Steps to Fruitfulness — Bruce Wilkinson

Conference Fellowship and the Example of Jack Mitchell

It's a pleasure to be at the NAV's President's Conference. I remember the first time I rubbed shoulders with a navigator. His name was Dr. Jack Mitchell. He's in his 90s now, and he teaches at Multnomah, is on the radio regularly, gives weekend conferences in his 90s.

I don't think he realizes how old he is yet. When I left seminary, I went up to teach at the school he started, Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland, Oregon. And I remembered the time at seminary where he had come to speak at a Bible conference where he spoke four days in a row.

I'd never heard of him before, and I'd never heard him speak before, and when he started speaking, he started quoting Scripture. He never stopped quoting Scripture the whole chapel. And I remember being in such a shock, I said, that man probably quoted every verse he knew to impress the seminary.

So the next morning I went in with a little piece of paper, and I decided I would count how many verses he quoted. He quoted 42 verses in 27 minutes. I don't think he prepared to speak, really. I don't think he needed to, to be honest with you.

He'd been preparing for eight decades of his life, and he just started to speak, and as God led him, he quoted verses in any subject he wanted. And I remember, if you can lust after something, I lusted after his knowledge of the Word.

Well, as God led, I eventually went to that school to teach. And I remember down deep wondering, I wonder if I'll ever be able to spend any time with this patriarch. Well, for some reason we hit it off, and we had a tradition we never talked about, but oftentimes happened, in which I'd walk down the hallway, knock on his door, walk in, and I'd say to him, would you like any coffee?

And almost always he would say yes, and I would walk over, grab this dirty cup that he had had for at least a hundred years, and walk down to the other end of the hallway, fill in a cup for him and for me, and come back and sit down in his chair, and he'd lean back in this old stuffed leather chair that he's had for many, many years, and we began to talk.

We never set up the meeting. We never acknowledged we were doing this, and he'd always start the same way. He began talking about a subject. I don't know where he got his ideas, and then he'd start quoting a verse.

Every time he would stumble in the middle of the verse, look to me and say, Bruce, how does the rest of that go? Do you know for three years I never could finish one? Never was it in John, you know. It was in Ezekiel or Chronicles.

I never finished a verse, and every time he'd say the same thing, Bruce, they aren't teaching the Bible at Dallas the way they used to. I used to really look forward to those times. They were special times in a young man's life, and I remember being so overwhelmed with his knowledge of the Word and walk with God, and in those days, walkthrough was just starting, and I came into him one day and said, Dr. Mitchell, you know the Bible so well.

I'll never learn it like this in all my life. I said, why don't you teach me some of the things God's taught you, then I'll take it and teach it to the men, and then your ministry will go all over the world in another way.

That question expected a yes to answer, and he sat back and he got real quiet, and I began to get a little bit uncomfortable. He said, no, Bruce, I don't think I'm going to do that. I figured I did something wrong, and I said, Dr. Mitchell, is there anything the matter?

He said, no. Can we still talk from time to time? He said, oh, sure. But I'm not going to do that. But I'll tell you what I will do. What will you do? He said, why don't we meet, and I'll help you do one thing.

I'll help you fall more in love with Jesus. And then he said, you know, all of the things that you'll teach in your life will come out of your love for Christ, and if we can deepen it together, all the other stuff will take care of itself.

And I can remember so frequently when he would pray at the end of our time, I would feel like an outsider listening to God in the patriarch. He'd forget everything, and he would go in the presence of Christ, and there would be frequent times in which my eyes would get wet as he prayed.

I remember one time he had really been pushing it, and he was really tired, and you could see it in his walk and his eyes, and I wanted to encourage him if I could. And I spent an evening going through the Scripture trying to find out what passage in Scripture I could give to him.

And I found one. And it was the passage about Caleb going to take another mountain in his 80s. Remember that? And I said, this is it. So I walked into his room and I said, Dr. Mitchell, I have a passage for you.

