Thoughts in relation to the quote:

Could probably fit in the context of the research on Essence?! Cross platform & research connections…

The concepts of Deep Work and Flow could be applied here with more research. Getting into a state of existence in which we are so zoned in on what is in front of us. This requires determining what is essential. Give the other things—that also need to get done, their proper time, but focus on the essential with complete devotion and detail. (Atomic Habits) Habit stack and design the environment in which you do this thing to induce the space and feeling of freedom, so that the essential work can be accomplished.

Philosophically, there is great freedom in this notion. A vine is meant to be a vine. Its essence is to bear fruit. Season after season, year after year, as long as it exists. If the vine stops producing fruit, it stops living into its essence, and therefore is no longer considered to be a vine. It is either relabeled as something else only to die in its own time, or, as Jesus says, the vine is cut off, because it is not living up to its essence.

Is the vine aware of its bearing of fruit? Is it aware of the fruit being removed from it, in the proper season when the fruit is ripe for the picking?

Do any of these questions matter to the fruit? Or is it obvious to what it gives to the world, because it is essentially focused in on what it does in the world. Is it rather, so set on its mission, that it doesn’t regard the fruit in the first place. It is not distracted by the fruit, but produces it unconsciously. And when the fruit is picked, it returns back to the world—its essence—of producing even more. (Give until there’s nothing left, Relient K).

Turning, now to the Church, for indeed, Jesus uses the metaphor of the Vine. Paul also picks up on this living language, trees, fruit, etc. All connected and tied to the “essence” of the thing they are describing. The purpose of the living being is to produce something from it. To work the ground, so that it may live and raise up the next generation to go and do likewise. Adam is sent out, required to work the ground and fulfill the call to “be fruitful, multiply”. He raises the next generation, sinful as they were, who in turn go on to raise up their own generation.

Most of the fruit from the tree is picked and eaten, but some falls to the ground—back to the dust of the earth—and in turn it’s seeds end up fostering and raising up another living being. Another tree, another vine, another Son of Adam. Likewise, the seed of man is sown and raises up the next generation.

“You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” (Genesis 17)

Notice that there is always a change of name, when God promises something in this way. Fruitfulness is the goal. For Abraham, and Adam, the expectations would have been a literal fruitfulness. To multiply your offspring. In the New Covenant, it takes on a new form. Fruitfulness and Multiplication are always explained in the context of making disciples, sowing the seed of the Gospel, proclaiming and sharing the good news, living out the song of freedom in Christ, embracing the Holy Spirit and the fruits that are given for the empowering and multiplication of the Church.

The name is changed. Simon becomes Peter, who is the rock of the Church.

Saul becomes Paul, because the violence and persecution of the old man is no more. He moves away from the division and subtraction of the church and into an identity of multiplication.

The Gentiles become the People of God, because we were once enemies of God, pressed under his condemnation and hopeless outside of the law. But now, in Christ, we are a part of the bride, his chosen, set apart, for-known people. The very identity of the Church is rooted in this hope of being called something new. The creativity of God enables this and likewise gives the Church its essence, purpose, mission - which of course is centered around fruitfulness & multiplication.

The command “Go, make disciples” is only an echo of “you will be a blessing to many nations” and even further back “be fruitful and multiply”.

We could expand into the exploration of the familial identities found in Jesus’ perspectives on “who is my mother, my brother? He who does the will of God…” , “I no longer call you servants, but friends….” “Christ being the first fruits…” etc. The identity change that happens in the new covenant is very significant, but should also shape how we see people in our lives. Blood is important, but covenant is even more so. This is why we are called to be “brothers & sisters in Christ” and why the early church even emphasized the “holy kiss” as a form of endearment and unity.

We must now turn to the essential roles of the Church, which are historically and presently true and will henceforth remain essential values and attributes of Church behavior. We turn to Acts 2, which will be alluded to, but not explicitly quoted for times sake.

The Holy Spirit begins the Church. Of course, Jesus promised this (context verse). The Pentecost is proof that Jesus is not only legit, but that he keeps his promises. This further proves that the Church is ultimately his: he calls us the bride, his beloved (separate lesson on this). Because this is what we are to him, we can trust that he will not leave his church alone or without what it will need to accomplish the will and mission of its head—Christ. The Holy Spirit is the first example of many, especially in the NT after Acts, but also in Church history up to our modern day. Even as you read these words, the Spirit of God is at work in the Bride of Christ and in the hearts of the individual believers to accomplish the will of Jesus, who prays: “thy kingdom come, on earth as in heaven”.

