6/21/26 - John 15:1-17: In The Relationship - Steve Gee

Uh I I've told this illustration before about uh a friend I had in college.

I was sitting at the snack shop one uh Friday afternoon, and uh, you know, Friday at the end of at the end of a long week of school.

Again, I was a liberal arts major, so you know, real tough week at school.

And I remember eating French fries and honey mustard, my favorite thing on the planet besides pizza.

I hadn't really grown, I hadn't matured into my taste buds yet.

Still on the you know, food as an infant, French fries, honey mustard, and winter pizza.

Okay, anyway.

And so I was there on a Friday afternoon, and I'm sitting, I'm just trying to enjoy a nice Diet Coke, French fries and honey mustard.

Uh, you know, and I didn't have a lot of money, so that was a big deal to me.

It was a nice meal there at the snack shop at Messiah University there in uh Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

And a philosophy major came and sat beside me on a Friday afternoon and said, Hey Steve, have you ever thought about what is life?

And I thought, no, no, no, I don't have time for this.

We are not doing this today.

I am trying to enjoy this.

And he looked at me and I didn't know what to say.

I think I probably said something like, I don't know, Jason, and probably left.

Like, I just didn't have time for it.

But as I was thinking about this today, it's important.

I wish I would have thought about it.

I wish I would think about it more.

Because we can be alive and not have a life.

And I don't think any of us want that.

So, what is life?

I looked it up because I was curious.

I wanted to be able to give a better answer next time, you know, a philosophy major sat beside me while I'm eating.

And here's what I read.

Uh, so there's obviously the the biological, here's what life is, right?

We know that.

I mean, we understand that.

But then uh I read what what do the philosophers say, and this is probably the answer he was looking for.

What do the philosophers say life is?

Here's what it said uh on the interweb.

It said uh uh life is found in fostering relationships, pursuing goals, contributing to society and a conscious appreciation of those things.

Fostering relationships, pursuit of goals, contributing to society, and a conscious appreciation of these things.

I thought, okay, that that's pretty good.

Jesus also has an answer to the question.

John 17, 3, he's praying, again, this is right before Jesus went to the cross.

John 17 3, he's praying to the Father.

He says this, and this is eternal life.

This is what Jesus says.

So if you trust him, this is what he's saying is truth.

This is eternal life.

Here's his answer.

That they know you, your people, his people, the church, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

So this is what Jesus said life is.

And first of all, let's get the word eternal out there.

If that's that's making you trip up.

Eternal is quantity, but it's also quality.

It's not just like, oh, it means forever.

It does mean that, and it also means actual, like actual life.

This is what actual life is, this is what you've been made for.

It is to know God and the Son whom He sent.

This is important.

This is all saying, Christ is saying, this is to be, that is, life is to be in an intimate relationship with our God.

And I believe that in today's passage in John 15, 3, or John 15, 1 through 11, Jesus is addressing that relationship and how it leads us, so a relationship, remember what the philosophers say, is addressing that relationship and how it leads us to the pursuit of a goal, to contribute to the world, and to be in a conscious appreciation of those things.

Meaning, I think the philosophers are right about the nature of life, but what they fail to see is that it is all oriented around a single relationship.

This is why Jesus tells us earlier in John that he is what?

The way, the truth, and the life.

And hear it, he's not saying he is a way, he is a truth, he is a life.

This is what the world wants you to believe right now.

There's many ways.

The truth is inside you.

You find it for yourself.

What is what is a way?

What is a truth?

What is a life?

Christ is saying he's not an option on a menu we read in order to get a life.

Rather, he is the only way, the only truth, and the only life.

So the question becomes do we believe Jesus Christ when he says that?

Do we trust him?

I'll say this.

That's the hinge point of all of this.

Do you trust Jesus in what he says?

I know it's been said before, but you can't say he's a good teacher and not our Messiah, not our King and our Savior.

He can't be both.

Well, he can be both, but he can't be, he can't just be a good teacher and say these kind of things you don't believe.

Like you have to trust him as your personal Lord and Savior.

He says he is these things.

And so I had to ask myself as I thought about this: do I trust Jesus in this?

Here's what John 15, 1 through 11 says.

I'll read it again.

I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not 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.

Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

I, Jesus Christ, this is him sending this, I am the vine, you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me, and I in him, and 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 burned.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

By this the Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so I've loved you.

Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

Just I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

Verse 11.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.

Father God, I pray that we would trust.

We would trust your Son Jesus Christ.

He is the vine.

We are the branch.

We are completely dependent.

You, Father, are the vine dresser, the gardener, who prunes the fruitful and cuts off the dead.

And so, Father God, I pray that we would trust these things, we would know these things, we would lean into these things, that we would abide in your love, we would obey your commandments.

Father God, that's our hope and our desire.

That we would walk in eternal life.

It is in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, we pray this and all things.

Amen.

Alright.

So let me give you a purpose statement.

True life is found in the Son, pruned by the Father, and revealed in our obedience.

True life is found in the Son, pruned by the Father, and revealed in our obedience.

If I've not done it yet, if you've not heard it yet, like the beginning of any sermon is supposed to be the moment where, like, it's this wide funnel where everybody's like, okay, I can see why this is important to me.

If you're sitting there and you think, I don't know.

Like, let me, let me, let me just let me make sure we hear what's what Christ is talking about here.

Life.

He's talking about life.

Like, do you want life?

Or do you want death?

There's no middle road.

There's only one way to life.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

So let me give you three three three points in how Jesus makes this argument from John 15.

He says, the source of life, we'll talk about the pruning unto life and the rhythms of life.

All right, let's go to the first one.

The source of life.

See it on the screen.

He kind of jumps in and out of this, uh, making this point there.

You see it on the screen with those verses.

Jesus begins by saying, I am the true vine.

The word true means legitimate and genuine.

So why does he differentiate himself as the vine that is true?

He's making a contrast.

He says, I'm the true vine.

Therefore, there must be a false vine or a non-legitimate vine.

In the Old Testament, the people of Israel are called the chosen vine of God.

Jeremiah 2.21.

Yet I planted you, talking to the Israelites, a choice vine, holy of pure seed.

And he writes, How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

So I planted you as a choice vine, Israel.

How have you become a degenerate and wild vine?

Remember the circumstances of how the children of Israel were made the people of God.

They were in Egypt and the Lord freed them from their captivity and brought them out of Egypt.

Okay, I'm gonna say that again, but hear this because I think it's important for you to understand why Jesus says, I'm the true vine.

Remember how the Israelites were made or planted as a choice vine.

They were in Egypt.

The Lord freed them from their captivity and brought them out of Egypt by the blood of the Lamb on their doorpost, which protected them from the death of their firstborn.

And then the Lord parted the Red Sea, they crossed on dry land while their enemy was consumed by the waters.

And then the Lord led them into the wilderness for forty years, and they were faithless, they became a wild vine, and were barred from entering the promised land, right?

That's just historical.

And then we read this in Matthew 2, 13 through 15.

Uh now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee.

Again, Jesus has just been born, flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child and destroy him.

And he rose, Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.

This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Out of Egypt I call my son.

Hosea, the prophet, said this: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

Okay.

Out of Egypt.

So he called out of Egypt.

Jesus, remember, uh, remember, Jesus was called out of Egypt.

After Herod died, Jesus was called out of Egypt.

Jesus grew up, and then just as the Israelites, he went through the waters of the Red Sea.

Remember the Israelites went into the waters of the sea.

Remember what Jesus did at the beginning of his public ministry?

He went into the waters of baptism.

And then what happened after he went into baptism?

God led him where?

Into the wilderness.

Not for 40 years, for 40 days.

Jesus goes into the wilderness.

Through the waters of baptism, led into the wilderness for 40 days, where he was tempted.

But he did not sin.

And instead he lived by the word of God and walked in righteousness.

And eventually he became the perfect Lamb of God, whose blood was shed on the doorposts of the cross.

And he was also the firstborn son who died in the defeat of death, so that all those who were set free could enter the rest of the promised land.

You hear it?

Hear why Jesus says, I am the true vine?

And let's be clear, Jesus is not saying now that he is come, there's no longer a place or purpose for his people, or that he has replaced them as the children of God because they were not faithful.

Rather, he is saying there's a new covenant, that he has made a way for all those who fall short in the wilderness to be a part of the vine through a relationship with him.

He has come and fulfilled the law, and so with him now as the true vine, the children of Israel and the Gentiles can be grafted in and become branches of the choice true vine.

