John 15

15:11 - I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow. - The key to this whole section is this verse. You need to hear it so you can understand the context of the whole chapter. Jesus wants you to obey, love and produce fruit so your joy can be complete and full. That implies that if you are not obeying or not loving or not producing fruit your joy will not be complete and full. I find it very interesting that so many of us live without joy and we think it is God's fault somehow. If God has promised us joy and we do not have it it is our doing and not His. If we will not fully obey or completely love or do the hard work to produce much fruit than we will not have the full measure of joy He wants for us. That is pretty exciting to me, because it means I can influence the level of joy I experience in life.

15:2 - He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. - There are only two options. Get cut off or get pruned. I think many of us are looking for the place in life where we get to just be a pretty plant that doesn't have to do anything, but I don't see that here. The Christian life is a participant life and there is no arriving or sitting back or just being. You are always called to be working hard to produce the fruit that God wants in the world.

15:4 - Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. - We have to stay in Jesus. We cannot get away from a deep and daily relationship with Jesus. When we say we didn't have time to read or pray or worship or seek Him we are saying we didn't have time to be with Him and if we aren't with Him we loose our effectiveness. I wonder if the reason so many of us have trouble getting traction in our lives that leads to a powerful moving of God is that we keep leaving Him for the busy-ness (business) of the day. Could it be that we are leaving Him out and therefore not producing fruit and yet we seem unaware of it?

15:5 - much fruit - Jesus isn't looking for little fruit - I was nice to the person that cut me off, I didn't yell at the kids, I read my Bible. He is looking for much fruit. He is looking for major change and major effect in the lives of others.

15:7 - But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! - How is that for a promise from Jesus?

15:8 - When you produce MUCH fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

(NASB) By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.

How much glory did you bring to the Father this week? How about today?

15:10 - When you obey my commandments, you remain in me love, ... - You cannot separate love of God from your actions. We want to say we love God but we sin, but to sin is to stop loving God for a time. True love deeply impacts your actions.

15:13 - There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. - I think we rightly see this as talking about the crucifixion, but we miss that Jesus laid down His life for His friends while He was alive as well. Every choice He made to restrain Himself or to do the right thing was Him laying His life down for His friends while He lived. Are we ready to do the same thing? I think we would be more inclined to die for a friend than to live for one.

15:16 - ... go and produce LASTING fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

15:19 - The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. - How much does the world love you? That may tell you a lot about whether you are walking with God in the right way. To be honest, I think I work so the world will love me more than I should. I need to live more radically, not to incite people, but to honor God and if I was it would mean I was offending more people because of truth. If there is no one offended at your living you probably aren't living the life that Jesus called you to. That deeply convicts me personally.

Love, Michael