Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Good morning. Morning. Good morning. My name's Michael Fueling. I'm the lead pastor here at the Village Church. Uh, I want to invite you open up your Bibles to the book of John chapter 15. Uh, we're gonna be in a two week series in John 15 called Abide. Uh. Now some of you are going to be paying very close attention and you're gonna maybe think in your brain, did he skip the end of John 14 where we talk about the Holy Spirit? Nope. Um, after these two weeks, we're gonna do an extended series and the Holy Spirit as well. So we'll cover John 14. Then, uh, I wanna begin and I would like to talk about the home you grew up in. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna put, um, a series of words on the screen. And what I'd like you to do is of the two words that show up at a time, I want you to pick the word that best describes the home you grew up in. Now, let's just be clear they're not gonna be perfect, but which one best describes it if you had to pick one? Now these are what we call rhetorical meaning don't answer out loud because some of you, you're sitting next to your parents and, uh, unless they're all good, right? But just, just keep it in your own brain and hold it to yourself just for, for the time being. The home you grew up in, was it peaceful or chaotic?
Speaker 1 00:01:34 Was it somebody already answered <laugh>, was it safe or unsafe? Was it abundant or scarce? You can interpret this any way your heart wants to interpret it. Was it loving or fearful? Here's one, clean or dirty. If it was dirty, it was your fault. If kids are disgusting <laugh>, if your mom and dad said, amen, that was not rhetorical, that was one where you actually, you actually could respond. The human body and the human soul need a home and healthy homes. They provide at least four things. And here are the four things a healthy home is gonna provide. Number one, rest. It's a, it's a place where your body can sleep, but it's also a place, a healthy home where your mind and your soul get to recharge. Number two, a healthy home gives provision, food, clothing, shelter for your body, but for your soul. A healthy home is gonna provide for you trust and encouragement.
Speaker 1 00:03:05 Number three, healthy homes provide protection. Uh, it's a place where your valuables are safe for sure, but where you are safe from danger, it's also a place where your heart and your soul are protected. Number four, a healthy home provides for you the joy of family, a people to whom you are bo bound by blood and by covenant, a people whom you're surrounded with that love you unconditionally despite you. So, so what happens when one of these components is missing here? Here's what people do. We become obsessed and desperate to find a place that meets these needs for our family. And then what happens is we end up finding them in multiple places and then our personal lives, they become chaotic, they become frustrating, they become discontent. So the human soul, it is crying out for these. And what's so unfortunate is that the evil one has fostered and created micro communities all around our children and grandchildren that offer them the illusion of home, and they find themselves temporarily experiencing some version of this.
Speaker 1 00:04:27 And at the end of the day, they find that these things turn on them and corrupt their soul in the process. So as, as a parent, here's what I know, uh, my home is not perfect. And if you sit here and say your home is perfect, you're lying or you're deceived. Every kid who grows up in a home can identify mom and dad's weaknesses, struggles the issues of the home. But here's what I want to do. This is the goal I want to provide for the body of my children. I wanna provide for their mind, their relationships, their emotions, these things rest and provision and protection and family. I want them to have these experiences. But there is one thing that I cannot do for them. I cannot give their soul a home. And the soul is made to find its home in Jesus. And Jesus alone, and this is one of the most challenging things, is at times I want to be their Jesus, but I'm not.
Speaker 1 00:05:25 I will utterly fail them every single time. And so I can provide for their body, I can provide for their mind, I can provide for their relationships, but what I cannot do is provide for their soul the things that only Jesus can give to their soul. John 15 is this section of Jesus' teaching before the crucifixion, and he's gonna be teaching his disciples one of the most foundational and important lessons that they are ever gonna hear in their life. And it's where your soul actually finds its home. Now what I need to do with you, you is I need to set up the context of John 15 because what we're used to is this is one of those text of scripture that we kind of parachute into, but behind the scenes there is so much going on. So here's a few bits and pieces of context for John 15.
