Light of Togo

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.

It just doesn’t get much clearer than this, does it?  Jesus says in very clear terms that He, and He alone, is the vine: the source, the life-giver, the root; and that we are the branches: the result of the vine, the conduit of its life, and the bearer of its fruits.  He again gives the assurance that all those who abide in Him will produce fruit.

As I mentioned with verse two, it is necessary to ask ourselves what this fruit is.  I have heard numerous times, and believed until recently, that the fruit of a Christian is leading another person to Christ.  However, after combing through every reference to “fruit” in the Bible, and after reading these passages in their contexts, I cannot say that the Bible teaches this idea.  Certainly, that does not in any way diminish the importance or the role of evangelism; nothing about it is changed just because “fruit” does not mean evangelism. What is most important is not to make commonly held ideas fit conveniently into biblical texts, but to interpret the Word correctly.

The Bible is very clear, however, in another passage as to what the fruit of the Christian life is.  In Galatians 5:22-26 we read:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.

The Bible assures us that all of Christ’s true followers have the Holy Spirit within them.  The natural product, or should we say fruit, of the Spirit in a believer’s life are these things mentioned in Galatians.  The desire of Jesus is to produce much of this fruit through your life as you abide in Him and He in you.  Ouch!  That is quite convicting as I think, “How often do I exhibit much love, much peace, much longsuffering, and much of these other things, in my home, with my friends, and with other people that I come in contact with?  Is my branch full of the fruit which Jesus wants to grow through me?”

It does no good to ask these kind of questions for the purpose of self-condemnation, but like me maybe you think that at times your life does not exhibit this fruit as it should.  If so, it is essential to remember the last part of this verse, for without me ye can do nothing. It is silly to imagine grapes or the branches which they grow on existing without the vine, or detached from it.  It is God, the loving and gracious vine dresser, who keeps you attached to the vine of Jesus Christ.  It is not your job to “keep holding on to Jesus,” because He has a hold of you and will never let go.  Without the work of God, we would not even exist, and without His allowing us to do so, we could not even take our next breath.  Without Him, salvation would be impossible and we would have no part of it.  It is this all-powerful God who is patiently pruning and purging your life so that He can produce the fruit which He desires through you.

The branch is nothing and does nothing on its own.  It is helpless and useless by itself.  It is only in the vine that they fulfill their purpose.  Their position is this: complete and absolute dependence upon the vine.  That is exactly our greatest responsibility, to rest upon the work of Christ and to live in complete and absolute dependence upon what only He can do in us and through us for His glory.

Today I had my last tutoring session with Suzanne until September, and tomorrow Tiffany will have her last one.  Suzanne takes off the months of July and August for a summer vacation, so for the next couple months it will just be Tiffany, me, and a pile of French textbooks as we work through some of the finer points of French.  While we plan to take advantage of the nice weather, we certainly don’t look at this time as a break from French.

Lately it seems that we have had more opportunities than normal to speak French in very relaxed situations with various friends.  This is one of the most useful ways to “study” for us right now because we are able to put into practice what we have been learning.  It is very encouraging as we are both beginning to form longer and more complex sentances.

We are looking forward to having my parents with us in a few weeks.  They will be here for one week, then a few weeks after they leave my cousin and his wife will be visiting for five days from Australia.

I have been notified by several people that I am ready to preach in French.  I was previously unaware of this, so I’m really glad that they have let me know!  I have a message ready, and the date is set for July 20th.  It should be…hmm…what’s the right word for it…interesting.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

ow, I can’t believe it’s been a week since Joshua’s and my camping trip. I really wanted to have the video done and this entry written right after we returned last Saturday, but between lots of work to catch up on, taking longer on the video than expected, and incredibly annoying frustrations with uploading it to Google Video, I have just now got around to it. I know that since last weekend you’ve all been sitting at your computers in anxious expectation of this moment, so I do apologize for keeping you from your TV and other important things.  I hope you do know that I’m just kidding about TV being an important thing.  Of course, everyone knows that video games are much more important.

The camping was really a blast.  Although the mosquitoes were almost unbearable - we couldn’t even sit down long enough to eat - we really enjoyed ourselves and had a great time.  I asked Joshua what the funnest thing is that he’s ever done in his extremely long life, and he said it was this camping trip.  That right there made all the mosquito bites worth it!

OK, enough babbling.  You probably just want to watch the video.  It is really quite a lot longer (13 minutes!) than I wanted it to be, but when putting it together I just couldn’t cut out so many of the cute things that Joshua did or said, so 13 minutes it is!  Because of the aforementioned problem with Google, I am trying a different video hosting service called Vimeo.  Hopefully I’ll have better luck with it than I have with Google.

