Navigating Life // A Life of Spiritual Fruit

Family John chapter 15 this morning.

John 15 · chapter mention

I want you to fill in the blank.

A picture is worth a thousand.

Okay, so if a picture's worth a thousand words, I'm gonna show you a picture on the screen and I want you just to shout out the first thing that comes to your mind.

Shout out the first thing that comes to your mind.

Okay, you ready?

Here we go, first picture.

Ice cream she said ice cream, fun, yummy.

I say heaven, you know, ice cream.

But if it's from cold stone, that would be from heaven there, right?

Okay, here we go.

Next picture, next picture, here we go.

Sad one.

Some of you are thinking Braddy kid.

Alright, I'm just the nursery director is like, don't ever think that.

Alright, next picture for my sports lovers in the room, because you knew I had to throw a picture up of a sports something.

Somebody tell me.

Super Bowl goat.

He said goat up there.

Oh.

The 845 servers, half the room stood up and they just left, right?

When you show this.

No, I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

They didn't.

They just didn't.

And and the last picture.

Now I gotta give context for it, okay?

Context for it.

If you were at the volunteer Christmas party this past December, that's what this last picture's from.

So here we go, guys.

Show the picture.

This is the first time in Pastor Cody's life he's ever beat me at anything.

No, I'm just kidding.

It was fun, it was fun.

We'll do it again at this next volunteer Christmas party in December.

And when we say a picture is worth a thousand words, and we show some pictures, and I don't know if you're aware of this, but in Scripture, God would show pictures to communicate things with people.

Jesus would tell stories, and what would stories do?

Stories would put pictures in people's minds so people could understand this spiritual truth that Jesus was trying to communicate.

God specifically gave pictures when he talked about his relationship with us and what it's supposed to look like and what it looks like.

In fact, I want to show you a few of them, okay?

Jesus says that our father says he's a good father and we are his children.

There's a picture there.

He is the good shepherd, and we are the sheep.

He's the head, and we are the body.

Think about this.

In a healthy functioning body, the head, the brain determines what the body does.

He's the king, we are his servants.

He's the builder, we are the building.

The building doesn't build itself.

It needs a builder to do that.

He is our friend.

And when you look at these things, it kind of puts into view what our relationship with him is supposed to look like and how he planned it to look like.

And today what we're gonna see, and I'm really excited about today, because we're gonna see a picture, an analogy of how you actually grow spiritually.

Now, some of us, if we were to show a picture of how spiritual growth happened, you would think that it would be somebody that was tired and sweating because they're working so hard to grow and and and but that's not at all the picture that Jesus gives us of spiritual growth and how it happens.

In fact, before we look at this picture, I want to show you what spiritual growth looks like.

What's the product of this?

It says in Galatians chapter 5, it says, the fruit of the Spirit is, in fact, let's all read this together, okay?

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Here we go.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Spiritual growth is having these things in our life.

And spiritual growth is not just doing these things.

Spiritual growth is becoming this type of person.

Spiritual growth isn't, well, I'm gonna be more loving and more joyful and more peaceful, and I'm gonna be more patient when I'm waiting in line for 30 minutes of the in-and-out drive-thru.

And when my Amazon Prime package isn't here the next day.

I'm gonna be more patient in that moment.

No, no, no.

We just become this type of person.

And really, what spiritual growth is, this right here is the embodiment of Jesus.

And this is what spiritual growth is.

Spiritual growth is becoming more like Jesus.

Spiritual growth isn't becoming more like me.

Please know.

Spiritual growth isn't becoming more religious or more this or more that.

Spiritual growth is when your life looks more like Jesus.

Now we're in the series right now called Navigating Life, following God's Path in a World Full of Wrong Turns.

And here's what we've seen.

We've seen if we're gonna navigate life and follow God's path, we've seen that, first of all, Jesus is the way.

There's not like many ways.

It's not like this way for you, this way for you.

No, Jesus is the way.

The Holy Spirit is the guide, and spiritual fruit is the byproduct.

Now, some of you think about spiritual fruit, and you're thinking about what we were talking about about love and joy and peace, the verse that we all read together, and you're like, Pastor Nate, there ain't no way I can have those things in my life.

You don't know me.

I don't know what's going on over here.

We got some music happening.

There we go.

That's never happened before.

It went right on cue, right when it was supposed to.

So you think, you think, man, yeah, I can't have those things in my life.

Some of you are like, I try to have those things in my life, and they lasted on January 1st, and by January 2nd, they were gone.

I strived, I tried to do all these things, but they just didn't work out for me.

Spiritual growth is not about striving.

Spiritual growth is about abiding.

Spiritual growth is not about striving.

Spiritual growth is about abiding.

And could it be that some of us have a challenge growing spiritually because everything is about striving?

Jesus gives this picture of not striving but abiding.

He gives the picture of a vine in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

And he shows us how we grow spiritually when we abide in the vine.

And I want you to see it because when you understand how spiritual growth works, it can change so many other things in your life.

Let's pick it up in John 15, verse number one.

If you're ready for it, would you say, Amen?

Here it is.

It says, I am the true vine.

I am the true vine.

Now, if you have a red letter edition Bible, John chapter 15, these words are in red.

John 15 · chapter mention

So can somebody tell me who is talking here?

Jesus, that's right.

So Jesus says, I am the vine.

Get the picture.

Plant analogy.

He's the vine.

My father, God the Father, is the gardener.

He's the vine.

God the Father is the gardener.

Now, now before we kind of dig into this, I want us to take a step back and look at a 10,000-foot view of John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

I am the true vine is one of seven I am statements in the book of John.

The book of John was written so you would know who Jesus is and you would have a thriving relationship with him.

That's why the book of John was written.

So you would know who Jesus is.

The way we know who Jesus is is by looking at what Jesus says about himself.

I don't care what the TikToker says.

I don't care what the Instagrammer says.

I don't care the dude knows how to make a cool video with cool little things, and he says this cute little catchy quote.

No, no.

I don't care what you say, bro.

What we know who Jesus is by what Jesus says.

This is what Jesus says about himself.

He says, He's the bread of life, he's the light of the world, he's the door, he's the good shepherd, he's the resurrection and the life, he is the way, the truth, and the life.

And he is the true vine.

This is who Jesus says that he is.

So as the true vine, in verse number two, he tells us that there are branches that come from him, like a vine.

Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he removes.

And he prunes every branch that produces fruit, so that it will produce.

What are those next two words?

So it will produce more fruit.

So the Father prunes the branches.

Who are the branches?

Those of us that follow Jesus.

He prunes us so we will produce more fruits.

Now I don't know if any of you guys are gardeners in the room.

In fact, I'm curious.

She's a gardener.

Who does some gardening?

Some of you guys do gardening.

Who in here, you're like me, and uh you have the gift of being able to kill plants.

That is your gift.

Okay, I see you, I see in the balcony.

So, okay, you're you're with me.

I'm not a gardener.

I'm a great killer of plants.

You know, I can't keep those things alive for the life of me.

And think about gardening, if you garden, you know that you have to prune, you have to cut things back, you have to shape a plant or shape a tree.

Why?

So it can be more fruitful.

And what Jesus says is as we are in Christ, as we're in the vine, what happens is God the Father, He prunes us.

He shapes us.

He cuts some things back.

Now, the thing about pruning, I got it, I just gotta say it, pruning can be painful.

Because what God the Father will do is he'll cut back some things in our life.

He'll show us some things that aren't right.

He'll show us some places in our life where I'm more dependent on me than I am on him.

He'll humble us when he prunes us.

He will reveal values in our hearts that maybe aren't what they should be.

And he prunes us.

And it can be painful, but he does it because he loves us.

And he does it because he wants us to produce more fruit.

In fact, in verse number three, he says this he says, You're already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Now, the word clean here implies, if you look at the Greek, it implies being stripped or being purged, things taken away.

Jesus is telling his disciples here, this is who he's talking to.

He says, You've already been purged.

There's already been purging that's happened in your life because of what I've said to you already.

And while you've already been pruned, guys, there's more pruning that's gonna happen.

There's more of this that's gonna happen.

So in verse 4, he tells them, he says, Remain in me.

This word remain means abide.

And I in you, just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.

Now, what does this word remain?

What does this word abide mean?

It's really simple.

It means to rest in, to make your home in.

So sometimes somebody was telling me after the 845 service, we were talking about this, we think, oh, I need to abide by the rules.

So it means I need to like follow the rules, like follow the law.

This word abide here is not following, it's not doing all these things.

This word abide is resting in.

It's making your home in.

And it says in verse 4, it says, we can't produce fruit unless we remain on the vine.

Unless we're connected to the vine, unless we make our home in Jesus.

No, no, practically, you think about this.

You've never seen a branch that was disconnected from a tree or disconnected from a vine.

You've never seen it on the ground producing fruits.

You're not like, oh wow, that's amazing.

Like it's not connected, but oh, there's a great apple that's been that's come from this branch that's been disconnected from the tree.

No, you you see it and it withers and it dies, and it is really useless because it's no longer connected to the tree, it's no longer connected to the vine.

So Jesus in verse 5, here's where he really takes it home.

He says, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Oh.

I'm the branch.

The one who remains in me, and I in him, produces, what are those words?

Produces much fruit.

Because you can do nothing without me.

No, we don't like that last part, nothing without him.

Because, you know, we we're we're pretty self-reliant people.

You know, we're we live in America, we just do this stuff on our own.

Jesus says, there's you can do nothing of eternal value without him.

And it's interesting when you look at this process, we see fruits, we see purging, we see more fruit, and now on verse, and then we saw abiding remaining, and now in verse number five, we see much fruit.

You guys see this cycle?

Fruit purging, pruning more fruit.

In fact, I want you guys to see this picture up here so you get an idea of how spiritual growth happens in our life.

How does spiritual growth happen?

How did God plan for this to happen?

Well, it starts with abiding.

We remain in Him.

Now, this begins the moment we trust Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior.

It begins the moment that I realized, and for for me, I know this happened when I was in my teenage years for sure.

When I realized that I was a sinner in need of a savior, I understood that Jesus came and died on the cross for me, and I put my faith and trust in Him.

That's when abiding begins.

For a lot of us, we've had that moment where we've trusted Christ, and what we start doing is we start abiding a little bit.

We start coming to church, we start gathering, we start hearing the word taught.

Maybe we jump in a group, we start building relationships in a group.

Maybe we start listening to some worship music, and we're like, oh, this worship music ain't so bad.

Kind of like it.

It's Brandon Lake guy's pretty got some pretty good songs.

We we download the UVersion Bible app.

We're like, okay, verse of the day, I kind of like this.

That's a good verse.

I'm heart in this one, sharing this one.

Read this verse about loving people.

I need to send this to my family member, you know.

And what happens is we start having fruit in our life.

So now things start changing a little bit.

This is what Jesus talks about.

We start changing, we start kind of seeing that situation differently.

We start, we we have more peace in our life, we have more joy, and we're like, okay, I kind of like this.

I'm having fruit in my life.

But then, after fruit, what comes next?

Let's look at it again.

Abide, then to the right we have fruit, and then right underneath fruit, what happens after that?

Pruning.

John 15 verse number two.

And the pruning is a hard part.

Because, like we said, the pruning can be painful.

So, what happens during the pruning process is God starts cutting things back from our life.

God starts showing us places in our life that need to be changed.

God shows us mindsets that we have that we shouldn't have.

God shows us places where we need to take steps of growth in our faith, but it requires us getting out of our comfort zone.

And our comfort zone, it's really comfortable.

And God starts showing us hey, you need to handle your financial resources this way, you need to handle that relationship this way, you need to, you need to learn how to forgive over here.

You need to, there's some things that need to happen in the pruning, things that need to happen in your life.

And what happens is we're like, God, I don't know about all this stuff.

Like, this is uncomfortable.

I don't really know about this whole spiritual growth thing.

I don't know if I can, like, I just don't like it.

And what we can do is the spirit can be leading us to do things, can be leading us to say no to things, can be leading us to make adjustments in our life, can lead us to take steps of growth in our life.

And then this is what happens: we say no because it's uncomfortable, and we miss out on more fruitfulness.

In fact, can we go back to the cycle?

We abide, we have some fruit, God prunes us.

He's purging us.

And it's in that moment where we make the decision if we're gonna allow God to prune us and purge us so we can bear more fruit in our lives.

A lot of times the pruning looks like a season of suffering.

And we can have suffering in our lives, and and suffering, well, can we just be honest?

Going through suffering, it sucks.

It's hard, it's difficult.

And in seasons of suffering, we can be like, God, I did not sign up for this, I did not sign my name on the dotted line for this, I did not expect this, this was not in the agreements.

And God the Father says, actually, this is a pruning season for you in your life because I want you to produce more fruit.

And what you need to know about a pruning season is a pruning season is a preparation season, because on the other side of pruning is more fruitfulness in your life.

And maybe you're in a place in your life where you look at others that are more fruitful and you're and you think, man, I want that in my life.

Let God prune you.

Don't resist the pruning because it's the pruning, it's the shaping that allows more fruit to be produced in your life.

This is God's plan.

And in the process of this, what we need to do is we need to continue to abide, verse number six.

It says, if anybody does not remain in me, he's thrown aside like a branch and he withers.

They gather them and throw them into the fire and they're burned.

Verse number seven, if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you can ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.

Verse 8, my father is glorified by this, that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

So our life of fruitfulness shows that we're a follower of him.

But the irony of this is we can't produce this fruitfulness on our own.

We can only pro it can only be produced as we're abiding in him.

But as we're abiding in him and fruits being produced, it's showing that we are a follower of Jesus.

Verse 19.

Verse 9.

As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you.

Remain in my love.

How many of you, I'm curious, how many in the room do you have kids?

You have kids?

A lot of you, okay.

I want you to think about how much you love your kids.

You give anything for them.

You've given a lot for them.

You've had sleepless nights.

You've had a lot of headaches.

You've cooked a lot of meals.

You've been part-time Uber drivers.

Because you love your kids.

Think about what verse nine says.

As the fathers love me.

So you are a finite human being.

You have limitations.

Your love has limitations.

God the Father, his love has no limitations.

He's perfect, he's holy, he's righteous.

And he loved Jesus with a perfect love.

And Jesus in verse number nine, this is game-changing.

As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you.

You are loved just as the Father has loved his son, Jesus.

Just as.

What is grace?

It's God's riches at Christ's expense.

That's what grace is, if we can get that next slide up there.

Grace isn't something that you can earn, it's something that God gives you.

And when we start making our home in Christ, it organically will produce fruitfulness in our life.

So think about this, guys.

Something we we say here is we say the gospel doesn't just save us, it shapes us, strengthens us, and guides us.

This is what the gospel does.

And guys, could we get that next slide up on the screen, the gospel slide?

I think it's important.

I want you guys to see this.

If Jesus Christ gave his life for us in the gospel, he gave his life for us.

It shows that we're loved, that we're accepted, that we're known by the Father.

This should shape our lives, but also it should shape how we do church.

It should shape the environment of how we do church.

Here's what I mean, okay?

We have a welcome team here.

Ain't a guest services team, bro.

You guys should call it something like a new people team to help the new people.

I'm like, it ain't just for new people.

The welcome team is so every person that comes on this property and in our doors, whether it's the first time they've come or the thousandth time they've come, they will feel the love and acceptance and welcoming arms of Jesus.

No matter their race, no matter their creed, no matter their background, no matter what they look like, that the moment they come here, they will feel the acceptance of God.

They will feel the love of God.

So as a church, what we want to do is we're not just like, let's do something cool here.

No, we don't care about being cool.

What does the gospel say?

How can we make environments that are informed by the gospel so people will feel what the gospel says?

We never want to be a church, and I could riff on this for a while, but I won't because I don't have time.

We never want to be a church where it's like we teach the gospel, but we live something else outside of the gospel.

Okay, so the gospel forgives, and I can be like, God forgives us, God forgives us.

But then we're a bunch of bitter people.

What the heck?

If we're forgiven by the gospel, then you know what we should do?

We should forgive other people.

That's what the gospel does.

Right?

Like, if if if I'm loved by God, I should love you no matter what.

Why?

Because the gospel has shaped me.

Not because you deserve it, because you probably don't.

I know I don't know half the time, more than half the time.

But what happens?

The gospel shapes me.

So it shapes how I see the situation.

It shapes how we do church as a church community.

But because this is what the gospel does.

Here's another example: generosity.

We give because God has given everything to us.

How does the gospel shape us in that?

Think about this.

God has given us everything, his own son Jesus, to come and die for us.

Everything.

So you know what we want to do?

We want to be people that don't live our lives like this and a church that lives like this, but that lives open-handed to bless and honor and serve people with our resources.

So people will say, okay, I see their generosity, and the reason why we have generosity is not because we're like, we should be givers.

No, it's because God's given everything to us.

And it's powerful when we do this.

Next week, there's a church planner in Seattle, Washington, that is going to have their grand opening service.

Odyssey Church will have their grand opening service in Seattle.

And I think we have a picture of one of their preview services.

This church has been starting to gather in a secular city of Seattle.

Look at all those people in a secular city of Seattle.

And next week they officially launch and open.

And what happens as a church?

We financially give to them every month to Jesus being made known in Seattle.

And we do this because of all we have in the gospel.

And when we understand the gospel and we abide in his love, it changes the trajectories of churches.

It changes the trajectory of families.

It changes the trajectory of people.

Because when you know how loved you are, it will cause you to love.

When you know who God says you are, it will cause you to have confidence in your life.

When you know that you are forgiven, it will cause you to forgive.

