Life in the Vineyard: God's Soverign Care-filled Cutting part 2

We have been studying what life is supposed to be like in God’s Vineyard. Jesus is the true vine of Israel. Those whom God is drawing to the Son in salvation will be connected to the Vine, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and bearing God-glorifying fruit. Those who are in the Vine will abide in Christ, that is they will remain, they will endure until the end always bearing fruit. I summed up the fruit with three short phrases:

Great Commitment to Christ

Those connected to the Vine will bear the fruit of love for Jesus that expresses itself in joy-filled obedience. Because you love Jesus, you will obey Jesus with a happy heart. Your love for Christ will overflow onto your brother and sisters. Jesus says the world will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another. A great commitment to Jesus is empowered by His Spirit that cultivates a deep abiding love for Jesus.

Great Communion with Christ

Those who are connected to Jesus will bear the fruit of effective prayer that will come from abiding in God’s word. John Piper defined prayer as, “The overflow of the fullness of God’s word abiding in you.” The more the word of God abides in you, the fullness of that word spills into your prayers. The more you pray word infused prayers from a heart that has spent time communing with God, the more effective your prayers will be for bearing fruit because you are praying truth and the desires of God’s heart.

Great Commission for Christ

Those connected to the vine will bear the fruit of the Great Commission. The Spirit of God compels you to testify about Jesus. Jesus has commanded that you go and preach the gospel, teaching them and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All of us who are in the vine are either sowing the word of God or reaping the harvest of conversions, or even both, but you are never idle in your pursuit of advancing God’s kingdom. The fruit of the Great Commission is conversions.

We concluded last week that

We must bear the fruit of having a great commitment to Jesus, that enjoys a great communion with Jesus, that sees a great commission revival for Jesus, if we are going to be successful in joyfully advancing His kingdom by making much of Jesus.

Now that you know the kind of fruit that is produced on the true Vine, we must turn our attention to how God cultivates his vineyard to bear more fruit. That is the aim of very branch connected to Jesus.

John 15:8 ESV

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

You prove that you are truly connected to Jesus by bearing God glorifying Spirit empowered fruit: great commitment, great communion, and great commission. God’s desire is that you bear this kind of fruit abundantly in your life. To ensure that his vineyard will be fruitful to his glory, he makes two kinds of sovereign care-filled cuts into his vine. One cut is a pruning cut and the other is a removal cut. Both serve the Vine and his glory.

The Father Prunes His Vineyard to Bear More Fruit

John 15:2 ESV

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

Pruning is God’s Cleansing Discipline

The word Jesus uses for prune is kathairo, which means to cleanse. Pruning is a form of cleansing because it trims fruit-bearing branches to make room for more fruit, while cutting off unproductive branches. Spiritually speaking, the Father cleanses the fruit-bearing life of the Christian with his discipline, which is often painful. Pruning is God cutting into your heart to remove sin or to strengthen you to abide in Christ. Or to put it another way,

The Father uses suffering and hardship to prune His fruit-bearing branches to bear abundant fruit of holiness and righteousness.

In my opinion, one of the best truth’s of God’ discipline is found in Hebrews 12:4-11. The purposes of the Book of Hebrews is to show that Jesus is the all supreme and fully sufficient Great High Priest. He is the once for all sacrifice that takes away the sins of the world. There were likely three kinds of readers of the Book of Hebrews. They were likely Jews who were true believers, Jews who believed but were still sacrificing, and unbelieving Jews. The writer warns in Hebrews 3:7-9

Hebrews 3:7–9 ESV

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years.

Today is the day of salvation. Believe upon the Lord and continue to believe him, that is remain in Him. Enduring is one of the themes that develops in Hebrews, especially thorough hardship. In chapter 12, the writer of Hebrews notes that suffering and hardship are used by God to disciplines his sons and daughters to bear fruit. The Father uses suffering and hardship to prune his fruit-bearing branches to bear more fruit.

Consider for a moment what the writer of Hebrews says of the Father’s loving discipline in Hebrews 12:4-11.

God disciplines His Own.

The writer of Hebrews says,

Hebrews 12:5–6 ESV

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

The writer of Hebrews reminds his readers that they are children of God in v5. In verse 6, Those whom God loves and receives are the ones receiving the discipline. When you receive God’s discipline, he is treating you like a Father treats a son whom he loves (v7). In verse 8, if you are not receiving discipline from God, then you are not his son or daughter. The writer of Hebrews calls you an illegitimate child. This implies that suffering is, in some ways, a normal part of the Christian walk. we should not surprised by suffering. It comes to those who testify about Jesus and it us comes through the sovereign care-filled hand of God to express his love for you.

