Reflection and Reaction

 

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

— John 15:3

 

Why would Jesus change metaphors here? First, He speaks about pruning then cleaning then returns to the vine image. 

 

In this passage, pruning the vine means removing the portions that aren’t producing fruit either because it’s dying because it’s not connected to its original source or because that portion of the vine (the branch) is producing bitter fruit not sweet. 

 

Jesus, when He said, “You are already clean,” means two things and they are both the same. The first obvious sense of the metaphor is that He meant, “Because of your faith in Me, you are cleansed from your sins.” That is the easy, obvious understanding. Each Gospel writer uses this analogy. And here, Jesus still means that, but why mix the metaphors?

 

So why did Jesus seem to mix His metaphors in this passage. The vine is pruned to remove that which isn’t producing or growing like the vine. When Jesus used the “clean” analogy, He referred to the same process of salvation. Just as removing the dead, non-producing, or bitter producing branches removes any negative admixture to the produce, cleansing a person through salvation removes any admixture in a person of his/her old way of life. That old way of living would taint the spiritual fruit of his/her life from his/her past bitter, sinful way of living. It would cause the fruit of the person’s new saved life not to reflect the sweetness of Jesus. 

 

The pruning and cleansing metaphors both were very understandable to the people of Jesus’ time. The people could relate, reflect, and then react to Jesus’ message because it made sense to their first century Middle eastern lives. Pruning and cleansing are about removing from the believer any admixture from their old life that would taint, make bitter, or dirty his/her new life, which should show only the fruits that come from living a Christlike life indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

 

Does your life reflect only Jesus? Are there shoots or fruit in your life that are bitter, tainted, or dead that don’t produce sweet and pure fruit that reflect the new life Jesus gave you? Of what do you need to confess to God and repent? Each of us have shoots and fruit that need pruning because we each sin. You are not alone.

Humility

 

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you.”

— 1 Peter 5:6

 

God didn’t have Peter write this verse singly. It comes as part of a set. From verse one, Peter told the elders/leaders to be shepherds of God’s  flock. They were to submit to God’s leadership and not act as dictators to the people of the church. These leaders were not to be elders because of a desire to get wealth, possessions, or a position of power in a church or community. Instead, the they were to be an example of people wholly submitted to God.

 

Next, Peter told the younger people in the church to submit to God’s appointed church leaders, just as they submit to Him. Trust their elders and live just as they live. (This supposes the leaders submit daily to God.)

 

Peter then wrote, “All of you clothe yourselves in humility.” Don’t suppose you are greater than each other. You all submit to God. You all are saved in the same way, through Jesus’ sacrificial, atoning death. You/we have nothing about which to be arrogant. You can’t even save yourselves from your own desires. So be humble toward each other and God. Recognize God and who He is with your heart, soul, mind, and body—attitudes, thoughts, actions, and spirit.

 

God opposes the proud and shows them just who they really are compared to Him. But still, He is gracious and will save them. 

 

To tie this into a nice bundle, God, through Peter says, “Humble yourselves under God’s mighty hand, so in due time He will exalt you.” You are not mighty, especially compared to almighty God, so humble yourselves. Admit it in your heart, mind, spirit, and words, and submit to Him. Know, at the right time, you will reap the reward of your faithfulness and submission to God by receiving your heavenly reward—eternal life with Him. 

 

To finalize this thought, Peter wrote, don’t worry about who’s your leader, your status, your wealth, or your possessions. Why? Get rid of those worldly cares because God cares for and is taking care of you. 

 

So humble yourselves before God and submit to Him and His will. He takes care of you (vs. 7). God planned to care for you before you were created by having the plan in place to save you and give you an eternal relationship with Him. 

 

Our humility costs us far less than our salvation cost Jesus.

Absolute Goodness

 

“We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

-Romans 8:28

 

We, who have responded to God’s call on our hearts and have believed in Jesus and have the promised hope of our future resurrection, know that God makes all things work together for good. That “good” is not what we know in and from this world. It is pure, undiluted goodness that comes from the character of God. 

 

We Christians know, because we have God’s gracious promise of salvation and resurrection, that God makes all things work together for the absolute good of His children, who He calls to Himself for His good and grand purpose—the purpose of salvation, telling others about the gospel of His love, and discipling them.

 

God’s goodness does not hinge upon what we do. Goodness, by definition, comes from God’s character. God is absolutely good and does only good. When people believe in Jesus for salvation, they receive God’s goodness expressing His love through salvation, which is redemption from the stain and guilt of their sin. Nothing in the world is good except what He has redeemed for Himself. 