Speaker 1 00:06:13 We are in John 15, one day before the crucifixion of Jesus. We are hours away from the arrest of Jesus. Uh, Jesus has just finished, uh, what we call the last supper. This is the last Passover meal that Jesus would have before his death and resurrection. The disciples are in a place of confusion and frustration. They will not believe that Jesus is going to be killed and they have no real categories for this thing of a resurrection. Judas, the betrayer has just left and he is running to the religious leaders. He was filled or possessed by Satan himself and is now working behind the scenes. In fact, uh, John 15, 16 and 17 behind the scenes, Judas, the Pharisees and Satan himself are conspiring to betray, arrest and murder. Jesus, all this is happening and Jesus only has hours before this plan is gonna be put into motion.
Speaker 1 00:07:14 Uh, at the end of John 14, it seems everybody kinda gets up from dinner and they are making their way or about to make their way to the garden of Gethsemane. Do you guys remember what happens in the garden of Gethsemane? Remember, Jesus prays there, not my will, but yours be done. He's sweating blood. The uh, Judas comes up, kisses him on the cheek, they arrest him, Peter cuts off the guy's ear, Jesus heals it. Remember all that? That's all that's all gonna happen in just a couple hours. Right now we're seems that we're just getting up from dinner and we're on our way. We're about to be on our way to the garden of Yosemite. So in the final hours of Jesus' life before his death, here's the, here's the conundrum for which he has to prepare these young disciples. How do you maintain a close relationship with somebody you cannot see?
Speaker 1 00:08:09 You cannot hear and you cannot touch. By the way, isn't this our question as well? So not Christians, they hear this and they're like, you want me to be in a relationship with a God that I can't hear, I can't touch, I can't see. And then our response as Christians, well he's gonna give you the Holy Spirit that makes sense to you. But if you've never had the Holy Spirit, that actually makes no sense whatsoever. And so here are these disciples, they have no category for the Holy Spirit that Jesus is gonna talk about and say, Hey, uh, all of this is gonna make sense in about 50 days or so when you receive the Holy Spirit and they're like, we don't have a category. What does it mean to be in a relationship with an invisible God? And so Jesus is gonna kind kinda lay the foundations for this teaching and this is gonna be one of the most important things he ever teaches them.
Speaker 1 00:09:00 Your soul needs to find its home in Jesus and he's gonna walk them through how to do this. All right, John 15 verse one. Jesus is gonna use a metaphor to help them understand how to remain close to him when he is gone. Verse one, Jesus says, I am the true vine, meaning all other vines are false. I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit. So there are four main characters in this metaphor. Number one, we have God the Father who is the vine dresser. He's the one responsible to make sure the vine and the fruit have everything they need to flourish. Number two, we have Jesus the son of God and he is the vine.
Speaker 1 00:10:08 He's the true vine, meaning the only vine that gives life is the source of life. Ultimately we're gonna see to the human soul we have number three, we have true Christians. These are the branches that bear fruit. And then number four, we have fake Christians, the branches that are thrown away largely because they are dead, they're on the ground, there's no fruit, they're useless and they're going to be thrown into the fire and burned. Can we just all agree for a moment we don't wanna be, the branches that are falling under the ground are gonna be thrown away and burned. Amen. Amen. Amen. In verse three, though Jesus does, I think something very kind for these young disciples. And if you're, if you're reading this in English, there's a a piece of this that might allude you. And I want, I want you to watch this.
Speaker 1 00:11:00 Jesus says in verse three, already you are clean. And you should be asking, why is he talking about being clean thought We're talking about vines and pruning. He says, already, you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. So we gonna pay attention to the word clean here. Because what Jesus is doing is he's clarifying a lingering question from John 13. What I want you to understand is that John like 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, it's all kind of one conversation. It takes place in different locations, but it's basically one big dialogue. So a few minutes earlier in the dialogue in John 13 verse 10, Jesus said something that really concerned them. And here's what he said. He said, you are clean but not every one of you. For he Jesus knew who was to betray him. That was why he said Not all of you are clean.
Speaker 1 00:12:03 And I wanna be clear in John 13 when he says this, they all know exactly what Jesus is talking about. Uh, one of you is fake, one of you is a fraud. One of you is a false Christian masquerading as something that you are not. So if Jesus walked into this room and he said 8.3% of you are fake Christians, isn't there this like part of you maybe an impulse that would like say, is it, is it me? Because if it is, I need to know and I need to know. Now, would you just like let us, would you let me know? Could we talk privately? Because I don't want to be the branch that's gonna be burned up. That's not what I want. And so you can see the anxiety that this creates in them. And it seems in John 13 that the disciples did not know who Jesus was talking about.
