March 18, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in our Lenten readings from “The Life of Jesus”? Here’s today’s reading:
Day 29 in the Book: “The Life of Jesus“
The Week Jesus Dies
Read Sections 5.34 through 5.35 (pages 163-165)
This book is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings told through in chronological order from the four Gospels to create one continuous story.
*If you do not have a copy of the book please contact the church at (401)667-0775 and we can get you a copy.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
In yesterday’s verses Jesus gave assurances, today He gives warnings:
People will hate you because they hate Him.
People will think that by killing you that they are doing a service for God.
Good thing He has given the buffer of: Hope of eternal life, His peace, the power and comfort of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the command to love one another, and the goals of obedience and fruit-bearing.
5.34 Jesus is Like a Vine (John 15:1-17)
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
Jesus once again uses obedience as His example of how we express our love for Him. This is not because He is some slave master who just wants people to do what He says. No, it is because He knows that is best for us. He knows that when His people abide in Him, that is, exist and persist in Him, rather than resist Him…we will have peace and joy everlasting. It is in the keeping of Christ’s commandments that we abide in Him. When we are in obedience to our Lord, we are at peace…when we allow disobedience to creep into our lives and go unaddressed…make excuses, justify, or become callous towards our deliberate sin…that is when peace will leave us, doubt will set in, and we are tossed to and fro by what the world throws at us.
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Jesus tells us to love Him by obeying his commandments because He desires that His joy would be in us, and that our joy would be full.
5.35 Jesus Warns His Followers (John 15:18-16:4) “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” Why does the world hate Christ? Because He commands obedience. If we choose to abide in Christ, and do so by following His commandments, Jesus is telling us that we should expect the world to hate us as well. But why is this, we say? Jesus is love! Doesn’t to world want love? Yes…the world wants love…but it wants it on its own terms. We don’t want God to tell us what love is…we want to make that definition for ourselves. This is idolatry, and it is the root of every sin…our sinful human nature desires to serve only itself. We want to be god. But in His great mercy, God has forgiven our idolatrous hearts, and indeed has removes those callous hearts of stone and replaced them with a heart of flesh, and indeed written His law upon our hearts…and even sent His own Spirit to indwell us and give life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). God has given us everything we need…how great and merciful is our God???
There is no more perfect picture of life in Christ than the vine and branches! The tending of our lives is not just watering and growth but also pruning away what needs not be there but pruning what needs to strengthened as well. Pruning is our characther development, our maturing in Christ, and our increasing in the knowledge of Him. That means it can be difficult and even painful at times but always for our betterment! We must abide in Him, daily dependance and trust that He is at work no matter what even during the necessary pruning He is bringing us to a deeper understanding and relationship with Him!
Amen, Kelly! Hebrews 12:11 is always close at hand to remind me of the promise regarding what those painful times of discipline and training will produce!
5:31 – 5:33 Jesus is the only way to the Father
5:34 – 5:35. We truly are without excuse.
“You are my friends if you do what I command you.”(John 15:14).
Obedience, Obedience, Obedience. When we obey, we receive joy that is complete, a joy that truly lasts forever. If we aren’t obeying Christ you have to ask yourself, “What do I want? Death or Life?”. I hope that the answer for many is life, for it is only through Christ that we can later be united with Christ. Obedience goes hand in hand with humility. If you aren’t humble then you are not obedient, therefore humble yourselves before God and He will show you the wonders that he has in store for you.
“‘He must increase, but I must decrease.'”(John 3:30)
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you.”(John 15:16)
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”(Ephesians 2:10)
Thank you Holy Spirit for guiding me through the darkness, it is not my light which emits from me, but Yours. Spirit, you are the fire that is constantly burning within me, giving me the strength to do the Father’s will. Thank you Spirit for reversing and grinding my internal gears so that I may learn more of You.
“For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”(Romans 6:8)
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”(Galatians 5:16)
The Life of Jesus 5.34-5.35 and Jonah 3-4.
The Life of Jesus 5.27-5.35; John 2-3
Jesus is the vine, and the Father is the gardener, and we are the branches. We can only bear fruit through the vine. If we are not abiding in Him and obeying His commandments we will not bear fruit. We would be useless for our strength comes from the vine. I like the way the KJV reads many of these verses. 3 { Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.} 7 { If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.} 8 { Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples.} 10 { If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father`s commandments, and abide in His love.} Like other`s have said; we show our love to Him by obeying His commandments. Part of that is making sure that we spend time in the word. But also in prayer. It is truly amazing that Jesus the Christ calls us His friends and not just His servants. Jesus died for us and expressed it as no greater love is this than a man lay down His life for His friends. He also is giving us an example to follow. Not necessary actual dying but at least sacrificing our time or whatever it may be to help another brother or sister in the Lord that is in need. Then Jesus warns His followers that they will be hated and persecuted because they hate Him. That is because His followers are no longer of this world but are passing through. The world hates Him because they love darkness and He is the LIGHT and we reflect His LIGHT. Have a blessed day.
Always brings tremendous comfort to read the conversation Jesus spoke of at the last supper. To think all the pain and suffering the next day. To absorb all the ugliness of mankind. And Jesus is all about comforting the apostles and comforting us. The greatest promise spoken right from Jesus. I’m going to prepare a place for us. And I will bring you to that place!!! At least 5 times Jesus mentions the peace of God is ours!! And at least 5 times. May my Joy may be complete in you.!!!!! The world searches for peace and joy. Everywhere but surrendering to God. Kelly’s comments on the vine. Perfect. Thanks Kelly!!
Day 29 Stay joined to me and I will stayed join to you. Jesus is the true vine and if we stay connected to him we can produce fruit, by sharing the Gospel and bringing others to Christ. He is teaching about not belonging to this world, we should not live worldly and do what it tells us to do but to live by Christ with his love. He gave us the Holy Spirit, our Helper, he is the Spirit of truth and will lead us into truth.
What a beautiful picture of what our relationship with Jesus should be like is found in the vine and the branches. It is very clear that a branch can only survive, be alive and bear fruit if it stays connected to the vine. And bearing fruit is really the point. And that is what Jesus emphasizes here. He welcomes us to grow in our dependence on Him and bear fruit from that. Part of that fruit will be found in our obedience to Him and the joy and godly character that flows from that. The other part of the fruit will be the people that will be drawn to Jesus because of our lives and testimony to Him. One cannot help but think of the fruit of the Spirit that is born in our lives due to our dependence on Jesus as well. And when we have that kind of consistent connection with Jesus, we will pray in ways that the Father can answer. We will also be Jesus’ friends because we think and act like Him and He will be as close to us as we are to Him. He chose us with this very goal and desire in mind.
Now the regrettable thing is that when we live like that, the world will hate us because we bring conviction in the very person we represent and the lives we live. On one hand the world will like the peace and joy we have, but the source of our peace and joy challenges their flesh and their independence from God. So as they strive to be independent from God, they must come against the ones that represent Him. But the Spirt is our helper and comforter as the world rejects us and we need to make sure by virtue of the rejection we do not lose heart and lose faith. We need to recognize it is part of the package of believing and following Jesus to have a spiritual enemy against us that works in the hearts of unbelievers to oppose the truth that we represent. But as Paul tells us, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces that are against God and who try to corrupt and twist everything that comes from God. And that includes us as believers and followers of Jesus. The more passionate we are for the things of God, the more dangerous we become for him. The more persecution comes from the world.
Lenten day 29
“You cannot produce fruit alone. You must stay joined to Me.”
Jesus is the vine. We need to do everything possible to stay joined to Him!
Lenten days 31-35