The Fruitful Christian Meditates on the Word of God

Psalm 1:1-3

Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree
  planted by streams of water
that yields fruit in its season,
  and its leaf does not wither, 
In all that he does, he prospers.

Ask God to give you a hunger and thirst for Him and His righteousness.

Matthew 5:6
For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Psalm 42:1
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.



Is the Word of God the joy of your heart?  (Ps 119:111)
Is the Word of God more precious than gold?   (Ps 119:127)

Ask Him to do that for you.

Ps 91:  those who love Him  (JM:  cling to him; long for Him)  Another blog instead.

The Fruitful Christian Trust in the Lord, Not Man

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Thus says the Lord:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man

and makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He is like a shrub in the desert,

and shall not see any good come.

He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,

in an uninhabited salt land.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

whose trust is the Lord.

He is like a tree planted by water,

that sends out its roots by the stream,

and does not fear when heat comes,

for its leaves remain green,

and is not anxious in the year of drought,

for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Our Identity in Christ: Who Gets the Glory

Colossians 1:13
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of ghis beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Beloveds, our salvation is a gift that should honor God and humble us.


I Corinthians 1:30-31
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus.......so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."


Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.



John 15:8
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........


John 1:12-13
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.


I know!   Hard to understand.   Just take God at His Word.   He chose you, You didn't choose him.     It was His will, not your will.    He drew you to Himself (John 12:21).   He granted you repentance  (2 Tim 2:25).   He gave you faith to believe   (Romans 10:17).


The fact that we, sinners, are "in Christ" is a miracle, more so than the parting of the Red Sea.






So, how must we respond to His glorious grace?  

First,

Give thanks!
Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!    2 Corinthians 9:15

Second:
Daily, completely surrender everything to Him.

Romans 1-11 explains the Gospel in great detail, Romans 12 begins the practical part of Romans.   In Romans 12:1 the author of Romans is saying, now because of this glorious Gospel:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.


Because Jesus laid down His life for us, we must lay down our life for Him.   Die to our ways, our selfish ambition, and live for Him.   We owe Him everything.

Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."

Only when we take up our cross, are we able to bear much fruit.

John 12:24

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of  wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Fruit bearing is God's will for our lives, so the remainder of this book we will examine how to maximize our fruitfulness for His glory.

Our Identity in Christ: Our Benefits

Before we move on, we must stop and consider the benefits of being rooted in Christ.




Psalm 103:2

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

For those who are in Christ, God's benefits are unlimited.     However, there are five which quickly come to mind!      I call them the five P's!!!


1.   Purpose:    God has good works prepared for us.


      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.

2.   Provision:    He will supply every need.

      Philippians 4:19

      My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.



3.   Peace:     His peace is available at all times.

      Philippians 4:7

      The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in
      Christ Jesus.



4.  Promises:    His promises are our inheritance.

      2 Corinthians 1:20

      All the promises of God find their Yes in Christ.



5.   Protection:    Nothing will touch us apart from the sovereign hand of God.

Isaiah 27:2-6

In that day,

“A pleasant vineyard, sing of it!

3 I, the Lord, am its keeper;

every moment I water it.

Lest anyone punish it,

I keep it night and day;

4 I have no wrath.

Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!

I would march against them,

I would burn them up together.

5 Or let them lay hold of my protection,

let them make peace with me,

let them make peace with me.”

6In days to come Jacob shall take root,

Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

and fill the whole world with fruit.

Below is Matthew Henry's commentary on this powerful passage.   It is deep stuff.   Continue reading it and you will understand it more and more in time to come.

The church, in God’s eye, is like a vineyard of red wine. The world is as a fruitless worthless wilderness; but the church is enclosed as a vineyard, a peculiar place, and of value, that has great care taken of it, and from which precious fruits are gathered, which honor God and man. It is a vineyard of red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto God.

God takes care of the safety of this vineyard.   Those that bring forth fruit to God are and shall be always under his protection. 

