THREEMEANS GOD USES TO PRUNE US
How does those Father Prune?
- – Personally
- – Scripture-”
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
“-{2 Timothy 3:16-17}- Hebrews sharper than a two edged sword… able to give you discenrmen- 4:13-15???
- – Trials – “Afflcitions” is the context that Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 1. The wrd speaks of “crushing, great pressures.” It was used in in times of old to speak about a person whao had two boldrrs laid on his chest in order to get him to confess to a crime and if not the weight of the bolders would crush. This is the word used ehre, to speak of that which is “crushing,” Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:8-9 “ For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in [b]Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves SO THAT we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;” Note the reason given in the words “SO THAT” here is the explanation, “…we would NOT TRUST in ourselves, BUT IN God…”The “afflicitions” that they ahd gone through were aprt of a WEANING… WEANING from SELF RELIANCE…. to GOD DEPENDENCY! God prunes us, weaning from self sufficency, trusting in our self, our own resources and weans us from self to LEAN , depend upon the LORD who it says “Raises the Dead,” He ahs [power to do the miraculous and He who loves us would ahve us trust Him and He uses afflcitions, trials, troubles to “prune” us , not to hurt us bit to spiritually Help us!
Paul had pleaded three timws with the LORD to remove the painful thorn from him. the word, “Thorn” was that of a tent peg. with sharp and pointed end that was used for torture and was painful. Paul said this “thorn” was not some slight piece of wood, a sliver unfer the skin that was an irriataion, this ws so so painful, toortutoresly soa nd he does the right thing he tuirns tot he LORD who has the power to raise the dead and asks Him to remove it. But God… determines this is useful to Paul and tells him why He will leave it to reamin. In verse 7 he told him it was used to keep him humble! He had been granted to see the Heavenlies and in orde to keep him from spiritual pride he says “there was given” the word means gidted , graced to me…” this thorn to keep him himble{GET VERSES…}. But God not only is pruning and weaning and keeping him form praise but is gving him Himself, He says “My grace is suficent for you.” The way it si written grammatically is “Suffcient for you is th e Grace of Me.” He is giving him Himself. The word “suffcint
means “enough” and with the inplication to “sataisy” The LORD’S Grace woiuld be enough or him with the thorn, the LORD’S GRACE would empower Him, be enoiugh and and satisfy him…. to such an extent when Paul is told that The LORD’S gRACE IS SUIFFCIENT AND THAT hIS pOWER Is MANIFESTED, Unleashed in Paul’s weakness. How often we mistake strngty in our own self is power when it is weakness spirituyally as it is pride, self relaince and Paul says that he gloried in his weakness for he knew when eh was eak The LORD’S strength was unleashed! The LORD PRUNES” for a purpose as Paul testified to.
Jacob, limped as a reminder. and look at him in Hebrews 11… he was leaning on a staff, worshiping God, praised for his faith and instead of trying to manipulte God and use others he was Blessing others and trusting God and it came out of pain, when God touched him. He limped in dependance upon God, constantly reminded and he was not bitter but a blessing to others!
Paul spoke of “Tribulations” the word speaks of suffering, “Great pressueres” in Romans 5:34 and he shows what God is doing and Producing in these troubles, The word speaks of external pressures and also in the New Testament of “mental stress” and he says “we exult” whcih speaks of ‘jotgul condifence”= because of what they “know” which emans to “be fully aware”, of twhat God is “bringing abou, producing” He soes not say they rejoice, exult, baost in joygul confidence because of troubles, great pressures but because of that they “Know” that God is producing threee virtues, “perseverane, proven character, hopw ” as the end of the troubbles, “afflcitions!” How about that, the foillower of Chirst can exult, boast , delight because they know the end of what GOD IS DOING… PRODUCING….
God uses trials, troubled for us , not against us and we can know this in our troubles!
James aslos spoke of trials and commansds us to “rejoice” again because we know God is working in the ebliver to produce “perseevrance” and spiritual maturity!
Peter tells us there are Two tyoes of suffering.. Suffeing we bring on ourselves for our foolishness, sina dn then suffeing “accorfing to the will of God.” thats right there si a suffering that is Giod’s will nd suffeing does not twart God’s plan.. its not as though God’s will is the wheels on a train speeding along ona track and suffering comes along and throws the train fof the tack… no there si a suffing that is alligned with god’s will and God uses +
Suffering, to Testify 1 Peter 3:16?? and 1 Peter 2:11-15?… nd in 4:12-15??? the results that the pruning in suffering is ahving the desire effetc is seen by the reponse, NOT SURPOSED, by suffering; continually rejoicing; trusting yoyu are LOVED by God… etc????
Suffering- 1 Peter 2 and chapter 4 to reveal the GENUINESS f your relationship with the LORD
And we are promised “all things” God is woking togethr for good- and the good being our conforming to the inage of Christ….{Read Romans 8:28-29} And those times when we do not know what tp pray because of ouur weakness, ignoranvce wr are assures the Holy Spirit steps in and prays for us because HE KNOWS what the will fpo God is …. God uses troubles, trials, difficulties for our good and one way He does this is to use troubles to mature us!