God’s discipline is painful.

The word chastise, in verse 6, means to severely flog, which is a painful beating. Verse 11, says

Hebrews 12:11 (ESV)

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant...

The word for pain is rooted in the idea of sorrow. It carries the sense of emotional pain you experience when you are sorrowful or unhappy. Paul uses this sense in Philippians 2:27, to describe the pain he would have felt had Epaphroditus died from his sickness. Paul says

Philippians 2:27 ESV

Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

The writer of Hebrews uses the analogy of a father who disciplines his son. I have a good earthly father. There were times when I needed correction, to get back across the line. I feared my dads disapproval, in a healthy way. I knew when I disobeyed, he was going to exercise discipline on my behind. He was controlled, intentional, and specific. He did not enjoy the corporal punishment, but he knew I needed it because my will was strong, and he loved me enough to do whatever it took to get me back on track. It was painful, not life scarring or traumatic, but it hurt enough for me to remember not to cross the line again. If we being evil can discipline our children to correct them, how much more can a good ann dholy God discipline his children?

God’s discipline serves a purpose.

God’s discipline serves a purpose. It is not willy nilly or given in a drunken rage. God’s discipline for you is to serve you, to better you, to conform you into the image of his son.

The writer of Hebrews uses the word paideuo, which means to discipline with the notion of correction. It can also carry the idea of educate and train up.

In verse 11, the writer of Hebrews says that God trains his children to bear fruit. The idea of training is an athletic metaphor. Like an athlete who trains his body, or disciplines his body, for a race, so God trains his children through discipline to bear fruit. Hebrews 12:9-11 explains the purposes for God’s discipline.

The fruit of Respectful Submission (v9).

Hebrews 12:9 ESV

Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

By respectfully, I mean to embrace God’s will, even when it is painful, as good for your life. We do not naturally embrace God’s will, even if we think we do. Keep in mind, only God knows the depths of your heart (Psalm 139). Knows how deep we harbor unbelief that likes to tell God he can go this far and no further. He knows exactly what he needs to do get your heart to say, not my will but your will be done.

When I was but a year old in the faith I strayed into a pattern of sin. What started off as something good quickly turned into sin when i refused to accept God’s will on the matter. In hindsight, the more God said no about this thing, the more I leaned into my stubborn will. God sent several people to speak into my life that the path I was pursuing was not God’s will. I was blind. God, being a good good father, disciplined me severely. He took everything away from me. I was literally homeless and broken hearted. Only then did I respectfully submit to His will, and I am so grateful to Him for bringing me to the woodshed.

Secondly,

The fruit of Holy Edification (v10).

Hebrews 12:10 ESV

For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

God’s discipline serves your good. What good does His discipline accomplish in your life? First, that you may share in his holiness. Holiness is God’s goal for your life. Holiness is what the Son exemplified and what it means to be conformed into His image. God has said to you and I,

Leviticus 11:44 (ESV)

For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy...

Peter says the church, whom is suffering God’s gracious discipline, quotes the same text in

1 Peter 1:16 ESV

since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

The church is called to be holy. One way God helps you share in his holiness is to bring suffering into your life as a form of discipline. God uses suffering to expose sin in your heart, sin you did not realize was there. Imagine your heart is a cup filled to the brim. When your cup is bumped, what is spilling out of it? Suffering is the world moving beneath your feet. The more it shakes the more of whatever is in your heart will come out.

The Fruit of Righteous Living (v11).

Hebrews 12:11 ESV

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

God’s discipline produces the peaceful fruit of right living, just living, godliness, in a sinful world. Or, as Kent Hughes puts it, your life begins to show more and more the character of God.

God shows his love for by his commitment to bear fruit in your life. He does that by pruning your branch with his discipline. This is painful, but it serves the purpose of conforming into the image of his Son, to bear the fruit of holiness and righteousness. Though it is unpleasant and difficult, Andrew Murray says God’s chastisement is mercy. In his book, Abide in Christ: Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Fellowship with the Son of God, Murray says,

“It is an unspeakable mercy that the Father comes with His chastisement, makes the world round us all dark and unattractive, leads us to feel more deeply our sinfulness, and for a time lose our joy in what was becoming so dangerous. He does it in the hope that, when we have found our rest in Christ in time of trouble, we shall learn to choose abiding in Him as our only portion; and when the affliction is removed, have so grown more firmly into Him, that in prosperity He still shall be our only joy. So much has He set His heart on this, that though He has indeed no pleasure in afflicting us, He will not keep back even the most painful chastisement if He can but thereby guide His beloved child to come home and abide in the beloved Son.” Andrew Murray

God’s discipline is merciful because it reveals our sin and creates more capacity for joy, and mostly keeps us abiding in Jesus. God’s pruning of our lives helps us rest in Jesus, remain in Jesus, to abide in Jesus as our only portion. And by doing that, he God-glorifying empowered fruit in your life.

