Bringing Glory to God

Wednesday, March 05, 2014      Bringing Glory to God

John  15: 1-8

There will be a meeting at your church, Sunday afternoon at 3PM. Jesus’ Father, the gardener, will be meeting with your congregation to cut off every branch that isn’t producing fruit. He will also prune the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. Ouch! I wonder how many people will show up to meet with the gardener.

I believe our willingness to sit still for the gardener is directly proportional to our ownership of Jesus’ expectation that we produce much fruit for him. Note that the text twice says that Jesus expects much fruit from his disciples, not just some fruit. (Verses 5 & 8) Our willingness to sit still for the gardener is also directly related to our staying close to Jesus: “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” (John 15:4). Knowing I am in Christ and he is in me emboldens me to allow the gardener to cut and prune, even if I do cringe and cry ouch!

Our mission is to make disciples for Jesus for the transformation of the world. The fruit he is expecting us to produce is fruit that helps people know and love him. We are also called to produce much fruit in ministries of peace and justice that transform the world into the Kingdom of God. This passage should give us pause to examine our life for evidence that our focus, our priorities are aimed at producing much fruit for Jesus’ Kingdom. Do you have a personal expectation that you will produce much fruit for Jesus? If so, listen as Jesus says to you, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father” (John 15:8).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.