We Can Do Nothing

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.

John Piper 

The Root Determines the Fruit

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

MATTHEW 7:15-20

 

PONDER THIS

Jesus starts this passage by calling false prophets “ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Then He explains we can know who the wolves are by their fruit. In verse 16, Jesus no longer speaks of these false prophets as animals but as trees. He’s saying that the devil’s work cannot continue to be covered by deception because the fruit is there. The root determines the fruit. Simply put, the devil can’t produce good fruit.

If you had a fruit tree that wasn’t bearing the right kind of fruit, what could you do to get the right kind of fruit on it? You could transplant it. That’s what some people do when they move their membership. You might also try to cultivate it. Many people go off to church growth conferences today, but some of the material they read was telling them how to fertilize weeds. Growth is not everything. If the root is not right, it doesn’t matter how big the tree is; the right fruit will not come from a bad tree. You could also decorate the bad tree. You could pull off the bad fruit and tie on some healthy fruit to make it look right.

But no matter what you do on the outside, it is the root that determines the fruit. The fruit of the heart can only be changed when Jesus changes the heart. We can try to make all these quick fixes, but we won’t fool God. He is after the heart change, and He wants to develop and grow the fruit.

How has God changed your heart? What are some ways you tried to fix your sin problems on your own before that happened?

How can you determine if the teachers you listen to produce good or bad fruit?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for discernment to see the fruit of faith Jesus talks about. Ask God to change your heart so that you will bear His fruit.

 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers

Are You Bearing Fruit?

“Along the bank of the river, on this side and that, will grow all kinds of trees used for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine.”

EZEKIEL 47:12

 

PONDER THIS

On a Sunday morning, I’ll preach and give an invitation. We’ll have some people come in the service to accept Christ and I’m grateful for that. But what would happen if, out of your life, was flowing a river of living water. What would happen if you were sharing Jesus Christ regularly?

Where the river flows, the fruit of the Spirit will show—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, mercy, faith. Where these waters flow, these trees grow, and fruit will follow. It’ll be very obvious that you’re a child of God. When people meet you and walk away from you, whether they believe in you or like you or not, they will say that you are different because they see in you the fruit of the Spirit, which is really the character of Jesus Christ.

You may be in a place where you are weak—anemic in your faith. You have no power in your prayer life. You have no substance in your witness. You have no great authority in your spiritual warfare. Very frankly, you need to be healed. The secret to healing is the Holy Spirit. Are you willing to humble yourself before God? We need to pray and ask God to make us humble, making less of us and more of His Spirit in us.

How have you seen God bring fruit from your faith?

Where is your faith weak? Have you come humbly to God for the work of His Spirit? Explain.

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to Christians you admire and ask where they have seen God bring fruit in their faith.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Can Do Nothing

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.

John Piper 

Are You Producing Good Fruit?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2:18-20

 

PONDER THIS

Did you know grace is a unique marker of the Christian faith? Jesus Christ has cornered the market on grace. No one else, except our Lord, teaches salvation by grace. There are only two kinds of religion in the world—grace and works. One is spelled do, and the other is spelled done. We often want to make passages sound contradictory between Paul and James, but there’s no real contradiction here. They’re heads and tails of the same coin.

In Romans 4, Paul wrote about justification before God. James wrote about justification before men. God knows I am justified when I trust Christ. But you can’t see my trust. All you can see is what I say and how I live. Paul was talking about the root of our salvation; James was talking about the fruit of our salvation. The root is beneath the ground; the fruit is hanging out on the tree. But the fruit is the proof of the root.

What are some fruits of God’s work in your life?

Is the fruit of faith possible without the root? Why or why not?

PRACTICE THIS

Encourage a friend about the fruit of faith you see in his or her life.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Experience Joy Through Surrender

PRAY OVER THIS

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5

 

PONDER THIS

A branch exists for one reason: the vine. It makes a full surrender to the vine. You say, “But, Pastor, I’ve got a family; I’ve got a job; I’ve got this; and I’ve got that. How can I just have one issue?” Well, you must totally, completely abide in the vine. If you don’t do that, you’re not going to have joy. And how do you abide? Full surrender. Have you ever made a full surrender?

