Jesus and the peoples

John 15

Part 5

How can we be fruitful as Christians?  In this short series we focus on one passage, John 15:1-17 and draw on some other scriptures, to try to answer the question.

People often assume there is no equivalent in John to the Great Commission, with Matthew’s emphasis on making disciples, Mark’s emphasis on supernatural signs and going into all the world and Luke’s emphasis on being witnesses to the ends of the earth. But it is there.  John 15 verses 7 and 16 link remaining in Jesus with bearing fruit and answered prayer. The three go together. 

 Then in chapters 17 and 20 there are sending/commissioning passages. In John 17:18 Jesus prays, “As you have sent me into the world so I have sent them into the world.” And in John 20:21b he says, “As the Father sent me so I send you.”   

 What could be clearer?  We are sent in the same way as Jesus himself, to incarnate the life of God wherever we are. We are not eternally begotten but we are children of God by adoption (in almost all cases John’s gospel uses the Greek word tekna - children - for us and ‘uios - son - for Jesus). 

 So, we are sent. Even if we are surrounded by a monochrome ethnic and cultural group to which we ourselves belong, when Jesus sends us we are different. We march to a different beat - we are motivated by different things - we are people of the Spirit in a material world, people of the coming Kingdom in a world that bows the knee to the political and religious powers that dominate. We are part of a new creation just like Jesus was when He appeared to them. 

 For the full article on what it means to be transformed so we can live missionary, see Storehouse