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John

Jesus is the Vine, We are the Branches

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Leave the Gardening up to God

This is the final week of the “I Am” statements. Previously we discussed Jesus being the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Gate and Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, and The Way, The Truth and The Life.

As living things, we are either growing or dying. It takes intentional work to grow to our full potential. We need to be nurtured and watered. We need to have the dead parts cut away. We need a good Gardener that knows what will help us produce good fruit.

It’s the time of year when planting and gardening are happening. In the children’s message, Wilma used a small tomato plant as a visual. She spoke about how much she enjoyed tomatoes and all the different things that they could be used for. She also said how disappointed she would be if the plant didn’t produce fruit.

We don’t want to disappoint God by not producing fruit.

I know I’ve witnessed this at home, as Debby has new plants sitting in the kitchen sink being watered until she can get them planted. She’s also cutting straggling limbs from bushes and trimming the rose bush.

One of these examples is that rose bush that Debby was pruning. It was planted by my grandmother years ago. It produces a lot of beautiful flowers because it gets pruned every year.

Another example of the importance of gardening is a tree that we planted a year ago. Things had been dry, and it appeared that I hadn’t been watering it enough. When the other trees began to bud, it appeared to be dying. I amped up the watering schedule and now … it appears that it may survive. I may need to prune some dead branches that will take away from the live ones.

These things will result in better plants and a prettier yard.

In John 15:1-8, Jesus told His disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit.

Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.”

Pruning happens in our lives. We need to have the bad, unproductive things cut away. This can be painful but beneficial. It helps us produce better fruit.

Too often we try to be the gardener in our lives. We need to remember that God is the Gardener.

Jesus is The Way, The Truth and The Life

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We Can Choose to Believe This or Not

Choice is a superpower that too often gets overlooked and under used. We’ve been given free will, but more often than not, we ignore it. Too much of the time we get sucked into the perspective that this is the life I have, and I just have to deal with it.

One of the things about being human is that God has given us the ability to choose. Some may refer to this as the power of choice, but no matter how you define it, we all have free will.

When you look at what the Bible says about free will, you discover that we have the right and the ability to choose the direction we will go and what we will do. This power to choose is not something that should be considered lightly.

The power to choose is the reality there are consequences for your choices.

While many love the freedom that comes with free will and the power of choice, sometimes people don’t always want to own the ramifications that come with it.

With this reality, we need to consider what the consequences might be when making decisions. Especially when these decisions are regarding eternal life.

We can choose to believe that there is no eternal life. This choice can remove some of the pressure in our daily decisions. But what if we are going to live forever? Is this worth taking the risk of spending eternity in hell?

Looking at things from a worldly perspective removes some of the pressure of the consequences.

Looking at things from a Christ-centered perspective changes that.

In John 14:1-6, Jesus is telling His followers to trust in God and in Him. He is going to prepare a place for us, and we know the way to that place. Then from a worldly view, Thomas asks, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Old Thomas sure needed a lot of proof. But don’t we all?

Then Jesus goes on to say,

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

He didn’t say, “I am a way, a truth and a life. You can make it to God and eternity in Heaven in a whole bunch of different ways. Just pick one that works for you.”

There is no other way, no other truth, no other life.

One of the 7 Decisions in Andy Andrews book The Traveler’s Gift is the Certain Decision: I will have a decided heart.

“Truth is truth. If a thousand people believe something foolish, it is still foolish! Truth is never dependent upon consensus of opinion. I have found that is better to be alone and acting upon the truth in my heart than to follow a gaggle of silly geese doomed to mediocrity.”

I like how Andy makes this point in his book.

Things can be true and still not be “THE TRUTH”.

We encounter things every day that may be true, but not the TRUTH. When it comes to life we can choose what we believe and how we will live. These choices will have consequences.

For me … I’m going to believe that Jesus is THE ONLY WAY, THE ONLY TRUTH AND THE ONLY LIFE.

Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life

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We Would Smell Better if We Were Focused on the Right Thing

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been discussing who Jesus is. He is the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Gate and Good Shepherd. This week Jesus tells us that He is the Resurrection and the Life. (John 11:25)

Jesus makes this statement to Martha as they are talking about her brother, Lazarus, who died four days earlier. Jesus asks her if she believes her brother will rise from the dead. She says she knows that he will, in the resurrection on the last day.  (John 11:23-24) The Jews believed there would be a resurrection on the last day, but most did not realize that Jesus was the key to this.

