THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES, PART VII.

THE VINE AND THE BRANCHES, PART VII.

John 15 : 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should (might) go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should (might) remain; that what ever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it you.

From this we know, if we did not know it before, that it is Jesus who chooses his disciples. He did then and we may trust that it is no different today.

A disciple is a follower, a student of the Master, so that wherever the Master goes, he may impart his truth, his ways and his character in his disciples.

Likewise, in Matt.28:19 we are commanded to go and make disciples, which implies that mature believers disciple those whom the Lord is adding to the Church.

What this verse is telling us, is that we who are mature in the Lord, must baptize, must immerse young Christians as well as our children in the doctrine of who the Father is, who the Son is and who the Holy Spirit is, teaching them to observe all the things that I have told you.

What made Christians ever assume that this has something to do with water??

The twelve disciples that followed Jesus in their travels found themselves in all kinds of different situations, from a bucking boat in a storm on a lake to mocking Pharasees in the temple.

Likewise, you and I find ourselves in all kinds of situations every day and Jesus is as present with us in spirit as he was present physically with Peter and John and all the rest of them. And for us the same purpose applies, that he may impart his ways in us.

We, his disciples learn of his ways by means of our teachers, disciplers if you will, and when the Holy Spirit makes it real to us in our spirit, God’s truth becomes part of our being.

In that way the things we believe about our relationship with God in our mind, become a reality in our hearts, when we see and experience these truths in our everyday lives.

….. and appointed you that you might go and bear fruit …..

Notice immediately that it does not say: “produce fruit”, entirely in keeping with earlier statements in this chapter that, when we abide in him and his words abide in us, that we will bear much fruit.

Now, what is fruit?

My teacher has taught me this about fruit and I believe it without reservation:

Fruit is the life of Jesus Christ, expressed in and through the daily lives of believers.

Gal.2:20 teaches that I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.

When the divine life that is in us comes to expression, when the life and character of Jesus is displayed in us and through us, it is the fruit that the Vine produces in the branches.

It is the love, compassion and patience that Jesus displayed in his life on earth.

As grapes define the character and the quality of the vine on which they grow, even so does the fruit that believers bear, display the character and the quality of the Vine which is Jesus Christ.

One question now is : how does this fruit come to be expressed, what does it look like?

The very next verse, verse 17 says: “These things I command you, that you love one another”, a repeat of what he said just a minute ago in verse 12.

I believe this has special significance.

So what would be the fruit of his Son’s love expressed through his body, the church?

Significantly, Jesus does not say here, I command you to love God first and foremost.

Many times Jesus gives variations of the same message: a new commandment ….. that you would love one another.

In John 8:31 Jesus says to “those Jews who believed in him”: If you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciples.

Jesus implores his disciples to love each other “as I have loved you”, (John 15:12).

Loving one another on a continuing basis is the hallmark of a disciple of Jesus.

It is also the hallmark of such a person that the love of the Father is resident in him/her and conversely that our love for the Father is a present reality.

In Gal. 5:22 the first fruit of the Spirit mentioned is love, that also is not without purpose.

Love is the principal fruit, love is the principal attribute of the character of God.

When love is manifested in the child of God, then all the other fruit is present as well.

Love is the catalyst, when it is present, joy, peace, longsuffering, faith and all the others must follow.

That is why love is held to be greater than hope and faith in I Cor.13:13.

The fruit that the Vine desires to see in us the branches is that we would love one another.

To demonstrate the importance of the foregoing, ask yourself:

How do I experience the love of Jesus in my everyday life? It is one thing to believe that Jesus loves me, it is quite another to experience his love in a tangible way.

The only way that we experience that kind of love is in the love that others express towards us.

And others experience his love in the way that I conduct myself towards them in my daily activities.

In II Cor. 5;20 we read that (in effect) we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to Him.

Because He, (the Father) made Him, (the Son), who was sinless, to be sin for us,(so) that we (sinners) might be righteous, justified before the Father in Jesus Christ.

(My free translation.)

