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John 15
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well, I just want to begin by expressing gratitude for all those that volunteered last Wednesday. Thank you so much. What an amazing outreach it was. We had. We fed between 2000 and 2100 people. So that's a lot of food, a lot of work. Thank you.
[00:00:21] You did a great job and I'm so proud of you guys. You know, it's such a welcoming community, you know, very caring community. And I think when people come here, they immediately picked that up. It's awesome. Thank you. Let's stand as we go to the Lord in prayer this morning.
[00:00:39] So, Father, we thank you this morning how awesome and great you really are. And Lord, I know that many people struggle with a sense of purposelessness or a sense of meaning to their lives. And I pray today as we hear the message that you spoke first to the early disciples. But it applies to us, Lord, that you want to give us not only a sense of purpose, but also that we would be effective and fruitful in that purpose, Lord, and that we would become the most amazing ambassadors for your kingdom in our broken and fallen world, where there's so much despair and darkness and difficulty. And, Lord, I just pray today that you will speak into each one of our lives. I know that this is an extremely practical message in many ways, so help us to grasp the vision and then to begin to apply it in our lives in a transformative way. And I pray that when we leave this place today, something will have been imparted to us of the life of Christ. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name. And God's people said, amen. Amen. You may be seated.
[00:01:48] The story is told of a man who was honored as the city's leading citizen. And so he was called upon to share his story. And he said, friends and neighbors, when I first came to this community 30 years ago, I walked in on your town on a muddy dirt road with only the suit on my back, the shoes on my feet, and all of my earthly possessions wrapped up in a red bandana tied to the stick that I carried over my shoulder. Today I'm the chairman of the board of the bank. I own hotels, apartment buildings, office buildings, three companies with branches in 49 cities, and I'm on the boards of all the leading clubs. Yes, friends, this city has been very good to me. Well, after the banquet, the young man approached the person and said, sir, would you tell me what you had wrapped up in that red bandana when you walked into town 30 years ago? The man said, I think it was about a half a million dollars in cash and about 900,000 in government bonds.
[00:02:49] So, to truly understand the financial success of this individual, I think we needed to understand the source of his resources. How many say that's true? He didn't start from zero. What was in his red bandana made all the difference in the world. And that's the same for us as believers. What God has entrusted to us has a significant bearing on what the results of our life will be. And one element that we all have access to is God's very presence and that God has given to each one of us. I'm going to use this in kind of an interesting way. We all have, in a sense, a red bandana. There are things that God has put inside of us that we bring to the equation that many times we may not always be utilizing. I want you to think of our different giftings or our backgrounds or our experiences and the way God has shaped our lives. So everyone in this room, you have things in your life that God wants to utilize. He's downloaded these things, and you and I need to tap into them. We need to explore them, discover them, develop them, and then utilize them so that he will be glorified by our lives. And that tells me something, because God's gifted us, he has an expectation. And if we read some of the parables in the New Testament, we recognize God gave different people different Abilities, but he also had an expectation that they were going to be accountable to him on how they were using what he had given to them in their lives. So Randolph Tasker says before, Jesus now engages in this last and fiercest strife against the prince of this world. This is now Jesus in the upper room. He's about ready to engage and give his life as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. He now teaches his disciples by means of a very simple allegory, the demands of their discipleship imposed upon them and the conditions under which it becomes effective. So, in other words, he's preparing them. And I want you to think about what's about to happen here in their lives.
[00:05:03] Okay, let me go on here. As they are not a collection of individuals. I think this is so important. This is probably one of the biggest issues we struggle with, individualism. God calls us into community. And even though these disciples, they were kind of like a corporate society, they were all coming from different places. In their minds, they had struggles, there was conflict among them. There was disagreements. How many know that's true? They weren't just unified right from the get go, but this was now going to be the new Israel of God. I don't know if you know that the church is described by Paul as the new Israel, and you'll see why in a few minutes. It's because Jesus now is framing in his analogy a language that had been used to describe the people of God under the old disposition. And we're going to see that he talks about the analogy of the vine. And in John, chapter 15, Jesus now gives us the secret to a truly joyful, effective and a purpose filled life. How many say that's pretty good? How many wouldn't mind having these things going on? Because I think a lot of people are struggling with purpose today. You know, I talk to a lot of young people, they're trying to figure out what is their purpose. And I'm going to just share with you, if you're a child of God, it's a united purpose. We all have the same purpose, but we all bring to a different element. And that's how we need to learn how to relate to each other in a healthy way. And I believe that's the greatest challenge right now. We're going to find that out as we hear this 16 verses. In John 15, the first eight verses really speaks about being, how can we be effective in our purpose? And then the last nine, the last eight verses really deal with how we need to do it together and what is the most important quality in making that a reality in our lives. And I'm going to argue that it's learning to love each other, it's learning to work with each other. It's learning to get along with individual people and as a community of faith. Notice how it starts out. I'm gonna start in the very last verse one. We're gonna look at verse 16, just what Jesus said. You did not choose me.