Martha was upset that Jesus hadn’t been there sooner to prevent her brother from dying. She wanted Lazarus back now. She didn’t want to wait.

They went to Lazarus’s tomb and Jesus told them to remove the stone. Martha protested. She said,

“Lord, the smell will be awful! He’s been dead four days.”

Jesus replied, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see God’s glory?” So they removed the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.I know you always hear me. I say this for the benefit of the crowd standing here so that they will believe that you sent me.” Having said this, Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (John 11:39-43)

When Jesus was resurrected He was in His heavenly body. This was not so for the other people that Jesus raised from the dead. They all had to die again. Having to go through the struggles and pain of life a second time doesn’t sound like much fun.

However, there’s another side to this.

I think getting a second chance would make them appreciate life more.

I’m basing this on my own personal experience when I got a second chance. Back in 2012, I fell when a scaffold plank broke. I was unconscious in the hospital for three days with a severe concussion. This may not be the same thing that Lazarus experienced, but I remember nothing from those three days.

I can tell you that this second chance changed my outlook and gave me a new appreciation of life.

If we gave our spiritual lives as much attention as we do our physical lives, the world would be a different place. Just like Martha asked Jesus to raise Lazarus and He did. He will do the same for us.

God gives us free will to choose to be raised. It’s up to us what we do with that choice.

We all start out spiritually dead. We stink in our worldly sins.

Jesus is the Gate and the Good Shepherd

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And Don’t Sheep (We) Need These

We’re continuing with the “I Am” statements of Jesus this week. Today is a combination of two of these. “I am the gate and the good shepherd,” John 10:1-15.

In the Bible, sheep are used to represent people quite often and there’s a good reason for this. Having been around sheep in my childhood and then raising them as an adult … I get it.

Sheep aren’t terribly smart.

David is one of those who wrote about sheep in the Bible. After all, he had some experience with sheep having been a shepherd. He knew that the sheep needed to be penned up at night and protected from wild animals and thieves.

The only way in or out of the pen was through the gate. The shepherd had to open and close it because the sheep couldn’t. The shepherd also kept watch at the gate so thieves wouldn’t open it.

In Psalm 23, David uses this experience to give us an example of how God is our Shepherd. How He leads us down the right paths to good places. When we are in dark valleys, He will protect us.

God has our back like a shepherd.

Jesus is using these same examples when He’s talking with the Pharisees in John 10:1-15. He has just given a blind man sight on the Sabbath and the church leaders are mad at Him, because it was the Sabbath (John 9).

Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are blind and missing what’s most important. He tells them their sight is worse than the blind man’s. They aren’t seeing what’s right in front of them.

He goes on to tell them, “I assure you that whoever doesn’t enter the sheep pen through the gate but climbs over the wall is a thief and an outlaw. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The guard at the gate opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. Whenever he has gathered all of his sheep, he goes before them and they follow him, because they know his voice.” (John 10:1-5)

Jesus spoke again, “I assure you that I am the gate of the sheep. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.”

Shepherds were devoted to protecting their sheep. They would risk their lives. In 1 Samuel 17:33-37 when David offers to go face the giant, Saul tells him he is just a boy. David responds, “Your servant has kept his father’s sheep, and if ever a lion or a bear came and carried off one of the flock, I would go after it, strike it, and rescue the animal from its mouth. If it turned on me, I would grab it at its jaw, strike it, and kill it. Your servant has fought both lions and bears. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them because he has insulted the army of the living God. The Lord, who rescued me from the power of both lions and bears, will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.”

Jesus is our Gate and Shepherd.

Sheep do stupid things and so do we. So, follow the Good Shepherd.

Jesus is the Light of the World

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And We Need All the Light We Can Get

The number seven is throughout the Bible. John used seven a lot of different times in his Gospel. One of those sevens, is the seven “I Am” statements. These seven statements from Jesus are:

  1. I am the bread of life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)
  2. I am the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5)
  3. I am the door (John 10:7, 9)
  4. I am the good shepherd (John 10:11, 14)
  5. I am the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)
  6. I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)
  7. I am the vine (John 15:1, 5)

This week we’re going to focus on Jesus being the light of the world.

In John 7:1-2, it is time for the Festival of the Tabernacles. This is a Jewish holiday that lasts for seven days and is a time for giving thanks for the harvest and remembering the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness after leaving Egypt. During the holiday, many Jews build and dwell in temporary, outdoor structures called sukkot, which are meant to remind them of the Israelites’ temporary dwellings during their wilderness journey.

