Were God to introduce you to someone, he would say, “See! My son/daughter.” Not, “See my adopted son/daughter” because when God adopts us, the change in relationship is permanent and irrevocable
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“the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable”
Were God to introduce you to someone, he would say, “See! My son/daughter.”
Now when we introduce our own children, people look at them to see if there is a family resemblance. But in this case, we’re talking about God’s family. So whose family resemblance do you bear?
It’s as well that God is Spirit. If God looked like Akin, then family resemblance would be on the basis of physical appearance and folk like me would be doomed.
But God is spirit and so has no physical resemblance against which to compare. The only way to see if there is any resemblance is to look for similarities in character and behaviour. Do you bear the family likeness of God in your character and behaviour? Or do you still bear the family resemblance of that other spiritual father, the Devil?
I closing I say this to you: Abide in the vine! Actively remain in Christ! Study God’s word. Pray. Weep. Rejoice. Dance. Sing praises. Give thanks. Intercede for others. Do good works of service. Share with others! Bear fruit in an out of season!
In everything, bear the family likeness of God; In everything, demonstrate your Christian-ness by being like Christ, loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and loving your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
[The expert in the Law] answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
© Copyright , 2018
"I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. This I command you - to love one another.— John 15:15-17
Good works were prepared for you to do from before the foundation of the world. “For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.“— Ephesians 2:10
Fruit that lasts, that abides, that remains after you leave this earth. Even in your faithfulness when nothing seems to be happening counts. When you are faithful in sickness and hardship and loss and death, these are also fruit because the way you face them, wherein you are faithful to God, these also glorify God. You get cancer and the world sees how you handle it. Your company goes bankrupt and the world sees how you handle it. All kinds of misfortunes may occur, but like Job you will say, As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that as the last he will stand upon the earth. — Job 19:25
One may well say that Mother Teresa of Calcutta is one whose fruit lasted, but it could also be said of her cook, and her driver, her administrator and the other nuns. For Mother Teresa didn’t do everything herself. Someone else cooked her meals, washed her dishes and laundered her clothes. The world sees only Mother Teresa. God sees everyone else’s faithfulness and fruitfulness (or lack thereof.)
The world thinks that if Jesus does return he’ll take the cream of humanity – those who have done the most good, or have given the most money or have sacrificed the most. The world sees society as layers of really good, fairly good, mostly good, not so good, bad, really bad, and extremely bad and thinks that Jesus will slice the pile horizontally.
But God sees differently. As 1 Samuel 16:7 says,But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”— 1 Samuel 16:7
God will cut the pile vertically on the basis of how people respond to Jesus. On the basis of faithfulness and abiding in him.© Copyright , 2018
"I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. My commandment is this - to love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this - that one lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you."
Jesus did as his Father commanded him. He was always perfectly obedient to his Father. We must behave in like manner, doing as Jesus commands. This is what is expected of us as disciples, as apprentices, of Christ, And where do we find his commands? In the Bible. So study it diligently.
By studying God’s word, I don’t mean just reading a verse out of the Bible App on your phone at breakfast every morning saying, “There I’ve done my Bible bit for today.” Think about the passage and ask yourself questions about it. In Psalm 119:18 it says,
“Open my eyes so I can truly see the marvelous things in your law!”
So ask God to reveal himself as you read his word. And ask yourself questions of the text. For example,
- What is the context of the passage?
- What does the passage tell me about God?
- What does the passage tell me about myself?
- What does this tell me of the past, the present and the future?
- Do I need to repent of something
- What should I take from this into the day ahead?
© Copyright , 2018
"Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love. If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commandments and remain in his love."
Jesus never seemed to be in a hurry. He knew where he was going and what he was doing. When the centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant, as recorded in Matthew 8:9, among the things he said was this:
“For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, 'Go' and he goes, and to another 'Come' and he comes, and to my slave 'Do this' and he does it."
The centurion could see by Jesus’ manner and behaviour that he was not acting by himself. Jesus knew what was expected of him at any given moment. He saw himself as an active instrument in the hands of his Father.
To receive from the vine then we must listen to what Jesus says and that is best achieved by constant study of his word. Jesus promised us that his Holy Spirit would help us do this.
And it is in our attitude to his Word that we stand or fall.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Where the word of Christ dwells richly there the Christ dwells.
As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “The great challenge to those of us who wish to take the Bible seriously is to let it teach us its own essential categories; and then for us to think with them, instead of just about them.”
