Keeping Connected

KEEPING CONNECTED

John 15:1-11

S: Relationship with God

C: Connection with Jesus

Pr: WE ARE TO POSSESS A FRUITFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.

?: What, How, Why

KW: Questions

TS: We will find in John 15:1-11 three questions Jesus answers about their relationship with Him.

Type: Propositional

The ____ question Jesus answers is…

I. WHAT ARE WE TO DO? (1-5)

II. HOW DO WE DO IT? (6-10)

III. WHY DO WE DO IT? (11)

PA: How is the change to be observed?

• Be fruitful

Version: ESV

RMBC 07 August 05 AM

INTRODUCTION:

While sitting in the Upper Room with His disciples…

1. Jesus knew that His time had come (13:1).

John begins (in what we call chapter 13) with this statement…

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

His time was coming to an end.

He was going to be with His friends only for a short time more.

He was leaving.

He was going to His death, and they were not going to understand it.

But…

2. Jesus assures them of the truth (14:6).

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

They could have confidence that they were on the right track, no matter what is about to happen.

Since they knew Him, their life was secure.

They knew the way.

They had seen Him.

And because of this, they had seen the Father.

This conversation was rather mysterious.

Jesus was talking like He was leaving.

It was so disconcerting and discomforting.

But knowing this…

3. Jesus comforts them with a promise (14:26).

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

He was not leaving them stranded.

They were going to become men of the Spirit.

They were going to be fully connected to God.

They were not going to forget.

They were going to remember all of what was happening.

And they were going to understand it.

Having said these things, Jesus and the disciples leave the Upper Room and are on the move…

TRANSITION:

ILL Connection: Call of the Child

One day a mother found her three-year-old son with the telephone, which he quickly hung up when he saw her. "What were you doing?" she asked him.

He said that he had called his Aunty Tara.

"How could you have called Aunty Tara?" she asked. "You don’t even know her number."

"Yes, I do. I called her," he replied.

She wasted a lot of breath trying to convince him that he didn’t know her number, but he insisted he had made the call. "Okay," she said finally. "What did she say, then, if you called her?"

He answered, "She told me I had the wrong number."

So…

1. How is your connection?

Are you connected to who you should be?

You know those Verizon commercials…

“Can you hear me now?”

And the answer comes…

“Good.”

We want phones that make good connections.

We find it frustrating when we can’t hear someone, or when a call is dropped.

We want to understand and we want to be understood.

When Jesus leaves the Upper Room and goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, He wants them to be understanding about the vital connection that they are a part of.

“I am the vine; you are the branches.”

When He compares us to the world of botany, Jesus reveals something about the essential nature of our relationship with Him.

That is…

2. WE ARE TO POSSESS A FRUITFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.

We are made to be fruitful.

Throughout today’s passage, we are going to see Jesus’ concern for us is that we bear fruit.

We know that we are bearing fruit when we support what the Lord is doing in us.

We know that we are bearing fruit when we are being the Christian God has made us to be.

In other words, we are fruitful when we demonstrate certain qualities, like the fruit of the Spirit.

And we are fruitful when we reproduce ourselves in others.

So…

3. We will find in John 15:1-11 three questions Jesus answers about their relationship with Him.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch of mine 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. “