Billy Graham says it well when he said,

“The view from the mountaintop is spectacular, but the fruit is grown in the valley.” Billy Graham

Of course God has not left us without examples of people he has disciplined that bore great fruit. Job of course comes to mind.

Job was a righteous man whom God severely afflicted, using Satan as a means to bring upon Job’s life suffering. Job suffered the loss of his wealth, his children, and his health. And yet, Job did not sin against God as Satan said he would. In fact Job testifies,

Job 1:21 ESV

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

and Job goes on to say about God’s discipline,

Job 5:17 HCSB

See how happy the man is God corrects; so do not reject the discipline of the Almighty.

What about the apostle Paul? Paul says,

2 Corinthians 12:7 ESV

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

God brought suffering into Paul’s life, a thorn in his flesh, a messenger from Satan, to keep him from prideful arrogance.

What about our Lord Jesus Christ? Christ did not know sin for sin was not found in him. He was perfect in every way, and yet the Bible says,

Hebrews 5:8 ESV

Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.

The greek word for suffer in verse eight, usually refers to enduring unpleasant experiences like disease (Mark 5:26) or persecution (Acts 8:1). But it often also implies enduring a challenging process that transforms the sufferer.

For example, Paul uses the same sense in

Romans 5:3–4 ESV

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

Suffering transforms a persons character and strengthens perseverance. Regarding suffering and Jesus learning obedience, one commentator explains, “Jesus chose to endure an unpleasant, challenging process because it was the will of His Father for His brief time on earth. After that process Jesus had been “made perfect.” It is crucial to note that perfect here means “complete,” as in finishing a full course of training or education—or, in Jesus’ case, He finished an altogether righteous human life and had a complete understanding of human frailty and suffering. It was Christ’s total human obedience, coming through extreme suffering, that qualifies Him to be our eternal High Priest, “now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death” (Hebrews 2:9).”

It was the Father’s will for the Son to learn through suffering, through his chastisement. And as it is for the Son, so it is for you. God uses suffering to prune your life so that it bears more fruit.

The question is will you trust him? Will you submit to him and live and bear the fruit of goodness, holiness, peacefulness, and righteousness? Or will you rebel against him and die?

Death is what happens to those who reject God’s discipline. Those who reject God’s discipline are the branches that do not bear fruit for they are not abiding in Jesus. And branches that are not pruned, which are not bearing fruit, they are cut off and thrown into the fire.

God cuts off unfruitful branches

Who are these branches? These branches are men and women who have some connection to Jesus or his church, but do not have the right faith. They are the sucker shoots that grow where the true branches are connected to the vine. Let me explain by looking back in John’s gospel to chapter 2.

There are some people who have a wrong believe about Jesus and Jesus does not trust them.

John 2:23–25 ESV

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus is at Passover performing miraculous signs, and the people were in awe of him. John says, “many believed in his name when they saw the signs.” And yet, Jesus did something odd.

In John 2:24, Jesus did not entrust himself to these people. He did not entrust himself to their kind of sign believing faith. Why? He knew what was in them. He knew they believed in the signs and the wonders, but they did not have saving faith. They did not love him, nor did they believe he was the true Messiah. They wanted to be connected as long as he entertained them.

we see these kind of people every now and then at FBCL. They come to our church and say that the Spirit is not moving here because we think too much of doctrine, or we don’t speak in tongues, or we don’t get super charismatic with our worship, as if the Spirit is only moving if there are signs and wonders.

This is nonsense. Did you hear the gospel preached? Did you sing songs that portrayed Jesus as the one true Messiah, King of Kings and Lords of Lords and allowed you worship him as such? Did you hear the Bible read and believed as the all-sufficient, inerrant, and fully authoritative word of God? Were you reminded of the spectacular wonder of the Lord’s table and were warned it is only for those who are truly connected to Jesus? Were you compelled to go out and joyfully advance the kingdom of God b making much of Jesus in the church, community, and home until all joyfully abide in Jesus? Son, Paul says that only happens if the Spirit is present and moving among his people. For only those who are empowered by the Spirit will confess such things.

There are others who have some connection to the church but not to Christ.

Nicodemus (John 3:1-8)

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law. He was a man of zealous faith. He comes to Jesus at night and says to him,

John 3:2 ESV

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

Do you see how Nicodemus’ wrong belief about Jesus? He says to Jesus, the very Son of God, who is fully God and fully man, that Jesus is a mere teacher (Rabbi), who came from God, and that God is with him. In Nicodemus’s eyes, however, Jesus was not God, and therefore not the saving Messiah. Nicodemus had faith in religion, but not in Jesus as the true Messiah. He didn’t understand Jesus’s words, You must be born again.