[00:07:12] I chose you.
[00:07:14] I wanna just stop there. Do you realize if you're a child of God today, God picked you to be on his team? How many go? That's beautiful. How many are excited that you're on God's team? You've been picked. You've been chosen. God says, I chose you.
[00:07:30] So there's an expectation. I mean, if you were an athlete and you got signed by a club to play baseball. Let's pick on that for a minute, because I sat right next to a young man here the other day who just got signed by Tampa Ray Bayes professional team. He's 17, graduated from high school. Isn't that amazing? So he's not even playing anymore for that team because they don't want to get injured. They're going to send him off to a developmental situation. He's picked by that team. How many know that they're going to have expectations? Yes, they're going to develop him, but they have expectations that he's going to perform to a certain level. You and I need to understand that when God picks us, it's not so that you and I sit and become a couch potato. That's not what God has in mind. God has something far more significant in mind in picking you and developing you so that you can become all that he has created inside of you to become. He wants that to happen, but he wants that to happen in the context of working with other people.
[00:08:32] He goes on to say, here, now I've appointed you to go and bear fruit. We're going to talk about what does he mean by fruit? There fruit that will last so that whatever you ask in my name, the father will give you. So we're not going to be doing this alone. We're going to be doing this with Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit. We're going to be dealing with God. God's going to partner with us so that you and I can be effective and you and I can be fruitful. So Jesus emphasizes what must be taken seriously by this man. Now think about what he's doing. Jesus has picked these twelve people. One of them is going to betray him, so he's down to eleven. Jesus is about to give up his entire life. He's about to lay down his life and create the context that human beings can now be in a right relationship with the Father. But if nobody follows through after Jesus death, what's going to happen to the mission? It's going to be an absolute failure. How many are glad that these gentlemen decided to go all out, commit themselves wholeheartedly and give their lives to bring the good news of Jesus to the world in which they were living? And how many appreciate that? Yeah, and it cost them. No, there was a cost to it. It cost them their very lives. Most of them actually laid down their lives except for John. He died a natural death. Let's take a look here. So they realize, I say, will they realize the importance of maintaining now a vital relationship with Jesus, even though he's going to be absent in body but present within them in spirit? And will they take the task of spreading the message seriously enough? And will they do so at their own personal expense? We know the answer is yes. Can they do it and maintain a loving relationship with each other? How many know? That's the hard part, a lot of us go, how many have ever done an assignment? And you go, I'd rather just do it by myself.
[00:10:26] Anybody like that, you know, just a lot easier to do it by myself. But, you know, when you have to be assigned a bunch of people and you don't even get to pick the people, how many know it gets a little more challenging?
[00:10:38] Have you ever been in school and you had an assignment and they said, okay, we're breaking you into groups, and this is your project, and you got to work with people you don't even know, and you end up going to their housing and trying to do this project. And, you know, not everybody's carrying equal weight. Anybody figure that out yet? Yeah, we've all had that experience. I think if you haven't, it's an amazingly good experience to have, because that's the way life is. You're going to have to work with people. Sometimes they're not even people of your own choosing. Now, Jesus gives both to them and to us the needed ingredients to live effective, meaningful, and purposeful lives that will impact and influence the lives of other people. So in John, I want to just look at two elements to how that happens. How can we have this fruitful life? And so the first element in having an effective and purposeful life is simply to abide or remain in Christ.
[00:11:32] Here we see that we cannot do this on our own. You can't do ministry apart from Christ. You're going to falter and fail. I think the source of life and power is our union with Jesus, and I think we all agree. Yeah, that makes sense. I don't think anybody's going to dispute this point. The question, though, that arises in my mind is, why is it that so many believers are either stunted or stagnant in their christian life? I'm not going to ask you, raise your hand, but some of you probably feel that way. I'm a little stunted in my development, or I feel stagnant in the christian life. How can I move past this area in my life? It's a great question. We're going to look at how that can happen. Some of you are asking, why is there so little power or victory or overcoming in my own personal life? And to answer this, let's take a look at how Christ's life flows through us. And he uses this amazing analogy that I think every jewish person fully understood. And it's the picture of the vine, because the vine represented the nation of Israel. It was actually on the temple, herod's temple. It was a golden vine inscribed on there. And John. Now, let's pick up what John writes to us here.
[00:12:46] Jesus said, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener.
