089 - The Connected Christian
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
This morning we will finish our teaching series “The Basic Necessities of Life” in which we have studied the seven “I am” statements of Jesus throughout the Gospel of John.
“I am the vine.”
It is the culmination of all the “I am” statements that we have studied and if you have read the text you will quickly notice that one word stands out above all the other words in our reading.
Abide or remain connected to
Abide in Me
Abide in the vine
Abide in My love
Abide in His love
My words abide in you
My joy may remain (abide) in you (the same greek word μενω)
Notice how this one word completes all the other “I am” statements we have studied.
I am the bread of life - abiding in Jesus we receive food for our soul, nutrients needed for life and growth.
I am the light of the world - abiding in Jesus we do not stumble around in the darkness, being carried away by the philosophies of this world.
I am the door - abiding in Jesus we have an passage way to the Father.
I am the good shepherd - abiding in Jesus we have protection from the enemy who seeks only to kill and to destroy.
I am the resurrection and the life - abiding in Jesus we receive eternal life.
I am the way, the truth, and the life - abiding in Jesus brings complete fulfillment.
And now Jesus makes one final “I am” statement -
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 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.
What Jesus is saying is that as His disciples we must stay connected to Him and to His Word.
He answers the question that many of us have:
Is it that important for me to devote time in my busy schedule to the reading and studying of the Scriptures?
How will this benefit me?
A question that we ask because, at least here in the western world we live in a very individualistic culture, it’s all about me.
How will it benefit me to devote time out of my busy schedule to the reading and studying of the Word of God?
A question that Jesus provides four answers to:
The First is that the connected Christian bears fruit!
The Connected Christian Bears Fruit
The Connected Christian Bears Fruit
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 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.
In these first two verses we see a vine (Jesus), a vinedresser or farmer (the Father), and we see that the vine has shoots or branches coming out of it, some that bear fruit and some that do not bear fruit.
The question that immediately comes to mind is, “Who are the branches that do not produce fruit and who are the branches that do produce fruit?”
Notice, every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He, the Father, takes away.
If you have every been around a vineyard you know that not all shoots or branches bear fruit.
Only the shoots or branches that grow from fruitful buds, typically found on plants a year old or more, will bear fruit. Other shoots that do not grow from fruitful buds will only produce leaves but no fruit.
The same holds for a tomato plant, which is a vine. Shoots that do not produce tomatoes are called “suckers” and if you properly care for you plants you will pluck off these suckers and cast them away so that they don’t draw life from the fruitful branches.
These fruitless branches or suckers claim to be a part of the vine but they have no life bearing fruit.
Much like Judas, numbered as one of the 12 apostles, professed before many to be a follower of Jesus but unlike the other eleven, Judas never produced any fruit.
According to a pew research, 62% of all adult Americans profess to be a Christian.
However, a Lifeway Research has found that roughly 9% of all adult Americans report reading and studying the Bible daily and around 10% of those having read very little or none of the Bible.
Gives truth to the Words of Jesus’ words in Matt 7.13
“wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Jesus said that if we are truly His disciples we will be connect to Him and draw our life and purpose from Him.
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. “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.
I remember one time several years ago that in my garden I had this one tomato plant that was outgrowing all the other plants. It was dark green and tall.
But one thing that I began to notice was that as all the other plants were beginning to bloom, this one plant did not have a single bloom on it.
Then later as all the plants began to mature and became full of bright red tomatoes, this one plant was barren, no bloom, no tomatoes. Just a plant.
And I thought, it looks out of place, unhappy.
It is pretty, bright green and taller than all the rest but it was unfruitful. It was not doing what it was called to do.
Sadly, I eventually went out and pulled up the plant and tossed it out of the garden.
But I will never forget how sad that beautiful plant look without one bright red tomato among all the other plants covered in the fruit they were created to produce.
Jesus has chosen you.
He has come to you and called you out of darkness and into His glorious light to give you purpose. A purpose that will fill you with joy and life.
And that purpose is to bear fruit. To become a light upon a hill in this dark world.
To be His ambassador here on this earth to go and tell His story of redemption to all who will hear.
Jesus has said that He has come so that you may have life and have it more abundantly.
Do you want this abundant life.?
Are you tired of just being a fruitless vine in the garden, looking all pretty and happy but full of shame for not able to bear fruit.
Get connected to Jesus.
Get in the Bible and begin to read it and not just read it but study it.
By this I mean find out what it is saying to you. Meditate on the scripture. Read it over and over again until you get that ah ha moment and say I now see, I understand what you are telling me Lord.
