“Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
NO OTHER NAME
Left to our own devices we cannot procure salvation for ourselves. There have been many talented and gifted human beings, both male and female, and yet not one of them, apart from Jesus Christ, could help the human race save itself from sin’s infamous grip.
We were stuck and desperately needed someone to save our souls. At Christmas we celebrate the wonder that the Son of man came to seek and save those who were lost. Jesus is the one we praise, it is he that we lift up, for he alone can save us. We owe a debt to the shepherds and the wise men who, on humankind’s behalf, greeted and worshipped the newborn Saviour.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus is the vine, and if a branch wants to bear fruit it must be attached to the vine. The shepherds and the wise men were quick to attach themselves to Christ.
Once we are in Christ then we are able to move in him and through him in marvellous ways. For, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13).
Apart from Christ there is no one to help, apart from him we cannot bear the fruit that the Father is looking for in his vineyard, apart from him we can do nothing.
So the lesson is that we do not want to be “apart” from Jesus, indeed, we want to a part of him, a part of his body here on earth, doing the wonderful deeds that he did. Touching people’s broken lives, speaking life to people who have lost hope, praying for people’s needs and seeing powerful results. All this is available to us when we are grafted into Christ. If we are apart from him, then all those wonderful attributes are lost for all goodness comes from him, all light comes from him, all authority comes from him: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matt 28:18).
His is the kingdom the power and the glory. So to be “in Christ” is essential for us who are hungry for God.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). So as Peter taught us: “make every effort to confirm your calling and election” (2 Pet 1:10). We confirm our calling and election by remaining in Christ. For God’s will has called us, and has elected us now that Christ is in our hearts.
The Lord searches the hearts of all men, and he knows those who are fully committed to him, he knows those whose hearts are grieved by the sin that is in the world. He knows those whose hearts are moved by the Spirit of God.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and we also who are “in Christ” weep over the state of our families, our towns, our countries, and the world itself.
“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it” (Ezek 9:4).
In Christ we pray in the Spirit on all sorts of occasions with all sorts of prayers, for apart from him we can do nothing. But in Christ we will see God at work.