Love, Sacrifice and Prayer

Lesson #249

In our last lesson we began John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (John 15:16 ESV). We didn’t make it to the end of the verse, but we learned that God chose us and appointed us to bear fruit for him. Our assignment is to search for lost sheep, those he has chosen, and encourage them into the sheepfold of our savior, Jesus Christ. That work is understood as bearing fruit.

God the Father chose us for salvation, but then he appoints us to perform a task. Our life as a believer is not to do our will and have a good time in the world, but it is to be invested in going and bearing fruit. We have been given a work order, not a vacation pass, and the work we are called to do may require some discomfort, in fact it could even cost us our life as it does in countries where there is persecution. There is much preaching and teaching about our salvation, but very little is said about what God expects from the believer. It is easy to teach about Ephesians 2:8 -9, about the gift of salvation, but little is said about the fact that we were saved to work, as described in verse 10.

Bearing fruit is not something we should do in our own strength. It is to be a partnership with God. In verse 7 as well as here, we are told to ask the Father in the name of Jesus, for whatever we need to help us in fruit bearing. Our purpose on earth as Christians is to be involved, according to how we have been gifted, in some aspect of salvation of the lost and in helping that fruit grow to maturity. Again and again the command has been given to bear fruit. That involves all of us doing our part in bring fruit to maturity for a good harvest.

This brings us to the last verse in this section: “These things I command you, so that you will love one another” (John 15:17 ESV). Jesus is commanding us to bear fruit and if that is to be accomplished it will require an environment of love. Our Father loved us and sacrificed his Son for our salvation. Jesus loved us and was willing to bear the shame of the cross and die for our salvation. Do we love the unsaved enough to sacrifice to help reach them for salvation? In this chapter Jesus has commanded us to love one another, to abide in him and his love, to pray for help in bearing fruit, and then actually getting to work in some aspect of fruit bearing. Three words that stand out are: love, sacrifice, and prayer. Without these you will not experience much if any fruit.

Prayer

Father, a characteristic of being lukewarm is to have little concern for the lost. A lukewarm Christian tends to enjoy the things and pleasures of the world and its comforts, but not the inconvenience or discomfort and possible risk involved in searching for lost sheep and helping them find their way home. Unfortunately, we tend to see salvation as a pass to heaven, not as an assignment to a kingdom work force. A measure of how seriously we take our assignment lies in how often we come in prayer for help in bearing more fruit. Father, have mercy on us for our lack of desire or interest in doing the work you asked us to do. Father, encourage us to get to work while there is still time.