Jesus says you cannot bear fruit unless you are abiding in Him and he who abides in Him will bear much fruit.
The Connected Christian Bears Fruit
Not only will you benefit by bearing fruit.
If you will devote time out of your busy schedule to the reading and studying of the Word of God
You will find that God will begin to answer your prayers
The Connected Christian Experiences Answered Prayer
The Connected Christian Experiences Answered Prayer
If (notice this statement is conditional upon two factors) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, (in other words you are daily spending time in the Scriptures and you are soaking the words in, not just reading, but searching, searching for every once of truth you can find, and you are taking those words and applying them to the way you live your life THEN) you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Now if we are honest many of us would admit that spending time in prayer is our weakest link.
Most Christians expect little from God, ask little and therefore receive little and are content with little.
A. W. Pink
Again a PEW research finds that 72% of all evangelical Christians claim to pray daily and 87% of those report that God answered at least one of their prayers in the past year.
I sometimes wonder which one of those 365 prayers God answered. :)
Those look like some good numbers at first until we realize the importance of prayer.
Do you know that prayer or some form of the word pray is found 545 times in the King James Bible?
Prayer is how we communicate with God. It is how we offer up our worship to Him, how we thank Him for providing for our needs and how we make our petitions known to Him.
So if we look at those numbers again and realize that this survey was taken amongst evangelical Christians 72% is not all that good and when we see that hardly any of those prayers are ever answered, the numbers are horrible.
Maybe this is why we don’t pray so much.
I mean why waste our time. If it appears as if God is not listening, I hardly ever get any answers to my prayers. Why would I pray?
Jesus did say,
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
But let’s remember this was during His sermon on the mount where He was teaching the way of those who would follow Him.
Here Jesus clears this statement with the condition that
If you abide in Me and If My Words abide in you, then you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.
What’s the difference.
The difference is where is your heart?
Do you pray for things that you desire, things that you feel will make your life easier.
When you pray do you first get into God’s Word and begin to seek His will.
Are your prayers self centered or God centered.
James says
You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
A young boy received a shortwave radio kit for his birthday. He was thrilled and immediately tried to use it, but no matter how many times he turned the dials, he heard nothing but static. Eventually, he gave up. He put the radio on a shelf and left it there, thinking, “It doesn’t work anyway.”
Months later, his grandfather came to visit and asked about the radio. When the boy explained the problem, his grandfather smiled, took the radio down, adjusted the antenna, and carefully tuned the frequency. Suddenly, voices came through loud and clear—news from another country, music, and even weather updates.
The radio had been working the whole time. The problem wasn’t that it was broken; the boy simply didn’t understand how to use it properly. He gave up too soon because he couldn’t hear anything.
Do you wish your prayers were answered more often?
Get connected to Jesus get into His Word and stay there.
Just like the boy needed to stay connected to the right frequency for the radio to work, Jesus teaches that answered prayer is rooted in connection—in abiding. When we remain in close fellowship with Him and allow His Word to shape our desires, prayer becomes more than asking—it becomes aligning my will with His will so that His will may be done.
The Connected Christian Bears Fruit
The Connected Christian Experiences Answered Prayer
And
If you will devote time out of your busy schedule to the reading and studying of the Word of God
You will find that in all that you do you bring Glory to God.
The Connected Christian Brings Glory to the Father
The Connected Christian Brings Glory to the Father
By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Have you ever thought about why you were created in the first place.
Since we live in a fallen world, many times we question our purpose, our reason for being here.
In the Book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon searches for purpose on this earth. He searched for it in wisdom by attempting to gain knowledge of all things.
He search for meaning in pleasure.
He search for meaning in popularity.
In work and riches
But in everything that he searched he could only come to the conclusion that all was vanity - worthless for in the end man dies and who knows who all his labors are left to.
So why bother?
Well if you are going to search this world for your purpose you will never find happiness.
Solomon ends his search with these words:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
If you want to know what your purpose in life is you must get connect to Jesus and get into the word where you will find that you were created in His Image and according to His likeness so that you may show forth God’s magnificence and greatness.
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
And when we become connected to Jesus we see that we glorify the Father by being obedient to the Words of Jesus and doing the Works that He does.
This is the definition of following Jesus of being His disciple, to imitate Him and doing the things that He did by learning from Him.
Jesus loved so we are to love.
Jesus prayed so we are to pray.
Jesus sought the lost so we are to seek the lost.
Jesus took twelve people out of all the people in the world and discipled them training them to do His work - so we are to disciple others.
Jesus gave His life for you - would you be willing to give all to Him?