[00:12:51] Merrill Tenney says, since the word true in verse one means genuine or real, Jesus claims to be the one true stalk, just as there must be an original vine from which all the specimens of a given variety are taken. So he alone is the source of the heavenly life of the spiritual vine. Now, I don't know if you know that that's true when you're studying vines. I mean, there's one important root vine. And Jesus says, I am that vine, and all of the branches are going to grow off of this vine.
[00:13:23] Jesus is basically saying he's the genuine vine. And as I've already said, these jewish people understood this. As a matter of fact, Isaiah says this about the nation. He said, the vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delights in. So he's equating the vine with the nation of Israel. And there was always true followers within the nation, but national lineage was never enough. How many know that's true? And that's why there was a lot of problems in Jesus day, because people felt like, cause I'm jewish, I know God well. No, you need to have an experience. Jesus said, you gotta be born again. You have to have this experience of real life in YouTube. Sometimes we can grow up in Christianity, but it just becomes institutionalized. It just becomes a bunch of information. But we've never had it experientialized in our life. We've never connected with God in a real way. See, we have to be in union with the vine. That's what we're talking about here. And if it doesn't become an inward reality, what happens is we don't produce the right kind of fruit. And that was Isaiah. He's pointing that out here in chapter five. He said, now, you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah judge between me and my vineyard. He's saying, okay, let's take a look at what's going on here. He says, what more could have been done for my vineyard than I've done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? In other words, God says, I've done everything I can to make you thrive as a nation, but you're not producing what I expected. I was looking for good. I got bad, you know? And that's true in our life. God has an expectation in our lives as human beings. He's looking for righteousness, holiness, godliness, goodness. You know, he's looking for certain qualities to come out of our lives. But what happens when he sees rebellion and self centeredness and selfishness? Obviously there's a problem. And God says, hey, I'm doing everything I can. And especially as believers, we can take a look at all that God has done on our behalf. And we don't have too much to say that we shouldn't be doing better. Verse five, he says, now I will tell you what I'm about to do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedges and it will be destroyed. I will break down its walls and it will be trampled. In other words, this is a picture that Isaiah is giving. And eventually they did go into exile. They were destroyed as a nation. The ten tribes, we talk about the ten lost tribes, they were taken into captivity in Assyria, and many of them never found their way back. And we know that to be true. Now there's an expectation, Jesus even, not to mix or metaphors, but when he came to the fig tree, he looked at it and it was all full of leaves. And then he was looking for fruit and he didn't find any. Cursed the tree and the tree died. Remember that?
[00:16:06] That was what we call a parabolic sermon. He was basically saying, I'm looking with expectation for something to come from our lives. Hosea ten says this. This is again another prophet who is saying the same thing as Isaiah. And he says it this way. Israel was a spreading vine. He brought forth fruit for himself. I want you to notice that little phrase, fruit for himself. In other words, the benefits of knowing God, he was basically consuming upon himself. It says, as his fruit increased, he built more altars as his land prospered, adorned to sacred stones.
[00:16:43] What was going on here? Well, God was blessed in the nation. They were taking the blessings of God and they were using it to actually worship heathen gods inside of their own nation.
[00:16:55] Isn't that crazy? So God's blessing was now causing them to create idolatry.
[00:17:02] That's a shocking statement, isn't it? So then he goes on to say, their heart is deceitful and now they will bear their guilt. The Lord will demolish their altars and destroy their sacred stones.
[00:17:14] So basically, Israel was taking God's blessing and they were using it in an inappropriate way. Using God's blessing solely to consume it upon ourselves is a form of idolatry. Do you realize that? Now, I'm not suggesting, you know, God's blessing our lives and we don't. You know, ever do some fun things or. I'm not negating that. What I'm saying is when we take what God has given us and we live a self centered, selfish life and we use everything God gives us to consume it upon ourselves, what are we doing? We're making ourselves the focus of our lives rather than God. And that's what idolatry is. And you know what's gonna happen? God will take away the blessings in our lives. When we do that, it'll just happen. And why will he do that? Because as we're about to find out, he's a gardener. He's gonna come along with his pruning shears, and he's going to come through the vineyard and we're going to see what he's about to do here in John, chapter 15. But before I get here, what fascinates me is as we look through the Old Testament, there's a number of covenants. And here's what I want to focus on, the idea of purpose. God, from the very beginning, had a purpose for humanity. Let's take a look right in the garden. God blessed them, Adam and eve, and he said to them, what? Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. So now they have a mandate from God. They have a mission from God. Now, this is a physical mission. They were to propagate, they were to have over, you know, they were to subdue the environment in which they were living in, not necessarily abuse the environment, but to subdue it and to, you know, manage it properly. We need to be good stewards of what God gave us. He gave them this mandate. But then a little later on, we find out what did they do. They began to live for themselves. They were sinning like crazy. God finally said every thought in their mind was sinful. God says, I'm tired of this. I'm going to judge the world. And he found a man by the name of Noah who found grace in his eyes. And he revealed to Noah to build an ark as he was about to destroy the land with a flood. Remember that story? And at the end of that whole catastrophe of the flood, there was just Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives, eight survivors, and they come out of the boat and this is what God says to Noah and his sons, be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. Where did we hear that? Well, that was the original mandate. God says, hey, you got off track. You moved away from what I asked, and you got into all kinds of trouble. I'm going to make an argument as christians, when we move away from what God is asking us to do, it'll get us into trouble.
