The Process of Pruning - How to understand God's treatment

This is what Jesus says about pruning in John 15, verse 2:

“Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.”

Now, that’s the translation of the New American Standard Bible. The New International Version says, “He trims it clean.” More literally, the Greek word means ‘he cleanses it.’ However, the process undoubtedly is that which we today call pruning.

And it’s related, incidentally, the Greek word for cleansing or pruning is related to the Greek word for taking away. I can’t explain this to people that don’t know Greek, but it’s like there are two options: either he takes it away—one form of the verb—or he prunes it, cleanses it—the other form of the verb.

So, in a sense, we’re all faced with these two options: either to be pruned, to be cleansed, or to be taken away.

Now, in understanding the nature of pruning, we have to observe a very important distinction which many Christians do not make. The distinction is between two different ways in which God may deal with us. The first is the way of correction or punishment, which comes for doing wrong and removing that which is bad. But that’s not pruning.

The second way is pruning. Now, the essence of pruning is cutting away good fruit to make room for better fruit. Many, many Christians don’t understand this process of pruning. If God cuts anything away, they always get the impression that they’re being judged for wrongdoing. And they begin to cry out and say to God, “What have I done wrong?” God’s answer is, “You’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve been bearing fruit. That’s why I’m pruning you.”

I remember in a congregation which I pastored once, I asked if anybody had any testimonies about God, how God had been pruning their lives. And a very fine young man, who’s still a friend of mine today, although he’s no longer a young man, stood up and he gave testimony how he’d been delivered from a particular sin.

Well, as I meditated on that afterwards, I thought he got the idea wrong. Pruning is not dealing with sin. Pruning is removing good fruit in order to bring forth better fruit. Now, this is very important because the agents are different.

God’s human servants in the church are required to administer correction or discipline. In 1 Timothy 5:20, Paul says to Timothy,

“Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also may be fearful of sinning.”

And in Titus 1, verses 12 and 13, he says something similar to Titus, speaking about the people of Crete:

“One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’”

Paul goes on,

“This testimony is true. For this cause reprove them severely, that they may be sound in the faith.”

So we see that it is the responsibility of pastors and God’s servants in the church to rebuke and to reprove those who do wrong, that they may cease doing wrong and start to do good. But, and here’s a very important principle, Jesus is very emphatic in this parable. He says, “My Father does the pruning.” How important it is we understand that.

Pruning is a very delicate operation. It requires experience, it requires skill, it requires a knowledge of how the branch ultimately should grow to bring forth the most possible fruit. And an unskilled person who attempts to prune will be a disaster. So, Jesus emphasizes, and I want to emphasize to you, only God the Father has the knowledge and skill needed for pruning. Because this requires supernatural insight into the divine plan and the end purpose for each life. Only God the Father knows how each particular branch should end up. Without that knowledge, if anybody else attempts to prune, they may do more harm than good. This relates in a very important way to our own personal experience.

We have to learn to distinguish between being disciplined and being pruned. As I’ve already said, discipline comes because we have done wrong. But pruning comes because we have been bearing fruit. It consists of cutting away good fruit to make way for better fruit. Now, all fruit-bearing Christians ultimately will be subjected to the Father’s pruning, but many do not know how to respond. I’ve dealt with so many along this line, that’s why I’m taking time to deal with it in this talk.

I’ve met people who’ve said, “Well, everything seems to be going wrong in my life. I used to have a successful ministry, and now it’s dried up. I used to lead a successful home prayer group, and now it’s ended. Or I used to be able to preach in the streets and people were saved, and now there’s nothing. What’s wrong? What have I done wrong?” And it’s always such a delight, and also rather an amusing experience, to be able to say to them, “Listen, you haven’t done anything wrong. It’s not because you were disobedient. It’s not because you sinned. It’s just the opposite. It’s because you’ve been bearing fruit. God is pruning away that fruit because He knows you’re capable of better fruit. But the better fruit will not come until you’ve allowed Him, first of all, to deal with the good fruit.”

You see, there is a saying, “The good is the enemy of the best.” That really can be true in the Christian life.

We can have a certain ministry, be so excited and thrilled about it. We think, “This is wonderful,” and wonderful it is. But God the Father, who knows our true inner potential and capacity, says, “That’s good, but I want the best.” And so, in His own sovereign way, He removes that which is good and replaces it, in due course, with that which is best. But in the meantime, we sit, we are there like a trimmed branch. We seem to have nothing. We’re stripped.

I’ve had the privilege of being close friends with multitudes of wonderful Christians. I don’t know a single fruit-bearing Christian that hasn’t been through this process of pruning. There must be some of you listening to me right now, you’re in the middle of the process. Don’t get discouraged. It’s not because you’ve sinned. It’s because you’ve been bearing fruit and because your Father, who loves you and knows you better than you do, knows what you’re truly capable of, and He will not be satisfied in your life with anything but the best.