To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 13:58:58 -0500
Subject: Bible Study HF062 - Our Covenant Experience in Christ
Hebraics,
A most beautiful picture of our covenant life in Christ is found in the
analogy of the Vine and the branches. The Vine had long been a
symbol of Israel's covenant relationship with the Lord. The Psalmist
said, You removed a vine from Egypt; You drove out the nations and
planted it. You cleared the ground before it, and it took deep root and
filled the land. (Psalm80:8,9)
Isaiah drew attention to the vine, in saying, Let me sing now for my
well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. (Isa5:1)
And over the entrance of the Holy Place in Herods temple was the
symbol of the grape vine. The grape vine represented Israel. So when
Jesus spoke of the Vine and branches, His Hebrew disciples already
had this covenant symbol fixed in their thinking.
In this Bible study we will take a closer look at our covenant
experience in Christ, by drawing from the analogy of the Vine and the
branches.
This is Bible Study HF062 - Our Covenant Experience in Christ.
It takes place in the upper room. Jesus is sharing some awesome
things with the disciples in preparing them for the cross and the things
to come. It is during this time that He says,
"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every
branch in
Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that
bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already
clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me,
and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides
in the
vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are
the
branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart
from
Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away
as a
branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and
they
are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever
you
wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that
you bear
much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples." (John 15:1-8)
The word 'abide' is a key word in this analogy. It carries with it
strong
covenant overtones. The Greek word 'meno' means to stay in place,
or
to remain within a sphere. As for covenant overtones, we have a
picture of this when God speaks to Abraham, and says, "I am God
Almighty; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will establish My
covenant between Me and you." (Gen17:1,2) Notice the Lord says that
He will do the establishing of the covenant.
So, we do the walking, God does the establishing. Believers are to
walk in the knowledge of Gods strength and presence! This is our
completeness. The issue of abiding is the very heart of covenant. We
share our life with Christ. He shares His life with us. Its not half
life we
share. We share in the full life of Jesus. He shares fully in our life.
The word covenant in Hebrew is the word 'berith.' In Greek it is
'diatheke.' Both words speak of a declaration of the will of God
concerning His own commitment, promises, and conditions by which
He enters into relationship with man. God is the one who establishes
the covenant. He is the initiator and completer. For this reason the vine
is a vivid picture of our new covenant relationship with God.
The believer has one responsibility. He is to look to the Lord Jesus
for
everything in life. Yet it is this one truth that believers sometimes
stumble over. It is so easy to concentrate on working for Lord, and not
on abiding in Him. Of course the end result is often frustration and
even burn out. The truth of the matter is that God has designed us to
be faith-dependent on Jesus. This alone is the true secret of power!
Paul discovered this truth the same way that many of us do. The
apostle said, "Because of the surpassing greatness of the
revelations,
for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me
from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times
that it might leave me. And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient
for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I
will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ
may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with
insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for
Christ's
sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2Co12:7-10)
There is no question that Paul was a man of great zeal. His eagerness
for the Lord was to be admired, but this eagerness also became a
danger point in Paul's life. And Paul found that prayer alone could not
take care of the problem. He had to learn the vine secret. When Jesus
said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in
weakness,'" the apostle recognized that he was attempting to do too
much on his own. And so, what did Jesus tell the disciples about their
vine life? He said, "Without Me you can do nothing."
Our perfect example for the vine life experience is Jesus Himself. In
His earth walk, not one time do we ever see Jesus defensive or
frustrated. Can we be like that? What was His secret? To answer that
question, we need to ask another question. How many times do we
hear Jesus say that He does nothing on His own initiative? That is the
key. (For your study consider the following Scriptures; John 5:30;
8:28; 8:42; 12:49; 14:10.)
But the victory we walk in is based on the finished work of the cross.
It
is the victory of Jesus that we learn to abide in. It is His rest that we
enter into. This is why there is a caution given believers about missing
His rest. It says, "Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise
remains of
entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it."
(Heb4:1)
Have you ever been one of those believers who has come short of His
rest? Sure you have. We all have at times. But somewhere we
learned, or are still learning to trust that the Lord is working His will
in
our life. It is in this arena of trust that the quiet life of abiding
takes
over. Listen to these Scriptures:
"And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of
righteousness, quietness and confidence forever." (Isa32:17)
"The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion
with
justice and righteousness. And He will be the stability of your times, a
wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is
his treasure." (Isa33:5,6)
"Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matt11:29)
But we also need to take this a step further. It is in learning how to
abide that we learn the outflow of God's will. It really isn't hard for
any
child of God to learn the flow of Gods will. There are only two things
we need
to know. First, we need to understand that God has a perfect will for all
of His
children. This includes His general will, and His specific will. And,
secondly,
we need to know that God is the only One who can work His will in our
life.