Speaker 1 00:12:49 Even after he shows them it's gonna be Judas, Judas gets up and walks out. They still don't understand why Judas got up. They don't understand that Judas is actually the branch that is gonna be cut off and burnt. They don't seem to get this yet. And so they're concerned, is it me back to John 15, three, I want you to read this again. Jesus says, already you are clean because of the word that I've spoken to you. What's fascinating about the word clean is that in the Greek language, it is the exact same word as prune.
Speaker 1 00:13:30 So this literally can also read already you are pruned because of the word I have spoken to you. This is really good news. You want to be pruned. Amen. You want the parts of you that are inhibiting growth to be cut off and burned away. You want Jesus, you want the father, the vine dresser to help make sure that you're getting as much source from the vine as humanly possible so you can bear or grow the maximum amount of fruit. But I want you to catch what Jesus is doing to his disciples. He is graciously removing any anxiety that they might have about whether or not they are true Christians, how kind that he did not subject them to the next 5, 10, 20, or 30 years. Wondering, am I the one who's unclean? Is that me and the, and this is why John, the same John who wrote the Booker John, he also wrote First John, this is why John writes to the people he shepherds First John five 13.
Speaker 1 00:14:38 He says this, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. John loved the fact fact that he did not. Jesus did not make people guess. And John is looking at them and he's saying, I want you to know the reason I'm writing this says, I want you to walk away from here with assurance of your salvation. Here's what Paul says. He has a similar passion in Romans eight 16. He says, it's the Spirit himself. The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are all invested and want you to know whether or not you are a true Christian or a fake Christian. The Holy Spirit wants to take away all the relational anxiety and insecurity and wondering, are we okay?
Speaker 1 00:15:28 The blood of Christ covers you and it is the most secure relationship in your life. They are invested that true Christians in their heart of hearts by testimony of the word of God and the spirit of God. That you truly are pruned, you truly are clean, you truly are a real Christian. We go back to John 15 in verse eight. John says that, this is kind of funny to me, but he says it's pretty easy to prove. He says this by this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Now here's the question I would be asking if I, were you okay? What's the fruit? And I'm not gonna tell you yet cause I want you to pay attention. I still have 75 minutes left in this message. So we're just gonna linger and keep you going. John 15, four, Jesus tells us the only way a Christian, a human, a person, anybody can bear any kind of fruit, abide in me and I in you. Abide means to keep dwelling or to find a home and to live in it. Let me translate, make sure your soul finds its home in me. And don't leave <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:17:06 Make sure your soul finds its home in me and don't leave. He goes on to verse four, he says, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you were 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. In other words, everything that I created you to be and everything I created you to do hinges on you figuring out what it means to abide in Jesus. If you do not abide in Jesus, you have no ability to do the things he is asking you to do to become the person he is asking you to become. Abiding in Jesus is one of the most essential foundational important things a human being can do. He says earlier, if you don't abide in me, then you can do nothing. Now I don't know about you, but at this point now I'm asking, how do I abide? How do I make it so that my soul finds its home in Jesus? We're gonna get there. Verse six.
Speaker 1 00:18:39 If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and what's, what's that word? Withers. And the branches, they're gathered and they're thrown into the fire and they're burned. I think this was actually really hard for the disciples to hear or maybe later for them to remember because who's Jesus talking about here, Judas? And here, here's the deal. We said this earlier, you don't want to beat the branch that is thrown out and burned. Some people read this maybe as a threat. Um, I don't see it at all as a threat. I would just say this is simple reality. There is one singular source of life for the human soul. It is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. All other sources are not true vines, but they are false vines. That might give you a moment of some sort of faux sustenance, but then they fail you.
Speaker 1 00:19:52 In the end, the human soul is designed by the creator, by the maker to be connected, to be living in the true vine who is Jesus Christ. And the evil one wants to kind of trick us and say, well maybe you can attach to this other vine. It's a fake false vine. How about this vine? It's not a real vine that will give you life. How about this vine over here? It's false. It's not real. Any other vine than Jesus is not real. That is not a threat. That's just practical. It's, it's like somebody makes a lamp and then make a lamp to go into only one kind of outlet. And then somebody says, but I wanna plug it into any outlet. And the designer says, you don't get to plug it into any outlet. It's made for one kind of outlet. And then you get mad and say, are you threatening me that it won't work if I don't plug it into the right outlet?