[00:19:56] That's the nature of sin. It's a state of rebellion. I'm not obeying. I'm not doing what God has called me to do. Okay, this is in the natural. Oh, did it happen again? Of course it happens again. We read in chapter eleven. What did they do? They started hanging out into town and they built this tower in Babel, and they were going to make their name great and make their name self known, and they weren't doing what God said. They weren't going out and being fruitful and filling the earth. They weren't filling the earth. They were staying in one spot. And so what does God do? He comes down and he confuses their language and he speaks, scatters them over the face of the earth.
[00:20:31] Well, you think this idea comes around again when he's talking to Abraham? To Abraham, he says, he took them outside, he said, look up at the sky and count the stars. If indeed you can number them, then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. In other words, God is still locked in to what? Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He's never gotten away from that. Now, that's in the Old Testament, that's the Hebrew Bible. That's a natural, material, physical thing. But what about the New Testament? The New Testament idea has now become spiritualized, and God now is interested in us going out and doing what? Well, he says to the church, we have a similar expectation. First of all, we need to be fruitful in the mandate and the mission of the church, which is what he says, go and make disciples of all nations. He's still calling us to become fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. But now it's not in a natural way, it's in a spiritual way. He's commissioning us to do this, and we need to be taking what God has given us in order to fulfill the mission. And we don't just do this individually, we're doing it collectively, we're doing it together. But the second part of this fruitfulness that God is calling us to is that we need to be fruitful in character or moral fruit. And there's two aspects. Either one is the mission of it, how to become purposeful and productive in that way, and then also that we become effective. And how do we become effective is how our lives are being changed and shaped. And they actually, as we're going to see, work in conjunction with each other, they go together.
[00:22:12] Ab Bruce says the branches abide in the vine structurally, and the vine abides in the branches through its SAP, and it brings vitality. So now Jesus is going to give us and his disciples insight, these early twelve insight into the spiritual life. So how does God work in developing us into fruitful people? He starts out by saying he cuts off every branch in me. Jesus said that bears no fruit. He cuts off, the gardener does, Father does, cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. So I want you to know God's got his pruning shears at work and he's cutting, and we're going to find out what does that really mean?
[00:22:59] You are already clean, and the message Bible says you are already pruned because of the word I have spoken to you. So what God does is he takes his word and he's using that word to get rid of things in our lives that are unproductive and unfruitful. That's what he's working on. It goes on to say, remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in meat. So what's he saying here now? He's saying it's impossible to be fruitful apart from union with Christ. How many? See that? That's where the fruitfulness comes from. You know, the branches are producing because they're hooked up to the vine, the main branch, the main source, and that's the life of Christ is flowing through our lives. And when it is, we become fruitful in many which ways? We're going to look at the ways. It says here, I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Not just fruit, much fruit. So what is God interested in? How many are getting the idea? What is God interested in?
[00:24:07] What's the word? Fruit. And as a matter of fact, he's even going to cut us back to bear much fruit. God is not just interested in a little bit of fruit, he's interested in a lot of fruit. Anybody picking up on that?
[00:24:23] How many are getting this?
[00:24:25] God is interested in us being effective. God is interested in us being productive. God is interested in us living purposeful, effective lives. Anybody see that?
[00:24:39] I think it's pretty straightforward. I think Jesus is saying it very clearly here.
[00:24:43] If you do not remain in me or like a branch that's thrown away and withers. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned. So Jesus is bringing out two concepts in regard to our unique relationship. There's only two approaches to branches. They're either dead, he cuts them off and throws them away, or else he prunes them back.
[00:25:03] Even the ones that are producing fruit, he prunes them, and so that they will become even more fruitful. And I'm going to tell you something. I've had this experience in my life on more than one occasion. You know anybody? You know what I'm talking about? When God starts disciplining you, everyone thinks, well, discipline. I must have done something wrong. No. God says, I want more fruit.
