1 John 2:6 NKJV 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
Christians are to do as Jesus did. The implication in the larger context is that those who claim to be Christian must live morally, as He did. We are to follow His example and to have the same ethic as He did - especially as it echoes what He says in John 8:28-29, which strongly implies that His behavior was drawn directly from God the Father.
So the very emphasis in 1 John 2:6 is pointing plainly to
the way one should live their life!
To some, Christianity is little more than an intellectual exercise. Some of these people may study frequently and spend long hours doing it. Somehow, though, it never translates into the practical aspects of living; it is purely intellectual. They do a lot of research, but their lives never really change.
I knew a lady some 30 years ago. She was a teacher indeed for the word of God. She knew so many passages. She could quote King David, King Solomon, and even Paul! But when it came to tithing when she came into large sums of money, she turned the other cheek to another direction. She considered it her money. I though knew enough ,that one must tithe those tithes for that is money that is God’s. You know that 10%. She went from living in a nice home and then to divorce, not tithing, to living in her apartment, and then living in here car. In some four years she was living in a mission for women.
WARNING! Those echoes!
Those whose relationship with God is largely based on feeling do so, for their feelings are transient - they come and they go, they change - these people's lives are constantly up and down and highly irregular. They blow hot and cold. John stresses that a Christian must follow the same pattern of life as Jesus lived, and He did not fly from pillar to post based on his emotions!
We are baptized because we have sinned and because God commands it of us. He wants us to make a public statement of our commitment and the giving of our life, the sacrifice of it, to be raised in the likeness of Christ's resurrection. Christ did not fit any of those parameters. The fact that He did it makes a point: He was baptized to do what was going to be required of us, those who would follow Him. Therefore, He did it as an example. He never offered an animal sacrifice. Why? It would not be required of us. Even so, it would have not have been technically wrong for Him to do so, even as Paul went through one of the Old Covenant rituals in the book of Acts. Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath and the holy days, and those whom He personally trained also did. That is a powerful lesson. We cannot go wrong following His example, regardless of whether a specific law is stated.
As that child I remember to listen for trains. I had to pay attention if riding my bike of the hazards of crossing if those gates were down. No signal rang out, not flashing lights, but those gated bars came down indeed. It was on the back country of Texas. Of course, many cities have grown up and their warnings have come to fruition. Still somehow today in the 21st century, people die in Portland , Oregon due to being run over by a transit train on rails. Many for young people with ear buds on with loud music playing out. Others they are hit while riding bikes. Amazing!
Remember that Rebuke Chastening Scourging
John 15:1-5 NKJV "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (3) You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (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.
Jesus speaks about four kinds of branches: 1) those that bear no fruit, 2) those that bear fruit, 3) those that bear more fruit, 4) and those that bear much fruit. We will focus on the branches that bear no fruit. To get a clearer understanding, we need to understand a few points.
Jesus is the vine: In the vineyard, the vine is the whole grape plant. Vineyard keepers traditionally keep the vine at waist height—36 to 42 inches. The vine ends in a large gnarl from which branches grow in either direction along the trellis.
God the Father is the vinedresser: The vinedresser is the
keeper of the vineyard. His task is to cultivate each branch so that it will
bear as much fruit as possible. God will do this with love (I John 4:16), for
our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).
We, the members of God's church, are the branches: In the
vineyard the branches are the vinedresser's main focus because they produce the
fruit. They must be carefully tended to produce the highest quality grapes and
the biggest yield.
But, what is the fruit analogous to in this metaphor? What
fruit are we to bear? Tracing the words "fruit" and "good
works" through the Bible results in the conclusion that they are used
nearly interchangeably. We can see this in Titus 3:14: "And let our people
also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be
unfruitful." Colossians 1:10 is similar: ". . . that you may have a
walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work
and increasing in the knowledge of God." In practical terms, fruit
represents good works or godly living. If we are not doing such things, then we
are like the branches that are not producing fruit.
Fruit, or good deeds, are evidence of what is inside a person. In Matthew 3:8, John the Baptist tells the Pharisees and Sadducees to "bear fruits worthy of repentance." In other words, they were to produce evidence in their actions that they had repented.
Is it possible to be in Christ yet produce no fruit? John 15:2 may seem to say that the Vinedresser cuts off every barren branch, but we need to look more closely at the words "takes away." This Greek verb, airo, actually means "to lift from the ground," "to lift so as to carry," and "to carry off." The translation "takes away" suggests cutting off, but in Greek literature, airo never means "cut off." "Lifts up" or "raises" is more correct in terms of vine dressing.
In his book, Secrets of the Vine, Dr. Bruce Wilkinson has a conversation with a vineyard owner from Northern California, who says, "New branches have a natural tendency to trail down and grow along the ground, but they don't bear fruit down there. When branches grow along the ground, the leaves get coated in dust. When it rains, they get muddy and mildewed. The branch becomes sick and useless."
