Introduction: Have you seen the Verizon commercials?
• The ones where a person is walking around with a group of people behind them
• That represents the Verizon network.
• Now The idea is that this team of professionals and technicians are always standing by
• They’re there to support us and assure us that our network is functioning and reliable.
• The idea is that If we have Verizon, we are never alone,
• That we will always have everything we need
• So that we can do --------what we need to do.
Now personally I think this idea works better in theory than in practice.
• But On the other hand, when ya think about it
• In life if we have Jesus, we do always have support.
• We’re never, left alone,
• We have everything that we need
• To be able to do - What we should be doing.
John 15:8-14
• What we see is that Jesus has gathered in the Upper Room with His disciples.
• And He’s using an analogy of being the Vine
• And we are the branches.
• As a vine, He supports us and gives us strength so that
• We can function properly as His disciples.
• And throughout this illustration,
• He shows us three characteristics of just what it takes to be a disciple.
• And It’s those three characteristics that I want us to look at today.
8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father. 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. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
I.FRUITFULNESS of Christ’s Disciples-
• As Disciples of Jesus Christ we are called to bear fruit
• As we look at what Jesus is saying,
• We see that we are extensions of Him
• We are extensions of His life
• He is the Vine that gives life and support and vitality to the branches.
• The branches don’t support the Vine, the Vine supports the branches
Our source of the Life is in Him, / is Him:
• He is the Way, the Truth and the Life
• When we are connected to Christ His life flows through us,
• And It’s only natural that we if we are connected to Him
• That we will accomplish something for His kingdom.
• Now the main job of the Vine is to produce the fruit;
• The only responsibility of the branches have is to stay connected to the Vine.
To often We spend our time trying to do something to win God’s favor
• Trying to please Him
• We want to satisfy Him with our works and our ability,
• But this isn’t what God wants
• It’s only when we abandon human effort, and Stop trying to do things our way
• That Jesus will lead us thru The Spirit
• Lead us to do the work that He has called us to do.
• To stay connected --------To remain attached
• Then and only then will we please and glorify God.
When we stay connected, our actions will glorify the Father.
• Jesus always glorified God. Because He stayed attached
In John 8:29, Jesus said, 29 And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.”
So today we need to ask ourselves “What is a disciple?”
• A disciple is an applied student of Jesus
• A follower is someone who uses the information that Jesus has taught us
• And is in step with Him
• A disciple walks in the same way with Him and follows His lead.
Paul was so convinced of this that he wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit Philippians 1:6 6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
II. FAITHFULNESS of Christ’s Disciples-
• Verse 9 speaks about His love for us
• And we are instructed to remain in Jesus’ love.
• This entire chapter is about remaining, abiding, and continuing.
The Greek word is the same in every instance
• And it appears no less than 12 times in this chapter alone!
• So Do you think that maybe Jesus is trying to make some kind of a point?
• We have a responsibility as Christ’s applied students,
• We have a responsibility as His disciples to faithfully stay with Him.
• Jesus loves us the same way that God loves Him.
• He never leaves us He never abandons us
So how do we faithfully stay in His love?
• By keeping His commandments
• Verse 10 talks about our obedience
• Obedience to Christ’s commands demonstrates our submission to His authority
• This means doing it His way not ours
We aren’t truly disciples of Christ
• Unless we both hear and obey His teachings
• We can be children of God without being disciples,
• But we would still be disobedient children
• It’s safe to say that people who have been truly saved want to be faithful to Jesus
• The only way to be joyful as a believer is to be obedient to Christ
1 John 2:6 says, Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
The World can’t offer Joy. It can only offer cheap substitutes.
• Jesus called us to follow Him so that our lives would be filled with Joy
• It was a part of His plan for His joy to stay with us
• That our Joy would be full
And the amazing thing is how backwards we get it!
• People look at the Bible as a big book of do’s and dont’s
• They look at the Christian life as a life of drudgery. (Elab.)
• With this kind of attitude It’s no wonder why so many people become
• Bitter and negative and judgmental while trying to be a disciple of Christ
• The problem is that we are putting the emphasis on ourselves
• And not on Jesus
• And by doing so, we have completely robbed ourselves of JOY!
Galatians 2:20 says, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
III. FONDNESS of Christ’s Disciples-
• We are to called to be faithfully
• And we are called to obey His commandments,
• But His main commandment
• The number one biggy is Love
• This isn’t an option,
• It’s not a suggestion, a recommendation:
• This is the command that Jesus gave us
The grammatical structure in the Greek language tells us
• That Jesus is emphasizing this as the commandment.
• It’s no wonder that the greatest of all the spiritual gifts is love
• Because it’s Christ’s most important command.
• It’s the command that every other command is based on
• It assumes that our obedience is already in place.
• Literally, what Jesus is saying is that we have to keep on loving each other.
We have to understand that these characteristics of Jesus
• Are not listed in an order of priority
• Because if they were this one would have been first.
• What we see here is that Jesus has saved the best, and the most important for last.
• And until we get this through our heads, the rest is just a bunch of noise!
So now the question now becomes “How are we to love one another?”
• And the answer is…..
• The same way that Jesus loves us,
• Which at the same time is the way that God loves Jesus.
• We are to be channels of God’s Love flowing down to others. (Waterfall)
• We aren’t told to only love those who do right and agree with us all the time
• We aren’t told to only love those who are worthy of our love
Because that’s not how Jesus loves us!
• That’s not how Jesus showed His love to others.
• Jesus looked at a crowd that had left their villages and came out to the wilderness to hear Him teach.
• They hadn’t prepared for to be in the wilderness.
• They didn’t bring any food
• They hadn’t packed a lunch.
• But Jesus looked at them with love and compassion and he fed those thousands of people.
In John 8, Jesus was interrupted by a group of Scribes and Pharisees
• Who brought a woman that had been caught in the act of adultery.
• He was the only one who had the right to condemn her,
• But instead He had compassion on her.
Even Judas.
• At that last meal Jesus offered Judas a chance to repent
• One last invitation, one last opportunity to come to Christ.
Did Jesus know what Judas would do?
• It had already been prophesied in Scripture?
• But Jesus even loved the one who would betray Him.
As Christians, even when we disagree, We still have to love one another,
• But the problem is we don’t show it very well.
• We are instructed to love others just as Jesus loves us
• So the question quickly becomes How does He love us?
• And the answer is just Like God loves Him
There isn’t a greater demonstration of love than Jesus’ death for us
• Jesus gave us the greatest example on how we are to love others.
• We are to love others sacrificially and with compassion.
• None of us are worthy of the love that flows from God through Jesus to us.
• But that love isn’t suppose to stop at us.
• It has to flow through us to others
• We are to keep on loving as applied students.
Conclusion:
• Being a disciple is not about the clothes we wear.
• The way we look Where we live How much money we make
• Being a disciple isn’t about the music style we play during worship.
Being a disciple is about dying to ourselves
• Our wants--- our needs--- our desires
• It’s about giving our lives completely over to Jesus.
• It is letting Him work through us to accomplish His purposes
• It is letting Him work through us to glorify the Father.
• It is faithfully practicing His teachings and walking as He walked.
• It’s loving others with His love.
• So we need to ask ourselves today Are we disciples?
• None of us are perfect,
• But have you given up attitude of being in charge
• And have you become confident in His ability to express Himself through you?