Speaker 1 00:20:39 It's like, no, I'm not threatening you. I'm telling you I made it. I made it to plug into a specific outlet. And when you plug it into that outlet, it gets everything it needs and it does what it's supposed to do and you plug it into an outlet or something that puts too much power through it, then it works for about a split second and burns up and you're like, it doesn't work. What's wrong with you creator? And he's like, for the, for the love of God, literally <laugh>, plug it into the right outlet and it would've worked. Can you fix it? Sure. Will you plug it into the right outlet? We'll see, this is like God with the human race <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:21:11 I think of so many deceive students, your solos and your friends and your social status, your grades, sports. I mean these are really good important things, but they're fickle. And if you attach your soul to it, they will cause your soul to wither. I think of college students who unplug, if you will, from Jesus to, for for four years just to kinda live it up so they can have life's experience. And I think to myself, why would you unplug from the source of life and joy and buy into the lies of the evil one when you plug into the world you were designed to wither and die in Christ is life. Your soul was made for Christ. And and this is what we miss. We're like, well, well maybe I'll plug in half of it. No, you need to be plugged into Jesus Christ because from him is the source of all life.
Speaker 1 00:22:11 All right, I've got two big questions. What is this fruit exactly? Because if this is the difference between true Christians and fake Christians, I would really like to know what that fruit is. Christian. Number two, how do I abide specifically? Because if this is the difference between life and death, between growth and the withering of my soul, I want to actually kind of know practically, okay, so what does it mean to abide? Um, let's, let's get out of ethereal analog or metaphorical language and let, let's make the rubber meet the road. What is fruited exactly? So we spent quite a bit of time in preaching prep and then on the side trying to figure out what is one of the most effective ways to answer this. And what we learned is that we can actually look to Judas to see what fruit is not because Judas had no fruit and he was cut off and thrown into the fire and burned.
Speaker 1 00:23:09 So what are some of the things that Judas did? And if Judas did them, then we know that this isn't actually fruit. So here's what we know. The fruit is not going to church cuz Judas did that. And can we just agree he had the best senior pastor on the planet and for fun, he also went to synagogue. The fruit is not listening to and enjoying good Bible teaching. You might listen to podcasts, whatever. Can we also agree that there was probably no more effective Bible teacher than Jesus? Amen. Amen. Like if he came in, I'd be like, I quit. You're in done <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:23:52 The fruit is not acknowledging the power or the uniqueness of Jesus because Judas understood this. Jesus, Judas understood that Jesus was not just simply a normal dude, the Judas Jesus did unbelievable things. But this is consistent because even the devil knows that Jesus is fully God. So having some kind of mental acknowledgement of the reality of the person of Jesus, that that actually isn't the kind of fruit that John and Jesus are talking about. The fruit is not effective. Ministry stand a reason that the things Judas did, he did semi well. He likely had some effective ministry. They didn't fire him before this. There's no evidence of anywhere other than like the little parts that the gospel writers write about him stealing money. But it seems he did a lot of effective things. And we know this, how many Christians ended up doing incredible things in ministry, ended up being fake Christians and God still grew his kingdom through them.
Speaker 1 00:24:51 So somehow effective ministry is not the kind of fruit that's gonna distinguish a real Christian from a fake Christian. So let's define fruit and then I'm gonna show you, um, in John 15 maybe where some of these come from. Fruit is inner transformation from MEC centered like Judas to God-centered that is both enduring and increasingly visible. Inner transformation from mec centered to God centered that is both enduring and increasingly visible. So let's talk about some measurable indicators of fruit. What might Jesus be looking for? Things that weren't in Judas but became increasingly real and present in the disciples Indicator number one, increasingly joyful repentance over sad tears. I want I want you to think about Peter for a moment. Pastor Dean last week, um, articulated that what Peter did was the most low level of betrayal that a Jewish man could do. He betrayed and denied his own rabbi. Like I'm trying to think of worse things in that context and culture that someone could do. And and what Peter did like that was, it was terrible, it was offensive.
