Terrifying Realization

John 15: 5 NIV

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

   

What Do You Think Of Your Accomplishments?

At the end of the day I was standing at the door of a high school class where I had been the substitute teacher and as the students filed out, not one of them said goodbye to me or wished me a Merry Christmas or even looked at me despite it being the last class of the day before Christmas vacation.  It was as if I did not exist or that I was not a living being.  I did the same thing though.  A guy was sitting down in front of a business and he had a sign about needing food and rather than look at him as I passed, I turned my head and did not acknowledge he was there.  What is the mechanism we trigger in us that de-humanizes others?  I have let it gain power over me and perhaps you have too; given no thought to the humanity of others.  News reporters are aware of this quality and so are movie makers and authors.  If we hear or see that 15, 000 lost their lives on a battlefield or in a natural disaster, we give little thought to it.  But if we come upon the picture of a little boy or girl or hear the account of a particular parent who died in the same circumstance, we might even shed a tear over it and if not, at least mull it over some and probably mourn the tragedy.

It started in the Garden of Eden after the first sin of Adam and has continued to this day.  You and I can take the humanity out of our fellow inhabitants of this planet.  You don’t do it intentionally.  Only the most perverse and broken of us set about to remove the humanness from those around them.  Yet it happens, where we stop thinking of people as people just like we are people and either give no thought to them or act as if they are machines.  The Bible insists that God never does that with us.  Despite the fact that there are over six billion people here on earth, he sees each of us and has His mind on each of us…not as machines but as individuals that He cherishes.  Speaking metaphorically, Jesus insisted that His approach to us is much like a kind and thoughtful shepherd.  I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15 NIV)  It is impossible to see in this a distant and distracted God who can’t even come up with your name.  He knows you as intimately and affectionately as He does the Father and the Father Him.  Even now you are on His mind; even now He is thinking of ways to make your life good and joyous.  Can we say the same of ourselves?  Do we think of God as a real person who cares what we do?

If we give it much thought, there is a terrifying declaration Jesus makes that must be considered.  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5 NIV) We do love the promise found here but have we taken seriously the caveat?  “…apart from me you can do nothing.” Did He really say “nothing”?  It seems like an incredible, perhaps even implausible assertion.  What about all the atheists and pagans who make decisions, alter the environment, impact people, change circumstances?  Don’t they do something without Christ?  Aren’t they functioning without Him?  The world is filled with people who assert their will without giving a moment’s thought to Christ.  Even a casual reading of the Bible has examples of this.  Lamech, who was from the genealogical line of Cain, the first murderer, killed a man because the fellow hurt him in some way.  Lamech said to his wives, "I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.  If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." (Genesis 4:23-24 NIV)  He clearly gave no thought to God and what He wanted and yet seemed to do well.  The Tower of Babel famously was constructed without a bit of consideration for God and His wishes.  In fact it was a sort of monument to the capacity of people to get things done without Him.  As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:2-4 NIV)  Even Jonah the prophet tried his best to get away from God by hopping on a boat that was traveling in the opposite direction of where he knew the Lord wanted him to be.

Probably more people live now as if God doesn’t exist than any time in the history of the world!  Even more though have taken the Godness out of God—if that were possible and mostly ignored Him.  So what did Jesus mean that “apart from me you can do nothing” when it seems like plenty of people are doing something without Him?  Remember the context of Jesus’ assertion.  He was talking about producing fruit that would last.  The world is full of all sorts of interesting activities, challenges and investments.  Adventures are all around us and there is always something to do.  Jesus told the parable of the talents because He wanted you to remember that there is more to life than this world and all its attainments.  There is a world to come that lasts forever and we must never lose sight of it.  The parable has been repeated so many times that it is like elevator music.  Yet it is perhaps more important to you and your welfare than any bit of advice you will ever hear.

