Title For More Fruits
Contents
♡♥♡ For more fruit / John 15:1-8
***Introduction
In order for a person to do something, they first make a plan that suits their purpose. Then, according to the plan, people and materials are prepared and executed. For example, let's say you need a desk. However, it is not a desk by taking a piece of plank and using it as a desk, or buying only the materials to make a desk. If you want to build your own desk, first decide what kind of desk you want to build and make a proper plan. You buy the materials and cut, cut, trim, glue, and paint them to fit your plan to create a desk. It is only used when the various materials are properly placed and assembled to form a desk.
As the verse says, a farmer does not leave a vine to grow by itself after planting a vine. Either way, in order to get a lot of good quality fruits, we put a lot of manure, cut branches, and spray pesticides.
Whether it's a desk or a vine, it's all a process by which the owner makes it fit his will. From the point of view of the materials for the desk or the vine, the process of being cut, sheared, and trimmed would be painful. However, without going through this process, it cannot be used for its intended purpose.
It took a long time and a lot of work to get me to where I am today. God has planned, properly guided, and provided all these things for His use of me.
Since then, God has stood in my way. I was really like, ‘No,’ but I couldn’t do it so thoroughly. There was nothing to become. I could understand the saying, ‘Even if you fall backwards, your nose will break. I struggled to make excuses that the path was not the path God wanted, and I ran away for years, stubbornly enduring the tightening pain.
Perhaps if I had obeyed sooner, I wouldn't have wasted time and would have given me a better position in ministry. In the end, I entered the seminary in 1986, and to this day, God is constantly training and changing me. When I was running away, I didn't even realize that such painful things were breaking me.
There is no way out for those who are caught up in God's plan like this. If you try to deny ‘no’ and run away, it will only be more painful. Because God undoubtedly cuts out the unnecessary parts of the world that disobey you. It's like pruning branches you don't need. God's people can enjoy peace only when they come to God. God sighs in Isaiah 1:5-6. “Why do you become more and more rebellious to be beaten more? The whole head was sick, and the whole heart was weary, from the sole of the foot to the head there were no blemishes, only bruises, ruptures, and new bites, and they were not made to be woven and bound up, or softened with oil.”
God prunes unnecessary parts of life so that your children can have a better life and be more fruitful. This pruning is accompanied by many pains, conflicts and difficulties. Let's take a look at what God does for our fruitfulness and happiness.
1. God works according to usage.
The Bible shows the process of God using people in various ways. In the “parable of the potter” in Jeremiah 18, God shows how to make the necessary vessels according to His will. On the other hand, in 2 Timothy 2:20-21, it is said, ‘Use a cleanly prepared vessel’ among many vessels of various shapes made of various materials.
In fact, there is a way that God showed us through the many workers who were called to work. Moses, who was called by God to lead Israel, sees that his lips are dull and he refuses to speak again. Then God speaks to Moses, who refuses. Exodus 4:11. “And the LORD said to him, Who made man's mouth? Who made the dumb or the deaf or the bright or the blind? Am I not Yahweh?” This is a reminder that it is God who makes it suitable for use.
Then, how do you know that God is doing the work to suit the use? There are several phenomena here.
The first is to make you feel your own powerlessness thoroughly. I am motivated to run and work hard, but there is no result. The barriers to the world seem so high. In the end, they feel helpless, angry, and frustrated that they can't handle on their own.
Second, it makes you feel that nothing in the world can help you. You depend on money, power, friends, and family, but you feel that they are of no help. In the end, the loneliness of being alone takes over.
Third, it makes you feel that all directions are blocked except the way God wants you to. Do you know Jonah? The prophet Jonah was called to deliver God's judgment to Nineveh, the capital of the enemy nation. But Jonah disobeyed God's will and fled. But he could not escape God. The end of the path of rebellion was in the belly of the fish.
If you ignore this phenomenon and keep going your own way, the pain will be multiplied and you will end up in a mess. You may lose a loved one, or you may suffer a huge financial loss. The body may suffer from serious diseases, and the business may go bankrupt. All of this is a work to be tailored to God's use. This work comes to an end by coming into God. Are you worried about your life? It is because they have not yet fully entered into God.
2. God allows us to produce more fruit with tools suitable for their use.
Being conformed to God's will can be painful because it involves having to forsake the worldly things that the flesh enjoys. But there is no comparison with what is given to God after it is possessed. All restrictions are lifted after we have been crafted to be fit for God's use. In verse 7, the Lord says, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish. If you do, it will be done.” This is where Christian satisfaction comes from. Even if the environment or conditions of life in the world are not favorable and sometimes there is suffering because of the Lord, the joy and peace of the Lord will be full. This is John 10:28. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand.” In 16:22, “You are sad now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice. No one can take your joy away.”
There is one reason God does this to His children. It is for God to be glorified. A well-cut and trimmed branch or vessel will bear much fruit, and many fruits will bring glory to God, and those who are pleased with God will become disciples of the Lord.
A Christian, a senior executive at a large corporation, took a week off from his busy life after being overworked. He asked for his family's understanding and rented a small house in a secluded place far from the city to rest.
You don't know how nice it was to leave a crowded and polluted city. Breathe in the fresh air that cools your heart. When it gets dark, you can go to bed and sleep for more than ten hours at any time. Just open the door and you will be intoxicated while enjoying the beautiful nature. I put aside all my worries about work, family, and faith. No phone calls, no newspapers delivered, no one comes to visit. I thought, “How wonderful it would be to live like this all the time!”
A few days passed like a dream. But strangely, I couldn't sleep well and my heart started to shake. As he walked through the woods, he thought of the agitation in his mind. He wanted to do something different. He even had lonely thoughts and felt lonely. In the end, he said he came back after not being able to finish a week.
God did not create us simply to enjoy the world. God did His will on this earth and created us to work together. Let's look at the scene where the prophet Isaiah, whom we know well, is called. Isaiah 6:8. God sighs, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Jesus explains the purpose of raising the twelve disciples in this way: This is Mark 3:14-15. “Then he appointed twelve, that he might be with him, and that he might have sent them out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons.”
There is a special providence of God for both you and me to be called as Christians in this dark age. I am not called to live a peaceful, happy, and enjoyable life for myself or my family. He did important things about life through me and allowed me to participate in the great and great work of building the kingdom of God.
Are you, saints, tailored to the use of God? If so, what kind of fruit has it produced so far? How many people have gained life because of you? The Lord will demand fruit as we close our lives. I hope that I will not become a foolish saint like Moses or Jonah who obeys only when God is angry.
Like the prophet Isaiah, when we hear the groan of the Lord, or when He shows many things before us, “Here I am. Send me.” I hope you will become faithful saints who volunteer to respond. Therefore, I pray that you will become a saint who becomes the joy of God with many fruits.