Feeding From Jesus – Fruit or Fire?

Good morning.

We have seen in the previous message we can only bear good fruit if we get the resources from the vine, through a branch washed clean by the Word of God. It is of little use to try and do good works that are not of Christ, since the ultimate aim is building the Kingdom of God and getting holy, purified and equipped souls into heaven. Anybody can do good works, such as feeding the poor, but only those connected with the vine, Jesus Christ, “are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do,” (Ephesians 2:10). The Lord is in control and only He knows where He is headed. We therefore need to be linked into Him to know what He has in mind for us, in order to accomplish what He wants to do.

I catch myself often that I am concerned about what people want or think. The modern media adds to this temptation for many Christian ministers, and the huge churches are a big temptation to impress people with charisma and get the financial reward from it. But what does the Lord want? What is on His agenda? Does He want us to be entertained by His anointing or does He want all Christians to be productive and bearing fruit. Have you ever thought how the Kingdom would grow if each born-again Christian only leads one soul to the Lord once a year and teach that Christian everything about the Lord they know? “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age,” (Matthew 28:18-20).

In this way the world could be reached in no time – each Christian multiplying themselves and teaching their disciples to multiply themselves. I don’t think the Lord ever had in mind Christians running after entertainment from great preachers. He just wanted every single one of us to remain in Him and be obedient and fruitful, listening for His instructions and following it through, bearing the fruit (good works) He has prepared in advance for us. Currently we may be feeding ourselves fat on charismatic messages, but do we bear the fruit from the vine we are intended to bear, i.e. do we multiply?

“Remain in me, and I will 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 a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned,” (John 15:4-6).

Can you see that unless we are one with the Lord – us in Him and Him in us – we will not get where God planned for us to be? Those good works Father so carefully planned for us will never get done unless we live holy lives and be washed by the Word. Remaining in Jesus means being like Him. We have a saying ‘great minds think alike’. Do we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and do we think like He does? We would if we remain in Him individually, spending time with Him, seeking to know Him and what He desires for our lives in terms of fruit, instead of pleasing the church. The role of the church is simply to equip us to do as mentioned (Ephesians 4: 11-16 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%204:11-16&version=NIV1984).

We would one day like to hear “well done good and faithful servant”, instead of being burned as withered branches, wouldn’t we?

Lord, I’d like to remain in you.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.