The Pruning Process — E.A. Johnston

The Call of God and Preparation for Ministry

I always felt I had a call of God on my life. I didn't grow up in a Christian home, but I had a God consciousness even as a young boy. But I went my own way for years, even though deep down I knew God wanted to do something with me.

Have you ever had a call of God on your life, friend? Did you run from that call? Are you running now? My life experience differs from many other ministers because God trained me first before he called me.

Usually it's the other way around. God calls a man, then trains him for ministry. God gave me all my training as a preacher before he gave me a clear call from his word to go and be a preacher. I say training from an educational aspect.

God had me to graduate from a preacher training institute, then he had me graduate from two different seminaries. He had me study theology and the Bible before he called me to go out and preach the great doctrines of the Bible.

But God did give me a clear call to preach. I'll never forget it. It was in the month of May in a certain year, and I was in my studying in my Bible in the Gospel of Luke one afternoon, and I was reading the story of the parable of the Great Supper.

And I came to verse 23, which reads, And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. It was God himself, by his Spirit, telling me it was time.

He was calling me right then and there to be that servant, and to go out into the highways and the hedges, and compel them to come in. And I have done my best to be faithful to that call ever since. I also believe that if you have a call of God on your life, then God himself will be active in your life and on your ministry.

I don't believe God calls a person to serve him without anointing that person with his smile from heaven. But it may take some time for God to be active in a person's life in the way God desires to be active in that person's life.

There is a process one must go through to be a spiritually fruit-bearing branch. And this process is what I call the pruning process. And that's the title of my message today, friends, the pruning process.

And my text can be found in the Gospel of John, in chapter 15. You can turn in your Bibles there now. I call this the pruning chapter. I'll never forget the time I was sitting with Dr. Stephen Olford in his office one day as he related a story to me.

He said he was asked by a local pastor to go with him to a neighboring town to hear an up-and-coming Baptist preacher who was starting to make some noise within the denomination. So Stephen Olford went along to hear this man preach.

On the drive home, the pastor asked Dr. Olford what he thought about the young preacher boy who they just heard. Dr. Olford replied, oh, yes, a fine young man with much promise, but, and he paused, and then he said, but he hasn't suffered enough yet.

And when Dr. Olford told me that story, I did not have a clue what he was talking about. I was in his preaching institute to learn how to preach, and he was teaching me expository preaching, but it would be years later that God would really make me a preacher that he could use because God had to take me through the process of suffering enough.

Suffering as Preparation for Ministry

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we see a glimpse of this divine purpose of suffering in the life of Paul the preacher. In chapter 1, beginning in verse 4, we read, who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. And Paul in Philippians 3 .10 speaks of the fellowship of his sufferings.

The apostle Paul was well acquainted with suffering, friends. In fact, it was prophesied of God that Paul would suffer. In Acts chapter 9, Paul's sufferings are foretold to Ananias. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

But you know what, friends? Paul did suffer those great things for Christ and his gospel, but God also did some great things through Paul the sufferer. Do you desire to do great things for God and to be a means of blessings to others?

Then be prepared to suffer. There is a process that God will put you through to bring him glory. And that leads us to our text in John's gospel in chapter 15. But before I read us our text, there are several aspects I would like to draw out from our passage today.

These are, number one, the process of lingering. Number two, the process of pruning. Number three, the process of obeying. Number four, the process of producing. Number five, the process of enlarging.

And number six, the process of glorifying. Now allow me to read us our passage from John's gospel in chapter 15. And it is my prayer that the Spirit of God will attend the reading of his holy word. Abide in me, and I in you.

As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.

For without me, ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. I will stop there. Now where this discourse by Jesus occurred is a matter of conjecture. Some suppose that after the words preceding our passage, arise, let us go hence, that the disciples still lingered at the table in the upper room, for it was at this mealtime hour that Jesus had begun to prepare his disciples for his departure.

John is the narrator, and it was he who had rested his head on his master's bosom as they reclined at the table. Jesus was the master illustrator. Often he would use common, everyday objects to illustrate his message, in this case a vine.

Israel was referred to as a vine. And if this discourse was given in the upper room, then perhaps Jesus was pointing to a vine whose tendrils had crept into the room through an open window trellis, or perhaps it was a reference to the cup of wine they had recently partaken, or the reference could have been to a view of the vineyards outside below in the light of the moon.

