What John Adds

If Mark highlights the cost of discipleship ‘deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’ (Mark 8:34), and Matthew the reward of discipleship, ‘and you will have treasure in heaven’ (Matthew 19:21), what essential features of discipleship does John highlight?

‘by this, all people will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another,’ John 13:35

‘by this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples,’ John 17:8

Fruit can be understood as the fruit of the Holy Spirit transforming a person’s life. In which case, it is the evidence of a loving life; the love that is kind and patient, that does not envy, boast, or is proud, or dishonours others, or is self-seeking, or easily angered, or keeps records of wrong, or delights in evil. It is the love that always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres and never ends.

Agape love seeks the very best for the other person regardless of the cost to yourself.

So Mark tells us that discipleship begins with denying ourselves (that is, denying our selfish desires and laying down our plans for our lives), and Matthew highlights the riches and the rewards we are receiving and will receive in the kingdom; John tells us how to recognise a disciple – they are the ones who are always seeking the very best for other people regardless of the cost to themselves.

And if you’re thinking that all this is beyond you, then the wonderful news is that the Holy Spirit empowers us in our inner beings to know this love of Christ and be filled to the brim with all the fullness of God. This is the very heart of Paul’s great prayer for the church (Ephesians 3:14-21).

Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to empower us in our inner beings so that Christ’s love for others spills out of us to those we meet today.

Stories from the Kingdom

A few years ago, one Sunday in June, during the worship at Church, my wife sensed the Lord say: ‘Your generation has been hardened against the gospel for many years, and I’m going to open the doors to the younger generation and bring in a harvest.’ She then sensed the Lord give her the reference: ‘Habakkuk 2:14’. She opened Habakkuk and read: ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.’ She asked the Lord to confirm what He was saying. A short while later, the service leader asked everyone to pray together in small groups, and my wife found herself praying with one of the women on the leadership team. Without telling the woman anything that had happened as they prayed, the woman said that she sensed the Lord saying, Habakkuk 2:14, ‘The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea.’

More recently, I was able to attend a day conference in London led by ‘Multiply.’ We were told that ‘the statistics from 2022-2023 indicate an increase of over 5% in under 16s average weekly attendance’ in Christian worship. May this indeed be the first fruits of the Spirit bringing a generation to Christ.