March 29, 2020 - The Weight of Works
Notes
Transcript
As we continue to make our way through the Gospel of John...
…and in particular, our text from last week…
We see a pattern this week that we actually see in other places in Scripture as well...
If you remember back just a few weeks ago...
we had noticed that Jesus - who had been getting the apostles READY FOR HIS DEPARTURE...
…Saying some pretty PROFOUND things...
…causing the apostles to often times SCRATCH their heads..
…NO DOUBT - causing some anxiety in the apostles...
IN A SENSE - tipping the scales toward ANXIETY...
THEN follows that up with - SOME ENCOURAGEMENT - some COMFORT...
saying...
“Let not your hearts be troubled…BELIEVE in Me”
“I will not leave you as orphans”
And in doing so - Jesus BRINGS THE SCALES back to balance!
LEST we get OFF-BALANCE in our thinking!
We’ve seen this before as well!
In Romans chapter 5 - we read of:
PEACE with God…through Jesus
that we now have RECONCILIATION with God
That our SIN has been CONQUERED by Jesus
And that BY JESUS - we all now have life...
And so the SCALES are tipping toward - PEACE with God - ACCOUNT SETTLED based on FAITH...
NO MORE WRATH…!
But then… first verse in chapter 6
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue IN SIN that grace may ABOUND??”
See - the retipping of the scales… now BALANCED...
LEST we get OFF-BALANCE in our thinking!
This same pattern…we’re going to see today...
The scales that were tipped last week....as Jesus spoke of:
The Holy Spirit coming to those who LOVE Jesus...
The Spirit being the HELPER who was to come...
Who helps us - WHEN?
IN OUR WEAKNESS...
Jesus LAST WEEK - ELEVATING the work of the Spirit in OUR LIVES...
Tipping the scales… The SPIRIT will HELP You…The SPIRIT will WORK in your LIFE!!
NOW this week - Jesus will REBALANCE the scale…lest we get OFF-Balance in our thinking...
And this week - we will FEEL - the Weight of Works - ON THE SCALES - of the Christian life...
1 “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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 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.
5 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.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I 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 be in you, and that your joy may be full.
I think if there was a verse in this text today - that SUMMARIZED all that we just read, it would be this...
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
The Bible tells us here - that God is glorified - when we BEAR MUCH fruit…and so PROVE to be followers of Jesus...
Now - BEARING fruit is another way to say - GOOD WORKS...
But not just GOOD WORKS...
GOD-HONORING WORKS!!
And so - we can tell that this section of scripture is really - HIGHLIGHTING the IMPORTANCE of WORKS in the life…of Christianity!
And that’s really ALWAYS been a TOPIC of discussion WITHIN Christianity...
BECAUSE...
ALL throughout the Bible we’re told that we are SAVED - APART from WORKS...
MEANING - works DON’T SAVE US!
FAITH saves us....
Let’s look at the Bible to see this...
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
We could go ON AND ON - but in consideration of time - we see that these verses SPEAK to SALVATION itself - and HOW it comes!
So - we just read - that SALVATION comes - BY FAITH ALONE…! In Jesus ALONE!!
SO - it begs the question....why does Jesus ELEVATE WORKS (fruit) in our text today?
How do WORKS fit with - Faith!
Our passage today actually tells us the importance of God-Honoring WORKS in the life of a Christian...
1 “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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
DO YOU SEE how IMPORTANT WORKS are in the life of a Christian?
This here says - THE ABSENCE of (God-HONORING) WORKS leads to - DEATH and DESTRUCTION...
Leads to - An eternity APART from GOD!
And so - this text goes out to you…ALL of you!!
Did you know that you will be JUDGED BY YOUR WORKS?
6 He will render to each one according to his works:
7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;
8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,
10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.
SO - YES - we are SAVED - Justified before God… declared RIGHTEOUS by God...
BASED on our FAITH in Him....Faith ALONE...
BUT God - when He judges us - will LOOK at our WORKS!!
WHY?
