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John 15:2 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.
A few years ago I was living in one of the many wine growing regions of Northern California. Whenever you travel in wine country you are surrounded by grapevines on both sides of the road. After years of observations, I took away a few things from seeing these vineyards every day. One was how geared towards producing fruit these plants were.
They literally were bent over & straining from the weight of their fruit.It seems that if the fruit it produced was weighed it would be far heavier than the vine itself. The other was how far the growers trimmed back the vines after the grapes were harvested. It seems they were bent on destroying these productive plants.
Why does a vine need to be trimmed so far? It is hard to grasp how the cutting away of a productive vine to a nub could positively affect it’s fruit growing ability. But as harvest time approached the growers redeemed themselves as grapes were being harvested by the truckloads.
I later read an article that clarified the process by which this occurred. It seems that all fruit bearing plants produce 2 types of sugars that determine growth.
1. Cellulosic sugars (the building block for branches, leaves, twigs ect.)
2. Fructose sugars (the building block for flowers,fruit & seeds.)
If left to itself a fruit bearing vine or tree will always gear itself towards producing cellulosic sugar bearing wood, leaves, branches, roots,bark, thorns ect. All of these are necessary to produce a healthy organism. But over production of these can hinder it’s fruit bearing. When a grower cuts away unproductive branches or prunes productive ones it diverts energy away from cellulose production to produce fructose.
The stress of losing foliage sets the vine’s energies towards bearing fruit. What is a loss to the plants structure is a gain to it’s useful production. At the outset the value of the grower’s intervention seemed to be a NET loss. If examined by an intelligent layman the fruit grows out from the branches so if you cut the branches off you will have less fruit. In the same way as Christians we need to be willing to sacrifice our plans, wishes, hopes and our very lives to serve Christ and many are. But what may be even harder for Christian’s in the church today to do is to be open to the truth that the way we look at things may work against God’s plan.
Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
This is the first record in the Bible of Adam working. He was ordered to work the garden obviously to produce more fruit. But man became more interested in the foliage. The tedious sewing project Adam took on was well outside of his job description. His unauthorized work contributed to God’s anger.
The church today contains those who are working hard. But how many are working on unfruitful matters? To answer this question just take a short drive through any American city. Many magnificent Christian church buildings almost everywhere.
These buildings were outshoots with similar foundations. Small groups of faithful gathered in a sparse meeting place and loved God, prayed faithfully, worshipped, loved each other, obeyed the Holy Spirit and God’s word. The result was an increase in numbers. The focus of leadership turns away from what was done in the beginning to a building program. If a small room brought great results what would a great big building bring?
So we see that both of the tasks initial faithful gatherings and church building projects take sacrifice. But one is a sacrifice for an earthly construct the other is a heavenly investment. From the way things look currently for the American church God has a surplus of men willing to make earthly commitments and a deficit of those with a commitment to heaven. From the scriptures, it seems this lack of obedient sacrifice was evident from the beginning.
When Peter, John and James travelled with Jesus to the Mt. of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13) they saw what faithful many Jews had longed to see. Elijah, Moses and the Messiah in His glory together in consultation. The 3 disciples privileged spiritual experience was born out of their intimate relationship with Christ.
As is the typical nature of man, they did not immediately fall down and glorify God. They wished to build Sukkot not just 1 but 3. The Sukkot is a booth that by Jewish tradition is made of leaves or overgrowth from plants. This cellulosic construct is usually built once a year as a feast or celebration. But building 3 of these booths would have ended the fellowship of the 3 and separated them with physical walls. While Peter was making his suggestion he was interrupted by the voice of God. After hearing from God nothing but falling to their knees in fear came to them.
Martha and Mary’s home (Luke 10:38-42) were descriptions of two churches. One spending time with Jesus the other working hard for the physical provision of God’s people. There is no law against either one of these. But one is superior to the other. As the people of God we would do well to neglect the latter and give attention to the first.
Although both Martha and Mary shared in the miracle of there brother Lazarus’s resurrection Mary’s ministry continues to bear good fruit until this very day. She was able to anoint Jesus’ body with costly spikenard before His crucifixion. Her story spans all the gospels.In it she highlights her quality time with Jesus and brings it to an even higher level. She lavished what she had to honor Jesus.
In the same story Judas in a tone not dissimilar to Martha made an objection in the hearing of Jesus. He objected that Mary should have left her heavenly ministry to join Judas in his earthly ministry of feeding the poor. In this scripture, it is made clear that Judas’ true motives were to feed himself.