Speaker 1 00:26:26 And I, I don't, I don't know if Peter cried. I'm gonna just guess that he had tears. Remember at the end of John when Peter goes, uh, Jesus goes back up to Peter and kind of reinstates him and then forgives him. I just have to imagine there was some kind of just actual physical remorse on his face. Not just shame but actual sorrow over what he did to his rabbi. But it wasn't tears. That evidence is transformation. He actually changed you. You begin to see in Peter, even before he's given the Holy Spirit, you begin to see in Peter actual life change. And then when he is given the Holy Spirit, man, it just explodes and he becomes a brand new person. It became visible and it became enduring. It wasn't the failure, it's what he did with it. I want you to contrast this with Judas. Judas, his repentance was with tears. But no heart change. You can cry over your sin all you want and not be repentant.
Speaker 1 00:27:39 True and sincere repentance. It flows from the heart, it endures and it should become visible and evident over time. Second indicator of fruit. Increasingly Jesus' values become your values. I want you to read this in, in in verse seven. I think this is, this is a funny thing that most people don't understand. I wanna, I wanna try to just make this very tangible. He says, if you abide in me, if you're plugged in and my words abide in you, you're listening to the word of God, the teaching of Christ, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. All right? Am I the only one who has like a ton of prayer requests that have gone pretty much silently unanswered right now? I know some of you are gonna be like, well all, all prayer requests are answered. It's either yes, maybe or no.
Speaker 1 00:28:37 I'm not saying, you know what I mean? Like God has not gift said yes to all the things that I've asked for and that frustrates me. So then I ask, well, oh no, am I fake Christian? Because when I pray like a whole lot of things God doesn't respond to. But here's, here's the funny thing. You and I, we pray our values, we ask God for the things that are important to us. We tell God the things that we think are important for him to know. If you wanna know someone's pre or values, just look at their prayer life and you'll hear what is important to them. And here's what Jesus is saying. The, the more time you spend with me abiding in me and my word, the more your values start to become mine. I start to rub off on you. And, and you know, you become like the people you hang out with.
Speaker 1 00:29:20 And, and then here's what's happening. You start to want the things Jesus wants and value the things that Jesus values. And your prayer life reflects this. Now here's like a little trick and tip for those of you who are like, I pray and I pray and I pray and God never answers my prayers. Let me, let me show you an effective way to remove, to move your prayer life from about 2% effectiveness to 95% effective. So you ready? Start praying for your own personal transformation and repentance. The reason by the way, right, you're not getting answers to most of your prayers is cuz they're all about those other people. Try this. God make me more humble. God make me more sorrowful over my sin. Help me see my sin the way you see it. God, would you develop in me more gentleness and kindness? Like try praying for those things?
Speaker 1 00:30:12 You're gonna watch your prayer life amplify because that is the will of God. God take the fruit of the spirit. Do one a month obsessively, pray for each one every single month, every day. I'm just praying for this one all month long. And then you watch God begin to answer that prayer. You wanna watch your prayer life go from ineffective to effective, stop pointing at everybody else and asking him to change them. Look internally and you're gonna watch God respond. The scariest part is if you beg God to help you and he never ever responds even a little bit. That's scary. But I'll tell you here, true Christians, start praying for internal transformation and be specific. Now, when God changes you, does that mean all your struggles go away? No way. In fact, what I find most of the time is that I'm like, God, would you, I'm praying the wrong thing.
Speaker 1 00:30:58 Would you take this desire away from me? And really what God is actually doing is he's not taking it away, but he's giving me greater strength to say no to it. You know what I'm saying? And so we make our prayers so myopic and focused and so make my life easier. And half the time he's like, I'm not gonna make it easier. I'm just gonna give you double the strength so that you have the ability to handle what's right in front of your face. And so think about your prayer life and, and you find this, that that's part of the fruit is that you start to see the, that I actually begin to want and value the things that Christ values a third indicator of fruit, increasingly willingness to say no to me and yes to God. Verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commitments and abide and his love.
