These things I command you, that ye love one another

John
{15:16} Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.



Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you.


We are chosen.


We are ordained.


Chosen and ordained for what? To go and bring forth fruit.


We've been talking about fruit for a bit now and it's true, we need to be productive. Our lives have to grow in Christ. We have to bring forth good fruit through Jesus. We've learned and are learning that our connection to Christ is crucial. Yes, crucial. We cannot live outside of Christ. We are to bring forth fruit and we are told how to do so. The Husbandman will tend to us, and we must stay attached to the Vine. The conditions outside of those two things are beyond our control. If we make sure we are connected with Christ in all we do we will produce the fruit that only a branch connected to the Vine can do.


Jesus commands us...


{15:17} These things I command you, that ye love one another.


Love one another.


If you don't know what sort of fruit you might be producing through Christ this is a wonderful indication. How much do you love others. And by love I mean--

1 Corinthians
{13:4} Charity suffereth long
and is kind
charity envieth not
charity vaunteth not itself
is not puffed up
{13:5} Doth not behave itself unseemly
seeketh not her own,
is not easily provoked,
thinketh no evil;
{13:6} Rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth
{13:7} Beareth all things,
believeth all things
hopeth all things
endureth all things.
{13:8} Charity never faileth


{5:22} But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, {5:23}
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.


Do you see how they both go together these lists, one of love and one of the fruit of the Spirit.


You really can't have one without the other.


If you do manage to be a good person and to produce these attributes they'd be nothing but counterfiets, because without Jesus they are hollow.


The source of our love is Jesus and it's only through Jesus that real fruit, real love can grow.


Again, if you wonder if your life is producing the fruit and if you have the love Jesus commands, reread those attributes of Spiritual fruit and of love. If you fall far short of being this sort of person then growing closer to Christ is the only answer.


We all need to grow closer to Christ, all of us and as we do... Jesus has this to say--


{15:18} If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
{15:19} If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
{15:20} Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.


More on that tomorrow :)


May the Lord bless and keep us in His love, by the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Amen.