And, ultimately, that is why Jesus repeats over and over again that we, his disciples would love one another, even as he loved us to the extend that he sacrificed his life for us.

….. Continue in my Word ……. Keep on loving one another ….. Then you are my disciples indeed.

And that brings us to the last part of John 15:16, ….. that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Whatever you ask ….. anything you ask concerning bearing fruit, he will give it to you.

Wisdom is knowledge properly applied.

To apply the wisdom of God’s Word is more than we are capable of in our own strength and ability.

It takes the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us to make the Word of God a reality in us.

What it takes on our part is desire and time.

Jas.1:5 says that if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally, and without reproach, and it shall be given him.

Or Prov. 2:1-5 is excellent advice for those of us who are serious about displaying the fruit of the Vine which is Christ:

“My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you,

So that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding,

Yes, if you cry out for knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding,

If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasure,

Then will you understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom, out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous”.

That wisdom (the application of truth from God’s Word) is available to every believer who takes the message of Prov.2:1-5 to heart.

….. Whatever you ask of the Father in my name, (when it concerns the expression of His Life in us and through us) he will most assuredly give it to any one of His children.

This is the final installment on the topic “The Vine and the Branches”.

May you all experience the Life of our Savior Jesus Christ in the New Year.

St.Thomas,Nov.’10. Simon VanderKooy.

THE CROSS OF CALVARY.

THE CROSS OF CALVARY.

Jesus died on the cross of Cavary to deliver us from sin.

That fact has been firmly established in our traditions and is a spiritual reality to believers.

The cross has also delivered us from self.

That is much more of a problem for believers.

This too is an established Scriptural fact, but regretfully, has become a reality in the lives of few believers.

What it takes for this truth to become an experiential reality in the lives of believers, that is what this message attempts to explain.

The cross has not only delivered us from the guilt of sinful deeds,

The cross has, more importantly, delivered us from what we were.

We were sinners, not as a result of sinful deeds, we were sinners because of our sinful nature, inherited from our forefather Adam, Rom.5:12.

Rom.6:3 tells us that God baptised, immersed us in Jesus, he made us part of him, our sinful, corrupted nature and all.

And he became part of us, he became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him, II Cor.5:21.

God united us with Jesus, so that when he was crucified, we were crucified with him, along with our sinful nature.

All of this is confirmed to us in Gal.2:20 I was crucified with Christ ....... .

But ...... since we fully shared in Christ’s death, we also fully share in His resurrection, Rom.6 : 5.

Truly, the old has been done away with and the new has come, II Cor.5:17.

The new spiritual nature of the children of God is a present reality, even as the resurrection of Christ is a present reality.

So how does the new spiritual nature express itself in daily living? There are many aspects of this, but let us take Eph. 4: 22-24 as our example.

It says : That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self…. and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (NAS.)

And then follows a whole list of things not to do any longer if one is to be serious about laying aside the old self and putting on the new self.

Like : Do not lie or steal, do not be bitter or angry, or gossip, etc.

In short, not only read or hear the law, do as it tells you to do.

That would in effect be putting on the new man according to the old system of law.

Now any child of God who has ever seriously tried to do all this, knows very well that failure is the order of the day.

Those are the people who agree with Rom. 7:18 …..for the willing is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.

And the personal admission of failure is meant to bring us back to Jesus: You know Lord, you ask me to put on the new man.

Well, I have failed, I am an utter failure at living a life of obedience, even though I am supposed to have a new, spiritual nature.

If you want me to put on the new self, then would you please do it, because I am giving up trying right now.

The putting on of the new man is a work of the Holy Spirit in us, rather than the result of effort on our part.

Do with me whatever it takes, make me what you want me to be.

This in effect is taking up our cross and following Jesus.

This is what Jesus prayed in the garden: Father, not my will, but yours.

Jesus allowed himself to be stripped of His dignity, authority, protection, friends, possessions, rights, priviledges, even of His very life.

