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Scripture Reading: 8, John 15:16
Prayer: Lord, how we thank You that You have gathered us again into Your name. It is the name that is above every name. Lord, we need You, and we want to talk to You. We are here waiting for You to give us some instruction. Lord, we are so dull in understanding Your words, so we need You. We are foolish and ignorant; we do not have the understanding. Lord, have mercy upon us for the fulfillment of the New Testament priesthood of the gospel. We need Your understanding. Open up our understanding. Show us the secret of how to practice the New Testament priesthood of the gospel. Lord, we need You, and we need Your instruction. We are here, Lord Jesus, trusting in You. Come to each one of us. We believe that many saints are happy with and are waiting to take this way, yet thus far we have not seen any kind of model, any kind of pattern. Lord, here we are. Tonight we still ask You to speak to us, even to talk to us with patience. Thank You, Lord. Amen.
In this chapter we will continue to fellowship concerning fruit-bearing. In John 15 the Lord revealed fruit-bearing in a very detailed way. This entire chapter deals with fruit-bearing, and it contains some of the more difficult verses in the Bible. In verse 8 the Lord said, “In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you will become My disciples.” Why does the Lord suddenly introduce this term disciples? What is it to be the Lord’s disciples? In the title of this chapter I have used the verb form being discipled. We have to be discipled for bearing much fruit. The Lord Jesus used this term also in Matthew 28 when He said, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (v. 19). John 15 was spoken right before His death, and Matthew 28:19 was spoken shortly after His resurrection. The disciples learned directly from the Lord to be disciples, so they were qualified to disciple others.
In John 15:16 the Lord said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.” This verse is wholly concerning fruit-bearing. If we are going to bear fruit, first we must be chosen, and second we must be set. Then we should go forth and should bear fruit, and our fruit should remain. We need to consider how to carry out these three things: to go forth, to bear fruit, and to assure that our fruit remains.
In these days we are going out to visit people to bring them to Christ and to baptize them. Then we intend to feed them, to have home meetings with them, to have small group meetings with them, and to bring them into the church life. Merely to get people baptized is not too hard, but to feed, to nourish, and to cherish people are not so easy. To bring them to the small group meetings is difficult, and to bring them into the church life as remaining fruit is even more difficult. Those who have fruit trees know that when the fruit becomes ripe and sweet, the birds may come. The birds come not to eat the new fruit but to eat the ripe fruit. While we are working, the evil “birds” are waiting. This corresponds with the Lord’s word in Matthew 13. The first kind of soil for His sowing was the soil “beside the way,” but because the soil beside the way had become hardened by the traffic, the seeds could not penetrate it, “and the birds came and devoured them” (v. 4). We have to do something to assure that our fruit will remain. Our fruit may be all right, but if we are careless, the next day it may be damaged by the devil. There are many things we have to do to gain and preserve our fruit. It is not as simple as we may think. To go out to visit people for the preaching of the gospel may seem easy, but actually it is not. If it were easy, it would have already been practiced by many Christians for centuries.
The Lord said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” This choosing transpired in eternity past. Before the foundation of the world, the Lord chose us in Himself (Eph. 1:4). Then in time we were born, and eventually we heard the gospel and believed. By this we know that we have been called, yet we must realize that we have also been set. The Lord set us in a certain position and in a particular environment. The Lord said, “I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit.” The Greek for should in this verse has two moods. One is the mood of purpose; the other is the mood of command. The word that denotes purpose, and the word should denotes command. We see the Lord’s purpose, and we also have a command from the Lord. We should go forth, and we should bear fruit. These are commandments. The Lord set us in a certain position because He has a purpose — that we should go forth and bear fruit. Yet this is not only the Lord’s purpose; it is His command — we should go forth and should bear fruit. Furthermore, the Lord continues, “And that your fruit should remain.” How could our fruit remain? It depends on us. We have to do a lot to carry out the Lord’s commands. We should go forth, we should bear fruit, and our fruit should remain. Otherwise, the Lord’s purpose cannot be accomplished, and His goal cannot be reached.
To bear remaining fruit is not easy, yet it is the Lord’s command. If you do not go forth, you are disobeying the Lord’s command. When the Lord comes, you will have to face Him and give Him an account. The Lord may ask, “How much fruit have you borne?” You may say, “Lord Jesus, it was too hard. I never went forth.” In John 15 following abiding, that is, following the enjoyment of Christ, there is the matter of fruit-bearing. The Lord may say, “In John 15 I charged you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” If you do not go today, one day you will be judged by the Lord. Even if you do go forth, yet you would not endeavor to bear fruit, the Lord will condemn you.
To go forth is one thing; to bear fruit is another. To get married is one thing; to deliver a child is another. To get married is not hard; it is an enjoyment. But to deliver a child is a kind of suffering, travailing. The mother must suffer not only on the day of its delivery; she has to suffer for nine months. After the child is born, she must spend all her time and energy so that it will grow and be healthy. Not only should her child “remain,” but it must remain in a proper way. The Lord Jesus spoke in a detailed way concerning bearing fruit because this is not a simple thing to do.
