Summary: Part 2 of a series leading up to Christmas. Sometimes we go through seasons of "Winter" or difficulty. John 15, the vine and branches, talks about our pruning and preparation.

WEATHER THE WINTER

Times And Seasons Part 2

Last week we started a series called Times and Seasons,

and we saw that Solomon said in Eccl 3:1-2,

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

One of the seasons he talks about, is…

There's a time to sow and a time to reap,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

The Apostle Paul uses the same picture,

to tell us in his letter to the Galatians

that life if all about sowing and reaping.

Gal 6:7-10 TNIV

7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. 8 Those who sow to please their sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; those who sow to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Life is all about sowing and reaping,

Or another translation calls it,

seed time and harvest.

seed time and harvest.

That's actually kind of a formula,

SEED + TIME = HARVEST.

Plant some seed, add some time, then you get a harvest.

Now in that formula, the only part I don’t like, is time.

What I want is seed harvest, seed harvest.

drop it, pick it up,

plant it, pluck it,

If I plant in the morning, I want results by 5pm.

But God didn’t make it work that way.

There's time in the middle.

If you're not willing to wait,

you can’t have a harvest.

I heard someone say,

Days are long, but the years are short.

Have you noticed that

sometimes days are incredibly long,

you're at work, watching the clock,

and you’re saying I can’t believe its only 3:30.

Or you're watching your kids,

and you're worn out,

and it seems forever till it their bedtime.

But somehow when you look back on them,

the years seem incredibly short.

It seems like a couple months ago I was Christmas shopping,

and now I'm doing it again.

The days are long but the years are short.

Eugene Peterson wrote this

about sowing and reaping in seasons.

Acts of faith aren't like pebbles, dropped in a pool, that make a few temporary ripples, and then sink to the bottom, inert. They are seeds planted in the soil of life, and they will come up one day. The harvest is inevitable. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. People reap what they sow. Decisions are seed. Attitudes are seed. Acts are seed. Prayers are seed. Thoughts are seed. And all of it will come to harvest. The person though who looks for quick results, from planting seeds of welldoing, will be disappointed. If I want potatoes for dinner tomorrow, it would do me little good to go out tonight and plant potatoes in my garden. Long stretches of darkness and invisibility and silence separate planting from reaping.

If we go back to our little formula,

its actually like this….

seed + time time time time………………. = harvest

You plant a seed and then wait…

Monday Tuesday Weds Thurs………………..……this is annoying,

so is waiting.

You see, the harvest is inevitable,

but the growth is invisible.

Long stretches of darkness and invisibility and silence

separate planting from reaping.

If you sow in the spring,

and harvest in the fall,

and there's whole season in the middle of it,

where you're waiting and waiting.

But God wants to give us an encouragement,

there will be a harvest.

So he tells those of us who have planted some good seed,

but now we're looking at

weeks and months and years

that seem unproductive,

God says, I want you to understand the way I work

in the seasons of your life.

You see, that seed you planted is already growing,

I'm already doing stuff all around you,

even though you can’t see it yet,

So I want you to develop a spirit of patient perseverance

as you wait on the promise to materialize in your life.

I want you to learn how to trust me,

in the seasons of your life.

Now as we talk about seasons,

there's one particular type of season

I want to talk more about this week.

Turn in your bible to John 15:1 (page 739)

Jesus is teaching his disciples here, and he says…

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Before we look closer at that scripture,

let me ask a question.

What's your least favorite season of year?

And don't say football.

I know some women were getting ready to shout that out.

Most of us would probably say the winter.

Now I know there's some exceptions,

some of you just love cold weather and snow,

I actually grew up north of Chicago,

so I know what cold weather is all about,

I kind of laugh at people here

who go into panic mode

when we get an inch of snow,

and you're emptying the shelves at Kroger,

and putting snow tires on your kids bicycle.

But even though I'm used to cold weather,

I'd still say that winter is my least favorite season,

and most of you would probably agree.

So I'm gonna use winter this morning,

to describe any difficult season

that you have to go through,

the season could be 3 years or 3 days,

but we all go through them.

It may be a season of loss,

where you've lost a loved one recently.

Kathy and I have been in that season, unfortunately.

Kathy's dad passed away in August,

and on Friday I was in Chicago

doing the funeral for my sister.

We all go through that season sooner or later.

Your difficult season may involve your health,

maybe you're dealing with cancer right now,

or some other serious health issue.