The Spirit symbolically represents a restoration of Babel when the languages are heard and understood. A moment of reconciliation of our normal misunderstanding and mishearing of one another, that is still a visible result of sin in the world. Sure, we are unable to understand brothers and sisters from other cultural and linguistic contexts, but even more simply: how often do we neglect to actually hear what one another has to say? Even in our own tongue, we are slow to listen and quick to speak (Inversion of James). “My brothers and sisters, this should not be!” This thought here could trigger the connection of active listening in contrast with active thinking about what I am going to say next. So prevalent in our Social Media world, we are accustomed to distraction and tuning out information, which infiltrates our conversations and perspectives on others. We hear them, but we do not hear them. And often, it is a problem of not being here. Presence is the solution the Bible offers in how we can be better listeners and, therefore, be better at loving our neighbor well. Anything that distracts us and removes us from our ability to be present, should be considered very intentionally for the believer. Anything that might serve as a distraction from being present minded, especially when we are hearing the needs or pains of a bother or sister, should be removed simply out of respect for one another. A lacking of this is evidence of our lacking of love (we could explore this more in 1 John especially). Jesus even alludes to this, in quoting the prophet “they are hearing but not understanding, seeing but not perceiving.” How often do we see our brother and sisters, especially in their pain and sorrow, but not really perceive their presence. We might be in the room with them—living and breathing, but we are far from truly perceiving what they are going through or where the Lord has them in their story.

It is also important to note that the Spirit enables them to speak in the tongues of the others. “As the Spirit enabled them.” Is essential, because I have often heard of prayer languages, speaking in tongues or the interpretation of such in regard to a “personal” or “my prayer language”, which is an obvious and violent reversal of the Biblical perspective on this matter. Regardless of our views of the relevance of tongues today, we cannot neglect the fact that they are only possible by the enabling of the Spirit in order to accomplish the will of the Father and build the Church. Church edification is the language Paul uses. I have seen personal examples of this, especially in multicultural contexts to which I cannot fully explain with human reasoning. Translation is a tricky thing sometimes, but I have seen God provide radical understanding in contexts that a translator was not present. Even in my limited understanding and knowledge of Spanish, God has been able to use me in moments to help people understand with words, grammar, sentence structure, tone and subtext that is beyond my comprehension of the language at hand. It can only be evidence of God’s Spirit at work, not only in my tounge, but in the heart of the hearer. the Bible speaks of (softening) the heart, (piercing) the heart in this way. In one more digression, it must also be said that our understanding of this passage is often so limited to our literal interpret ion of “language” in this text. I am amazed of the fields of communication and learning of non-verbal, body language, eye contact, hang gestures, etc. and the vital role that they play in our understanding of one another. Foreign tongues removed we understand this deeply. A stern look from a disappointed parent communicates something to us. Likewise, an open body posture communicates the person is present to that which we are sharing with them, whereas the folding of the arms might indicate that they are hesitant or even in objection to what we are saying. To neglect this aspect of communication—especially in regards to the role of the Spirit in Our lives—is a denial of God’s creativity in how he communicates to us, and wire us to communicate to one another. This should be especially important in the context of Church (the body of Christ). Not only this, but does it so form our understanding of communication in relationship to God. We could wait our entire lives waiting for the audible voice to come down from the parting of the clouds. (Baptism of Jesus & Kevin DeYoung Reference in Just Do Something. Not to deny the importance of discernment and prayerful and attentive listening to God’s voice… but to spend our entire lives waiting to hear from God is actually more selfish that it is virtuous. We might be waiting with good intentions, to know what to do, but so often, as I have found in my own life—that in the waiting we become complacent and use the lack of the audible voice as an excuse to avoid doing something that we actually do not want to do. Seeking comfort instead of stepping into our essence and the messengers of God. God told Jonah to go and preach, proclaim, presumably in the audible voice, but the prophet ran and hid. But even in his running and hiding, God stuck used the life of Jonah as a witness to the Word of God—to the message God had called him to proclaim. (See more on lesson of Jonah, week two of messed up.) It’s easier to stay in bed, blame the world and our circumstances for the lack of opportunities to share our faith. But might I suggest, as I have found in my own story, that such excuses actually reveal a lacking of faith than our “assumed” deep faith in the waiting? Does not God call us to go and share? Should we then, not go out and share? Should we neglect the role of the Spirit who takes part in the process of sharing? We could further expand on this idea, especially in regard to blessings and curses in light of Jonah, who wanted the curse to fall on the city he was told to preach to. In a similar light, we might be neglecting to share, proclaim and CRITICALLY DENYING THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT when we make simple excuses for our lack of sharing likewise. Such an emphasis puts all the effort on us, both in the sharing and in the harvesting of the crop. Again, this is a complete reversal from the Biblical model, which affirms that the harvest is not for us to see or even know. Judgement is God’s and likewise the salvation of his chosen people is for him to know. This does not absolve us from the requirement to sow the seeds. We are called to do so in every season and ever climate and context. It is not our job to remove the rocks or pull up the weeds in which the seed has fallen. We shall trust the Spirit in his convicting work in the hearts of the hearers to do so. (See more on Luke 8 lesson, Dust/Dirt series). For Body Language and other communication forms it might be wise to lean into Craig M. & Jeremy O. Especially in light of communication in the digital age, non verbal, communication in interpersonal relationships and the contrasts with group communications, such as preaching, teaching and small group Bible Study in their specific contexts.

