A Good Church Connects and Grows

Everyone lives somewhere. You are already connected

Imagine you have a house right in Glouchester MA, right on the ocean. Your living room overlooks the coast into the bay or even onto the ocean.

You wake up to the waves crashing against shore. You go to sleep with the waves crashing against the shore.

Because you live there, everything you do is related to your physical connection to that place.

You are aware of the tides. And aware of the weather. You know more about sea life and beach life and tourism.

What you pay attention to and how you understand the ins and outs of your life are related directly to your house on the sea.

Because the house abides by the sea it is connected to everything about the sea.

It’s a pretty simple principle but it runs our lives.

We adjust to whatever it is we are closest to.

We make room for what we are closest to.

We make choices based on what we are connected and closest to. We will entirely change our lives based on where we are and what we are connected to.

That may be something like a house located by the ocean. But it’s also your job, and the people you are connected with and the hobbies you have, the ideas you keep, your patterns of behavior. All these things that you keep close to you, all these things we are connected to are all also things that you use to understand the world around you.

Each one is a set of glasses or a telescope or binoculars that you use to see the world around you.

We are all connected and we are all formed around what we are connected to.

what we are going to look at this looming is Jesus invitation to remain connected to Him and why that is better than a house by the sea or any other connection

What has your connection promised?

Connecting is finding your “no matter whats” In life. That no matter what this will remain.

Jesus makes the claim that He is the best no matter what And that it is worthwhile listening to and responding to Him

When we remain with something or someone, we eventually being thinking of it as a “no matter what.”

Think about things in your life that are “no matter whats.” Now these may be convictions or ideas or people. But they can also be behaviors or habits or addictions. Whether good or bad the question to be asked is, are they “no matter whats.”

That no matter what, this will remain. That no matter what, I will hold onto this. I will root myself down into it and no matter what I will hang on.

When we live with no matter what’s the thing we have to start asking of them is, what is their commitment to me?

To connect in Christ is to discover you are a “no matter what” to Him.

Jesus has already created an entire eco system for you to thrive in. Look back at the Scripture.

John 15:1 ESV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

Being the vine in the Bible would have been understood to have been Israel in the OT. That the Vine is Israel and anything connected to it is safe because the Father is the one who is caring for it.

JEsus tells us right away. My father is the gardener. When we abide with Christ, when we are connected to Him, we become the responsibility of the Father.

Most of the things we are connected to don’t take much responsibility for us.

But Christ says that when we remain and connect to Him, the Father is now responsible.

We become cared for and we recognize that as we determine our “no matter whats,” to remain in Christ is to realize that we are God’s “no matter what.” No matter what you belong to me, you abide in me. You grow in me.

God is calling you to abide in Christ.

We are created in His image and we are now being called to be cared for in His actions.

John 15:5 ESV

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Christ is using this word picture of a garden and a vine for us to understand what life connected to HIm is like.

If we are the branches, then similar to a house on the sea, through understanding Him we understand the world around us.

We put on a set of lenses that allow us to see the world as it relates to who Christ is.

We build our house, as it were, on His words.

So to remain in Christ, to be connected to Him is to know who He is and what He has said.

This is why we are big on teaching the Bible. Why we do Faith foundations for all ages that teaches kids and adults what the Scripture says and how it relates to how we live.

That’s why we have our community Scripture reading plans. Throughout the year we are reading different parts of the Bible. Right now we are going through the life of Jesus. We read a portion and then you can comment to others going through the same plan. We invite everyone to read the Bible. We use the youversion app so even if you don’t like reading, there is a button below that will play the audio of the passage to you. You can listen on your way to work.

Enough information is not enough, we are called to live it out.

That’s why we serve at Food and friends. and that’s why do community activities. We are forming our lives around remaining connected to Christ.

In fact this is what Christ tells us. That to remain in Him is to listen to HIm. To listen to Him is to do what He calls us. To do what He calls us is to love one another. This is the mark of the church

that’s often easy when things are going well But not as easy when things are difficult

But there are times when things feel less that comfortable. There is change or there is shifting. Our lives may take a suddent jolt, something comes up we weren’t expecting. Or we are in a season that feels less than good or helpful.

As people, we often want to toss those away. We want to do away with the experience alltogether.

This can be the experience of pruning. Pruning is a common action, in fact a necessary one, in gardening.

John 15:2–4 ESV

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

If you have ever gardened before, you are familiar with this paradox. In order for something to grow, if needs to be pruned. All the branches that are not healthy or dying need to be cut out so that everything that is life giving remains.

Pruning is a saving act for the plant.

When Christ says that we will be pruned, it is a life giving act, even if it doesn’t feel good at the time.

We understand pruning when we stay loyal to Christ even when things are uncomfortable. Because we find that it is only in Him that we will find ultimate comfort.

He will show us the strength of our “no matter what’s.” Part of the pruning process is that the no matter whats get tested to see if they are strong enough. They get tested on their promises.

And often when they get pruned we see them for what they are.

we can bear up in it because we have the God of the universe sustaining us and the church supporting us

But to be pruned is to grow in Christ. And

To Connect in Christ is to love God enough that it spills out into love for another

John 15:12–15 ESV

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

To connect is to remain connected to God in such a way that we remain connected to one another. It means that we show love for God and for one another.

Christ is our no matter what.

He shows us love for humanity in HIm calling us His no matter what.

What we are connected to matters because it will show us what and how to navigate life.

What are you connected to this morning?

So we connect to things that promise big but never deliver. This is what any destructive behavior does. It gives big promises with no return

How is it working out for you?

Maybe you are a Christ follower and you have found yourself connected to something less than Christ Himself.

Come back, remain in HIm. God is your God, He has called you His No matter what.

Our role is to determine what our no matter whats are in life.

Christ has invited us further in to find our no matter what in Him. He is an ocean without a shore.

He has already called you a no matter what to HIm. No matter what He has come for you, invited you into life with Him.