BACKGROUND:The most a person can do for his friend is to die for him; such a death is a clear demonstration of love. Jesus demonstrated His love by dying for us - His friends. Abraham was called God’s “friend” because he obeyed God. Like close friends, Abraham and God communicated well with each other.
A servant (literally a slave) does not have a close relationship with his master, as friends do. Normally, a slave does what he is told without understanding his master’s mind or business. Since Jesus had opened Himself to His disciples, the title “slave” did not fit their relationship.
Jesus called His disciples friends because He had disclosed His Father’s revelation to them.
Jesus then reminded them that contrary to the common practice of disciples picking a teacher, Jesus had chosen them. The purpose of His choosing was so that they would produce lasting fruit. He chose them for a mission, and His Father would answer their requests in order to accomplish that mission.
SO WHAT? (what will you do with what you have read today?)
"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit" (John 15:16). I think that's the key verse this morning.
On the day after the night in which Jesus spoke these words to the eleven and to you and I, he laid himself down on the cross and bought you with his blood. You are now his fruit and his fruit-bearer. The only fruit that will ever endure to eternal life is fruit which grows out of the cross.
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:23,24). We are Christ's fruit because he died for us. We are his fruit-bearers if we are willing to take up our cross and die with him.
It is not accident that when Jesus had commanded you to go and bear fruit, he went and died. Your call and your ministry must always stand in the shadow of the cross of Christ. The only fruit that will last is the fruit that grows on the cross.
"You did not choose me, but I chose you," Jesus says to the eleven apostles, and surely to everyone whom he calls to the ministry. Why did he say, "You did not choose me." It's not literally true. They had chosen to follow Jesus. He did not drag them into his service kicking and screaming. He does not hold them with bit and bridle. They are not looking for ways to escape from his ministry. In John 1:37 Andrew follows Jesus without even being asked and he goes to get Peter and brings him to Jesus (1:41). So the point is not even that Jesus made the first contact.
Turn it around. What if Jesus had said, "I did not choose you; you chose me?" What would most likely be the point of saying that? Wouldn't it mean, "I'm not bound to you. You wanted to come along. If the going gets rough, don't come whimpering to me. It's your choice, man. I didn't stake anything on your success." But Jesus said the opposite: "You did not choose me, but I chose you." And so the meaning probably is: "Your presence here is my doing and so I take full responsibility. I know you agreed to join me in this work, but deep in your heart you know it was I who laid claim on you and so my honor, not yours, is at stake in this work."
If that is what Jesus means, then the reason he said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you, was to encourage us that he would help us. If his honor is at stake in our success because he chose us for the work, then we can be sure he will exert all his power to make us fruitful. Jesus will not lightly let his wisdom be scorned. Therefore, he will not look lightly on our cry for help, when we say, "Lord you chose me! You are not fickle. You are not shortsighted. You are not impulsive. Your choices have the weight of eternity in them. You will not let your chosen one be ruined. Help me, Lord." Such a plea -- if it comes from the heart -- he cannot ignore. His wisdom and constancy and reliability is at stake.
So your choice of Christ was very different than his choice of you. His choice was a recreating, resurrecting, life-giving choice when he called you by name and you were born again and made a child of God. Your choice was all response and trust in his commitment to you.
The other sense in which Christ chose you differently than you chose him is in the call to ministry. Now all believers are chosen in that first sense, and can have the assurance that Christ's honor is at stake in their perseverance. And indeed all believers are chosen for ministry. But among the saints, whose responsibility is the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:12), Christ sets some people apart as pastors and teachers to devote their full-time labor to the ministry of the word and prayer in order to equip the saints.
Here again those who serve do so willingly. We have chosen the ministry. But if we are where we belong, there has been a call from the Lord preceding, equipping, inspiring and finally enabling our choice of the ministry. If this were not so, ordination would be a sham. But it's not. The call to ministry as a vocation comes from the throne of God. It is a high calling. It is a humble calling. But rest assured it is the Lord who calls. And when He calls I must respond. Because He calls I must never quit. I must never give in to discouragement and frustration. Because until he changes the call I must remain faithful.
Let me ask you today - what has the Lord called you to? What task? What ministry? What church? What person or people? What LIFE group? What are the gifts He has blessed you with? Are you using them for His glory and purposes? Are you being faithful to His calling in your life? Are you persevering? Are you keeping on keeping on?
I so love you guys. I know about the temptation and lure to shut down and give in and give up. Don't do it. Stay faithful. Stay the course. He that has called you and gifted you is faithful. Until He calls you to some different task or ministry or church, stay at it. Persevere. Persist.
A verse you may want to memorize - Romans 11:29 (ESV) "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
No comments:
Post a Comment