THE HOLY SPIRIT-
Convicts us,- He began by concicting us of sin…
CORRECTS US, {2 Tim 2:15-17?}
CHANGES US -{2 Timothy; Rom 8:28-29; 2 Cor 3:16-18? By beholding Him…}
CHRISTLIKE-CHRIST CONSCIUPS- Col 3:1-2; 1 Thess 2:13; 2 thess 2:13}
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“… Jesus chose the figure of a vine for several reasons. The lowliness of a vine demonstrates His humility. It also pictures a close, permanent, vital union between the vine and branches. It is symbolic of belonging, because branches belong entirely to the vine; if branches are to live and bear fruit, they must completely depend on the vine for nourishment, support, strength, and vitality.
Yet many who call themselves Christians fail to depend on Christ. Instead of being attached to the true vine, they are tied to a bank account. Others are attached to their education. Some have tried to make vines out of popularity, fame, personal skills, possessions, relationships, or fleshly desires. Some think the church is their vine, and try to attach themselves to a religious system. But none of those things can sustain or bear fruit. The vine is Christ.
The Father Is the Vinedresser
In the metaphor, Christ is a plant, but the Father is a person. Certain false teachers have claimed that that shows Christ is not divine, but lower in character and essence than the Father. They say if He is God, His and the Father’s parts in the metaphor should be equal; He should be the vine, and the Father should be the root of the vine.
But to make such a claim is to miss the whole point of Jesus’ metaphor and the reason the apostle John included it in his Gospel. While He is affirming His equality in essence with the Father—by claiming to be the source and sustainer of life—He is also emphasizing the fundamental difference in His role and that of the Father. The point is that the Father cares for the Son and for those joined to the Son by faith.
The disciples were familiar with the role of the vinedresser. After a vine is planted, the vinedresser has two duties. First, he cuts off fruitless branches, which take away sap from the fruit-bearing branches. If sap is wasted, the plant will bear less fruit. Then he constantly trims shoots from the fruit-bearing branches so that all the sap is concentrated on fruit-bearing. Both of those duties are described in verse 2: “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
The fruitless branches that are cut off are useless. Since they do not burn well, they cannot even be used to warm a house. They are thrown into piles and burned like garbage. As verse 2 says, they are “taken away.” He doesn’t repair them; He removes them.
Those who are removed only appear to be connected to Christ. They don’t really abide in Him. They were never saved. They are Judas-branches that don’t really follow Jesus, and they bear no fruit. At some point in time, the Father removes them to preserve the life and fruitfulness of the other branches.
The fruit-bearing branches are pruned so they will bear more fruit. We know these branches represent Christians, because only Christians can bear fruit. Pruning is not done only once—it is a constant process. The Father prunes a branch so it may bear more fruit. After continual pruning, it bears much fruit. As verse 8 says, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit.”
The Fruitless Branches Are Removed
Fruit-bearing and non-fruit-bearing branches grow rapidly and must be carefully pruned. If there is to be a large quantity of fruit, the fruitless branches must be removed, as well as the shoots that grow on the fruit-bearing branches.
In first-century Palestine, it was common to prevent a vine from bearing fruit for three years after it was planted. In the fourth year it was strong enough to bear fruit. Its fruit-bearing capacity had been increased by the careful pruning. Mature branches, which had already been through the four-year process, were pruned annually between December and January.
Jesus said His followers were like mature branches that bore fruit but needed pruning. There is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. Every Christian bears some fruit. You may have to look hard to find even a small grape, but if you look enough, you will find something.
It is the essence of the Christian life to bear fruit. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” The fruit of salvation is good works. James 2:17 explains the close relationship between faith and works, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” If saving faith is legitimate, it produces fruit. That does not mean a person is saved by works, but works are evidence that faith is genuine.
Jesus said a genuine believer can be tested by his fruit. In Matthew 7:16-17 He said, “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from the thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit” (emphasis added). Jesus’ illustration would make no sense if every Christian did not bear at least some fruit.
John the Baptist recognized the connection between salvation and fruit-bearing. When he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he said, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:7-8). Lack of fruit showed that their repentance was not genuine.
Since all Christians bear fruit, it is clear that the fruitless branches in John 15 cannot refer to believers. In fact, the fruitless branches had to be eliminated and thrown into the fire. Yet, in verse 2, Jesus refers to the fruitless branches as those who are “in Me.” If they are “in Him,” are they not genuine believers?
Not necessarily. Other passages in Scripture show it is possible to be attached to the Vine without being a true believer. For example, Romans 9:6 says, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.” A person can be part of the nation of Israel yet not be a true Israelite. Likewise, one can be a branch without abiding in the true Vine. In a similar metaphor, Romans 11:17-24 represents Israel as an olive tree from which God has removed branches. Those branches were cut off because of unbelief (Romans 11:20).
Some only appear to be a part of God’s people. Luke 8:18 says, “So take care how you listen; for whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has shall be take away from him.” Those who only appear to belong will be removed from God’s people.
“-{John MacArthur}