Okay, I know that was a lot of like historical background context, but it's important.

Jumping back into our passage, Jesus says, Already you are clean because the word that I spoke unto you.

Already you are clean.

This may feel like it's out of left field, uh, and the conversation about vines, like what about clean vines?

Jesus once again is pointing them back to the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 22, again, Jeremiah 22, one reads, we'll get through this, just hang tight.

He says, Yet I planted you a choice vine, holy of pure seed, how have you become degenerate and become a wild vine?

But look next in Jeremiah 22, 2, the next verse he says this though you wash yourself with lie and much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God.

Okay.

Jeremiah 22, 1 says, You I planted you as a choice vine.

You've become wild and degenerate.

22.2 says, Jeremiah prophet says, uh, you try to wash yourself off, but you're not clean.

You can't get yourself clean from becoming a degenerate wild vine.

This is the prophet speaking to the children of Israel.

So Jesus here says, I am the true vine.

Verse 3, he says, What?

Already you are clean because of the word I've spoken to you.

So this is a reversal of Jeremiah 22, 1 and 2.

Or it's a fulfillment of it.

The Lord declares through the prophet that they will wash themselves with much soap and they're not clean, that they cannot cleanse themselves from their continued defilement.

So Jesus tells them, He's the true vine, and through him and what he will do on the cross, they will be made clean.

Okay.

Now that we've gotten all of that, we all understand all of that.

We're all holding that in our in our minds right now.

To what end?

It's all very poetic.

It's a nice word picture.

It's nice how Jesus reverses or fulfills, actually, fulfills is a better word, fulfills what Jeremiah was talking about.

How does this help us understand the gospel in our lives today?

What does this mean for us today?

What is the goal of a vine and a branch?

Why does someone plant a vine?

Is it just to have a vine?

Now, I know we at home we have uh ivy.

No, jasmine.

What is it called?

Jasmine.

Okay, it's not, I guess it's kind of like a vine.

Uh anyway, we plant it because it looks, we like the way it looks.

It looks nice, okay?

But that's not what that's not the kind of vine we're talking about here.

We're talking about a vine that would bear fruit, right?

And so, like grapes.

And so you would not plant a vine just for planting a vine, like, hey, let me labor over this for this nice ugly vine.

No, you you plant it for the for the sake of bearing fruit.

And if it doesn't bear fruit, that's a problem.

So we need to continue to reorient our lives around why we exist, because if we don't remember that, the idea of bearing fruit will seem like something extra or arbitrary.

Okay.

Please.

I know.

It's a lot.

Do a lot of work this morning.

I have two more sermons left.

You know, like we just gotta do work.

We exist to bear fruit.

That's not an extra.

It's not like, oh, uh, some Christians, some people bear fruit, some don't.

That's okay.

What does it matter?

No, you exist to bear fruit.

If you don't understand that, you're not gonna understand what comes next in this passage.

If you feel like bearing fruit for the glory of God is optional, or that's extra, or that's that's something uh other than like, okay, yeah, that's that's great.

That's for the saints, that's for the the ones who get biographies and autobiographs, that's that's for them, but not for me.

Like, I'm just trying to survive.

That vine doesn't exist.

Bearing fruit is not something we take or leave, and if we don't understand that, it will never be our heart's desire.

It will never be what we wake up and are aimed at.

And so then, what is the fruit?

We need to understand what is fruit.

Galatians 5, 22 and 24 uh is the famous passage.

Remember the fruit of the Spirit?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Against these things, there's no law.

Again, we understand that all of these things, all of this fruit is simply a revelation of the character of God.

Okay, talking fast.

All right, we are trying to get the baptism before noon.

Okay?

All right, so you look at that list, the fruit of the spirit.

Love, kindness, patience, gentleness, self-control.

We look at those things and we think, oh, okay, God's just throwing darts.

He's like, you know what?

It'd be good if people were this.

That's not it.

The reason why we have those things is because it reveals the character of God, because that's who he is.

Who were we?

We were made in the image of God.

To bear fruit is to walk in the image of Christ.

It is to reveal him to the world.

Does that make sense?

So anything that reveals Christ to the world, to creation, is bearing fruit, is a fruit.

It's saying, look, look, look, this is what this is what the love of God looks like, this is what the forgiveness of God looks like, this is what the self-control of the sun in the wilderness after 40 days looks like.

