The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E24 - Draw Near

Episode Date: May 5, 2020

Hey, church family. It is time for Devo if you've got your Bible. John chapter 15. Again, the point and purpose of these Devo's is that we would lean into him, trusting he would lean into us. That's a promise that God gives us in James chapter 4 verse 8. God says, draw near to me and I will draw near to you. So I want to talk about that draw near. Jesus says this, John 15, I am the true vine and my father is the vine dresser or the gardener. Every branch is, 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 to prune is you take a healthy branch and you cut parts of it away, some damaged parts, you cut the parts off on the end, you cut it back, which I know plants don't feel, but it looks like a very, very painful process. So anybody that ever told you that if you follow Jesus, then you can expect a pain-free life, then they made up some other Jesus that is not the Jesus of the Bible. In fact, the Bible says not only will we walk through pain, but God will

purpose some pain in our life to produce in us things that would not be produced in us without the pain. In fact, you may be walking through some pain right now. Loss a job, your income's low, and you don't know how you're going to pay your bills. There's the pain of not being able to be with people. I mean, that's a pain. We were wired for relationships. Maybe you're sick. You maybe know somebody who's sick. And just understanding this, God is sovereign over all things. He never waste a hurt. He never waste the pain. That God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And what feels like pain to us could very well be pruning from God the Father in the life of the believer, the branch who is hooked

to the vine, which is Jesus. And the way that the vine, or the way that the branch bears fruit is because its source is Jesus. Now, it's key. The mental picture that Jesus is painting here is that for anything good to happen in your life, you have to be attached to the vine, that he is the source. And that when we are attached to him, fruit begins to happen. You see, fruit is produced, not manufactured.

Maybe this is why we call it produce. You cannot manufacture fruit. You see, manufacturing something is from the outside in. It's physical only. And so if I take a two-by-four and I nail an apple to it, it does not make that two-by-four an apple tree. So if, as a believer, you want anything good and glorious in your life, then it's not just to try to be more patient and try to be more kind.

It's try to lean into Jesus, be more low. like Jesus, and things like goodness and kindness and faithfulness and gentleness begin to be produced in you when we're rooted in Him, as opposed to if you don't know Jesus, but you just set out to be a good person, then the best that you're going to do is, is depending on what your willpower is like, depending on how determined you are as a human being, then for a season, you are going to be able to seemingly mimic some fruit, but it is not being produced from the inside out. He says, every branch in me that doesn't bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes that it may bear more fruit.

Already, you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Then he says this, abide in me. He's going to say this word over and over and over and over. Abide, abide, abide, abide, abide, abide. Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. That word abide, we don't use that word that much these days. It just simply means this. Jesus says, come here, stay close to me. Get close to me. Don't get confused. It is not, the Christian life is not about producing some sort of outcome by the way that you live, fundamentally, the Christian life is this ongoing discovering and deepening of your relationship with Jesus Christ. And then all of the fruits, all of the products,

all of the produce is a byproduct of this ongoing relationship with Jesus. So Jesus gives us his imitation, which is the commandment. He's like, come here, come here, stay close to me. In other words, and again, this is a gardener. This is a gardener. illustration. So what we need to do is we need to think about this thing like a garden. What are the things that you do in your life that stir your affections for the Lord? You should do a lot of that. And what are the things in your life that seem to kill your affections for the Lord? The Puritans call it mortification and vivification. Mortification means to kill. Jonathan Edwards is famous for saying kill the sin or it will be killing you.

You know if you've ever tried to get your yard in shape, you have to do two things to get good grass to grow. You've got to pull the weeds and plant a lot of seed. The same thing is true in this abiding with Jesus. What are the things in your life that are sin that are stealing, killing, and destroying what God has for you? We should, by grace, be at war against that sin that is at war against us and our relationship with Jesus.

You see, oftentimes we treat our sin with hospitality instead of hostility. We should be killing it instead of just inviting it into our house. We cut away all of the things that keep us from a growing, abiding relationship with Jesus, and we should, like fertilizer, we should continue to do those things that help us abide in Him. and honestly, if you're on Devo right now, you are doing that thing. Hopefully, this moment right here, diving into this word, is a daily reminder of how you put yourself in the kind of environment that helps your heart for Jesus grow more and more and more and more.

So he says, abide in me and I and you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. please don't ever get that backwards. You see, being a Christian is not just sin management and trying to produce good works on your own. It'll never work that way.

It'll just lead to religiosity and exhaustion. Then he says, whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burn.

Here's what you're saying. Jesus is saying, if you don't have a relationship with me, you are going to hell. I don't care how much church you go to. I don't care how many prayers you pray, how many disciple groups you're in, how many songs you sing, how many Bible verses you read. It comes down to this. Do you know Jesus? Have you ever trusted him as your Savior?

Have you ever put your faith in Him? because if you haven't, then you will not bear fruit. Apart from him, you can do no thing. And anyone that doesn't bear fruit, anybody that's not connected to him, withers and is thrown into the fire. Verse seven, however, if you abide in me and my words abide in you,

ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. You should highlight that verse. Okay, there's a lot here. If, if you abide in me, how, Jesus, how could we stay close to you? He gives us a little hint right here in my word abides in you. Listen, one of the best ways to abide in Jesus Christ is to abide in His Word. And His Word is all of it, from Genesis 1-1, all the way to the end of the book of Revelation. It is all inspired by Him. It is all useful. It is all supernatural, sharper than any two-edged sword. I hope and pray, church.

