Fruit that will last

FATHER'S DAY:
The Father's Assistance (John 15:16)
pdf
Dr. Paul Manuel—2013

When children are young, they look to their parents for many things, including their assistance in dealing with various problems.

After tucking their three-year-old in for bed one night, his parents heard loud sobbing coming from his room. Rushing in, they found him crying hysterically. He managed to tell them that he had swallowed a penny and was sure he was going to die. No amount of talking was helping. His father, in an attempt to calm him down, palmed a penny from his pocket and pretended to pull it from his son's ear. The boy was delighted. In a flash, he snatched it from his father's hand, swallowed it, and then cheerfully demanded... "Do it again, Dad!"

Children look to parents for assistance in dealing with various problems. Likewise, God's children look to The Father's Assistance in heaven for dealing with various problems, although without necessarily swallowing the answer.

Please turn to John 15, where Jesus relays a principle to his disciples. As they apply themselves to being productive for the kingdom, they can count on divine aid, because...

Principle: God the Father will help those who are fruitful (John 15:16).

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

When you were born, did your parents have great expectations of what you would become later in life? Perhaps your true potential did not reveal itself until later. When you uttered your first word, did they say, "This child has the makings of a great orator"? When you took your first step, did they say, "This child will surely become an Olympic runner"? I wonder if after giving me my first trombone lesson when I was in the third grade, my father thought, "It's already obvious that my son will be part of the Philharmonic Orchestra one day and play at Carnegie Hall." As I got into my teens, and it became obvious that I would not become a great musician, my parents were probably thinking, "We just hope the kid graduates from high school."

Whether or not your earthly parents had great expectations, your heavenly Father does have great expectations, and He wants to do great things for you. In fact, He is willing and able to "give you whatever you ask." There is a catch, however, as Jesus explains here.

There are probably some among Jesus' followers who sit at his feet and listen to his teaching, who are willing to serve and help with various tasks that arise but will not commit themselves assiduously to advancing Jesus' message of the kingdom. Just as there is no such thing as discipleship without service, so there is no such thing as service without results. A disciple must generate some visible and beneficial outcome. Jesus is not merely gathering followers who will support his ministry; he wants them to continue his ministry, to promote it actively and tangibly. Discipleship is not just about service in the cause of Christ.

A. The requirement for disciples is that they must be productive for their master.

Surely such a demanding task requires special skills, a seminary education, and a generous portion of spiritual gifts. It is odd that Jesus mentions no such prerequisites. Instead, he says to his disciples that...

1. They have been chosen.¹

What does that mean? ...On an earlier occasion, Jesus noted that "many are called but few are chosen" (Matt 22:14 NAS). In other words, there is a general invitation that goes out to everyone, similar to the one Jesus issued when he said,²

Matt 11:28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Despite the openness of that invitation, however, a great many people reject it or simply ignore it.³

In the same way, you have been chosen not merely because you decided to accept God's invitation but because He decided to accept you.⁴ The question remains, though, what does being chosen have to do with being productive? ...We see examples of productivity all around us:

• Meeting quotas at work,
• Completing the last assignment of the school year,
• Getting the hay baled before the Sabbath,
• Putting the house back in order after a particularly disruptive event.

These are ordinary examples of productivity, and they are also temporal, limited in their value to this life. Jesus is talking about productivity whose value extends to the next life. Paul refers to it in his letters to the Corinthian church. In his first epistle, he writes...

1 Cor 3:12 If any man builds...using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

The "Day" Paul refers to in this first letter to the Corinthian church is for an event he mentions again in his second epistle.

2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Both passages describe what will happen to believers when Jesus returns. To those who see their entire life's work go up in flames, it will not be a good way to start eternity, but it is entirely possible for those God has chosen. They will be saved, but their productivity, whatever they accomplished that lacked value beyond this life, will be lost. So, how would you gauge your productivity to this point?⁵

Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last. (C.T. Studd)

Those who are productive prove they have been chosen. They also prove...

2. They have been appointed.

In addition to being chosen, Jesus states that they have a meaningful assignment, which he identifies as bearing fruit. This is a metaphor, a figure of speech that substitutes one thing for another to make a particular point. Jesus does not identify the kind of fruit he has in mind, only its extended shelf life. He probably intends the fruit of godly character, as Paul describes it in...⁶

Gal 5:22 ...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23a gentleness and self-control.

Having character is not to the same as being a character. These are traits that identify you with God. Furthermore, by telling the disciples that they are "to go and bear fruit," Jesus indicates that their fruit should be public not private.

Your appointment, the task before you, is to make lasting differences by how you think and act. You may feel ill-prepared to be an evangelist or a missionary, but you should not shrink from improving your character, and from doing so in ways obvious to others, for that is the duty of disciples, the duty to which they and you have been appointed.

Jesus' point is not that you should volunteer for the worst job you can imagine in order to learn patience and self-control, but that you should use whatever experiences God may bring your way—even the most ordinary—to improve your character. What tasks, even seemingly ordinary, engaged you this week? Did they help you in some way to build godly character?

While the disciples' tasks were often mundane, they were not busywork. Jesus did not assign insignificant little jobs that pass the time yet have no purpose. Everything had some value. There are, of course, assignments for which students may fail to see the point, but the teacher knows the end he wants to accomplish even if the students do not.

In their pursuit of whatever assignment God sets before them, disciples need not relay on their own resources only, for He is also involved. In fact...

B. The response by God is that He will be supportive of the disciples.

Jesus' final statement in this verse, that "the Father will give you whatever you ask," has caused both confusion and excess.⁷ In the extreme is the "Name It and Claim It" belief among some Charismatic Christians that treats prayer as an incantation. According to this view, you need only name your request to God and then claim the response from God. It is a sister doctrine to the "Health and Wealth Gospel," which asserts that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy.

• If you want a new car, just name it and claim it.
• If you want to be free from the demon of alcohol, just name it and claim it.

Whatever your heart desires, God is ready to grant, and what you do not receive is probably an indication that your faith is weak. As with many such peculiar notions, these employ a selective use of scripture that pays little attention to the surrounding verses. Most Christians are simply uncertain what Jesus means here. Will God give "whatever you ask?" If so, "Why does He not answer all my petitions?"

The single most important element that controls the meaning of any passage is context and the context of John 15:16 contains at least two controls, both relating to the phrase "in my name."⁸ This is not a magic formula, nor is it the obligatory punctuation at the end of a prayer (which is the way many Christians use it: "In Jesus name, amen."). So, what does it mean for disciples to issue their requests in Jesus' name? It means that...

A. Their petition invokes Jesus' influence in securing a favorable response.

 Furthermore—and this is equally important—

B. Their petition acknowledges Jesus' interest in the matter, so the request is not selfish.

In other words, to pray in Jesus' name is to ask what Jesus would want. For example, would the one who had "no place to lay his head" want you to ask God for a million dollars? Probably not.

Jesus is talking about the importance of being productive, of bearing "fruit that will last." As disciples attempt to fulfill that obligation, they will encounter the limitations of their own resources. At that time, they can request The Father's Assistance, and He will help those who are fruitful by giving them what they need.⁹

In this brief passage, Jesus explains what it means to have God as our Father, and he describes The Father's Assistance to help those who are fruitful in serving the Lord. Unlike the relationship of a child to his earthly father, we never cease to be under the care and authority of our heavenly Father, and He will provide for our needs. Are you bearing fruit in your service to Him? ... If so, then you can count on His help for your needs.

For the Bibliography and the Endnotes see the pdf here.