You do? Yeah. And I said, I'd like to read it to you. So I got out and I began to read the passage. And he said, now just you wait a minute, young man. And again I said, oh no, what have I done now? And he put his hand back and he went like this, and he started quoting the whole chapter.

I tell you, that man just marked me for life. Then there was Ed Goodrick, who used to be around in the early days of NAVS, and Lester Spencer. And then I remember the first time I met Lawrence Sanney back in 1978 at a meeting in which Dr. Billy Graham invited 80 men from around the country who led Christian organizations to talk about the future.

You might remember that. And that was a very, very exciting week. It was a closed meeting, and they brought in outside men to speak what the future was going to be like in different areas. I remember the head of NASA was there, and a world energy consultant was there, and they'd lecture about what the future was going to be like.

And then they broke us up into groups of 15, and we would then spend the next hour and a half talking about how then shall we lead our Christian groups. And that was the first time, and for some reason we were in the same group.

And those were exciting brainstorming times. And every time Lauren would talk, and I don't even know if he knows this, I just was watching, he would quote Scripture. And I just went away with a mark again.

These Navigator people know the Bible. And then as time has gone on, and I've met Rod and Bob, and read a lot of the books that come out of here and read the Discipleship magazine, my love for the Navs has just deepened.

It's kindred spirits. I thought I finally had a handle on all the characteristics of a Nav until I was at this meeting last night and this morning. One of the unsung characteristics of a Nav, I'm sure, is wit.

Dry wit. Well, I'm both honored and humbled to be here to speak to us and to share. I don't feel at all capable of this position. I'd much rather sit down and listen to Lauren or Rod or Bob Foster. When you think of the passage that they've selected for this conference, take root downward and bear fruit upward.

The Conference’s Three Goals and Heart-to-Heart Communication

I'd like to speak about that to you this morning. You remember there are three basic goals of the conference. One goal was to give us more tools for ministry, and I think that's primarily going to be accomplished through the conferences, the sessions, the workshops.

The second one was to communicate to us more about the Nav vision. That is the yellow sheet of the Nav ministry. That's really what it is. And the third is to encourage us in the walk with God, and that's partially my job in this time together.

Therefore, let's speak heart to heart, not head to head, and not mind to mind, really, not even will to will, but just heart to heart. And I'd like you to do me a favor, if you could, if you're comfortable with it.

I'd like you not to take notes in this session, unless you can't control your hand. Some people in Christian circles, they have to write notes or else they can't get anything from it. It's amazing that nobody took notes when Jesus spoke.

So just kind of sit back and relax. Jesus Christ gave three great sermons that we know of in the Scripture. It's where most red takes place in your Bible. The first one is called the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, which answers the question.

The question being, if you say the way to the Kingdom of God is the opposite from the Pharisees, scribes, and Sanhedrin elders, then what is your way how to get to the Kingdom of Heaven? That Sermon on the Mount answers that question.

It's His salvation talk. The second one is called the Olivet Discourse. It answers the question after Jesus was talking about this temple being destroyed and the Kingdom. If this, Lord, isn't the time you're going to set up your Kingdom, then when will you set it up?

And what will be the signs that precede that tremendous event that is the hope of all Israel? The third one is called the Upper Room Discourse. That's John 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. It answers a lot of different questions because His disciples asked Him a lot of questions.

Probably for you and I, of those three passages, the Upper Room Discourse is the part you spend more time in. I know I do, and I think most Christians do. It has the most help per square inch that you can find from Jesus anywhere in the New Testament.

The Setting of the Upper Room Discourse

The Upper Room, John 13. Turn to it with me. Let me see if I can give you perhaps a little bit different picture. I want to center in a passage that you have probably memorized, probably have talked about, and probably think you know inside and out.

And that's John 15. Let's set the scene for that. John 13, verse 1 says, Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He would depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end, and supper being ended.