This is what patience looks like.

Not so that people would look at us.

We're not divine, we're the branch, it's so that people would look at God.

Fruit is anything that honors God in truth.

That's why we need to know God.

It's like, no, no, no, I listen, I listen, I'm I'm I don't need to, all this Bible stuff, all this doctrine, I don't know, Old Testament, what I don't need to know about all of that.

Well, how are you going to honor God if you don't know God?

Like, I can't declare the beauty of something I've never seen or never understood or never known.

The only way I can do that is if I get to know it.

And so we need to know God so that by the work of the Spirit, by His grace, we are then revealing Him to the world.

Jesus also addresses the withered branch, that is, those who do not bear fruit of the vine, but rather the fruit of decay and death.

And so we could say this: the fruit of death is hate and disregard, misery, impatience, cruelty, wickedness, faithlessness, harshness, driven by the appetites of the body and the lust of the flesh.

Right?

Just I'm taking the Galatians fruit of the Spirit and flipping them on their head.

Fruit of the Spirit honors God, fruit of death are things like misery, impatience, cruelty, wickedness, faithlessness, harshness, driven by the appetites, not by self-control, but as Paul says other in another place, he says that their appetites are their gods, driven by their gods of their appetites.

Whatever I want, whatever I need, I'm gonna take.

I am God.

That's not the fruit of the vine, of the true vine.

And so we ought not to joke.

I thought about this, I was convicted about this.

We ought not to joke about how we are impatient or lack self-control or are not gentle people.

Because that's the fruit of death.

That doesn't image Christ well.

And it's not funny.

Forgive me.

I'm made in the image of God.

I'm gonna show him I'm gonna bear that fruit.

Right after describing for the Spirit in Galatians, uh Paul says this those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

We should be going after it, we should be trying to mortify that sin.

So we repent and we look to the vine of life, the true vine of life.

The fruit of our appetites to declare our own sovereignty points to the sovereignty of man.

And that's not eternal life.

That is the that is what those who are returning to dust do.

And also, child of God, those who are branches of the true vine, don't be dismayed at what feels like barrenness.

Keep leaning in, keep looking toward the branch.

We are not day traders in the metrics of eternal work of God in and through us.

Have this conversation a lot with people.

Well, I just I don't know.

Like I've I've struggled with impatience all my whole life.

I've I've struggled with gentleness and with self-control in my addictions.

I've struggled with my whole life.

I don't understand.

And we're day traders every day.

We wake up, we look at it, we're like, oh, must not must not be anything happening, must not be the true, must not be connected to the true vine.

Listen, it's a listen, God's not in a hurry.

He's doing a work.

Continue to lean in.

That's the encouragement.

Continue to lean into the relationship.

Before we move on to the next point, we must affirm and agree that our aim, our ambition is to bear the fruit of the glory of God.

And that God-honoring desire trumps all other desires in our hearts.

That created purpose is the foundational DNA building blocks of our existence.

In fear and trembling, the salvation we've received in Christ is being worked out through our fingertips.

The beauty and worth of our Lord and Savior spilling out of jars and clay.

The image of the eternal God being revealed in the daily lives of those who are his.

If we can say amen to that, not just with our lips, but with our hearts, then we ask the Lord help for help and how.

Okay, before we move on to this next point, we can flip the screen to the pruning unto life.

Understand this?

I don't want to, I'm asking, please, you don't have, please don't leave.

But if you don't agree with this, like here's here's one of those moments we have to agree upon this.

We have to agree that the goal of our lives is to honor God in our daily lives.

That we would look more like Christ.

If we don't agree with that, then this next part really won't make sense.

It won't make sense.

We won't understand this, we won't understand why.

It'll be it's a it's it's how we get to a goal that we don't want to get to, and we'll be like, this doesn't matter to me.

So look at this: the pruning unto life.

My father is the vine dresser, could be gardener.

Every branch in 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 Jesus is the true vine, the father's the vine dresser, and every branch that does bear fruit, the gardener doesn't bear fruit, the gardener takes away.

Every branch that does bear fruit in order that he prunes in order that it may bear much more fruit.

Okay.

Here's why we need to be very clear and agree upon this goal in our lives.

I remember as a 19-year-old, I was playing basketball there at Messiah University before Jason decided to ask me what is the meaning of life.

