John 15:16: Victories In Christ for a Small Brain

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. - John 15:16

 What was Jesus' goal in choosing us? "I chose you and appointed you...so that you might go and bear fruit...and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you." When I think about the last part of that verse, it seems a little strange: "I chose you...so that whatever you ask..." There are those who look at this verse as a sort of blank check. Their reasoning is: "Jesus chose me...therefore whatever I ask in my name the Father will give you." 

But it does not say "therefore". It says "so that" It is aspirational. It is what Jesus planned. In the same way that Jesus wanted us to become fruit bearers-that is with the character and aspirations necessary to become habitual doers of good-he also wanted us to become the type of askers to whom the Father gives gladly. Bearing fruit is a result of Jesus' new life in us. Likewise, the Father's generosity is a result of Jesus' new life in us. "whatever we ask" is the intended result, not the blank check. 

This is similar to what Jesus intended "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you" (Luke 17:6) Faith depends on who or what you have faith in. Pick the wrong "who" or "what" and you may be motivated, but you will be ultimately disappointed. 

I want to find out what is meaningful to God and ask for those things. The closer I am to him, the more likely that my asks will be also be his desires. It's always hit or miss, because I have a small brain. But the hits are glorious because it means that, at least for one instant, I had the same mind as the mind of Christ. 

1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11: Past Performance, Future Returns

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. - 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11

When the author of Hebrews wrote "For the joy set before him he [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (Heb. 12:2b-3), he could have been writing an outline for how Peter viewed the Christian life. Jesus had hope, joy, suffering, shame and victory. For Peter we also have hope, joy, suffering, shame and victory. Jesus himself said, "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also." (John 15:20)

We aren't the only ones with these worries: we're all struggling because we share the same enemy-the devil. We keep tossing these worries to God and the very act of tossing is an act of faith. It is really difficult to assume this. It seems so blind. However, unlike the promises of investment firms, past performance by God is a guarantee of future returns from God. Will we trust him?

John 15:1-11: The Uncanny Fruit of Living a Life With Jesus

“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.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. - John 15:1-11

What is the fruit that Jesus is talking about? It must be something that is unique in some way to believers, because Jesus said that apart from him (the vine) we (the branches) can do nothing. There is a second aspect: Jesus' remains in us, specifically in the form of his words.

So whatever it is, it is supernaturally enabled through our being in Jesus. John only talks about fruit in this chapter, so whatever context is necessary to understand this reference is contained right here. We know there is one other characteristic of this fruit: it is fruit that will last (vs. 16) So let's look at this from a causal relationship: the Father loves Jesus and, by extension, us. That love leads to a desire to obey his words or command to love each other (even to giving ourselves away) and ask for whatever the Father in his name with results. This love is different because Jesus says that it will last.

So Jesus lets us in on a secret (because we are no longer just servants but friends of Jesus) and that secret is that the supernatural enabling of the fruit of the spirit, all of which derive from love-has not just positive results (as love generally doe) but eternal results. And this makes sense because Jesus goes on to talk about the Spirit's role in our lives.

Did I miss something?

John 15:1-17: If Connected, Would It Be My Native Language?

“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.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. - John 15:1-17

The key word for this section is remain: We remain in Jesus. He remains in us. There is a unity, facilitated by the Holy Spirit (see John 14:16,20) but it seems to be something that vary. His remaining in us does not change, but our remaining in Jesus seems to be able to wax and wain.  What are the symptoms of this variability? Our obedience (15:10) and our fruitfulness (vs. 8).  If we take the fruit to be similar to that listed in Galatians 5:22-23, then this makes sense because John ties his commands back to: Love each other as I have loved you.

At this point, we are in Sunday School-land: God loves us so we should each other. I think that is because we don't think fruit has a cost. How much of the God-infused life is required to be fruitful in other people's lives? We miss verse 13, where Jesus tells his disciples that "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." If it was easy to being loving, joyful, patient, peaceful, forgiving, etc. then Jesus' words would have just provoked a "Duh" moment. To provide our fruit to those who are unlovable, depressing, impulsive, quarrelsome, and unforgiving, is even more difficult, but it is exactly that which shows that we are changed and that we are connected to Jesus.

Sometimes, I try to imagine what it would be like for the connectedness to Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit to simply flow from me naturally, like I was speaking my native language. It isn't my native language. My normal expression is some weird pidgin conglomeration of who I was and who I am becoming. But this thought exercise produces in me a longing for the better, giving self that Jesus is trying to produce in me. Sometimes when I am struggling, I will pray for that natural part of remaining in Christ, and strive towards it, however imperfectly.

We remain in his love. In the previous chapter, Jesus has told his disciples that he is going away and they freak out. Then he tells them that he will leave them the Holy Spirit and by the Spirit's means we will realize that "I am in my Father, and you are in me and I am in you." Almost a duplicate of what he tells them in this passage in John 15.

Remember you did not choose me, no I have chosen you

Remember you did not choose me, no I have chosen you

The world will show you hatred, the Spirit show you truth
That where I am, there you may also be - That Where I Am, There You, Rick Mullins

John 2:24: Full Disclosure?

Impressions are vitally important in the Church, it seems. We must make sure that people think we are spiritual, or at least desirous of being spiritual. We want them to believe our families are attaining all the right goals and ideals. We hope that people see us as if we have it together in our marriages, our jobs, and most of all in our walk with Christ.. - Pastor Craig Miller[1]

The acronym TMI tells me that I am sharing Too Much Information-details not appropriate for the situation or audience. Sometimes things come out of my mouth that members of my family wished were not a part of public discourse. Maybe it is about them. Or maybe it is about me that makes them question if their is (or should be) a familial connection.