Speaker 1 00:31:51 Nobody perfectly desires to read and obey God's word. Amen. Not rhetorical. Amen. Amen. Amen. Not convinced, but we'll go with it. Nobody but is there even I I need you to listen. You if you might be wondering, oh no, I might be a fake Christian. Do you even have an inkling of a desire not rooted in shame, but like rooted in love? Is there even a little bit of you that wants to say no to you and yes to God? Like even a little bit? Here's what I can tell you. True Christians have a struggle, not 24 7. Sometimes I sin freely without even a second thought. And then later I'm like, oh, that wasn't good. But like there's a consistent struggle that you have. And it's not a shame struggle. Oh no. What if I get caught? It's a love struggle. I want to please you.
Speaker 1 00:32:43 I want to bring you glory. Do you see the difference? So many Christians are afraid of God. I don't obey God. Cause I'm afraid of my Bain because I love him. Amen. I have a lot of grace for people, uh, who came to Christ later in life. I try to grace celebr. But particularly if you came to Christ in your forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties, there are so many sinful patterns, ways of thinking, behaviors that you just are like, that's all you've ever known. And what I find is that Jesus does not expose people all at once, completely thank God. And he highlights one or two things in your life and you begin to experience sorrow that leads to actual repentance. You begin to be sad, not just that you've hurt other people, but like, God, I'm sorry, that hurts you and I love you.
Speaker 1 00:33:33 Do you see the shift? And it's a really beautiful thing and I, I think Christ is so patient. And one of the reasons you'll notice I have not put destination language. I'm using trajectory language because people all start at different points. Destination language is inherently shameful. Trajectory, language takes into consideration. We have a long way to go. The person in this room has a long way to go to be fully like Christ. And here's what I'm looking for. I'm not looking for perfection, I'm looking for trajectory. Are these things growing inside of you? Here's the fourth indicator of fruit, increasing joy and happiness and glorifying God more than yourself. He writes in verse 11, these things I've spoken to you all about abiding and being connected to Jesus, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. So what happens with the true Christian is again, trajectory language.
Speaker 1 00:34:40 There is an increasing joy in obeying Jesus, in ob in being with Jesus. Now, is it always perfect? No. Again, get destination language outta your brain. We're talking trajectory, language. Is there a trajectory? Now, the way I, I think about this and I, I probably overuse this illustration, but like I have never met somebody who has not worked out in years and says, I'm so excited I'm going to the gym. And then they get done and they hurt everywhere for two weeks and they're like, that was amazing. You actually have to overcome sometimes the things your body wants. And what I love about the fruit that Jesus is talking about is that the fruit overcomes the body. The body is no longer the slave, but the mind and the will of Christ. We actually have the ability to go to, to the gym metaphorically speaking.
Speaker 1 00:35:39 We have the ability to say no to the desires of our flesh. We have the ability to freely not react in the way that the flesh wants to react. We actually have this. And so I'm not looking for somebody who obeys perfectly, but what I am looking for is somebody who is increasingly finding more joy in it. And so what happens after the two to three weeks of excruciating pain of working out, it begins to be more fun. And then you overwork yourself and you gotta reign it in a little bit. But you know, you know how it goes.
Speaker 1 00:36:12 How do I abide number two? I wanna take the four indicators and I just wanna make them practical because the secret to abiding, we'll call this abiding one oh one, are found here. Choose daily probably to joyfully repent. Don't just cry and say you're sorry, change. Ask God to change you pray specifically, I sinned in this way. There is a heart issue. Would you help me change this issue? And would you give me the strength as I struggle to not give in? Choose number two, Jesus' values as your personal values. You're, you're gonna read the Bible and you're gonna find periodically that you and Jesus don't agree. And the prideful part of our spirit, the the fake Christian will look at Jesus often and say, I don't know. We'll see, I dunno if I agree with him yet, bend your knee to the teachings of Christ no matter how hard it is culturally, if Jesus as God align yourself to his mind and to his values, make them your own personal values.
Speaker 1 00:37:40 Number three, willingly say no to yourself and yes to God. And I just want to acknowledge again our, all of us, our bodies, our minds have impulses that don't bring God glory. But God has given you self-control and a will that you are not a slave to your body. I find myself saying all the time, I don't need to eat that. I don't need to eat that I have the Holy Spirit, I have self-control. I can do it, I can do it. And I have to remind myself I have the gift of self-control and I can say no to me and I can say yes to God. And according to Jesus, this is actually one of the best ways that we can show love for him. He says that he shows his love for the Father by obedience to his commands. And this is how we show love to him.
