Week 6 Day 1-God, the Center Hub

-g-

Day 1 – God at the Center of Your Life (John 15:1-2, 4-6)Day dde

¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away (can also be translated as “He lifts up”); and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

⁴ 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. ⁵ “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. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 

         Verse 1-2. God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ must be the center of every believer’s life in order to grow in respect to their salvation. As a result, God will cause us to bear fruit. In contrast, if God is not the center of our lives, we cannot do anything.

    Fruitfulness does not always mean blessings. Sometimes the result will be times of pruning. Obedience and abidance with God is not to make life joyful for us (even though we do experience joy, John 15:11), but rather to bear fruit for God. The goal of growth is always for God’s glory. Notice in verse 2, Jesus says any branch “in Me.” These unfruitful branches are Christians but being taken away does not mean salvation lost, but rather fellowship and blessings lost.

         Verse 4-5. Five times in six verses, Jesus warns against failure rather than success.

“Every branch that does not bear fruit”...

“cannot bear fruit of itself”...

“neither can you”...

“apart from me you can do nothing”...

“If anyone does not abide in Me.”

    These excessive warnings show the dire consequences of failure to abide in Christ and place God at the center of our lives.

         Verse 6. The Bible often uses “fire” as a refining purifier from God for Christians (see also 1 Corinthians 3:13, 15; Hebrews 12:29; 1 Peter 1:7). John 15:6 refers to spiritual fire, not as in “hell fire” for unbelievers, since we saw in John 15:2 that the branches are “in Christ”. The point is that fruitfulness and abiding in Christ should be our goal.

         Galatians 2:20 states that since we have been crucified with Christ, we have died and no longer are living for ourselves. Instead, Christ lives within us and the life which we do live here on earth and in the flesh, we must live by faith in God’s Son. When God is at the center, He gives us the motivation to live in Him.

    Jesus is not an impersonal force. He loves us and gave His very life for us and through His Holy Spirit, Christ the Son and God the Father both live within us. John 14:21 says, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”  Jesus Christ gives us His strength by abiding and living with us and in us. Jesus is the True Vine, giving us the nourishing power of faith to produce fruit.

    Draw a circle on a piece of paper, and then trace another circle at the center of the outer circle. Like the hub that gives power to the wheel, God will empower our lives when He is at the center. The force generated from the center will spread out through its spokes to the rim, where the “rubber meets the road.”

Tomorrow, Day 2, Read the Word