Knowing you are reading it right part 2 & 3

We continued our series this past Sunday "40 Days in the Word" with part 5" How to study a particular passage of the Bible." You can listen to the podcast at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can download it from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158  

We talked about how context is key when reading and studying the Bible. On Sunday we practiced context by looking at principle #1 Historical Context. Then in the previous blog we looked at principle #2 Looking at Key Words. In today’s blog we will look at principle #3 and #4. Using all of these principles will help you learn how to understand the Bible. When you begin to hear God speak to you and challenge you and encourage you there is nothing else like that. When you realize and experience God speaking for yourself. He loves you and wants to speak to YOU!

PRINCIPLE #3—I must interpret unclear verses with clear ones.

In this passage as I read John 15 we find three clear characteristics of fruit.  What it means to grow spiritual fruit.  We find them in verse 4 and verse 8 and verse 11. 
 

What are the three characteristics of fruit?

In verse 4 it says this, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” Remember I said “remain” means to stay, to continue, or to CONNECT.  It’s the Greek word meno.  It just means to be connected.  A branch that’s disconnected from a tree is not going to bear any fruit.  It’s got to stay connected or it won’t bear any fruit.  That’s all he’s saying.  Be connected to me and I’ll be connected to you.  “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

(On a side note staying connected is our responsibility. I don’t know of any VINES that disconnect from a BRANCH. It usually is the other way around. The branch disconnects from the vine. God is so faithful and has done everything through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to stay connected to us. Now we get connected through repentance and then we stay connected in relationship with Him daily.)

So the first thing I’d write down if I’m doing a Bible study, and I’m writing down an observation, here’s what I’d write down:

·        Bearing fruit is produced by remaining in Christ. 

That’s not an exaggeration.  That’s not reading into the text.  That’s pretty clear.  That’s a very clear verse there.  He says it three times.  You stay in me, you’re going to bear fruit.  If you don’t stay in me, you’re not going to bear fruit.  If you don’t stay in me you can’t do anything.

So the first thing we learn is that bearing fruit is produced by remaining in Christ.  What does that mean?  Fruit is an inside job.  You can’t just tack it on to your life and pretend like you’re bearing fruit.  That would be like taking a barren tree, with no leaves on it and tying apples to it and saying, I’ve got an apple tree.  People would think you were absolutely crazy!.  Unfortunately, a lot of people in our culture try to do this.  They try to tie on good works to their life and say, see I’m bearing fruit.  No, you’re just tying it on.  It’s got to come from within.  He says the Holy Spirit flowing in you is going to bear fruit.  Fruit is produced by remaining in Christ. 

Verse 8 says this “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”  So the second thing I write down is this:

·        Bearing fruit brings glory to God. 

How do I know that?  Because that’s what that verse says.  It’s very clear.  I’m not making this up.  I’m not misinterpreting it.  It says that when I bear fruit it brings glory to God.  So I would write that down.

It says bearing fruit is produced by remaining in Christ, it brings glory to God, then in verse 11 we get the third characteristic.  “I have told you this [Jesus says] so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”  Jesus tells us his motive for talking about bearing fruit.  It’s joy.  So I write this down:

·        Bearing fruit will give me complete joy. 

He says that.  “… so that your joy may be complete.” Bearing fruit, whatever it is, it’s produced by remaining in Christ, it brings glory to God and it’s going to give me great, complete joy.

Now I’m interested.  I want to know what fruit is because I want to live a joyful life of complete, complete, joy.

So we learn three things about it.  But we’re still stuck with the question, what’s fruit?  If I’m supposed to bear it I better figure out what it is. 

How do I do that?  You go to the fourth principle.  The fourth principle of interpretation is this:
 

Principle #4—Look for the most obvious meaning.

Look for the most obvious meaning in the text. This is the exact opposite of what a lot of people want to do.  They want to go find some deep meaning.  Some hidden meaning in the Bible.  Some secret meaning in the Bible.  If you go looking for some secret, hidden, mysterious meaning you’re going to miss it, because the Bible isn’t full of secrets. 

