SUMMARY
The mission of the Church is fulfilled in Christ through. We have seen this in His proclaiming the Kingdom of God, His Great Commission, His compelling love and, now, by conforming us to Him.
Conformity is practically a bad word in our individualistic society. We cherish our popular notions of freedom and autonomy. No one has the right to tell us what to do or what is right or wrong. We follow our hearts. In our culture, people want (or at least pretend to want) to do their own thing; go there own way; to be different … just like everyone else. But it’s ironic that we, who say we don’t want to be conformed to anything, conform to everything, all the time. If we didn’t, why would companies spend millions on marketing and advertising? The truth is everyone conforms to something. The question is: what will it be?
This is an especially pertinent question for Christians because we are called to be conformed to Christ. (A Christian is one is trying to live like Christ). It’s also pertinent because, as Christians, we struggle with being conformed to the world. And often, we don’t struggle enough.
In Scripture we read: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12.2); and “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (1 Peter 1.14-16).
And so, to be light for the nations we must not be conformed to the world, but rather transformed. But how are we transformed? We are transformed as we conform to Christ. How do we do that? What does that look like? Jesus shows us John 14.30-15.17.
To be conformed to Christ, there are certain things that must be RECOGNIZED.
First, we must recognize the Crucial Nature of Mission. At the end of John 14, Jesus said, “I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. "Come now; let us leave.” This was the Upper Room Discourse before Gethsemane and the cross. Jesus knew Satan was coming and so He said, "Come now; let us leave”. What did Jesus mean by that? One scholar believes that the natural sense of that statement in the Greek language is a military one, meaning: “let us go meet the advancing enemy” (C.H. Dodd). Therefore, this statement could be paraphrased as: “The ruler of this world is coming … let us march to meet him.” In that sense, Jesus’ statement is a call to arms – a call to engage the enemy. There is an enemy, a hostile force in this world. But the enemy is not “those kind of people over there.” No, scripture tells us, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” That is the enemy to engage: evil in the world and especially in us.
But how do we do that? How do we engage the enemy and go out in mission as light against the darkness? We must recognize the Incredible Nature of the Church.
- Jesus used the image of the vine. The vine was often used as a symbol of Israel. They were the vineyard that the Lord had planted. But they had failed to produce good fruit and so the Lord sent the True Vine. Jesus said, “I am the true vine.” He is the Vine, we are His branches, connected to Him and one another. What a picture of the Church – fruit bearing branches nourished by the Vine! Our identity, purpose and power are found in our connection to the Vine! And that picture is also powerful because a vine exists to bear fruit. That is its purpose. As William Temple wrote, “The vine lives to give its life-blood.”
- Jesus provides another picture of His followers. We are His Friends (14-15): “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” J.C Ryle states, “There is nobody so rich, so strong, so independent, so well off, so thoroughly provided for, as the person of whom Christ says, “This is my friend”. No greater dignity could be given to us. No greater evidence of God’s love could be given than Jesus giving His life for us His friends. No greater impetus for mission can be found than friendship with Christ. And no greater incentive for people to believe in Christ than to become a friend of Christ. As we come to Christ and live in obedience to Him, we are His friends.
- This however should not lead us into a sense of self-importance, for this friendship is born of grace. We were chosen. Jesus says in the next verse, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit.” As Bruce Milne writes, “Therein … lies the ultimate encouragement in mission. We go, not because we are worthy, or equipped, or attractive, or skilled, or experienced, or in any way suitable and appropriate. We go because we have been summoned and sent.” By grace, we are chosen to go and bear fruit.
Those are the recognitions, now we look at the REQUIREMENTS – things that need to take place in our lives.
- The first is Pruning. Jesus said (1-3), “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” It has been pointed out that the vine dresser does two things to ensure as much fruit as possible – in winter he cuts off the dry, withered branches and in the spring removes the useless growth from the branches. He clears off and cleans up. Branches that consistently do not bear fruit are removed, while those that do are pruned. Pruning in the Christian’s life takes place through the Word, the Spirit, the Church (others being shaped by the Word and Spirit), circumstances and trials. We don’t always like pruning and we often wonder why God allows certain things to happen – why being a Christian is so often difficult. But the purpose of pruning is that we might grow and be more fruitful. The Lord disciplines those He loves. God trims and cuts us that we might grow and live more fruitfully.