Because:
SLIDE:
Your works reveal the kind of faith that you have
So to - explain this - let’s look at Jesus Christ...
Jesus - is - God...
He comes to earth…born of a virgin...
Lives His life....grows up and begins His ministry around the age of 30...
He NEVER SINS...
AND - during His ministry - He performs - many miracles...
He displayed Authority over Natural Forces:
turned water to wine
feeds the 5,000
Walks on water
He also healed the sick:
Simon’s mother-in-law
The woman with the issue of blood
The man with a shrivelled hand
Gave a blind man sight
Told a lame man to walk
Jesus also cast out demons
He also raised the dead
He did ALL of these miracles…these GOOD WORKS!
NOW - question:
SLIDE:
Did the miracles (good works) of Jesus make Him God, or did His miracles prove that He was God?
in other words… Did Jesus’ miracles cause Him to BECOME God…or was He ALWAYS God, and His miracles PROVED who He was?
Clearly - we would say - Jesus was ALWAYS God - and His miracles PROVED/revealed to the world WHO HE WAS!
And of course we see this same concept ALL AROUND us every day...
I like to use the APPLE TREE analogy because we all can understand it...
So in thinking back to our text today - Jesus said that THOSE WHO abide in HIM...
Those people will BEAR FRUIT…they will have GOOD - God-honoring works in their lives...
So in describing this moving forward here - let’s look at it this way...
People are like TREES....
And there are 2 kinds of people in this world...only 2...
Those who trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior...
And those who DO NOT trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior...
So we have BELIEVERS...and UNBELIEVERS...
SLIDE: Tree - Life Without
Unbelievers do not bear - GOD-HONORING fruit...
How do we know?
We don't see any...There are NO works
This DOESN’T mean that this person doesn’t do nice things… BUT doing nice things - MERELY - doesn’t matter.
There’s a DEEPER question in play...
“Do those works FLOW from - Faith in Jesus?”
23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
And so - this person - may be THE NICEST person in the world!!!
They may HELP EVERYONE around them!!
BUT - if - their - works - do - not - spring - forth - from - faith = it’s SIN - and God hates sin
So no matter WHAT THEY DO in life - there’s NO God-honoring fruit...
SLIDE: Tree - Self
Because they draw life from - SELF - which is no life at all...
This person may be wealthy...They may be a very sincere...NICE person...
But without Christ, they are drawing life from SELF
- They are their own god...and they have no Spiritual Fruit....
SO THAT’S an unbeliever… Someone who doesn’t FOLLOW/TRUST Jesus...
SLIDE: Tree - Good Works
We have a BELIEVER...They DO bear fruit.
Fruit GROWS on their branches!
How do we know? We see it...maybe we're on the receiving end of it...
They bear FRUIT...and THIS fruit is acceptable to GOD....why??
SLIDE: Tree - Wholepic
This fruit - these good works are PLEASING to God because they GROW....drawing life from GOD Himself....From Jesus Christ...
THE PROCESS:
So we start out - WITHOUT FAITH in Jesus...
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
BUT THEN:
through FAITH in JESUS CHRIST...
We sink our roots down INTO Jesus…we begin to DRAW life from Jesus...
And when we DO THAT...
When we trust Jesus as our everything...
We FOLLOW Him…we begin to LIVE like Him...
And our good works become God-Honoring good works (fruit) because they now flow FROM - FAITH!!
A big problem the world has with this reality is:
We live in a “NOTHING is GIVEN - EVERYTHING is [EARNED]” kind of world!
AND WE”RE PROUD of it!!
“When people say - Yeah, Cleveland is just a BLUE-COLLAR town..”
what does that mean?
It means - Cleveland is a hard-nosed, manual labor kind of town...
And we’re proud of that...
We like to think - we’re in the trenches - EARNING our keep
This is the world we live in...
Nothing is given - everything is earned
You want a raise? EARN it
You want more playing time? EARN it
You want a vacation? EARN it
You want a new car? EARN it
You want the newest phone, ipad, ear buds? EARN it
You want a better grade? EARN it
This is our world...