It has two juxtaposed approaches to life.  One is that you can live with God in mind on everything and that what matters is how He wants things done.  The other is that you live as if God doesn’t exist and you do whatever you think best.  Whatever you do that pleases God will be rewarded extravagantly, far beyond its seeming worth.  The life that takes no notice of God and does not concern itself with Him will be wrecked and an object of great despair…despair past imagining.  Can this be proved, that God rewards spectacularly those who live for Him in the life to come?  All mysteries have their shelf life.  At one time it could not be proved that the earth was round or how diseases attacked the human body or the existence of ancient Babylon.  Just because you do not have all the facts in regarding life as it will be beyond this world does not mean you cannot be certain that it is just the way the Bible describes it.  You live in the age of faith and by faith you believe that God rewards those who live for Him and do what He commands.  As the Bible makes clear, And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 NIV)

The Bible often uses Abraham as an example of how faith in God looks.  It would have seemed lunacy to his friends and neighbors and perhaps even to his dad when Abraham decided to leave his home and travel 400 miles south to a land he had never visited and did not know what to expect from it.  He made this arduous journey by foot when he was 75 years old, leading along sheep and goats because he was certain God told him to move there.  We don’t know how God spoke to Abraham…was it an audible voice, an angel, some sort of vision or just like how He speaks to us now.  The irony of this move is that once Abraham and his wife and servants got to Canaan where the Lord sent him, he discovered there was a severe famine there so he just kept walking south until he got to Egypt.

For Abraham, it was not a matter of what He was to do; it was a question of who was directing him.  He lived within a particular country whose boundaries were fixed.  It was the place where God is in charge no matter what.  Wherever Abraham went, and it was the same for his wife Sarah, God led the way.  Abraham did not have to worry about what he would do today or tomorrow.  He just lived his life with the Lord in charge.  Whether it was digging a well or pulling a goat back into the flock or setting up a tent, he did so acutely aware that the Lord could redirect him and change his plans and he was willing to do whatever God said to do.  That is how you bear fruit that lasts.  God rewards those who follow Him and obey His commands.  The Bible makes it clear what sort of life we are to live: morality, honesty, kindness, forgiveness, love, generosity. 

It is not very funny to think of someone living an entire lifetime and never doing anything that God wants to be remembered.  Like building a sand castle on the beach only to have the rushing surf send it crashing down, many do nothing for God’s sake.  But some take time each day to think about what they could do to please God.  They read their Bible so that they can keep thoughts of Him fresh in their minds and then they go about the day doing any sort of good thing God gives them to do.  A great friend of mine tells the story of the member of one of his former churches who was featured in Guidepost Magazine.  The woman was looking through the newspaper and came upon a picture of cute dogs being petted by senior adults at a nursing home.  The title of the article read, “Visit from Locals and Their Dogs Brings Joy to Nursing Home Residents”.   “Good for them”, she thought as she shuddered and quickly turned the page.  She says in the story that she then heard a voice say, “You have cute little dogs.  You can do that too.”  She wondered if she was hallucinating.  “Dee you do that”, the voice insisted.  She spoke back.  “God, if that’s you, you’re going to have to give me something else to do.  I can’t do nursing homes, remember?”  Again came the voice.  “Yes you can!”  This time she was certain it was a command.  “Fine, I’ll do it”, Dee cried.  The article then goes on to tell how Dee lost her distaste for nursing homes and genuinely developed a love for the residents, becoming a blessing to them and ambassador for Christ…her and her cute dogs.  What about you?  Is God looking at you right now, ready to make your life a blessing?  What can you do today that will please Christ and be remembered by Him as good and worth His praise?

The Loss of Self-Realization

Ephesians 4:17 NIV

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.  

If You Could Do Anything With Your Life, What Would It Be?

You may know that my first year of college I decided to be a chemistry major in an effort to qualify for medical school.  It was of course a respectable degree to pursue…at least if I could do it.  It required lots of hard work and many who choose chemistry as their major don’t complete it because it is so challenging.  What interested me most about this selection of a major was that it was respectable and would push me to maximize my abilities to accomplish the goal of being a medical doctor.  No one tried to discourage me; I was generally told to pursue my dreams and that I could accomplish whatever my heart desired.  Few of us would not want to pursue our dreams and I was no exception to this normal approach to life.  If I could not be an NBA basketball player, I might as well be a medical doctor.  It seemed reasonable to me and I believed I could achieve this goal.

