Fruit or Decoration?

 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”

—John 15:1-3 RSV

I love the autumn for its crisp and sunny days and its beautiful golden, orange, purple colors. I love the red “burning bush” shrubs and the rich variety of leaves on Maple trees. I need to be reminded that the plants produce these colors as a byproduct of more important purposes the Creator had in mind when He made them.

As Christians, do we spend more time trying to produce an attractive “plant” from our prayers, worship attendance, or service? Do we hope to appear beautiful to others, or even to God?

Jesus warned us in Matthew 6:5 of doing “Christian things” to be seen by men. He knew our temptation to appear religious, or pious, or upstanding.

Some parents appear to enroll their children in youth activities, or confirmation classes, or any number of churchy offerings in order to produce a “well-rounded” young person—as though such experiences rated alongside Boy Scouts, or dance class, or sports teams in achieving that goal.

All of us know adults who join churches merely to have a place to “marry, carry (babies) and bury.” Politicians join organizations because the membership looks good on their résumé. But, Jesus had a different reason for His purposes in us.

In Isaiah 5:1-7, we read about the efforts of a vinegrower. He finds a fertile hillside, digs it, cleans it, and plants it with choice vines. He builds a watchtower, puts a hedge and a wall around it, and then prunes and cultivates it. According to verse 2:

…he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.

Our John 15 passage at the beginning of this blog post agrees. God wants to produce healthy, fruit-producing branches. And, God isn’t afraid to cut and prune in order to achieve that goal. Attractiveness may come as a byproduct, but God has a higher plan.

Eugene Peterson writes:

Jesus is not a decorative shrub, useful for giving an aesthetic religious touch to life. He is not available to be arranged in a bouquet to delight us. He is life itself, its very center—the vine.¹

Once in awhile, we need to take inventory of our own lives and see the activities we do in order to appear attractive or holy. How much better for us to examine ourselves and repent of our wrong-headed activities.

The gardener looks us over too, and will create experiences that will prune and cultivate us, if we fail to do it on our own. Only then will the glory of God’s attractiveness show in our lives.

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1 Peterson, Eugene H. A Year with Jesus. San Francisco:HarperSanFrancisco, 2006. p. 342