The
people of God come to a fullness when they recognize and live in the
place of total destitution. John 15:5 " I am the vine; you are
the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears
much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
A
question How
does the idea of "total destitution" connect in with "that
bears much fruit"? Are they not the opposing sides?
My reply
Excellent
question to spur further discussion. The specific kind of "total
destitution" that I am talking about is that of knowing that in
me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. The fulness of God can
only flow out of one who is empty, who recognizes, that they are
"undone" "a man of unclean lips among a people of
unclean lips" "Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to
us open shame " The recognition that all of our "life"
is flowing out of the vine, and we are just the branch, destitute of
life, if not for your connection, our 100% dependence on the vine. In
the last two Bible Studies that Tom
Quinlan hosts,
"Paul's Gospel in the Old Testament" Session 11 and 12, the
truth that the fullness of the gentiles is actually the revealing of
a people who are at the end of their strength, corporately having no
strength of their own, corporately wholly dependent, absolutely
surrendered to God. (I have watched and read about so many
charismatically gifted people who would bear fruit for a season and
then grab a tiny sliver of the glory, and then crash and burn, a
total cleansing of self-righteousness, a total rejection of any
"claim" upon grace is what we need and what the Lord is
searching for.)
and an
“add on” And
from the place of "total destitution" the will of God
reigns and the love of God flows and the compassion of God heals,
unhindered by the "flesh", bearing much fruit all for the
glory of His Name
No comments:
Post a Comment