All these History channels, Discovery channels, the Secrets of the Bible.  There are no secrets in the Bible. It’s right up front.  Why would God put secrets in the Bible?  What is the purpose of the Bible?  To reveal God, not to conceal him.  Why would God give us the Bible to tell us what he’s like and then hide it from us? 

The purpose of the Bible is not to conceal.  The purpose of the Bible is to reveal.  So there’s nothing hidden in the Bible.  It’s obvious if you just look for it.  So all this stuff about Bible codes and stuff like that and secret meaning, there’s one word for that.  It’s what you get when you cross a crocodile and a balone – it’s a crock of baloney.  There are no secrets in the Bible.   

So any time you find somebody with some secret meaning, they’re making it up.  In fact if you ever read a verse of the Bible and you come up with an interpretation that nobody else has ever seen, one thing is simple: you’re probably wrong.  Because God, for two thousand years has been speaking to his body, the church.  If it is new it is probably not true.  If it’s new it’s probably not correct.  Because if it’s truth, it’s been around forever and ever.  And thousands of people have seen it before me and thousands of people will see it after me.

So if I read a Bible verse and I come up with an interpretation that nobody else has seen, I’m probably wrong.  It’s just that simple. Because God doesn’t have secrets that he holds back to keep from us so we don’t really know him.  That is why you look for the obvious meaning.
 

So what you do is you let the text speak for itself.  And when you let the text speak for itself the meaning becomes obvious.  When we let the text speak for itself it’s very clear what the meaning of “fruit” is.  We don’t have to use any Bible dictionary or Bible encyclopedia or any other tools.  Those are all good tools but you don’t have to use them to figure out what “fruit” is. 

So let’s just go back to the text.  Let’s look at three things. 

Verse 7 in chapter 5 says this “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you!”  Now he’s talking about prayer.  So I would write down this:

·        Remaining in Christ produces answered prayers. 

That’s no stretch of that verse; that’s just what that verse says.  ‘If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you can ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.’  So remaining in Christ, being connected to Christ, produces answered prayer.

Have you ever thought about the fact that prayer can do anything that God can do?  So why are we speaking these little tiny prayers?  Why not ask him for big prayers?  Prayer can do anything that God can do.  Don’t expect a thousand dollar answer to a ten-cent prayer. 

It says, “… whatever you wish, and it will be given you!”  You say, wait a minute!  I’ve asked for a lot of things I didn’t get.  Let me just say this to you.  If God doesn’t give you what you ask for it will always be something better.  God will never give you something worse than you asked for.  “I didn’t get what I asked for!” God knew ahead something better in mind.  Maybe you don’t think its better.  But God knew it was better, and God is God and He knows and sees far beyond we do.  God will never give you something worse than you asked for.  He will only give you something better than you asked for.  And when you pray don’t ask God for what you think is good for you.  Say, God I want you to give me what you think is good for me, because you know what I need more than I do.

 Second, 14:13.  Remember it’s the same conversation.  Same guys, same eleven guys.  “I will do whatever you ask [There’s that phrase again!] in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” 

 What’s the second thing we learn? 

·        Answered prayer brings glory to God. 

 He says when you ask for something in my name and then I give it to you it brings glory to the Father.  That’s good.  So when I pray and ask for things and then God gives it to me, it brings glory to God because it shows how loving God is. It shows how powerful God is. It shows how faithful God is.

What do you need to be asking God for in your life?  Some of you are going through a really challenging and difficult time right now. The more time we spend in prayer, the less time we will spend in despair.  You can’t fall when you’re on your knees.  You cannot fall, you cannot stumble, when you’re on your knees.  When you’re on shaky ground, kneel and begin to pray.  When you are swept off your feet by the storms of life, when you’re swept off your feet, kneel.  Because you cannot fall when you’re on your knees.  When you feel the sky is falling in on you, you hold up your hands in prayer.  Jesus said, Ask anything in my name.  It will bring glory to God.  It will cause you to remain connected to me. 

One other verse.  Chapter 16:24.  Same conversation, same group of guys.  Jesus says guys, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. [There’s that phrase again, you haven’t asked for anything in my name.] Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete!”  Have you ever heard that phrase before –your joy will be complete.  Yeah when he talks about bearing fruit.  So I write down the third thing:

·        Answered prayer gives me complete joy!

