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Created To Live
by Dr. James Stone |
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Created To Live
by Dr. James Stone |
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In perhaps the most precise statement of
what it means to be Christian, Jesus
proclaimed the secret of life, the mystery
of the universe. He said, 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 (John
15:16). Unfortunately, few understand the
full ramification of His statement.
Although it has been understood by so many
as a statement of what man should be doing
for God, it is, in fact, a statement of what
God is doing for man. It has been preached
my many that God chose and ordained man to
go and bring forth fruit. Moreover, if man
is successful in his doing, then God will
grant him the desires of his heart.
Unfortunately, this interpretation reflects
the thinking of "religion." This
explanation fails completely to proclaim the
good news of Jesus' statement. It fails to
reveal the secret of life that is contained
in this proclamation of the gospel.
First, notice the sequential order of the
statement: 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.
The way the word that is used gives the
statement a sequential order in its fulfillment.
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you, and ordained you that . . . . The
choosing and the ordaining produces
something: that ye should go and bring forth
fruit and that your fruit should remain [the
second that in this phrase is italicized,
meaning it is not in the original]. The
going, the bring forth fruit, and the fruit
remaining are products of being chosen and
ordained. They do not produce themselves.
Believers are chosen and ordained that
something might be produced in them.
Moreover, the going, the bring[ing] fruit,
and the fruit remaining also produce
something: that whatsoever ye shall ask of
the Father in my name, he may give it you.
Again, the whatsoever ye shall ask . . .
[and it shall be given you] occurs out of
the going, the bring[ing] fruit, and the
fruit remaining. One is the product of the
other. The sequential order of this verse
reveals that everything hinges upon Jesus
choosing and ordaining.
Why is the believer chosen and ordained?
The verses preceding the statement of Jesus
will give a beginning clue to this mystery
of the universe. Jesus began Chapter 15 with,
I am the true vine, and my Father is the
husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
not fruit he taketh away: and every branch
that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it
may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are
clean through the word which I have spoken
unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except
it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:1-5)
Just as in 15:16, the word "fruit" is
significant in these five verses.
One of the most profound revelations in
Jesus' statement is that the believer is
chosen, ordained, and goes to bring forth
"fruit." Moreover, this fruit only comes
when the believer is abiding in Jesus and
Jesus in him. Whatever the "fruit" is, it
is significant to the basic principles of
Christianity.
The religious world readily proclaims that
the fruit is what man does for God: the
number of people won to the Lord, the good
deeds accomplished, or any product produced
by the believer. However, the gospel of
Jesus Christ has a different story. It
proclaims the reality of why Jesus Christ
came into the world. Although the religious
structure struggles in perceiving it, Jesus
Christ came into the world for one reason,
". . . I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly"
(John 10:10).
Amazingly, man was created just to live in
Jesus. For example, the fruit of an apple
tree is an apple. It is not an apple pie,
or even another apple tree. Yes, the meat
of an apple is the main ingredient of an
apple pie and the seed of the apple is the
essence of another apple tree. However, the
apple does not have the capability to
produce an apple pie or to produce another
apple tree. The apple does not help the
baker make the apple pie, other than to be
used by the baker. The seed of the apple
even has to die before another apple tree can
come forth.
Maybe the problem of the visible Church
world today is that apples keep trying to
make apple pies and apple trees. However,
the good news of the gospel of Jesus
Christ is that man was created to be the
apple. The mystery of the universe, the
secret of life is in just being the "apple."
When man was created, he became a living
soul (Gen. 2:7). Jesus came to bring man
"life, and that [man] might have life more
abundantly." Man was originally created and
regenerated that [he] might have life. Man
was created just to live in Him! Mankind
was created to bring forth fruit and that
[their] fruit should remain [not die] . . . .
Man (especially, man caught in religion)
cannot comprehend that God created him just
to live in Him. Religion adamantly protests
the truth that God did not create man to
serve Him, to worship Him, or to live for
Him. It is beyond mans capability to
conceive that God created mankind out of His
own good pleasure--simply because He wanted
man to experience His love.
The truth of all the Scripture proclaims
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory
and honour and power: for thou hast created
all things, and for thy pleasure they are
and were created (Rev. 4:11). Man was
created for God's pleasure. However, what
man cannot perceive is that God, Himself, is
the source of His pleasure.
God does not receive pleasure from man
serving Him, from man worshiping Him, or
from man living for Him. Jesus said, I
receive not honour from men (John 5:41).