 

God’s calling to us (His creation) is all about His plan and love. We are sinful people who are stuck in the mire of a fallen world. Without God’s calling us, we would be blind and deaf to Him. We would be without hope now and for eternity. Our hearts, minds, and spirits would despair and languish. We cannot and did not give ourselves ultimate hope because we cannot see beyond this day and moment what actually will be. But God can and does. 

 

So because we know God only does good and only His absolute purpose prevails, we can understand, know, trust, and hope with absolute certainty that as we daily walk with Him on this earth, He makes all things work together toward that good for His children, those who love Him and are called for His purpose of salvation and eternity with Him. We can know the truth of what Paul wrote further in Romans 8.

 

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

 

“For your sake we face death all day long;

    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39, CSB)

 

Nothing stops God’s goodness or good plan.  Once you believe in Jesus, you are permanently part of His goodness and good plan. You are called His, not Satan’s. What’s your part in this plan as God’s called people? Have faith. Have hope. Grow in your faith. Tell other people about Jesus and God’s love. Help them grow closer to God and more like Christ.

 

Don’t lose hope. God works all things together for His purpose for the good of those who love Him and are called His. 

 

Are you called God’s child? What keeps you from His goodness and love?

This Mind

“And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.”

— Ephesians 4:32

 

“Kind” is from a Greek word meaning kind, good, benevolent, not harsh, sharp, or burdensome. Compassionate means tender-hearted and empathetic. 

 

So be benevolent and not sharp and be tender-hearted and empathetic to each other. Freely give undeserved grace and pardon, just as God gave you grace and pardon when you didn’t deserve it.

 

Who of us hasn’t needed mercy and empathy? Who hasn’t needed kind words and forgiveness? Who hasn’t been grateful when we’ve received such love and kindness? Remember the relief you felt. Remember the weight of your burden being lifted. Remember the engulfing love that wrapped around you. 

 

Go. Be compassionate. Give love. Be kind. Give undeserved forgiveness. Even to the people who curse you and make your life hard. Remember, God graciously gave you mercy and undeserved forgiveness and love. “Have this mind in you that was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5-11).

Intense Compassion

 

Just as a father loves his children, so the Lord loves those who fear and worship Him with awe-filled respect and deepest reverence.

— Psalms 103:13

 

The psalmist wrote, “Like a human father loves and is compassionate to his children, so the Lord has complete and extreme compassion  for the people who revere and respect Him.”

 

Notice the verb used by the psalmist in both parts of the simile. Yet, the intensity of compassion/love is different. The psalmist also said how much compassion God has for His people. 

 

Whereas a mortal father can only love and be compassionate up to the amount of what a mortal is capable of, Almighty and perfect God can give the ultimate amount of compassion and love. God is limitless just as is His attributes. God is so grand that He’s undefinable in human words. 

 

The amount of compassion God has for His people is beyond human comprehension, so the psalmist included in the original Hebrew writing the Pi’el form of compassion. Pi’el expresses intensive action. The father has compassion for his children, but that compassion is limited. God has compassion towards His people that is limitless. People cannot comprehend it. The psalmist’s best way to describe God’s compassion was by saying it was intensive; God’s compassion towards His people is complete, is perfect—nothing is lacking in it.

 

Can any of us say our compassion/love for others, our family, and our children is complete—perfect, lacks nothing? We can only give what our limited, fallible hearts can give. God’s heart toward His people is limitless; it’s bound only by His infinite, undefinable being.

 

Notice also, God’s compassion is aimed toward specific people in this simile. The father’s compassion is aimed at his children. God’s compassion is felt and given to “His people.” The verse actually says He aims His compassion toward “those who fear/revere Him.” Who are the people who revere God? To know that, we need to understand what “fear/revere” means with regard to God. 

 

Revere means to be in such great awe and respect of someone that you worship that person. Each of us has at one time in our lives looked up to people. For some, that person was a family member, for others it was someone famous—an actor, musician, scientist, explorer, doctor, preacher, politician, etc. The list could go on. Who did you admire so much that you wanted to be like him/her? Did you go so far in your awe and admiration of that person that you idolized him/her? That is worship of a person. Take that understanding farther and apply those feelings of awe and respect to God. Intensify those feelings you felt for another person so that they transition from admiration of a fallible and limited human to reverence of infallible and limitless God. That intensification involves more than just your head, heart, and body. It includes your spirit. Revering God requires your whole being. It’s the willing and intentional giving of your whole being back to the One you recognize as the Almighty—the One who creates, lives, sustains, saves, protects, leads, is, has always been, and will always be existent. Revering God is more than mental assent of His existence. It’s more than emotional acknowledgment of His stirring your being. Revering God is more than bending on knees before Him or placing an offering in the offering plate. Revering is all these and spiritually confessing God is the one and only Lord, Master, and Savior of your life by giving yourself wholly to Him as the ultimate offering and sacrifice you can give to the Ultimate One. What more can we give than our whole being? Oswald Chambers calls this giving our “utmost for His highest.” 