Now we must consider the remaining portion of verse 16: “That whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.” Again the Lord used the word that. The Lord set us that we should go forth and bear fruit, that our fruit should remain, and that whatever we ask in His name, the Father may give us. The last point in this verse is to pray not merely in a general way but to “ask...in My name.” The Lord does not intend for us to ask for material things. The Lord’s intention is for us to pray purposely for remaining fruit. Even if we would go forth and bear fruit, and even if we were able to labor much to keep the fruit, our fruit still might not remain.
After doing so much, one thing remains — we have to ask. We may be able to preach, baptize, and bring people to the church meetings, but we cannot give life. Paul says, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). We must admit our dependence on the Lord. We can and should do a lot, but whatever we do will not produce the result. The result comes from the Lord’s direct work. However, His direct work depends on our work. We have to go forth, we have to bear fruit, and we have to work that the fruit will remain. However, whatever we do without His additional doing means nothing.
The final thing that is needed is our asking. We have to pray in a particular way. To ask in His name is to ask for remaining fruit. We must pray, “Lord, I went forth. I worked hard. I preached the gospel to this one. I baptized him and visited him regularly for more than one year. I even brought him into the church meetings, but thus far, there is nothing promising that I can see within him. Lord, what is needed is Your work. I can do a lot, but I cannot give life. I may bring a hundred into the church life, but without Your additional work, the giving of life, my labor is vain.”
This does not mean that our labor is not needed. Without Paul’s planting and Apollos’ watering, the Lord could not have given life. We must lay the base with our labor. Then the Lord can give life. We need to ask the Lord for remaining fruit.
We have learned from church history, and it is confirmed by the Bible, that to preach the gospel effectively, we must go where the people are. We must visit them. The first one to visit people for the preaching of the gospel was the Lord Jesus. He came all the way from the heavens, and He even changed His form to become a man in order to visit sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). He went from city to city and from village to village to visit people (Luke 8:1). He sent the twelve to visit people (Matt. 10:5). Later, He sent seventy to visit people (Luke 10:1). The Lord’s word in John 15:16 is His sending of us.
When He said, “I set you,” He was referring to all the believers. He has set us in a certain position for a purpose. We should (as a command) go forth and bear fruit, and our fruit should remain. This is the God-ordained way to practice the New Testament priesthood of the gospel, and we all must exercise to promote it because it is not easy to carry out.
The old way of having a big congregation with one speaking and the rest listening does not accomplish much. It can edify people only in a general way. I was in a Brethren assembly for more than ten years. I continually went there to sit and listen so that I could be edified. That little Brethren assembly was there for over fifty years, yet no other church was raised up by them. In the mid-1970s, we had more than one thousand saints meeting in Orange County, but today the number is much less. For years we have been very busy going to the meetings yet with very little positive result. We all must realize that to stay in the old way does not work. Christianity has tested this old way throughout the centuries, and they now agree that their way does not work. They cannot go on in that way. When I came to this country in 1958, I heard that the United States had a population of two hundred million and that half of the people were Christians. Today the population might be over two hundred forty million, and only one hundred twenty million may be Christians. In over thirty years there has been an increase of only twenty million. This is less than a one percent increase per year. Christianity has come to nearly a standstill. Due to this, the Southern Baptists have begun to pick up the practice of door-knocking. Last winter they began to do this in Texas, and this summer they practiced it in Las Vegas.
It is not that this biblical way, the God-ordained way, does not work; it is that we are not faithful to this way. In John 15 the Lord used the word disciples. “In this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so you will become My disciples” (v. 8). The reason we are not fruitful is that we have not been discipled that much by Him. We need to become His disciples. To be discipled is to change our way, our position, and our character, that is, not to be natural. If we go out to visit people in a natural way, our going out will be ineffectual. We must be discipled.
For someone to play the piano properly, he must be willing to be tutored, “discipled.” Furthermore, he has to practice many hours to become discipled. To be discipled is to get out of the natural way and take another way. Are we willing to be discipled? It is not a matter of whether we could or should be discipled. It is altogether a matter of our being willing. Everyone should be discipled and can be discipled, but not many would be discipled. This is why nearly twenty centuries have passed, and the Lord still has not returned. Not many are living in the United States for the New Testament priesthood of the gospel. Not many are willing to be discipled.
We have to come back to the Bible in everything. To spread the kingdom of God on the earth, to propagate Christ in the human race, to preach His good news to save sinners, is a crucial matter. If we will dive into it without reservation, we will be discipled. All of our natural way, disposition, and character should be crossed out. We should not be natural in any way. In our going out, our way of speaking may be too natural. In the four Gospels the Lord Jesus did not talk to people in a natural way. Every word out of His mouth was very new, fresh, and refreshing. He talked in one way to the Samaritan woman. He talked in another way to Nicodemus. He talked in still another way to Zaccheus, a sinful tax collector. This is because He did not speak from Himself; instead, He spoke His Father’s word (John 12:49). Even the Lord Jesus had to deny Himself when He spoke to people, putting aside whatever was His and taking the Father’s word, the Father’s speaking. He was the first one to be discipled. He was the Father’s disciple.
