John 15:1-4 NIV
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 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 Cuts them Off
When we understand the gospel message and the message of our
salvation, in its fullness, it helps us to understand this passage of Scripture
more fully. For, our salvation is a process of sanctification which takes place
in our lives and is not complete until Jesus returns.
So, we don’t “get saved,” then we live our lives, and then
one day we die and we go to heaven. We were saved (past), but we are being
saved (present) and we will be saved (future) when Jesus returns. But we must
walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh if we want eternal
life with God and if we don’t want to die in our sins (Rom 8:1-17).
Faith in Jesus is not a one-time experience. Our salvation
is not a one-time event that takes place in our lives. Our salvation is conditional.
Our eternal life with God is not a sure thing, also, unless we walk by the
Spirit and not by the flesh, and unless we continue in the faith until the very
end.
[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6;
Col 1:21-23; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Rom 2:6-8; Heb 3:6, 14-15]
So, when Jesus says that the Father cuts off every branch “In
Me” that bears no fruit, he is speaking of those who believed in him for
salvation. They are branches from the true vine, who is Jesus.
Call it what you want, whether you say they were never saved
or not. They professed faith in Jesus but their lives did not bear fruit in keeping
with repentance, so they aren’t saved in the end. They are cut off, thrown
away, they wither, they are picked up, and they are thrown into the fire and
burned, for they are useless (see vv 5-8).
So, not every profession of faith in Jesus ends in salvation
from sin and eternal life with God. Many are going to stand before God and say,
“Lord, Lord,” but he is going to say he never knew them and that they are to
depart from him, for they are workers of iniquity (Matt 7:21-23).
But you know what else it says in that passage? Jesus said that
not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, “but
the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
So, all those many people today who make professions of
faith in Jesus Christ who, because they “prayed the prayer” or they made a
public profession of faith in Christ, are holding on to some promise that guarantees
them forgiveness of sin and eternal life with God, yet they don’t believe they
have to do the will of God, they are in for a big surprise.
These He Prunes
Our fruit are our deeds (our works) which reveal whether or
not our faith in Christ is genuine faith. Yes, we don’t earn our own salvation
via our works, but our salvation is not absent of works. We are saved to good
works. We are God’s workmanship, “created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
[Eph 2:10; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Phil
2:12-13; Col 1:9-14; Rom 2:6-8; Jas 2:17]
Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny
self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin) and follow (obey) him. Paul
said that we must walk (conduct our lives) according to (in agreement with) the
Spirit and not according to the flesh. Both said that if we don’t do this, we
will die in our sins, not have eternal life with God (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 8:1-17).
All throughout the New Testament, the picture we are given
of genuine faith, which results in forgiveness of sin and eternal life with God,
is repentant, submissive, and obedient to Christ. And we are given the picture,
too, that those who continue living in sin will not have eternal life with God.
So, those who are walking according to the Spirit are those
who are bearing fruit for God’s eternal kingdom. So, we are not cast off and
thrown into the fire, praise Jesus, but we are pruned so we will bear more
fruit. And this pruning involves suffering. Suffering is part of the Christian
life for it keeps us humble, it matures us, and it draws us closer to our Lord.
The more we suffer for the sake of righteousness and for the
sake of the gospel of our salvation, the stronger our walks of faith become and
the more determined we are to stay the course and to fight the good fight and
to finish the race God has laid out for us. And the more willing we are to stand
up for what is right and to say what needs to be said, even if we are rejected
in return, for our rewards are not in this life, but they are in heaven.
Remain in Him
The only way we can be fruitful for God’s eternal kingdom
and to do the works God designed that we should walk in them is if we abide in
the vine. We have to remain in Christ and in his word and his word in us. So, how
do we do that?
It really comes down to repentance, obedience, and submission.
Daily we deny self and die to sin and walk in holiness in the power of God’s
Spirit living within us. We don’t just talk the walk, but we walk the walk. And
we don’t have one foot in our faith and the other in the world.
This remaining in Christ is having a personal and intimate
relationship with him 24/7. He talks with us and we talk with him throughout
the day, not just for five minutes a day or a week. We go where he sends us. We
say what he commands us to say. We follow his leading.
We also have to be students of the Scriptures who study them
in their context, for many false beliefs stem from Scriptures taken out of
their context and made to say something else. Even if it seems clear what a
Scripture is saying, we need to study it in context to make certain that we are
not misinterpreting what it says.
Basically, we see our lives as no longer belonging to us but
that they belong to the Lord, and that we are here on this earth not for
ourselves but for the Lord for his glory and praise. So, we surrender our lives
to Jesus and we follow him where he leads us, and we bear much fruit for God’s
eternal kingdom because we are walking in the Spirit and not by the flesh.
Broken
and Contrite
An
Original Work / May 13, 2012
I come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I implore You,
Heal my broken heart, I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You are the King of my heart.
Lord, purify my heart within me;
Sanctify me, whole within.
Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully
The words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to obey.
Father God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t You set my heart on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders
My walk with You, now I pray.
Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My heart cries out for understanding.
I want to follow You in all ways,
Never straying from Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Fill me with Your love today.
Lord, mold and make me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through me, I pray.
No comments:
Post a Comment