Friday May 20, 2011

Read John 15:1-17

Victory over sin and daily righteous living comes primarily from knowing (in the biblical sense, not in the head knowledge sense) who we are in Christ Jesus. Hopefully the studies so far have re-tracked your mind to positive thoughts of your true identity in Christ.

John 15 is another parable of who we are in Christ. Unfortunately we often read parables and think ‘That’s nice’ before we move on. The parable may stay in our mind for a while but it never really impacts our life. Jesus never told parables to be a nice teacher or to pain pretty pictures for us. Parables have deep meaning that we need to ponder long and hard on.

As John Macarthur rightly says:-

Study the Bible carefully and you’ll notice Scripture rarely calls you to practice a specific behaviour without first laying down some kind of theological foundation or framework. That was especially clear in Paul’s epistles, the transition from doctrine to duty, belief to behaviour (cf. Rom. 12:1; Gal. 5:1; Eph. 4:1; Phil. 2:1; Col. 3:5; 1 Thess. 4:1). Practice follows position, application flows out of sound theology.

Understanding who we are in Christ is the foundation for sound living.

When Jesus talks about the vine and the branches He is doing far more than painting a lovely al fresco picture.  What truths come out of this parable for you? Take time to list at least 5 truths from this passage that are true for you before you read on.

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If Jesus is the vine and we are the branches then we must abide in Christ or remain in Him. We remain in Jesus by cultivating our relationship with Him. We need to spend time praying to Him, listening to Him and reading His word. We need to listen to others in the vine.  As branches we need to allow God to prune us without whinging and whining. We need to be filled with praise as God cuts away those areas  in our lives that are bearing no fruit. We need to be looking out for them and bringing them to God to prune as we find them. We need to realise that apart from Him we can do nothing. That means we stay close to God. We seek His will, His guidance, His timing, His standards and so on. If we are in Christ we will desire to walk in obedience and love. We will keep His word closely guarded in His heart, which means we have to kick out the lusts and covetous desires that reside there at present. Memorising the Word is a great way to keep His word in us. Singing the Word is another way to keep the word abiding in us.

Are you cultivating your relationship with Christ? Are you growing daily in Him. Are you sowing godly seeds in your life? Is your love for Jesus growing day by day? As the branches of a vine grow through the nutrients it gets from the vine so too we grow in Christ by the love and nutrients we receive from Him each moment of each day. Never let a day go by without drinking deeply from the vine to which you have been grafted.

Prayer:-

V Pray that our cell groups would continue to care for each other, love each other and reach out to the surrounding areas with the gospel. Pray that we’d see cells growing and maturing in the Lord. Pray that every believer would be in a cell group.

V Pray that our teenagers would be growing and maturing in the Lord. Ask God to bless them with a deepening knowledge of God through His word and a greater understanding of the love that He has for them. Pray that our teens would be lights shining for Jesus among their peers.