[00:25:24] I'm a gardener. I'm out here with my pruning shears, and I'm going to get more fruit from your life, so I'm going to cut you back. And I remember when I was in Seattle, this is a number of years ago, and I went through a horrific time. And, you know, you go from being extremely fruitful to, I felt like nothing. You ever have those moments in your life, you feel like God shelved you and nothing is happening. Well, what God has really done, it's like a rose bush. You know, he's decided, oh, it's time to cut this bush. Now, it's been producing beautiful roses, but the season's over. And he comes along and it's about this high, and he just cuts the whole tree right off, the whole rose bush right down to there. Just. That's it. All that's left is a little stump.
[00:26:06] Now, I gotta ask a question. Are you still a rose bush? Well, the answer is, yeah, but I sure don't feel fruitful, and I sure don't look good. And that's what happens when God's pruning. It just. You feel like you're being unproductive. You feel like your life's falling apart. You don't think anything's happening. God goes, no, I've got a game plan. Because all that's going to happen if you don't do that is a whole bunch of other branches are going to grow and they're not going to produce. But this is the way to have more productivity. And so God is interested in making us more fruitful, and we got to understand that it changes the way I look at the discipline and the trials and the difficulties my life.
[00:26:45] Okay, so Merrill Tenney says this as the farmer welds the pruning knife on his vine. So God cuts dead wood out from among his saints and often cuts back the living wood so far that his method seems cruel. Nevertheless, from those who have suffered the most, there often comes the greatest fruitfulness.
[00:27:06] Isn't that interesting? Jesus said he learned. The writer, the Hebrew says about Jesus, he learned obedience by the things he what he suffered. And I say to myself, Jesus is having to learn obedience. The sinless person is learning obedience by the things he suffers. Oh, that means I'm going to have to go through some things because I don't think I'm sinless. And I know that I've still got to learn obedience. And so, you know, how many know, if you're a person that keeps, you know, bucking your head, stubborn, bumping against what God wants, you're going to be fighting God. And, you know, that's a painful way to live. So I'm just telling you right now, you might as well just surrender. Say, okay, God, whatever you want to do is fine with me. I'm just going to flow with you. And God says, good, because now you're going to start being really fruitful. There's going to be less stagnation in your life. You're going to be more effective, you're going to be happier. We're going to find that out and have a lot more joy in your life. Okay, so what does it mean to remain or abide in Jesus? Bruce Wilkinson says, to abide means to remain, to stay closely connected, to settle in for the long term. With this picture, Jesus is showing his disciples how an ongoing, vital connection with him will directly determine the amount of his supernatural power at work in their lives. He goes on to say, abiding is all about the most important friendship of your life. Doesn't measure how much you know. See, abiding is not about knowledge. It's about.
[00:28:35] It's about longing for, seeking, thirsting, loving, hearing, responding to God. Now, obviously, we have to do that through scripture. I mean, that's where we discover who he is. That's God's side of the equation. He's communicating through his word. More abiding means more of God in your life, more of him in your activities, thoughts, desires. And so our obedient response to God's word is really an expression of fruitfulness, which ultimately brings glory to God. Let's take a look. This challenge is followed by an incredible promise. So this is challenging. How many know this is challenging? God is here pruning our lives, and it's painful. But then he says this in verse seven. If you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. Now, that's a pretty powerful promise. Now, why could he make that kind of a promise? Because first of all, if you and I are in the word of God, and we're remaining, we're responding, we're obeying the word of God, you know what starts happening? You become like God.
[00:29:38] Your desires start changing.
[00:29:40] See, whatever you feed yourself, you foster an appetite for you. Follow what I'm saying? So if you're watching horror movies all the time, you're fostering an appetite for that. That's what you do. If you're eating junk food all the time, your body starts craving junk food all the time. If you, you know, it's all about what you're feeding yourself. The more you feed yourself the right things, the more you hunger for that which you've been feeding your soul. Your body will long for that. We go in so many which ways in life? But look what happens now when you have your heart change and you have a desire for God. Now you're going to pray what God wants you to pray. That's what I'm getting at. I want you. He says here in his epistle, he says, this is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to his will, pause. What is God's will? Where do we find God's will? Well, we find it in his word. So if I know the word of God, I know the will of God, I know what God wants. Then I start praying with God wants. And when I start praying with what God wants, guess what starts happening? We start seeing answers to prayer. This is what God wants. I'm praying for what God wants. I'm going to see an answer to prayer here. Then he hears us. He says, and if we know he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we've asked of him. So we're not asking for things that are not going to help us spiritually. We're not praying selfish prayers now. We're praying prayers according to the will of God. We're praying what God wants to accomplish. We're in union with God. We're in partnership with God. We're participating with God. How many think teaming up with God, understanding what he wants accomplished, and then we begin to do it. We're going to have a totally different response in life. Isn't that great? We're going to have a lot more success. We're going to be a lot more productive. We're going to be a lot more fruitful.
