Prove to be My disciples

John 15 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

“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 it so 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, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. ⁹ Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

¹² “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. ¹⁷ This I command you, that you love one another.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ He who hates Me hates My Father also. ²⁴ If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. ²⁵ But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’

²⁶ “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, ²⁷and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you… This I command you, that you love one another.”   This commandment, Jesus spoke to His disciples. The one another He commands to love is for disciples, followers of Christ to love other disciples, other followers of Christ. This is now the third time that Jesus repeats those same words in this brief address to His disciples. In John 13:34-35 He says:   A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”    Like any good preacher or teacher Jesus knows that if something is important it needs to be repeated three times. I wonder though, how Jesus would feel His disciples today, His church, are following this commandment, this commandment that He prioritized so highly He repeated it three times?

For myself, it breaks my heart when I see the lack of love for one another between Jesus disciples. I am sure that His heart breaks too. Rather than loving one another much of the church spends more time and energy finding fault with those who see things differently than loving supporting and edifying one another. In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul says:   He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;  until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;  but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,  from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.       Just as each individual needs to operate in the gifts and callings they have been given, so too should the various parts of the church operate in their gift while encouraging, not condemning others who minister and operate in their own gift. Evangelists who feel called to a street ministry should not condemn the pastor or teacher who ministers to believers. The pastor should not criticize the prophet, each individual part causes the growth of the body. The body is to grow, both in numbers, the primary focus of the evangelist and also to grow in maturity the primary focus of the pastor and teacher. We are to do that, as Paul says:   until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

In today’s text Jesus says:   ^“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”    In Matthew 12:25 Jesus says:  “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand.”   If we, as believers, are divided against each other how can we abide in the same vine? How then can we bear much fruit?  Jesus says:  ^“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”   Could it be that until we follow Jesus commandment, until we, His disciples love one another, He will be pruning us, cutting away the excess and unproductive parts, the self centered parts in each of us, in order that we may truly bear fruit?

We are to abide in Jesus and His love. Jesus calls us to be His representatives, to display His love to the world.  We are not though to abide in the world. Jesus says: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”   He chose us out of the world, to abide in Him. Because we are different than the world, because we abide in Christ the world will hate us. We must choose whether we value abiding in Jesus, in His love or having the love of the world.  Jesus ends today’s text saying:  “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”   Both the Spirit of Truth and we, Jesus disciples, are to testify about Jesus. We are to tell the world about Jesus, that He came because:  God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.(John 3:16)  Jesus says: My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. The fruit which we are to bear, the fruit which glorifies the Father is the fruit of new souls for the kingdom and the fruit of souls growing in Christ. It is the fruit of the evangelist, the fruit of the prophet, the fruit of the pastor and teacher, the fruit of all those who together abide in Christ and love one another.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank You. Because You loved me, because I believe in the only begotten Son of God I not only have eternal life but I can abide in You in this life. Holy Spirit may I both testify with You about Jesus and through You be a testimony of His abiding love. May I prove to be His disciple as I love others and as I bear fruit to the glory of God.  Amen