Focus on Jesus DON'T WORK ON THE FRUIT
"If you love me you will obey my commands." John 14:15, N.E.B.
How many of us have wasted time and effort trying to obey, when Jesus said, "If you love me you will..." Genuine obedience and growth and victory are natural and spontaneous in the Christian life. One premise almost everyone agrees on is that justification is the root and sanctification is the fruit. But if this is true, and we do not work on our own justification but rather accept it as God's free gift, how much more should we accept as God's gift the fruit of justification? In The Desire of Ages, page 677, we read how Jesus told His disciples that they were not to labor to bear fruit but rather to put their labor toward abiding in Him. To believe that sanctification is the fruit of justification, and at the same time to believe that you are supposed to work hard on your obedience and victory, presents a great incongruity. You don't labor on fruit. It is the result of something else, and you never put forth effort on the result. You put your effort toward the cause of the result.
Jesus made many statements regarding fruit that are significant to this subject. One is found in Matthew 7:16-18. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Notice that bearing good fruit is natural for a good tree.
In Matthew 23:26 Jesus said, in effect, If you will wash the inside of the cup, the outside will be clean. How many of us have wasted our time and years and effort trying to clean up the outside instead of going to the cause of the problem? If we put our attention on the cause and clean the inside, the outside will be clean. These are simple examples from the teaching of Jesus that genuine obedience is natural and spontaneous in the Christian life.
Then where is cooperation? It seems quite obvious. If obedience is the fruit of faith (Steps to Christ, p. 61) then our efforts and our cooperation would be toward becoming good trees, instead of toward producing good fruit. The only way we can become good trees is by coming to Christ day by day, allowing Him to do His work of grace in our lives. As we do this, the fruit will develop naturally and spontaneously.
"If you love me you will obey my commands." John 14:15, N.E.B.
How many of us have wasted time and effort trying to obey, when Jesus said, "If you love me you will..." Genuine obedience and growth and victory are natural and spontaneous in the Christian life. One premise almost everyone agrees on is that justification is the root and sanctification is the fruit. But if this is true, and we do not work on our own justification but rather accept it as God's free gift, how much more should we accept as God's gift the fruit of justification? In The Desire of Ages, page 677, we read how Jesus told His disciples that they were not to labor to bear fruit but rather to put their labor toward abiding in Him. To believe that sanctification is the fruit of justification, and at the same time to believe that you are supposed to work hard on your obedience and victory, presents a great incongruity. You don't labor on fruit. It is the result of something else, and you never put forth effort on the result. You put your effort toward the cause of the result.
Jesus made many statements regarding fruit that are significant to this subject. One is found in Matthew 7:16-18. "Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." Notice that bearing good fruit is natural for a good tree.
In Matthew 23:26 Jesus said, in effect, If you will wash the inside of the cup, the outside will be clean. How many of us have wasted our time and years and effort trying to clean up the outside instead of going to the cause of the problem? If we put our attention on the cause and clean the inside, the outside will be clean. These are simple examples from the teaching of Jesus that genuine obedience is natural and spontaneous in the Christian life.
Then where is cooperation? It seems quite obvious. If obedience is the fruit of faith (Steps to Christ, p. 61) then our efforts and our cooperation would be toward becoming good trees, instead of toward producing good fruit. The only way we can become good trees is by coming to Christ day by day, allowing Him to do His work of grace in our lives. As we do this, the fruit will develop naturally and spontaneously.
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