[00:31:30] We're going to experience a lot more excitement in our christian life. We're going to move past stagnation in a hurry here because now we're aligning ourselves with what he wants. Let me move on to the second element. It's our relationship with other believers. Do you know, you cannot isolate and flourish? And I have observed this now for a long time. The christians who go through difficult times, who pull away and isolate, struggle, and many of them just diminish as people, the people who are struggling either with grief or with sin or with whatever issue in their life, and they stay with it, they stay in community, they become accountable, they build relationships. Those are the people that get through those experiences and grow. And it happens. And I've watched this now for decades. So, you know, if you have a tendency towards pulling away, isolating, you're going to have to fight that tendency because it's not going to help you in the long run. You know, you think, well, it's my right to do that. Yeah, but it's going to kill you. That's what I'm trying to tell you. So don't do that. Ab Bruce says, though Jesus does not say it in so many words, he evidently means for the disciples to understand that abiding in each other by love is just as necessary to their success as their common abiding in him by faith. What's he mean by that? Well, he just means that you and I, you know, need to decide right now we're going to be committed to people that's challenging. Okay? He goes on to say this division, party strife, jealousy, will be simply fatal to their influence and to the cause they represent. Had Christians always remembered the commandment of love on which Christ so earnestly insisted, what a different history the church would have had, let me say that's true. If we'd have learned to love each other, there wouldn't have been so much factionism and so much bickering and fighting. How much more, he says, fruitful she would have been in all the great results for which she was instituted. In other words, God said, listen, if you guys can learn to get along and love each other, you're going to change the world. And Jesus said, this is how you're going to know people are my disciples, how they love each other. So Jesus is telling us, here's the means by which you and I are going to make disciples. Here's the vehicle by which we're going to get to the places where we need to get to. Here's the method by which we're going to bring the good news to people. We're going to start learning how to love each other. This is challenging, so we have to abide or remain in the love of God. Listen to what he says in verse nine. As the father, he's now going to give us the standard, as the father has loved me, Jesus is talking. As the father has loved the son, so I have loved you. As the father loves Jesus, so Jesus has loved the disciples. Now remain in my love. Okay, look at verse ten. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love. Because, you know, you say, what does it mean to remain in his love? Obey.
[00:34:27] Obey. It's real simple, just obedience. Just as I've kept my father's commands and remain in his love, Jesus said, I've always done what the father wanted me to do. See, you and I need to learn this lesson. We need to learn to do what the father's asking us to do. We need to become obedient children. You know what the description is of the world. They're children of disobedience. That's the description of the world. Children of disobedience. You and I should be children of obedience. We are the obedient children. We love our father. We love each other. We are doing what's right. Hmm. That's beautiful. You know, so this is more than sheer emotion, and it's very practical. You see, I think a lot of us think love is emotion. I feel love. I feel this emotion of love towards someone. That's beautiful. It's an emotion, but that's not the whole nature of love. Emotions come and go, folks. How many know that's true? Especially when somebody does something that you don't like. The emotions are now fleeting. They're gone. You have a new emotion. Frustration, hurt, anger. Right? I'm just gonna talk about emotions. So if you think love is emotion, you're gonna be all over the map. You're gonna be a fickle pickle. That's what you're gonna be. You know, obedience is at the heart of love. The model has been set before us. It's Jesus obedience to his father.
[00:35:55] So this manifestation of this love is now seen in how we're treating each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Look at verse twelve. My command is this. Love each other as I have loved you. Okay, now it's getting more difficult. How did Jesus love us?
[00:36:13] Well, he laid down his life for us. He died for us. It's unconditional. That's how I got to love you. I'm commanded by Jesus to love you this way. And you're commanded by Jesus to love each other this way and to love me this way. Why? Wow. This is getting more hard. It's getting more difficult. He says greater love has no one than this, that he lays down his life for his friends.
[00:36:36] So what kind of love is Jesus talking about? Well, I wrote down it's a God kind of love. This is not natural. This is not normal kind of love. This is supernatural. When we think about laying down our lives, this isn't just being willing or willing to physically die for someone, because that's what we usually, when we read that we're willing to lay down our lives, we think of physical death. You know what? I'm going to tell you what it is. It's laying aside our rights so the others will be benefited. This is the kind of love Jesus had. Jesus was God. He laid aside his rights to be God. He laid aside his glory. He came down to earth and became a servant.