Then in Matthew 11:29 the Lord said, “Learn from Me.” In Greek the base meaning of the word disciple is “learn.” A disciple is a learner. However, this is not to learn in the worldly sense; it is to learn by our old man being crucified to take away all of our old, natural things. When we go to visit all the ones whom we have baptized, we should not speak one word out of ourselves in a natural way or express anything without being dealt with or crossed out. Then we can have a positive result.
To preach the gospel is the most difficult thing. You cannot be loose in preaching the gospel to unbelievers. Gospel preaching needs your impact, your ability, and even your skill. To get people saved is a top skill. When Brother Watchman Nee was about nineteen or twenty, he preached the gospel very much. One day Brother Nee talked to a very smart, young college student about the gospel. This young man answered, “I am sorry. My father is now in Hades suffering. I do not like to see that my father will be suffering there and that I will be saved into Paradise, so I will go to him to suffer with him.” How would you answer such a person? Brother Nee answered in a brief and concise way using Luke 16: “The suffering, rich man begged Abraham to send someone to preach the gospel to his five brothers because he loved his brothers. Don’t you believe that your father, although he is suffering in Hades, still loves you? He doesn’t want you to go there with him. If you would go there, as you have said, you would not be honoring your father. You would be dishonoring him.” This short word convinced that young man, and he said, “I honor my father. For his sake I believe in the Lord Jesus. I will not go to his place, just for his sake.” This example shows us that there is much for us to learn in the preaching of the gospel.
In our full-time training we give lessons on items such as the all-inclusive Christ, the church, and the basic truths of the Bible. This is because we need the equipment; otherwise, we are too natural. We must endeavor to get into the truths to become fully equipped (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We do not know what kind of person we will face, and we do not know what kind of knowledge we will need to convince that particular person. Without the knowledge and the skill, we may lose many people.
Brother D. L. Moody preached the gospel very much. One night after preaching the gospel, he was speaking to a lady concerning Christ. At a certain point a disturbance frustrated that lady from being saved at the very time that she should have been touched by the Spirit and regenerated. Moody testified that after this small disturbance, he could not bring that lady back to the point of receiving the Lord. To preach the gospel is a fine matter. I am concerned that we may go out with a good heart yet with a very loose manner, character, and disposition. When we go to visit people, we must be on the alert, yet we should not let them know that we are so serious since that might threaten them. We cannot be loose. We must learn the ways of preaching the gospel with all the detailed points in order to deal with every situation.
You may consider that this is too hard, but the most precious things are always hard to accomplish. To go to visit sinners in order to preach your dear and precious Savior to them is altogether a matter in the spirit. If you do not exercise your spirit or keep yourself speaking in your spirit, you cannot be successful. You have to learn by being discipled. You can use The Mystery of Human Life, but it depends on how you use it. You may use it to kill people, or you may use it to enliven people. It all depends on your way, your skill, your spirit, and your disposition.
We all must realize that we have been set to go forth and bear fruit, so we should all have a start. We were set with a purpose and a command that we should go forth. To go forth is to have a start. The Lord has set us in the race, so we have to run. If we never have a start, nothing will change; we will remain in barrenness. We must hate our barrenness and endeavor to bear fruit. We were chosen for the start of fruit-bearing. We all need a start. Then after being chosen and after starting, we need to be discipled. We need to go out but not in a natural way. Being natural even a little bit can kill our purpose and annul our effectiveness. We all must have a spirit to learn. Anything that is old or natural must be crossed out. We have to be discipled. In addition, we need a lot of prayer. When we pray, we touch the Spirit. This will change us, disciple us, and cross us out. Only the Lord Spirit can change us, so we must have adequate prayer for us to be discipled. We also need to ask the Father in the Lord’s name for the giving of life to produce the remaining fruit.
We all need to take Paul as our pattern. In 1 Corinthians 9:16 Paul says, “If I preach the gospel, I have no boast, for necessity is laid upon me; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” There must be a necessity laid upon us to preach the gospel. If we do not preach the gospel, we will suffer woe; if we preach the gospel, a reward is waiting for us (v. 17). If we love the Lord and His recovery, we must have a new beginning in fulfilling our New Testament priesthood of the gospel to go and visit people. Then there is much possibility that we could bear fruit. After this, we must exercise further to be discipled so that our fruit will remain.
If you are faithful to the Lord and faithful to go out once a week for forty-eight weeks in a year, I believe you can baptize five to ten. Out of these, probably four to six will remain, yet not all of the remaining fruit will be brought to the church. It may be that only two of them will be brought into the church life. The others will simply be saved without coming into the recovery. By this we can see that if we are faithful, we will be able to gain a good number for the Lord.
I do not expect that all the saints meeting with us will go out to visit people, but I do expect that one-third of the saints in each locality will go out. If the Lord stirs up one-third of the saints to preach the gospel, He will gain a good percentage of increase every year. That will stir up all the saints’ interest in the church life, and the church will have a way to go on. To accomplish this, we all have to endeavor to rise up to fight against our barrenness.
