The Word
Vol.
9 No. 17
Upper Room Discourse
Summary John 15:1-5
Occupation with Christ
Summary,
In verse 1 we are given
the Establishment Principle for fruit production: the “True Vine” –
Jesus Christ our spiritual sustenance, and the “Vinedresser” (Gentleman Farmer)
– God the Father the designer of the Predesigned
Protocol Plan of God for our lives. In verse
2 we are given the Encouragement Principle for fruit production:
“Removal and Pruning of branches”, which are Divine Discipline and Suffering
for blessing respectfully, inside the Plan of God. In verse 3 we are given the Environment Principle for fruit
production: “You are already clean”, our Eternal Security / Positional
Sanctification, designed for confidence in execution of God’s Plan for our
lives. In verse 4 we are given the Empowerment
Principle for fruit production: “Abiding in Christ”, which is our Experiential
Sanctification / Walk with Christ / Being in fellowship with Christ /
Occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse
5 we are given the Exceleration
Principle for fruit production: “Brings forth much fruit”, which is the
result of the Supergrace life when you have had
maximum occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ.
In
Jesus now makes it crystal
clear as to who is who in the parable. He begins by repeating what He said
about Himself in verse 1, “I am the
true Vine”. Here He simply states “I am the Vine”, as the conduit of our
spiritual sustenance, as the Word of God. A “conduit” is defined as: 1) A channel
or pipe that carries liquid to or from a place. This tells us of the Vine that
in grace supplies all the spiritual sustenance we need to produce Divine Good.
2) A protective covering for other materials inside. This tells us of God’s
grace in providing His armour, the Mind of Jesus Christ, for our protection in
spiritual warfare so that we can produce Divine Good,
As
noted in verse 1, this is also one
of the great “I AM” statements found
in John’s gospel. The others include;
Principles:
1)
It is one or the other. Either the believer is walking under the control of the
sin nature and producing human good or he is filled with the Holy Spirit and in
fellowship with Christ producing Divine Good. Unless you are in fellowship with
Christ you cannot produce anything of eternal value.
2) This is the principle of
grace. Apart from what God has provided in Bible doctrine you can do nothing
that is of Divine nature. The reversionistic believer
can do nothing; he can not produce in any possible way without the power of the
Word of God in his life.
Compare verse 5 with the parable of
seed sowing in
As we noted previously, Divine Good production is a
direct result of “abiding in Christ”, a.k.a. being Occupied with Christ. So now
we will note several principles regarding Occupation with Christ in relation to
Divine Good Production.
Occupation with The
Lord
Jesus Christ
A. Definition:
1)
Occupation with The Lord Jesus Christ is the 10th of the 10 Problem
Solving Devices.
2) Occupation with Christ is
also defined as fellowship with the Son, 1
Cor 1:9.
3) There are two divine mandates
with regard to Occupation with Christ, Heb
12:2 and 1 Pet 3:15.
4) Fellowship with the Holy
Spirit is necessary for the execution of these mandates,
a)
The fellowship of the Holy Spirit is another way of describing the filling of
the Holy Spirit, which is required for Occupation with Christ,
5) Occupation with Christ is
personal love for our Lord Jesus Christ,
6)
The basis for Occupation with Christ is having the mind of Christ,
7)
With Bible Doctrine as the working object of faith, the believer has a maximum
love response toward God causing him to be “A friend of God”, which is a title
for Occupation with Christ.
8)
Occupation with Christ is based on the fact that Christ has been glorified in
His humanity,
9) The attainment of occupation
with Christ is gradual where the Lord becomes your role model. It starts by the
commands in Eph
a)
The fullness of God is EPIGNOSIS doctrine circulating in the stream of
consciousness. We have to get to the place where we understand that we need
help. We have to come to the point of helplessness to learn. You have to know
that you know nothing before you can know something. We often do not know how
helpless we are until we get into a jam. Therefore, Occupation with Christ is
attained through perception, metabolization, and
utilization of Bible doctrine.
10) Occupation with Christ is the standard operating
procedure for the mature believer and continues to develop in the three stages of spiritual adulthood, Heb 12:1-2.
a) In Spiritual Self-Esteem, the characteristic
is “Christ formed in you,”
b)
In Spiritual Autonomy, the characteristic is “Christ at home in your heart
(right lobes),”
c)
In Spiritual Maturity, the characteristic is “Christ exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death,”
11)
Occupation with Christ is illustrated by the Doctrine of Right Man Right Woman.
She is to be occupied with her right man as we are to be occupied with Christ.
B. Occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest motivator in life
for Divine Good Production.
