The Reward Of Fruitfulness

In the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us that we must abide in Him and that if we do stay connected as a branch is connected to a vine fruit will be produced. It is eye opening to see what a strong emphasis Jesus puts on the Christian bearing fruit.

Joh 15:4 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. 5 "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. 6 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.

So what does Jesus mean by fruit? I believe that are some very specific things that the Bible tells us are the great desires of God for our lives. They are, The fruit of the Holy Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Also holiness, doing the will of the Father, the inflow and out flow of the love of God, communion with God through prayer and His holy word, and sharing the gospel of Christ with those around us. All these would constitute some of the fruit God is looking for in our lives.

So here is an interesting question: What is the reward for the Christian who abides in Christ and stays connected with Him so that fruit is produced bringing glory to God? Is it blessings, riches, or fame? No it is pruning. What? This doesn't seem fair you say. If a person has done their best to serve God, He strips away, cuts, and peels back the branches leaving them exposed and bare? Yes, He does.

Joh 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Why? Because God is not interested in large branches. There is only one thing that impresses Him and that is fruit. The stories about last year's harvest are last year's stories. This is a new years. So He strips you of the pride of last year's fruit because He wants to take away all that will get in the way of the fruit that will be produced this year.

Some Christians question God for difficulties they are going through. They wonder why God is not blessing them. They get discouraged and ask where is God in all this? But they forget that God's great goal is not our comfort or even happiness. He is conforming us into the image of Christ and sometimes that is messy and painful experience.

But remember the comfort the word give us:

Heb 12:5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.
9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

The Beauty of Free Will

The Calvinist says:

• God chooses only some to go to heaven.

• God chooses others to go the hell.

• Man is totally depraved and has no choice but to sin

• Those that God has chosen for hell will never be called or drawn to God by the Holy Spirit, and this is not a result of their rejection of the mercy of God, but God's choice to not save them

• Even though God chooses not to call or save them, and they have no choice but to sin, He will still hold them eternally accountable and punish them in the lake of fire.

Therefore the ones whom God chooses for hell are doomed. The cross of Christ has no hope for them at all. The atonement is limited only to save those who God have chosen for salvation. Parents with 6 children will have to come to grips with the possibility that only some of their children may be in heaven. They will be faced with the thought that some of these they have loved and nurtured all these years are not chosen by God and therefore are destined to suffer agony in the lake of fire for all eternity. No amount of prayer, Bible teaching, or character training is ever going to change that.

WOW! How awful. This would be like a parent telling a 6 mo old baby to complete an algebra problem or they will beat him. That baby has no ability to do the math problem. For a parent to punish a child for what he has no ability to do would cause us all to call for jail time for those parents. 

The Bible teaches that man is lost in sin and that only through the power of the Holy Spirit can he know of God, come to God, and serve God.  But the scriptures also teaches that the mercy of God has been extended to all men.   The all damning sin that leaves man with no hope is to reject the work of Christ on the cross.  God makes a way to escape the penalty of sin - AND EXTENDS THE INVITATION TO ALL!  

I'm so thankful that the Biblical picture of God is not the God of Calvinism. Too often we see wording such as ,the whole world, or all men, or once for all, when God talks about His plan of redemption through Jesus shed blood.

Joh 1:7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

2Pe 3:9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Tit 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

The beauty of the Gospel is intimately connected to the concept of free will. The offer of mercy is extended to everyone. The Holy Spirit brings light to all.

Joh 8:12 ¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Those that freely choose to follow the light, God gives more. He does not want robots who have no choice but to obey because it is in their programing. This doesn't bring glory to God except to say He is stronger and more powerful that all of His creation and can make them do anything He wants. For a time a parent can do the same. He can control everything in his child's life. But the blessing of parenthood is not the control of a child. The blessing is when they look into your eyes and say I love you daddy and they order their life is a way that says I don't want to disappoint my daddy. Not just because you told them to or made them, or threatened them if they didn't, but because they want to. The blessing is when they choose to snuggle up close to you. They do this because they have come to know who you are and they love being close to you.

When God put Adam and Eve in the garden and said don't eat of this one tree He gave them an opportunity to choose to love and obey God. What God was looking for then and now is not robots who are programed to love Him, but those who if given an opportunity will choose to respond to God's great act of love through the cross and freely look God in the eye and say I love you daddy and I want to please you. That is the beauty of free will.

