"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."
Before you say anything else about your Christian life—before you talk about your faith, your obedience, your love—you need to hear this. You did not choose Him. He chose you.
Scripture Focus: John 15:16; Ephesians 2:1, 10; Romans 5:6
"You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit."
In the ancient world, disciples would go out and seek a rabbi. They would attach themselves to him and plead, "Let us learn from you." They initiated the relationship. But as it relates to our relationship with Jesus, it is He that approached us. He's the one who went to the twelve—and to all of us today—and said, "Follow Me."
You did not choose Me. I chose you.
Lest you get some inflated view of yourself—why are you friends with Jesus? Not because you kept tapping Him on the shoulder. Not because you were particularly impressive. He chose you.
If we think we initiated this relationship, we do not understand the depth of our depravity. We don't understand what we looked at previously—that by nature we were in Adam. Dead in sin. Helpless. Foolish and enslaved. Unrighteous. God loved you before you did anything for God.
And this reality eviscerates any vestige of human pride.
So long as you think you are worthy of God's love, you will never understand the depth of it. This love was extended to you while you were dead, helpless, foolish, and enslaved. Not after you cleaned up. Not after you improved. While you were still his enemy.
And He chose you. And appointed you to bear fruit.
That word more keeps coming up. Every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. Andrew Murray notes that “more” is a searching word. There's a holy discontentment in every godly Christian. Laodicea was the church in Revelation that thought, "We have good doctrine. We've served. We've done our time." And they were content to observe their fruit on the shelf and never bear more of it.
Jesus says, "I chose you—and appointed you to go and bear fruit." There is no retirement from fruit-bearing.
Now when Jesus says bear fruit, nearly every commentator agrees—He is particularly talking about new converts. This is why He says in John 4, "The fields are ripe for harvest." This is why He says, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." You have been chosen not just to be rescued but to be sent.
You are not saved so that you can holy huddle and thank God you're not among the unredeemed. You are to go. You are to love other people practically and tangibly by telling them about the God who died for their sin.
The Christian has the opportunity to live a life of unrivaled, eternal significance. He chose you for that.
1. Have you ever genuinely grappled with the fact that you did not choose God—He chose you? What does that do to your pride?
2. Are you content with the fruit you've already borne, or is there a holy discontentment in you to bear more?
3. Who in your life needs to hear about the God who chose you—who loved you while you were still His enemy?
Stay dialed in
