ABIDE IN ME: God is the Gardener 2-11-24
Scripture: John 15:1-2, 4-5 // Hebrews 12:5-11
INTRODUCTION
Welcome back to worship today, Church. We are so
blessed to gather together once again to open God’s word and to learn something
new. We are in our second week of a new series called, “Abide In Me.” We have
been looking into the gracious invitation that Jesus gives us to abide in him
in order to experience the full life God wants for us. Last week we learned
Jesus is the vine. He is the source of all we need to produce good fruit with
our lives. We are the branches that must remain connected to him in order to
demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit with our lives.
”Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch
can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear
fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you
remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do
nothing.“
John 15:4-5 NIV
Illustration: grape vine pic
Today, we are diving into another aspect of John 15.
Not only does Jesus call himself the vine, but he also calls God the gardener.
Story: Paula has become an
avid gardener over the past 10 years. We have added garden after garden over the years.
We now have more square footage in garden than we
do in our home. At first we
just did what we thought made sense. Over the years, Paula has started watching gardening videos on
YouTube.
In fact, she is going to start her own YouTube
channel called, “Garden Watch Party” where she will give a synopsis of other
gardening videos for those who don’t have the time to watch for themselves.
As Paula has spent more time watching master
gardeners and gardening enthusiasts, she has become a better gardener.
She knows much more now than she did 10 years ago.
Today our property has beautiful gardens lush with
all types of plants and flowers. What she has learned from other gardeners has improved our gardens
many times over.
Let us pray.
I. GOD IS A GOOD GARDENER
In order for any garden, vineyard, or orchard to
produce fruit, it must be cultivated carefully and taken care of by a skilled
gardener. I had none of those skills myself, but by inviting someone else in,
the results were wonderful. Jesus tells us in John 15 that he is the vine,
which provides all of the love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and power in order
for us to grow—as long as we stay connected to him. In the same passage, he
also gives us another secret to the full life in Christ. He tells us that God
is a gardener, and our lives are his field.
“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
A.
Provision
The crowd Jesus was speaking to in these verses
totally understood the connection Jesus was making. In the Middle East, it was
very common for there to be vineyards that would be cultivated carefully in
order to produce the best and largest crop of grapes possible. The gardener
would be careful to provide everything the vine needed to produce strong
branches, leaves, and grapes. All the plants had to do was receive. However,
there was something a gardener would do that was incredibly important for the final
crop: he would prune the vine.
B.
Pruning
Illustration: Take this potted
plant for example. The gardener would carefully scan each and every plant to
determine that the branches of each were healthy and able to produce the
necessary fruit. If there was a branch that was unhealthy or damaged, which
would hinder it from providing fruit, the gardener would clip or prune it. It
would be removed because, otherwise, the vine would provide much needed
resources to it rather than the healthy branches. The pruning process, though
it may look painful, was actually for the overall health of the plant.
Jesus invites us to remain in him, to abide in him,
because it ultimately is about our overall health and effectiveness in producing
as much good fruit with our lives as possible. The warning in John 15 is this:
unless we stay connected to the vine, we run the danger of being fruitless and
pruned from it. A part of abiding is recognizing that God, as a good gardener,
looks over our lives to determine areas that may be unhealthy, a waste of
energy, or dangerous to us. He prunes them in order that we might produce good
fruit.
Jesus says there are two reasons for the gardener to
prune branches.
II. PRUNING IS ABOUT SPIRITUAL HEALTH
Sometimes it is hard to fathom this spiritual truth
because we are so far removed from vineyard husbandry. Here is a quick video
that may help us understand it more.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6kcjKdDRlI
Paula shared with me that there are 3 D’s of
pruning: dead, diseased, and damaged.
”And have you completely forgotten this word of
encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My
son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens
everyone he accepts as his son.”“
Hebrews 12:5-6 NIV
A.
Pruning unproductive branches
Like a gardener in this vineyard, God prunes
branches that are bearing no fruit. We would be wise to consider our lives and
areas that may be causing us to produce no fruit. It might be a relationship we
keep that hinders us, a habit or addiction that we indulge in that stifles us,
a sinful attitude that keeps us from producing fruit, or a spiritual apathy
that limits us. These are areas that God, as a good gardener, may prune in
order to make us healthy.
Abiding in Christ is about being sensitive to these
limitations that God wants to rid us of and join him in his spiritual
husbandry. Consider praying for God to reveal areas in your life that need to
be removed. Consider inviting a trusted friend to give honest feedback as well.
God wants to remove these things in order to produce more fruit in your life.
B.
Pruning unnecessary branches
God also will prune our lives of good things in
order for us to embrace great things. Are there places in your life where your
energy, affection, time, and attention are going that don’t really matter?