The Great Pretender

God blessed Solomon more that anyone who ever has been or ever will be. He blessed him with not only wisdom, but also with honor, power, abilities in organization and leadership that were almost limitless. 1 Kings records that $1,187,200,000 of gold came into his kingdom on an annually basis, if we figure at today's per once rate.


Solomon built and organized Israel into a nation that could take your breath away. He created 500 golden shields to be carried by his elite body guards. By toady's standards those shields were worth a total of $136,640,000. That is a lot of money to spend on shields that only had decorative value. They would not stand up in battle. But even that fact says something about Solomon - He was not trusting in the shields of his bodyguards. His trust was in God. It is true that later in his life he would turn from God, but at this point God had blessed him and Solomon had completely humbled himself before Yahweh.

Picture Solomon on the horizon with his 500 body guards carrying 500 golden shields. The site would be spectacular as the sun blazes in reflection off the gold. I believe God intended a message to be seen in those shields. He was saying, My presence is with this nation, my provision is with this nation, and my protection is with this nation.

Years later when Solomon's son Rehoboam was on the throne the King of Egypt attacked because Rehoboam and the nation of Israel had once again gone after false foreign gods in worship. The king of Egypt took everything, including the golden shields. Rehoboam decided to make new shields in place of the stolen ones. But he doesn't use gold, they no longer have gold. He uses bronze instead.

There is a powerful message in his choice of bronze for his bodyguard's shields. Bronze is shinny like gold but it is not God. Rehoboam was pretending - acting like nothing had changed. The truth was that everything had change. They no longer had the presence, provision, or the protection that the gold shields represented.

Even though both metals are shinny, there is a huge difference between gold and bronze.

There is a difference in value. One large gold shield is today valued at $448,000. One large bronze shield's value would be $80. The provision was gone.

The weight was different. Gold weighs twice the weight of bronze. Every time a guard picked up one of those bronze shields he knew things were different. The guards didn't march with the same energy in their step because they knew things were not the same. They knew they were just pretending.

Maintenance was different. The gold shields needed almost no human maintenance. The bronze shields needed constant rubbing to keep the tarnish off and the shine on.

Coin collectors have a little trick to tell the difference between a gold coin and a bronze coin. Rub the coin between your finger until it gets warm and then smell your fingers. With gold there is no odor because the metal is pure, with bronze there is a stink.

Rehoboam's bronze shields were covered with human stink. Their was a constant need for the work and effort of man to keep the shine, rather than gold that just remains shinny because it is pure.

Bronze, brass, and even copper are metals that look like gold but are just pretending. Rehoboam was pretending that the presence, provision, and protection that were there under his father Solomon were still upon his kingdom.

Much of the church is pretending to walk in gold, but in reality they have created bronze shields and try not to notice the human stink of constant man centered polishing. We have exchanged the gold for the bronze when we call a good feeling at church the presence of God instead of seeking Him for a visitation that will forever change us.

We have exchange gold for bronze when we are satisfied with a provision that does not include a realization of all the promises of God including His promise to heal broken bodies. Why have we created doctrines that explain why God doesn't do what His book says He will do? Is it because we are satisfied with a bronze shine and are afraid of the devotion and humility required to produce gold?

We've exchanged gold for bronze in the area of protection. Many Christians live in fear of the enemy and life in general. Josephus and Historian from the first century says this of king Rehoboam, “ instead of warlike expeditions he reigned in great quietness”. This describes many Christians who carry bronze shields. I don't want any trouble is their life's motto. They do little and risk nothing because they are not sure God is there to catch them.

Solomon's Gold shields were an indicator of where he had placed his faith. A gold shield will not stand up in battle. Gold is soft and will not defend well. Solomon wasn't depending on those shields for his defence - he was dependant on the protection of God.

Rehoboam on the other hand had different thoughts. Bronze would hold up in battle. He didn't see his bronze shields as a symbol of God's protection. No he knew that was gone - so he had to protect himself. Human protection. Human shine.

Solomon's shields of gold came through his humility before God and asking for God's wisdom and help to lead the nation of Israel. Through humility the presence, provision, and protection of God came.

Rehoboam's shields of bronze came through pride, sin, and rejection of God. The presence, provision, and protection of God were removed and replaced with a cheap imitation.

Has the church allowed the devil to steal from us and then convince us that all is OK? Where is the presence that takes your breathe away? Where is the provision that fulfills all of what has been promised in holy scripture? Where is the protection of God that causes Christians to be the most confident people on earth because they are trusting in the God of the universe to watch over them not man - made substitutes?

Our shields are shinny - but are they gold?