makes it easier to reach all fruit during harvest season. A
person who knows the Bible can only withstand some storms or temptations. A
person whom Jesus saves and who grows in his relationship with God through
daily prayer, Bible study, meditation, worship, and obedience to Him has a
faith that has grown deep and wide. Temptations, trials, storms, and disease
might assail a believer and might cause him to stall in his growth, but these can
cause growth in his relationship with and faith in God. These occurrences can
strengthen a believer, cause new growth on branches, and result in the growth
of new and larger fruit. The outcome of God's gospel is evident in one's life. People
see the gospel’s impact on people around the strengthening and growing Christian
as he shares his testimony and God’s gospel.
Without removing
dead limbs on a tree, diseases and/or pests kill the tree or cause it to become
stunted and produce minimal fruit. By pruning healthy branches, trees become
stronger and produce more and better fruit. Pruning stops the spread of
diseases and pests that could harm the fruit or the sap (testimony) in the
tree. It allows more sunlight, which causes more fruit to grow and makes the
branches more accessible to harvesters.
When we face trials
and hardships, we can grow stronger and produce more and better fruit. Instead
of growing stronger through trials, we can freeze up and then get hurt or
killed. God prefers us to grow stronger and bear more and better fruit. He
allows or causes things to grow our relationship with Him and our trust in Him.
God allows hardships to confront us to prune the dead branches from our lives. We
should aim to grow, so we ask God what He wants us to learn from our
situations. God wants us to grow to trust Him more, to have a deeper
relationship with Him, and to become more Christlike. He will send you through
fires to remove impurities and strengthen you. When strengthened by God, you, too, can say, “No
weapon formed against us will prosper” (Isaiah 54:17).
Fruit or Fire.
Faith or Fruitlessness.
Which do you
choose? I pray you choose to grow in your relationship with God and to produce
more and better fruit within you that leads to more fruit—Christians—for God’s
kingdom.
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will
refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of
the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD. (Isaiah 54:17)