When we give God permission to re-shape us into the image of His Son to this extend, He may put circumstances in motion to strip us of our self-confidence, our self-sufficiency, our self-righteousness, our possessions, our health, anything that we put our trust in above our trust in God.

This is what it means to share in the fellowship of His sufferings, Phil.3:10.

The first time we met the cross of Jesus we found forgiveness of our sin.

This is the second time we meet up with the cross.

Now it is our cross as well, in the sense that we will actually experience suffering in order to be delivered from self, in order that we might live unto God and not ourselves.

This is a hard message, but an absolute pre-requisite for knowing Jesus as our very life and experiencing the power of His resurrection, Phil.3:10.

That we would be willing to suffer the loss of everything in order to gain Him who is Life and peace, Phil.3:8.

The dispair that the children of God experience the day that they admit failure at living the Christian life, is ordained of God, who will now go to work to bring a glorious new day to those who are so painfully aware of their failure at living a Godly life.

The way of the cross of Jesus is a part of that journey, it cannot be avoided.

The children of God who have had this experience are the ones who know what it is to pass through the valley of the shadow of death,Ps. 23:5.

They are also the ones who will feast at God’s table in the presence of their enemies and they shall also dwell in the house of the Lord forever, the house of the Lord being the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being, Acts 17:28.

These are the redeemed of the Lord who shall return (from living after the flesh) and come with singing into Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head, they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and morning shall flee away, Is. 55:11.

Only those children of God who have been there understand these verses to their greatest extend.

They possess a peace that passes understanding, even in the most difficult circumstances. They wait upon the Lord, their strength has been exchanged for His strength, they mount up with wings as of eagles, they run and do not become weary, they walk and do not faint, Is. 40:31.

Conversely, this message will have little to say to those children of God who are reasonably satisfied that God is pleased with their performance at living the Christian life the way they are living it.

These dear people have skipped Rom.7:18 and their lives are characterized by Rom.8:5a.

And because Rom.7:18 is being skipped, these folks also do not progress to Rom.7: 24 and 25a and Rom. 8:1 and 2.

Often they are so pre-occupied with overcoming the truth of Rom.7:23 that the following verses escape their attention altogether.

The cross of Calvary ....... deliverance from sin and deliverance from self, Rom.7:25a.

St. Thomas. June’08, Revised March/’11. Simon VanderKooy.

SAFE IN MY FATHER'S BOSOM.

SAFE IN MY FATHER’S BOSOM.

Since my life is hidden with Christ in God (Col.3:3), the devil cannot touch me.

I John 5:18 We know that no one who is born of God sins, but he who is born of God, God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.

Since the devil cannot touch me, he will attempt to deceive or intimidate me by planting thoughts of unbelief in my mind through my 5 senses.

I Peter 5:8, 9a ….. the devil as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour (deceive). Whom resist steadfast in the faith …..

Who am I?

Since I am born of God, (John 1 : 13), I am a son/daughter of God.

And Jesus is my elder brother.

I am the apple of my Father’s eye, Zech.2:8 ….. he that touches you, touches the apple of his eye.

I am the sheep the Shepherd carries on his shoulders, he that would harm me, first has to deal with the Shepherd, my Savior and Protector.

I am forever secure in my relationship with my Father, who is my Life, my Provider, my all-sufficiency, my everything.

Whatever I believe the Scriptures say about the devil, he can only deceive or intimidate me to the extend that I am unsure of who I am in Christ.

Hosea 4:6 ….. my people are destroyed, (perish, gone into captivity) for the lack of knowledge ….. , untrue traditions that I would hold on to are just as deadly.

The “thief” of John 10 : 10 is sin, self, law and lastly, the devil, in that order.

God’s people ascribe authority and power to the devil to the extend that they fail to trust their God.

Jesus says: you cannot serve 2 masters …..

We either worship the devil by fearing him, ascribing power to him and speaking to him in our prayers,

or,

we worship our Father by trusting him implicitly at all times, no matter what circumstances we encounter.

St. Thomas, Oct. ’10. Simon vanderKooy.