So in John 13, we're in the Upper Room. We're also in the Upper Room in John 14. The last verse in chapter 14 is missed by many people. John 14 .31 says,. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do.

Arise, let us go from here. I believe they left the Upper Room at the end of chapter 14. The Upper Room discourse really isn't in the Upper Room the majority of the time. It's only in there in the first two chapters.

We don't know where He is in chapter 15. We don't know where He is in 16. We have an idea where He is in 17. But John 18, verse 1 gives us the next identification. When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the brook Kidron where there was a garden which He and His disciples entered.

So if you look at it, John 13 and 14 is in the Upper Room. 15, 16, and 17, we're not quite sure from John where He is. John 18, verse 1, we're back across the brook Kidron and we're in the Garden. You might know that the Upper Room was in the upper part of Jerusalem on a hill.

He came down some stairs probably that are still there today, one of the few things that are still there. Came down through the valley. Here's the temple. Came around the corner, crossed the brook Kidron, went up the Mount of Olives into the Garden of Gethsemane.

That's what He did. He was here, John 13 and 14. I believe 15 down along in here, 16, 17 on the other side, and 18, the betrayal and all that that took place. So I think He was on His way walking in John 15.

The Disciples’ Confusion Before John 15

Before you get to John 15, you need to understand what's going on. It starts out right before John 13, Luke teaches us that they're arguing about who's going to be the greatest. That sets the pattern.

They come in to the Upper Room. They would have already taken a bath and got clean. They were going to, in a sense, a party, a very formal occasion, this Passover. They would have walked there and the normal tendency would be for a servant to wash their feet when they came in the door at a formal occasion like that.

Nobody did it. Nobody did it because everybody was trying to prove they were the greatest. And the greatest would definitely not wash feet. I mean, that's a real tough thing to do. I'm sure everybody looked at everybody else.

Jesus, of course, the guest of honor of the whole situation, quietly, probably in a corner so nobody could stop Him in the midst of it, took off His outer garment and began washing feet. That's mass embarrassment.

I mean, everybody, I'm sure, was looking down, thinking, why didn't somebody else do this? Was going around, in verse 6, it says, then He came to Simon Peter. I believe Simon Peter was the last person He washed feet.

As you might know, most of us think the upper room was built around a table like that in which people sat this way, leaned down on this shoulder and ate. I think He washed feet all the way around to the last person who was here, my man Peter.

You know who was supposed to wash the feet if there was no servant? The person who sat there. That's why I believe Peter didn't want Jesus to wash his feet. I should have done it. Lord, are you washing my feet?

Jesus answered and said to him, what I am doing to you, you don't understand now, but you will after this. I'm sure Peter said, what do you mean? I understand this. I should have washed the feet. Peter said to him, you shall never wash my feet.

He was really embarrassed. Jesus answered and said to him, if I do not wash your feet, I'm going to be angry with you. That's what I've expected Jesus to say. For Him to say this next thing is a really strong overreaction as far as Peter would be thinking.

You'll have no part of me. Just to wash my feet? What do you mean? I've left everything. Because you can't wash my feet, you're going to kick me out? Well, then wash everything. I mean, there was a real little bit of unsettling going on there.

No. Verse 11, don't worry about that. You already took your bath. You are clean, but not all of you are clean. Now, who do you think was thinking isn't? I think poor Peter. Oh no. Am I the one who isn't all clean?

Because I didn't wash everybody's feet. I can't prove that, but I think it works. I think there's a little bit of you're not part of me? He didn't say it to anybody else. So it goes on. Washes his feet.

Talks some more. Verse 18, I do not speak concerning all of you. Chapter 13, 18, I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.

Now I tell you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe. Uh-oh. What's that about? Peter's still uncertain. Verse 21, really must have bothered him. When Jesus had said all these things, he was troubled, and his spirit testified and said, Moses, surely I say to you, one of you will betray me.

