Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Vine and the Branches | Ep. 297 | Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Sometimes, our lives can change course with just a few words. To illustrate this, Jesus explained to His disciples that He was the true vine. For them to live the full life He wanted for them, they needed to remain in Him. The job of the branch is just to stay connected and bear fruit, but it cannot do that apart from the vine. Imagine how God could work in and through you when you remain in Him. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, what's up, everybody? Thanks for joining us on the Daily Drive. We spend just a few minutes Monday through Friday unpacking some truth, some wisdom, some hope from God's word, and we are wrapping up our journey through the Gospel of John this week leading up to Easter. And we're going to be looking at some of the final words that Jesus had to say to his disciples and to us. You know, I said a few episodes ago that if you have one of those Bibles with the words of Jesus printed in red, you will see that John, chapter 14 through 17 to pretty much solid red. He had a lot to say. So I would encourage you to read it for yourself this week, but I would just like to highlight a few sections. And today, we might go just a little longer

than usual six or seven minutes we do here as we focus on just three words. Jesus said are life changing. You know, sometimes it only takes a few words to make a lasting impact. Now, you might hear an amazing, you know, 18-minute TED Talk, or a 30-minute sermon, or a hour-long podcast, or you might read an incredible 500-page novel or see a thought-provoking post on social media, and it completely changes your perspective on something. But sometimes, all it takes is like just three words. There's power and some three-word phrases like, I love you. I was wrong. I am sorry. Please forgive me. You just flunked. You just passed. The chemo worked one year sober. God is good. don't call me, I'll call you, you've been blocked, we are pregnant, we're having triplets,

we are broke, sometimes it's just three words that can make a lasting impact, but none quite like these three words from the lips of Jesus, remain in me. John here in chapter 15 writes down how that night in the upper room, Jesus gave them these three words, and he did it by using the imagery of a vine and branches, which were prevalent in Israel, vineyards all over the valleys and hillsides. In fact, the nation of Israel was known to the people of Jesus' day as the vine. And so Jesus tells us, guys, things are changing. I am the true vine. Actually, I always have been, but now a place is being replaced by a person. And then he gives them these three words, remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the

vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me and I and them will produce much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. He's saying, guys, if you want to live a life of power, if you want to live with a sense of completeness, purpose, and deep satisfaction, if you want to produce fruit that leaves a legacy, if you want to live this life to the full I've been talking about, then here's the three words that will change everything. Remain in me. We mentioned. We mentioned. in this word for remain yesterday. The noun form was used when Jesus told him about many rooms in his father's house that they would have a permanent place to stay. The verb form of Mino means to

stay, abide, dwell, live, or establish a permanent residence. So to remain is to stay, abide, dwell, live in the one who is stronger than we are, wiser than we are, more loving, more courageous, more powerful than we are, because he is the life-giving bind. And we are the branches. And the job of the branch is just to stay connected, and a whole lot of great fruit is guaranteed to every branch that does that singular job. And when Jesus talks about bearing fruit, his point is not that human beings are incapable of doing anything worthwhile without living, abiding, or remaining in him. I mean, everybody's created in the image of God, which means we are all capable of doing some good things. But bearing the image of the Creator is not quite the same as remaining in him. See, John

115 is all about living an unexplainable life. It's about doing what we cannot do on our own and becoming who we can never become on our own. To become God's best version of me, to produce fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentlest, faithful, and self-control, I have to remain intimately connected to the vine. Now, I am in no way, you know, horticulturist, or a botanist, I know very little about plants and vines and trees except that'll kill them. I don't have a green thumb, as they say. But it's weird how you remember certain terms from tests that you took decades ago in school. I can't tell you what they all mean, but I can actually remember a few botany terms

from my high school and college science classes, terms like photosynthesis and chlorophyll and germination and deciduous and epidermis and pistol and dormancy. And strangely enough, I remember the terms xylem and floam. and I actually know what they do. The xylem and flam are part of the vascular system of a tree or a plant, much like we have arteries and veins. They carry vital nutrients up and down the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the fruit. They're contained in the sap.

And the reason I remember their function is because I was studying for a test one time in high school, and I memorized it this way. Zylam up and flow them down. That's kind of goofy, I know, but hey, I remembered it 40 years later. The xylem carries watery sap containing mineral nutrients. upwards, and the flow-em carries these important sugars downward during photosynthesis, so it's xyle them up and flow them down. And the only way this works is for there to be a connection.

A severed branch has none of that. I like the way my buddy Steve Carter puts it. You have to keep the remain thing, the main thing. So Jesus tells us, remain in me. Keep the remain thing, the main thing. let your roots go down into the soil of my marvelous love, live in the awareness of the Holy Spirit in you, let the Holy Spirit move up and down in you,

filling you with life-giving nutrients you need in order to produce lasting fruit with your life. Jesus tells us in this passage, let my words remain in you, or let my word make its home in you. Now, you might have to move some stuff around, even take some stuff to the dump, so that His Word has room and feels at home in you,

but I'm telling you, When they take root, when his words take root, you start to walk in that truth and you're secure at who you are and whose you are and why you're here and what you're about and where you're going in your life. Having his words remain, stay, abide, dwell in you, makes a huge difference. That's why I'm so grateful for all of y'all who tune in daily just to stick a little of God's word in your heart. Many of you read God's word, you highlight it, you circle words, you write stuff in the margins, you look up stuff in commentaries, you memorize God's word. and the reason to read the Bible is not to get extra credit from God. It's not to gain more knowledge

so you can smoke someone in a game of Bible jeopardy. It's to stay connected to the vine. It's to plant yourself by the life-giving river. Psalm 1 talks about people who do that. It says they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit in each season.

Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all that they do. And here's a freeing thing. The job of the tree is not to produce fruit. Its job is to be planted by the river, and as a result, it produces fruit. And the job of the branch is not to produce fruit. Its job is to remain in the vine,

and as a result, it produces fruit. And that's why Jesus says, remain in me, and you will produce much fruit. The Apostle Paul writes about this in Colossus chapter 2 and he says, Let your roots grow down into Him and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught and you will overflow with thankfulness. In those moments when you're tempted to go back down destructive paths, God's word in you will keep you on the right path.

When you're about to cave in to the lies of the enemy, the truth that is in you will expose the, those lies for what they really are. You know, Jesus said, I came that you may have life right here and right now and have it to the full, and a connected life, that's a full life, a true life, a solid life, a flourishing life. He says, so remain in me, and you'll experience that. And I'm learning that this full life that Jesus talked about, it's not based on the circumstances around me. In fact, Jesus tells them and us a little bit later, he said, listen, guys, life on this planet is going to be tough. But if you remain in me and I and you, if you will live in the

awareness of my presence with you and in you, you will experience a life that flourishes in spite of your circumstances. You will live a life that knows real peace and not a peace for the world's definition, this unexplainable peace right in the middle of your chaos, a life that knows trust in the middle of uncertainty, a life that knows hope, in the middle of grief, a life that shows compassion, in the middle of your own personal need, a light that shines in the middle of the darkness. You see, Jesus came to offer us more than just a resting place in heaven when we died. He came not only that you and I would know when we died we would have eternal life, but also that every day we live on this planet. No matter what this life would throw our way,

we would know that Jesus Christ would be enough, that His life would be our life. You see, the very life of the Son of God is not just with you, but in you. So Jesus says, I will remain in you, so remain in me. Let my words remain in you and you'll never stop learning and growing in your life will flourish in ways you never imagined. So what do you say today that we just keep the remain thing, the main thing. And I'll see you back tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time.

For more information, visit lakepoint.combe. Church slash daily drive.