WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.580 Please turn back to John 15 and the passage that was read for us. 00:00:08.120 --> 00:00:11.359 Let's pray one more time as we come to God's word. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:18.820 Our Father, in these moments we pray that you would speak 00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:23.679 ! And that we would listen and that by your Holy Spirit you would do your work in us. 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:27.519 Because we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:36.519 Rebecca Louise Law is an artist who creates amazing, detailed, intricate, colorful works 00:00:36.519 --> 00:00:41.640 with dried flowers. And a while back she had an installation in Kew Gardens that she titled 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:46.960 Life in Death. And she talked about the exhibition. She said this, 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:51.260 Every flower will be dried, preserved, and entwined with suspended copper wire, 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:57.219 creating a physical journey through flowers beyond fresh and preserving life within 00:00:57.219 --> 00:01:05.480 death. It was so impressive and it looked beautiful. But there wasn't any real life. 00:01:06.219 --> 00:01:10.200 Everything that was on show was actually dead. 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:17.759 Of course, there's a real danger that something similar can be true when it comes to our lives. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:24.980 They look good on the outside. They can even look beautiful and impressive. But actually, there's no life. 00:01:25.939 --> 00:01:31.680 On the inside, there's no power. There's no growth. There's no ability to change. 00:01:33.640 --> 00:01:38.020 Sometimes we wake up to this fact, and it feels to me that there's a lot of people at this particular 00:01:38.020 --> 00:01:43.400 moment in our culture that are looking around and are getting quite depressed about the way things are, 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:50.920 and so beginning to look inside and waking up to the fact that their lives might look great on the 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:55.480 outside according to whatever metric they were aiming for, but there's nothing going on in there. 00:01:56.300 --> 00:02:03.020 It's like the lights are on, but there's nobody really home. No life. No power to grow. No change. 00:02:03.960 --> 00:02:08.000 And so then, there's a move to make lots of changes with their lives. 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:16.199 We introduce various disciplines. We get routines—reading, meditating, exercise, diet, sleep, hygiene, 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:21.520 that's a thing—getting off our screens. All of those things, people are swearing by them 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:27.000 at this particular cultural moment, and people are giving themselves wholly to them. They're good 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:32.960 things to do, and they help us get ourselves together. But in the end, the truth is that they 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:41.159 don't have any real vitality. They don't have the life, the power that we need to change on the inside 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:48.420 in any lasting sense. They don't ultimately change our character, and they don't deliver that quality 00:02:48.420 --> 00:02:55.159 that always, always, always seems to elude us, no matter how hard we try. That quality—joy. 00:02:55.159 --> 00:03:02.000 It is possible to have lives that look the part on the outside, but underneath that veneer, 00:03:02.099 --> 00:03:10.219 things are lifeless and fruitless and desperately lacking joy. And this is why what Jesus promises 00:03:10.219 --> 00:03:17.539 us in John 15 this morning is so wonderful. He says it is possible—there we are—he says it is 00:03:17.539 --> 00:03:23.680 possible to have a fruitful life. Do you notice as it was read? Bear fruit, bear fruit, bear fruit, 00:03:23.680 --> 00:03:30.219 bear much fruit. And then have a look at verse 11, John 15, verse 11, these things I have spoken to 00:03:30.219 --> 00:03:39.580 you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. Fullness of joy. That's what's held 00:03:39.580 --> 00:03:45.719 out to us here. This is where Jesus goes next with His disciples in the upper room. He's looking ahead 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:52.840 to His death. He says that a fruitful, joyful life is possible. This is what His hour will accomplish 00:03:52.840 --> 00:03:59.020 as He dies, rises, returns to the Father, and as we heard last time, sends His Spirit. 