Or maybe you've been looking for a job for months or years,

and its not happening.

Or maybe you have a job and have your health,

but you don’t have any joy in your life,

for some other reason.

There's many reasons

why you could be going through a winter season

in your life right now.

But we're not going to talk about the reasons,

that you're going through it.

because we could speculate all day

about the reasons something is happening in your life,

but it would be just speculation,

and wouldn’t help much.

So we're not going to talk about reasons,

for your winter season,

but we can talk about our response.

How do we respond to the season we're in?

There are 3 things that God will do

in a winter season of your life,

when you're going through it

and it seems like its never going to end.

And if you're not in a winter season right now,

praise God that you're not,

you can remember these 3 things

to help someone else who is.

So I'm going to give you

3 questions to ask in a winter season…

The first question to ask God is…

God Are You Preparing Me For Something?

When you're going through a winter season,

its not very helpful to ask why?

but it is helpful to ask what?

God, what are you doing in me,

what are you preparing me for,

or in some cases,

what are you preparing for me?

The thing about winter is that

you can't see what's happening in the ground

to prepare for spring.

Jesus says in John 15:1

My Father is the gardener.

Now we're not a very agricultural people, most of us.

Going to Kroger does not count,

or make you an expert on growing things.

But Jesus says, my Father is the gardener.

He knows how to grow stuff,

he understands the process,

so when you submit yourself

to the care of your heavenly Father,

the growth of your soul is in good hands.

And a gardener knows that there's a purpose for winter.

There's a poet who wrote a famous line…

Oh wind, if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

You see, if its cold outside in your life right now,

and if you can’t see much happening right now,

guess what winter does?

Winter makes way for spring.

It’s a preparation process.

Now we all wish we could skip that preparation,

we wish we were like Adam Sandler in that movie where he's got a special remote control, and he can just fast forward through parts of his life that he doesn’t like.

Well, we can’t just skip the seasons we don’t like,

but what we can do in that season is say,

God I receive whatever preparation

you want to bring to my life,

through this season that seems to be barren.

You see a season of blessing will often be preceded by

a season that seems to be barren.

Why?

Because in winter the ground gets to rest.

In winter the nutrients are rejuvenated in the soil.

so if its winter in your life right now,

might it be that spring is soon to come?

might it be that hope is not in vain,

might it be that there's something glorious

about to break forth in your life.

Many years ago when my hips were still good,

I used to be a long distance runner.

And I was pretty good.

I ran a bunch of marathons, my best time was 2:50,

which isn't gonna win a marathon

but it would beat most of you.

I got started running in High School,

I went to Barrington High School, in the north suburbs of Chicago.

I joined the cross country team as a freshman,

but I really got serious about running when I was a sophomore, and after my fall cross country season,

2 other sophomores and I decided to take on a challenge that our coach gave us.

He told us, you guys are pretty good,

but if you want to be really good, here's what you do.

You run 1000 miles between now

and the start of the track season in the spring.

So that was a little less than 3 months to run 1000 miles,

we figured out that we had to average 14 miles a day,

every day of the week,

during the months of

December, January and February…

in Chicago.

Guess what those 3 months are like in Chicago.

They're cold, they're windy, they're snowy.

But the three of us decided,

hey, we don’t want to be just average runners,

we want to be really good,

so we decided to do it.

And we did.

I remember running when it was snowing,

running when there was so much ice on the streets I couldn’t get traction,

running when it was 10 degrees out,

and my lungs are burning from the cold air.

It was hard to get in 14 miles after school, when it got dark early,

so we did an 11 miles route on weekdays,

and then about 20 a day on weekends. 2 runs a day.

And we did it, all 3 of us ran 1000 miles.

And we instantly became the top 3 runners on the team,

we were way ahead of any of the seniors,

the next fall we led our team to its first conference championship in a couple decades, and we repeated that the following year.

Question: How many other people

do you think were out there running in January

in my town, besides the 3 of us? Zero.

Nobody else was running in the cold.

And believe me, when it got really cold,

I didn’t want to show up either,

But my two friends were waiting for me,

and I wanted the reward,

so I showed up every day.

Everybody thought I was crazy.

My friends thought I was crazy.

My mom thought I was crazy.

My parents were already divorced, and my dad wasn’t around,

so he probably didn’t even know I was running,

but he probably would've thought I was crazy.

But I thought that was pretty cool,

I did something that very few other people were willing to do.

I showed up in the cold.

I didn’t let a little bit of winter weather stop me.

