For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of
John chapters fourteen to seventeen. Some of it will be what I have already
written and some will be new. Therefore it may sometimes appear that I leave
off in the middle of a topic to be continued, since I have reached my daily
word count limit.
To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two
postings preceding this one.
“This
is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my
disciples,” (John 15:8).
With this verse Jesus is concluding the teaching about
the vine and the branches. According to this verse, what is the reason why He
presented this teaching? His only desire in life is to glorify His Father,
which is why He went to great lengths to direct His disciples in the secret of
bearing fruit. He knew that making a change to this world through the fruit
that His disciples bear, would draw the attention to His Father and cause the
people to acknowledge His existence with awe. This actually happened, did it
not? The first church made a significant impact on this world?
But the evil one did not sleep and through the ages
managed to build up laws and systems that cause the church to be scared – to
fear. If we preach that abortion is wrong the church income may be taxed again.
If we stand up against that which is wrong, we might lose our charity subsidy
or license - leave alone physical and personal persecution. We fear man more
than God, which is why we compromise in fear that we might lose man’s favour, in
other words we do not trust the Lord to look after us when it comes to cutting
edge obedience. Judge for yourselves whether I am right or wrong. Jesus’
challenge, however, is still ringing through the ages... ‘Prove to (show) Me you are my
disciples by bearing much fruit’ or put differently... ‘If you do not bear
much fruit, I (Jesus) have no evidence that you are my disciples.’
“As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love,” (John
15:9).
The rest of this chapter forms a unit, yet needs to be
discussed verse by verse. Therefore I will try not to stretch it over too long
a period. How did Father God show His love for Jesus? What evidence do we have
in the Bible of what He did for Jesus to prove His love to Him? Do we read of
any ‘things’ or special favours that Father God gave Him because He loved Him,
which is the way some of us show our love to our children? We do not know much
of Jesus’ life in heaven except that He now sits at the right hand of Father
God and that He has received all power and authority.
What we do know is that He created the world. “He was with God in
the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made
that has been made,” (John 1:2, 3). We also know that when the Old
Testament talks about ‘The Angel of the Lord’ it actually refers to the Lord
Jesus. We read that the Angel of the Lord, in other words Jesus, personally
visited and ministered to many of the people in the Bible – Abraham, Hagar,
Moses (at the burning bush), Balaam, Gideon and so on. Eventually Jesus left
the glory of heaven and came to this sick earth to suffer and die for man’s
sins. What loving father would do that to his child in terms of our
materialistic thinking? We see love as blessing a child with his material
wants, protecting and nourishing him, providing a good education so that he/she
can live well one day.
But Father God loved Jesus by giving Him through the
ages the opportunity to accomplish the purpose of His existence. Jesus was
meant to have all authority as we see in Matthew 28:18: “Then Jesus came to them and
said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,’ and in
Romans
14:11: “It is written: 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will
bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” The point I want to
make is that Father God did not show His love to Jesus by spoiling Him, but by
using Him to accomplish what was planned and then rewarding Him accordingly.
Jesus had to work, He had to obey, He had to manage, command and as a last
resort gave His life to become what He was destined to be – such was His
Father’s love. In verse nineteen Jesus said He loved His disciples the same way
– oops (to be continued).
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.
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