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:07.960 But it's not only possible. The fruitful life is not only possible. Jesus commands it of the 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:14.539 disciples. Verse 16, have a look. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear 00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:23.279 fruit, that your fruit should abide. So the opposite of the life-in-death installation at Kew Gardens, 00:04:23.459 --> 00:04:29.240 Christians are to be fruitful. Churches are to be fruitful. And to be specific, since Jesus has just 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:35.139 spoken about the Holy Spirit in chapter 14, I think what He's talking about here in terms of fruit 00:04:35.139 --> 00:04:40.759 is the fruit of God's Spirit. The fruit that the Apostle Paul outlines in Galatians chapter 5, 00:04:40.759 --> 00:04:47.480 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. A fruitful 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:53.379 Christian, a fruitful church, is one that is obviously marked by those lovely qualities. And let's be 00:04:53.379 --> 00:05:01.019 honest, who among us doesn't want more of those things? Who among us doesn't want to embody those 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:07.659 things more and more? Love, joy, peace. Who among us doesn't want to be a kinder person, or more in 00:05:07.660 --> 00:05:15.080 control of our appetites? These are beautiful things. And the way that we get this, the way that 00:05:15.080 --> 00:05:22.040 this happens, is what Jesus explains here. And He uses His own horticultural metaphor. It's definitely 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:29.860 not life and death. It is life in all its fullness. And this metaphor has a rich significance in the life 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:36.360 of Israel. It is the vine metaphor. It comes from the Old Testament, particularly Psalm 80, that was used 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:43.939 to describe Israel as the nation chosen by God to bear rich fruit, to be connected to God and to be 00:05:43.939 --> 00:05:49.240 obeying God, and therefore to live lives that displayed this. God was to be the source of their 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:54.439 life, and His love and His power would be flowing through them and would show the surrounding nations 00:05:54.439 --> 00:06:00.980 what it looked like to flourish and what it looked like to be fruitful under the reign, under the rule 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:08.640 of Yahweh, their God. And of course, to anyone from the other nations looking on, anyone who saw this 00:06:08.640 --> 00:06:16.080 fruitful life and wanted to be in on it, they too could come under His blessing. They would turn from 00:06:16.080 --> 00:06:21.720 their gods, submit themselves to the God of Israel, Yahweh, the one true and living God, and they'd be 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:30.040 grafted in then to the vine of Israel. All of the blessing of God was found in relation to that special 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:38.000 covenant people. And now here is Jesus telling these first century Jews that He is the true vine. 00:06:38.620 --> 00:06:47.620 Verse 1, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. The place of blessing, the place of joy 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:53.600 and fruitfulness is no longer found in old covenant Israel, the temple and the priests and the sacrifices. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:07:00.400 It is found in Jesus. He is the way and the truth and the life, as we heard last time. And the way to 00:07:00.400 --> 00:07:05.620 the Father is not through the old covenant structures, but through the one to whom those structures pointed. 00:07:06.900 --> 00:07:12.620 Life in all its fullness isn't found in a particular religious or national identity. It is found in 00:07:12.620 --> 00:07:23.939 relationship with Him, being connected to Him, grafted into, united to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:07:24.540 --> 00:07:31.120 He is the true vine. His followers are the branches that flow from Him, bearing the lasting fruit of His 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:37.340 Spirit. And Jesus is clear that this fruitfulness is the essence of plain, ordinary discipleship. You 00:07:37.339 --> 00:07:44.139 talk about these things, and it could sound like this is where we need to get to. There's a level 00:07:44.139 --> 00:07:48.939 that we need to get to. Super Christian, they are the ones that bear this fruit. No, that's not the 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:55.839 case at all. Jesus is clear. This fruitfulness is the essence of plain, ordinary discipleship. There 00:07:55.839 --> 00:08:02.459 aren't fruitful Christians and then the rest of us. Having His life at work in you is how you show that 00:08:02.459 --> 00:08:08.859 you belong to Him. Verse 8, 15 verse 8, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, 00:08:08.979 --> 00:08:15.419 and so prove to be my disciples. If you're a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are to be fruitful. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:24.159 They go together. What we do in order to bear this fruit is the main concern of this section. 00:08:24.959 --> 00:08:28.879 That's what I want to focus on. So, the fruitful life, this beautiful, 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:36.059 fruitful life that honors God, that is true human flourishing. What do we do? First of all, 00:08:37.299 --> 00:08:45.600 we abide in Jesus. Verse 4, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:52.240 unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. Verse 5, Whoever abides in me, 00:08:52.240 --> 00:09:01.259 and I in him. He it is that bears much fruit. There are some ten references to abiding in Jesus in 00:09:01.259 --> 00:09:08.580 verses 4 to 11. Abiding isn't a word that we use too much today, but it simply means to stay, 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:17.259 to remain. If the disciples will persevere, they must remain connected to Jesus. Abide in Jesus. 00:09:17.259 --> 00:09:27.179 Stay with Him. Don't look anywhere else. There are plenty of alternative vines around that promise us 00:09:27.179 --> 00:09:34.299 their own versions of fruitfulness. In the context in which Jesus is speaking, religion would have been 00:09:34.299 --> 00:09:43.220 one of the vines that would have turned the heads of His disciples. The idea that if they went that way, 00:09:43.220 --> 00:09:47.899 away from Him, they didn't stay with Him, but they went that way with the religious order of things, 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:53.720 the ones that were claiming to be the real people of God, well, that's where life would be found, 00:09:53.779 --> 00:09:57.920 and it's no different today. There are all kinds of religions that hold out their promises. 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:04.639 Spirituality is big in our day, but it could be anything. It could be wellness. That's a vine that's 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:09.960 drawing people after it. Money is very common, but as I say, it could be anything. Marriage, 00:10:09.960 --> 00:10:17.280 family, or maybe for you teenagers, popularity. That's a big vine. That's something that's holding 00:10:17.280 --> 00:10:23.940 out a promise of life and fullness. If you could be popular, we think to ourselves, if I give myself 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:29.660 to these things, if I abide in these things, their power will flood my life and the fruit that I want 00:10:29.660 --> 00:10:39.440 will show up. But they never deliver because they can't. Only God can bring life and joy to the human 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:46.740 soul. Only the one who made us can do that. Of course, for a time, these vines can look a bit like 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:54.480 Christmas trees do in mid-December. They look green and sappy and nicely decorated on the outside. 00:10:55.740 --> 00:11:03.660 But mid-January always rolls around. The tree is dry and sparse by then. The moment that that tree 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:08.879 is cut, it is dying, it is dying. And it is the same for us when we are not connected to the true vine. 00:11:08.959 --> 00:11:15.819 It doesn't matter what decorations we can cover ourselves with. The truth is, apart from the true 00:11:15.819 --> 00:11:25.439 vine, we're always dying. Mid-January will always roll around. So, we must resist the lure of these 00:11:25.439 --> 00:11:31.480 other vines, these other visions of the good life that are held out to us in order to abide in Jesus. 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:39.639 He must be our priority. Now, we need to admit our frustration with this. 00:11:40.980 --> 00:11:47.100 The fruitful life comes through closeness to Jesus, and you can't get that by pressing a button. You 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:53.460 can't get that by downloading an app. It's a posture into which you lean for your whole life. 00:11:54.600 --> 00:12:01.060 You lean your whole life into it for your whole life. And that's frustrating, especially in a culture 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:06.059 where everything is so quick and instant. And we're promised five quick steps, and this will transform 00:12:06.059 --> 00:12:18.279 your life. It doesn't work that way. Abiding in Jesus is a slow, long-term commitment. And some 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:23.719 people reject Jesus completely because following Him is too hard. Following Him, it seems, is inconvenient. 