Walk in Obedience

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by the power of the gospel.

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Life Connection Church, visit www.lifeconnectionkc.org.

John 15

John 15:1

verse 1.

I am the true vine,

and my father is the vinedresser.

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 am the vine. You are the branches.

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 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, my father is glorified.

That you bear much fruit and so prove

to be my disciples.

As the father has loved me, so have

I loved 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 that your

joy may be full.

This is my commandment,

that you love one another as I have

loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that

someone lay down his life

for his friends.

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 did not choose me, but I chose

you and appointed you that you should 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.

This is the word of God.

Amen. You may be seated.

Well, good morning again. Welcome to Life Connection.

My name is Jason. I'm one of the

pastors here. Grateful that, to be with you.

Peru reminded me that this past week, I

was out of town, all week for a

class.

And, there in North Carolina, there's this chain

of Peruvian chicken

places.

And I eat there like twice, because if

there's anything If you know me at all,

you know, I have a deep and profound

love for rotisserie chicken.

And now you add to it Peruvian

goodness. And it was just awesome. It was

a great time. Anyway, that's neither here nor

there. That's how I spent my last week.

How about you?

Hey. No matter who you are, no matter

what you believe,

I know without a doubt that there are

things in our lives that we wish were

different.

We we wanna see some kind of life

change

in our lives, every one of us. We

we're all hoping for Sometimes it's, you know,

small things that, you know, maybe we just

need some small tweaks here and there. Other

things, maybe they're bigger, they're larger, they're more

important.

But they we we all have within us

a desire

to see change,

in our lives. And

and some of those kinds of changes that

we hope for require more than just simple

habit stacking. You know, habit stacking is this

notion of, like, if you wanna develop new

habits in your life, then attach them to

things you're already doing,

to make it easier and more likely that

you'll you'll follow through. So if you wanna

get more steps in, every day, then you

could stack it on things like when you

go to the office, park farther away from

the front door so that you have to

walk longer. When you go to the grocery

store, park farther away so you gotta get

more steps in. Park.

Walmart is the best place on the planet

to go. And so park on one end

when you've gotta go to the other end

of it. You know, just simple things like

that. You're already doing these things. But some

of the kinds of changes that we wanna

see in our lives, kind of deep character

change,

it's gonna require more than just simply stacking

habits together. It's gonna require,

a a greater work of the spirit of

God in us,

bringing about change

at a profound

level. This is important for us

who desire to follow after Jesus.

Because sometimes, we can look at our lives

and we can think,

I know the person that God has called

me to be. And

and I'm not there yet. And I wanna

see change in my life. And and I

I feel like I'm I'm doing the things,

but the wheels are spinning. I'm not making

a lot of progress. And and I don't

really know why.

We we all, I think at some level

can recognize and and relate to that experience,

can't we?

Like we think if we do all the

things. If I'm reading my bible, if I'm

praying, if I'm showing up for those community

environments, if I'm doing all the things, then

then surely, my life will change. Right?

And yet sometimes, I can still do all

the things

and see bitterness

in my heart.

Not really know how to get rid of

it.

Like, how do I bring that kind of

change?

The apostle Paul in his letter to the

Roman church,

in chapter 7, while he's describing the experience

likely of someone who is far from the

Lord,

it resonates with all of us, where he

describes this internal battle,

knowing what you ought to do,

what you want to be, and yet the

struggle

to see that come about in your own

life.

I know what I I ought to do,

but I'm struggling to do it.

Can anybody else relate to that?

My my guess is if you don't relate

to that, it's because you're doing it right

now. You're lying through your teeth,

and you're struggling right now.

But this is the reality that we find

ourselves in. Right?

Sometimes just stacking spiritual habits together isn't going

to bring about change that we need because

we need something more.

We need the power of the spirit of

God

to bring about change and transformation of the

heart.

The kind of change that you and I

need at the deepest levels

are not changes that we can bring about

ourselves.

The change of character is not primarily going

to be brought about by myself in myself.