You can watch it in full screen by clicking the squarish-looking arrows just to the right of the volume.

Jesse and Joshua’s Camping Trip from Jesse Shanks on Vimeo.

And here’s some photos:

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Ever since we moved to Quebec, I have told Joshua that we would go camping together.  Unfortunately, by the time our schedule settled down last Fall and we were ready to go, all of the camping locations were already closed for the season.  So, ever since Quebec thawed out (and us), I have been telling him that we would go on a weekend when the weather is nice.  Well, finally that weekend has arrived.  Tomorrow is supposed to be very nice, and Saturday as well.  So we’re heading out tomorrow to Parc Jacques-Cartier for some great father & son time.  Tiffany, meanwhile, is having her good friend, Nathalie, come over for a scrapbooking night.  Joshua, as you might imagine, is extremely excited.  He asked a few thousand questions while me tonight as we sorted through and packed up all the camping gear.

We’ll let you know how it goes when we get back, and hopefully we’ll have some photos and/or video to show 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.

Jesus here lays down a very simple and unchanging truth: that all fruit, all success, all labor, all of our very being is completely dependent on one thing - Jesus!  Without Jesus we can do nothing of eternal importance, and have nothing of eternal value.

When we attempt to live our lives independent of Jesus Christ, we are like a branch which is connected to a vine but strenuously trying to grow a cluster of grapes.  We push and strain and exert all our effort in doing something that is impossible.  Physically it is impossible for a branch to make fruit without the vine, and spiritually it is impossible for us to live the Christian life without Christ.

Many people appear to have the idea that the ultimate goal in the Christian life is found in striving to “be like Jesus” in every area.  While the Bible does talk about  being conformed into His image, I would have to say that I disagree with this idea as the fundamental way of the Christian walk.  I believe that the Bible indicates that God is much more concerned with our depending upon Him than with our mimicking Him.  I do not mean to sound like I am criticizing anybody, but the problem I see (and that I have had many times) is that many Christians attempt to analyze and improve every compartment of their lives for the ultimate goal of being like Jesus.  But what happens many times is that we end up doing all of this in our own effort, independent from the one who we’re trying to be like!  When we are entirely reliant and dependent upon Him, however, He grows us and matures us as He desires and in His perfect timing.  He will produce fruit through us as His life flows through us.  We are simply the conduit through which the vine produces its fruit to the glory of the God.

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 

After reading this verse several times in the context of the passage, and after reading several commentaries on it, I must admit that I’m really not entirely sure what this verse means.  Gasp!  Shock!  How can this be?!

I’m very sorry to disappoint you, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret: even people who go to Bible college and are in the ministry don’t have an answer to every verse in the Bible.  Shortly after becoming a Christian I was erroneously led to believe that Christians, and especially pastors, missionaries, etc., must have a response to every biblical question and an interpretation for every verse.  Therefore, I strived to acheive this mysterious omniscience which always seemed to avoid me.  I would adopt the answers of those around me and tenaciously defend them, even though I knew that they didn’t make sense.  Isn’t it sad how young Christians can be misled so easily?  «rabbit trail warning»  By the way, this is one reason why proper discipleship is so important and why we desire to have a large emphasis upon it in our ministry.

OK, I have now tracked down the rabbit, shot it, barbequed it, and served it to some dinner guests after telling them it was chicken.  So, back to the verse.

Here’s my best guess.  In chapter 13, when Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet, He told Peter in verse 10: Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.  Then the next verse says: For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

It’s extremely clear what Jesus meant here.  He was indicating that His group of disciples was not entirely clean because of Judas.  John 15:3 could be a reference to Jesus’ “cleansing” of the group by exposing Judas as the unclean one in 13:21-27.

Other than that interpretation, or in addition to it, the other possibility is that Jesus simply meant that He had already begun that purging and cleansing process through His word (teaching and instruction) which He had recently given them.

So what do you think?  Do you think that it means something different from what I’ve mentioned?  If so, I’d love to hear it and tell you why you are wrong.  I hope you know that I’m just kidding!  The good news is that it doesn’t appear to me that a perfect understanding of this verse really has a great effect on the entire passage.  So on to verse four we go!

