part 2
Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit
unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot
produce fruit unless you stay joined to me.
The beauty of inclusion lies with Christ
and in him do we find life;
with him and in him is the fountain of life.
When Jesus says that we should stay
joined in him, He is not telling the disciples ways or process of finding their position or their connection in Christ. He simply says stay joined in me.
The truth is that we have never been separated from God apart from the alienation in our minds that we became enemies with God. Sin corrupted us to live our lives independent of God and we therefore withered and died. The truth though is that the earth is the Lord and its fullness thereof.
God did not create humanity for doom. We are his offspring.
Paul knew this as he toured Athens.
Acts 17:28 for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Therefore we draw various conclusions from these portions of scripture. We all began from God apart from him we are nothing. We were once alienated in our minds and became enemies with God. The consequence of our separation was sin and death. The law of sin and death is still in operation to this day as is manifested in the sons of disobedience.
However Christ has triumphed in redeeming man. He has single handedly dealt with the magnitude of our separation from God which brought us death. Apart from him we can do nothing.
Col 1:22 But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent.(CEV)
We are joined to Christ by grace through faith. We in Christ have been engrafted into Christ. We who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13).
We have been engrafted into the vine called Christ and as long as we are in him we will bear fruit .
I have seen believers being inundated by the prospect of bearing fruit. We have become so much obsessed with the puny thing we call fruit that we forget where our nutrients come from. The question you may probably hear being aired out in church every Sunday is something like this. You must do this and that you must prove your love for God, you must pray harder, PUSH pray until something happens eh?
I have heard enough pastors tell their congregation that the reason why God cannot bless them is because they are not productive enough; they are not showing enough obedience points for God to bless them. We have become so much obsessed with the puny thing we call fruit for a lack of a better word. We have accredited faith as a requirement for bearing fruit and have forgotten that faith and fruit have got nothing to do with us. Its God who causes us to be fruitful, faith comes by hearing the word and the word of God.
If I may ask you, who’s responsibility is it to bear fruit? Is it the branch or the vine? When we see that a tree has no fruit do we go ahead and squeeze the branch and demand that it produces fruit, yea? NO. It’s the prerogative of the vine to transfer nutrients to the branches and all parts of the tree. The same nutrients that are transmitted from the roots through the stems is the same nutrient that reaches to the branches.
If I may ask you again have you ever seen a banana tree struggle to bear bananas. Or a mango tree wondering whether it should produce Mangoes or oranges? I bet not. Then why are we as believers struggling to bear fruit which God our father wants to produce through us?
Its therefore action of dead works to demand fruit from believers. When we are fed with the correct gospel fruit happens. Jesus did not appoint you to bear your fruit but his. The way you bear fruit is because you are joined with him.
While it’s important to be fruitful in life and to be productive after how God has created us. We must be aware that we are not manufacturing fruit by ourselves. If you manufacture any fruit that comes from your effort then we will liken that to adultery. Its as a father who comes home and the wife runs towards him hugs him and delivers the news.” Honey we have a bouncing baby boy four months old” knowing very well that the man and his wife did not engage in any intercourse. That is ashaming and disgusting right!
God does not want you to bear any fruit that is apart from him, that’s why Jesus reveals to us that apart from him we can bear no fruit. What conclusions can we draw from these truths.
· You cannot bear any fruit! Shock! God bears his fruit in you and through you. Apart from Christ you can do nothing.
· No branch can attach itself to the stem. All the teachings that tell us that we have to position ourselves, locate ourselves and more that focus you on yourself is therefore of dead works. The branch does not locate itself in the vine, it is simply there. Your responsibility as a branch is to realize you are already in Christ.
· You don’t position yourself, locate yourself in Christ, Christ locates you in himself, open your eyes and behold your position and identity which is in Christ Jesus. Pursue actively the consequences of your co inclusion in Christ, you are in him.
· Christianity is not a quest of vainly trying to bear fruit. God seeks to bear his fruit in you and through you. The fruit of the Holy Spirit are fruit empowered by the spirit not your improvement program or your positional ability. Open your eyes and get mesmerized by the energy of God energizing itself in you. This the power behind your functioning and ability.
· Good fruits are not realized by focusing on the fruit but in the nutrients, what kind of a gospel are you hearing? Is it a gospel that directs you to yourself? Are you hearing a message that leaves you with questions like , what must I do? What is my part in this? Check out that is a gospel that leads you to works(relying on your own strength)
The gospel , the good news takes you back to the activity of God in you. If its about commitment, the gospel takes you back to Christ who has been commended to you, then what you must do is drawn from his power within you.
The disciples asked Jesus what we must do to continue to do the works of God. Jesus drew them back to himself. Believe in me who he has sent. John 6:28-29. The gospel communicates supply not demand. What God requires of you he has supplied to you. Stay blessed as you enjoy your union wth Christ. You are in Him as a branch go therefore and bear fruit of his kind
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