Bearing Good Fruit

John 15:1-8 KJV; We cannot bear good fruit without abiding in Christ.

Christ DId Not DIe For Nothing

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."

                             (Gal 2:20-21 KJV)

This past week I have been thinking a lot about these verses written by St. Paul to the Galatians.  

There seems to be a lot of confusion about who saves whom; who it is that makes us righteous. Again, I remind everyone that we, you and I, cannot save ourselves. We also cannot save anyone else. Only Jesus saves. It is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that we are saved.

Do not frustrate the grace of God because there are no good works that will make us righteous. There is nothing that we can do to save ourselves. No, not anything! Our righteousness; our salvation are purely gifts from God purchased for us by the blood of his only begotten Son. If it were actually possible for us to do so much good that it outweighed the evil that we have done then Jesus would have suffered and died on the cross for nothing.

That does not mean that good fruit is not produced by the Christian. More aptly it is produced through the believer.  For when we are baptized into Christ, Christ abides in us and we in him. When we are baptized into Christ, we are crucified with Christ. We die to ourselves and he; his abiding presence, works through us.

It is Christ in us who does good things through us. We ought to humble ourselves and remember that without Christ we can do nothing good. But with Christ all things are possible.

Jesus likened himself to the vine. We are the branches of the vine. As in all plant growth the branch cannot bear fruit except it be attached to the vine. 

"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (Matt 15:4-5)

So be careful about showing off your piety. The Pharisees did that and they did not love Jesus. They loved the law. Do not exalt yourself because you consider yourself so good because you chose Jesus. Remember that long before you were even born he chose you. He chose to die for you. That is the good news. He died for you because you and I were not good enough to enter into the presence of God. But, now we are because of his good work on the cross; not because of anything that we do.

Jesus did not die in vain. He loves us so much that he was willing to humble himself and die on that cross for us sinners that we might live life in the presence of God; in the heavenly kingdom, where peace, love, and hope know no bounds.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

I Live By Faith

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20 KJV)

There you have it. How great is that!? We don't have to fret about whether we are doing what we must do or not; what laws we must abide by. By faith, Christ lives in and through all who believe. The one who lived and died and lives again for you is with you. He abides in you. He abides in all who believe. It is not by the law; but, by faith that he brings forth much fruit through you.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Growth Through Faith

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”                             (Matt 17:20-21 KJV)

It is almost unbelievable to me that we do not have the faith of a mustard seed. I said, almost. The evidence is there. No mountains have been moved lately that I know about. There are plenty of sick people to be healed, a lot of hungry people to be fed, and a world full of lonely people who know no peace.

But; I said, almost unbelievable." 

Then said he, "Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.” (Luke 13:18-19)

The mustard seed does not miraculously grow into a tree overnight. It is a process that takes time. A seed is planted. It is watered and fertilized. The mustard seed actually has to do nothing to make itself grow. It grows because that is in the nature of the mustard seed. Such is the Kingdom of God. All our hard work at trying to fix things and create a utopia here on earth amounts to nothing without faith in the One who provides the increase. It is God who provides the blessings. It is God who provides the growth.

Indeed, I have seen some pretty miraculous healings in my lifetime. I have seen things accomplished for the good of man that many would have thought were not possible. But, like the mustard seed growing into a full blown tree that will feed the multitudes of birds, so the Kingdom of God is growing. Slowly (at least according to our reckoning of time), but surely it is advancing bringing with it wholeness and peace.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Not I, but Christ

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20 KJV)

Before bed, I usually listen to some YouTube speakers or preachers on my phone. If they start off with long introductions and a litany of the preachers credentials, I usually find someone else to listen to. I do not care about their credentials. Credential are of no importance to me. What I want and need to hear is about who God is and what He has done and what He continues to do. All glory belongs to God!

Years ago my congregation hosted a Suomi Conference Word and Song Festival. As host, I was expected to greet everyone and according to the president introduce myself with some details of who I am, what I have done. Honestly, that makes me a whole lot uncomfortable. Because the only "I am" that is important is the one whose name is "I Am" and everything good that has been accomplished in my life has been done by Him. The glory goes to God!

So, instead of talking about the details of what I may or may not have done or where I come from or have been, I greeted everyone and introduced myself with: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20) All glory belongs to God!

What a relief it should be to hear these words: "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."  He willingly took all of our sins to the cross. He lovingly bore our sins and the punishment for our sins on that cross. He suffered and died for us. He did this so that all who believe in him would be reconciled to our Father in heaven and live eternally in the presence of God. 

In baptism, we receive a new life in Christ. The old man and all of our sins are wiped out and we live, yet not we, but it is Christ who lives in us. 

Without the abiding presence of Christ, we can do no good thing. Jesus said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)

All glory belongs to the one who loves us and died for us and yet lives. By the shedding of the blood of Jesus, you are forgiven your sins. May he live in you and you in him.

God's Peace - Pr. J                                                    

Crashing To The Ground

"Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon,
   with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;
it towered on high,

   its top above the thick foliage." 

“‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside, and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it. All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches.

                                                                 (Ezekiel 31:3,10-13 NIV)

Pharaoh is to be warned. Even though Egypt stands tall like a tree towering over everything; Assyria once stood even taller. But, for its pride it came crashing down at the hand of God. So shall Egypt fall.

There was a huge pine, over 80 feet tall, not many feet from our home on Huron Bay. It was a beautiful tree that towered high above all of the others. It existed until a couple of summers ago. It had grown so big and so tall that we knew that if it ever fell that there would be nothing left to our home. It had grown too big and had become a danger to us. God's people (and governments) get too big... When we become dangerous to the well-being of others we ought not be surprised if God's will is to cut us down to size or let us crash where we can do no harm to others.

Again, those who have ears, hear the warning from Proverbs: "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (Prov 16:18)

God's Peace - Pr. J