[00:37:17] Wow.
[00:37:18] What's he doing? He's now, he says he came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Isn't that beautiful? So Jesus becomes the servant of all of us. Jesus has served everyone in this room. He's the ultimate servant.
[00:37:36] This is laying down your life for your brothers and sisters. It means living an unselfish life and thinking about the well being of those that we live with.
[00:37:47] Is that how you live at home? Okay. I have to think about what's in the best interest of patty or the best interest when Andrea was in my home or Rachel was in my home, what's their best interest? And I got to lay aside what I want in order to do what's in their best interest. Can you imagine if people started living like this? You know, I got to think about what's in the best interest of Pastor Mark or Pastor Adam or Pastor Hannah or you as a congregant, what's in your best interest? Not what's in my best interest. What's in your best interest.
[00:38:19] That's where we should be starting from. That's how our mind should be working. That's what it means to love one another as Christ loves us. Is that the way you're loving each other?
[00:38:29] Isn't that a challenging statement? You know, wow, it's getting interesting. Now. It should not surprise us that this love is supernatural in nature. It can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit. You and I can't do that. How many say I can't do? I can't live like that. There's moments I'm selfish.
[00:38:48] Anybody else have selfish moments? Okay, yeah, you know, but we're called to be unselfish. We're called to lay down our rights for the other person. And just think about the fruit of the spirit for a minute. You know, it says, the fruit of the spirit is what? Love. That's what we're talking about. And that love is expressed joy. Do you joyfully? A lot of us go, yeah, I'm laying down my rights, but I'm letting them know about it.
[00:39:15] Is that the way we're doing it? I'm grumping. I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, but I'm not happy about it. Are we doing it joyfully?
[00:39:24] See, attitude is everything, folks. I'm doing this, I'm happily doing it, and I'm full of peace. I'm not stressed out. Forbearance.
[00:39:35] Some translations say patience, you know, am I tolerating things in the other person? You know, there's some things, I may not like what this person says or does, but do I just go, okay, that's who they are. I'm going to tolerate this? That's forbearing. I'm putting up with it. I'm put. I'm bearing with this person's weakness.
[00:39:55] I'm being kind to them. Kindness, you know, you just think about some of these, you know. I'll give you some practical. I shared it in the first service. Here's a. Here's a waitress. Maybe she's busy. Everything's gone wrong with your meal. They forgot about you.
[00:40:12] They've burnt it. I don't know. Just think of all the things that have been neglected. You know, their attitude has been nasty towards you. And then it comes time to pay the bill. What are you thinking? They're not going to get a tip from me. I'll tell you. This is the worst treatment I ever got.
[00:40:29] But if you're a kind person, you want to be like Jesus. What does Jesus sometimes do to us when we least deserve it? What's he do?
[00:40:38] He shows us amazing love and grace. So here we are. We decide, okay? This is the worst treatment I've ever got. I don't know where this person's at, but I'm going to really bless them today. I'm going to do good in spite of their evil. I'm going to give them a big tip.
[00:40:52] I'm going to give them such a big tip that they're going to go back to the kitchen and go. I don't know what. What happened. You know, these people. I was not nice to them. I neglected them. And they gave me one of the biggest tips I've ever got.
[00:41:05] What do you think starts happening in their brains?
[00:41:07] See, now you've shown them grace, because that's exactly what God does. Goodness, faithfulness, you know, gentleness and self control. Against such things, there is no law. That's the positive descriptions of the fruit of the spirit. But you know what? There's a negative side to the fruit of the spirit. What's that, pastor? The verse we never quote. Let me go down to verse 24. You didn't know this was part of it. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have what crucified the flesh and its passions and desires. Now, how many know? What is it saying there? I'm putting myself to death.
[00:41:45] That's the fruit of the spirit. You and I can't do that on our own without his help. The spirit of God has to help us crucify ourselves. Say, okay, this is what I want. This is my desire. But I'm gonna lay that down. I'm laying down my rights, and I'm gonna do this instead for the sake of this other person's well being. Isn't that amazing? See, how many know loving one another is a little harder than we think. It takes God's help, you know? And then what happens is one of the first expressions of love is joy. And joy is what gives us strength to do things. I don't know if you know that. If you're not full of joy, you don't have a lot of strength. And when adversity comes, you shrink under it and you complain and wine and blame and all the rest of that stuff, right? That's what we do. You see, joy is an attitude that is not determined by circumstance or by the quality, but actually it's the quality that should be determining how we're serving other people. So we don't want to be blaming other people, you know, how destructive is blame? Well, I'm going to skip over this long list of what blame does, which is negative.