 

God gives His complete/perfect and intensive compassion to the people who revere Him. He has complete/perfect and intensive compassion for and toward those people who willingly and wholly give themselves—hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits—to Him out of love and awe and reverence as the ultimate offering that they can give .

 

The psalmist’s simile could make you smile now that you realize the two sides of it are unequal. God’s love and compassion does not match that of a father’s compassion for His child. God’s love and compassion are incomparable to anything earthly. The psalmist had nothing with which to compare it than to the greatest compassion a human can feel, that of the care and love of one’s own child. In this, he became similar to God. The father co-created his child with God. God created all people. The father can understand the intensity of feeling for his child like that of God’s for His creation—people. 

 

That intensity of heart, mind, and body to do anything necessary to care for his child is similar to God’s care for people. God loves us so intensely that He did and does everything to care for us. He gives of all He is and of what He has at His disposal that is necessary to care for the hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits of people. Notice the difference. A human father cannot affect the spirit of his child. Only God can call to, convict, save, and renew a child’s spirit. When that child, no matter the age, whether 2-102, confesses absolute faith in Jesus, God’s Son, and confesses his/her sins, that child becomes part of the group of people “who fear Him,” as the psalmist said in Psalm 103:13. That person becomes a child of God. Along with being forgiven and having eternal life with God, that person will be made complete gradually over time so that the father or mother of a child will gradually show the level of compassion God aims towards His people.

 

This simile has unequal sides, but it’s purpose helps us understand the intensity and completeness of God’s compassion. It should lead us to ask ourselves questions. Foremost of these questions is, do you revere God and are you counted as one on whom God aims His intensive and complete compassion? In other words, are you a child of God, one of His people? Secondly, how’s your compassion for your child? God’s compassion was compared to that of a father’s by the psalmist. Really, though, our compassion should be compared to God’s. God’s compassion is the standard and goal. Our intensity of compassion should increase as our offering of our heart, mind, body, and spirit increases. Is your offering to God increasing? Or, did you only give a sacrifice and offering at the point you were saved? 

 

This simile will always be unequal. Yet, as we give more of our being to God each day and as we receive more from Him each day, our compassion will become more complete. God will perfect us more each day we seek Him and grow closer to Him. What of yourself have you offered to God today?

Joy and Crown

 

 

“But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.” (Philippians 2:17-18)

 

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, all who are mature, let’s have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well; however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.” (Philippians 3:14-16)

 

“Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:1, 4)

 

Paul wrote to the Philippians of his love for them and his desire to see them. His love was so great that he longed for them to grow into the image of Christ for which he himself strived. 

 

Paul began by reminding them of the mind of Christ—absolute humility for the salvation of all people. He wrote challenging the people to have that same mind, to be humble and changed because of the salvation they received by and from Jesus. Should the Philippian Christians think this too great a sacrifice—such humbling of oneself—Paul put himself as an example of a person who was and had everything, giving it all up, and being considered nothing by the people who once considered him so great. Even this, Paul said, does not make him like Christ. He said he had not attained the prize for the goal toward which he ran. 

 

Paul gave the prime example of humility—Jesus— and then himself, as one striving to be like Him, so the Philippian believers would realize it is doable and a worthy task.This task is to what Christ calls each of His followers. “It’s the standard to which we (believers) attained” but whose goals are not yet reached.

 

After reminding the Philippian believers of the prime example and goal Christ gives and a human example (himself), he then expressed his love for them. He said he loved them and longed to see them. Paul said these believers were his joy and crown. He felt like a father who loved them and was proud of them. Paul followed that statement of his love for them with the challenge to keep following Jesus and look to the example he himself gave them. And even in the hardship that living a life of absolute humility, Paul taught them to rejoice in the Lord always.

 

Rejoice that Jesus saved you. Rejoice that you are called to follow Jesus’ example. Rejoice that Jesus considers you worthy to be His example to the world. Rejoice that you get to tell other people about Jesus. Rejoice that you have the privilege to suffer like Jesus because it shows your identification with Him. Rejoice because the way you live imitating Christ is considered so true to Him that people want to torment, trouble, and persecute you like other people did Him. Rejoice that you have fathers and mothers in the faith to be examples for you and pray for you. Rejoice that the strength, endurance, perseverance, and love you need for the task to which Jesus commanded His followers has already been given to you through His Holy Spirit living in you. 

