Home
Page
Creekside Evangelical
Free Church
Sermons Index Sermons & Articles
& Writings
Audio Version of This Sermon Listen Online
| |
Home
Page
Creekside Evangelical
Free Church |
|
THE
NEED TO CONNECT |
|
Lets look at
some
pictures, think about what all these pictures have in common? Ok what did
all these
pictures have in common? The answer is that they all need each
other to fulfill
their purpose. Lets turn to
John 15:1-11
and we will see another example that Jesus uses to show how there is a
need for
two things to come together! Lets start.
"I
am
the
true
vine,
and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch
in
Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears
fruit,
He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You
are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide
in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless
it abides
in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in LETS
PRAY!!!! From
my
perspective
is
the
most powerful parables
Jesus uses. But in order for us to fully understand it we need to break
it
down. The
First
thing
we
need
to understand is the
Purpose
of The Vine. Verse 1: "I
am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch
in
Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears
fruit,
He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” Jesus
describes
himself
as
the
True Vine. We
also see that Jesus shows us that Father is the Vinedresser, or
caretaker of
the Vine. The caretaker plants the vine and then takes care of it. The
Vine
doesn’t do what it wants, it does what it was planted to do. In
John
God
the
Father
by
His
love for us, Planted his
Son on Earth to be a sacrifice for our Sins. By Jesus’ Death and
resurrection
we may have life and only have it by Him. If we choose to accept Jesus,
He is
faithful to engraft us in the True Vine of Life. The purpose of the
Vine is to
Give life. Now
Jesus
states
in
Verse
1, “I am the True
Vine” In
the
book
of
John
this is the last of the 7 “I
am” statements that Jesus says. Jesus
saying
“I
am”
means
Him and only Him.
There are no substitutes to the vine, Only Jesus. He is the True Vine. The
True
Vine
is
the
supplier of everything the
branches need. The Vine supplies all the nourishment to make the
branches full,
fat and strong. The Vine is also the foundation, the unmovable center
in which
the branches can cling to. It supplies
life, then supplies everything to sustain it. But
so
much
of
us
try to find our needs met
elsewhere. When we try to find our needs met in the world, we
eventually will
realize that the world can’t sustain us. The world continues to try to
imitate
a life giving vine, but what it really is, is a invasive weed that
wants to
take you over our lives and lead us to death. For the Father is the
caretaker
of the Jesus, the True Vine, And Satan is the caretaker of the weed
which is
this World. Jesus
is
enough
for
all
of our needs! Are you
experiencing that? Are you letting Jesus fulfill you? The
Vines
Purposes
cant
be
fulfilled unless it
has branches. This After
knowing
the
purpose
of
Vine, it can now
help us understand The
Purpose
of
The
Branches The first and
most
important purpose of the branch is to be connected to the Vine. Verses 4 and
5, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot
bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you
unless
you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in
Me and I
in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” Jesus
is
the
Vine
and
we are the branches. In
verse 4 we read that we need to abide in Him. what does it mean to
abide? In
verse 4 the word abide means to remain, to be continually connected, a
never
ending process. Furthermore abide means to keep in fellowship with
Christ so
that His life can work in and through us to produce fruit. This takes
knowing
the word of God and confession of Sin so nothing is hindering your
communion
with God. The need for us to abide in Christ is great. Jesus says in
verse 5
that a part from him we can do nothing. The branches are weak and
fragile and
are nothing without the vine. And we just like those branches We are
weak, we
are broken, and we are nothing without Jesus. The
Vine
nourishes
the
branches
and holds
nothing back for itself. Jesus is the only way we will be nourished and
sustained for life. He holds nothing back to those who are connected to
Him. We
need
to
realize
our
deep need for Jesus. When
we understand that we are just branches, the better we will relate to
the Lord;
for we will know our own weaknesses and confess our need for His
strength. A
few
days
ago
I
saw a movie, and it was about a
young boy who had cancer. And this boy wrote letters to God, and these
letters
were his prayers. Through writing these letters the boy had peace about
his
sickness and showed joy through it all. This sickness that the boy had,
took a
toll on the family. The hurt that they were experiencing was
unimaginable. I
thought to myself how could you go through something like this and have
peace.
I came back to the realization that the only way to survive, to go
through the
pain of this life, is to abide in Christ, Just as that boy did. We
are
just
branches,
and
the winds and storms
of life are going to come and try to separate us from the True Vine. On
our own
we will be blown away. That’s why you need to cling so much more to
Jesus, to be
connected to him. Abide. What
things
can
you
do
to abide in Christ? Right
now
I’m
going
to
have someone come up and
tell what steps they’ve taken to abide in Christ. (Alex
shares...)
One
thing
is
to
be
connecting with God be
reading the bible! Your own personal devotions are going to be the
driving force
behind you abiding in Christ, which is going to allow you to know His
commandments. Another thing is just surrendering all your life to the
Lord.
