Pastor Mike Augsburger explains that God's pruning is a normal part of the Christian life, using the vine and branches passage to show how God cuts things from our lives to keep us clinging to Christ and producing fruit.
Scripture Text
John 15:1-8
Main Points or Ideas
- God's practice of pruning - The Father as vine dresser prunes both dead branches (non-believers) and living branches (believers), with believers being those who are truly "in Christ" and producing fruit.
- God's procedure of pruning - God prunes things that hinder growth and sometimes good things to promote better growth, always done with great care and love, while believers should also actively prune sin from their own lives.
- God's purpose in pruning - Pruning leads to fruitfulness, assurance of salvation through seeing fruit produced, answered prayer as our desires align with God's, and God being glorified as we prove to be His disciples
Conclusion
God's pruning, though painful, is always purposeful and done in love to help us abide more fully in Christ, and believers should both submit to God's pruning and actively prune things from their lives that hinder their relationship with Jesus.