Maybe it is a pastime, a recreation activity, binge watching television,
surfing social media, or tracking fantasy football. They aren’t necessarily
evil or sinful in and of themselves, however, they may be limiting the kind of
fruit you could be producing. Would the good gardener want to prune them from your
life in order to make you even more healthy and productive? Abiding in Christ
will help you recognize what God desires for you.
This process can be painful. It is difficult to give
up things we have grown accustomed to relying on, however, God longs for us to
rely solely on Jesus as the vine and to abide in him. Out of the pain comes
growth, and out of the pruning comes freedom.
Steven Somalia tells a story of him pruning his
lilac bush.
I have a lilac tree in my back yard – beautiful
white flowers. Well I decided it needed a little bit of pruning, so I got out
some cutters and – well, the truth is I hacked it up. I didn’t really know what
I was doing, but it had overgrown my clothes-line and needed to be cut back, and
now it looks a little bit funny. Not too bad, but one look and you know it
wasn’t pruned by someone who knows what they are doing.
And that’s why the pruning Jesus is talks about
isn’t a scary thing. The gardener knows what He is doing. The pruning might
still cause us some pain – He might cut off a particular part that we are fond
of, a habit we enjoy, something we are proud of. It might be a part of our
lives that we think it really important, that we couldn’t live without.
But the gardener knows what He is doing. And He
prunes with a purpose – that we might be even more fruitful.
Steven
Simala Grant in "The Art of Giving" on www.sermoncentral.com
III. PRUNING IS AN ACT OF LOVE
Often, our first response to the pruning process of
God as gardener is frustration, anger, or sadness. Many conclude that God does
this in their lives because he hates them or wants to punish them. However, the
book of Hebrews can change our perspective on hard times in our lives and the
pruning of things we hold so dear.
”Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you
as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you
are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not
legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human
fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should
we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little
while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that
we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but
painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace
for those who have been trained by it.“
Hebrews 12:7-11 NIV
A.
The discipline of God
The author of Hebrews speaks about the pain and
frustration of the discipline and pruning of God. It offers really helpful
imagery: It is like a father who loves his children. Any good father will
discipline his children, not because he hates them, but because he loves them.
Any good father wants what is best for his children and will say “no” or take
things away in order for them to live healthy, happy lives.
B.
The love of God
Pruning is a result of the love of God for each and
every one of us. It is out of love that God removes things from our lives
because he longs for us to share in his holiness and experience righteousness
and peace. Instead of being angry with God’s boundaries, limitations, and
pruning, know that he does this for all those he loves.
Story: Trevor Miller tells a
story about his daughter.
During a recent trip to the zoo, my two-year-old
daughter was thirsty and wanted a Gatorade to quench her thirst. She was
drinking and pointing at every animal we saw. Suddenly, I realized she had
something in her mouth, and she had a panicked look in her eyes. I quickly
figured out she had put the Gatorade lid in her mouth, and it had slipped too
far back into her mouth. Without hesitation, I reached in and grabbed the cap
from going into her throat. I closed the bottle and took it from her. Rather
than her responding with gratitude for saving her, she was instantly angry and
demanded the lid back. I told her “no.” She proceeded to melt into a screaming
heap. It took a lot of hard work and a distracting monkey to calm the
situation. My daughter did not realize that what I was doing as a loving father
was not to punish or harm her, but to help her.
Far too many of us ignorantly grasp for things that
only harm or limit our potential, while God longs to free us from them out of
his gracious love. Though it may be painful, it may be the catalyst for your
spiritual growth.
CONCLUSION
I pray there are 3 responses that you might have to
this message this morning: thinking, feeling, and doing.
Think: God will use the painful times in our lives
to remove what hinders our spiritual growth.
Feel: God loves me like a father loves his children.
His discipline in my life is an extension of his
love and mercy.
Do: Identify the areas of my life that God wants to
prune and obediently respond to his discipline.
Abiding in Christ means that we accept and receive
the pruning at the hand of God in order to produce a great spiritual harvest.
What is one area of your life God wants to prune to
enable you to experience holiness, righteousness, and peace? Are you willing to
allow him to do his work as a loving gardener? Abiding in Christ is about
receiving from the vine as well as the refining of the Father.
INVITATION
It is our custom to offer an "invitation"
following the preaching of the Word. You may want to follow Jesus. You may want to proclaim your faith.
You may want to repent (stop doing ungodly things
and start doing Godly things). Perhaps you want to be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and
receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Possibly, if you have already responded to God’s call in these ways,
you would like to become a member of Kenwood Church.
If you have been moved by the Holy Spirit to make
a decision in your life, you can come forward now.
If you would like, I would be honored to speak
with you following the service about what God is doing in your life.
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