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I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. John 15:5
A thrift-store bargain, the lamp seemed perfect for my home office—the right color, size, and price. Back at home, however, when I plugged in the cord, nothing happened. No light. No power. No juice.
No problem, my husband assured me. “I can fix that. Easy.” As he took the lamp apart, he saw the trouble immediately. The plug wasn’t connected to anything. Without wiring to a source of power, the “perfect” pretty lamp was useless.
The same is true for us. Jesus told His disciples, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” But then he added this reminder: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
This teaching was given in a grape-growing region, so His disciples readily understood it. Grapevines are hardy plants, and their branches tolerate vigorous pruning. Cut off from their life source, however, the branches are worthless deadwood. So it is with us.
As we remain in Jesus and let His words dwell in us, we’re wired to our life source—Christ Himself. “This is to my Father’s glory,” said Jesus, “that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (v. 8). Such a fruitful outcome needs daily nourishment, however. Freely, God provides it through the Scriptures and His love. So plug in and let the juice flow!
What does it mean for you to remain in Jesus? How has He equipped you to bear fruit for Him?
All-powerful God, empower me to remain in You and allow Your loving Word to yield good fruit in me.
To learn more about growing spiritually, visit christianuniversity.org/SF104.
This kind of mourning doesn’t have to be a dark, scary, or joyless experience. In fact, it can be quite the opposite—hopeful and filled with light. As we let go of temporal desires and instead pursue the good that God has for us, we get a taste of the eternal comfort He has promised.
THINK ABOUT IT
• Paul is writing about a sorrow that produces repentance. In some translations, this is written as “godly grief.” Consider the opposite—what is borne of worldly grief? How is that different from the fruit that results from a godly kind of sorrow?
• Earlier in this letter, the apostle reminds the church that we live “as sorrowful yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). How can both things be true?
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)
One of the specific reasons Paul wrote this letter to Timothy is contained in our text. The church is to guard and declare the “mystery of godliness.”
A “mystery” in Scripture is something that was previously hidden but that is now revealed. Here the mystery is the blessed truth that God is in the business of producing godliness in the lives of men and women; in this context, it is through the work of the church (v. 15). This ministry of the church in proclaiming this mystery was augmented by a doctrinal confession, or hymn, which was presented in:
“God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit.” “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), and was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness” (Romans 1:4). This couplet relates Christ’s human/divine nature. His humanity was evident to all; His divinity was declared through the Spirit.
“Seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles” (or nations). Angels observed, and to some degree participated in, Christ’s earthly ministry, but the salvation and godliness He offered was only to men, “which things the angels desire to look into” (1 Peter 1:12).
“Believed on in the world, received up into glory.” Other teachers have gained a following, but only Christ ascended directly into heaven following His resurrection. Doctrinal confessions or hymns can be an aid in learning and remembering truth, but the goal of each is godliness— “this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27). JDM
And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb…. There remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me.
—Daniel 10:15, 17
When we meet God we also have a sense of weakness. I don’t think you will ever be strong until you know how utterly weak you are. And you will never know how utterly weak you are until you have stood in the presence of that great plenitude of strength, that great fullness of infinite power that we call God. When for an awful, happy, terrible, wonderful moment the eyes of our hearts have gazed upon the transcendent God, high and lifted up with His train filling the temple, then we will know how weak we are….
I’ve been preaching since I was nineteen years old and now I’m sixty-three. And yet, after all these years of preaching, I come into the pulpit shaking inside—not because I fear the people, but because I fear God. It’s the fear and trembling of knowing that I stand to speak of God and if I don’t speak rightly about God, what a terrible error it will be. If I speak evilly of God, what a frightful crime! It is only when I speak well of God that I dare sleep at night without asking forgiveness. AOGII046
Most of us have never had a true vision of Your power, Lord, and so have not experienced a real sense of our own weakness. May I fear You in speechless humility. Amen.
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
—Job 22:21
To know God, this is eternal life; this is the purpose for which we are and were created. The destruction of our God-awareness was the master blow struck by Satan in the dark day of our transgression.
To give God back to us was the chief work of Christ in redemption. To impart Himself to us in personal experience is the first purpose of God in salvation. To bring acute God-awareness is the best help the Spirit brings in sanctification. All other steps in grace lead up to this.
Were we allowed but one request, we might gain at a stroke all things else by praying one all-embracing prayer:
Thyself, Lord! Give me Thyself and I can want no more. WTA071
To be able to look into God’s face, and know with the knowledge of faith that there is nothing between the soul and Him, is to experience the fullest peace the soul can know. Whatever else pardon may be, it is above all things admission into full fellowship with God. JAS062
1 Corinthians 15:55
Never in history did such tragedy visit one life in a single day as on that dark Friday when Jesus stumbled to Calvary bearing the cross, carrying the world’s sin and guilt.
Crucifixions were reserved for the outcasts of earth. But Christ was no ordinary victim. He was the One of whom it was written, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).
The tragedy of this ignominious crucifixion of Christ, even in this day, causes the heart to cry out, “Why?” Why such blindness to the Spirit-filled, God-indwelt character of the Savior? But through the tragic darkness of that Friday shone a glorious light of salvation, purchased at tremendous cost.
The continuing tragedy is that there are still those who remain blind to the cross of Christ, who do not see the Light, but continue to live in the darkness of sin and doubt.
John 3:16 is a truth certified by Jesus when He gave himself on the cross, so that “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Today there are millions of Christians who not only can recite that familiar text, but can relate it to a personal Easter experience. The sacrifice of Jesus wraps John 3:16 around them in loving assurance.
“Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Paul’s joyous exclamations to the Corinthians are echoed by all Christians during Easter, when it is realized anew that Jesus conquered death. What consternation there must have been among His enemies when the stone was rolled away in the garden, and Christ stepped out from the tomb to reveal Himself, first to Mary, and later to other followers.
Having experienced such a shattering tragedy, how could His followers accept the truth of a resurrected Christ? The darkness of their spirits would be difficult to penetrate. But when Jesus visited them, giving proof of His triumph, a glorious light dispelled the darkness. They knew without doubt that Jesus had turned tragedy into truth and truth into triumph.
Hallelujah! He is still doing it in the hearts of men and women, who with the poet exult:
The head that once was crowned with thorns,
Is crowned with glory now!
John D. Waldron, The War Cry
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