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:29.060 And we're led to think that the life transformation we want must be more enjoyable or easier to find 00:12:29.060 --> 00:12:38.240 elsewhere. Those five easy steps are very attractive to us. But it doesn't. Just look around. If you think 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:44.879 this promise of a fruitful life that's held out by abiding in the true vine who is Jesus, 00:12:45.820 --> 00:12:49.879 if you think that that just sounds too long and slow and boring and difficult, 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:56.559 when you look at the fruit of the alternatives, what do those alternatives deliver? We don't look 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:02.039 or feel much like a culture, do we? Despite all the resources at our disposal, we don't look like a 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:07.740 culture that is able to grow in love and joy and peace. We don't look like a culture that is getting 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:15.500 its appetites more under control. Goodness doesn't seem to be a quality that is in rich supply in our day. 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:22.360 The fruitfulness that we want is only found in Jesus. So let me ask you this morning, 00:13:22.500 --> 00:13:25.960 have you connected your life to the true vine? 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:35.820 Have you turned from your sin? Have you given your life to Jesus, the only one in whom there is life 00:13:35.820 --> 00:13:44.920 that is truly life? And if you have done that, as I suspect most of us here this morning have, 00:13:45.760 --> 00:13:48.460 can I ask you, is Jesus your priority? 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:59.120 Is He your priority? This connection is how these first disciples will persevere. This connection 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:05.259 to Jesus. It is how we keep going. It is how we remain fruitful. Apart from Him, look at verse 5, 00:14:05.500 --> 00:14:10.519 apart from Him, we can do nothing. Now, that doesn't mean, of course, we can do nothing whatsoever. 00:14:11.139 --> 00:14:18.340 It means nothing of any lasting fruitfulness. Whether we're individuals or churches, we cannot be fruitful 00:14:18.340 --> 00:14:22.299 if we're not remaining in the One who is the source of that fruit. 00:14:22.299 --> 00:14:33.439 Fruitfulness, first of all, requires us to abide in Jesus. Then secondly, it requires us, verse 2, 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:41.019 to accept the Father's pruning. To accept the Father's pruning. Every branch in me that does not 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:48.719 bear fruit, He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes that it may bear more fruit. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:59.560 But, Louisa, my wife, she likes gardening. Me, not so much. But I do know this. I know that pruning the 00:14:59.560 --> 00:15:04.080 shrubs and the bushes at the right time is an essential part of encouraging them to grow. 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:11.080 It's exactly the same in the Christian life. Fruitless branches get cut off and thrown away, 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:18.100 but the fruitful ones, the ones that are bearing fruit, they get pruned. It's literally, they get 00:15:18.100 --> 00:15:27.019 clean in order that they would grow and bear more fruit. Do you notice that it's not the ones that 00:15:27.019 --> 00:15:33.240 aren't bearing fruit that get pruned. They're dead. It is the ones that are fruitful that get pruned 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:40.440 in order that more fruit will grow. The cold, hard truth of the matter is that it is the pruning that 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:46.360 leads to the fruitfulness. The painful cutting back, removing things from our lives, 00:15:46.360 --> 00:15:54.700 is the means by which God creates the fruit. So, we should accept that. We should lean into that. 00:15:56.419 --> 00:15:58.940 Some of you are questioning what is going on in your life, 00:15:59.980 --> 00:16:04.779 the struggles that you have, the difficulties that you face, the painful experience that you're enduring, 00:16:04.779 --> 00:16:15.259 and you resent that. Why did this relationship get derailed? Why did I lose my job? Why this? Why that? 00:16:15.339 --> 00:16:21.559 What is God doing? What is He doing? What are you doing in my life? I know some of you feel like 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:27.899 crying that out. Some of you do that. In all that's going on, whether it's something good that has been 00:16:27.899 --> 00:16:36.019 taken away from you or something that you've enjoyed, but it wasn't good for you, and so the Lord took it 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:42.799 away, what is going on is the Father is pruning you. And He's pruning you because He has more and better 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:55.479 spiritual fruit that He wants to bear out of your life. In all of this, don't ignore verse 9. 