Well us have reached the point of securing our Spiritual Maturity and how we acquire it. But first Pastor Hoekstra's writing on Grace and Spiritual Fruitfulness. And as has become my habit I will make use of the ESV translation as found in my e-Sword program.
"More on Grace and Spiritual Fruit"
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, 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, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5) Jesus here is speaking of a Relationship term, that is part of the word LORD. When it is in all caps as I use it here and elsewhere. The title of LORD contains the titles of Master, husband, hubandmen, Father and Vine, these are all spiritual descriptions of our relationship when we are in Christ and Christ is in us making two One Body. As Christ HE is the true Vine.
"Although these verses do not mention Grace, they are a classic biblical explanation of Grace bringing forth fruit in lives. The language depicts an actual vineyard, where fruit grows on branches that are properly related to a Vine. Then, this physical reality is applied figuratively to spiritual fruit developing in our lives, if we are relating correctly to now Spiritual Christ Jesus, Who is LORD.
In this teaching, our LORD reminds us that literal branches are not able to produce fruit themselves. "The branch cannot bear fruit of itself." We are spiritual branches, so we will not be able to produce fruit either. "Neither can you, unless you abide in Me." In fact, our potential for manufacturing genuine spiritual fruit is zero. "Without Me you can do nothing." The best we could ever hope to produce would be religious, wax fruit. Such would come from our fleshly attempts to appear godly or effective. People may be fooled by this, but GOD never will be. Furthermore, people cannot be edified by partaking of such, and GOD cannot be glorified.
True fruit results from the ongoing development of life. Life is only innate to vines, not branches. For a grape to develop on any grape branch, the life of the Vine must flow into, and work within, the branch. So it is with us. "I am the (true) Vine, you are the branches." This distinction is vital. We must never forget the difference, if we desire to bear fruit. The life we need for fruitfulness is in Him, not in us.
How do we avail ourselves of that life which is essential for fruit? "Abide in Me, and I in you." We are to look to Christ Jesus for Life, counting on Him to live in and through us. Then, His Life, working in us, brings forth Christlike fruit. How do we know if we are abiding? If we are willing to depend upon Christ Jesus for spiritual fruit as a grape branch relies upon its vine for grapes, then we are truly abiding in Christ. Such dependency brings valid expectation for great measures of Christlikeness to be Developing in and through our lives. "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit."
This is clearly Grace at work, as seen in the relational realities of humility and faith. Humility is operating as we acknowledge "without Me you can do nothing." Faith is exercised as we believe "that He who abides in Me . . . bears much fruit."
How Spiritual Maturity is Secured:
By Pruning (Putting) Away Childish Things:
1Corinthians 13:8-13 "Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is Love."
By Cultivating of the Christ Ideal:
1Corinthians 14:20-25 "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, "By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord." Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship GOD and declare that GOD is really among you."
By Striving after the Christ Ideal:
Ephesians 4:7-16 "But Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He Who descended is the one Who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the Body (in which the risen, dwells) of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the Knowledge of the Son of GOD, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes (this is the description of mans many religions and denominational forms). Rather, speaking the Truth in Love, we are to grow up in every way into Him Who is the Head, into Christ, from Whom the whole Body (singular meaning there is but One Body not many as we find today), joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in Love."
By Partaking of the Deeper Truths of the Gospel:
Hebrews 5:11-14 "Concerning Him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of GOD. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."
By Overcoming Temptations:
1John 2:11-14 "Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him Who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him Who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one."
Remember the cipher key, well it is used here in 1John 2 where the same thought is used twice in very close relationship. The second is to stress on us all this importance of our Maturing in the full Knowledge of the LORD the SPIRIT.
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