CONCERNING FRUITFULNESS
GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF JESUS:
John 15: 1-17 Shares scripture concerning the fruitfulness of our lives, and I want to get back into sharing the word more with you. Jesus is speaking here " I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he purges from it that it may bring forth more fruit" These beginning verse in John 15: are very important for us to take heed of because they directly affect our lives in Christ as we live them here even though we rarely pay much attention to them. Although it can be very sad to think about there are many who believe themselves to be in Christ today who absolutely refuse to do what He is telling them to do because they have stopped trying to dig to find the truth for their lives. There are two themes here in a farewell kind of discourse that Christ is giving to His disciples. The first one deals with fruit-bearing, and the second is about the hatred that this world will have for those who dare to follow Christ.
I want to start by dealing with the fruit-bearing parts of what Jesus said. We often hear about the process of pruning and how by doing so we can help the life within the plant to produce fruit because it no longer has to spend energy trying to sustain life within a dead or dying branch that will no longer produce life or fruit. I don't understand why, but people continue to miss the part of the teaching that specifically tells us that unless we are going to be productive within the body of Christ it is God's intention as the husbandman of the life-giving vine of Christ to prune all of the dead and unproductive branches away from the vine by cutting us off. Right from the start, we need to be producing reasons for being a part of the Kingdom of Heaven and a part of the vine that we have been grafted into because if we are not we will be cut away from the vine. These are not my words nor are they the words of creed or doctrine of a denomination somewhere, but the direct words of God given to us. Personally, I don't want to think about the fact that Matthew 7:21 " not everyone who calls Jesus Lord will enter into the Kingdom." It is not because they were terrible sinners or didn't love, but because they refused to produce fruit that was usable to God.
Stop and think about how many people today are banking on the concept that living a good life is what the answer is to find our way to Heaven? That is not it according to what Jesus tells us personally in these scriptures. How many of us are going to church every Sunday and yet never are trying to grow spiritually at all? It isn't what we are doing so much as it is the attitude we are dealing with in what we do. It is the intent of our heart that is behind what we are doing that is so damaging.
Jesus tells us the secret to changing this problem is in abiding in Him in verse 4. " Abide in me, and I in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide in the vine, no more can you except if you abide in me". The idea of abiding in Christ has also been kicked to the curb quite a lot in this modern age. Jesus literally tells us that if we remain in Him and He in use we will bear a great amount of fruit spiritually. If we can look around us and say in truth that we have not been bearing fruit for Christ we need to also ask ourselves are we remaining in Christ or are we simply fooling ourselves? If we are not remaining in Christ what do we need to do to change that? I want to continue to deal with that and some other questions when we come back for the next edition. May you richly bless God through your life inHim.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
John 15: 1-17 Shares scripture concerning the fruitfulness of our lives, and I want to get back into sharing the word more with you. Jesus is speaking here " I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he purges from it that it may bring forth more fruit" These beginning verse in John 15: are very important for us to take heed of because they directly affect our lives in Christ as we live them here even though we rarely pay much attention to them. Although it can be very sad to think about there are many who believe themselves to be in Christ today who absolutely refuse to do what He is telling them to do because they have stopped trying to dig to find the truth for their lives. There are two themes here in a farewell kind of discourse that Christ is giving to His disciples. The first one deals with fruit-bearing, and the second is about the hatred that this world will have for those who dare to follow Christ.I want to start by dealing with the fruit-bearing parts of what Jesus said. We often hear about the process of pruning and how by doing so we can help the life within the plant to produce fruit because it no longer has to spend energy trying to sustain life within a dead or dying branch that will no longer produce life or fruit. I don't understand why, but people continue to miss the part of the teaching that specifically tells us that unless we are going to be productive within the body of Christ it is God's intention as the husbandman of the life-giving vine of Christ to prune all of the dead and unproductive branches away from the vine by cutting us off. Right from the start, we need to be producing reasons for being a part of the Kingdom of Heaven and a part of the vine that we have been grafted into because if we are not we will be cut away from the vine. These are not my words nor are they the words of creed or doctrine of a denomination somewhere, but the direct words of God given to us. Personally, I don't want to think about the fact that Matthew 7:21 " not everyone who calls Jesus Lord will enter into the Kingdom." It is not because they were terrible sinners or didn't love, but because they refused to produce fruit that was usable to God.
Stop and think about how many people today are banking on the concept that living a good life is what the answer is to find our way to Heaven? That is not it according to what Jesus tells us personally in these scriptures. How many of us are going to church every Sunday and yet never are trying to grow spiritually at all? It isn't what we are doing so much as it is the attitude we are dealing with in what we do. It is the intent of our heart that is behind what we are doing that is so damaging.
Jesus tells us the secret to changing this problem is in abiding in Him in verse 4. " Abide in me, and I in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit, except it abide in the vine, no more can you except if you abide in me". The idea of abiding in Christ has also been kicked to the curb quite a lot in this modern age. Jesus literally tells us that if we remain in Him and He in use we will bear a great amount of fruit spiritually. If we can look around us and say in truth that we have not been bearing fruit for Christ we need to also ask ourselves are we remaining in Christ or are we simply fooling ourselves? If we are not remaining in Christ what do we need to do to change that? I want to continue to deal with that and some other questions when we come back for the next edition. May you richly bless God through your life inHim.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
Comments
Post a Comment