00:16:56.299 --> 00:17:06.419 Whatever you are struggling with, don't ignore verse 9. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. 00:17:06.420 --> 00:17:13.420 The Lord Jesus loves you. The Lord loves you. The Lord loves you. The Lord loves you. The Lord loves 00:17:13.420 --> 00:17:18.779 us. We think that He's punishing us. We think that He doesn't care. We think that He's hurting us in 00:17:18.779 --> 00:17:25.840 some way. He's not being kind. He doesn't love us. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:32.019 The Lord Jesus loves you the way the Father loves the Son. Whatever you are experiencing, however 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:40.259 you feel tempted to think that God is not being good to you, it simply cannot be the case. 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:45.539 In His love and care for you, He is pruning you in order that you would be more fruitful. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:52.339 When you think about it like that, doesn't that completely reframe those trials? 00:17:53.000 --> 00:18:01.220 In fact, it covers those trials with hope. Abiding in Jesus brings about the Father's work in our lives, 00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:04.240 and the pruning is designed to make us more fruitful. 00:18:07.600 --> 00:18:12.000 Stop to think about it for a moment. It's astonishing. Can you believe that the God of all the earth, 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:23.140 the God who breathed the cosmos into being with a Word, is involved in your life, growing you. 00:18:23.140 --> 00:18:30.580 He's pruning away all that's not His will for your life, or all that isn't bearing good fruit. 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:37.700 That pruning is undoubtedly painful, but what's left when He cuts those things away is more Christ-like, 00:18:38.660 --> 00:18:41.560 and therefore it's more human, and it's more beautiful. 00:18:41.559 --> 00:18:45.039 It's the better version of you. 00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:53.179 If your circumstances are difficult and not changing, God is allowing this in order to change you, 00:18:53.419 --> 00:18:55.159 rather than change your circumstances. 00:18:55.339 --> 00:19:00.319 So often, when things are difficult, we want the circumstances to change, and that's totally understandable. 00:19:00.639 --> 00:19:03.200 But what happens when the circumstances don't change? 00:19:03.460 --> 00:19:06.259 Well, what's happening there is that God is working to change you, 00:19:06.259 --> 00:19:12.680 rather than your circumstances, because He wants fruit that lasts, and that takes time. 00:19:14.440 --> 00:19:17.920 And even though it is painful, the result will be worth it. 00:19:18.180 --> 00:19:20.440 It's always worth it. 00:19:22.059 --> 00:19:27.500 And the fruitful life comes through accepting and not resisting and not resenting the Father's pruning. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:33.000 Abide in Jesus. Accept the Father's pruning. 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:39.119 And then thirdly, fruitful life, we must also heed Jesus' words. 00:19:39.880 --> 00:19:41.819 Heed Jesus' words. 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:45.920 Verse 7, if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish. 00:19:46.299 --> 00:19:50.180 Verse 10, if you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love. 00:19:51.019 --> 00:19:55.160 Verse 14, you are My friends if you do what I command you. 00:19:57.779 --> 00:20:00.140 Jesus' word is the entry point of the Christian life. 00:20:00.140 --> 00:20:04.140 We are joined to the vine and cleansed through hearing the gospel word. 00:20:04.340 --> 00:20:09.580 Through hearing that Jesus is God's King, who has come to deal with your sin in His death and resurrection. 00:20:10.200 --> 00:20:15.900 If you have ears to hear that word, and you understand that you have lived on your terms in God's world, 00:20:16.040 --> 00:20:22.120 and Jesus is your only hope, and if you turn to Him and put your sin behind you, 00:20:22.180 --> 00:20:25.300 turn to Him and put your faith in Him, then you are clean. 00:20:25.299 --> 00:20:29.619 Clean is the word that Jesus pronounces over you. 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:33.299 Sins forgiven, conscience cleansed, guilt removed. 00:20:34.119 --> 00:20:37.579 That is the wonderful news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:20:37.899 --> 00:20:41.919 That is what Jesus offers our dried up life and death world. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:49.380 And if you haven't received this salvation for yourself, don't wait another moment. 00:20:50.140 --> 00:20:53.060 Please, let me encourage you, do not wait another moment longer. 00:20:53.500 --> 00:20:56.420 Call on Christ's name and He will save you. 00:20:56.840 --> 00:20:57.759 He will clean you. 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:01.980 Sins forgiven, conscience cleansed, guilt removed. 00:21:01.980 --> 00:21:07.740 We don't just come to Christ by His word. 00:21:08.539 --> 00:21:10.599 We go on in Christ the same way. 00:21:10.740 --> 00:21:17.420 Verse 7, verse 7, the connection between remaining in Jesus and having His word remain in us is synonymous. 00:21:17.640 --> 00:21:21.299 We remain in Jesus by having His word remain in us. 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:25.380 It's the same in verses 9 and 10. 00:21:25.380 --> 00:21:29.180 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. 00:21:29.300 --> 00:21:30.020 Abide in my love. 00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:33.260 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. 00:21:36.120 --> 00:21:37.900 How do we abide in His love? 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:39.860 We do it by keeping His commandments. 00:21:41.420 --> 00:21:44.500 Remaining in the love of God is not some mystical feeling. 00:21:45.360 --> 00:21:50.740 It comes through hearing God's word and responding in obedience to what it says. 00:21:51.300 --> 00:21:52.880 Hearing it and doing it. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.120 God always initiates. 00:21:56.020 --> 00:21:57.600 And that initiative comes through His word. 00:21:57.720 --> 00:21:59.340 But we must respond. 00:21:59.460 --> 00:22:00.740 So there are two aspects to this. 00:22:00.820 --> 00:22:03.200 God speaking and us responding. 00:22:03.940 --> 00:22:05.800 So can I start by asking you. 00:22:06.020 --> 00:22:08.380 Are you listening to God's voice? 00:22:09.160 --> 00:22:11.620 This is assumed here, but it is worth making clear. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:17.100 In any relationship, if we are not hearing the other party speak, we can't know what they want. 00:22:18.300 --> 00:22:20.820 We can't really even say that we know them. 00:22:20.819 --> 00:22:26.439 If you are not listening to somebody else in a relationship, you can't say that you know them. 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:32.119 You can't really say that that relationship is meaningful in any way if there is no listening to the communication. 00:22:33.159 --> 00:22:37.159 Abiding in Jesus means opening our Bibles and listening to what He says. 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:44.240 On our own, leading our wives, round the family table, in small groups, listening to God's word. 00:22:45.399 --> 00:22:47.179 That is implicit in what is said here. 00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:48.740 The second aspect is explicit. 00:22:49.140 --> 00:22:50.539 Hearing the word isn't sufficient. 00:22:52.360 --> 00:22:53.779 We must also heed it. 00:22:55.019 --> 00:22:58.019 We must also respond in obedience to what it says. 00:22:58.180 --> 00:23:02.720 If you keep my commandments, Jesus says. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:09.580 And it's ongoing, the sense that if you go on keeping my commandments, go on doing these things. 00:23:09.579 --> 00:23:16.519 We will never be fruitful if we merely hear God's word. 00:23:17.379 --> 00:23:21.559 James' epistle, James' epistle told us that last term. 00:23:21.679 --> 00:23:24.559 Bible knowledge should never be an end in itself. 00:23:26.159 --> 00:23:31.639 If you love the Bible like we do here at this church, you can easily think that this is the case. 00:23:31.699 --> 00:23:33.679 That Bible knowledge is an end in itself. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:41.060 We can think to ourselves, well, if we just get more of the right information, that will then make us more godly. 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:48.380 But God's word is given to us so that in the power of the Holy Spirit, we live out the truth that we learn. 00:23:48.380 --> 00:23:55.080 You have never been able to access more Bible content than you can today. 00:23:56.080 --> 00:24:01.080 The vast majority of people that God has used through the history of His church, 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:09.280 your spiritual heroes in the past, the vast majority of them had a fraction of the content that we can access. 00:24:09.420 --> 00:24:11.980 The Reformers didn't have access to Bible software. 00:24:12.460 --> 00:24:17.540 Calvin could only have imagined what sort of scholarship is available to you in a device in your pocket. 00:24:18.380 --> 00:24:22.080 But are we more godly for that privilege? 