Why? Because we want to control how other people perceive us and some "information" gives people the wrong impression. We (or, at least, I) want people to think that I am smart, compassionate, and in touch with modern culture. This is impression management - "a self-crafted means of getting others to believe what we want them to believe about us — but not necessarily believing what’s true."[2]

Not just for the insecure or precipitously famous, impression management is a skill that we all develop because we quickly learn that people react to you based on what they see rather than who you are.

We can see this in marriages. Vernon Edmonds used the term marriage conventionalization: "The extent to which a person distorts the appraisal of his marriage in the direction of social desirability."[3] That is, how hard does each spouse work to create the impression that you have the marriage that everyone else expects you have.

So there is this tension between, on one hand, wanting to be authentic with people and, on the other, knowing that not everyone can be trusted. One only has to remember what was repeated inadvertently by our kids in public. Church people can be a tough crowd because they have a whole other set of expectations. Even Jesus dealt with this tension:

But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. - John 2:24

Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be sincere. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said... - Luke 20:20a 

Ok. That makes me feel a little better. Why? Because they barely knew him. They weren't committed to him or, worse, were actively against him. Disclosure is tied to trust. Later, when he had spent three years with a group of twelve guys apprenticed to him, he finally said:

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. - John 15:15

Even then, it hurt, because one sold him out, one denied him and the rest abandoned him in fear. But Jesus established circles of disclosure: the three (Peter, James, John), the twelve, the seventy-two (Luke 10), and then the crowd. In each circle, Jesus is authentic but not exhaustively so. The transfiguration is for the three (Matthew 17); his high-priestly prayer (John 17) for the twelve, his commission (Luke 10) for the seventy-two; the parables for the crowd.

Why? Jesus spoke what was necessary for those who heard, at the time they were ready to hear it. 

Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. - Matthew 7:6

Often Jesus would tell a story to one group, but only give the detailed explanation to his disciples. Again, authentic disclosure, but different levels of disclosure.

How does this work in life?

1. Speak with purpose. Your life story is meant to be used for God's glory. Not for yours.
2. Speak truth, but only as much as will make sense, given the listener's familiarity with your character and life situation.
3. Speak with compassion. Are you practicing hearing your words as if you were them?

I'm still working on how this works out and have that my modeling of another person's situation is often flawed so that what I intended for good is sometimes useless or even harmful. This is humbling and makes me grateful for the insight and words given by the Spirit of God to translate my good intentions into words that match.

[1] Pastor Craig Miller, The Road to Wholeness Is Blocked By Good Impressions, The Village Pastor (blog), https://gbcvillagepastor.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-road-to-wholeness-is-blocked-by.html, retrieved on May 7, 2017
[2] John Ortberg, The Life You've Always Wanted, Zondervan (2002)
[3]Vernon H Edmonds, Marital Conventionalization: Definition and Measurement, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Nov., 1967), pp. 681-688

Psalm 1: Conduits vs. Trees

The tree is no mere channel, piping water unchanged from one place to another, but a living organism which absorbs it, to produce in due course something new and delightful, proper to its kind and to its time. - Derek Kidner[1]

I have often thought of God's life-giving grace as something which God gives to us with the intent that we would, in turn, give it to others. We act as a sort of conduit or channel of grace. This word picture was helpful in my conversations to describe God's intent that we were not the intended end-point of his grace. We should not be a point of blockage or diversion.

But in reading this quote this morning, I realized that my working picture was inadequate. The electrical conduit or water channel does not change the form of what it receives, it merely passes it along. Also, the conduit doesn't grow and the channel doesn't alter. But the tree takes what comes in-soil, sun and water-and expresses it in a new, fresh and yet entirely dependent way: trunk, branches, leaves, fruit, shade, and protection.

We receive God's grace, it transforms us and we produce the fruit of the Spirit and (my wife mentioned) shelter for others to grow and flourish (shalom). God's grace does not retain the same form. It is expressed in as many unique ways as there are children of God.

His grace takes many forms, but one of the most available is his Word. The Bible says that God's replenishes those "...whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."(Ps. 1:2-3)

So this week I am considering myself a tree.



[1]Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, vol. 15 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), p. 48 as cited by Tim Keller, Prayer (New York, NY: Dutton, 2014), p. 148

Grow: Striving For Maturity

In the previous few posts, I've been talking about the process of being rooted in the faith. The rooting process starts when a person encounters the word of God and ends when the person's is depending on God. The parable of the sower shows that this process may begin several times before the word of God finally does take root. But when it does, watch out!

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. - Ephesians 3:16-19 

After being rooted, a new plant itself has all the tools it needs to draw nourishment from the sun and soil, in order to grow. Leaves develop and multiply. Roots spread and seek. Stems become sturdy and branch. Some quickly, others at a more measured pace, but all stretching up to the sun and down to the soil.

Likewise, as believers, when we begin to draw upon the resources of God, we begin to recognize the vastness of God, his love, and its power to change us at a fundamental level. This power ignites growth, as the ramifications of new life in Christ begin to work their way out.

Growth has a goal. For a plant, the goal is maturity: the condition where that plant will produce fruit; each fruit with seeds; and each seed representing new life. It's sun-given energy is not for hanging around the garden, but for producing the next generation. For a believer, the goal is the 'fullness of God' or, as it says in other places in the Bible, the 'image of the Messiah'. The fullness leads to fruitfulness (Gal. 5:22-23), with the fruit acting as seed bearers, and each seed the word of God for new life.

My spiritual life is sometimes like the life of a confused plant: lots of resources, but no direction; no goal.  Just hanging around, just existing. Need a little reorientation; a little refocusing on the real goal: changing lives.

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. - John 15:2