[00:42:51] You know, I want to keep going here. The blessing of obedience actually brings joy.
[00:43:00] I skipped over these two verses because I wanted to end this note. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I've obeyed my father's command and remain in his love. I've told you this so that my joyous may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Now, how many want to live a joy filled life anybody want to be full of joy? Well, see, in the presence of God, there's what?
[00:43:22] Fullness of joy. So if you're abiding in the vine, you're in the presence of God and you have fullness of joy. And so we have to take a look at ourselves and say, how much joy do I have? And if there's not a lot of joy there, it must say something about what's my relationship with goddess? We should have joy. Now, this is what Jesus says in conclusion here, he talks about friendship with God. He says, you're my friends if you do what I command.
[00:43:50] I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends for everything that I've learned from my father, I've made known to you.
[00:44:01] So this relationship with Jesus, this friendship is a unique friendship. It's unlike any other friends because, you know, he says, you're my friends if you do what I command. It's a conditional friendship in a sense. Right now, obedience is not what makes them friends, but it characterizes them as his friends.
[00:44:24] Da Carson says, clearly this friendship is not strictly reciprocal. It's not going back and forth. These friends of Jesus cannot turn around and say that Jesus will be their friend if he does what they say. Doesn't work that way, okay? And I think a lot of christians think that way. Oh, yeah, God's our friend. I can tell him what I want. He's my buddy. Get that out of your mind.
[00:44:47] That's not what we're talking about here. Carson goes on to explain, what did Jesus be when he called us his friends? Well, he says, an absolute potentate. That's another nice word for a total dictator.
[00:45:02] Jesus is the king. He's absolute. He's sovereign, right. He demands obedience on all of his subjects. Slaves are simply told what to do, while friends are informed of his thinking, enjoying his confidence, and learn to obey with a sense of privilege and with full understanding of their masters hearts. So also here, Jesus absolute right to command is in no way diminished, but he takes pains to inform his friends of his motives, his plans and his purposes. That's why we're his friends. What is he basically saying? He's given us insight and revelation. In times past, God's covenant people were not informed of God's saving plan in the full measure now accorded to us, Jesus disciples. Is that amazing? So what he's doing is he's letting us in on what he's doing, which is friendship, God style. Let's stand so what am I? What's this sermon really all about, pastor? It's real simple. You and I have a mission, so we have a purpose. So all the people in here going, I don't know what my purpose is. I'm going to tell you flat out it's God's purpose for you. You need to be his ambassador. Does that make sense? You represent him. Now, how many say, God says, I want you to do it in a loving, powerful way. Loving way. Okay. Now, how many know you can't be punching somebody in the face and telling them you're loving them at the same time? That's kind of a mixed message.
[00:46:35] And sometimes as christians, you know, we're not communicating the message the way we need to because the message needs, needs to be communicated through the right medium.
[00:46:46] In other words, the way you and I live is the message. You're communicating the message. No matter what you're doing, you're always communicating. That's something we don't always realize. The way you treat each other, the way we treat each other, the way we treat people around us is communicating the gospel or it's not communicating the gospel. Right.
[00:47:11] And so if we are going to be purposeful, effective and joyful, because I think we should do this joyfully, how do you do that? You need the presence of God. How many see that I cannot love the way God requires me to love? Anybody besides me have a little problem with loving the way God requires you to, to love?
[00:47:35] I have a, you know, the love like God loves. Do you love like that at all times?
[00:47:41] I fail a few times.
[00:47:43] Anybody else? Any other people? You probably need a little more help. Why don't we open our hearts and say, holy spirit, would you invade my space and help me to understand in a very practical way it's not about me.
[00:48:00] And when I start, when I constantly try to shift my life to be about me, I get less happy. And every time I shift my life to full surrender to you and allow your life to flow through me is when I have the greatest degree of joy and I become the most effective and the most productive and the most purposeful. So, Father, we bow before you today. We recognize we cannot live this life unless we're abiding in union with you. We need the life of the spirit to flow unhindered into and through our lives.
[00:48:39] And, Lord, there are moments. It's painful, but we know you're going to prune things in our lives that are unhealthy. It's going to cut them off. And those things need to go because they're hindering future fruitfulness. And so, Lord, I want to be even my prayer as I've aged, this might have been my prayer. Lord, I want to be more effective and more fruitful than I've ever been, which means I'm opening up the pruning knife to your spirit, going, clip, clip, clip. And, Lord, I just pray right now that we will have the courage to say, Lord, we want to be more fruitful. We want to bear much fruit. We want to be more effective. We want to have a greater influence and a greater impact that your kingdom would come and you would use us, not just individually, but you would use us collectively. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you. As you leave this morning.