1)
The sealing of the Holy Spirit guarantees an eternal love relationship between
Christ and believers, giving you the environment for Divine Good Production,
2)
Occupation with Christ demands a total dependence on God’s grace provision in
order to produce Divine Good,
3)
Occupation with Christ is the basis for blessing in suffering, “the scorching
sun”. Occupation with Christ sustains you through times of suffering so that
you are able to produce Divine Good,
4)
Occupation with Christ is related to both stability and inner happiness,
5) Occupation with Christ, which
begins in spiritual adulthood, means your motivation in life changes.
a)
At first, your motivation is in the faith-rest drill, in learning the basic
doctrines, and in under-standing and using the basic Problem Solving Devices.
b)
As you begin to grow spiritually, you not only have a stronger motivation in
relationship to the Lord, but you change very subtly from dependence on people
to dependence on the Lord.
c)
This principle does not exclude the necessary dependence we all have on other
people in life, such as co-workers, parents, Pastors, team members, fellow
soldiers, etc.
d)
Yet, in the application of the spiritual life, we do not need to depend on
anyone else but God. God does the blocking, opens the holes, and provides the
solutions to our problems.
e)
Therefore, in your relationships in life, you must allow God to “run
interference,” because you cannot change people. While we say you can only
change yourself, in effect it is God who changes you when you are positive
toward Bible doctrine. God causes you to grow up.
f)
You are never fully grown until you reach the point of maximum use of
Occupation with Christ. Then you handle life magnificently, produce much fruit,
and glorify God.
6) False motivation leads to
false doctrine, wrong priorities, produces garbage in the subconscious which
produces false experience.
7) Occupation with Christ is the
true motivator in life and is structured completely from metabolized Bible
doctrine, 2 Cor
5:14-17.
a) Occupation with Christ eliminates the human viewpoint
of life. Human viewpoint makes you miserable and makes you argue with others
about everything in life. Human viewpoint holds an opinion about everything in
life and is intolerant of anyone else's opinion.
You cannot hold opinions to the
point of agitation and execute God's plan for your life. The other side of the
coin is to complain about everything. Occupation with Christ eliminates all
human viewpoint.
b)
Occupation with Christ is the ultimate motivator in life. Now we are motivated
by the highest motivation we can have in this life. The
higher the motivation in your life the greater your happiness and the greater
your enthusiasm, your awareness, and your spiritual life. The greater your motivation the greater your perspective of reality
and the greater your divine viewpoint. The greater your motivation in
life the greater your capacity for life, love, and
happiness, and therefore, the greater you are as a person,
c)
Occupation with Christ results in God emphasis taking precedence over people
emphasis. God emphasis must take priority over people emphasis in the function
and execution of the Plan of God for the Church Age.
d)
Fellowship with God is infinitely more important than fellowship with people.
But you will never discover this until you learn some doctrine. Fellowship with
God is part of God's Plan, but fellowship with people at best is a mere result;
at worst a disaster. True Christian fellowship is fellowship with God the
Father, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and occupation with Christ, thus the
importance of our motivation from personal love for Jesus Christ. Christ was
not loved the way He wanted to be loved or treated the way He wanted to be
treated, yet He did not have any unrealistic expectations toward people around
Him. You cannot grow up spiritually or execute the Plan of God through
Christian fellowship or interaction with people; this is implied in the phrase
“we regard no one from the flesh (human viewpoint).” Fellowship with God is mandated; fellowship
with other Christians is optional. You do not have to have fellowship with
other Christians.
e)
You cannot grow spiritually or execute the Plan of God through social
intercourse, the function of cliques, or any other thing that is construed as
Christian fellowship.
f)
The key to the Plan of God is that you no longer live for yourselves but for
Christ; for God does all the work. The only way you can ever have a marvelous
life is to no longer live for yourself. Once you have occupation with Christ,
you are living for Christ and you are happier than you ever were when you lived
for yourself. In providing eternal life, God also provided for us a way to
change ourselves, but not to change others. If you try to change others, you
will only become bitter and hardened.
g) Wrong experience with God (i.e., apathy,
indifference, rejection, ignorance of the mystery doctrine of the Church Age)
inevitably results in wrong experience with people. That means that wrong
fellowship with God results in wrong relationship with people and no fruit
production. Right fellowship with God results in right relationship with people
and much Divine Good production. Note that God comes first.
8) By giving Bible doctrine number
one priority in your life, two things occur.
a)
You come to have personal love for God the Father, and therefore fellowship
with the Father.
b)
You have occupation with Christ and therefore fellowship with God the Son.
9)
a) A new spiritual species is qualified to have
fellowship with God.
b)
The new spiritual species must give priority to Bible doctrine so that personal
love for God the Father and occupation with Christ results.
c)
The new spiritual species is capable of using the omnipotence of God for the
execution of His Plan for their lives demonstrated through fruit production. Mat 7:20, “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”
d)
What are the old things that have lost their power once we reach Spiritual
Self-Esteem? People priority and various lusts that lead you away from your
relationship with God.
e)
The new things that have come are the Ten Unique Features of the Church Age,
the Problem Solving Devices, the distribution of Escrow Blessings for time, and
the anticipation of the distribution of Escrow Blessings for the eternal state.
10) You can not be motivated by
people and advance in the Christian life, your motivation must come as the
result of Bible Doctrine resident within your soul.
If you would
like more information on this subject,
you may listen
to lessons 10-043 and 10-045