You'll have no part of me. Now I'm sure one of you will betray me. Everybody around that circle got really upset. I don't know if you can, we don't have time to build this, but biblically I believe they thought this was the time in which the war was going to begin.

In fact, right before that, some of the disciples are talking and they're saying, let's go to Jerusalem and die with Jesus. Now it's not a die on a cross, it is we're going to fight to bring in the kingdom right now, and it's probably going to be some of us will be killed.

So they went to this Passover time almost anticipating who's going to be greatest. Who's going to sit on the right? Who's going to sit on the left? Of what? Of the kingdom. It's here. It's ready. This is the feast.

We're going to do it. All the believing Jews are here. Washing unto feet. Somebody really uncomfortable. No part of me? What do you mean no part of me? Then when Jesus said, I say unto you, one of you will betray me.

You talk about a lot of anguish going on at that split second. Then the disciples looked at another perplexed about whom he spoke, which means they didn't have an anticipated answer to that question. They didn't right away say, Judas, I always knew it.

The dirty rat. They didn't know who it was. We have an odd idea about Judas. Now, let me see if we can see who was nervous. Verse 23. Now, there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved, Simon Peter.

Oh boy. Therefore motioned him to ask him, who are you talking about? Who was nervous at that time? I believe Peter was. Now, you've got to understand why this makes sense. You're laying on your left shoulder and this person's head is on Jesus' breast.

Your eyes are in this condition. A person here is going to have a tough time getting the eye contact of that person. This is the person who makes the easiest eye contact. We can't prove that. It's all guessing.

But it seems to make sense. And it makes a nice sermon. Simon therefore motioned to him and asked whom he spoke. Then leaning back on Jesus' breast, he said, Lord, who is it? Jesus said, is he whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.

Boy, you can't be any more specific than that, can you? It's the person I'm going to give this bread to. So he turns around and gives the bread to the place of honor at dinner. The place of honor at dinner is the third seat in.

Do you realize the impact of Jesus sending Judas at the place of honor when he knew what was going to take place? I love you, Judas. And he turns around and gives it to the man of honor, which you always would give it to first.

That's why verse 28 says,. But no one at the table knew for what reason he had said this. Some thought because Jesus had the money bucks that Jesus said to him, buy those things we need for the feast.

In other words, nobody knew it was Judas. Some people believe that the key person here would dip the major piece of bread into the sup and pass it down to all the people. Some other people believe you pass it along.

But what I'm trying to show you is this wasn't a giveaway. Nobody saw that it's obvious it's Judas, even though he gave the sup first. Peter didn't think it was Judas. Peter thought along with everybody else he had to go buy something.

So who is it so far? I don't know. I know I wouldn't like to be Peter. Verse 31, So when he had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man is glorified. You've got to think where they are. That is, the war is coming.

The kingdom is coming. We're going to defeat the Romans tonight. That's the only way they know the Son of Man was going to be glorified was the kingdom. And God is glorified in Him. And if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and glorify Him immediately.

Little children... Now what were they expecting Him to say? Let's get ready. Look what He says. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. What's they expecting then? Because I'm going out to lead the war.

Then what He says, You will seek Me, and as I said to the Jews, where I'm going, you can't come. So now I say to you, who were these Jews He had said that to? They were the people who wanted to kill Him.

And now Jesus, in the middle of all this thing, turns around and says, I'm going someplace and even you can't follow Me. These are the same people who said, we're going to go to Jerusalem and die for Jesus in a war.

And I'm sure everybody's thinking, boy, is Jesus overreacting just because we just didn't wash feet. Don't you think that's what He was thinking? That's what I've been thinking. Man, is He ticked about us not washing feet.

Sometimes we make the Bible so of here. That's what I'd be thinking next time I'm going to wash those feet no matter what the argument is. Well, that surfaced the key question that brings all through chapter 14.

That's poor Peter. He's really upset. Verse 36, Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, where on earth are You going? Jesus said, where I'm going, you can't follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterwards. Peter said to Him, what do You mean?