Listen to these two key Scriptures:
"So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my
presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your
salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you,
both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Phil2:12)
Notice it says that God is at work in each of us for the will and work
of
His own pleasure. Listen to another Scripture which gives an even
broader picture;
"Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great
Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even
Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in
us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom
be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Heb12:20,21)
Again notice that it is the God of peace who equips us "in
everything"
to do His will. He does this through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Also note that God's work has to do with His pleasure. God is pleased
to work with all His children. All we need to do is trust in Him.
The primary way we learn this flow of the vine life is by divine
instruction. It is in our abiding that we begin to know the Word
(voice)
of God. There is a difference between the letter of Gods written
Word, and the living voice of Gods Word. Although they are never in
disagreement, they are not always the same. Paul said that the letter
can kill, but the Spirit ministers life. Because our relationship with God
in
Christ is a living relationship, God speaks to our heart. (The voice of
God does
not disannul His written Word. It simply speaks into our lives the things
we
need to hear the most.)
Here is the promise concerning God's voice in the new covenant;
"Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore in that day I am
the one who is speaking, 'Here I am.' How lovely on the mountains are
the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and
brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to
Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" (Isa52:6,7)
Out of all this we come to know more about this wonderful thing called,
'providence.' We learn the providence of God by seeing His care for
our lives. Many times we worry when things seem to go wrong. Yet in a
little while, we see how the Lord worked things through for us. Thus we
learn more and more about the vine life.
There is no part of a believers life that the Lord is not vitally
concerned
with. This includes our mess ups. God can take the most terrible things of
our
own doings, and turn them to good. This is why the prophet of old could
say,
"The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions
never fail.
They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." (Lam3:22,23)
The Lord never ceases to love and care for His people. Perhaps David
said it best of all. He said, "You have also given me the shield of
Your
salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness
makes me great." (Psa18:35) The Hebrew word for gentleness, that is,
'anavah', speaks of meekness, humility, condescension. This word
paints a picture of a father giving tender instruction to his young child,
in
helping the child learn lessons of character.
Back to the Vine and its branches. The centerpiece of the analogy of
the Vine and branches is found in verses 7 and 8. Jesus said, "If you
abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it
will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much
fruit, and so prove to be My disciples."
As we learn to walk in loving submission to the Word of Christ, we are
given a promise of fruitfulness. This fruitfulness extends to our prayers
being answered. The privileges and experiences of a new covenant
child of God are awesome indeed. Where the Old Testament saint
relied greatly on a prophet and priest mediator, the new covenant child
of God has direct, open, and immediate access to the Lord, at any
moment, and under any circumstance. This is why Jesus said, He
who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being
shall flow rivers of living water
In the latter part of this study I want to share three keys that have
to do with
the abiding life. These keys include some of what we have already studied.
The 1st key to a victorious life is simply learning to abide in Christ.
We
discussed this earlier, but it needs to be reemphasized. Remember that it
is His
fruit that we bear. Therefore, we must learn to let our faith settle in
Him
absolutely. This is where God receives glory. If we stop trusting Him to
work in
us, our lives begin to shrivel. Jesus said that no branch can bear fruit
on its
own.
The 2nd key to a victorious Christian life is found in the second half
of
verse 7. Jesus said, and My words abide in you. The Greek
language has two words for word. Logos means thoughts and
conceptions, or arrangements. It is in our meditations and study that
Gods Logos flows. However, this is not the word Jesus uses here.
Here Jesus says if my Words (rhema [hray-mah]) abide in
you...
This goes beyond memorizing Scripture. Rhema is that which has
been uttered by a living voice. We are always to seek the Word of the
Lord in our lives.
Again, this is not going to a prophet. This is Christ ministering His
Word in the heart of a believer. There are many voices in world, but
there is only one voice we are to seek for and listen to.
The 3rd key is the love key. Jesus said, "Just as the Father has
loved
Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love." (John15:9.) To abide in
His love is to keep always before us His love for us. Meno means to
settle down in His love. Gods love is your protection.
Now note verse 16. "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and
appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit
would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He
may give to you." Jesus is telling disciples not to be afraid. He
said, I chose
you. I will keep you. Nothing can break my love bond.
I'll complete the study at the this point. Feel free to share your
thoughts or
ask questions. This is a good study with regard to the deeper life of the
Spirit.
Shalom in Christ,
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)