Branches Attaching to Other Branches - Part 41

It  is worth noting in passing that a disciple is one who is taught.  You may recall that Paul sent his first epistle to the Corinthian church when he heard disturbing news about ongoing contentions:  "For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe that there are contentions among you.  Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.  Is Christ divided?  Was Paul crucified for you?  Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?"

Did you notice what was going on?  Did you notice that the people in Corinth were succumbing to one of the greatest weaknesses of human beings?  What was that  weakness?  Branches were attaching themselves to other branches, instead of attaching themselves to the Vine.  We have already learned that a branch cannot support another branch--it is not possible --but the people in Corinth were trying to.  So one person was saying, "I'm a disciple of Paul"; another was saying, "I'm a disciple of Apollos"; and so forth.  In our day we hear different names, but the same thing is going on.  One person says, "I'm a disciple of Luther"; and another person says, "I'm a disciple of Wesley."
Down through history, people have been attaching themselves to this one and that one, and it's still going on in our day.  Think about the last time you were in church listening to the sermon.  Did it take you much time to figure out where the pastor was trained?  And, if we weren't embarrassed to say so, we might even find ourselves saying, "I'm a disciple of so and so."  The apostle Paul recognized this tendency, for we find him saying, Don't even say you are of Paul, because I didn't die for you.

The branch only has one purpose.  What is that purpose?  To bear fruit that reflects the Vine!  Attached to the Vine, branches will attract other branches to the Vine instead of to themselves.  Unless our work, unless all of our work, attracts men and women to Jesus Christ,  is it worthless--in fact worse than worthless.

Wow! What an eyeopener!  Our lives need to bear fruit to attract others to Christ, that is our only work.  The fruit is the characteristics of  God's character and there is nothing wrong with being like Him in all activities of life.  In fact, He is the One who does the work in our life, it is impossible for us to make ourselves like Him in any way shape or form.  So why not completely accept Him and let Him have His way in our life and make us like He wants us to be?  A good question for me to answer, how about you.  Grandma Joan