Some scholars who believe that the discourse took place on the way to the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane visualize the walk down to the Kidron, for we find in chapter 18 and verse 1 these words, when Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden into the which he entered, and his disciples So some scholars suppose that along the way to the Brook Kidron they encountered vineyards which they walked through, and Jesus drew the figure from the vineyards and the fires burning along the sides of the Kidron Valley in order to consume the vine cuttings.

That's a forceful image, isn't it? Whatever the circumstances were, friends, we see a vivid picture of the vine and the branches as Jesus makes a connection between them, and I believe, friends, that every true follower of Jesus Christ will encounter these aspects of which I speak today, but for preachers of the gospel it is imperative that this pruning process take place in our lives if we ever hope to be more useful to him as he desires us to be.

Lingering in Christ's Presence

Let's look at this first aspect of the process of lingering, lingering in his presence. Jesus says, abide in me. The word abide in the Greek is the word meno, and it means to continue, to dwell in a certain place, to endure, to remain, to stand, to tarry, or to linger.

Listen, friends, we must grasp the significance of that word abide, for in it is the rest of the Christian life as it plays out. Jesus refers to the believer as a branch, and he is the vine. In the Greek it states, I, in contradistinction to anyone else, am the genuine vine.

Jesus is like no other. He is utterly other than we. God declares, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Our problem today in our church as friends is that we have shrunken God down to our size and placed Jesus on our level.

We treat him like he's one of us, but he is not. In contradistinction to anyone else, the original language states, he is the genuine vine. There are many false prophets in the land in these last days of the apostate church, but listen, friend, Jesus is the genuine vine, and we must linger in his presence in unbroken fellowship with him.

Each of us must maintain a regular daily quiet time with our Lord, a trysting time to be with the lover of our souls. We must linger there and abide in his presence. So there is this first aspect, the lingering process in the life of a believer.

Pruning Through Suffering and Self-Emptying

Now we see this aspect of the process of pruning, which is the title of my message and my central theme today, the pruning process in our life. Our text declares in verse 2, in every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it.

That means he prunes it. In verse 1 where Jesus declares, my father is the vine dresser, in the original language it reads, my father is the tiller of the soil. God is active in his vineyard, friend. God is a divine keeper, and he exercises great care over his garden, which is you.

A gardener will take a cluster of grapes and take out his pruning knife and peel back the branch so that the cluster can grow fuller and richer and therefore be more productive. What does the text say?

After it reads, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. This pruning process in the life of a believer is a painful process, friend. If you wish to submit to the divine knife of the husbandman, pruning is painful.

Be careful when you pray, oh Lord, use me, because then you must be prepared to submit to that pruning knife and suffer. When Stephen Offord told me about the young preacher who hadn't suffered enough yet, he meant that this man had not been under the divine pruning knife enough yet.

There was no anointing on his life. It was still all education and personality in the pulpit. I remember a time in my preaching days before I received a divine call to preach, I was all education and personality in the pulpit.

I cringe when I listen to those sermons I preached while I was still that kind of preacher. I can see E .A. Johnston all through the sermon, but God took out his pruning knife on me and pruned back what was necessary in my life through suffering.

He's not through with me yet. He had to teach me the words of John the Baptist as reality in my life. I must decrease so he may increase. And when I listen to preachers today, I can sense right away if a man has had this experience in his life or not, because all that will be in the pulpit is the speaker, his humor, his personality, his education and eloquence.

But J. Sidlow Baxter used to say this, friends, how can a man full of himself preach to Christ who emptied himself? And it's true, brother preacher, it's true. Before God can really use a man, there must be an emptying process, a pruning process.

When I study Christian biography, I see a common denominator that is found among men and women whom God has used in a remarkable way to reach their generation. And to bring him glory. Do you know what the common denominator is?

Suffering, great suffering. Go read the life of Amy Carmichael or Corrie Ten Boom. You will see suffering there, friend. Go read the life story of Jonathan Edwards or George Whitfield and you will find suffering there, friend.

