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Author: Stephen Weller
755 words, 4 minutes read time

Chosen and Appointed

Scripture: John 15:16-17

In the previous lesson we considered how one becomes a friend of Jesus. In this lesson we will look at the meaning of “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”  

^{Jn 15:16} You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

Remember that Jesus is talking to his disciples and is explaining to them that it was he who chose them to follow him. They did not come to him asking him to let them be one of his disciples. When he called them, they had free choice to say no just as we are free to say no when the Father chooses us for salvation. None of those asked to follow refused. However, near the end, Judas turned against Jesus and arranged with the Pharisees for a time when they could arrest him. When that time comes to arrest Jesus the disciples will all flee from him, but all except Judas, who will take his life, will returned after the resurrection of Jesus.

The choice goes deeper than just being a disciple because Jesus appoints them to go and bear fruit, which from verses 4 and 5, implies abiding in Jesus in salvation. The fact that Judas was chosen and walked with Jesus for three plus years and then turns away suggests that we are free from actually being born again. Future study will show that the remaining eleven did go on to bear fruit.

Another implication of this verse is that we are not chosen only to have our sins forgiven and given the gift of eternal life, but that our lives are to be fruitful in relation to God’s kingdom. This is clearly communicated in Ephesians 2:8 – 20 ESV: ⁸ “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Verses 8 and 9 pertain to the gift of salvation but verse 10 is about bearing fruit in doing the good works assigned.

Having been chosen and then appointed to go and bear fruit, we come to an important two words: “so that” which are transition words. We were given an assignment, but in the flesh we are weak and not up to the task, so we are to seek the necessary resources to do the job. We are to ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what we need to do the job of bearing fruit and he will provide it for us. We are chosen, assigned a task, and given necessary resources when we request them.

^{Jn 15:17} “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

What has he commanded us to do? Jesus said, “Abide in me” (verse 4) and “Abide in my love” (verse 9) and then “go and bear fruit” (verse 16). His love that we are to abide in is agape love; a love in which one is willing to sacrifice for another, like Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross to meet our need of salvation. As we come to abide in Jesus, in the body of Christ of many members, the Spirit comes to dwell in us. He is God and he is agape love and so we are filled with that love and thus will one day perfectly love him and one another with that love.

Conclusion

The body of Jesus Christ is composed of many members but is one body filled with the Spirit. We thus are perfectly joined in relationship to Jesus the head of the body and in relation to one another with the bond of agape love. To be in Christ is to be in that body and for Christ to be in us is to have his Spirit in us. In the body of Christ, the Spirit might be similar to the nervous system of our physical bodies. At least these studies on John 15 have caused me to do some new thinking on the nature of the body of Christ and our existence in it.