This is how the Father is glorified, you bearing much fruit and being disciples or followers of Jesus and staying connected to Him.
The Connected Christian Bears Fruit
The Connected Christian Experiences Answered Prayer
The Connected Christian Brings Glory to the Father
And lastly
If you will devote time out of your busy schedule to the reading and studying of the Word of God
You will know true Joy in Christ.
The Connected Christian Knows Joy in Christ
The Connected Christian Knows Joy in Christ
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Now look at those words, “That My joy may remain in you.”
Do you know what I think is the biggest reason people are scared to follow Jesus, why people shy away from being His disciple?
I think the reason is simple - they do not want to be like Jesus because His life was a life of sorrow and acquainted with grief and He was.
But Jesus spoke more of His joy that of His sufferings. Jesus was a joyful person as a matter of fact the writer of Hebrews penned these words,
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
No one has ever walked this earth with more joy than Jesus.
And Jesus says, “The joy that I want for you is literally My joy.”
Jesus even prayed to the Father that those who abide in Him may have his joy
But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.
Not a joy like His. His joy!
It is a supernatural gift of God.
This is the joy that I’m talking about.
Real joy, supernatural joy.
Have you ever once in your whole life ever experienced such a joy?
But wait, it gets even better, look back at verse 11
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Listen, when you sell out and put all your trust and faith in Jesus and make a conscience decision to become His disciple, which is what He has called a believers to do.
Now I know that some of us just answered the call to accept Jesus because some preacher man stood up and said if you will just put your faith in Him you will not perish in Hell where the fire never dies.
And you thought that was all it was about.
And that is why you have not been able to experience a fruitful, prayerful life that brings true glory to the Father and live a life of stress and pain and confusion instead of a life of sheer joy.
Jesus said it you will devote time out of your busy schedule and abide in Him you will hav His joy and that His joy will REMAIN in you.
It is not a joy that comes and goes.
Things may get bad at times but nothing will be able to steal away your joy that you have in Christ Jesus, abiding in His Word.
But there is again a condition to this joy. It is a joy that I assure you that unless you have been abiding in the true vine it is a joy that you have never witnessed before.
It is an joy that cannot be taken away from you.
But as we have seen throughout our lesson this morning it comes with a condition.
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself UNLESS (the condition) it abides in the vine.
If (the condition) you abide in Me and My words abide in you you will experience answered prayer.
And here in verse 11 He says “these things I have spoken to you”
What has He spoken to us about?
Abiding in Him - Staying connected to the vine - remaining in the Word of God.
In Galatians chapter 5, Paul says “The fruit of the Spirit is joy…”
Now, here is Jesus telling us how to have this fruit, and He is saying, “You need to conceive of Myself as a vine. You need to conceive of yourselves and think of yourselves as branches. And as branches abide in the vine. I am the vine. You are branches.
If you will devote time out of your busy schedule to the reading and studying of the Word of God and abide in Jesus
You will live a fruitful life that experiences answered prayers, that brings glory to the Father, and gives you the joy of Jesus.
Isn’t this what you want?
Isn’t this what we all desire to have?
Conclusion
Conclusion
I want to leave you this morning with a request.
I want you to take a good look at your life this week and honestly give an assessment as to what it is you are connected to.
Where are you drawing your source of life from?
Is it your spouse?
Is it your job?
Your family?
Your money?
A hobby?
You know there are so many things that this world offers to you, to give you fulfillment, things that promise a better life, a better life for your children. Promise of happiness.
But they are all empty promises.
I want to ask one more question and I am directing this question to all of you believers here this morning so if you have never come to Jesus your are clear of this question.
But for those who profess Jesus as their Lord and Savior, a hard question but it just may be the most important question you have been asked in a long time.
Are you connected to Jesus, are you abiding in His word and is His word abiding in you?
Don’t answer to quickly, go home and think about it.
Because to answer this question you must ask yourself
Am I producing fruit, bring others into the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus?
Do I experience answered prayer on a consistent basis?
Do I glorify the Father in the things that I do?
Do I possess that same Joy that Jesus possessed?
I will be honest with you as your pastor.
As I prepared this sermon I realized that I could not answer all of these questions with an unquestionable affirmative answer.
Kim was pressure washing the porch at Jacob’s house the other day and I noticed where the water hose was connected to the sprayer water was spewing out everywhere.
I had to reach down and tighten up the connecting so all the water could enter the sprayer.
I think my hose needs to be tightened so that all of the power and live giving Spirit of Christ Jesus can flow freely from the vine into my life.
Don’t you?
Prayer
Prayer
