Summary: This sermon uses John 15 to tell us why intimacy is so important. I cannot tell you where the outline came from, I have had it in my bible for years.

Years ago Father John Powell told the story of Norma Jean Mortenson: "Norma Jean Mortenson. Remember that name? Norma Jean’s mother, Mrs. Gladys Baker, was periodically committed to a mental institution and Norma Jean spent much of her childhood in foster homes. In one of those foster homes, when she was eight years old, one of the boarders raped her and gave her a nickel.

He said, ’Here, Honey. Take this and don’t ever tell anyone what I did to you.’ When little Norma Jean went to her foster mother to tell her what had happened she was beaten badly. She was told, ’Our boarder pays good rent. Don’t you ever say anything bad about him!’ Norma Jean at the age of eight had learned what it was to be used and given a nickel and beaten for trying to express the hurt that was in her.

"Norma Jean turned into a very pretty young girl and people began to notice. Boys whistled at her and she began to enjoy that, but she always wished they would notice she was a person too--not just a body--or a pretty face--but a person.

"Then Norma Jean went to Hollywood and took a new name--Marilyn Monroe and the publicity people told her, ’We are going to create a modern sex symbol out of you.’ And this was her reaction, ’A symbol? Aren’t symbols things people hit together?’

They said, ’Honey, it doesn’t matter, because we are going to make you the most smoldering sex symbol that ever hit the celluloid.’

"She was an overnight smash success, but she kept asking, ’Did you also notice I am a person? Would you please notice?’ Then she was cast in the dumb blonde roles.

"Everyone hated Marilyn Monroe. Everyone did.

"She would keep her crews waiting two hours on the set. She was regarded as a selfish prima donna. What they didn’t know was that she was in her dressing room vomiting because she was so terrified.

"She kept saying, ’Will someone please notice I am a person. Please.’ They didn’t notice. They wouldn’t take her seriously." She went through three marriages--always pleading, ’Take me seriously as a person.’ Everyone kept saying, ’But you are a sex symbol. You can’t be other than that.’

"Marilyn kept saying ’I want to be a person. I want to be a serious actress.’

"And so on that Saturday night, at the age of 35 when all beautiful women are supposed to be on the arm of a handsome escort, Marilyn Monroe took her own life. She killed herself." When her maid found her body the next morning, she noticed the telephone was off the hook. It was dangling there beside her.

Later investigation revealed that in the last moments of her life she had called a Hollywood actor and told him she had taken enough sleeping pills to kill herself.

"He answered with the famous line of Rhett Butler, which I now edit for church, ’Frankly, my dear, I don’t care!’ That was the last word she heard. She dropped the phone--left it dangling.

"Claire Booth Luce in a very sensitive article asked, ’What really killed Marilyn Monroe, love goddess who never found any love?’ She said she thought the dangling telephone was the symbol of Marilyn Monroe’s whole life. She died because she never got through to anyone who understood.

Dynamic Preaching, June, 1990.

 This is a story about a person who was seeking intimacy with people, but never found it. She looked in all the wrong places – fame, fortune, drugs, alcohol, relationships with men – but all those things could never fill the aching void inside of her. She died empty and alone.

 God doesn’t want that for any of us. He desires an intimate relationship with each of us that will give meaning and hope to our lives.

 Does intimacy just happen on its own or does it take effort? Developing a truly intimate relationship with God takes a lot of effort and it is well worth it.

 Today we are going to look at why it is so important for each and every one of us to work on having an intimate relationship with Jesus.

SERMON

I. THE PRODUCT OF INTIMACY WITH GOD IS FRUITFULNESS (1-4)

A. If we are in a close relationship with God, our fruit will show it! The branch must be connected with the vine to produce fruit!

 One of the reasons producing fruit is a product of intimacy with God is if we belong to Jesus, we are a branch on the vine. Since we are a branch on the vine, we receive our nourishment from the vine.

 If we are truly a part of the vine, then our fruit will reflect it.

 In verse 4 we see Jesus telling us we a branch cannot bear fruit if it is not a part of the vine.

 One would think that because they are a part of the vine, they would just produce fruit, but that is not true.

 In verse 2, Jesus says there will be some branches that do not produce fruit. We will look at those branches in a moment.

 Many people feel they can produce fruit outside of a relationship with Jesus, but this is not true. Remember in verse 4 we are told of you are not a part the vine, you cannot produce fruit.

 What kind of Fruit?

 Fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23? But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 A changed life that results from belonging to Jesus? 2 CO 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2CO 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

 Winning people to Jesus! The fruit God expects is all of the above!

A. God judges if we are fruitful or not

 I am good enough to go to heaven! I give to the poor, I help people, I would not hurt anyone, I am a good father, husband. I am a good person!

 This is what many think of themselves.

 Who judges whether or not we are producing fruit? It is God!

 I do not get to decide how good I am or how fruitful I am. God does that. Verse 2 tells us this.

 It took a lot of care from the vinedresser to get a good crop of grapes from the vine. The vinedresser had to constantly be watching the vine to make sure that no disease was overtaking it.

 If he had a vine on the ground, he had to make sure that the ground was clear of obstruction.

 One of the things that the vinedresser did was to examine the production of each branch.

 If a branch was found not to produce fruit or bad fruit it was cut off and burned. Since the wood from the grapevine is soft, it is useless. The vinedresser would gather up the bad branches and burn them.