So I'm playing basketball, and I remember conditioning.

You know, that means running.

And I did not, it was I was not fond of it.

Still not fond of it, and because it burns my lungs, and I don't understand the joy.

My son, both of my sons like to run.

I don't, I think they're lying.

Like, there's no.

I asked them how do you feel?

They say it was great.

I was like, no, it was not.

Thou shalt not lie to your dad.

It can't possibly be fun.

Here's why I did run.

Because as a basketball player, there was a goal because I wanted to be able to, in the fourth quarter, still be able to run past my opponent.

So because of that goal, I said, okay, goal, yes, I agree.

I understand it's gonna, I'm not gonna like getting there, but how do I get in shape so I can get there?

I'll do this to get that because this is what I want.

Because I value this, I can afford this.

Does that make sense?

That's one-on-one marketing.

We afford what we can value.

So I value this, I can afford the run.

Okay, you get it?

You understand it.

Pruning is not fun.

There's no one out there saying, like, I hope I get pruned today.

Man.

I just I woke up today.

I was like, I hope something gets cut back from me today.

I'm not a plant in reality.

Y'all are like, oh, this is what we signed up for.

Stephen breaking news.

Okay, I'm not a plant, but I can imagine if I was, I would not like somebody taking scissors to me.

Does that make sense?

Pruning is not fun.

It feels like an arbitrary punishment and not the discipline of a good father.

It feels like a lack of care and possibly neglect.

But what if it was love?

What if it were the work of a perfect gardener who is working in your life in order that you would be more fruitful, that you would be able to grow in your eternal purpose, a relationship?

Again, if your desire is focused inward, then the pruning of God for the sake of God honoring fruit will be against you and your kingdom.

We will feel like a child being restrained from good things instead of a child being built up and protected from that which will destroy us.

I once heard it said that the worst thing God could do was would be to give us everything we want.

Isn't that what a bad parent would do too?

The worst thing God could do was to give us everything we want, to not prune us.

Listen, you like my my my friend of me Timothy could tell you this that my I'm not the greatest landscaper.

That's what he told me the first time he ever came to my my house.

You're not a great landscaper.

His words almost exactly.

Like I am not, I shouldn't be pruning things.

Because it's arbitrary.

I look at him like, okay, just cut, cut, cut, things die.

I don't deadhead, I just dead.

Like I just kill things with my clippers because I don't know what I'm doing.

It's just arbitrary.

But what if the God who created you is a good gardener and he knows how to prune you.

He knows what you don't need.

He knows what needs to be cut away from you, and in the midst of it, it feels like, what are you doing?

This was my heart's desire.

Isn't there a verse about that?

Like, what are you doing?

Why would you cut that away?

Would you take that away from me?

Why wouldn't you give me this?

Why are you being arbitrary with me?

Why are you neglecting me?

Why don't you hear me?

And God is a good gardener.

He knows right where to clip, when to clip, why to clip.

And it's all that we would bear more fruit if we would just lean in.

1 Peter 1, 5 through 7, just giving you all the good ones here.

Uh says this, 1 Peter 1, 5 through 7, who by God's power are being guarded, this is the people of God, are being guarded through faith for a salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.

In look at this.

This is okay, this ties into our passage.

In this you rejoice, joy.

Though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes through it, uh, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of God.

So if necessary, we are grieved by trials.

Bad things happen, hard things happen, we don't get the good things we believe we deserve, and we say this, we pray this to God.

If necessary, if this is what it takes, that I would be, my faith would be refined by the fire, then it would be more precious than gold, and that would honor you at the revelation of your son Jesus Christ.

If this is what's necessary, then okay.

Doesn't mean I enjoy running.

Doesn't mean I enjoy being pruned, but it says, God, but you're good, and this hurts so bad.

And I'm just a branch and I can't understand, I can't see the long play, I can't see the eternal work.

I'm more of a day trader in my own feelings and happiness, and this feels wrong.

But you're good.

I'm gonna trust you.

Even as I even as I as I even as I weep, even as I stare off into the distance and confusion, as I hunger and thirst in the arid dryness of the wilderness.

I trust you.

You are a good gardener.

If necessary, we're grieved by various trials.

The wilderness was not meant, listen, the wilderness was not meant to destroy the life of God's children, it was meant to lead them to life.

