Growing On The Vine

Growing on the vine

John 15:1-8

Prayer-

Introduction-

We have for a long time been talking about connections.

Connections to God and connections to each others.

Connections to your family and connecting with your church.

Each one is important because God has designed us to need relationship to Him first and foremost and then we need to connect with each other.

This week has been exciting for some and it has been disappointing to others.

I want to tell you something…God is in control no matter who is sent to the Whitehouse.

No matter where you are this week excited or disappointed, the only way that America will be great again is when we let God back in.

When we reconnect with our creator and we connect back with each other.

We do not have to agree with each other on every issue to connect and be a part of each other’s life. I sat with a friend on Wednesday for lunch and without saying it, we agreed to not talk one word about the election and just be friends.

We connect not by agreeing on every issue, but by choice of being a human being and wanting to connect with common ground instead of widening the differences by division.

Hear the words of Jesus this morning about connection.

John 15:1-8

Again, we see red letter words- Jesus own words to us.

We see that the vine in the OT was God and being disconnected from the vine was Israel disobedience to God.

Jesus in the NT says that He Himself is the vine and believers need to be connected to Him to be able to do the things that He commands us to do as followers of Christ.

Being cutoff (v2) is his judgment should we stay off the vine and do our own thing.

Pruning on the other hand is allowing God to cut out things in your life while being on the vine so that you can bear “much fruit.”

Remain in me is a warning that apart from the true vine you will not bear fruit. In

fact, apart from the vine you will die a spiritual death. A branch away from the vine is lifeless.

His repetitious wording shows us urgency and necessity to being on the vine where we receive life so we will not die apart from it.

At the close of the message, I want to show you that John 15:1-8 is Jesus instructing us to model Him and verse 9-17 is the mirror of Jesus modeling God the Father.

Christ is the life-giving vine, and we are the branches that God the Father has grafted into him.

If we are connected to him, we bear fruit. If not, we are dead because our strength and faith can’t live without him.

Our relationship with Jesus is unlike anything else. When it is good it is like nothing else. When it is bad, we struggle and feel disconnected. Anybody relate?

Scripture uses many metaphors to describe our relationship.

He is the King and we are his subjects.

He is the shepherd and we are the sheep.

He is the head and we are the body

If you abide in me, you have life. Apart from me, you will die.

If you allow me to prune and correct you, you will bear much fruit.

If you do not, you cannot do anything apart from me. (That is bigger than yourself.)

That is where I want to spend a few moments this morning. Being connected with Him and bearing much fruit.

I want you to see something here that I have never noticed before. I believe that Jesus is talking to believers, or at least people that thought they were believers.

Read verses 1-4 again.

“You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

This forced me to think about my relationship with the Lord.

These verses made me think of what my prayer life looked like with the Lord.

This verse made me think of our church as we seek God out for the things we want Him to do in our lives and the life of the church.

Now thinking about our prayer life with God, let’s look at verse seven.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Fathers glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

Prayer-

Father, looking at this verse, we see that if we are connected to the vine that as believers and as your disciples and followers that you promise us much fruit and we today desire to see that promise fulfilled in the life of the people of Rosedale. Amen.