It's gonna be the Spirit of God

working in us

through those spiritual habits

to bring about the kind of change that

we hope to see.

And this is important then, as we look

to John 15 once again this morning,

to consider what place does obedience have in

the life of a disciple?

Obedience,

commandments,

it's kinda fallen on hard times in our

culture. Right?

Those aren't things we like to think about

or talk about.

And yet, if we're going to flourish into

all that God's made us to be, then

it's gonna require that we walk in obedience

behind Jesus.

And so, as we look to John 15,

the starting place and what I hope The

thread that I hope we'll see that runs

throughout is friendship with Jesus is life changing.

Friendship with Jesus is life changing. If we

wanna experience change and transformation in our lives,

if I wanna become the kind of person

who walks in obedience after Jesus,

then I have to understand the radical friendship

of God.

That's where we begin. I think the We're

gonna be looking at 8 through 17 of

the passage that was read this morning. I

think the centerpiece of that passage is 13

through 15.

Jesus says, Greater love has no one than

this, that someone lay down his life for

his friends.

You are my friends if you do what

I command you.

No longer do I call you servants, for

a servant does not know what his master

is doing. But I have called you friends.

For all that I heard from the father,

I have made known to you.

A radical friendship of God is what enables

us to walk with Jesus.

And this should make sense to us because

the triune nature of our God is at

the fundamental,

is at the foundation of all created reality.

Like, God is

foundational. He's fundamental to everything.

And our God exists in,

in a triune nature. Father, son and holy

spirit. He's existed for all eternity

in an everlasting way,

in a glorious relationship in the Godhead.

And so it should make sense to us

that there are relational needs that we experience

and that we have. In fact, I would

argue that the scripture actually contends that you

are required to walk. And if you're going

to flourish in this life, you're required to

experience relationship

because our God is relational.

And so,

we we shouldn't be surprised by that. And

then in in the experience of loneliness, it

we start to understand why it's so painful.

Because it's demonstrating that there's something off in

our world.

This is not what we were made for.

We weren't made for isolation. We weren't made

for loneliness.

And so that's why that experience becomes so

painful for

us.

You see, we need to understand

that experience of friendship that we have with

others, the experience even of loneliness,

it ultimately points away to it, from itself

to God.

It reminds us of our ultimate needs

for God.

That longing for companionship, that longing for relationship,

that desire

to put away loneliness.

It leads us to realize

fundamentally

at rock bottom,

what we need above all other needs

is God.

We need more than just human companionship,

human friendship,

because the reality is, we're going to let

one another down, aren't we?

Hear me.

It's not just that you're going to be

let down.

You and I are going to let people

down.

And so in that, like we need something

more.

We need a long lasting

friendship with someone who never fails us and

never leaves us and never turns his back

on us. And this is the invitation of

Jesus

to find friendship with God through him.

That we can know the God of the

universe.

The one who made everything we see and

don't see. That we can walk with him

in friendship

because of what Jesus has done for us.

He said he laid down his life for

his friends.

And the invitation then is to trust Christ

by faith.

To turn from those old ways of life

where you live for yourself,

and instead to live for Jesus.

To give your allegiance over to him.

That

that you might trust him at his word,

and thus follow

after him.

That's the invitation this morning. So if you

haven't yet

started a friendship with God, that's the invitation

right now.

And nothing else that we say is going

to be able to work itself out in

your life until that gets settled.

We have to have friendship with God through

Jesus.

And this friendship

with God then is the foundation for our

life with Jesus.

Because of friendship with God, we can rest

in Jesus' love.

Greater love has no one than this, that

someone lay down his life for his friends.

And because Jesus did that, verse 9, we

can now, as the father has loved me,

so have I loved you, abide in my

love.

We can rest in the love of Jesus

because of friendship

with God.

Jesus is that friend who will not fail

us.

He is the friend who always lets us

in.

No longer do I call you servants, for

a servant doesn't know what his master is

doing, but I've called you friends

because everything I've heard from the father, I

have made known to you. He lets us

in.