Imagine a human being could have a conversation with a branch. The branch would say to the human being, “Now, you human beings think you’re so intelligent, but you always seem frustrated to me, rushing around, knocking things over; no rest, no peace.” And the man says to the branch, “Well, you seem to have peace. How do you do it?” He says, “I’ve reduced all my concerns to one and that is to abide in the vine. And once I do that, worry has to go. When summertime comes and I need a drink of water, I don’t worry about where it comes from. That’s the vine’s business. I abide in the vine, and the vine puts his roots down into the soil and brings up that moisture for my wilted leaves. And then in springtime when I need buds, I don’t worry about where those buds are going to come from. I abide in the vine. And when the time of vintage and harvest comes, I don’t worry about the grapes: how big, how few, how sweet. It’s none of my business. I don’t produce the fruit.” You will have joy when you abide in the vine.

What does it look like to abide in Jesus?

How has abiding in Jesus impacted your life?

PRACTICE THIS

Through prayer, surrender anything you have been wrestling with to God and abide in Him.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

How to Hate Your Life

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24–25)

“Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” What does that mean?

It means, at least, that you don’t take much thought for your life in this world. In other words, it just doesn’t matter much what happens to your life in this world.

If men speak well of you, it doesn’t matter much.

If they hate you, it doesn’t matter much.

If you have a lot of things, it doesn’t matter much.

If you have little, it doesn’t matter much.

If you are persecuted or lied about, it doesn’t matter much.

If you are famous or unheard of, it doesn’t matter much.

If you have died with Christ, these things just don’t matter much.

But Jesus’s words are even more radical. Jesus is calling us not just to endure experiences we don’t choose, but to make a choice to follow him. “If anyone serves me, he must follow me” (John 12:26). Where to? He is moving into Gethsemane and toward the cross.

Jesus is not just saying: If things go bad, don’t fret, since you have died with me anyway. He is saying: Choose to die with me. Choose to hate your life in this world the way I have chosen the cross.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). He calls us to choose the cross. People only did one thing on a cross. They died on it. “Take up your cross,” means, “Like a grain of wheat, fall into the ground and die.” Choose it.

But why? For the sake of radical commitment to ministry: “I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). I think I hear Paul saying, “It doesn’t matter what happens to me — if I can just live to the glory of God’s grace.”

John Piper 

Are You Choosing Spiritual Life?

PRAY OVER THIS

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

 

PONDER THIS

Part of choosing life is presenting spiritual life. I have four children on Earth and a little boy in Heaven. My children are a long way from perfect, but they all love God. When my son, Steve, was a teenager, I watched him and noticed I didn’t see the beauty of Jesus in his life, though he’d walked down the aisle and made a profession of faith. I said, “Steve, get in the car with me. Let’s go for a ride. Let’s go out and walk in the woods.” During that day together I said to him, “Son, daddy has got to know that you know Jesus.”

We talked, and out there in the woods we kneeled and prayed. During our conversation, he assured me, “Daddy, I love Jesus.” From then on, I started to notice him showing it through his life. One day I prayed, “Lord, if any of my children are not saved, I don’t want to go to Heaven without all my children.” I didn’t say anything to my wife, Joyce, or the children about it. But the next Sunday when I gave the invitation, my oldest daughter, Gayle, came down the aisle and she said, “Daddy, I don’t believe I’ve ever really and truly been saved. I want to be saved.” I believe that was directly related to that prayer. Families need to choose spiritual life.

Whose spiritual health do you regularly pray for?

How can you choose spiritual life through your daily routines?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for any family members who don’t seem to show fruit of the Spirit in their lives or who have wandered away from their faith.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Can Do Nothing

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.

John Piper 

What Are You Sowing?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7

 

PONDER THIS

God has promised we will reap the same as we sow. The Bible says in Genesis 1:24 that the plants and the animals bring forth their kind. You cannot sow one thing and reap another thing.