I hope and pray. During this crazy times, you're watching less Netflix and getting more into His Word. I hope and pray you're not wasting this time. The God has shut down this world. And a part of what we could do in response is spend exorbit amounts of time in His Word.

Whether you want to read a bunch of it at a time or whether you want to take a deep dive into one verse for an entire day or two. listen, the closer you get to His Word, the closer he leans into you. And make no mistake about it, every person I know, every denomination I know, every church that I know that moved away from the authoritative Word of God simultaneously moved away from the person of Jesus Christ. Anybody that begins to question the Word of God that begins, and I'm not saying you can't ask questions about the Word of God, but I mean if you hold God's Word as suspect, you know,

regards to authority of your life. Or if you think this is just some old ancient book, then you will think that Jesus is just some old ancient teacher. And the further we are away from the Word of God, I'm telling you the further we will be away from the person, Jesus Christ. And the closer we are to the Word of God, the closer we will be to Jesus. There are some Psalms where David talks about the Word of God.

It says he cuddles with it at night, that he meditates upon it day and night, day and night. that the law of God had an intimate place in his heart. And every believer that I know that walks closely that abides with Jesus has an intimate relationship with the Word of Jesus. And as we do this, we ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. And you mean, you may be saying, Pastor, you mean to tell me that if I abide in Jesus and His words abide in me,

I could ask for a Cadillac and He would give me a Caled, Cadillac, here's what I promise you. If you abide in Jesus and his words abiding you, you won't ask for dumb stuff like that. You'll begin to ask for the kind of thing that God wants to say yes to. You'll begin to ask for things like thy kingdom come, and how could I be a part of making that happen. You'll begin to ask for things like the salvation of your loved ones. You'll begin to ask that the poor would be taken care of, that the captives would be set free,

that the oppressed would be loved. You see, what begins to happen is we abide in him and he abides in us. He begins to do this work in us where we become more and more and more like him. He goes on to say, by this, my father is glorified that you bear much fruit. And so prove to be my disciples. The fruit he's talking about here is the fruit of evangelism. The fruit he's talking about here is the fruit of fellowship. It's the fruit of discipleship.

But it's primarily the fruit of the spirit. that things like love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control will be produced in you that God would begin to be glorified by the way you live so that others that knew you before Christ would see these changes in you and give glory to God in heaven. Verse 9, and as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love.

You believe that? how much do you think God the Father loved Jesus? Remember at his baptism and he says, Behold my son and whom I am well pleased? How much do you think in the Trinity, in the Godhead? First John tells us that God is love. How much do you think God the Father loves Jesus? And then Jesus says, all right, think about that.

and as the Father has loved Jesus, so Jesus has loved you. Stay close to that love. Lean into that love. You see, because you got another little whisper over here, and it's the enemy. And here's what the enemy tries to get you to doubt. The enemy wants us to question and to doubt, does he really love me?

The enemy wants us to primarily doubt the Word of God, the Bible. of God, when Jesus died on the cross, does that really count for me? And the will of God. Does he really love me? And Jesus says, as the Father has loved me, so I love you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love, these things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment. Now you think the disciples are listening. And they're thinking, oh, all right, he's going to sum up his commandments. Everybody get out your pen and paper.

And here's this commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. This is the reverse engineered shema. See, when a lawyer comes to Jesus and says, what's the greatest commandment? We know this well. He says, love Lord of your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Here, he states his commandment again and says, he just does it in reverse order. Love one another.

as I have loved you. Then he says this, verse 13, greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends. And Jesus says, you are my friends. If you do what I command you, no longer do I call you servants,

for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. You didn't choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the

father in my name, he may give it to you these things I command you so that you will love one another. Jesus says he calls us friends. This is a really big deal. Pastor Britt in a sermon months ago said something to the effect of, we need to fundamentally understand that we are not primarily, tools in the hands of God, but we are sons and daughters in the family of God. That Jesus wants his disciples, that's me and you. He wants his disciples to know this. Come here, come here, come here, abide in me, stay close to me. I did not save you just to use you for my own kingdom and glory.

I saved you because I want you to know you are my friend. You know what friends do? Friends are close. friends continuously discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ and God has given us this incredible tool called His Word and he says abide in me and my words will abide in you and we are so close that the sovereign king of the universe the almighty cosmic judge of eternity calls us friend I hope you will receive that invitation

to lean into him trusting that he will lean into you let me pray for us God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this one-way love that we get to experience from you. Lord, we thank you that we didn't choose you. You chose us, and you knew exactly what you were getting. A bunch of selfish idolaters that like things our own way. A bunch of lazy, greedy, comfort-seeking entertainment junkies. and we wonder why we feel like our world's falling apart sometimes.

And so, Lord, I pray that you would speak to our hearts, that you would pierce through the noise directly into our soul, and that we would hear your invitation to draw near to you, to abide in you, to lean into your word, and that we would hear your invitation, that you see us as your friends. So by the power of the Holy Spirit, because of the love of Jesus,

because of the cross under the authority of the word. God, may we act like we're your friends. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.