You could say that the expression that defined me at this point in my life was, “I got it.”  You hear “I got it” often in sports.  If a fly ball is hit to the outfield, one of the outfielders yells, “I got it!”  Volleyball players scream out “I got it” to let their teammates know they will receive the ball.  If a fish is on your line, you might yell, “I got it” to let everyone in on your impending accomplishment.  But you also say “I got it” if you are going to answer the phone or open the door for whoever is there.  Psychologically, “I got it” means that you can handle your problem; you don’t need help.  You may tend to like the independent type, the “I got it” you who relies on yourself to “get the job done.”  The term for “I got it” is “self-realization” and it is now about a century old.  Self-realization or “I got it” is generally the object in therapy of nearly every worker in mental health.  “Be all you can be” which is nearly the same as “you got it” has a noble feel to it and who would argue that it should not be your goal in life.  Yet you know that just because everyone else seems to hold to a particular view does not mean that it is the best way of seeing something.  Could it be that “be all you can be” is not the approach you should take to life?  Is there the possibility that you ought to evaluate this philosophy critically…maybe self-realization is not what is best for you or me?

There are several ways self-realization is practiced.  I have a talent and I want to maximize it.  I have an interest and I want to pursue it.  I have an opinion and I want to express it.  I have a goal and I want to chase it.  This line of thinking is often found in the Bible and although the term “self-realization” is not used, the expression of it in normal sorts of ways is often described in case studies that are provided in God’s word.  Lamech is not a familiar character in the Bible but he certainly was a dramatic figure.  His life is well summarized in his own words.  Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.  If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times." (Genesis 4:23-24 NIV)  Although this is rather extreme, Lamech is expressing precisely the spirit of self-realization.  Self-realization is the determination to assert my will over my environment both internally and externally.  In this case Lamech decided that when he was wounded he had every right to kill the man who wounded him and then he did it.  He expressed himself and his morality by extending outward his influence.  Without independence, self-realization is not possible.  For Lamech, he took self-realization to the outer edges by killing the man who put limits on his happiness and comfort.  He referenced God but certainly never consulted with God nor did he act in conjunction with God when he decided to kill the young man who hurt him.

A second example of self-realization is also found in the book of Genesis.  The strange account of Jacob stealing his father’s blessing from his older brother illustrates how far some will go to extend the boundaries of self.  Rather than being satisfied with what he had as his mother’s favorite and heir to much of his father’s fortune, Jacob tricked his father into giving him the spiritual blessing the father intended to pass on to Jacob’s twin brother Esau.  Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may give me your blessing." (Genesis 27:19 NIV)  If it were not for the murderous anger it provoked in Esau, this could be labeled typical sibling rivalry.  Take it out of the context of family relations and you might make the case that Jacob was just fulfilling his destiny.  God had told Jacob’s mother that Esau or Esau’s descendants would eventually serve Jacob or Jacob’s descendants.  Jacob was following his dream of rising beyond his brother in influence and power by snatching away the blessing of his father.  One must wonder if Jacob ever gained much satisfaction in stealing his brother’s blessing as he immediately had to flee for his life and then spent twenty years living under the domination of his future father-in-law.  How far should one go to live out one’s dream?

A third example, this time from the New Testament, illustrates the reason why self-realization must never be our goal.  The often recounted attempt of Peter to correct Jesus is on the surface rather comical but Jesus did not treat it lightly.  The disciple “meant well”.  He thought Jesus was not trusting the Father enough when our Lord told the disciples that He would soon be killed by the religious authorities.  Without noticing at all that Jesus promised He would on the third day after death be resurrected, Peter made sure his opinion was voiced.   Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!" (Matthew 16:22 NIV)  Jesus’ response was not pretty.  “You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." (Matthew 16:23 NIV)  Here we have precisely put the essence of self-realization.  There is in Peter a disconnect between himself and God and he is not aware of it taking place. Peter means well.  He has what he thinks is good advice for Jesus but he is thinking without God and becoming spiritually a part of Satan’s rebellion.  It seems so innocuous, self-realization.  All you want to do is make something of yourself, build something you care about, use your mind to be creative, enjoy life.  Who could argue against that?  Peter had a good idea and it made sense to him yet our Lord blasted his advice out of the water.