Why can't I follow You now? I'll lay down my life for Your sake. Do you think that that was an honest or a deceitful answer by Peter? I think if a man came in at that moment and said, Peter, will you die for Jesus?

I think Peter would have said, now, kill me. Don't you believe that? I believe that. Verse 38, poor Peter. Will you lay down your life for my sake? Most assuredly I say to you, Peter, that the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.

Who's the betrayer? I think Peter thought, if I'm going to deny you three times, I'm the man who's going to betray you. How can I betray you? Now for you. That's why the next word out of Jesus' mouth, let not your heart be troubled.

Who do you think he said it to? Peter. Now, I think everybody else's heart was troubled, but mostly Peter's. You believe in God. Believe also in me. Now here again, Jesus threw them another curve. In my father's house are many mansions.

Wait a minute. They'd all been to his dad's house. His dad's house was a poor carpenter house. It wasn't a mansion and there were no rooms in it. And you better believe they were thinking, what on earth is Jesus talking about?

Where is the mansion? Maybe he's taking over Herod's temple. Yeah. The kingdom's coming in. Who's being dethroned? It's Herod. And if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you and I go to prepare a place for you and we'll come again.

Okay. And receive it to myself that where I am, you may be also. And where I go, you know. And the way you know. Wait a minute. Jesus just said, I'm going and you can't follow. One paragraph before that.

Now he's telling them, you know where I'm going and you know how to get there. No, they didn't. In their mind, they didn't. So good old Thomas asked the second key question. First one was, where are you going?

Peter asked that in verse 36. Second, Thomas says, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? Then Jesus turns right around. What were they expecting him to say? It's down the road. Turn left.

Right? It's a war time. It's time for the overthrow. If you don't believe that's what they were thinking, you haven't read Matthew and Luke. They're arguing on who's going to stand on the right side and on the left side.

Of what? Poor Thomas. I don't know how to go there and I don't know where you're talking about. Jesus says, I am the way. You are? You just told me you're leaving and we can't follow. And the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.

Now, the Father's a new idea in here, except He's gone to His Father's mansion, but they don't know who His Father's mansion is. They've never seen His Father's mansion. And as far as Scripture's concerned, we don't have any talk about Father's mansion before.

This is new stuff. If you'd known Me, which they had known Him, you would have known My Father also. And from now on, you know Him and have seen Him. Wait a minute. We know Joseph, but that's not who you're talking about.

No man see the Father at any time. Even Moses didn't see the Father. Philip asked the question, Lord, let's get just one thing clear here. Just to give us one thing we understand. Show us the Father and it's enough.

You better believe it's enough. Poor Philip. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and have you known Me? Philip, he who has seen Me, has seen the Father. How could you say, show us the Father?

Philip must have been thinking, wait a minute. You have a Father. I've never seen your Father until now. And if I've seen you, I've seen your Father. I don't know what Andrew and Nathaniel were thinking at a moment like that, but I've got to believe these guys around the table were really wondering what's going on.

See, somehow we think they understood this like we do. They didn't understand it like we did. That's why twice in the passage, he says, Now I tell it to you before it comes that when it does come, you may believe that I am He.

You know what this is? Mass confusion. Until later on. That's right. And then all this looking back makes sense, but not in the middle of it. Isn't it interesting? When Jesus Christ teaches, He almost always leaves more questions than He gives answers.

And how much we want the answers with no questions left. I don't know about you, but God leaves more questions in my life than He does answers. So, Philip says in verse 8, Show us the Father is enough.

Jesus answered that question. Then it goes on to some more things. In verse 16 it says, I will pray the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.

Oh boy. Nobody else can see it but us. Where is He? But you know Him, for He dwells with you and He'll be in you. What's going to be in me? The Spirit of Truth. And I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

A little while longer and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live. You will also live. And that day, and the day that they interpreted it meaning, was the day the kingdom begins.

