THE MASTER GARDENER
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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 NIV
During the first few months of this year our congregation has experienced the power of God in an awesome way. We are indeed bearing much fruit here at Truevine, but God obviously wants us to be even more fruitful. For, while He is adding to our church regularly, He is changing our church drastically. We are growing in Spirit and in number, but we now have to go forward minus many of the people and programs we loved and depend on. God is up to something! I can feel the power of His Spirit, and I cannot wait to see what the end will be.
Most of us understand that activities, programs, ministries, and even people who are fruitless or who hinder the fruitfulness of Christ’s church will be cut off by God from the life of His church. Many of us, however, find it a little more difficult to accept the fact that Jesus said that even those activities, programs, ministries, YES and even people that are bearing fruit must also be pruned back so that the church can bear even more fruit. We find this reality even more difficult to accept if one of the “pruned back” activities, program, or ministries is one in which we were involved, or if the person whom God prunes is one to whom we are or were so very close, or on whom we heavily depended.
I think the relief in the tension of the truth of these verses is found in the two words here translated as “cut off” and “prunes.” The word the apostle John says that Jesus used here for “cuts off” is taken from the Greek root word airo, and it literally means to take away. God takes away from His church that which hinders its growth. The word used here for “prunes,” however, does not mean to take away. It is translated from the Greek root word kathario and it means to cleanse, to make better, to purge. God makes better, cleanses, and purges even the most faithful, the most diligent, the most fruitful servants in His church. He does not take them away from His church; He simply prunes them so He can use them to make His church better.
Like every leaf that falls from a tree in the forest serves to enrich the soil in which the forest grows, so our fallen saints enrich the heritage on which our congregation is built. Like every branch on a fruitful tree when properly pruned allows the tree to bear much fruit, so does His pruning of our congregation make us more productive. The Master Gardener does this cutting off and pruning for our good and for His glory. He does so that we may realize our dependence on Him, that we may live more to the honor of God, and that we may bring forth more proof of our humbleness, and of our active faith. Work diligently to bear much fruit in His kingdom, love each other thoroughly and mightily, but depend always and only on Jesus Christ, the Master Gardener, to become more fruitful.