And verse 13 shows us he never lets

us down.

And that's the fundamental

friendship

that we need if we're going to experience

transformation

in this life. Because

love is a change agent.

Like, what you love

and those who love you, it has an

effect on you.

It

When, when you are loved by someone else,

it does something in us. Doesn't it?

It causes you to, to want to, to

care about the things those people care about.

To love the things those people love. Now,

when God, the ultimate

friend,

places his love on us by Jesus,

it has an effect on our soul

to bring about change and transformation

over time.

I was reminded of this old movie,

that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, As Good as It

Gets.

It is a quirky movie.

Jack Nicholson plays

this really interesting character.

But there is this scene. He has this

thing for Helen Hunt's character, and they have

this this kind of date at a restaurant.

And he is trying to express his love

for her, and she is beginning to care

about him more and more

significantly.

And he's bumbling around trying to give some

sort of compliment to her, and he's failing

massively along the way.

And he pauses,

kinda composes himself,

and he says to her, you make me

want to be a better man.

That's the kind of thing that love does

to us.

Love has a power. God's love

in us, for us, has a powerful ability

to affect change.

When we rest in that kind of love,

it has the ability to affect our minds,

our emotions,

and our way of life.

Friendship with Jesus is life changing. And this

friendship with God that we can have through

Christ, it leads to flourishing.

Look again at verse 9.

As the father has loved me, so have

I loved you. Abide in my love.

If you keep my commandments,

you'll 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 that you love one

another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that

someone lay down his life for his friends.

You are my

friends

if you do what I command you.

If we're gonna understand

the significance of God's love for us in

the place of commands and

obedience in the Christian life. We have to

reframe

our understanding of obedience to commands.

Commands and obedience

have a bad rap in our culture.

I mean, we we read these verses and

this idea that you can experience

and walk in Jesus' love if you obey.

That seems like a weird combination

to a modern ear.

Like, what do love and obedience have to

do with one another?

Like, in your friendship with someone, you don't

think that they're obeying you. Right?

We have this growing

care for one another.

Now you need to do what I say.

Like that seems weird. Like, so we hear

these words and we wonder what's going on.

They don't seem related.

And I wanna say that's because of the

way that our culture has formed us to

misunderstand

the very nature of God's commands for us.

In fact, I want to contend that that

our misunderstanding

of the goodness of God's commands actually goes

back all the way to Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

The great lie of the enemy

is that if

there is a command, something is being withheld

from you.

And so we think commands are weird because

something is being withheld from us. That's a

great lie of the enemy that's existed

for all time.

No. Commands instead should be rightly understood as

the gateway to human flourishing.

The Westminster

Shorter Catechism says

that the goal of humanity,

the chief end

of humanity is to glorify God and enjoy

him forever.

That that's the sum and substance of what

you've been made for.

And that has all kinds of implications and

entailments that if we would love God and

we would enjoy him, that it will affect

the way that we live in this world.

It will affect our relationships with one another.

It will change the way that we view

everything.

Because

loving God and enjoying him forever, that is

the place of human flourishing.

Flourishing is just a fancy word of talking

about human thriving.

And I know we're Americans, and so we

have be careful to not just merely equip

flourishing with economics.

You're flourishing if you're moving up the ladder.

If you're moving into different neighborhoods. No. God

has something far more important

at heart here.

That flourishing

is about your well-being.

That you're growing to become a man or

woman who loves God and enjoys him

and now cares and loves other people.

That's what he has in mind and rightly

understood then, commands are not things that God

are using to withhold something from you.

It's the gateway to human flourishing.

He has made you. He has designed you.

He knows what's best for you.

He does nothing arbitrarily.

And so when he gives us a command,

it's for our good

and our joy

Not to withhold.

And so commands,

rightly understood,

are lights to the path of human flourishing.

You see, God's goal for your life and

mine

is that we would find we would identify

ourselves with Jesus in such a way

that we would follow after him as his

disciples.