But they did not trust God.

If necessary, we're being pruned.

We are led by the Spirit into the wilderness, we're brought to the end of ourselves so that our trust in the vine is being refined.

And to what end?

To the praise and glory and honor of Jesus Christ.

If necessary, and I can speak for myself, it is absolutely necessary.

That if part of Peter's passage there, okay, if necessary, I'm gonna have to go through hard things so that my faith will be refined.

Can I tell you something?

I don't want to project it on you.

God, it's necessary.

I need it.

I need those things.

If necessary, and again, it's absolutely necessary, we are being refined by fire, being refined by the loving, pruning shears that we might bear more fruit for the glory of God, so that we might be become, so that we might become who we were created to be by one degree of beauty and worth to the next, that we would look more like Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

That's our goal.

That's our goal.

We say, okay, God, if necessary.

It hurts if necessary.

Third and finally, this morning.

The rhythms of life.

To abide is to remain with, to continue in and with.

Jesus exhorts the disciples to remain with him.

This week I was reading, uh, I can't even remember who it was about.

There was some high-profile relationship, you know, celebrities.

It was so it was on the interwebs, and I was reading about this high-profile relationship.

The one person said, you know, after 10 years of being together, uh, we just became disconnected.

We just became disconnected, and we had different interests, and um, you know, so we decided that our relationship was over.

You hear that?

Our relationship is over because we got disconnected.

I I think that's a decision.

That they had grown distant, like by accident.

I wondered how that happens.

How do people become disconnected?

Busyness, different life goals, distance.

Jesus has just told the disciples that here we're talking about John 15.

Jesus had just told the disciples in John 14, 13, uh, that uh where he was going, they cannot come with him, but that does not mean they are cut off from him.

He goes on to explain that even when he has physically left them, they are meant to continue walking with him, just as they had over the last three years.

Just as a branch lying on the ground cannot then produce fruit, neither can they bear fruit apart from him.

Okay.

We say, okay, Jesus feels distant.

Like I don't, you just, God feels distant from me.

Like I feel disconnected from God.

As if God's playing hide and go seek with you.

He's not.

We've got to continue to lean in, even when our feelings betray us.

We need to be connected to him.

Remember what our goal is: to look more like him.

And again, when he says you can do nothing apart from me, he's not saying you can't do anything.

Rather, he's saying you cannot do what you've been created to do apart from me.

You cannot honor and glorify God apart from Christ.

There is no religious activity that honors God that is done from the name of man.

There is no Christ honoring philanthropy done in our own name.

Towers of our own goodness and fame will fall like sand castles when all things are revealed.

As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3, fire will reveal the foundation of all our works.

And so Christ says, Remain in me.

Protect the relationship.

Stay connected.

Jesus knew the disciples were about to be empowered to do miraculous things, and they would need a deep understanding not only of where that power came from, but also of who, but also who that power of life and restoration was meant to point to.

Okay, you understand this?

Jesus is about to leave, he's about to leave them, and he says, You're gonna do things that even I didn't do.

You're gonna do these powerful works of miracles here on earth.

There's gonna be healing, and your shadow's gonna give up.

Like, you're gonna heal people, you're gonna do all these things.

He says, You need to understand where that power comes from and who that power is meant to point to.

It is meant to honor and glorify God.

Do not seek your own renown, do not seek your own name.

You'll only find a vapor fame and joy that will burn off in the morning.

And remember that in the wilderness the word of God was in Christ.

He spoke truth back to the temptations of the enemy.

Again, Jesus Christ led into the wilderness, just like the children of Israel led into the wilderness after the waters of baptism or after the waters of the Red Sea.

We could say, well, he's out in the wilderness, he's hungry.

I mean, did Jesus ever doubt the presence of God?

Did he feel disconnected?

The Israelites felt disconnected and felt like God had left them and brought them out there to die, so they should just go back to captivity with Egypt.

And so, those who have been made clean by the word made flesh and grafted into the true vine, we walk now in the in-between.

We walk having been set free from the captivity of death, but not yet entering the rest of his promise.

If you abide in me, it's what Christ says in verse 7.

If you abide in me, my words abide in you.

Ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.

And so, in that already time, in this wilderness time, when we are tempted, we are called to not turn away from God, but rather we should do what Christ did in the wilderness and remain in fellowship with him through his word.

