Without Me you can do nothing

We have probably all seen (or been), a little child seeing his father mending his toy, snatches it our of the father’s hand saying “I can do it all by my own,” then promptly messing it up beyond repair. Once we loose our total dependence on our parents (or before), our drive for total independence, more often than not, raises it’s ugly head. It is even celebrated in the West. Please note I am not saying we should remain dependent, but there is a more mature state than independence. I am talking about a healthy interdependence, about voluntarily surrendering some of our independence to another, for the sake of the relationship. I am talking about interdependence not codependence. If I am understanding this correctly, it is what Paul is talking about  when he says  “submitting to one another in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21).

Coming to this morning’s quote from John 15:5, you might object that, well actually I can totally ignore Him and do my own thing. Well in a real sense no, because He gives you breath and strength to do that. But this verse is talking about bearing fruit. In particular the previous verse says “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” The picture given is that He is the vine, we are the branches, and we are  to abide in the vine (verse 5). The Ephesians 5:21 submitting to each other, is about coming together as equals. To abide in the vine, is to submit to One who is infinitely superior. But unlike earthly relationships, He always has our best interest at heart, and always treats us with dignity, even when disciplining us (pruning verse 2). The Scriptures tells us that “Faithful are the wounds of a friend,” and He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 7:6; 18:24).

So what does He mean that we can do nothing without Him? Well, without a vital ongoing connection with Him (abiding), we can do nothing of eternal value, nothing that produces fruit for the Kingdom. The default seems to be to do what we want, then ask God to bless it. Jesus did it the other way round, He looks to see what the Father is doing, then does it. In fact even He can do nothing without the Father (John 5:19). Part of seeing what the Father is doing, is to look at the larger church and at movements that claim to be of Him. It's far too easy to stay stuck in our own little group or denomination thinking that we have it all, thinking  we are the best. We do  need to be firm about the basics of course, but we need to go on from there (Hebrews 6:1-3). We need understand that “if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2).

Father, help us to see, that no matter how much we know, or how long we have known You, that there is always so much more. You are moving in so many ways and movements in our time, and none of them are perfect. Give us eyes Lord to see past past the imperfections and the errors. Help us to stay humble Lord as we test all things so that we can chew the meat, and throw away the bones in Jesus Name Amen