For example, you don’t reap figs from an olive tree. You don’t plant corn and reap wheat. And you cannot plant discord and reap unity. You cannot plant hypocrisy and reap holiness. You cannot sow to the flesh and reap to the spirit. As Job 4:8 says, “Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.” There’s no way to get around this in the good and in the bad. Whatever you need, you ought to plant. The question for each of us is: what is it that we are sowing?

If you only reap what you sow, what should you expect to reap from your life?

If you are unsure of this, how might looking at the fruit of your life help you see how you are sowing?

PRACTICE THIS

Plant something today, whether a tree, a flower, or a seed for food. Do this as an act of worship before the Lord, meditating on the truth that we will only reap what we sow.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Can Do Nothing

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.

John Piper 

What are You Taking to Heaven?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house, your children like olive plants all around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord." Psalm 128:3-4

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

The greatest wealth you have is not in the bank. If you have children, your greatest wealth is your children. “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed but shall speak with their enemies in the gate” (Psalm 127:4-5).

I’ve heard it said, “Children make a rich man poor.” They've got it exactly backward. They make a poor man rich. Friend, no one, rich or poor, can take their money to Heaven. But I'm taking my children to Heaven.

ACTION POINT

Thank God for a Christian family. Thank God for the things that really matter! “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). That godliness comes when we give our hearts to Jesus Christ and trust Him as our Lord and Savior.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

We Can Do Nothing

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Suppose you are totally paralyzed and can do nothing for yourself but talk. And suppose a strong and reliable friend promised to live with you and do whatever you needed done. How could you glorify this friend if a stranger came to see you?

Would you glorify his generosity and strength by trying to get out of bed and carry him? No! You would say, “Friend, please come lift me up, and would you put a pillow behind me so I can look at my guest? And would you please put my glasses on for me?”

And so your visitor would learn from your requests that you are helpless and that your friend is strong and kind. You glorify your friend by needing him, and by asking him for help, and counting on him.

In John 15:5, Jesus says, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” So we really are paralyzed. Without Christ, we are capable of no Christ-exalting good. As Paul says in Romans 7:18, “Nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”

But John 15:5 also says that God does intend for us to do much Christ-exalting good, namely bear fruit: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit.” So as our strong and reliable friend — “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) — he promises to do for us, and through us, what we can’t do for ourselves.

How then do we glorify him? Jesus gives the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves — bear fruit.

John 15:8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”

So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that he will provide the help we need.

John Piper 

What Moves You to Minister?

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)

Faith has an insatiable appetite for experiencing as much of God’s grace as possible. Therefore, faith presses toward the river where God’s grace flows most freely, namely, the river of love.

What other force will move us out of our contented living rooms to take upon ourselves the inconveniences and suffering that love requires?

What will propel us . . .

to greet strangers when we feel shy?

to go to an enemy and plead for reconciliation when we feel indignant?

to tithe when we’ve never tried it?

to speak to our colleagues about Christ when we are timid?

to invite new neighbors to a Bible study?

to cross cultures with the gospel?

to create a new ministry for alcoholics?

to spend an evening driving a van?

to invest a morning praying for renewal?

None of these costly acts of love just happens. They are impelled by a new appetite — the appetite of faith for the fullest experience of God’s grace. We want more of God. And we want this more than we want our private, disturbance-free security and comfort.

Faith loves to rely on God and see him work miracles in us. Therefore, faith pushes us into the current where the power of God’s future grace flows most freely — the current of love.

I think this is what Paul meant when he said that we should sow to the Spirit (Galatians 6:8). By faith, we should put the seeds of our energy in the furrows where we know the Spirit is at work to bear fruit — the furrows of love.

John Piper 

Are You Bearing Fruit?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me”... 

(John 15:4)

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Have you ever seen a fruit factory? No. You might have seen a shirt factory, but you will not see a fruit factory. You will only find a fruit orchard.

You see, there is no fruit without life. You’re not going to grow and produce the fruit of the Spirit unless you’re walking in the Spirit. The Bible says in Galatians 5:25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” The only way that fruit is going to ripen and grow is in the right climate. Abide in Jesus.

ACTION POINT:

Are you abiding? Are you being fruitful? Ask God to show you where you need to make changes so that you are walking in the Spirit.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers