One of the things I truly love about this region of the country is how very connected we are. We may have differences, but if I go to any other part of the country, or world, for that matter, and meet someone from southwestern PA I can generally tell by their accent and their heart that they are from this area. Even though we are not a wealthy part of the country we care for one another, are very generous and kind. We will support one another and if we disagree it can be serious but no outsiders are allowed to say a thing. I have seen this happen about sports teams and I see it happened regarding the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel.
There is a deeper connection we need to live and I have touched on it several times and we are going to touch on it again today.
Warning long passage of scripture….
John 15: 1-17
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
What a picture of love, joy, connection, empowerment and freedom.
Jesus is saying there is a connection of life between you and me. Every bit of his life is pouring into you nonstop and there is nothing you need to do to make it happen.
Yes, you can stop that flow, but as long as the connection is there, His life, love, joy, peace, hope, and so much more are naturally, supernaturally, flowing through you.
Jesus uses the word in Greek. It is “meno,” which means abide, stay, remain, even rest, and connect completely. However, this connection is about us and not about us at the same time.
Let me give you an illustration that may help you understand. Do we have pregnant women in the room today? In many ways, a pregnancy is a good starting point for understanding what Jesus means regarding our being attached to the vine. A baby is independent, with separate DNA, thoughts, and even emotions, but its life is totally dependent on its mother. It gets its life from the mother. The mother completely surrounds and protects the baby, and the life the mother ingests is poured into the baby. Eventually, the baby will physically disconnect from the mother but if the relationship is healthy, that baby will always be connected to its parents, there will always be a life connection.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus tells us in John 14:6, so when we cut ourselves off from that connection, we cut ourselves off from that life.
What is that life? Jesus gives us some understanding in this passage.
Life in Jesus includes but isn’t limited to this…
- Bearing fruit – fruit in Christ is not only as Paul outlines in Galatians 5: 22,23 love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, meekness, kindness, faithfulness, and self-control.
– the fruit of holiness living a life that reflects the purity of Christ
– a life of righteousness -living a life of right living through honesty, living justly and faithfully, always in forgiveness, before God knowing that you are guilt-free because he has made you right before him.
– this also implies a lack of fear, shame, guilt and so much more
These are just some of the blessings of bearing fruit
- His Word is alive in us – we know his words, and they are not just letters on a page but instead are part of who we are, our character is shaped by them. Our lives are guided by them as the Psalmist wrote…
Psalm 119:105…“Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
As we make his word alive in us, we know Him and his heart so as we pray our prayers are answered because we know his heart and his word lives in us and through us so there is an expectation of answered prayer
- We remain in His love – it means we have security in His love….we know we are the one he loves the most even in rough and difficult times, even when we don’t feel like it. In his love, we have a power and desire to love others as we should, in his love we love enough to be obedient to his commands. We see the world, the people and everything through his eyes, the eyes of love. We can begin to live out love the way he does as we have read in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
- We are filled with His joy –
I want to talk about obedience here for a moment. Yes, we are to be obedient to the commandments that our joy might be full. But as we see in later letters in the New Testament obedience to the law leads to failure, guilt, and shame but the obedience Jesus is talking about is something more than we think and perhaps less. Let me give you a different way of looking at obedience…. This is the way Jewish scholars for millennia have looked at obedience…To obey God is to conform one’s life to the very pattern of God’s own life. Such obedience shares in his life, which is characterized by harmony, grace, goodness, and beauty. We are in intimate union with him and swept up into his dance for which we were created and which brings the deepest fulfillment and deepest joy to our lives………. Jesus’ joy came from such intimacy with the Father and his delight to do that which pleases the one who is all love and goodness. Jesus is showing how our joy may be complete. If we have no joy in obeying the Father, then we should consider whether we know him as Jesus knows him and whether we understand his will as the description of our true freedom
It is always about relationship, your obedience reflects your understanding of living a life of intimate connection to the one who is love and loves you the most
- We are friends, not servants, because of his life pouring through us….we were never slaves to God, but until we have that connection with the Father through Christ by the Holy Spirit, we are slaves to our own flesh, broken in our relationship to God. But when we choose to accept His calling of us, His life pours through us and he is in us and we in Him we become sons and daughters of the most high. We can break that relationship from our side but he will n always love us and if we are willing He will renew the relationship with us when we are ready….the parable of the prodigal son….Luke 15:24
for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
The son had walked away, squandered his inheritance and had awaked again to the truth and when he came home even through he had once turned his back on the Father, the Father again calls him “son”
When Jesus said in John 10:10
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
And earlier in this passage he desires that our joy would be made full this is part of how that happens
Staying connected to the life of God…abiding, staying, remaining, be connected to the vine we are promised…
- Fruit
- His word alive in us
- His Love
- His joy
- We are part of the family
Next week we will dig a little deeper into what this all means