The Holy Spirit will always encourage the believer to "draw near" to God the Father. When "we incline our ear to the Lord we will live" (Is 55:3) Jesus describes this idea as "abiding", that is having community and connection with the source of life through Himself. In John 15:1-8 it is clear that the life and fruitfulness of the believer is directly linked to abiding in Christ. In fact the promises of God are realised when we abide in Him and when we understand that He abides in us. The Holy Spirit will always encourage and help the believer become the bearer of "much fruit".
The passage on abiding in the Vine, highlights the processes that are designed to grow the believer so that he will bear fruit. if the 'branch', bears no fruit, He will not destroy it but He will lift it up, clean it up and tie it up. This is what a viticulturalist will do with the leaves and branches that have fallen on the ground and become dirty. The believer that sins is not discarded. That branch will be lifted up. The process of being 'lifted up' is the process of discipline. "...God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom the father does not chasten" (Heb.12:7) The believer who sins is lifted up. John writes "and if anyone sins we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous..." (1 John 2:1) Jesus is your Advocate, not your accuser. Listen for the voice of the Advocate. Godly discipline is motivated by love whereas punishment is motivated by fear. Godly discipline will shape us to embrace the future that is promising whereas punishment reminds us of a broken past. The purpose of discipline is that we can produce fruit that will bring glory to God.
"...every branch that bears fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit". (John 15:2b) The Holy Spirit will speak to the believer so that he can become a greater producer of Godly fruit. Pruning is good because it will cause us to focus on less so that more can grow. Less is more! Martha was consumed with doing much but was missing the main thing! (Luke 10:38-42) Don't be afraid to ask the Holy Spirit to show you what He wants you to do or not do during 2016. By the way He will never ask you to do more without resourcing you and also giving you wisdom to also drop off other things The branches of the vine need to be pruned so that the grapes will flourish. Make sure that your energies are directed so that you will bear much fruit. I have a view that to go narrow but deep is better than being spread so thin that our effectiveness is dissipated.
There is another level of pruning that perhaps speaks of internal values more than external activities. This pruning is to do with developing trust in God to be our sole source of significance, value and identity. Paul said "yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ..." (Phil. 3:8) This level of processing involves surrendering not just the bad (which is relatively easy) but the good. The goal is to know His glory so that "you may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:12-13) Suffering can produce this joy. Contented people have often grown through suffering. They often become bearers of much fruit!
This blog is based on a message by Ross Smith at The Vine, Springwood, Logan City, Queensland, Australia on 31st Jan. 2016. The full message can be accessed by podcast from www.thevine.org.au/teaching.
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