Obedience by Faith FRUIT TO HIS GLORY
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. John 15:8.
Jesus said in John 15 that if we abide in Him, we will bring forth much fruit, but without Him we can do nothing. We can do nothing toward what? The context of the passage is that we can do nothing toward producing fruit. We all know that we can do nothing, period, if God didn't keep our hearts beating. But He was talking to people whose hearts were already beating. And He says, Even though your heart is beating, you cannot produce fruit apart from Me. You can produce nothing.
If you want a mini-course in salvation by faith in Christ alone, there are two texts that sum it all up. John 15:5: "Without me ye can do nothing." And Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ." Put the two together. If without Him we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things, then that leaves the final answer to the question of human effort. The only thing left for me to do is to get with Him. And stay with Him. That's all I can do.
It is through the process of getting with Christ in communion and fellowship that we abide in the vine. That's the way we come to Him in the first place, through studying His Word and through prayer; and that's the way we stay with Him in the second place. It is as we stay with Him, and continue our relationship with Him, that we bear fruit to His glory.
There's nothing more spontaneous than fruit. If you read the chapter in The Desire of Ages on the vine and the branches, you find these words: "The Saviour does not bid His disciples labor to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him."--Page 677. Where is the labor? To abide in Him. Steps to Christ, page 61, says that obedience is the fruit of faith. So if one is the result and the other the cause, you put your attention toward the cause, never toward the result.
That's why some of us have taken the position that genuine obedience is natural. Natural obedience comes as a result of the faith relationship. It is by beholding that we become changed. As we deliberately choose to spend time each day in beholding Christ, in contemplating His life, in communing with Him, the fruits of the Spirit, and the fruit of obedience, will be seen in our lives.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. John 15:8.
Jesus said in John 15 that if we abide in Him, we will bring forth much fruit, but without Him we can do nothing. We can do nothing toward what? The context of the passage is that we can do nothing toward producing fruit. We all know that we can do nothing, period, if God didn't keep our hearts beating. But He was talking to people whose hearts were already beating. And He says, Even though your heart is beating, you cannot produce fruit apart from Me. You can produce nothing.
If you want a mini-course in salvation by faith in Christ alone, there are two texts that sum it all up. John 15:5: "Without me ye can do nothing." And Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ." Put the two together. If without Him we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things, then that leaves the final answer to the question of human effort. The only thing left for me to do is to get with Him. And stay with Him. That's all I can do.
It is through the process of getting with Christ in communion and fellowship that we abide in the vine. That's the way we come to Him in the first place, through studying His Word and through prayer; and that's the way we stay with Him in the second place. It is as we stay with Him, and continue our relationship with Him, that we bear fruit to His glory.
There's nothing more spontaneous than fruit. If you read the chapter in The Desire of Ages on the vine and the branches, you find these words: "The Saviour does not bid His disciples labor to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him."--Page 677. Where is the labor? To abide in Him. Steps to Christ, page 61, says that obedience is the fruit of faith. So if one is the result and the other the cause, you put your attention toward the cause, never toward the result.
That's why some of us have taken the position that genuine obedience is natural. Natural obedience comes as a result of the faith relationship. It is by beholding that we become changed. As we deliberately choose to spend time each day in beholding Christ, in contemplating His life, in communing with Him, the fruits of the Spirit, and the fruit of obedience, will be seen in our lives.
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