We talked a little bit about this last week. So let me go on a little more. John 15 is the chapter where John records Jesus’ telling his disciples that “I am the vine and you are the branches.” He goes on to say that God the Father is the Vine dresser. Now, what I am going to say here may be a little distressing for some people. That is because modern Americans have a deep seated desire to be in control of things. But Jesus tells us quite openly that it is God the Father who is in control of things. Frankly, we should be happy about that.
He tells us that if we do not bear fruit, we will be pruned away. He tells us that if we bear some fruit, we will be trimmed in order to make us more fruitful. Furthermore, it is God the Father who decides what He is looking to get out of the vine and the branches.
The listeners of Jesus in that day would have known a lot more than we do about the art of tending grape vines. Last week I said that we are responsible for producing more grapes and for producing better grapes. I suppose that this week’s question has to do with what qualities make for “better” grapes.
In his letter to the Galatians, The Apostle Paul writes: (Gal 5:22-24) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.ESV. He also wrote about the qualities that might well define “bad fruit”: (Gal 5:19-22) Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ESV. This list might well spell out the qualities that make for “bad fruit”, that is fruit that may well cause the vine dresser to cut off the branch and cast it into the fire.
Since we have entered into this discussion, I want to stress that it is not us who make these decisions. We do so like to be in charge. Many churches practice their own brand of husbandry wherein the people in the church are subject to the judgment of their leaders. Those are the churches that practice shunning, that is casting out members because of bad behavior. In my opinion, those churches and those leaders are co-opting the prerogative of God the Father by doing His pruning for Him. That seems really presumptuous to me.
As Anglican Christians we try to let God make those decisions. What that means for us is that it takes something really extraordinary for us to remove somebody from our church. In fact, we don’t ever completely remove someone. The most severe punishment that we ever put someone to is to remove them from the communion table, and that is only for cause and only for a time. Our task, as church members is to love our fellow church members, however unlovable they may be, and to try to provide them an example of good living that they may reform their ways. Remember that it is the Vinedresser who controls which branches He wants to keep on the vine.
The illustration that Jesus uses in John 15 ought to be of great comfort to each of us. We are loved and tended by a faithful workman who desires to see each of us as fruitful and productive in the kingdom. Those who are good are made to be even better. Those who are bad are blessed to have the loving attention of the wise workman in whose hands they can rely.