That we would entrust our life to him,

and we would start a journey with him.

And that journey is headed toward human flourishing.

That we might grow to become the kinds

of men and women God made us to

be.

Men and women who love God and love

others.

Jesus himself said, all the law and the

prophets hang on those two ideas.

You can sum up the whole book

with those two ideas.

And God now has made a way in

Jesus for us to walk that path that

we might grow

in, in, in human flourishing. That we might

thrive

in this life. That we might experience the

abundant life that he has for us.

So commands aren't

God withholding something from us. They are the

very pathway for flourishing.

God has our ultimate good in mind.

And this then is why Jesus can say

this absolutely

insane idea,

verse 11. These things I have spoken to

you that my joy may be in you,

and that your joy may be full.

Your joy can be found in Jesus and

made full in him as you walk in

his way,

as you live obediently

after him.

Because obedience

is not about

like, white knuckling it. It's about experiencing the

fullness of life that God has for you

in Christ.

And so now,

now we can start to understand why it

is that living obediently to Jesus could actually

lead me

to joy.

Because that's where flourishing

is found.

And so we walk with Jesus by walking

in obedience to Jesus.

You wanna experience and rest in God's love

for you? Then walk in obedience after Jesus.

You wanna experience joy in this life?

Then walk in obedience after Jesus.

You wanna experience the full life that Jesus

has promised?

Then walk in obedience

after Jesus.

Friendship with Jesus is life changing.

So what does this mean for our daily

lives in trying to follow after Jesus?

Well, I can't I can't help but think

that we need to start

by asking the question, what happens when I

fail?

Because the reality that you and I both

know is we're gonna fail.

Like, I'm not always

going to be a good friend.

There is this picture

in communion with Jesus, abiding in the vine,

that shows a closeness and a depth of

relationship

with our God.

There can be a disruption

to that communion,

that friendship.

And when there's a disruption, what we can

know

is that it's always because of me.

God has not distanced himself.

God has not let me down.

God has not failed to come through.

If there is a disruption

in friendship with God,

it always comes because of me.

Because of you.

He is the perfect friend who never fails.

You and I are not.

So where do we go when we fail?

Maybe you're even thinking about this past week,

and we're we're talking about walking in obedience

after Jesus, and you're thinking about moments where

you didn't do that.

Where do we go? What do we do?

Well, the invitation of Jesus is is quite

simple.

Repent and return.

Repent.

Turn from that sin,

that wayward action,

that wayward way of thinking,

and return to Jesus by faith.

Confessing your sin to him, knowing that he

is faithful and just to forgive us.

I couldn't help but think

of the apostle Peter, just a few short

chapters after this,

who denies Jesus

on 3 different occasions when Jesus needed him

most.

He's on trial,

headed towards execution.

And one of his closest friend

Jesus had the 12, and then he had

the 3.

And Peter was one of the 3. And

Peter let him down

in a royally massive way.

But what did Jesus do?

John chapter 21. Jesus restores

John 21 · chapter mention

Peter.

He receives him back.

He embraces

and includes

him as a friend.

See, Jesus is inviting us when we fail

to

repent and return.

Now, we might experience

the fullness of life that he has

for us. And these things need to get

worked out for us also

in community.

I mean, Jesus says that this friendship with

God has been given to us that we

could be good

friends to others, that we could love and

care for others well.

I mean, that's what he says his command

is, that you would love one another.

So our friendship with God is not just

about me and Jesus. It's about us and

Jesus.

And so this has tremendous impact as I

think about those community environments that that I

might be a part of. Like that that

small group that you're a part of. That

gospel community, or maybe you're a part of

the class.

These are opportunities

for us

to learn how to love one another well.

As I think about community environments, just a

side note. After this service, we have that

picnic here on the ground.

Grab lunch,

come hang out,

let kids enjoy the new playground. There'll be

ice cream truck, all that kind of stuff.

But but as I think about my ongoing

involvement

in those community environments,

what might it look like for me to

start thinking outside of myself

that I might care for others?