When the war breaks out and all the promises God gave to Israel from the days of Abraham right on through. When the Messiah will reign on top of that mountain and the mountain will split and a great river of life will overflow and all the Gentiles will come to find wisdom and peace and the Lion and Lamb will lay down and the sword will no longer be there.

Those are the promises of that day. Jesus wasn't talking about that day. He was talking about the day of resurrection when He was going to come. And at that day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you.

And He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Now so far if we read that, that doesn't seem extraordinary but to the disciples he should have never said that.

Who's the Messiah going to manifest himself to? To who? The world. Jesus just said, I'm going to manifest myself to a small group of people. The kingdom! Judas, verse 22, not ascared said to Him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the whole world?

You're supposed to do the whole world. Don't you know Isaiah, Zechariah and Ezekiel? Don't you understand what was going on? All these questions without any answers except later on they were answers. Jesus goes on to talk some more about peace.

Look at verse 27. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Man, you had every reason in the world to be afraid.

Peter is going to deny Christ. Somebody is going to betray Christ. Jesus is going away someplace you can't come. But if you see Jesus, you've seen the Father. And He is the way of the Father, but He hasn't told us how to get there.

You talk about an anxious moment. Just a little bit before that, maybe an hour or two, they're arguing who's going to stand on the right and the left side when the kingdom comes. Now they're really confused.

Verse 30. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. Wait a minute. Who is the ruler of this world? Jesus is the ruler of this world. Why, He's raised the dead. They just saw it with Lazarus a little bit before that.

The blind, the deaf, the dumb. He's done it all. Is Herod coming? You're over Herod. Who is the ruler of this world? I thought you were going to set it up tonight. Look what He says about the ruler of this world.

And He has nothing in me. Huh. What? You're not the ruler of this world? And He has nothing in you? Then where are we? Maybe this whole thing was a big mistake. I should have never left my fishnet. Wow.

Verse 31. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and that the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go here. Oh, mercy. That's the background of John 15. There wasn't a dry palm in the group.

And I'm sure, ladies and gentlemen, when they came to the upper room, there wasn't a confused mind in the group. They were sure they knew what was going to happen. And now every single thing they thought they understood, even to the point that the ruler of the world isn't Jesus, and that Jesus has no part in them, is God.

There wasn't a man who walked out of there with his head up. I don't believe. I think the balloon was popped. There's not going to be a war. There's not going to be no kingdom. What happened to Jesus?

Skip 15. Set the other half. Chapter 16 is filled with revelation about the Holy Spirit. Chapter 16, verse 16 to the end of that chapter is filled with predictions about Christ's death and resurrection.

They still didn't understand it. Chapter 17 is when Jesus Christ prayed, not the Lord's prayer, but His own prayer for Himself in the first five verses, 6 -19 for the disciples, and 20 -26 when He prayed for all believers.

And then He's arrested in chapter 18, and that's it. So, take a look at it. 13 and 14, upper room. Great fear. Great fear. Skip 15. 16, Holy Spirit, I'm going to die and resurrect. I don't understand that.

17, the prayer, the falling asleep, all that stuff. The betrayal. I mean, this deepened what happened here, so they all ran away. Why? Why did they run away? I didn't run away. You don't run this world, are you?

Jesus’ Lasting Truth in the Vine and the Branches

You just told us you're not. Nestled in that passage is, I think, one of the deepest, most profound, most revolutionary truths for us today in the whole Bible. And I don't think it's understood. I didn't understand this until a couple of years ago.

It has radically changed my life. And maybe God will give you a clear glimpse of what Jesus really left in John 15. If you grab it, you'll never be the same. It is tied to the verse where it says, take root downward, bear fruit upward.

Here it is, the unsettling revelation, Holy Spirit, prayer, death. One nugget of time. One nugget of time, which I think is Jesus. All these were questions they asked him. He had to answer. Peter, Peter, Thomas, Philip, Judas.