Someone made the comment, "Christmas has come and gone." If Christmas were only the preparation, the decoration, the sales and the get-togethers, I could understand. But if Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ into this world and into your life, then Christmas can never really leave you. What ended was the cultural celebration of Christmas.
And for some people after the celebration of Christmas is the resolution to lose weight. Someone tells of a woman who walked into her bathroom at home. She saw her husband weighing himself on the bathroom scales, sucking in his stomach. So, she said to her husband, "That’s not going to help."
Her husband replied, "Yes, it will. It’s the only way I can see the numbers on the scale."
I’m aware that some people don’t make any New Year’s resolution, while others make too many New Year’s resolutions. I’ve had years where I’ve made no resolution and years where I’ve made a few. Whether we make resolutions or not, most people share a common desire, and that is to live a rewarding and fulfilling life.
I don’t know anyone who chooses to live a boring, meaningless or frustrated life. Those who live such lives generally don’t acknowledge or understand how they got that way, and they don’t know how to get out from that kind of a rut.
There are no quick-fix answers that will help every situation, but I do know three commitments, when acted on over a lifetime, will turn any life into a rewarding life. We find these three commitments in a parable told by Jesus to his disciples, recorded in John 15:1-8.
What Jesus calls a "fruitful life," I will call a rewarding life. A rewarding life is more than achieving annual goals, such as making so many sales or reading through the Bible in a year. A rewarding life includes internal success, external success and eternal success. To achieve success in all three realms, one must resolve to live as Jesus taught in John 15:1-8.
First, if we are to live a rewarding life, we need to be connected with Jesus Christ. Verses 1 and 2a
There are three characters in this parable. The Gardener represents God, the Father. The Vine represents Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And the branches represent mankind, in particular, disciples of Jesus Christ.
In this parable, the Gardener cares for the Vine, and the Vine cares for the branches. The Vine cares for the branches by giving nutrient to the branches, so that the branches can bear fruit or live a life full of rewards. So if we want to experience God’s care or rewards, we must be connected to Jesus Christ.
Almost fifteen years ago, my family and I visited China. We had a relative in Canton, who was responsible for distribution of food. When we visited him, we were treated to the best in everyway. In China, whether you think it is fair or not, relationship, or guanxi, is everything. People are not always rewarded based on ability, but based on your connectedness.
2 Corinthians 1:19-20 tells us, "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you ... was not ’Yes’ and ’No,’ but in him it has always been ’Yes.’ For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ’Yes’ in Christ."
In other words, certain promises or rewards God gives to us purely because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. For instance, God rewards those who trust in Jesus Christ with the forgiveness of sins, peace with God and eternal life. We can’t earn these, but we have them because we placed our trust in Jesus Christ.
Are you connected to Jesus Christ? He is the source of God’s blessing. Jesus is the true Vine. A relationship with Christ provides eternal rewards.
Second, if we are to live a rewarding life, we need to be cultivated by God. Verses 2b and 3
Fruitful living or a rewarding life requires the removal of fruitless and sinful activities and attitudes. God will prune or clean away those things from our lives that do not reward us for the time or energy spent.
God’s pruning process varies in differing circumstances. If a person is teachable, God’s Spirit and God’s Word are sufficient to take away fruitless and sinful activities and attitudes.
When I first became a Christian, God’s Spirit revealed how my listening to heavy metal music was hindering my relationship with Him. So I threw out my heavy metal music collection. Three or four years later, God’s Spirit revealed how my listening to pop and club music produced impure thoughts in my mind, and so I threw out my pop and club music. God’s Spirit pruned away those things that hindered the rewarding development of godly character in my life.
Many times, God uses His Word, the Bible, to cultivate my life. When I read the Bible, I am confronted with attitudes and examples that challenge me to change. In recent days, I’ve been reading 1 and 2 Corinthians, and God has used the attitude and example of Paul in his suffering to remove self-pity and a critical spirit from my life. As a result, I experience the interanl reward of contentment and joy.
When a person is not sensitive to God’s Spirit’s leading and does not study the Bible or is not teachable, God will arrange circumstances to expose the wrong in hope of restoring us to live a rewarding life. Proverbs 3:11-12 tells us, "My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."
For instances, God is the One who arranged to expose the television evangelists who committed adultery or embezzled money. God is the One who arranged to expose the priests who molested the children. God is the One who frustrates your plans and gives you that empty or guilty feeling when you are involved in sinful or unfruitful living. God does not let those He loves get away with sinful or fruitless activities, but He intervenes with the hope that they will bear fruit.
Third, if we are to live a rewarding life, we need to be committed to God’s Word. Verse 7, 8
God’s Word, the Bible is the only trustworthy guide to a rewarding life. Many Christians don’t live a rewarding life, because they are not committed to God’s Word. Do you know how you can tell if a person is committed to the Word of God? You see him or her read the Bible and live and pray according to God’s Word.
God’s Word, the Bible, is not a respecter of people. I’ve been hearing from non-Christians who are reading the Bible and living and praying according to God’s Word. They are experiencing peace from God, strength for trials in life, and getting needed employment. To the degree we are committed to God’s Word, to that degree, we are rewarded.
God’s Word, the Bible, is no respecter of the areas of life. If we want to be rewarded in our family life, we need to be committed to God’s Word in our family life. If we want to be rewarded in our emotional life, we need to be committed to God’s Word in our mental and ethical life. Our thoughts and actions determine our emotions. To the degree that we are committed to God’s Word, to that degree, we are rewarded.
If we want to be rewarded in our financial life, we need to be committed to God’s Word in our financial practices. We need to give God ten percent of our income. He promised that if we would test Him by doing this, He would open up the blessings of heaven to pour on us. We need to spend within our income. The only debt the Bible approves of is our debt of love for others. Loans are okay, as long as we can pay them back. And finally, we need to save for our future needs. These three instructions from God’s Word, when followed, will reward us to the degree that we follow them.
The life that God rewards is not an easier life but a fruitful life. I’ve mentioned to Jin who was recently baptized that to live for God is a guarantee that your life will be harder, but the blessings will be greater. A good coach does not promise ease but the reward of triumph.
Let me close with a poem titled, "I Must Leave Behind":
Out of the life, I shall never take
Things of silver and gold I make
All that I cherish and hoard away
When I leave these things on earth must stay.
Though I lailed for a painting rare
To hang on my wall, I must leave it there
Though I call it mine and boast its worth
I must give it up when I quit this earth
All that I gather and all that I keep
I must leave behind when I fall asleep
And I wonder often, what will I own
In that other life when I pass along.
What shall He find and what shall He see
In the soul that answers the call for me?
Will the Great Judge find when my task is through
That my soul has gathered some riches, too?
Or at the last it will be mine to find
That all I had worked for was left behind.
When we are connected with Jesus Christ, we are rewarded with eternal life. When we are cultivated by God, we are rewarded with godly character. When we are committed to God’s Word, we are rewarded with godly wisdom for life. And we can bring all of these with us when we end this life.