 This passage truly underscores the reason we serve the Lord and try to life for Him. It is because of the intimate relationship we have with Him. It is not an issue of “being good enough” to get into heaven. It is an issue of being so close to Jesus and loving Him so much we want to please Him.

 We are saved through our relationship with Jesus. None of us are “good” enough. God sees us as “good” through the blood of Jesus!

A. God is the one who trims and prunes the branches.

 We are told every branch that does not produce fruit is removed and every branch that produces fruit is pruned so it will produce more!

 If a branch has too many leaves on it, the leaves will take away from the nourishment the fruit would receive.

 God will help us cut out the stuff that keeps us from growing.

 The fruitful branches are pruned. The Word is one way to prune the branches (3)

 COL 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

 The Word is the thing that we need in our lives so that we can maintain a growing relationship with Jesus. We are being transformed into His image, as we grow closer to Him.

 We can become fruitless just by neglecting the study of the Word in our lives.

 As we let the Word dwell within us, we start to change, we start to be more and more transformed into the image of God. People will see Jesus in us.

I. THE PRACTICE OF INTIMACY WITH GOD IS ESSENTIAL (5-9)

A. We MUST work at bearing fruit (5)

 Back in verse 2, Jesus tells us there will be some branches “in Him” that will not produce fruit? How can that be? Have you ever seen branches on a fruit tree or a grapevine that did not produce fruit?

 Why would some branches who are in Christ produce fruit and others would not? Doesn’t God just make you grow? NO!

 It takes effort and practice. Think about your earthy relationships. How many of them work out with no effort put forth by both parties. In too many marriages, the effort is only one way and that is one of the reasons many crash and burn.

 The implication here is God has a part and we have ours. We must work at abiding in Christ.

 The word “abide” means- to remain, dwell, to not depart, to continue to be present’

 God will never leave us, but we can chose not to abide in Him.

 What Jesus is speaking of is FAITHFULNESS! Our part in the process is to be faithful until death or His return.

 REV 2:10 ’Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

 1PE 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

 We cannot treat God like insurance to be cashed in someday, we are called to be faithful.

B. Why the practice of intimacy is important!

 Fruitless branches are tossed into the fire (6) It does not matter how pretty the branch looks, if t is not producing fruit, it is removed so that nourishment is not wasted.

 Being fruitful is one of the keys to answered prayer (7)

 God is glorified! (8)

 Our intimate relationship with God proves we belong to Him (8)

 We abide in God’s love when we are in an intimate relationship with Him! (9)

I. THE PROOF OF OUR INTIMACY WITH GOD IS OBEDIENCE (10-14)

A. Keeping God’s commands prove we love Him and are His (10)

 Read Verse 10

 1JO 3:24 The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

 1JO 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:

 JOHN 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

 God’s love always comes first, then ours follows. 1 John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.

A. Our obedience leads to Joy! (11)

 It gives God joy when we are obedient and it gives us joy to be pleasing to God.

 Serving Jesus is a great thing to do. How many things can you do for a person that will effect their eternal destiny? There is nothing more exciting than being a part of a person giving their life to Jesus.

 Do you remember how good it felt to please your parents when you were young? Obedience leads to joy. Joy is a deeper thing than happiness. We can have joy no matter what the circumstances are.

 Even when we are facing difficult times, we can have joy because God promises He will not allow us to face more than we can endure. 1CO 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 tells us God will be there to bring comfort in difficult times!

C. We are commanded to love one another (12)

 JOHN 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

 Jesus loves us and He wants us to love others also. It is not an option and love is more than just an emotion, it is action. My actions should show you I love you. I never want my family to doubt my love for them, so I try to show it.

D. Our obedience shows we want the benefits of Jesus sacrifice (13-15)

 Jesus’ great love lead Him to lay His life down for His friends (13)

 You are a friend of Jesus IF you are obedient to Him (14)

 The ones who are obedient receive the benefits of His sacrificial death (15)

CONCLUSION

 An intimate or close relationship with Jesus will benefit each of us greatly. Our relationship with Jesus will give our lives meaning and purpose. Have you ever wondered if there is more to life than just getting stuff and dying?

 There is, and in Jesus your life will find its meaning and purpose. Many people go though life with no purpose. In Christ you find a purpose for your life.

 Your relationship with Jesus will bring excitement to your life. We can sell things to people or buy them things. All of us are either buying or selling. What greater gift can you give to a person than Jesus, through whom we receive eternal life!

 Your relationship will bring joy to your life also. There are too many people who go through marriage without joy. There are too many people who are sitting in church each week with no joy in their lives. There are too many people who have a life without joy.

 Joy in life will be found in Jesus.

 Having an intimate relationship with Jesus takes more than just coming to church. It takes spending time with God in the word, meditation and prayer.

 As I think about Marilyn Monroe, I wonder how different her life would have been if she could have had close interpersonal relationships with people especially when she was young.

 I think her tragic life shows us what happens when we go through life alone. I also think it serves as a warning as to what can happen when we do not work on having an intimate relationship with Jesus. Our life becomes meaningless, purposeless and void of joy.

 I think of our lives, how many of us are cheating ourselves out of a great thing with God by not fostering the intimate relationship God desires to have with each of us.

 Do you want to start on your relationship with Jesus, how about starting today!