Of Friendship and Fruit

By Brenda Jank

Recorded in John 15:16, hours away from the slicing sting of a first-century roman whip, Jesus tells his team, “I chose you.”

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last… John15:16a

We are chosen for two things

• To bear fruit
• For friendship with God

Guess which one comes first? Verse 15 makes it clear.

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 
John 15:15

God chose you and me to be his friend.

God chose you and me to produce fruit—fruit that lasts.

How does the Resurrection Power we know, live, and celebrate

• Impact your friendship with God?
• Impact the fruit that unfolds — God at work in us and through us?

Digging into John 15, The Holman Christian Study Bible notes from John 15:16 gave me a new insight.

In the first-century Palestine, disciples typically took the initiative in attaching themselves to a particular rabbi, not vice versa. As a well-known dictum declared, “Provide yourself with a teacher.” Jesus broke with this custom and called His own disciples. Appointed recalls the OT description of God’s appointment of Abraham (Genesis 17:5) and Moses commissioning of Joshua (Numbers 27:18).

Appointed—and anointed.

For such a time as this!

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.    
2 Corinthians 1:21-22

Holy spirit, have your way in my life and my love, my work and my rest—today.

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