Who are we? We are Growing!

After church one day a little boy told his mom what he wanted to be when he grew up

He said, “Mom, I’ve decided to become a Pastor when I grow up.”

“That’s okay with me. But what made you decide that?”

“Well,” said the little boy, “If I have to go to church on Sunday anyway, I figure it will be more fun to stand up and yell, than to sit down and listen.”

For the record that is not a good reason to become a Pastor!

Can you remember being a kid and saying: “When I grow up I want to be…_____”.

It seems to me that God has placed in us a desire to grow into something.

It’s just natural to grow up. It’s natural to want to achieve things in our lives.

We have been in a series answering the question, “Who are we?”

We are a church with a vision of proclaiming the Gospel, we are going to do that by being grounded in the Word. We are Worshipers, Evangelists, Servers, Connectors, and Growers.

Today I want to focus on the core value of Growing. We are people committed to growing spiritually and also committed to helping others grow spiritually.

I have a passage of scripture I want us to study this morning, but before we do I want you to know a couple of things.

We might be a product of our environment, but our environment does not determine who we are or what we can become.

This is incredibly important to know before you can begin to grow in and through Christ.

Just because you come from a certain background doesn’t mean that you can’t grow in Christ. We shouldn’t find our value or self worth in our past mistakes, failures, or shortcomings; we find our value in who Christ says we are. What does the bible tell us about our past or our upbringing or our status?

2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

God can take anyone from any situation and start something new. Don’t disqualify yourself because of your past life, your education, your failings.

No! God made the world and the entire universe from nothing. I am pretty sure He can make something good come from your life.

When you come to Christ, your old life is gone. You are measured by a new standard.

You have been chosen by God.

Not only does our past or environment not determine who we are or what we can become, but in spite of our past or how we grew up God has chosen us! That’s right, He wants you!

It’s hard to grow up spiritually if you don’t think you belong. If you feel as though you are an outsider or you are only accepted by God by some accident. If you don’t understand that God has chosen you then you will never feel empowered to grow past your current spiritual situation. Something will always hold you back!

My hope and prayer for today is that God would speak to your heart. That you will start to feel this little thing called acceptance. Which will give you hope that will empower you to grow into the full and fruitful purpose God has for your life.

Do you remember that game we used to play as kids called Red Rover?

Remember the rules? You would have two lines of kids facing each other. Each line would be holding hands. The goal was to get all the kids on one side.

The only way to get all the kids on one side was to call them over and capture them. But if the kid you called over broke through the line they would be able to take one kid back over to their line.

Remember? Red rover, red rover, send ______ right over! Well, If you were a skinny kid you didn’t like the game because you’d always get caught and you were a more fluffy kid you didn’t like the game because you’d never get called over because the other line didn’t want to die!

This game is interesting because what’s really happening is that one side is sizing up the other side and choosing someone they want on their team. The goal was to get as many people on your side as possible.

In life there are voices calling our name. God wants you on His side, but sometimes it seems as though we are stuck on the worlds side. Part of growing up spiritually is deciding what team you’re going to be on.

The scripture we are going study is John 15:1-17 where Jesus is talking about abiding in Him. That He is the vine and we are the branches. That we should remain in His love and produce fruit in our lives. He gives some commands for us to follow, and reminds us that we don’t follow His commands because we are slaves or because we work for Him, but because we have relationship with Him. That we can even call Him friend.

In John 15:16 Jesus said something to His followers that applies to His followers today as well. It’s really important. Underline it in your Bible.

Jesus said this:

John 15:16 NLT

16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

He said, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you.”, what a powerful statement.

It seems to me that we are always focusing on US choosing Christ. WE come to Jesus. WE accept Him into our hearts. WE make Him our Saviour.

The truth of the matter is that Christ chose us. When He gave His life up to pay for the sin of the world it was because He loved us even when we didn’t love Him.

Romans 5:8 NLT

8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

We have been chosen by God to join His family. To receive His love. To walk in the light. Our job is to believe it and receive the gift He has given. The only reason someone can’t have a relationship with God is if they choose NOT to believe. Nothing else separates us from God.