And I reaped a harvest in the next season,

because I showed up in the cold.

Could you say that about your spiritual life?

Are you consistent in your faith,

even when it doesn’t feel good,

even when its winter in your life?

Do you still show up,

do you still do what it takes,

no matter what it feels like?

If you're gonna really live your faith,

If you're gonna grow to be the person God wants you to be,

at some point you've gotta let the devil know,

I'm the kind of Christian that shows up in the cold.

I'm the kind of Christian that when it snows,

I'm still going out and running,

I show up in the cold, I show up in the snow,

I don’t just pray when I'm feeling goosebumps,

I don’t just give when it feels good.

I don’t just serve when people thank me.

I show up in the cold,

because I know that it's in the cold months,

that God is doing something in the ground of my life,

to prepare me for what's ahead.

Oh wind, if winter comes, spring must not be far behind.

so I'm gonna show up in the cold,

I'm gonna show up

when I don’t see God doing anything in my life,

I'm gonna show us even in a season of loneliness,

I'm gonna show us even in a season of failure,

I'm gonna show up when it feels like winter in my life,

because I know that

God is preparing me for something.

So we can tell God, our Gardener,

I want to receive what you have for me,

Whatever it takes, and whatever I have to go through,

I don’t want to miss out on what you have for me,

I want to be prepared for what you're bringing

when the spring comes.

The second question to ask, in a winter season…

God Are You Pruning Something From Me?

Sometimes God will prepare me for something,

sometimes he'll prune something from me.

Jesus says in verse 2…

2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

So if you don’t bear any fruit in your life,

you get cut off and thrown away.

But if you get connected to God and bear fruit,

you get pruned, or cut back.

Here's the funny part.

Either way you get cut.

There's teaching that's been going around churches for years,

that you never get cut.

That if you're a Christian

then things should never go wrong,

and you should never suffer,

and if you are suffering,

it must be that you've sinned and brought it on yourself,

or else you just didn’t have enough faith.

But in this passage, Jesus says,

if you don't bear fruit, you get cut,

if you bear fruit, you get cut.

But listen to me.

I'd rather be cut back, then cut off.

I'd rather go through hell with God, then without God.

I'd rather stay connected to God

in that season I'd like to skip,

then have to walk through the season without him.

Because if I stay connected to him,

and bear the fruit,

and learn the lessons,

and hang in there,

and keep showing up in the cold,

and allow him to prepare my soil for the spring,

then yes he'll prune me,

and pruning isn't pleasant,

but at least it has a purpose.

I was reading about Nelson Mandela,

the former leader of South Africa,

and I read something that I thought was so appropriate,

I want to read it to you.

Nelson Mandela had many teachers in his life, but the greatest of them all was prison. Prison molded the man that we see and know today. He learned about life and leadership from many sources, but the 27 years he spent in prison, became the crucible that both hardened him and burned away all that was extraneous. Prison taught him self-control, discipline, and focus, the things he considers essential to leadership, and it taught him how to be a full human being. How did this passionate revolutionary become a measured statesman? In prison, he had to temper his responses to everything, there was little a prisoner could control. The one thing you could control, that you had to control, was yourself. There was no room for outbursts or self-indulgence or lack of discipline. He had no zone of privacy. When I first walked into Mandela's old cell, I gasped. Its not a human sized space, much less Mandela sized. He could not stretch out when he was lying down. It was obvious that prison had both literally and figuratively molded him. There was no room for extra motion or emotion, everything had to be pruned away.

everything had to be pruned away

I used to ask him how prison had changed him. How was the man who came out in 1990 different from the man who entered in 1962. This question annoyed him… He finally said to me, I came out mature.

 

I believe there's something that’s true

of almost everyone here this morning.

There's something you're going through right now,

and it’s a prison of sorts.

Not a physical prison,

but the confines of a circumstance

that you wouldn’t choose.

And when you're going through something like that,

people may come up and say to you,

You'll make it through this…

but you know, it kind of annoys me when somebody tells me,

you'll make it through this.

because I know that.

Most stuff in life, you're gonna make it through,

with very few exceptions.

So that’s annoying for me to hear that,

because I don’t want to just make it through this,

I want to get something out of this.

I want to come out more mature.

I can’t stand to just go through stuff,

and hurt, just to hurt.

But… if God is the one holding the knife,

and if I submit myself to the pruning process,

 

then check out what's going to happen.

