Mature Pruning Tests a Christian's Faith
Spiritual Lessons from Jesus’ Parable of the Vineyard
Aug 27, 2009
Biblical parables share nuggets of wisdom, candy-coated in everyday metaphors. Multiple meanings are often layered, and often, at least one explanation is presented in the same Bible passage. In John 15, in the last hours before he is captured and crucified, Jesus shares The Parable of the Vineyard with his disciples, the men who were his closest followers.
In the parable, Jesus compares himself to a grape vine and God to the owner or caretaker of a vineyard. He equates his followers to branches and talks about how there are four levels of fruit production:
- No fruit
- Some fruit
- More fruit
- Abundant fruit
Old Branches Must Be Cut Away to Grow More Fruit
Mature believers, like mature branches, have great potential but require more serious pruning than younger branches.
In Secrets of the Vine, Bruce Wilkinson shares what he discovered about grape vines in a horticultural bulletin. “The vine’s ability to produce growth increases each year, but without intensive pruning, the ground weakens and its crop diminishes. Mature plants must be pruned hard to achieve maximum yields.”
Wilkinson goes on to explain from a believer’s perspective how Christians apply this farming fact to the life of a Christ-follower, “While early pruning is mostly about your outward activities and priorities, mature pruning is about your values and personal identity.”
He also uses the term “the testing of your faith” to describe the process of mature pruning. This can mean allowing a person to come to a crossroads where family, friends, profession or something else of great importance must take second place to following the leading of Christ.
God Tested Abraham by Asking Him to Sacrifice His Son
In Genesis 22, the Old Testament patriarch Abraham was faced with this kind of decision when God told him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering. Just as Abraham was about to plunge a knife into his beloved child, God told him to stop and substitute a ram which was entangled in some nearby bushes.
Abraham must have had a crisis of faith, choosing between following what God was asking and love for a child after not having had any children for more than 85 years. Abraham’s faithfulness was later held up as an example to other believers in Hebrews 11:17.
Not all circumstances or events may be attributed to the pruning of God. Sometimes life just happens. To discern which acts are most likely to be growth enhancing, Wilkinson recommends looking carefully to see where the pain is. The Bible instructs believers to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33) Anything that is usurping God’s rightful first place in a Christian’s life is likely to be pruned.
Jesus Stressed the Importance of Abiding in God
In Secrets of the Vine, Wilkinson’s shares a third secret. It is, “If your life bears a lot of fruit, God will invite you to abide more deeply with Him.” The archaic meaning of the word “abide” is to live with or dwell. Invite is a nice word that makes this sound like a pleasant request but in the original language of the parable, abide is in the imperative or command form, so it is not just a mild suggestion.
Sharing these ideas in the last hours before his capture, trial and death, gives even more importance to Jesus’ words. Finally, in John 15:4-10, the word “abide” is used ten times. Clearly, Jesus is trying to convey something of great importance to the disciples.
There are six articles in this series discussing Jesus’ parable. The first one is called Explanation of Jesus’ Parable of the Vineyard.
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