When Christ was crucified on that cross He paid the price for Sin once and for all.

Nothing you can do or have ever done is what separates you from God.

The only thing that stops us from have a saving relationship with God is whether or not we have faith in Jesus Christ. He is the only one who can wash us clean.

Romans 10:9–10 NLT

9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

Remember what Jesus said:

John 16:9 NLT

9 The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me.

God has chosen US! Not because we deserve Him, but because He loves us. In essence, this is GRACE!

And once we place our Faith in Christ we have the opportunity to grow up spiritually. To grow spiritually a few things should happen.

Here’s my first main thought from John 15 today:

To Grow we Must be Committed

Once you realize you have been chosen by God and you place your hope and trust in Jesus then the next natural step is to develop your relationship with God.

Say you’re single and ready to mingle. You find out that someone is kind of into you. You let them know you’re kind of into them.

And then you never call them. You never go on a date. You completely drop the ball. You know what that makes you? Single.

In order to develop that relationship you have to increase your level of commitment.

The same is true with our relationship with God. Our Faith in Christ doesn’t stop with the words we say, we must go deeper to develop a strong relationship with Him.

In our scripture today Jesus uses a metaphor to communicate thoughts about our relationship with Him. He uses the image of a vine and branches.

John 15:1–5 NLT

1 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

Before we can grow we must be committed. But to what?

Jesus says we must be committed to Him because He is our source of life. Without Him we have nothing. It’s impossible to grow if you aren’t connected to the source of life.

Just as vine sends life to the branches, Jesus sends life to us as His chosen followers.

Real life is difficult. It’s just not easy. Unless you know something I don’t know, it just seems to me as though things are not always fun.

It would be very easy to live a christian life that doesn’t look too much different than a non-christian life because good and bad things happen to both types of people. Just because you come to Jesus in faith doesn’t mean all the problems of life go away.

The bible reminds us in Matthew 5:45 that is rains on the just and unjust.

So, what exactly does Jesus mean with He tells us that if we remain in Him that He will remain in us? That through Him there is life?

Jesus is focusing on Salvation. He is telling us that even though we have pain, struggles, heartache, and much more in this life - if we depend on Him in faith as the source of life that we will endure to the end. That we will see Him face to face. One day we will see Him in all His glory.

He wasn’t saying all would be perfect now, but through Him we have hope for eternity.

The other thing He was saying was that He has work for us to do now. If we are committed to Him then we can’t help to see the world as He sees the world. He has chosen everyone who will come. It’s our job to let people know that they are chosen.

Jesus talks about branches that produce fruit. To be committed means that we want to be more and more like Christ. That the vine and branches look like the same plant and that plant will produce fruit if it’s healthy.

Hey, here’s something not fun for me to say, Your relationship with God is not healthy if you aren’t producing fruit. There should be something to show for the connection you have with Jesus.

Prayer, Bible Study, Witnessing, Serving, Loving, Forgiving, the Fruits of the Spirit. If we are committed to Christ then part of growing means we start producing.

To grow spiritually we must be committed to Christ and His work. The kingdom of God must be what we seek first above everything else in life. This makes sense if you think about what lasts for eternity, right?

The new job, car, house, or material thing certainly isn’t worth more than a person or their soul.

What would happen if we worked as hard to show to love of Christ as we do to earn our next paycheck?

This brings me to my second point. To grow spiritually we must be committed, secondly…

To Grow we Must be Motivated by Love

Once we are committed to Christ. Once we are abiding in Him. Then we find our motives in life start to transition. There’s just no way around it…if you read the Bible. You pray. You trust in Christ. You’ll always run into this idea that we are to love as Christ loves us.

As we grow up spiritually we will grow in love.

Well, let’s put it this way, you aren’t going to hate more if you are committed to Christ! Since we have been chosen by Jesus, since we place our trust in Jesus, since we have experienced the Love of Jesus, we should now share that same love.

Jesus told us all about this in John 15 - in fact its really His explanation of what He meant when He was talking about the vine and the branches.

This is what He said:

John 15:9–13 NLT

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

He said earlier that He was the vine we are the branches. Now he is describing what that means…that if we are connected to Him through love then His love will flow through us!