Consider the rebuke of Jesus carefully.  “You don’t have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”  This may seem so minor a criticism but it is actually the sin that defines all Sin.  Take note of Jesus’ warning in John 15.  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (John 15:5-6 NIV)   If you rationally contemplate this statement, it would seem that the most important determination you can make is to live your life out completely aligned with Christ.  There is no warning in scripture more severe than this that one might be “picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”  If this is disturbing, this possibility of being thrown into the fire and burned, then the goal of being attached to the vine, of remaining in Christ should rise above every other concern one has.  What good is it to realize your dreams, utilize your talents, enjoy your days and speak your mind if by doing so you are not remaining in Christ…if it all is completely outside life with God?  In self-realization, you take charge of your life and do as you see fit but that is not Christianity; that is a meager and impoverished alternative to Christianity.

Paul expressed perfectly what a normal Christian life is.  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20a NIV)  When you put your faith in Christ as your Savior, Christ becomes a part of you.  Your personality, who you are, is now Him and you and that is you as a person.  It is no longer just you; that person is dead but the you that exists as a result is Christ and you.  As you go about your day, you become conscious of Christ in you and it matters because He gives you wisdom, He strengthens you and encourages you and as you trust Him with what is happening with you, God’s peace takes over and His joy gets worked into you and it makes sense to remain in Christ because that life with God is grander than you ever imagined.  The life without Christ is an inadequate, empty and insufficient life that becomes nothing more than rubbish.  The life with Christ is a miracle of God and you.  The bigger Christ gets in you through your obedience to Him, the bigger you become.  Self-realization will only take you to the edges of you and the sin you have corrupting you.  Christ in you is you without limit and becomes closer and closer to perfection as you build your life with Him.  Just look closely at how Jesus lived His life; without worry or fear, full of love and forgiving, kind and having not an ounce of envy for what others had.  That is where we are heading, that is the direction we are going…for with Christ joined to us, we will become perfect.

Let us consider just one aspect of what it means to have Christ be a part of us.  He said, “my peace I give you”.  What does that mean?  Think for a moment about the time Jesus was in the boat with His disciples and a furious storm arose that brought terror to the disciples.  Meanwhile Jesus slept without a care in the world, unperturbed by the winds and waves raging.  When the panicked disciples awakened Him, Jesus calmly replied, "You of little faith, why are you so afraid?" (Matthew 8:26 NIV)  Now, what kind of life could you and I have with that peace available to us?  It is astounding to think just how big our lives could be if we let Jesus, living within us, play a bigger role in us! 

Attachment

Jesus gave a simple expectation of those who have become His disciples.  Remain in me.  The implication is that we might not...that it is not automatic for us.  The great deception that runs rampant through the Church is that we can only get so far with praying and then we have to "do something".  It is as if all the pronouncements of Christ on prayer were the ravings of a lunatic or the naïve expectancies of a child staying up late waiting for Santa Claus to come down through a chimney not built into the home.  We pray but not like Christ told us we could pray.  Of course we give it a shot and then when we get bored with it or frustrated by its "failure" we move on to more important business.    Prayer is not a means by which we achieve something, whatever that achieving might be.  Prayer is what makes something, something.  Unless there is prayer in it, what we do is chasing after the wind; fruitless harvesting.  Jesus, noted, "What good is it  for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul."  We mistakenly file this comment away as a final judgment saying when it isn't.  It is about life here and now.  If what we strive to gain has nothing of Christ in it, then we have cut out our soul then and there and cast it aside.  Do we not realize that our soul is Christ joined to us in a new personality that is born again?  If our Lord is not in our striving, if we are not so completely attached to Him in what we do that our "soul" is in it, then our striving is fuel for the fires of hell.    God expects us to be immersed in Christ at every moment because we can.  The bloody death of Christ makes it possible for us to be attached to Christ so completely that whatever we do is the will of God and whatever we achieve is good fruit. 