And as a pastor, I am not gonna stand up here and be like, you need to do this and you need to do that.

No, you don't.

You need to realize what God has done for you, who God says you are, the beauty of who he is, and organically, you know what's gonna happen?

It's gonna change your life completely.

That is what the gospel does.

And this is why Jesus says, abide in the vine, rest in this.

Now I'm gonna end with three quick facts for sake of time about spiritual fruit.

Here's the reality about spiritual fruit.

Number one, spiritual fruit rarely comes overnight.

You think about the analogy of a vine producing fruit.

You don't just plant a seed and there's fruit tomorrow.

It takes time.

Friend, let the spirit produce fruit as you abide in Christ.

Don't get mad at yourself.

Sometimes I get mad at myself.

Sometimes I'm like, man, why did I think that thought?

I'm like, oh, why do I again?

Why was I impatient here?

Why instead of listening was I quick to want to react?

And have to remind myself, okay, Lord, how would you handle this situation?

My identity is in you.

Please live through me.

Spiritual growth, it rarely comes overnight.

Number two, spiritual fruit is not a personality trait.

Sometimes we think, hey, uh Sanae, that's just not me.

I just I'm just not loving, I'm just not kind, I'm just not peaceful, my my life has been crazy.

Spiritual fruit is not based on your personality.

It's based on what the Spirit of God can produce in your life as you abide in Christ.

And it's not it's not driven by a personality.

And if you will abide in Christ, you will be amazed at how God can transform you.

Number three.

How does spiritual fruit happen?

It's a result of intentionally abiding.

So how do we intentionally abide?

What do we do?

We we rest in his promises, first of all.

We look at who God says that he that that we are.

We look at who God says that he is about himself, and we rest in that.

Something dumb something I've done for my own personal spiritual growth is on my prayer list, I've had just a list of Of things that God says about me.

In fact, I screenshotted it.

I want you guys to see it up here.

And this is what I've tried to do for my own spiritual growth.

I know you have to have like a magnifying glass to look at it.

But if this is who God says that I am, then here's what I need for just my personal life.

I need to remind myself every day this is who you say that I am.

That I'm your child, that I'm spiritually alive, that I'm your ambassador, I'm a masterpiece, I'm complete in Christ alone, I'm chosen, I'm loved, and you can go down the list.

And how do I abide?

I just remind myself who God says that I am.

I'm not my circumstances.

I'm not what people think about me.

I'm not what's happening in the world.

I am who God says that I am.

I try to rest in his promises.

And friends, if you'll rest in his promises, I'm telling you what, it will change you.

We rest in his promises.

We next we rest in his word.

I would love to ask you a question.

I want you to think about it.

What are your rhythms to resting in God's word?

What is your plan to resting in God's word?

What's our plan to getting this?

Not just you hearing it on Sunday morning, but this inside of here.

What's our plan, guys?

It's so cool to see so many people involved in groups.

We have half of our groups are closed because they're full.

We have more people in groups than ever before.

And can I just affirm you?

Like, affirm you guys.

Like you are prioritizing getting the word in you.

And then lastly, here, resist the things that are hindering your abiding.

So we talk about abiding.

Let's just shoot it straight, guys.

There are things that hinder us from abiding.

It just is.

Sometimes it's sinful things, sometimes it's not.

Sometimes, if you're like me, it's this thing right here.

I don't know if you guys ever get caught up in that doom scroll.

I'll be like, hey, I'm gonna look at this for five minutes, and I look at the clock, I've literally been on it for 45 minutes.

And I'm like, I'll never get that time back again in my life.

And my I don't I don't I don't say that to to critique anybody or whatever, right?

It's kind of where we're at in our lives.

But here's what I do say this.

I say this that we have to resist something that's hindering our abiding.

And if it is my cell phone, I need to put that sucker in airplane mode and put it in another room.

If it is a friendship that I need to adjust what the relationship looks like because this person's influencing me, okay, I'm willing to do that.

If it's some priorities that I have that need adjusting, that I'm a part of this, that I'll probably that's probably taking my time away from spiritual things, and I'm gonna do that.

And here's what we can do: we can resist the things that are hindering us.

And if we will abide in Christ, we will produce fruit in our life.

And this is how we navigate life.

And friends, when we navigate life by producing fruit in our life, it's gonna change you, it's gonna change your family, it's gonna change our church, it's gonna change the world.

And you'll look back and you'll say, How did this happen?

I'll tell you how it happened.

Because you abided in Christ, and He produced the fruit.

And then you say, God, look what you have done.

And I worship and I pray God.