Martha had shared motives for her works although she saw an opportunity to gain Jesus’s favor. She would also gain the admiration and favor of the people of God and even to feed herself. Enough glory to go all the way around the room. But Mary’s motives were pure to learn about and from and to please Jesus.
Cain and Able both brought a sacrifice before the Lord but one was accepted the other was rejected. The law had not been written yet so the guidelines for sacrifice were not spelled out yet, so what caused God to reject Cain’s sacrifice? Even when the law was written some fruit’s of the land were acceptable for sacrifice such as grains even cakes and bread. So the law further brings us to question why God rejected Cain’s sacrifice. It is possible that Cain had witnessed others offering fruits from the ground and they were accepted. God told Cain that he should do what is right obviously to correct something he had done wrong in his past.
To understand this wrong that needed to be righted we need to go back to Cain’s birth.Cain was the first born. From reading the Hebrew version of this story when Cain was born Eve was sure that she had given birth to a man that was to serve God. To buttress this fact we know that Moses had a common theme throughout his writings that the older must be set apart to serve God, this point could not have been lost on Moses as he wrote this story.
Tending animals was not a lucrative means of supporting oneself in those days. Although some benefits such as milk and wool could be gained meat was out of the equation. Only God by way of sacrifice could consume flesh. Man was not allowed to consume flesh until Noah sacrificed after the flood. So growing crops was where the food was. When it came time for Cain to fend for himself he did not follow God’s calling to serve him and tend His sheep. He chose to serve his own calling. Abel as the younger had the freedom to choose either vocations available. He chose the less lucrative tending the sheep in order to be pleasing to God.
When it came time to bring the best of their labors before the Lord Cain was rejected. Cain discovered his life’s work had been in vain. Instead of repenting and following his calling Cain embraced hatred and rejected God. Abel’s obedience was a visible reminder of Cain’s selfish mistake. Repentance brings a change of course regret brings rage.
Matthew 16:21-23 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
So we see that Christ exposed the workings of Satan in His believers lives. Peter could not see how the death of Christ could be a benefit. Like the example of the cutting away of the vine it’s hard to see how loss of structure can bring spiritual gain. Just a few scriptures prior Jesus had given Peter the keys to the kingdom and spoke of the great and glorious future of the church. Jesus had appointed him as a foundational leader of the church.
In the wisdom of Peter Jesus’s miracles and His powerful messages would be instrumental to the future & current strength and growth of the church. If Jesus were killed Peter rightly surmised that many of His followers (not knowing he would be in that group) would fall away. Peter did not see how this could be part of God’s glorious plan. This would also run counter to the aspirations that Peter had. He had faced a falling away of Christ’s followers before (John 6) and did not see how that cutting away had benefitted the ministry.
So we see one of Satan’s biggest deceptions exposed “You Can Serve God Without an Obedient Sacrifice”. What Peter did not see was without Christ’s obedient sacrifice there could be no plan of salvation. Without God’s plan of salvation there could be no church to found. Peter’s words were intended to be a satanic stumbling block to Christ’s obedient sacrifice.
Matthew 21:19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
One of the points of Christ’s symbolism was he was looking to the tree for food, in that we know the tree represents a man or group of men who were called to serve Him. But he could find no fruit only leaves. This is a group who was only working for themselves. There works were geared towards leaf production. Symbolically leaf production is bad, it points to what we mentioned earlier about producing cellulose not fructose. Leaves are bad because they serve no real purpose at least branches can be burned. Jesus was looking for fruit for food this is what He desired and still desires from us today. Jesus mentioned that His real food is doing the will of His Father.
But really it does not seem fair that Christ was so quick to curse His people for not bearing fruit. From other versions of this story we know that Figs were not even in season. What are we missing from this story.? In other places we see that if no fruit was bared that Christ was willing to work with His people to produce good fruit.
One clue is that the tree was by the road indicating that this group was more interested in the passing interest of men than being in the orchards or groves of God. In the garden or orchard it can be tended, pruned and protected. It other parts of the Bible the roadside is where prostitutes and thieves congregate. Preying on and tempting restless travelers. Indeed, in Matthew 13 we see that believers who allowed God’s message to be planted on the roadsides of their heart were open to the devouring of Satan’s messengers. Their appearance and display before men took a priority over how they appeared before God. This moves us closer to being a Pharisee like entity, the Pharisees were declared by Christ to be children of the devil.