And as we walk in this truth, Jesus tells us to pray.

With our fellowship with him and his word, our wills and wants are being aligned with his, and we go to him asking that we might walk in those things.

Jesus has already told us, okay, another thing that we need to address here.

We say, Oh, Jesus said I can have whatever I want.

I'm just gonna name it and claim it.

You know what I really want?

You know what I really want?

And we just start naming things.

This is what I really want, this is what I really want.

Jesus said, if I ask in his name, I'll want it.

Like if I abide with him, keep my relationship, and it's a transactional relationship, I'll stay close to Christ so that I'll get whatever I wish.

That's what the passage says.

Good.

Close the Bibles, let's go.

Let's go pray some big old prayers.

Some God-sized prayers from Maseratis.

Now what this is saying.

Jesus has already told us how to pray.

He's told us what our prayer should look like.

This should not disappoint you.

And if we feel disappointment, it may reveal our hearts.

Here's how God told us to pray.

Here's how Jesus, the Son of God, told us to pray.

And he will fulfill every single one of these things.

He said this.

Let me paraphrase or put it into language maybe that we can understand.

Here's what Jesus says.

Here's how you should pray.

In the wilderness, when you're being pruned, our Father in heaven, holy and set apart is your name.

May it be hallowed in my heart.

May your kingdom reign and will be done here in our hearts and lives.

Could you please give us what we need for the day in order that we might declare your beauty and worth, that we might bear fruit for you?

Would you please forgive us for the ways in which we've fallen short of bearing your image?

Father, as you lead us in this wilderness, please guide us away from temptation and protect us from the evil that seeks to vain your beauty and worth.

Father, these are our wants, these are our true desires of our hearts.

We ask all of these things in the person and righteousness of your son Jesus, and we say, Amen.

And Jesus says, you pray like that, and it will be done for you and unto you.

Honestly.

Okay.

Okay.

We're doing okay.

I I thought about that this week.

I thought about the Lord's prayer, and I was just praying that.

I was like, okay, I'm gonna pray that I'm gonna mean that I want to pray.

That's my goal, that's my goal.

I want to look more like Christ.

And I was just so excited that God was gonna answer those prayers.

He was gonna give me everything I needed that day to do what he has called me to do.

That is to image Christ.

He was gonna give me the grace to do that today.

And I thought, okay, what more could I want?

Done.

Let's do it.

Amen in Jesus' name.

Jesus goes on to say, as the Father has loved me, so I've loved you.

Abide in my love.

Abiding, remaining, communing in the love of Jesus is something I think we'd all say yes to.

I want to do that.

But the language of abiding and communing with Jesus, the king of the universe and the true vine, can seem a bit ethereal and mystical.

And in that thought it seems very distant from our daily lives.

And as if Jesus knew there was a danger of this teaching becoming an empty sentiment.

Like, hey, love God.

Okay, I don't know what that means, but sure.

Abide in Christ, abide in his love.

Okay, sure.

So look what he says in verse 10.

If you need something very practical, look at John 15, 10.

If you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love, just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love.

See it clearly.

I'm just trying to say what is there.

If you keep the commandments of Christ, you'll abide in his love.

This does not mean that God does not love us if we don't keep his commands.

It means to walk in his love, to walk in his fellowship is to be connected, or it is connected, to our obedience.

And we may say, oh, that's crazy.

Why is he being so harsh?

Okay, well, let's think about our normal relationships.

Let's say you have a good friend that you love and you continually did things that you know would hurt them.

Do you think your relationship would be strained?

And even though you kept telling them how much you cared about them and that you love them, even though you not only neglected them, but you also slandered them to other people, do you think you would be close to that person?

No! I talked to uh my wife, Kristen.

I I uh hey, it's okay I say this, right?

Yes or last night what we talked about?

Yeah, okay.

Because it's really it's about me.

You know, so I'm just trying to make it about me.

I said to Kristen, I said, you know what, I can count on no fingers how many times I've had a perfect day as a husband for you.

Like I've never been a perfect husband to my wife.

Not a single day of my life.

I'm not proud of that.

But every day I should wake up and say, I want to be a perfect husband to my wife.

Does that make sense?

My mom uh once said this to me, Mom, this is you saying something, just this is truth.