Like what what might it look like this

week?

If you're in one of those you're in

a community environment. If you're not, you're you're

gonna be with some co workers, or with

some classmates, or with some peers.

What might it look like to to think

about how you could ask questions to get

to know this other person?

Not questions that are gonna set you up

to talk about yourself.

You you know what that looks like. We've

all been there, and we've all done it.

You see the wheels turning. You're having this

conversation. The wheels are turning in that other

person's mind, because they're figuring out how they

get to now set themselves up to just

talk.

People love to talk about themselves, right?

What if you and I

try to find one person this week

to exhibit some relational curiosity

to get to know them better?

For their good and their benefit, not for

you.

What if you what if you tried to

practice that this week?

Just one person.

Not every person. We're not getting crazy here.

One conversation this week.

Introverts in the room, like, hey, you gotta

have a conversation this week. You know, that's

what I'm

I'm one of you. That's what I'm telling

us. We gotta have extroverts in the room,

you gotta not just talk at people.

You gotta have a conversation with people.

Like, we all have work to do. We

all need to practice these things.

What might it look like for you to

do that this week?

And now imagine the kind of impact that

we could have in our community.

If we became known as a people

who cared about others,

who are doing things to try to help

others become known.

There could be a place

for men and women outside of this local

church

to come to know friendship

with God through Jesus,

could have brothers and sisters

that they're walking together with.

What if we practice these things? I can

promise you this.

That would have a tremendous impact in our

culture, because that is unknown.

There are not many environments that you step

into outside of,

the local church,

where men and women are striving to know

others for their good.

But if you step into that space,

and that's how you live,

imagine the kind of impact it could have.

People are craving to be known.

Craving to be seen.

And now, you and I have an opportunity

to do just that. And here's

the kicker.

This is what Jesus is calling us to.

Verse

16. You did not choose me, but I

chose you and appointed you that you should

bear fruit,

and that your fruit should abide. So that

whatever you ask the father in my name,

he may give it to you. Jesus is

turning.

He's tweaking the metaphor of bearing fruit now

to talk about the fruit of evangelism,

the fruit of mission,

the fruit of gospel advance.

He says, you have been chosen to be

disciples of Jesus

so that you can be a blessing to

others.

And this, in light of the command to

care for one another well,

this could be one small tangible means for

us to live as a gospel witness.

The reality is

none of this is possible apart from Jesus

laying down his life for his friends.

And so that's why every week we take

part in the Lord's supper.

Because we need those regular reminders of what

God has done for us in Christ.

He has made a way through Jesus. His

life, death and resurrection

that we could know him.

That we could rest in his love.

That by the power of the spirit of

God at work in us, be transformed

to look more and more like him,

that we could grow to care for others

well,

that we could become the kinds of people

who are looking outside of ourselves

to help people

connect to Jesus,

to grow up in Jesus.

It's only possible because he laid If you're

a disciple of Jesus,

what you need to understand is you're his

friend.

And he has laid down his life for

you.

And so in these moments then, we get

an opportunity to reflect.

To meditate on those great truths,

to think about what God has done for

us in Christ.

What what we sang about earlier, like, how

undeserved

that kind of love is.

That kind of grace and mercy is is

so undeserved. But God, out of his lavish

love,

has made a way for us in Christ,

that we might flourish and grow into all

that he's made us to be.

Friendship with Jesus is life changing. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word.

That in your kindness

and grace and mercy, you have spoken to

us by it.

That we could know you.

That we could become your friends,

so that our lives could be changed and

transformed into the kinds of people you've made

us to be,

people who love you and love others.

Help us in that regard.

Spirit of God in these moments, would you

impress upon us

the steps that we need to take personally

to follow in the way of Jesus this

week.

That it can't happen by us trying harder,

doing more,

doing better.

But ultimately, it comes because of your spirit

at work in us.

And so would you help us to keep

our eyes fixed on Jesus

that we might be changed and transformed

to look more and more like him. And

we pray this in his name. Amen.