So many times we ask, “what am I supposed to do next, what is my purpose, how does God want me to live?”, I’m telling you right now, if you are committed to Christ what He really wants for you to do is LOVE!

We are to show the world WHO God is by showing love.

Oh, but what about the person at work who is always just getting under your skin? Love them. Look at them through God’s eyes.

Growing is not easy, but it’s part of living a set apart life. It’s easy to love our friends, family, church folks, but loving our enemies? Yikes! I really think a sign of spiritual maturity is a person who takes the words of Jesus and applies them to every situation they face.

He says there is no greater love than to lay down one’s own life. He should know! Right?

Does that mean we have to tie ourselves to the train tracks and literally die?

No - I don’t think that’s what it means. But you might have to die to pride a little to let someone else have the spotlight even if you deserve it more.

You might have to let the perfect comeback die in order to show love and grace to someone who doesn’t deserve it…

You might have to let your personal gain die a little when God asks you to pay someone else bill because you want to show the love of Christ.

You might have to die to the memories of things people have said so that in love you can restore a relationship.

Growing up spiritually is learning to love like Christ. It’s what motivates God and it’s what should motivate us!

In order to grow spiritually we must be committed to Christ, motivated by love, and finally...

To Grow we must Know Who we Are

My kids have had some friends sleep over at our house from time to time. I’ll never forget this one friend that came over and just made her self right at home. We were happy she felt comfortable, but it seemed like it was just a little too comfortable. When you wake up in the morning because you can smell the pancakes burning on the stove because the 11 year old friend felt comfortable enough not to ask if she could COOK breakfast! Just a bit too comfy!

Well, we need to get comfortable in our relationship to God. Most of the time we have a tendency to make God too complicated.

We would be wise to remember He came to us as a man. He was a human. Jesus was just like you and me in the flesh. He experienced life just like we do with it’s ups and downs. He said something that is really important in our scripture today:

John 15:15 NLT

15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.

Jesus said this to His followers.

He is the great healer. The incredible teacher. The miracle worker. He is God.

We would be lucky to be His slaves. But motivated by great love what did He say?

We aren’t just the servants in His kingdom. We are His friends.

Yes, we serve because we are committed to Him and motivated by love, but we need to understand the relationship with have with Christ is also a friendship.

If we are to grow spiritually we must understand that our relationship with God is intimate. It’s personal. It’s real. He knows us for who we are and He still calls us His friend.

You don’t need to be perfect to know God. You just need to be you!

True friends accept you as you are and help you grow to what you can be. Christ is no different.

We have this amazing relationship with Him because He wants us to. It’s really amazing that God wants to know our every thought, all our cares, our joy, our pain. EVERYTHING.

He will carry us through the difficult times and help us carry others as well.

I love that verse that reminds us where to place our burdens:

1 Peter 5:7 NLT

7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

Come on now! That’s a friend. We must know who we are in Christ. We are His friends.

Really, I love this idea of friendship because when Jesus said this it really sums up everything else He said to His followers.

We are committed to God and motivated by love because we are friends with the one who is Committed to us and is Motivated by love for us! He sets the example for us in life.

You know what we should do? We should play Red Rover.

Jesus is calling your name. He wants you! He accepts you! There are no more excuses. All you have to do is run to His arms.

He’s going to wrap you up in His arms. You can feel His love and know that you are accepted by Him just the way you are. Do you here Him calling you today? Today could be the day you trust in Him.

What about those of us who need to grow up a little today. You know Christ, you’re already on the team, but you really aren’t as connected as you should be. Your heart really isn’t there.

You might need to re-commit yourself to Him.

You might have realized that you aren’t motivated by love at all. That you are living for personal gain when Jesus has called you to lay down everything even to the point of giving your life for someone in need.

You might need to know who you are in Christ. You are a friend to Christ. He doesn’t call you a slave. Maybe you can let those chains fall today.

I really feel that we are living in a time like no other in human history. That we are chosen for this time. I believe that we have been born for a reason. We are to be a light to this dark world. Not a finger pointing exposing light, but a light that is committed to God and motivated by love because we know who we are in Jesus!