Try this - TRY buying lunch for a co-worker when we get back to work…and see how they respond.
It’s hard to us to ACCEPT a FREE gift isn’t it?
And so APPLY THAT TRUTH - to God.
How does the world TRY TO GET TO GOD?
They try to - EARN it!
Doesn’t the world AT LARGE believe that the way to get to HEAVEN is = by EARNING it?
So BACK to our APPLE analogy...
Here’s what those people do...
SLIDE: TREE - No Fruit
They’re ACTUALLY this kind of tree - NO God-honoring FRUIT in their lives (no Faith)
They think - OH, I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN - and GOD LIKES FRUIT...
SO - they go to the fruit STORE...
NOW REMEMBER - ONLY APPLE trees spend eternity with God…in heaven (the kind of trees that BEAR fruit!!)
But these people - they go to the fruit store...
And they say - WELL - I want to go to heaven when I die…so let me BUY SOME APPLES!!
I WANT TO EARN THIS!!
I DON’T WANT TO HUMBLE MYSELF!
Let me BUY some good works
I will give my time to helping feed the poor
I will devote time to the PTA
I will give money to the FOOD BANK
I will even pray every night
And i will DO ALL OF THESE THINGS - SO THAT I CAN - EARN my place with God!!
I will buy all of these apples (good works) and I will STAPLE these apples to my branches...
And THAT WILL make me an APPLE TREE...
But let’s think through that...
If I try that outside…in real life - will stapling apples to a tree MAKE it an apple tree?
Of course NOT!
Just like Jesus’ miracles DID NOT make him God!!
But this is exactly how the WORLD tries to GET TO GOD (heaven) - without FAITH in Jesus
- It can’t happen
But people have ALWAYS BELIEVED that they can EARN their way to GOD...
It’s ALWAYS BEEN that way...
People have ALWAYS believed this...
That’s why the Apostle Paul addresses that belief in the Bible...
See - in Bible speak -
Trying to EARN your way to God - is the same as - TRYING To JUSTIFY yourself BY THE LAW...
Trying to JUSTIFY YOURSELF BY THE LAW - means - trying your best to ACCOMPLISH the law SO THAT you can GET TO GOD…!
Now listen to what Paul says about people who TRY to JUSTIFY themselves by the law...
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
So people who TRY to be JUSTIFIED (before God) by the law - are SEVERED from Christ (cut away from Christ)
Jesus becomes OF NO BENEFIT to you...
And it says -
You’ve FALLEN AWAY from - grace...
Here’s how bad that is - The Bible tells us in Ephesians 2:8 - By grace you are SAVED...
So if YOU”VE been SEVERED from Grace…SEVERED from Jesus - then you’ve been SEVERED from that which - SAVES YOU!!
Listen - you CAN’T EARN God’s GRACE...
Grace MEANS - undeserved favor.
The moment we try to EARN God’s grace - we’re no longer asking for God’s grace - we’re asking for JUSTICE...
WHICH MEANS - our text today - it’s 2-fold!! (We’ll close with this)
Our text today - goes out to Believers and Unbelievers alike...
To the Believer:
Our text is a CALL to - ABIDE IN JESUS!
He says - I will prune your branches that you might BEAR more fruit - and so PLEASE God!
ABIDE IN ME - he says - PROVE yourself Christian!
WORK OUT your own salvation…for God is at work IN YOU!!
ABIDE IN ME!!
That’s to the believer!!
To the UNBELIEVER:
Our text today is a CALL to FAITH in JESUS!
Don’t REMAIN in your sin...
ABIDE in JESUS...
Place your trust and faith IN JESUS!!
When we stand before God - in the end - and God looks at our works…He’ll look THRU the work to see if there is FAITH IN JESUS - beneath the work...
SO as we close by reading through our passage one last time...
BELIEVER: Hear the call to ABIDE…to WORK
UNBELIEVER: Hear the call from your shepherd…to PUT YOUR FAITH iN HIM...
1 “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 does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
4 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.
5 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.
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I 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 be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Let’s pray