Good Morning Beloved Family,
I'm so thankful that you could join us today.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for awakening each of us today
for blessing us with this gift above all gifts,
a gift more precious than anything we can obtain in our own ability
Thank You for giving us an opportunity to worship You today
to lift up our praise to You
thank You for a life that reflects You
thank You for Your Word, filled with Your truths
truth that we know to be true
We gather today for Your honor and glory
we pray in Christ’s precious name
Your will be done in and through each of us
Amen
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and soprove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."
John 15:1-11
Today's Message: Jesus Christ The Indispensable God - Part Seven
So we left off talking about the fruit, our fruit is the proof, that we're a Christian. When someone is talking, when you communicate truth to someone, that’s fruit. So when I preach to you, from the Word of God, when I teach you, to hopefully, help you better understand, that’s the fruit of the life in me. And I am grateful for the honor and the privilege of my calling, one that was completely directed by God... it is my privilege and responsibility, to bear fruit, much fruit.
Now, in this section, we are told to bear fruit, to bear more fruit, and that God is glorified when we bear much fruit. That should be incentive alone should be enough, our hearts desire, to glorify God through our lives. There is a progression here that is very important for us to understand. There is a progression in our lives, a progression related to abiding and remaining. Perhaps, it’s illustrated well in a couple of passages that I’ll show you – most notably Colossians 1:9-10. Paul says this: "For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Increasing. Here, we are to increase in fruit bearing and increase in the knowledge of Christ.
You know, it’s really important that there be an increase. Consistently, increasing. Go back to Colossians 1:5, "The hope that is laid for you in heaven, that has to do with the truth, the gospel has come to you," then verse 6, "just as in all the world also, it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you since the day you heard of it." That concept just connects with the idea that there’s fruit, more fruit, much fruit. Paul’s saying to the Colossians that, "You have now begun to produce fruit, and it is increasing, it is ever increasing." Though increasing, never to the point of satisfaction.
Philippians, chapter 3; familiar words, the testimony of Paul, who was certainly fruitful. But he said, "I have not already obtained, already become perfect; but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." As we abide in Christ, and as we yield to Christ, and as we increase in the knowledge of Christ, our fruitfulness increases. By every means of grace, by every means of grace, our abiding is deeper and wider and higher and richer, and we become more fruitful.
Some people have suggested that we sort of do nothing. This is the “let go and let God” folks, “the quietest” they use to be called, that you don’t want to do anything at all. If you do anything, that’s the flesh. You just kind of sit there and let God do it through you. Certainly, that was not in Paul’s mind in that same text of Colossians 1:29 where he says, "We proclaim Him, Christ, admonishing every man, teaching every man, with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, work to the point of sweat and exhaustion, agonizing according to His power, which mightily works within me." It was the power of God, but Paul was working to the point of sweat and exhaustion. He was agonizing, using every power in him, every opportunity, ever fiber of his being. Yes, it is trusting in the present power of Christ, but it also obeying every command, pursuing every spiritual discipline.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, "I beat my body to bring it into submission."
It’s a battle. It’s a warfare. That’s always the imagery. We don’t jog, we run as those who run to win the prize. So there has to be in our abiding an increasing commitment to Christ, which then makes us more fruitful. Applied to repentance, it means that our repentance comes as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. Our repentance comes more readily, comes more rapidly, comes more frequently. It’s a mark of spiritual maturity to be a repenter.
1 John 1:9 says, "if we give evidence that we repent, by confessing our sins, we demonstrate that He is faithful and just to be forgiving our sins," present tense. If we are the people confessing, we are the people giving evidence that we are being forgiven. So the first thing that I would just suggest to you with regard to fruit is that it’s an attitude that basically dominates our life, resentment of the sin that is in us, not the consequence, but the reality of the sin. That’s the fruit that proves you’re a true disciple.
Secondly spiritual attitudes. Another kind of fruit, first repentance, another kind of fruit: spiritual attitudes. Galatians 5:22, "The fruit of the Spirit is, the fruit of the Spirit who dwells in us is," the fruit is the product of the manifestation, this is the manifestation of the life of the Trinity in us, "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
In Closing....
Beloved, those are attitudes, now are they? No, we must choose to pursue them. We must choose them. Those are attitudes. We have to want them in our lives. Those aren’t acts, those aren’t behaviors, they’re the driving force behind our behaviors. So here, clearly, fruit is virtuous, spiritual attitudes. And, by the way, all of them, every one of of them were perfectly manifest in Jesus Christ. So we could say it is fruit in us to manifest the very characteristics of Christ. It is not in the perfection with which He possessed them, but those same virtues are what we pursue.
In Ephesians 5:9 we're told, "Fruit is all goodness and righteousness and truth." That’s internal! A love for goodness, that's being good to people; a love for righteousness, by honoring God. And a love for truth as it is revealed in Scripture. How do you know if you’re a Christian? A true follower of Christ. You love goodness, you love righteousness, you love truth. God's truth, not man's. Those are also attitudes. Again, those are the attitudes behind the behaviors. So there is an attitude of repentance toward sin. We could say the first fruit is to resent sin and to confess it, turn from it. The second fruit is attitude fruit, attitudes that are virtuous, and that's indicated in Galatians 5.
So, we'll continue to explore and unpack John 15, when we meet again. I've been trying to walk you through it slowly, taking you to the additional scriptures that validate the points I'm making. I pray that in doing so, you're better able to understand their meaning, that it will help you grow in your knowledge of Christ, to produce much fruit in your Christian journey. That is my hope, that's my prayer..
Well, until next time...
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Brian Monzon Ministries