Letting Jesus fill every part of you! The
only
way
the
Branch
will survive is if all
of the life giving nutrients that the vine has, gets to every part of
the
branch! This is the same to our relationship with Christ. The only way
will
experience the life that is in Jesus Christ, is if we continually give
Him all
of us to fill. Now
how
can
you
tell
that you’re abiding in
Christ? This
passage
gives
us
some
good signs of a life
abiding in Christ. There isn’t a special feeling but there are
evidences that
are clear and unmistakable. At
the
end
of
Verse
2 we read, “every
branch
that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit”
and also in
Verse 5 it says, “he who abides in Me
and I in him, he bears much fruit” The
first
thing
we
see
is that when we abide in
Christ we produce Fruit. Also
in
Verse
2
we
read that, “The father
prunes
so we will bear more fruit." So another evidence is that we
experience The
Fathers Pruning in our life. So
often
we
pray
“God, I want to be
more
affective for you, I want to bear fruit, Help me do that.” We
pray that without
wanting to accept the pruning process. In
Verse
7
we
read,
“If you abide in
Me, and My
words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Another
evidence
is
Answered Prayer.
As our prayers reflect our hearts desire For God and Gods will we will
experience answered prayer. Verse
9
"Just as the Father has loved
Me,
I
have also loved you; abide in My love.” also later in Verses 12
and 13 we read "This is My
commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Greater
love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
As we
abide in Christ another evidence is a deepening
of
Love
For
Christ
and other
believers The
last
thing
we
see
in this passage is in
Verse 11, “These things I have
spoken to you so that My joy may be in
you, and that your joy may be made full.”As you continue to
abide in Christ you
will be full of Joy. Lets
move
to
the
other
purpose of the Branch. It
is
to
bear
fruit! Lets
read
verse
8.
“My Father is
glorified by
this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” In
this
context
Jesus
is
talking
about His 12 disciples but this metaphor
encompasses
all believers down through the generations. The Father is Glorified
when we
bear fruit. What ways
can we bear fruit? One
way
is,
As
we
grow in Holiness and
obedience. Romans 6:22: "But now having been freed from sin and
enslaved to God, you derive
your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal
life.” we
experience the fruit of sanctification as we grow in Holiness and
obedience. Paul
in
Romans
15:28
considers
Christian
giving as fruit of a dedicated life
abiding in Christ. “Therefore, When I have finished this,
and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of
you to Also
the
fruit
of
the
spirit
is a kind of Christian character that glorifies God
and
makes Christ real to others. We
can
also
bear
fruit
by
winning others to Christ. God
has
called
us
In
Matthew
28:19 to Go Make disciples of all Nations. God
chooses
to use us to spread this Name through out the world. It’s not that God
cant do
it on his own, its that he chooses to be dependent on us to that work
of
proclaiming his name. How
is
God
going
to
reach
God
wants
to
use
to
us
to bear fruit, and much fruit. We are the branches it’s
our
purpose to bear fruit. But
there
are
two
types
of
branches. Branches
that
bear
fruit
and
Branches
that don’t bear fruit. Verse
2
states
that
Every
branch
that doesn’t bear fruit he takes away. And
Verse 6 says, “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is
thrown
away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into
the
fire and they are burned.” If
we
are
not
bearing
fruit, we are not abiding.
This is not saying that the believer will lose salvation, But Just as
an
unfruitful branch is useless, so an unfruitful believer is useless. Are
we
so
selfish,
that
we
keep to ourselves the very gift we don’t deserve
and
very gift we are called to give to others. Sharing
the
Gospel
is
not
a
duty, it’s a privilege. The amount of Joy you will
experience in sharing the Gospel and closeness to God youll experience
is
beyond what we can imagine. Another
person
is
going
to
come
up and share what they’ve experienced as they steped
out to share the Gospel. (J.D.
shares...) I
have
been
blessed
with
the
opportunity to have been a part of God using me
to
win people to Himself. Every time I have experienced someone
coming to know the
Lord, I am humbled and blown away. Being a part of something so
far beyond me
is amazing. I experience so much Joy and closeness from those
experiences that
I weep at the opportunity God gives us. All it takes is for us to
abide. So
there
are
two
types
of
Branches. Ones
that
bear
much
fruit…. And Ones
that
don’t
bear
fruit… Which
one
are
you?
Now
as
the
Vine
and
the
branch come together to bear fruit. We must understand The
purpose
of
the
Fruit.
As
believers
our
lives
are
all about God and
giving Him Glory. But producing fruit takes time and cultivation, and a
good
crop doesn’t happen overnight. So as are abiding and bearing fruit, the
Fruit
is for his Glory. For we must remember that the branches do not eat the
fruit;
others do. We are not producing fruit to
please ourselves but to serve others. The Branches bear fruit, which
proclaims
the excellence of the Vine. The fruit we bear is too give The Father
the Glory
and to show the wonders of His Son. Abiding
in
Christ
demands
worship,
meditation on
God’s word, prayer, sacrifice and service, and as we experience these
things we
experience the fullness of Joy. Abiding
in
Christ
is
our
deepest need, and as we
let Jesus fill us with all the nutrients that we need, we evermore need
to bow
down to him, and give thanks that in Him we have life. Lets pray |