God’s vineyard in this world lies much exposed to injury; there are many that would hurt it, would tread it down and lay it waste (Ps. 80:13 ); but God will suffer no real hurt or damage to be done it, but what he will bring good out of. 

He will keep it constantly, night and day, for the enemies are restless in their attempts against it, and seek an opportunity to do it a mischief. God will keep it in the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of which are no less dangerous. God’s people shall be preserved, not only from the pestilence that walketh in darkness, but from the destruction that wasteth at noon-day, Ps. 91:6 . This vineyard shall be well fenced.

Of the fruitfulness of this vineyard: I will water it every moment,and yet it shall not be overwatered. The still and silent dews of God’s grace and blessing shall continually descend upon it, that it may bring forth much fruit.  God waters his vineyard by the ministry of the word by his servants the prophets, whose doctrine shall drop as the dew. Paul plants, and Apollos waters, but God gives the increase; for without him the watchman wakes and the husbandman waters in vain.

That, though sometimes he contends with his people, yet, upon their submission, he will be reconciled to them, v. 4, v. 5.Fury is not in him towards his vineyard; though he meets with many things in it that are offensive to him, yet he does not seek advantages against it, nor is extreme to mark what is amiss in it. It is true if he find in it briers and thorns instead of vines, and they be set in battle against him , he will tread them down and burn them; but otherwise, "If I am angry with my people, they know what course to take; let them humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and so take hold of my strength with a sincere desire to make their peace with me, and I will soon be reconciled to them, and all shall be well.’’ God sees the sins of his people and is displeased with them; but, upon their repentance, he turns away his wrath. 


 "Let him that is desirous to be at peace with God take hold of his strength, of his strong arm, which is lifted up against the sinner to strike him dead; and let him by supplication keep back the stroke. Let him wrestle with me, as Jacob did, resolving not to let me go without a blessing; and he shall be Israel—a prince with God.


The preaching of the gospel brought forth fruit in all the world (Col. 1:6 ), fruit that remains, Jn. 15:16 .

   

Our Identity in Christ: Our Mission

Because God restored us and gave us high position,  we have tall orders!   With His help, we have a mission to fulfill.


Romans 6:11

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus in God.

I Peter 1:16

Be holy, because I am holy.

1 Corinthians 9:20

For you were bought with a price.   So, glorify God in your body.


John 15:8
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 






Summary:

In Christ:
We must consider ourselves dead to sin.
We must pursue holiness.  
We must seek to glorify Him, not ourselves.
We must bear fruit.




Matt Papa:

"When you are assured of God's love for you, you won't envy others' successes.   You will think:  I must be exactly where I need to be."

Our Identity in Christ: Our Condition

Our condition:

I  Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.


Ephesians 1:7
In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.


1 Corinthians 6:11

But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.


2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake God made Christ to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.


Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.


Summary:

In Christ,
We are a new creation.
We are redeemed.  
We are washed
We are sanctified
We are justified.
We are the righteousness of God.
There is therefore no condemnation for us who are in  Christ Jesus.




Ray Ortland:

"In Christ" is mentioned around 160 times by Paul.   He couldn't think about life except as union with Christ.   The sacred center.

Our Identity in Christ: Our Position

Before we embark on our tree of life study, it is imperative that we understand one indispensible concept, which is:    who we are in Christ.

Without that, we have no foundation.    We will crumble.

In order to be a fruitful tree of life, we need a sure foundation.    To help us better understand, I have broken our identity in Christ into three categories:  our position, our condition, and our mission.

Our position:

Ephesians 1:4
God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.


Ephesians 2:6
God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.


Col 3:3
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.


Romans 8:38-39
I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present or things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.



Summary:

We were chosen before the foundation of the world.
God seated us with him in the heavenly places.  
We are hidden with Christ.  
And, nothing will separate us from the love of God.

We are secure!!!


Tullian Tchividjian:

"God doesn't love you to the degree that you are like Jesus, but to the degree that you are in Jesus...which is totally!"