She said to me the other about a month ago or so, I was in the kitchen making jokes.

It's what I do in the kitchen, it's where jokes should be made.

And I said I said to my mom, hey mom, you know I'm not perfect.

You know what my mom said?

I know.

Say what?

Like I seriously, I honestly, I I have at first I was like, what?

Why did she say that?

I am perfect.

I'm the second son, I'm the golden child.

My brother, he's not perfect.

I'm perfect.

Why would she why would she agree with that?

You're not supposed to agree with that.

And she said, I know, but then you know what else she said?

She let it hang.

Because she could feel it in my heart, I think she could just see it in my heart, like just tossing in my brain, turning and wanting to rebut it.

And she said this after she said, I know you're not perfect.

She said this, but you try.

But you try to be perfect.

What?

That's better.

Like that's who we are.

Yes, we don't keep the commands of Christ faithfully.

We continually fall short.

Every day in the wilderness, temptations speak to the desires of our heart that are still there, the flesh that we can't get rid of on this side of eternity, and we don't have a perfect day.

But every day we ought to wake up and say, God, by your grace, please.

I want to walk well today.

I want to walk in your love.

That's what relationships are about.

We don't wake up and say, I want to vein God's image today.

We don't wake up to this, I want to be a bad husband, I want to be a bad son, I want to be a bad father.

We don't wake up and say that.

No, we love these people and we say, I want, I want this because I love them.

We get it.

We get how relationships work.

Jesus reminds us of his commands, his word is not meant to burden us, it's meant to be, it's not meant to be a heavy yoke.

It's meant to lead us to life.

And a life of joy that is lived in our created purpose is not a life of begrudging, emotionless, robotic obedience.

Rather, it's meant to lead us to much more.

See how he follows, just briefly before we close.

See how he follows it.

Uh, these things I've spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full.

These things, that is the call to be connected to him, to have his word shaping our wills, to surrender to the good gardener who prunes us in order that we might bear more fruit, is meant to lead us to full joy.

How far is your heart right now from believing that?

That the obedience of love that bears God honor and Christ's exalting fruit is where we find full joy, that waking up and making it our aim to love God through loving others and dying to your own self-interest is not the loss of life, but rather it is how we take hold of true life, a life of joy, that surrendered to the Spirit, empowered fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, leads to the exhale that we all seek through the self-absorbed pursuits of this life.

Do we believe that?

Do we trust Christ for what happens after this life?

Yes, but do we trust him in this life?

Do we trust what he says here in John 15, 11, that he's telling us to obey his commands and abide in his love because he loves us and that's where our joy is?

Do we trust that?

Do we actually believe that?

Okay, and honestly, truly, briefly, in all of this, we should see and understand that Jesus is not teasing us from the land of rest and promise.

He's not waiting and watching us from the land of rest, saying, get through the wilderness by yourself.

No, he is the way, the truth, and the life.

He is with us in the decay and the struggle of the wilderness, and he's inviting his people, whom he's freed from the captivity of sin and death, to abide with him in a loving relationship.

A shepherd and his sheep, a king and his people, a bridegroom and his bride, and a vine and his branch, inviting us to step out of the kingdom of darkness and death and into light and life, to trust him and his word in all things, to wake up and walk in faith as we begin to taste that which is to come, the everlasting and full joy of his abiding presence with his people.

May we, by his grace, repent and believe every morning.

And we say, God, whatever's necessary today that I would look more like your son Jesus Christ, please.

Would you give me the grace to walk through these things?

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.

Thank you for everything you've done for us.

Father God, we come before you today and we say that we are not good gardeners.

We cannot prune ourselves.

Father God, I pray we we thank you for being the good gardener.

We thank you for sending your son, who is the true and better, the choice vine that was planted, that we could be grafted into.

Father God, so that we could bear fruit.

Fruit that looks like your son Jesus.

That we would continually, day after day after day, we would lead more and more people, our families, and the rest of this world as we multiply all the way to the ends, that we would fill this earth with your beauty, your glory in all the ways that we can.

We are not you, but you've made ways.

You've had communicable things that we can uh look like you in, and that we can that we can honor and glorify you.

Father God, that's our goal, that's our hope.

We need your we need your help, we need your grace.

Thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ.

It's in his name we pray this in all things.

Amen.