Abiding Fruit
Friends
Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times,
and a relative is born to help in adversity.
NET
This entire concept of obedience is further seen in the balance of this section of John 15
John 15:12-17
12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another
as I have loved you. 13 "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay
down one's life for his friends. 14 "You are My friends if you do whatever
I command you. 15 "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does
not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for
all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 "You
did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go
and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever
you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 "These things I command
you, that you love one another."
Jesus Himself would become the example of loving each other. Jesus - God - would die on a Cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world so that all men would have the opportunity to come to vital, living relationship with God.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.John 3:36
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."Matthew 7:16-20
16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.18 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire . 20 "Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Jesus tells us that we shall know a tree by its fruit. God will look to the heart and see the real nature of this fruit. We must patiently watch to see if the tree grows and produces more and more fruit as it matures. We cannot take a single growing season and a single harvest and truly say this person is a Christian. Nor can or should we condemn someone based upon a single harvest. Remember that abiding in Christ is a process that is firstly inward, then outward.
And, in the process, we become friends of God! What an amazing thing to comprehend. God chose us to be His friend. Place this thought in the back of your mind and remember it always. When we remember we are friends of God, we will want to treat everyone in love, just as Jesus commanded. Obedience will become an easy second nature.