- The next requirement is Abiding in Christ. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." Bearing fruit is the work of Christ in us. It is impossible without Him. To be a Christian is to abide in Christ, to remain connected to Him. To abide in Christ is to remain in His love: to rejoice in it, depend upon it, do nothing to grieve Him, but rather do what delights Him, to keep his commands. Not to do that is to be fruitless and disconnected from the vine. We must bear fruit. Now, none of us do this perfectly, but to never do it is a sign of something wrong.
- Part of abiding is Prayer. Prayer is crucial to mission. Milne writes, “In the work of mission, the church advances on its knees.” Prayer is one of the ways that us branches are nourished by the Vine. And so Jesus encourages us in v.7 “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” As we abide in Christ (are seeking His will and plan), we can seek God confidently in prayer. As we seek His will, he will answer our prayers according to His will.
- But abiding in Christ is not simply an inner state, it requires Obedience. “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.” Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” We show our love by living the way God wants us to live.
- And we abide in Christ as we Love One Another. Jesus said, “This is my command: Love each other,” and “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” We are to love like Jesus loved – sacrificial, self-giving love. We are marked as disciples by our love.
As we abide in Christ (pruned, praying, loving, obeying) certain RESULTS take place. We read in v8, “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” When we bear Fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) we prove that we are Jesus’ disciples. And as fruit bearing disciples, we bring glory to God the Father. Therefore, we find ultimate fulfillment because we are doing what we were made to do. We were created for God’s glory. As the Westminster catechism states, “The chief end of human beings is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” And therefore another result is Joy. Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Our society looks at this and thinks, ‘a life of conformity and obedience and monogamous faithfulness to one Person – ugh! What could be more restrictive and constricting and demeaning and dull and dissatisfying?” But the reality is just the opposite. True life, true love, true purpose, true joy is found in being conformed to the character of Christ, obeying His good commands (living His way), bearing fruit as we abide in Him, and being faithful and loyal to him as our one and only Lord and Savior. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Discipleship means joy.”
Only a life that is being conformed to Christ is compelling to the world. Only a life that is filled with the light of Christ can shine in the darkness. People need to hear the Good News, but they also need to see Christ in us. He is the Light of the nations, but He shines through us. And so conformity is not a bad word when we are being conformed to Christ. For that means that He is re-constructing us into the men and women we were meant to be.
I love the words that were etched into Ruth Bell Graham’s gravestone – words she noticed while driving on the highway one day and wanted as her epitaph: “End of Construction. Thank you for your patience.” May that be said of each of us at the end of our lives: End of Construction. Our lives are in process. We are not perfect nor are we complete. God is at work in us (and He who began this good work will see it through to completion). May our lives be a process, a journey, an adventure of becoming conformed (re-constructed) into the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
“The gracious indwelling of God with his people is not an invitation to settle down and forget the rest of the world: it is a summons to mission, for the Lord who dwells with His people is the one who goes before them …” (Leslie Newbigin).
The problem is then: How can we be light for the nations if we are like the nations? If we are just like the world, we have nothing to offer the world. We try to be “relevant” to the world rather than compelling. We want to fit into the world b/c we think that then we will have an audience. But what was the method of the One who called His people to be light for the nations? God set His people apart. He called them to be distinct from the other nations in order to be light to them. Now they misused this calling and became self-focused, but that was not the intent. God made Israel “holy” not so that they would be “holier than thou” but that they would be an example and a guide for the nations around them. If we are not conforming our lives (albeit imperfectly and often inconsistently) to the likeness of the One we proclaim, then we have nothing to proclaim. You can’t give what you don’t have.
SCRIPTURE TO CONSIDER
Do not conform to the world – Romans 12.2; 1 Peter 1.14-16
Likeness of Christ – Romans 8.29; 1 Corinthians 15.45-58; 2 Corinthians 3.17-18; Philippians 2.1-11
The real battle – Ephesians 6.10-18
Being transformed – John 14.30-15.17
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