Go read about the missionaries who lived in the 19th century and you will find great sufferers. So there is this process of pruning. Next, I want us to see this aspect of the process of obeying. Verse 10 declares, If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

Obedience, Holiness, and Christ's Lordship

There are some people out there, friends, who hold to a sin and religion. They believe that one can be saved and still live to gratification of self through sin. But Jesus declared, He who sins is of the devil.

Listen to me, dear friends. If you have a desire to be greatly used to God in your generation, then you must submit to his lordship in every aspect of your life. Obedience to Christ and holiness unto God must be a priority to anyone who desires usefulness to God.

So there is this process of obeying. Now I want us to see this process of producing. Producing spiritual fruit. In verse 5, Jesus speaks of a believer bringing forth much fruit. Fruit production is accomplished through the abiding process, the lingering process.

Because a branch cannot bear fruit of itself if it is cut off from the sap of the vine. The life force is in the sap. And in the Christian life, the life source is the Holy Spirit's activity in the believer.

Jesus said, Without me, ye can do nothing. And that means nothing of spiritual lasting fruit. Listen, friends. We can do much today in our churches with money and manpower. But I remember a day in this country when the church operated on prayer and holy ghost power.

This process of producing can only continue as long as we are connected to the life source, Jesus Christ, through a life of unbroken fellowship with him by obeying him. My Bible declares, It is not by power nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

Enlargement Through Trial and Adversity

Now I wish to examine this next aspect of our passage, which is the process of enlarging. Jesus speaks in verse 8 of bearing much fruit. He declares that you bear much fruit. This speaks of enlargement in service to him.

When the divine husbandman begins the pruning process in our lives, he will often place us in the midst of trial and adversity. He will place us in the fire of persecution and distress to perform his work in us of purging out the dross and the impure in our lives.

We see this in the fourth Psalm, whereby David declares, Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. This process of enlarging occurs when we are in the middle of a storm, when all human resources seem to be gone, and our only hope is the blessed hope, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is when God does his best work in us, friends, to will and to do in us to make us more like his son, Jesus. Our enlargement is necessary so we can be more useful to God in producing much fruit. Look at the acceleration of the process of God's activity in our life in regard to this fruit production.

In verse 2, Jesus speaks of the father pruning a believer so that it may bring forth more fruit. Now look at verse 5. The same bringeth forth much fruit. There's a progression here. As we grow more and more like Christ Jesus, we become more fruitful for him.

Fruitfulness for the Glory of God

And this leads me to our last aspect from our passage, which is the process of glorifying. Look at verse 8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. Did you catch that, friend?

When we are fruit-bearing believers, we are bringing glory to the Father. And what is man's chief end in life? To glorify God. This process of glorifying is tied directly to the lingering process, the obeying process, the pruning process, the producing process, the enlarging process, all for his glory.

John chapter 15 is not centered in us, but centered in God and his glory. It's a God-centered chapter of a God-centered Bible and a God-centered gospel. All we do is for God and his glory. But we must be willing to submit to his pruning knife so we can become more Christ-like in our life of discipleship and following him.

Look at verse 8 where Jesus declares, so shall ye be my disciples. That little word, be, is a mistranslation. It should read become. So shall ye become my disciples, for it's an ongoing process, friend.

God's activity in our lives is ongoing until we are called home to be with him forever in glory. So this pruning process is vitally important to a healthy walk with God. I will close this message with a story that occurred years ago.

A Final Appeal to Submit to God's Pruning

I was preaching one evening to a group of pastors from this chapter, chapter 15 of John's gospel. And my message was similar to the one I gave today. About halfway through my message, God began to work in the lives of those men.

Their faces became altered, and there was a touch of heaven there that evening. When I finished speaking, an elderly black man walked up to me and threw his arms around me, and he hugged me, and he said, I want you to know I have been a pastor for now nearly 50 years, and I want you to know that tonight, when I get home, I'm gonna kneel by my bedside, and I'm gonna ask God to get out his pruning knife on me and my ministry.

That man was serious, friends. He was serious about getting serious with God, and God got serious with him. Well, friends, it's my prayer that tonight you will get alone with God and ask him to get out his pruning knife on you.

Yes, it is painful. Yes, it is difficult, but, friends, it's worth it. Oh, to be more useful to him who gave himself for us, go to him, friend, and ask God to prune away anything in your life that is hindering him from using you more to bring him glory.

Amen.