Speaker 1 00:38:35 Number four, choose happiness in glorifying God more than yourself. Okay, I hate doing the dishes with a holy passion. So do my kids, particularly my oldest daughter. Could you do the dishes fine. When I do the dishes, I have learned that the attitude I go in with determines my emotions. You ever seen this? So I go in and I am choosing a good attitude. And even though I objectively hate dishes, it doesn't make me want to lose my ever-loving mind. But then I watch my daughter do dishes and I'm like, are you gonna break everything in the way? You know, <laugh> and what I've found in life, it's just like dishes. Your attitude almost always pre determines your emotions. And so if you look at what the Lord wants for you, you know what he wants and you're like, I know, fine, I'll glorify you. Do you think you're gonna respond with joy?
Speaker 1 00:39:42 No. You are predetermining something that Jesus doesn't want for you. So here's what happens. If you choose your attitude and you overcome your complaining, whatever spirit, and you say, I'm, I'm gonna do what you've asked me to do, and I'm gonna believe that this will be for my joy, guess what happens? It becomes more joyful. Anything you complain about won't get better and more easy. And so I've learned that a complaining, a grumbling spirit stops me from experiencing the joy of obeying and glorifying Jesus. I have two simple, so whats number one? Is this the most important fruit to God? It's not ministry fruit. I dunno about y'all, but I love being productive. But this is not the most important thing to God. It's relationship and transformation. Uh, the reason God calls us to ministry, it's not just so that we can be productive because bored people do dumb things.
Speaker 1 00:40:36 No, it's because that his whatever our heart serves, our heart grows in love for the reason God wants people to give generously to the kingdom of God is not because he's desperate for money. And he's like, where are we gonna make ends meet? It's because he knows that whatever we give our money to has our heart. And he's like, give your first and your best to me so that you're so that I have your heart. He's just a genius. He knows how the human soul and body work, the reason God hates idols is not because he's insecure, because he knows that if we plug our soul into anything else other than Jesus, we will wither and die. And God forbid we prove ourselves to be fake Christians and we are thrown out and burned in the fire. Not a threat, just a reality. Listen to listen to Jesus's heart and motivation in verse nine, as the father has loved me, so I have loved you, abide, live, plug in, abide in my love.
Speaker 1 00:41:39 God's motivation for you is not to control you. It is love. Everything Jesus says to do asks you to do, tells you is true, is out of when the people who love you plead with you to not plug into the things that aren't Christ. It's not because they're trying to control you, it's because they know that you weren't made for that. They know that that will wither your soul. They are afraid that you may end up loving it more than Christ. And so proving to be fake, they want you to plug into Christ so that you might have life and the life that is plugged into Christ. Increasingly trajectory language will begin to show fruit. Not like Judas, but like Peter, a broken person with internal transformation that is enduring and visible. Which by the way, parents, moms and dads, is this what you want for your kids? Internal transformation for me centered to God-centered that is both enduring and visible. How much more does your heavenly Father want that for every single one of us. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your grace and your patience.
Speaker 1 00:42:57 As I was preparing this message, I was, uh, just remarkably aware of, um, my trajectory. I don't, it's just not quite going on the pace that I really wanted to go on a lot of things. I have a hunch that most people in the room can, can resonate with that. And yet your grace abounds the blood of Christ covers us. And you are patient and you are internally transforming each one of us who are connected to the vine through faith in Christ. Lord, help us Lord, for those of us who are maybe here and we are true Christians, but um, Lord, we just have not been soaking in the nutrients spending time with you the way we need to. Would you help us? Maybe there's some here who are realizing they're fake Christians. Would you show them how to plug into Christ? Father? Um, there might be some people here who are just like, Nope, not a Christian.
Speaker 1 00:43:58 And I pray them. You would show, I pray that you would show them the beauty and the power that Christ has, that they were made to come home. They're made to come to Christ who is our soul's provision and protection and rest and family. Jesus, thank you for giving, not just our bodies what they need, our emotions, our relationships, but you have met the deepest need of our soul. And we admit, we have tried to get our souls need met by plugging into other vines. They are false. We see that. Thank you for inviting us back. Thank you for second chances and third chances. Thank you for your grace and thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ. We love you and we pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