Did you know that over twenty times in the New Testament we are commanded to ask?  “Ask and it shall be given… Seek and you’ll find…  Knock and the door will be opened.”  James says “You have not because you ask not.”  God never shuts his storehouse until you shut your mouth. 

Jesus, in his final words to his disciples says, guys, I want you to ask.  I’m not going to be here with you anymore, but you can talk to me any time.  And you can ask.  And I want to give and when I do it’s going to produce answered prayers.  Remaining in Christ is going to bring glory to God, and answered prayer will bring joy to you.

 When we don’t pray you don’t cheat God.  You are cheating ourselves.  We are missing out.  It’s like having a bank account that we never cash.  When we don’t pray we don’t hurt God, we don’t cheat God, we just hurt ourselves.  We cheat ourselves of all of the fruit God wants to produce in our lives. 

Are you seeing a little connection here?  Bearing fruit is produced by remaining in Christ.  Bearing fruit brings glory to God.  Bearing fruit gives me complete joy.  And answered prayers come from remaining in Christ.  Answered prayer brings glory to God.  Answered prayer gives me complete joy.  You see any connection here?   

Just in case you missed it, Jesus mentions it one more time in verse 16.  He says this.  He ends his talk with this one last mention.  “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.  [What’s the first thing he talks about after he talks about fruit?  Prayer.]  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name!”

So here it is.  Looking at the Word, looking at the context and letting the text speak for itself you write this down:

I bear fruit by asking in prayer.  

He’s talking about fruit comes through prayer.  Prayer is the root of all fruit.  All the other virtues in life come through prayer.  The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, come through prayer.  Gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, peace, patience, kindness, meekness, self-control come through prayer.  Prayer is the password to everything God wants to do in your life.

 IF THAT IS TRUE and this is what Gods Word says in John 15, then why don’t I see more fruit in my life?  We have to ask ourselves the tough question, “Do we treat prayer like a spare tire?”  The spare tire is there when we have a flat.  When you have a flat and your life goes flat and you’re in trouble you pull out prayer.  In fact we say, all we can do now is pray!  Then people say, has it come to that?  Like it really must be bad if that’s all we can do is pray!  Prayer is the last resort.

There is a BIGGER VISION for your life than that. God has so much more in store for you than that!.  God does not want prayer to be your spare tire.  He wants it to be your steering wheel for your life.  It is where you get all the fruit in your life.  Much prayer, much fruit.  Little prayer, little fruit.  No prayer, no fruit.  If you are not praying you have no fruit in your life.  You’re just hanging apples on a barren tree.  It all comes through prayer.  That’s what Jesus is saying. 

The more I pray, the more fruit I’m going to have.  The more fruit I’m going to have the more prayer I’m going to give and the more fruit I’m going to have after that. 

See what our problem is?  We have trouble with prayer when we’re not in trouble.  We don’t have trouble praying when we’re in trouble.  We have trouble praying when we’re not in trouble.  When things are going good I don’t need to pray.  

A Bible study isn’t a Bible study until you get to the what am I going to do about it part.  That’s the personal application.  Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 7:24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice [circle that “puts them into practice”] is like a wise man who built his house upon the rock.”  So if I put into practice what I’ve learned about prayer today then I’ve built my house on the rock and when the storms come it’s going to stand.  If I don’t put into practice what I’ve heard today, I just come to the Bible study, take notes and go home and forget it, I’m a fool.  The Bible says the foolish man builds his house on sand.  He hears it but he doesn’t do anything about it.

So now that we have studied John 15 about remaining in Him, bearing fruit and prayer, what is your next step? What is God speaking to you? What should your response be? What do you have to strategically do to respond?

This is how spiritual growth and vision happens in our lives. The more we spend time in God’s Word and in prayer the more we see life for the way God intended it to be. The more we have our eyes opened and the more we keep moving forward and bearing fruit.
I pray this blog helps you and strengthens you in your relationship with Christ. I pray that we become a church who knows how to pray!!!

 

Adapted from thoughts from Rick Warren and 40 Days in the Word Campaign

PS. Don't miss this Sunday and our special illustrated message "Marriage: Is it worth it?"