Dr. Wilkinson, thinking about John 15:2, asks, "What do you do, cut it off and throw it away?"
"Oh, no," the vineyard owner replies, "the branch is much too valuable for that. We go through the vineyard with a bucket of water, looking for those branches. We lift them up and wash them off. Then we wrap them around the trellis or tie them up. Pretty soon, they're thriving."
What about those young today who need some tying up to the
main branch? Yet, many people do not know where their children are at
throughout any day!
Are we not more valuable to our Vinedresser than branches in a vineyard? Certainly! So how does our Vinedresser lift us up? We can find an answer in Hebrews 12:5-6: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." The intervention of the Vinedresser in John 15:2 is similar to the discipline a parent gives his or her child. God is our heavenly Father, and we are His children. The two metaphors are parallel.
There are three degrees of discipline or lifting up in Hebrews 12:5-6:
The First Degree, Rebuke: A rebuke is a strong verbal warning. When our children begin to misbehave, we rebuke them. Some parents can do this with just a look. God rebukes us by pricking our consciences through Bible study, sermons, and our interactions with each other. Does this help you?
The Second Degree, Chastening: If the child does not listen
to rebuke, a parent might intensify the punishment by sending him to his room,
restricting his activities, or taking away his privileges. When God chastens
us, we may feel anxiety, frustration, or distress. Pressures may increase at
work or at home, in our health or in our finances.
The Third Degree, Scourging: "To scourge" is to
afflict with blows, to inflict physical punishment. The scourging Jesus
received before His crucifixion caused Him excruciating pain. With rebellious
children, a good paddling often does the trick, causing pain without injury.
When God scourges us, the pressures of our chastening intensify: Instead of
problems on the job, we may find ourselves without one. Instead of being merely
sick, we may be deathly ill. The spouse may file for separation. Bankruptcy may
loom over us. Today one cannot touch their child for fear of being sent to the police for their display of punishment.
These are our Vinedresser's ways of lifting us up and
washing us off. They are godly
discipline designed to put us in the right position to begin producing
fruit again.
What about the rest of John 15:2? Pruning is indeed cutting, and cutting hurts. It might seem like punishment, like "lifting up," so we need to distinguish between the two. The Vinedresser lifts up, disciplines, because we are not producing fruit. We have become spiritually sick and useless, so He needs to spur us to repent and to return to fruitfulness. The Vinedresser prunes, however, because we are fruitful! That is when we need to count it all joy (James 1:2) and yield to His pruning shears, so that He may produce more fruit through us.
We have young people dressing for bedtime when going to school.
Many business’ like Ruth’s Chris has to step up their rebuke on many citizens who desire to wear jeans below
their backside, wear T-shirts that are dirty and have a smell. And then want to
complain at a “great Steak House”!
Why is fruit-bearing so important and valuable? Jesus gives us the answer in John 15:8: "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples." He continues in verse 16, "I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain." Paul echoes this Ephesians 2:10: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." With Passover only days away, we would do well to inspect our "branch" of God's work to see what fruit God can expect from our corner of His vineyard.
Here we see a WARNING!
Found in Genesis 19:1-11 …it is in verse 2 the angels spoke
that they could sleep in the open square and Lot insisted strongly that they
stay with him.
In that biblical fear of GOD one can see the mild respect
that is deep & abiding in a reverential fear to that which appears as sheer
terror. A Terror can cause one to release a scream from the throat to the body
collapsing on the floor. Fear can motivate one to fight or flight; & once
the response kicks in, terror moves us to take immediate steps to defend
ourselves physically or seek protection by running from the danger. Lot took
steps to guard the angelic beings from God! Men there in Lot’s town desired others
like themselves to hurt and destroy!
Many today will not respond to Him in any manner. They do not see Him, & from that attitude, they have no immediate concern toward Him. Fearing God is not like our reaction to a lion suddenly jumping out of the jungle & confronting us on the path. But both can be deadly. The lion will attack if you move, for he has seen you. Or how about one lady jogging in Florida during the day and is followed by a great snake: Burmese Python? God has seen you, knows your frame: Psalm 103:14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Word given that anyone living near an ocean should pay attention when all volcanoes are erupting and earthquakes shaking the ground under your feet, that an echo will be heard of large volumes of water coming your way! Will we hear, will we get out of the way of danger or just hang near the ground, wearing garb that is shabby, bodies smelly with sweat and give some kind of words that is far from what God has said.
Fruit, or good deeds, are evidence of what is inside a person. Let us remember that in Matthew 3:8, John the Baptist tells the Pharisees and Sadducees to "bear fruits worthy of repentance." In other words, they were to produce evidence in their actions that they had repented.
Stay out of danger and let the Lord lead His WAY!
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