Have you ever felt like, there has got to be more to this life than just going to work, raising kids, enjoying a vacation here or there, getting old, and dying? Do you look at other people and wonder why life seems to go better for some?
1. Connecting to God
The Bible tells us there is a reason we feel such emptiness inside, because we are not connected with God through his Son Jesus. The way Jesus said it was abide in me and you will bear fruit. Jesus was saying that those who are connected to him bear fruit. Jesus illustrated by saying, “Imagine this, imagine that I am the grape vine, and you are the branches and no branch can bear fruit on its own, it must be connected to the vine. You cannot bear fruit apart from me.” If we want to experience a full life we must first make the choice to connect ourselves to Jesus, graft our branch to the vine. According to Jesus, it is impossible to experience a fruitful life without being connected to Jesus or abiding with Jesus. What are the fruits he is referring to? Is he talking about apples and oranges? No. The fruits Jesus is referring to include love, for God and others, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control these are the fruits we are referring to. Without being connected to Jesus or remaining in Jesus, guess how much fruit your life will bear? Very little. But when we are connected to God through Jesus we bear much fruit. God works into our life love, joy, peace. Jesus once said, he came “so that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).” Would you describe your life with abundance of these fruits? Would you say you experience overflowing love for those around you, even those who mistreat you? Would you say you have abundant joy, or have a deep inner sense of peace because you know with certainty that you are connected to God or that you have a relationship with God and are secure in his promise of eternal life?
Nothing in this world can fill the void of this emptiness except God, other people can’t, money can’t, toys can’t, booze or alcohol can’t, only Jesus can fill the void and provide the life giving nourishment you need.
How do we connect to Jesus?
It begins by making a decision to be connected to God. According to the Bible we must first believe in Jesus:
NLT Romans 10:9 For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
NLT 1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God.
NLT Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
Believing in Jesus is the first step, but supposing you made a decision years ago, to receive Jesus into your heart, but you still feel empty, you don’t see any fruit in your life, you still can’t seem to love, you don’t have a sense of peace, perhaps it is because you haven’t been abiding with Jesus, you have not chosen to stay connected with Jesus. Jesus told us it must be a daily choice to follow him, every day you make that decision. The fruit only follows our being connected to Jesus. Just because you believe doesn’t mean you are abiding. Believing and abiding are two separate things. God wants us to get connected to him by receiving his Son and stay connected.
2. Connecting to the church
How do you stay connected to God? We stay connected to God through learning God’s Word (I once heard someone say the Bible stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth), not only learning God’s word, but obeying God’s commandments (Jesus said we are his friends if we do what he commands), prayer (talking with God), but there is yet another way we stay connected with God, and continue to experience God’s fruit in our life. It is by staying connected with God’s family, the church. When we choose to become a follower of Jesus, we inherit his family as well, whether you like it or not, it’s part of the package deal. Just like when you are born you don’t get to pick your family, God has chosen it for you. When you are born again, you inherit God’s family, that is all Christians across the globe. It means you have a lot of brothers and sisters.
Estimates tell us there are approximately 2 billion Christians on the planet, that’s a big family. Your family includes brothers and sisters in every country, on almost every continent. It also includes the Christians right here in our community. Look around you, you have family right here, it’s called the church. In the Bible God’s family is called the church.
A. Growing and Bearing Fruit by Belonging in the Church
God gives us this family for a reason. God works through other Christians to help us to grow in our faith, and therefore receive more fruit in our life. We bear fruits of love, joy, peace, etc. when we are connected to God, but it doesn’t happen automatically, it usually happens when we are in community or communing with other Christians. As we practice our faith with one another, God works his fruit into our life.
Listen to what God tells us we are supposed to be doing with other Christians: “love one another (John 13:34),” “be devoted to one another (Rom. 12:10),” “honor one another (Rom. 12:10),” “live in harmony with one another (Rom. 12:16),” “do not judge one another” “accept one another (Rom. 15:7)” “instruct (teach) one another (Rom. 15:14; Col. 3:16)” “agree with one another (unity) (1 Cor. 1:10),” “serve one another (Gal. 5:13),” “be kind and compassionate with one another (Eph. 4:32),” “forgive each other (Col. 3:13)”, “encourage and build one another up (1 Thess. 5:11; Heb. 10:25)” “spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24).” The “one another” is other Christians, people in the church. In other words you can never fully connect to God and fulfill God’s purpose for your life without other Christians. God chooses to work through other Christians to help us grow and experience God’s fruitfulness. In other words you will not grow in love if you are not learning how to love your fellow brother and sister in Christ, you will not receive joy if you are not participating with other Christians .
