16. The Cleansing—

John 15:2 (NRSV) — 2b … Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.

Q: Why is this so?

Because it would consume too much of the sap to fill all the long shoots of last year's growth. The sap must be saved up and used for fruit alone. The branches are cut down close to the stem, and nothing is left but just one or two inches of wood—just enough to bear the grapes. It is when everything that is not needful for fruit-bearing has been relentlessly cut down, and just as little of the branches as possible has been left, that full, rich fruit can be expected.

What a solemn, precious lesson! It is not to sin only that the cleansing of the Vine-grower refers to here. It refers to our own religious or spiritual activity, as it is developed in the very act of bearing fruit. It is this that must be cut down and cleansed away. We have to use our natural gifts of wisdom, or eloquence, or influence, or zeal in working for God and yet they are ever in danger of being unduly developed, and then being trusted in. And so, after each season of work, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves, to the consciousness of the helplessness and the danger of all that is of man—to have us feel that we are nothing without Him.

All that is to be left of us is just enough to receive the Power of the life-giving sap of God’s Holy Spirit. What is of man must be reduced to its very lowest measure. All that is inconsistent with the most entire devotion to Christ's service must be removed.

The more perfect the cleansing and cutting away of all that is of self, the less surface over which God’s Holy Spirit needs to be spread therefore more intense can be the concentration of our whole being, to be entirely at the disposal of His Spirit. This is the true circumcision of the heart. This is the true crucifixion with Christ, bearing the dying of our Lord Jesus in one’s body for God’s Purpose of bearing more fruit.