A part of the Festival of the Tabernacles was the celebration of light. So that people outside the temple could celebrate too. This was accomplished by lighting fires in bowls filled with oil on top of tall 30′-40′ poles. These poles would light the whole city.

It serves as a reminder of the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and hope over despair. By understanding the history and traditions associated with this festival, we can gain insight into how to navigate our own lives with faith, courage, and perseverance.

Like the number seven, light is also prevalent in the Bible. The Book of John starts out quoting Genesis:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man named John who was sent from God. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created through Him, yet the world did not recognize Him.” John 1:1-10

Think of how dark it would have been two thousand years ago before electricity. The world needed light. The fires on the poles gave light, but it was not THE LIGHT. The world today needs THE LIGHT.

A great example of light and how it works is the sun, moon, and earth. The earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth. The sun is the source of our natural light. Neither the earth nor the moon creates any light. The moon’s light is a reflection of the sun’s light. A full moon is really bright and lights things up.

Jesus is our “Son” and the source of our spiritual light. When we are full, we can share the light of the Son and brighten people’s dark lives.

Jesus is the LIGHT of the world, and we should reflect that light.

Don’t Get Caught Up in the World

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There’s so Much More Out There

It makes sense that we get caught up in the world. It’s where we live and what we know. Every day we take part in it. If we’re not careful, it’s where our awareness stops. It becomes all we focus on.

I’m not saying we should abandon the world. What I am saying is that we need to balance the physical world we live in daily, and the Spiritual world of God and eternity.

This morning on Albert Mohler’s, The Briefing, he talked about how humans make decisions. Either by rational thinking or intuition and sometimes the answer isn’t as rational as you might think.

This podcast was focused on the Nobel Prize winning economist and author of the 2011 book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman’s assisted suicide. Mohler’s question was why would someone so intelligent make such a decision? He concluded that it was due to Kahneman’s belief that this world is all that there is, and he wanted control over his death.

This kind of thinking is worldly.

In Matthew 21:1-11, Jesus sends two of His disciples to a village to get a donkey. He tells them where they will find a donkey and her colt. If anyone asks, the disciples are to say, “The Lord needs him,” and they will be okay with it.

The disciples went and did as Jesus instructed them.

Jesus knew there would be a donkey and where it would be. He knew that anyone who asked would be okay with them taking the donkeys. He also knew that people would celebrate His arrival when He rode the donkey into Jerusalem.

They thought He was a king that was going to come in and take over. If they were His followers they would be rewarded in a worldly way.

The problem is that the people were looking at this from a worldly perspective.

They missed the point.

Too often, we do the same thing. We get focused on our daily routines and lives and neglect the eternal.

It shouldn’t be all one or the other. There should be a balance of both. In John 17:16-26, we are told to live in the world, not get caught up with it. The world shouldn’t be our focus. God and the eternal should be.

What’s Your Greatest Treasure?

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It’ll Be Best If It Isn’t Monetary

What is most important to you? Is it money, your job, family, social status, recognition from your peers? Not any of these things are bad or unimportant. We need to be clear on what our priorities are.

In the children’s message, Jim Miller shared a math problem that puts things into perspective. GOOD minus the letters G O D leaves a big fat zero.

Life without GOD leaves us with nothing.

In John 12:1-8, Mary got it. She poured a whole bottle of expensive oil on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. When she did this Judas was mad. He thought this was a waste. We’re talking about an amount equal to a year’s wages. In today’s dollars, this would have been a bottle of oil, worth almost $60,000.

This helps us see where Judas’ heart was and where Mary’s was.

Last week we talked about how the disciples were blind to how Jesus was going to rule. They were looking at things from a worldly perspective … not a Spiritual one.

The actions of Mary in today’s Scripture would have been scandalous then. A woman would not be out in public with her hair down, would not approach a man, let alone touch one. Mary did all these things.

Mary was focused on Jesus. She understood who Jesus is. This is the third time she was at His feet. She didn’t pour out a few drops of oil.

She poured out all that she had.

We need to pour out all that we have on Jesus. As we pour over Jesus, He will pour over us.

Mary gave her greatest treasure to the Greatest Treasure.

We need to do the same thing. We need to give all that we have and all that we are to God.