But it does not seem enough of a sin to be cursed by Christ even to the point of a withering death. So let’s turn again to the leaves. These were fig leaves of course.
This group was making the same mistake that Adam made in the garden. When Adam sinned, he dealt with the embarrassment of being exposed and never dealt with the sin. His concern was not with his wrongs his concern was with the image he had of himself and how he was seen by others. His eyes were opened and he saw the ugly results of his wrongs. He was willing to throw out his relationship with God his family and indeed his entire future to preserve his appearance.
Adam labored and worked hard on his covering. The Bible said he sewed it or made it. This is the first record of manual labor by man (God’s curse was man would work hard manually for the rest of his life.) It is more than ironic that the first works of man were made of cellulous. Adam’s ridiculous manmade covering drew more attention than his nakedness.
All of this brings to mind President Nixon and the Watergate break in. Really it was not the crime of the break in that brought his administration down. It was his elaborate coverup (a covering). Part of the problem at the end was he and his people had to work so hard on the coverup that they had no time to lead. They worked so hard on the covering they crippled the nation.
All indications now were that he was not fully aware of the crime until after it had been committed. But rather than confess the wrongs of his administration so that he could go on leading he chose to work hard to hide his mistakes. His pride and desire for appearance of innocence lead him to work hard to cover his wrongs. Really like Adam Nixon’s coverup caused more problems than the crime itself.
Genesis 3:12 The man said, "The woman you put here with me--she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."
Instead of addressing his wrong he addressed his appearance. He was not willing to sacrifice his image in order to remedy his wrongs. God gave Eve to Adam as a wonderful gift. It was to bring pleasure, comfort and health to him. To prevent loneliness through a helpmate and offspring. Rather than accept blame Adam made a case for God to be the source of sin and God’s wonderful gift to be the unclean vehicle of his sinful appearance. To make matters worse in his attempt to clear himself he strung together the beads of his case for God’s guilt with the truth. Attempting to declare the guiltiness of God who is the substance of Truth with the truth.
Revelation 3:17-18You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
The church pictured in this scripture was declared by God to be naked. The bad part was that like Adam they thought they had it covered. They looked down upon others who were undergoing discipline. But really they called more attention to their terrible condition. God’s advice to them was to repent and pay the price. Obedient sacrifice was the remedy. God had similar instructions for the 7 foolish virgins in Matthew 25. They were told to go out and pay the price for oil. They had come up short at the end.
When we are presenting an obedient sacrifice to the Lord we are converting what is physical such as our time, our effort, work our thought and our words, possessions and wealth to the spiritual. These obedient sacrifices produce what is described in the Bible as Gold, Precious Gems, Silver, Oil and Fruit.
Many sacrifices are brought in this world. People make sacrifices for their marriage and families and love interests. People make sacrifices for their career, for financial gain, for gain in reputation, for credit building. People also make sacrifices for who their perception of God. When a person declares themselves to be a follower of God and sacrifices themselves in the taking of others’ lives of others this is a type of sacrifice. Although this would not be called an obedient sacrifice.
Martyrdom is accepted in both in Islam and Christianity as a holy sacrifice but the traditions are vastly different. Usually Christian martyrs are killed as they are in the service of the Lord. Patterns appear and are repeated over the centuries. Imprisonment by authorities, attempts at getting them to renounce Christ or admit to wrongdoing, torture and death.
Unlike preaching the gospel or feeding the poor and ministering to the hurt. In the western world dying a Christian martyrs’ death would be rare. It has to be allowed by God. I can think of one instance during the Columbine massacre the shooter martyred a girl because bore witness for Christ. I can also think of several recent church shootings.
I am sure that some in the west who have called themselves Christians have assumed they killed themselves for Christ. But have actually done just that killed for themselves. Recently we have seen Christian’s in the west arrested for refusing to commit sin. This signals that the road ahead may entail tough decisions for God’s faithful. In Islamic and select other nations a Christian can be imprisoned & tortured for doing the Lord’s work.
In many Islamic circles martyrdom is a volunteer effort and its adherents are killed by their own hands. Either by deadly force arranged by their own efforts or by their own devices. Many of these martyrs embrace death easily because of an inability to be a “Good Muslim” They are burdened by guilt and an inability to adhere properly to the legalistic tenants of Islam as taught by dictatorial Iman’s. The faithful are promised a quick entrance to heaven. This coupled with rage at the perceived enemies of Islam and harsh living conditions in many Islamic countries produces a powerful formula for a sacrifice in the name of Allah.