I'm not gonna just make it through this,

I'm gonna come out of this different then I went into it,

and better than I went into it,

because I can’t always choose my season,

but I can choose my response.

Jesus said, you're gonna get cut either way,

if you're connected to God, you get pruned,

if you're disconnected from God, you get cut off,

so Jesus says, just make sure,

if you really want to be my disciple,

if you really want to see God's glory,

if you really want to live your life

knowing that God is in control,

just make sure that you remain.

That’s the secret.

He says in verse 4…

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

 

He says no matter what happens,

no matter how tough it is,

remain in me.

Some seasons are so hard and cold,

that survival is success.

So just remain.

Don’t wander, don’t leave, just remain.

If you don’t leave, you can’t lose, ultimately,

so remain.

When it feels like your heart is cold, just remain.

When if feels like your prayers are hitting the ceiling,

just keep praying.

When you read the bible and it seems like empty words,

keep reading.

Because we all have winter seasons,

and we all get pruned,

but if I have to go through this,

I might as well get something out of it,

and you can’t get something out of it,

if you don’t go through it.

There's some stuff in life you can’t go around,

you have to go through it,

you must endure the trial,

but guess what,

the race does not go to the swift or the strong,

but to the one who endures to the end,

just remain.

If I have to go to prison,

I might as well come out pruned.

And if I have to go through the pain of pruning,

I want to see God’s purpose fulfilled in the pruning.

I don’t want to just make it through something,

I want to get something out of this.

I want to see God in this season.’

So when you're going through a winter season,

there's three questions to ask…

God, are you preparing me for something?

God, are you pruning something from me?

Or third, God may prune you, because #3,

He Wants To Prove Something Through You.

Sometimes the greatest witness you will ever have,

the greatest light you will ever shine,

the greatest sermon you will ever preach,

is when you go through a hard time,

when you go through a winter season,

and you simply remain faithful.

The people around you are going,

how is he making it?

how is she surviving?

If I had that kind of pressure and stress,

I'd be a wreck.

But that person actually has joy and peace,

right in the middle of their suffering.

God can use a winter season

to prove something through you,

and to shine his light into a dark world,

through you.

He can prove to the world through you,

that his faithfulness goes beyond

feelings or circumstances.

The bible tells us that,

One time the devil came into the presence of God.

And God said to him,

have you noticed my follower, Job,

he is one of my favorite people,

he is wholeheartedly devoted to me.

The devil said,

Yeah, Job only follows you for what he can get.

he follows you because he's got it so good.

If you weren't protecting him,

he'd turn away from you in a minute.

God said, Oh really?

Okay, you've got permission to mess with him,

do your best.

The devil did his worst to Job,

took all his wealth,

killed his children,

took everything that mattered to him

 

except his wife,

and she was so annoying that

Job probably wanted to get rid of her.

The devil knew to leave her,

because she was telling Job to reject God.

If you don’t believe me, you can read it in the bible.

The devil is smart,

he knows where to hit you so it hurts the most.

He'll take some people out of your life,

and then leave some in.

And both of them are punishment.

And the whole book of Job,

is Job and his friends trying to figure out why……

why is Job in this winter season

where everything has gone bad.

But Job makes a statement…

He says, when I come forth from the fire,

in other words,

when God is done letting me go through this test,

I'll come forth as pure gold.

And at the end of Job's life,

God doubled everything that he had,

and some people think he had it twice as good,

but you know what,

he could never replace the kids he lost,

so this is still a very mixed blessing,

but the point is,

there was a part of Job's life that was allowed to be tested,

because God knew that

Job is somebody who will prove my point.

You see, God has a point to prove in the world today.

He wants to prove that

the light shines brighter than the darkness.

And if you're going through something right now,

you can’t necessarily know why,

but you don’t necessarily need to know why

in order to choose your response.

And here's my response,

if I have to be cut, and I have to be pruned,

and my life has to hurt for a little while,

then I want it to produce something good.

I want it to not be wasted.

Look at John 15:8

After he talks about cutting and pruning, he says,

8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

When you allow God to prepare you,

When you allow God to prune you,

then God gets to prove through you,

that he is glorious in you.

You get to bear fruit,

you get to reveal the glory of God,

You get to show the watching world

what real peace looks like,

what real joy looks like.

the kind of joy that the world can never take away.

God gets to prove something through you.

Lets Stand for Prayer:

We commit every situation and circumstance to you…

we don’t know all the reasons,

but we've decided our response…