WWJD is only so helpful as there are many challenges and choices we face for which we have no record of what Jesus did in response. More helpful is HWJT – How Would Jesus Think. If we have the mind of Christ the we will think correctly and respond approriately to every challenge and need.
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
We also need to make a habit of prayer for this is how we communicate our requests to God
“Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God.”
So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness.
(confess for accountability, not forgiveness as only God can do that.)
And we need to express our Christianity in good works, the one’s that God has prepared for us to do
“For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.” – Eph 2:10
First look to what must be done around you. Are you living with your parents? Honour them!
‘“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely, “that it may go well with you and that you will live a long time on the earth.”’
Obey them! Contribute to the running of the household. Keep your room tidy. Accompany your parents on outings from time to time. Be polite to them.
And all these things need to be done with faithful constancy.
“Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, but the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness.”
As God is faithful, so the one who bears the family likeness will also be faithful. Not simply having “faith” but living out that faith faithfully.
© Copyright , 2018
"My Father is honoured by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples."— John 15:8
Fruit honours and glorifies God. It is not for our glory. It is not so that we can look good, be highly regarded and receive accolades from the world. The more we reflect the character and nature of God, the more he is glorified.
Fruit is for a purpose. It has beauty and fragrance. It nourishes and promotes health. It demonstrates God’s amazing creativity, power, knowledge and wisdom. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.— Matthew 5:16
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
"If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you."
Your asking will be in line with the nature and goals of God.
Asking whatever you wish does not include necessarily, being forever healthy, having lots of cars, boats, houses, fancy clothes and flaunting ostentatious wealth. One may need a car. But five!?
Abiding in Christ means learning to think, reason and value the way Jesus does. Abiding does not mean making yourself the focus of all effort.
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
"I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me - and I in him - bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.
If one remains in the vine one cannot help but bear fruit. The apples of an apple tree naturally occur because they are the fruit of the apple tree. Certain things will become true of you because you have been grafted into the vine. You will bear fruit that glorifies God. That you have become a Christian glorifies God. God is at work within you."
for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort--for the sake of his good pleasure--is God.
He has begun a work in you and will bring it to completion.
“For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
What fruit you display is because he makes you able to display it. You are now in the vine, so you will produce fruit. God will make sure of that.
Were you still a wild branch you would not be able to understand what God wants and why, for
The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
and many of us still remember what it was like when we ...
... lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest ...
Only when the Father draws one to himself is one able to respond, to bear fruit, to give sacrifices of praise. The Fall made us all God haters. We cannot understand and we cannot love and we cannot serve and we cannot bear fruit unless the Father draws, the Son saves and the Spirit fills.
Nothing – no thing – great or small can be achieved such that God is glorified except it have its genesis and its revelation in Christ and from our abiding him. Others do great things and are applauded by the world but they already have their reward – people think well of them. But the only way to have God’s applause is for the action to stem from faith in him,
... and whatever is not from faith is sin.
So cooperate with him! Do not resist being purged, pruned and tended. Abide! Remain! And do so actively! Actively submit to the presence, power and purposes of God in Christ through his Spirit.
As we abide in the vine as branches, so we receive what we need for spiritual growth from the vine. But we are not alone on the vine. We are each one of many branches and we each help the other branches to grow through prayer, service and encouragement.
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. — John 15:3-4
Remember that God made the first move in your salvation. He sought you out. He pursued you. He drew you to himself out of totally undeserved grace. There was nothing in you that attracted you to him. Now respond to his seeking by seeking him. You now have his Spirit working in your to will and to do, so will and do.
The fruit you seek comes from the abiding. It does not come primarily from knowing, being or doing but from knowing being and doing in response to and as a result of God’s saving work. The knowing, being and doing don't come first. What comes first is God saving you; taking you, a wild branch, and grafting you in. As Paul says, “Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the olive root, do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.”— Romans 11:17-18
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
"I [Jesus] am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit."
It is God who cares for the vine. He is the one taking away and pruning. His reputation as a gardener is at stake. He will work at making sure that the vine bears and that the yield is great.
God purges so as to form bigger, better, more flavoursome, more nutritious fruit. In the process you may lose something precious to you, but it may be in God’s plan that that loss is so as to improve your fruit and make you resemble God more in your character and behaviour.
And what is the yield in view? What fruit must come from the Christian? Christianity! Christian-ness! Christ-likeness! In fact some commentators suggest that so far as John is concerned, the sheer fact that you have been grafted into the vine is fruit, because it’s not something you can do yourself – only God can make you, a wild branch, part of the vine.
© Copyright Bruce M. Axtens, 2018