By talking about the principles of Martyrdom gone bad we see how sacrifices can be made that are disobedient and are out of line with what God requires or desires.
In the story of Martha and Many Martha was doing something good she was serving a meal for God’s people and even Jesus was going to be partaking in the meal. But nonetheless what Martha was doing was not necessarily pleasing to Jesus. We wrote earlier about possible ulterior motives but she was also going about the Lord’s business to the exclusion or possible neglect of spending time with and listening to Jesus.
Sometimes the line between obedient sacrifice and a sacrifice that will have loss of value can be thin. Sacrificing to spend time with the wife and family seems so right. But if that sacrifice causes us to neglect or omit our duties to the Lord our entire ministry can lose value in God’s eyes.
How many lay Christians today would be willing to turn down a pay raise or possibly upset their boss or even be fired to do God’s will? How many lay Christians today would be willing to cancel a family outing because God gave them a duty or task? I think that in the Western world that type of sacrifice has become rare. Yet the church during Roman rule was founded on Christians that were willing to die for Christ and even witness the death of their families rather than deny God.
1 Corinthians 3:12-13 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work.
Quality work always entails time, toil and sacrifice. No good teacher of God’s word can cast doubt that God requires our best but truly how many pastors are willing to spell it out and lay the truth on the line. In the previous scripture do you see the flammable works described as cellulous? Do you notice that the low value work is represented by cellulose(wood,straw & hay)? This is no coincidence.
Hebrews 6:8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
We know from other passages that man is represented by land. This land is producing more worthless cellulose. But the products produced on this land are completely worthless. Nobody harvests these items. At least straw and hay can be consumed by animals and wood can be fashioned or burned. Thorns and thistles bring harm to all that harvest them.
1 Corinthians 11:17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.
From the description in these passages some works that are done in Christ’s name do more harm than good. Valueless works are bad enough but harmful works are the pits. Some examples of this would be going out witnessing to the hurt and bickering and back biting with co-workers in Christ. Your actions could bring such a bitter taste in an unbeliever’s mouth that they may never enter the narrow gate. Or the director of the Church Easter play that has so bullied, badgered and divided the members of the body of Christ that any benefit gained is a true loss.
Genesis 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
When Adam sinned he was cursed with hard work and toil. This work produces thorns and thistles. We cannot bring the stress packed management techniques from our workplace into the body of Christ and expect to bare good fruit. None of the workplace habits, routines and rituals we have developed (good or bad) will produce good spiritual fruit. But work that is done with a prure heart and love for each other and Christ will bear good fruit. Love & gratitude is the greatest motivator for fruitful labor.
Or the soloist on choir more interested generating sexual activity than worshipping God. For those of us who have been church members for years if we can probably think of many harmful works done within the church.
Being pruned in order that good and lasting fruit can be borne is a common theme in scripture. In the life of Joseph is an excellent example. It seems that every good Godly work he did was seemingly was rewarded by betrayal, slavery, imprisonment and neglect. By the time Joseph was ready to enter into the role God had set aside for him he was buried so far in the Egyptian penial system he probably though he would never get out.The life of King David follows a different but equally upsetting pattern. Despised by his own family, despised and betrayed by his wife and father in law. Unlawfully declared a pursued as fugitive, becoming an outlaw and living in the enemy’s camp. Visited by calamity and plotted against by his own men. Soon after David’s darkest hour came his greatest victory. Abraham, Moses, Jacob and a wide assortment of fruitful Bible characters fall into a similar pattern. They held on in faith and allowed the pruning process to run it’s course without walking away or rejecting the road the Lord had placed before them.
How many Christians have entered into the pruning phase of their potentially fruitful ministry and walked away. In looking back at my own walk I can see many oppurtunities that were afforded me to be pruned and be fruitful for His glory. I have walked away from many roads that appeared dark at the time but looking back they would meant an opportunity for an obedient sacrifice. I can also see many deeds that at the time seemed a like a casualty free victory that resulted in little gain.
I can see why it was important for Paul to tell the church at Phillippe to run the race without looking back. I would encourage all those who are reading this if you are engaged in valueless deeds and avoiding your true calling, return back to place God placed you. If you are in the midst of pruning do not seek escape from God’s shaping hands just pray and praise your way through it. If you are deciding what type of sacrifice you are offering to God stop and place before him a pleasing sacrifice of His choosing. Nothing satisfies your soul and spirit and puts you at rest in His presence like bearing good fruit.
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