Paul said,
God that made the world and all things
therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven
and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; neither is worshipped with mens
hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing
he giveth to all life, and breath, and all
things. (Acts 17:24,25)
Man was not created to fill some void in
God. God has no void. He is the Complete
One. He lacks nothing. Therefore, man was
not created to do anything for God. He was
created by God to experience God's love. He
was created just to live in Him. God has
chosen and ordained man that he might live.
How sad that the visible church spends most
of its time trying to teach apples how to
make apple pies and how to produce apple
trees. Religious man simply will not
believe that his part is not to be the baker
or the tree maker. All men simply do not
want to be the apple which is to be eaten,
to be cooked, or to be dead. Because man
does not understand the secret of life (the
mystery of the universe), he attempts to
live by trying to become the baker and the
tree maker.
Man will work so hard to produce apple pies
or apple trees only to see the worm
eventually destroy his efforts. Oh, that
the truth of Jesus' statement could be
birthed in the heart of man to bring him to
understand that a vessel of honor is
honorable because of what is in the vessel
and not because of the activity of the vessel.
It is the secret of life.
This does not mean that there will not be
any apple pies or new apple trees. What it
does mean is apple pies and apple trees are
the product of something far greater than
the apple. The meat of the apple is the
ingredient of the apple pie and the seed of
the apple is the essence of the apple tree.
The apple, however, can never produce an
apple pie or an apple tree.
Man must come to understand that he was
created just to experience the love of God.
He was created just to live in Him. He was
not created to do something for God but
created just to enjoy the life of having
God do something for him.
If man was created just to live in Him and
to keep on living, how is it then that so
many people, and far too many Christians,
never experience that abundant life? The
answer to that question is found in the
knowledge of Jesus Christ as revealed in
John 15:16. It lies hidden in the meaning
of being chosen and ordained.
The contextual background to the truth
concealed in the statement of Jesus began
in Chapter 13. Jesus told the disciples
Little children, yet a little while I am
with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said
unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come
. . . Simon Peter said unto him, Lord,
whither goest thou? Jesus answered him,
Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now;
but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter
said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow
thee now? Jesus answered him, Whither I go,
thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt
follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him,
Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will
lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus
answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life
for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast
denied me thrice. (13:33,36-38)
Where did Jesus go? Why was Peter not able to
with Him at this time? Why was Peter mystified?
Heavenly Mansion
Perhaps Peter was greatly discouraged after
being informed that not only would he not
give his life but he would actually deny
knowing Jesus. Jesus said to him, "Let not
your heart be troubled: ye believe in God,
believe also in me" (John 14:1). Then Jesus
continued,
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Fathers
house are many mansions: if it were not so,
I would have told you. I go to prepare a
place for you. And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also. (14:1-3)
This passage of Scripture contains the only
time the English word mansions is found in
the New Testament. Perhaps, it is this word
mansions that has caused so many to miss the
understanding of this passage. The original
word translated mansions in 14:2 was used by
John one other time in Chapter fourteen:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man
love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and we will comeunto
him, and make our abode with him (14:23).
Moreover, the root of the word translated
mansions, is used forty times by John and it
is translated abide twenty-four times.
Jesus said, In my Fathers house are many
mansions . . . I go to prepare a place for
you (14:2). Jesus went through His death,
resurrection, and ascension to the Father to
prepare a place. The place He prepared for
the disciples (and all of mankind, if they
would believe on Him) is the "staying,"
which is the literal translation of the word
translated mansions."
Jesus said, And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you
unto myself; that where I am, there ye may
be also. He also said, I am the vine, ye
are the branches: He that abideth in me, and
I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit
. . . (15:5). Again, He stated, . . . If a
man love me, he will keep my words: and my
Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode with him (14:23).
Amazingly, the Fathers house is Jesus (the
believer abides in Jesus) and the mansion is
the staying of the believer in Jesus.
Jesus said to His disciples: Ye have not
chosen me, but I have chosen you, and
ordained you . . . . It is unfortunate that
most of Christianity today regard ordained
as being invest[ed] with the office of
minister, priest, or rabbi (a good example
of why the English dictionary cannot give
understanding to the ways of God). The
ordaining Jesus does has nothing to do with
an office of ministry. Ministry will, in
fact, occur but the word ordained in this
verse has absolutely nothing to do with a
man's ministry.
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