Pruning

If you want to see growth you need to do some pruning!  You know that if you have ever worked in a garden.   You might have some roses, some perennials, or some fruit trees.   If you want to see more flowers and fruit you need to get out your pruning shears.

In our backyard we have several fruit trees, including bananas, lemons, oranges, mango, and apricot, to name a few.   Every year after the fruit harvest I take out my secateurs and give the trees a good prune.   The same goes for the passion fruit vines.   Dead wood is cut out.  Branches are trimmed back.  This forces new growth to occur and the outcome is more fruit.   The same applies to our roses and other perennials.   A good prune in necessary for a good crop of blossoms.

As Christians we need to be in the business of pruning.  And I am not talking about some more yard work.  I am referring to some soul work.   In the gospel of John, Jesus is quoted as saying:  "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 trims clean so that it will be even more fruitful." (John 15:1-2)   In this passage Jesus tells us that he is the vine and his followers are branches.  Branches need to remain in the vine in order to bear fruit.   So too, "if people remain in Jesus and he in them, they will bear much fruit, for apart from Jesus we can do nothing." (John 15:5)  If branches become dead, that is, no longer bearing fruit, those branches are pruned.   But the same applies for branches that are bearing fruit.   They too are trimmed clean so that they will bear even more fruit.

In another place Jesus stresses the importance of pruning.   Matthew records how Jesus taught that "if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut if off and throw it away.   It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire." (Matthew 18:8)   The same is true for your eye.  If it causes you to sin, gouge it out.   The principle that Jesus is teaching might sound harsh, but it is just orderscores how serious we need to take the task of pruning.   If there is anything that causes you to live less than a child of God, then get rid of it.  You might need to turn off the TV or shut down your computer, and start doing some things that will help you bear fruit, the kind of "fruit that will last" (John 15:16)   You might need to stop playing golf or watching footy and spend some time discipling your children, reaching out to your lost neighbour, or spending time with those doing it tough in life.   Just ask yourself: "Is what I am doing in my day bearing eternal fruit?"  How I spend my time, my talents, and my treasures -- am I investing in eternity, storing up treasure in heaven?  (see Matthew 6:20)   If not, stop doing what you are doing.  Get out your prunings shears.   Cut these things out of your life and start doing the kinds of things that will last forever.

This business of pruning is not just important for individual believers; it is equally necessary to do in churches.   Yes, pruning away the dead wood, and cleaning up some things so that as a church you will bear even more fruit.   Think about why your church exists.   What is its purpose on earth?   Jesus makes is abundantly clear that our purpose as Christian communities is to bear fruit.   We are to sow the seed of the gospel in the lives of people so that they become committed followers of Jesus.  (see Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23; 28:18-20)    Ask yourself, "Is what you are doing as a church, week in and week out, is it bearing gospel fruit?"   Are you seeing sinners saved, the saved discipled, and disciples becoming those who make disciples?   If not, then what do you need to stop doing so that can start doing the kinds of things that will reach the lost for Christ?   If anything, the current COVID crisis has taught us as churches that we can stop doing a lot of things, and still have gospel impact in the lives of others.   There might be things you have doing in your church for a long, long time.   But these things are not bearing fruit, the kind of fruit that will last.  Then why are you still doing these things?  Get out your pruning shears.   It would be better to have some of these things cut away than for multitudes of people thrown into eternal fire. 

In my coaching role among churches I encourage churches to do regular assessments of ALL their ministries, all the things they are doing.  Through this assessment they are to evaluate how effective these ministries and others things really are in achieving God glorifying outcomes.   I remind them that it is to our Father's glory that we bear much fruit. (see John 15:8)   So if certain ministries or other things are not bearing gospel fruit, then either they need to be stopped entirely (cut off) or they need to be refocused (trimmed clean).   If you want to see gospel growth in your church or in your personal walk with God, then you need to do some pruning.