We knows these people in church as well. They are religious people who live moral lives, but have no life in Christ. they look good on the outside, but inside their hearts they have not surrendered to Jesus as Lord.

Judas (John 6:64)

Judas was in Jesus’s inner circle. Judas had close access to Jesus. There was intimacy in three years of ministry. Judas heard Jesus’s words, all of them, and had seen all of his miracles. Jesus washed Judas’ feet and yet it was Judas who betrayed him with a kiss. Jesus says to his disciples, regarding their belief,

John 6:64 ESV

But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

Judas had a belief about Jesus, but he had no true saving faith in Jesus. Upon reflection, the disciples realized Judas was lost all along by the way he lived. Judas embraced Jesus as rabbi with one hand, while he used his other hand to help himself to the money bag (John 12:5-6). He was a thief.

All of us have known a Judas or two in the church. They live two contradictory lives, one at church and one at home and in the community. They are so good at their hypocrisy, they obtain leadership positions in the church. Some are deacons. Some are Sunday School teachers. Some are serve in administrative roles, and God forbid, some are pastors. But none of them are Christians, converted, fruit-bearing branches.

The Apostates (1 John 2:19)

In John’s first letter, he is trying to encourage a church that is being rocked by gnostic teaching. Some in the church decided to follow the gnostic heresy, and therefore split the church. John explains why these people left.

1 John 2:19 ESV

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

An apostate is someone who renounces the faith. John explains that these people were never truly saved. They had the wrong faith. They went out from us because they were not of us. Then he clarifies what it means to be “of us.” He says, “for it they were of us, they would have continued with us,” or you could say, “they would continue to abide in Jesus.”The apostates were part of the gathered church body. They took communion and sang hymns. But their faith produced no fruit, and when heresy came along, they proved they were a branch when they followed wickedness out the door. D.A. Carson wisely says of the fruitless branches in the church,

“Indeed, there is a persistent strand of New Testament witness that depicts men and women with some degree of connection with Jesus, or with the Christian church, who nevertheless by failing to display the grace of perseverance finally testify that the transforming life of Christ has never pulsated within them.” D.A. Carson

In the vineyard, you can have a belief that gets all worked up over signs and miracles and gifts of the Spirit. You can have belief that Jesus is from God, like muslims and even Jews. You can have a belief in heresy about Jesus, and still be a member of First Baptist Church of Litchfield. You can be like Judas and know all the great truths about Jesus’ death and resurrection and eternal life, and not truly confess him as Lord. You can admire Jesus and his work and say, “Man it would be nice to be like Jesus,” and never bow your knee to his Lordship. To be a member our our church you need to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and be baptized. We have no way of knowing your heart. No one can, but God alone. That is why sermons like this are necessary. God uses his word to provoke you and stir your heart to ask, “Am I bearing glorifying fruit in my life?” Does the church recognize the fruit that Jesus is working in my life? Can they tase and see from my life that Jesus is good and worthy of your life? The only measurement the church has to your genuine faith is the fruit of your life. You can know a tree by its fruit, and Jesus gives all of us a warning.

Jesus says all branches that do not bear fruit get thrown into the fire. That is, everyone who confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, but does not bear the fruit of right faith, that do not believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead, they will not be saved.

In Matthew 7, Jesus explains that you can tell who belongs to the kingdom of God by the fruit of their life. He is speaking specifically about false teachers, but the principle applies to everyone. You know a tree by its fruit. Right after he teaches knowing a tree by its fruit, he says

Matthew 7:21–23 ESV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Jesus is speaking to the dead branches; to religious people who had the wrong faith. These branches are gathered by the Father and are thrown into Hell fire for all eternity.

Jesus mentions abiding at least eleven times in the entire chapter. In John 16:1

John 16:1 ESV

“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

Jesus is warning you because he loves you and he wants you to abide in him. Meaning, he wants to to remain, to keep on going. Only those who continuously bear fruit are saved. No Christian can retire from bearing fruit, or stop bearing fruit. True believers continue in the faith until either Christ returns or death comes to take you home.

God sovereignly cares for his vineyard. He cuts into the lives of his children to prune them so that they can bear more glorifying Spirit empowered fruit. God’s goal for your life is to conform you not he image of His Son. You will bear the fruit of His discipline in your life.

For those of you who are not bearing fruit, please hear the warning this morning. Repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not despise his gift of salvation. Receive his grace by faith

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