00:24:22.660 --> 00:24:23.780 I don't think so. 00:24:25.060 --> 00:24:28.560 Because the goal of godliness isn't accumulating more information. 00:24:29.100 --> 00:24:34.600 It is to heed it and to apply it to your life and then live it out. 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:42.800 The person who flourishes, the one who is fruitful and who knows the joy of the Lord, 15 verse 11, 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:55.319 isn't the person that's simply binging on theology, but the person who abiding in Jesus allows His words to take hold of their heart and take root in their life. 00:24:55.319 --> 00:25:03.399 And you know when this happens because you can see it. 00:25:06.099 --> 00:25:15.439 So, Jesus' word, if you're a Christian, Jesus' word to you is that you are clean and you are loved. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:20.720 You are cleansed from all of your sin and that He loves you. 00:25:22.120 --> 00:25:24.259 Now, if you merely hear that word, 00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:34.799 your life will be marked by the anxiety and striving to prove yourself and all of the insecurity that comes with that that we see in our culture. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:41.919 If you simply hear that, it won't have any lasting change on your heart. 00:25:42.299 --> 00:25:44.419 And your life will show the fruit of that. 00:25:45.460 --> 00:25:56.279 If you heed it, your life will be marked by peace and the sort of joy that comes even through trials and hard times from abiding in Jesus. 00:25:57.819 --> 00:25:59.859 More explicit than that, look at verse 12. 00:25:59.859 --> 00:26:05.779 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:13.899 You can see when someone heeds Jesus' words because they reflect His love for others. 00:26:15.099 --> 00:26:20.240 In the economy of the gospel, life is gained by giving it away. 00:26:22.419 --> 00:26:25.479 Real life comes to us through serving. 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.940 As it was for Christ, so it is for His followers. 00:26:30.640 --> 00:26:33.960 Now, if you just hear that word, you'll be able to talk about it, 00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:41.500 but your life will look like those around you as you pursue the good life according to how London defines the good life. 00:26:42.440 --> 00:26:45.319 And your Christianity will be squeezed in around the edges. 00:26:45.700 --> 00:26:51.539 If you heed that word, you'll die to yourself and you'll give your life in love for the sake of others. 00:26:51.539 --> 00:26:52.579 And you can see that. 00:26:56.500 --> 00:26:57.819 But of course, here's the thing. 00:26:59.460 --> 00:27:00.159 Here's the thing. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:02.519 You can't simply think yourself into that state. 00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:07.799 You can't grit your teeth and try really hard to keep Jesus' commandments. 00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:14.419 So, what we have to do is go back to verse 9 and get what it says there into our bloodstream. 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:19.000 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:21.859 Abide in my love. 00:27:23.259 --> 00:27:25.720 So, how has the Father loved the Son? 00:27:27.379 --> 00:27:29.559 What is the love of the Holy Trinity like? 00:27:30.659 --> 00:27:31.099 Perfect. 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:32.419 Full. 00:27:33.579 --> 00:27:33.980 Overflowing. 00:27:33.980 --> 00:27:39.200 Well, Jesus says that it is that love that flows down to the Christian. 00:27:40.059 --> 00:27:42.839 It is that love that defines who you are. 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:50.940 So, when He says, abide in my love, that's the love that He's saying to abide in. 00:27:51.299 --> 00:27:56.220 He's not saying, it's not a, alright, got to try really hard to abide in His love here. 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:00.720 Going to have to grit my teeth to really abide. 00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:03.960 I'm going to have to really try hard to stay in that love. 00:28:04.059 --> 00:28:04.319 No. 00:28:05.100 --> 00:28:11.819 It's, really, I get to rest in the abundance of this love. 00:28:13.120 --> 00:28:21.059 I get to identify, according to that verdict on my life, clean, loved. 00:28:21.059 --> 00:28:23.579 Yes, you do. 00:28:25.659 --> 00:28:27.980 In fact, Jesus pushes the point a step further. 00:28:28.099 --> 00:28:28.919 Look down at 15. 00:28:30.339 --> 00:28:32.519 No longer do I call you servants. 00:28:33.159 --> 00:28:37.700 Because this love has flown down to the believer. 00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:42.419 No longer do I call you servants. 00:28:42.500 --> 00:28:44.460 For the servant does not know what his master is doing. 