 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” as Paul said in Philippians 4:4. “Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near.” (Philippians 4:5) You are beloved. Keep up the faith. Walk in Jesus’ strength and according to His humble ways so that anyone who hears or sees you will see and hear Jesus. Run for the crown all who run the good race receive from God. And rejoice always! “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” (Phil.4:23)

 

Have Hope

 

 

“And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.”

— Romans 8:11

 

Notice the dependent clause at the beginning of this sentence, “If the Spirit lives in you.” This statement doesn’t say, “if the Spirit can raise Jesus from death.” That happened; it’s a certainty. It says if you have believed in Jesus as your Savior, only then can you know without doubt the Spirit lives in you. 

 

With this understanding, let’s read that clause again, “And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus lives in you.” The Spirit of God raised Jesus and, since you believe in Jesus, you have been saved by Him. So, His Spirit lives in you. 

 

That dependent clause sets the stage for the truth Paul taught to the Christians of Rome in verse 11. He wrote, ““He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.” Just as the Spirit brought back to life Jesus’ mortal body—and thereafter Jesus lives His divine provenance of eternal life since He is Deity—He will give that same life, eternal life, to you. 

 

Remember, the gift of eternal life is not given to everyone. It is given by the Spirit who resides in everyone who has believed in Jesus and has been saved from the judgment his/her sins deserved—eternal separation from God, eternal death. 

 

So, in reading this verse again, “For you who believe in Jesus for salvation, the Spirit, who lives in you, raised Jesus back to life and will also give you eternal life with God.” Don’t doubt this. Your belief in Jesus with your heart, mind, soul, and strength has given you, through Jesus’ Spirit living in you, that promise and hope to hold onto; you will most definitely live with God forever. 

 

That starting dependent clause is your clause. You are dependent on Jesus. Your life is dependent. Remain depending on Him. Keep believing in Jesus. 

 

So take heart; your situation isn’t so bad. It and future hard times can never take you from God’s hands. Your hope is secured in Jesus. The Spirit who raised Jesus lives in you and will raise you to live into eternity with Him. Have hope. Keep strong in your faith. Jesus is coming back for you.

Kindness

 

“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”

— Luke 6:35

 

Be kind, like God, to the ungrateful and evil. What does this kindness entail. It comes from a Greek word meaning both kind and good. Only God is good all the time. Only He is so kind to desire good things for evil and ungrateful people. 

 

So about what of this kindness did Jesus speak? What did He mean since we are incapable of doing good all the time, especially if the person has done evil to us? 

 

The Greek word for kind is xrestos. It means to provide what is suitable. We might think the only thing suitable for that evil person is prison, but Jesus’ love sees beyond the evil a person does to who the person is as he/she was created to be. 

 

Xrestos means more than suitable. It means useful and productive. Jesus offers kindness from His love that gives what a person needs to be a useful and productive member of society. He gives a person new life, no longer an outcast who was feared, but a needed and heeded necessary part of that society’s functioning. 

 

Jesus, as the Son of God, thinks beyond this physical plane to the spiritual. The kindness Jesus extends to the evil and ungrateful person makes that person eternally useful. The person is an accepted and useful member in society and, with Jesus’ kindness coming from His love toward this person, the once-evil and ungrateful person receives and accepts Jesus’ lovingkindness, believes in Him, and is saved from his/her sins and old way of life. Jesus’ kindness comes from His love and goodness. 

 

Jesus taught the people to be more than just helpful by giving bread or drink. He told His followers to be kind—giving the lovingkindness He put in them through His Spirit—even to the lowest, most feared, and most cast out. By this, not only may they become useful and productive members of society, they may come to see Jesus in your kindness. These once-evil people will be saved and have eternal life because we—His followers—looked beyond the evil and obeyed Jesus’ words and followed His example. These once-evil people become eternity bound, useful and productive in the scope of God’s eternity from now through beyond time. These feel and know God’s love, then share it. 

 

Be kind to the evil and ungrateful. Before you were saved, you were not good, but evil and ungrateful, too. Be kind because Jesus says to do so. Be kind because the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you has put His love and goodness in you. You will grow and become more useful and productive to God and society. You will grow closer to God and be made more in Jesus’ image. Let the goodness of God shared to you channel through you to whomever Jesus leads you. 

 

Remember what Jesus taught, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.”