Since Malerie has left I have started teaching Joshua Pre-K.  I  am thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to teach him; he is progressing very quickly, and is eager to learn. During class the other day, Joshua was trying to write the letter N.  He was having a hard time because he was beginning the letter at the top, so therefore the letter N was turning into the letter W.  He was becoming very frustrated, so I told him to try starting the letter at the bottom.  He then placed his head on the desk and started crying.  When I asked him what was wrong he said “I don’t like to be wrong, I want to do everything perfect.  I want to color perfect inside the lines, I want to do school perfect, I don’t want to make mistakes.”  Don’t we all!

After he explained why he was sad, I asked him to sit in my lap, and I began to tell him that no one is perfect, that no one can do everything perfect because no one is perfect. I began naming people that we are close to, telling him that none of those people are perfect.  He then looked up at my face and said, “But mom, God is perfect, He does everything right.”  WOW! What a statement and what a great reminder, that He can’t do anything wrong; that everything He is and does is perfect. I kissed his little cheek and told him, “You are absolutely correct, He is perfect.”

After our little chat I began to tell him that all he needs to do is just do his best, that he might not be able to do it perfectly but it will be the best he can do and that is important.  I am reminding him often that everything he does well is because God gave him gifts and abilities that allow him to do his best.  Joshua did finish the letter N and he started at the bottom and did a wonderful job, and afterward he said, “I did my best mom,” and leaned over and kissed me on my cheek.  What a reward!  I love being able to teach him and spend time with him, it is so rewarding.

Later on that night Joshua was helping Jesse with something and Jesse said, “Okay we are finished, it’s perfect,” and Joshua spoke up and said, “It might not be perfect, Dad, but it is the best we can do!”

I thank the Lord for such a wonderful, loving son.

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.

Jesus here clearly classifies all people into two categories: those who abide in Him and produce fruit and those who don’t and have no fruit.  There have been many false doctrines which site this verse as a “proof text,” the most common of which being that Christians can loose their salvation if they do not produce fruit.  We’ll come across this thought again when we get to verse six, but for now I think it’s important to establish a vital truth from the very beginning of this passage: those who lack fruit do so because they do not have the life of the vine within them!  Fruit can only come from receiving the life of the vine.  A branch with no fruit is a dead branch!  The Bible is very clear on this: “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” (I John 5:12)

Remember, Jesus was not speaking these words directly to all people of all time, although they certainly apply to all people.  He was speaking to his disciples, so it should be obvious that the immediate context and application refers to Judas, who of course was not bearing fruit because he was not receiving the life of the vine, because he was not abiding in Jesus.  The wider application is to all of those, who like Judas, appear to follow Christ; they hang out with His followers, talk like His followers, act like His followers, but never have the spiritual fruit of His followers.

But what about the branches which do have fruit?  It’s clear to see that God, for His own glory, desires to have a fruit-producing vine, and that He does what is necessary to acheive this.  The purging that is mentioned here is like the vital but sometimes painful pruning that God must do to our lives so that He may cause us to bear more fruit for His glory.  It really should make us stop and ponder the many “offshoots” that we follow in our lives which only serve to distract us from resting in the source of life that is in Jesus Christ.

Want to add something to this study? Leave a comment.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus gives seven “I am” statements, this being the last of them.  What a statement it is!  Notice that He doesn’t say, “I am a true vine,” or “I am the vine,” but emphatically “I am the true vine.”  Such a declaration oozes with affirmation of His deity.  As we’ll see later in the chapter, His being the vine clearly means that He is the source of all life.  There may be many other places where men will unsuccessfully search for true life, but Jesus reminds us that He only is the true vine where it can be found.

“and my Father is the husbandman.” The husbandman is the farmer; the one who owns the land, who cultivates the ground, who plants the seeds, and grows his fruit.  God is in complete control of His work and He is doing it through the true vine, Jesus Christ.

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Colossians 1:16-17)

Click here to download a printable PDF copy of this letter: May ‘08

The month of May marked one year since our arrival in Quebec. It seriously seems like it has only been a few months. We praise God for the progress that He has allowed us to make in our French and we trust that these last five months will be even more productive as we attempt to learn more of the advanced aspects of the language.

Since Malerie left, Tiffany has been doing school with Joshua and he is doing extremely well. He looks forward to school each day and sometimes asks if he can keep working after they are finished. He is at the point now where he is putting letters together and starting to read words and simple sentences. Like every parent, we are so thankful for him and we’re amazed at how quickly he is growing up.

Not a day goes by that we don’t think about how close we are to arriving in Togo. We ask that you would continually pray for the Lord’s direction and wisdom as we make all of the necessary preparations.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support!