Becoming spiritually self sustaining; John 15:16.

Title: Becoming spiritually self sustaining; John 15:16.

 

John 15:16 "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, that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.

 

/You did not elect Me, but I elected you, and appointed you a place in the body of Christ, \

 

Now we are given a purpose clause, “so that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain,”.

 

The purpose clause states the purpose of your election and appointment; the beginning of your predestination, is fruit bearing.

 

/ “should go” - `upagw[hupago - present active subjunctive] = to go, to go away from, to depart or to leave. In context it refers to being spiritually self sustaining.\

 

/Matt 28:19

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,\

 

/Acts 1:8

 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.\

 

Very soon after the departure of TLJC these 11 disciples will have to bear fruit on their own, apart from the physical presence of Jesus Christ.

 

They will communicate the gospel in the face of tremendous adversity and will not have the person of Jesus Christ to stand behind.

 

/Spiritually self sustaining - the ability to make good decisions and to produce divine good from your own spiritual strength gained from your own spiritual advancement.\

 

So many people, believers included, cannot make decisions without consultation from others. This is where counseling is abused; advice columns, etc. are used to help people make decisions. Counseling is not an application of bearing one another’s burdens.

 

/The believer has to learn to solve his own problems from his own storehouse of doctrine.\

 

/John 14:15

"If you love Me, you will keep [guard] My commandments [categorical doctrines].\

 

 

 

/1 John 2:4

he one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;\

 

In every soul there is a self-consciousness where you store an image of yourself, both a physical image and a mental image of who you are and what kind of person you are. This greatly effects your conscience. A clean conscience is one that shares a good self-consciousness.

 

/A clean conscience and a good self-consciousness are absolutely necessary to becoming spiritually self sustaining. \

 

Some people compare themselves to others and form their SC from that. Some people rely on blind arrogance and view themselves as superior, even when it’s obvious to all that they are not, and they put down others. Some believe that lie of arrogance fully and others know they are inferior, but cling to their arrogance to the exclusion of reality. Some people cannot shake their past failures and always have a very low SC. This can lead to real depression as the brain is changed by the way we think. It turns out that our view of ourselves is very fragile and very important.

 

There is no escaping the fact that sin, evil, and false doctrine sear the conscience which causes mental pain, depression, anxiety, worry, stress, and psychosis.

 

1 Tim 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

 

1 Tim 4:2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

 

/ “conscience” - sunei,dhsij[suneidesis; sun = with, and oida = to know; literally, “to know with”] = self reflection. When self reflection extends to deeds it becomes one’s norms and standards.\

 

This place within you is frequently in conflict when it comes to applying what you know. The infamous little angel appears on one shoulder and the little devil on the other. The self-consciousness affects the conscience and thus impacts your decisions. And, the decisions affect the conscience (good or bad) which affects the self-consciousness. On and on this Ferris wheel goes throughout life.

 

Again, look at:

1 Tim 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

 

1 Tim 4:2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

 

If sin, evil, and false doctrine sear the conscience then divine good makes for a very enjoyable, clean, and good conscience.

 

/1 Peter 3:16-17

keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong.\

 

A believer can produce divine good in good conditions of prosperity as well as in the challenging conditions of unjust adversity.

 

/1 Peter 2:19

For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.\

 

And, the believer who has a lifestyle of divine good production does not become arrogant over his spiritual success because he is conscious of the fact that the only one who can examine divine good production is the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

/1 Cor 4:4

For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord.\

 

If you are in sin, evil, or involved in false doctrine, no one has the right to judge you.

 

/1 Cor 10:29

why is my freedom judged by another's conscience?\

 

People who have seared consciences are in mental pain and they lash out at others and judge, malign, slander, and ridicule them. You must ignore them and see yourself through the eyes of God. If you are out of fellowship there is only one thing to do and you have every right to do it and as often as necessary; confess, name and cite, the sin to God the Father.

 

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

So it doesn’t matter whether we commit sin or remain in fellowship, do evil instead of divine good, just keep rebounding? This false thinking would invalidate the passages, including our John 15:16 that command us to perform divine good, have good behavior, bear up under pressure with doctrine and not human defense mechanisms, and to stay clear of C1 and C2.

 

1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

 

This gets back to our study on grace. Grace is given for the imperfect creature to execute the perfect plan of God and not to choose a lifestyle of sin or evil in cosmic living.

 

I’m writing these things that you may not sin is John referring to our opportunity through grace to walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, 1Jn 1:7.

 

1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;

 

1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

/Fellowship with Christ, abiding in the true vine is the key to a clean conscience and a wonderful self-consciousness [SSE].\

 

1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

 

/Everyone has an OSN. To say that some people are inherently good is a complete lie.\

 

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 

1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

 

/Everyone commits personal sins. There is no such thing as sinless perfection in the Christian way of life.\

 

1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;

 

1 John 2:2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

 

1 John 2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

 

1 John 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

 

1 John 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

 

1 John 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

 

/Positional truth cleanses the conscience from human viewpoint, human arrogance, and human good; all of which were rejected at the cross, HEB 9:14.\

 

 

/HEB 9:14

how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?\

 

/A continued diet of Bible doctrine continues to cleanse the conscience from OSN and cosmic influence, HEB 10:22.\

 

/HEB 10:22

let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.\

 

And so, the believer through his relationship with Christ and his relationship with Christ’s doctrines, remaining in fellowship through rebound, and walking in the light through applied wisdom and producing divine good feeds the self-consciousness with a good report, making crutches unnecessary and SSS a reality.