Welcome Again, to another PathSeeker Weekly.
In the spring of a new year all around you everywhere you look you can see the evidence of new life beginnings in nature. Trees are full of blooms and new buds of life. During this time of new life and beauty I would like to speak this week of how we are like the trees and are able to be fruitful with the likeness and rebirth of ourselves through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am still focused on the ongoing study of:
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
By not conforming to the world, you have been given the chance to be transformed through the resurrection with Christ to become children of God and Brothers and Sisters of Christ Himself. Like nature that bears witness to the creation by dying to old growth, we too as Christians have been given the chances to die to our own past old growth and replenished with the new life of Christ. Resurrected and transformed physically and spiritually towards the mind of Christ.
John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
One of the steps of becoming Christ like or acquiring the mind of Christ comes from pruning. Jesus is the true vine, and God the Father is the vinedresser. Jesus allowed God take or prune from Him everything about Him that was unfruitful so He Himself could become even more fruitful and Holy towards God the Father. Jesus was truly connected with God. He was connected in a way that everything He did, He did not do for Himself but for the approval of His Father. As a child He said to His human parents” Luke 2:49I must be about My Father's business? He said other things all the time like:
Matthew 11:27 "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Luke 22:42 "…Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."
John 10:30 "I and My Father are one."
John 3:35 "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand.
The entire ministry of Jesus was revolved around connected and bearing fruit for God the Father. All of what He did, He did first to show His love for the Father and second to show His love for His neighbor as Himself. This why He is able to say that: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” Just as Jesus was connected to the vine of God we are connected to Him. Like He would be unable to bear fruit without God, we are unable to bear fruit with out Jesus. Because He is connected to the vine of God, we are also connected to God.
God is the vinedresser, the one who prunes away what is dead and useless. He can take and use Christ to be the sprout from which all living and fruitful branches come. When you accept Christ you become connected to the same vine as a branch that has it roots deeply rooted to God the creator of all things. Jesus has taken what God has pruned from you, what is dead and unfruitful, and taken the waste and thrown it into the fire. Jesus has allowed the way for you to be reborn or transformed through resurrection into new life and fresh growth just as nature does during the transition from the death of winter to new life in spring.
Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Sin is death, it is unfruitful, and it is from roots that come from means other than life. Last week I discussed how Jesus had taken the keys of death and Hades. How through death with Him on the cross you share in His resurrection of new life as a new born again child of God. Now you are a new branch grafted onto the vine of life. All disease and death that has kept you in the dark and unfruitful has been cut, removed and thrown into the fire. Now you take upon yourself the new life force which waters from the springs of life and roots are deeply planted besides these still healing waters. Now you are able to produce fruit that will ripen and produce seed to carry on the very Good News (Gospel) of life with Jesus Christ.
Jesus said “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Take Jesus’ words abide (live) in them and what your heart truly desires will be done for you. Take His words, be like Him, do what it is that God wants for you to do. Allow God to take from you what is not right. Become like Christ, be His disciple, learn from Him and let His words guide you towards the path He has for you to travel. "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
When Jesus walked and talked here on this earth he had with Him a following of students “Disciples”. They spent their time with Him listening and watching everything He had done. Disciples would here or see a teacher and admire what the Teacher would do or say. The disciples would learn his ways and pattern their lives to be more like the teacher or Rabbi (which means teacher). Disciples would later on be able to teach and spread the words or teachings of the one from which they had learned. The disciples of Jesus had not only learned and could teach what they had learned from Him. They also received the abilities to the wonderful things He had done by allowing Him to become their true hearts desire just as He had come to do the desire of God. There was still one characteristic the early disciples had that was a characteristic of Christ and is still one of the characteristics of Disciples of Christ today, to bare fruit.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
As you abide in Christ, the fruit you bare is fruit of the most flavorful and useful for nourishment. The fruit you bare not only are of use but also bare witness as to whom you have placed all trust. God has pruned or removed from you the desires of the flesh and has given you life from the one true vine of Jesus. Through belief of Jesus as Gods one and only Son and have died to fleshy desires, you have become grafted to the vine with Christ. You are now able to put forth the same fruit as Christ. Fruit that loves, full of joy and peace, from Christ you can withstand longsuffering, show kindness and withstand evil by self-control. Christ is your strength because He waters from the springs of life. You are able to do and withstand troubles because you are connected with Him. You can bare the fruits of the spirit because they come from the root of the vine which is rooted in Christ.
Still there is one thing about fruit that is so wonderful. Inside of fruit is a seed. The fruit you have become is also able to give away itself as a seed. In side you is a seed which has all the characteristics of Christ. Inside you the seed has the life giving force Christ has given to you. You can take this seed and plant it in soil and Christ and the Holy Spirit will nurture this seed into life of another new creation. Jesus wants us to be able to take and go forth and make new disciples. Plant them; feed them nourishment from the Word of God.
Since God has removed and destroyed the dead and dying branches from you. Show the world the vine of life, by your fruits. Drop and scatter seeds throughout the world. Remember these words from Jesus in no matter what situation arises;
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Thank you and God Bless,
Tommy Harmon
*All scripture quotes are from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible unless otherwise noted
© 2006, 2007, 2008 Tommy Harmon www.thepathseeker.com