00:28:44.519 --> 00:28:45.779 But I have called you friends. 00:28:48.019 --> 00:28:50.220 Jesus considers you one of His friends. 00:28:50.220 --> 00:28:56.640 And the word is a strong word that might describe a really, really, really close friend. 00:28:58.660 --> 00:29:08.039 When I was growing up in our house, we had a main front door that was, for the most part, open during the day. 00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:11.079 And then there was a second door, and it was open as well. 00:29:11.700 --> 00:29:14.140 And so the main door was kind of pushed ajar. 00:29:14.519 --> 00:29:17.279 And when people would arrive, they'd knock the inside door. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:18.139 But it wasn't locked. 00:29:18.660 --> 00:29:24.139 So if somebody wanted to come and visit, they would press the bell or they would knock, and we would let them in. 00:29:24.299 --> 00:29:27.420 But good friends knew that the door was open. 00:29:28.539 --> 00:29:30.980 And so they would come in and let themselves in. 00:29:31.899 --> 00:29:34.720 And they would be welcomed with open arms. 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:39.360 That is how Jesus treats us when we abide in Him. 00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:41.759 He welcomes us. 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:43.120 The door is open. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:47.700 That is the love that we're called to abide in. 00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:54.019 That is the love that we're called to remain in and be defined by. 00:29:54.019 --> 00:29:59.519 I think a failure at this point is the reason that we're drawn to the other vines that we're drawn to. 00:30:00.879 --> 00:30:03.859 We don't genuinely believe that God likes us. 00:30:04.720 --> 00:30:13.200 We don't genuinely believe Jesus when He says that we're His friends and that we're welcome and that He loves us with a love that is perfect and overflowing. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:16.120 And so we look elsewhere for our acceptance. 00:30:16.620 --> 00:30:24.360 We think somewhere else will be the place where we'll get joy and satisfaction rather than the source of this beautiful and unshakable love. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:34.840 All of the other vines that we go after in our culture, all of the other things that draw us to them, they do that because they promise us something. 00:30:35.279 --> 00:30:42.100 And for the most part, if you're to dig down, if you're to dig down beneath the promises that are on the surface, they promise us love and acceptance. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:44.600 They promise us belonging. 00:30:46.100 --> 00:30:48.279 If we have this thing, we'll be part of this group. 00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:52.259 If we have this level of popularity, we'll be accepted over here. 00:30:52.299 --> 00:30:54.580 It's all about love and acceptance in the end. 00:30:58.779 --> 00:31:00.039 Well, look at John 15. 00:31:00.220 --> 00:31:01.360 You're not a hired hand. 00:31:02.440 --> 00:31:04.059 You have that love and acceptance. 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:11.440 You're not a hired hand who doesn't know what the boss wants and just waits around to be kind of given instructions. 00:31:11.900 --> 00:31:12.480 Go and do this. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:13.180 Go and do that. 00:31:14.940 --> 00:31:20.099 God has drawn you into fellowship with Him and He wants you to abide in His love and know that you are His friend. 00:31:22.140 --> 00:31:24.539 He wants you to enjoy friendship with Him. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:31.380 And it is as we grow in our awareness of that that we will abide in that love more and more. 00:31:32.839 --> 00:31:37.180 We will abide in it because we know that we're welcome there and we know that it's good for us. 00:31:37.180 --> 00:31:43.779 And we'll embrace the pruning for our good because we know it's going to bear more fruit in the long run. 00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:47.519 And we'll heed and we'll go on heeding Christ's words. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:51.420 And then we'll have the fruitful life that God desires for us. 00:31:53.059 --> 00:31:53.859 Go to Jesus. 00:31:54.059 --> 00:31:54.579 Stay in Him. 00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:58.220 Accept what the Father is doing in your life, however painful it might be. 00:31:58.779 --> 00:32:00.500 Know that He's going to cultivate more fruit. 00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:02.019 And listen to Jesus' word. 00:32:02.420 --> 00:32:03.240 Do what it says. 00:32:03.240 --> 00:32:04.900 That's where joy is. 00:32:05.380 --> 00:32:06.620 That's where fruitfulness is. 00:32:07.180 --> 00:32:08.019 Let's pray together.