Well I don’t know about you… but I really appreciate how Jesus used such down to earth illustrations such as agriculture, dirty feet or pruning branches… to get a point across. He really gets his point across with this picture of pruning branches, one that can be rather painful… but with great results.
I remember a particular backyard that I did some regular yard maintenance in (back in what seems like another life) and what I really remember about it was the huge hedge of bushes that surrounded the backyard. When I say huge I mean it… first the backyard itself was huge and to trim the top of the hedge you had to use a ladder all the way around them. After trimming that hedge for a number of years I remember they were starting to look a little sparse… so to get them to revive and come back stronger and more full I needed to do some severe pruning. Trimming out all the old dead growth and bringing those 8 foot tall hedges down to half their height was a huge undertaking… it looked pretty severe when we were finished but that year when they came back they came back in nice and full.
In this passage Jesus is talking about two kinds of pruning… and specifically this passage is challenging us to be the true branches that are connected to the one who really gives life… life to the full.
In chapter 14 (verses 9&10) Jesus confronts Philip’s questioning him about his relationship to the Father….
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?
Then in chapter 15 (15:5) He gives us another one of those wonderful pictures to help us understand so that we can believe. But also reminds us that it is the fruit that shows if you are a Christ follower (15:8)
What does remaining in Christ mean? What does it do to our lives? What might pruning look like? How will you let the master gardener grow you to bear fruit? And glorify the Father!!
Written by Pastor Todd Wessels
No comments:
Post a Comment