One person was asked what do you like the most about the church, to which he responded, “the people of course.” Then he was asked, “what do you like least about the church,” “oh, that’s easy,” he replied “the people.” Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we always get along, just like any other family we can get under each others skin and disagree and even argue sometimes, but it is through that process of being together, and working out our faith together that we grow and experience God’s blessing.
A common criticism of the church is that, “they are full of hypocrites,” and I agree we are all a work in progress, we haven’t figured it all out yet, but we are a lot better now because of our faith and the church than we would have been otherwise.
God expects you to learn how to obey him by practicing with other Christians. God created you to mature in your faith. When you first become a follower of Jesus you are an infant in the faith, but God expects you to grow up, to become more mature. Being more mature means we behave more like our model, Jesus. Growing up means we learn how to love God and others. Maturing is a life long process, and it can only be done in community with other Christians. You cannot do it on your own. That is why we have the church the people of God to gather for worship (focus our attention on God), to fellowship, to study God’s word together (to learn what God wants of us), and to serve each other.
We must be connected to the church.
B. Doing Your Part in the Family
There is another reason each Christian must be connected to the church, because God has created you for a specific role in his family.
In my family growing up everyone had their responsibilities. Me, being the oldest. had the most chores of course: washing the dishes, mowing the yard, helping my dad move what seemed like hundreds of wheelbarrows of sand from the front of the house all the way to the back of the property. My sister had to take out the trash, as she grew up she had to clean the bathrooms (I was glad I got out of that one). Each one of us has a place we fit into the family. Other things my parents did? Dad disciplined. Mom taught us.
In the Bible the church is called God’s family, it is also known as Christ’s body. When Jesus left this earth he expected us to be his hands and feet, in other words we as Christians are his body now on earth, and each one of us has a role to play to continue the work Jesus began. Just as there are different parts to the body, the visible parts, the hands, the ears, and the invisible but essential parts like the heart, lungs, liver, each one of us is necessary for the body to operate completely. Each one of you has been uniquely created by God, given unique gifts, abilities, personality, passions, interests, hobbies, so that you can use them in Christ’s body, the church. Some become Sunday school teachers, greeters, money counters, musicians, singers, gardeners, cooks, etc. If you are a Christian but not actively involved in a church, whether it is this church or another, the body suffers because you are not playing your role, and you are suffering too because you do not have the other parts to help you.
That is why the Bible says “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:25).” The writer of Hebrews knew how important it is for Christians to get together for worship (to focus our attention upon God), fellowship (to practice our “one anothers”), study of God’s Word (the Bible) (to grow in knowledge of faith), because we need each other for encouragement if we are going to grow to be the people God has created us to be, and to experience all of the benefits (blessings) God has for us in this world.
Recently we brought our car in to be serviced. It’s getting pretty old, and slowly some of the parts are beginning to quit running. I tend to be the kind of person who ignores everything until the car just quits. The transmission is slipping but it still runs, the heater coil is going, but the car still runs. Everything in the car has its function, I can run the car without some of the parts working but eventually the car is not going to operate properly if at all. The church is similar in that we each play a part, but if we decide to be absent, not playing our part, the church, God’s family suffers, it doesn’t run.
Conclusion:
If you have never taken the step of giving your heart to God and believing in his Son Jesus, that he died and was resurrected for you. I encourage you to make that commitment. In a few moments I will lead you in a prayer to do just that.
If you have taken that step of faith but you have been drifting through life unconnected to other believers, I encourage you to “Get Connected.” Find a church to belong to (whether it is this church or another), begin worshipping regularly with them, join a Bible study or small group who can help you mature in your faith. We have groups beginning this week and next week. The Bible study I will be leading will spend eight weeks each in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Luke, and Acts. Our small groups will be meeting in homes and will be looking at tying in with our special fall focus which is learning the basics of prayer, but it’s not just about the subject it is about being God’s church. If you are interested you can either write your name on one of the groups that meets at a time or place convenient for you, or you can write your name on the communication cards in front of you marking your interest in small groups, and place them in the offering plate, which we will send around. We will have someone contact you.