The connection to language and a flow state… this can also be explored. Thinking of a deep conversation in which “time flies” by. Such a degree of connection requires a deep commitment to presence. Lacking of any and all distractions as is the case for deep work or getting into a flow state. There comes to a point in such conversations where you can almost predict the persons thoughts or words that will come out of their mouth next. Ideas connect to ideas, phrases to phrases and the role of the Spirit in light of that must be explored. Such an example helps us know what it means to “understand” one another and could even point to other realities about our identity as the people of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, etc. The concepts of intercession could be a final area of exploration. How is Jesus interceding for us, on our behalf with the father. Penal Substitution, but also in connection with a concept I heard about “Trinitarian” prayer. To be in Jesus means we are interceded for. Not only in the forgiveness of sins, which is essential to life and freedom, but also in our communication with God—gaining access to him in such a way. This is also why Jesus indicates that the sending of the Spirit, and his own subsequent departure from this earth is a blessing, rather than something to be mourned. “Do not let your hearts be troubled”. For indeed, the gifts of God are not of like the gifts of this world. Indeed, our Christian community should be bright lights and models of what true communication is then, right?

From this line of logic, it could be assumed that the antithesis of this, which is sadly such the common culture in our Western Church context, is more mis-understanding than understanding and intercession with and for one another. I can only point to the infiltration of the world into the Church itself as the main symptom of such a condition. We are called to be in the world, but we have far too often, and for far too long (at least in America) done the opposite. We have brought the world into the church. Using its models and systems to try to reach the communities in which we have been called to serve. When we try to adapt the values and modes of the culture (social media, websites, announcements, even the language we use in our presentation of the gospel) we are already setting ourselves up for failure before we even begin. Relevance is a drug and it’s addictive. Not only for it’s users, the intended audience of our congregations and “online” communities, but especially for the “distributors” pastors, leaders, teachers—called Shepherds in NT language—who are meant to bring the good news and life. Instead, we turn to the ways of the world and as a byproduct, we are often more wolfs—who violently take the life of the message we are meant to share away from those who hear it! Often, what we might think of when we hear “false teaching” is what we point our fingers at and call “Heretical”. But might it also be said here that “false teaching” can take on many other forms—even more subtle forms. They are no less dangerous. They are no less rooted in death. They are no less than the original lie (twisting) done by the serpent in the beginning. (See lesson on Genesis 1-3, Messed Up Series). Regardless of what political isle the culture takes, if it infiltrates the Church it is false teaching. Even under the guise of “Christian Values”, might it still be a wolf? Only clothed in the garments of a sheep? Would it not be more essential to look to the lamb who came, in humility to lay his life down? Such false teachers may aim to do so, they may live that out on the surface level, but their true intentions might be more sinister than they often let on.