If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  John 15: 7 NIV

Planning For Tomorrow

We make all sorts of plans.  We plan our vacations, plan for retirement, plan our work schedule, plan when we will have kids, plan our class schedule and plan on getting our haircut.  We strategize how to succeed, how to invest, how to stay healthy and how to raise our children.  There is though only one strategy in the Kingdom of God and it is as simple as turning on your computer or starting your car.  In Jesus' final instructions before going to the Cross He provided the Disciples with the only plan He had for them to operate as children of God and succeed in what the Father had in store for them.    He put it metaphorically so that it would be clear as day to us what it was.  "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing". (John 15:4-5 NIV) Our laser-like attention and focus must be on this one effort.  Remain in Christ and let nothing take you from it.  Anything that distracts you from keeping your mind fixed on Christ must be hated with all the disgust you can muster.    It is not that we are to leave this world in abandonment to some monastery in the hills.  God never gave His disciples an assignment like that.  He left them in the hard scramble of life and did not pull them from it until He called them home.  It is in the crash of living that we are to remain in Christ and stay there in Him when anything from disaster to triumph arrives.   There is no panic or fear of "night" for the one whose mind is fixed on Christ.  We can be as peaceful as a cooing dove if we will do this one thing without fail.  Look to Christ in the earthquake and the storm, in the sunset and the gentle breeze.  Refuse to give in to the temptation to fuss about what you will wear or what you will eat or how mistreated you are but glue your mind to Christ and tomorrow will "take care of itself".

But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.  For I will give you...   Luke 21:14-15 NIV

Branch Life

Can we step back a moment and take inventory of our condition?  Are we bearing much fruit?  Are we connected to the vine?  Are we availing ourselves to the gardener and giving Him freedom to prune us as He wishes or have we begun to argue with Him and bend away from His shears?  The branch that bears little fruit is usually the most comfortable of the branches until it begins to look about and see just how impoverished it is.  Satan does not tear at us in a mighty rush of hardship and anguish, he merely rocks us to sleep and before we know it, we have become useless but settled.  You can tell when you have given up on truly following Christ if you argue about what fruit-bearing means...Is it external to us or internal...Is fruit bearing what we do with the Gospel or what the Gospel does with us?  When the sleep gets knocked out of us by some great crisis or upheaval, we find that we are free once again to face ourselves honestly.  If we can get past the "Why is God doing this to me", there is the possibility that we might once again bear fruit and become available to God to transform both in us and through us.  Fruit that "will last" is obvious and not theologically determined but spiritually discovered by obedience and faith.  If we would just do what God tells us to do, whether a big thing or small, it will manifest itself in fruit bearing.  Much depression, discouragement, frustration and disharmony within the Christian community would be tossed aside if we would simply begin bearing fruit as Christ works His way in us and through us.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.    John 15:8 NIV

Will of Man

The assumption that we have somehow given our best to God is an absurdity.  What we have to give is His already and what we think is a form of best is so riddled by sin and vanity that we cannot in any way assess its quality.  We do have something to offer though...it is our will.  Our Lord will never forcibly retrieve our will once He has given it to us.  It is ours for eternity...a gift of God that makes us in His image.  Belief is not our will but rather a function of our will.  Why is it that hell is a gaping abyss for those who deny God His devotion?  To not give the abyss would be to deny us our will and destroy the basis of our humanity.  We take our will with us wherever we are sent and a will that refuses God and the humanization of His love, His Son, cannot be pushed or squeezed or manipulated into Heaven no matter how great the goodness and mercy of our Savior.  We truly choose our life, whether that life is redeemed from Sin or wrecked by it.  The devil cannot break your will either...he can make a scramble of your mind but he cannot kidnap your will.  You may hand it to him and then he has the free run of your head as seen in Judas and Herod.   The obstinate unbeliever is no more or less willful than the most saintly of believers.  What separates the two is the throne at which the will has been placed.  When Peter and the other disciples handed Christ the will each of them possessed, they found themselves at once beside a lake, next within a temple and finally upon a hill.  It all seemed a whirlwind of following, following, following.  But as they went with Christ in the full power and depth of their individual wills, they became transformed by Him and His crucified and resurrected life into His actual presence so who they were was merged with who He is and their wills became His...bearing much fruit.

I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;  apart from me you can do nothing.  John 15: 5 NIV