Pursuing the Power of God | John 15:1-11 (July 16) Jeremy Giesbrecht

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

All right.

Well, it is good to be here with you this morning.

Thank you for that, I mean, very humbling introduction.

Fun fact, when I I once introduced Miles at a fall camp of ours, and when I introduced him, I said, Here's Miles, and uh he has a kid on the way.

Except he hadn't told anybody that they were pregnant, not even me.

So it was like, uh yes, we do have a kid on the way, but nobody knows that.

And then all our entire youth group knew that, and um, I'm not a prophet though, so don't take me as that, okay?

Um, yeah, I was pretty sad when uh I mean Miles asked me to preach and that made me happy, but then he told me, well, I'm not gonna be there, and that made me a bit sad, but uh then I get then I realized that I get to be here and open God's word and be in God's word with you people.

So I mean that that fills me with joy.

So if you would turn in your Bibles to John 15, that's where we're gonna be.

Uh, one thing I love about coming and preaching at a GCC church is I always know when I say turn in your Bibles or let's look here, I'll always hear pages flipping or at least the tap of fingers on a screen.

I know Miles has an extremely high view of scripture, so I know he gets you into it when he gets up here to preach.

So hopefully you found your way to John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

Uh so I want to pray before we get started.

So let's let's pray.

Father, once again, we come to you, we we thank you that that we can be here, that we can worship you, that we can lift high the name of Jesus.

And now, Lord, we continue that worship of Jesus Christ through the preaching of the word.

Lord, thank you for the book of John and just everything that it says about Christ, about who Christ is, about how we can follow him.

But the reason the book was written was so that you may believe.

So, Father, would you speak to us through your word this morning?

It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all, Lord.

So I come up here already knowing my flesh is no help.

It is your word and your spirit that gives life.

So would you do the life change this morning in Jesus' name?

Amen.

So today we are talking about pursuing God's power.

So I want to know what comes to your mind when you think of the word power.

Shout a couple out to me.

Power.

Strength.

Lights, okay.

Yes, some electricity, I like it.

Anything else?

Power.

What comes to your mind?

The ability to take control.

The ability to take control, I like it.

Any others?

Okay, well my pardon?

Courage.

Courage, okay.

My favorite powerful thing outside of God, of course, uh, is cars.

I love powerful cars.

One of the things I like to do from time to time when I save my pennies is to do to either rent a fast car or do a car experience.

There's a place near Oakville where you can drive exotic cars for 30 minutes per car.

And recently I took a friend to do this experience.

We drove a Lamborghini Hurricane, uh, an Acura NSX, and a Nissan GTR.

Three really powerful cars, and my favorite was the NSX.

Uh normally I drive a Mazda 3.

For those that don't know the comparison, because not everybody's a car person, I get that.

That's like the difference between a professional hockey player and a Timbitz kid, okay?

That's that's a good comparison, I think.

Um, but I'm a youth director, so Mazda 3, that's pretty much as good as I'm going to ever own, okay?

So I'm not saying my car isn't great.

If you have a Mazda 3, I love my Mazda 3, but being in an accurate NSX, pushing the pedal to the floor, getting sucked to your seat, going slightly over the speed limit, within mere seconds, it's it's unreal.

It's it's one of the most thrilling experiences I've ever had.

The feeling of just going 0 to 100 in three to four seconds, it's unlike anything else.

Maybe you've experienced you get sucked back into your seat.

I mean, sometimes you lose your breath if you're not prepared for it.

One time I cracked my back.

That's how powerful this car is.

See, I'm trying to describe it, but unless you've done it or something like it, you just can't understand.

You just you don't understand.

And there's a problem with doing this.

See, when I'm done renting or driving fast cars, uh, when I'm done that, it's back to my Mazda 3.

Back to less comfort, less luxury, less speed, less thrill, less good looking, less expensive, less power, less Instagram worthy, okay?

But if I had never rented or driven fast cars, I would never know the difference.

The same is true of God's power and his presence.

You can listen to a famous theologian or to Miles or to me describe it to you.

I'm sure Miles has described God's power more than once.

You guys are going through Genesis.

Creation by a word, that's, I mean, that's power.

But at some point, you've got to experience it for yourself.

And when you do, when you truly experience the power of God, your life, it can never be the same.

So why do I tell you this?

Because I believe that many of us are content with living the Mazda 3 life when we should be pursuing the accurate NSX power.

We're content with being just kind of Christians when we should be pursuing God and his power in a much greater way.

Listen to what famous theologian A.

W.

Tozer says, it'll be on the screen here.

Complacency, that's not pursuing, is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.

But acute desire or pursuing must be present, or there will be no manifestation of Christ to his people.

He waits to be wanted.

Too bad that with many of us, he waits so long, so very long, in vain.

We need to pursue him and his power.

For many of us, we live the Christian life without ever experiencing the true power of God.

I believe it's because we just don't know what we're missing.

So let me give you your first point, and then we'll get into John 15 so I can show you this, not with cars, because those are lame, but I'll show you with God's word because that's much more powerful.

So here's your first point Jesus is the power source, so pursue him.

Jesus is the power source, so pursue him.

Let me give you a brief bit of context because we're jumping into the middle of John here.

Jesus has just washed the disciples' feet.

He's about to pray, and then he's going to be betrayed and arrested and crucified.

So what he's about to say here in John 15, he's saying so that his disciples, they know when he's gone, how how can we continue the work of the Lord?

And so we come to John 15.

So let's read John 15, verses 1 to 7.

John 15:1–7

Let's start start there.

Jesus says, This 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 itself 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 any one 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.

So as Jesus is speaking to his disciples here, he starts with a statement.

He says, I am the true vine.

I am the power source, I am the one who will accomplish it, I'm the one who will die on the cross, I'm the true Adam, I'm the true prophet, I'm the true priest, I'm the true king.

And these first century Jews that he was talking to would have understood this.

They would have linked it back to Moses and the burning bush when God says, I am who I am.

This is Jesus making a connection to himself and the God of the Old Testament because they are the same God.

All throughout John, there's case after case of Jesus telling people who he is.

He's the light of the world.

Before Abraham was, he was.

He's the way, the truth, and the life.

He is the answer to all that they were searching for in the scriptures.

He tells them this over and over if you read the book of John.

Colossians 1, 15 to 16, it summarizes this perfectly.

It says, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

So we've got to understand, he is the power source.

He is the true vine.

He will accomplish it.

We're just the branches.

Now, I assume most of you know basic biology.

Uh you know that branches only grow if they're attached to the main thing, to the trunk, to the vine.

What happens when we cut branches or flowers?

What happens?

They die, yes, yes.

Not uh, yeah, not a hard one.

We just we just passed Mother's Day.

Uh, I'm sure a lot of you mothers got flowers, but what you really got was a dead thing to put on your table.

That's what you got.

It's it's dead, it's it's dying.

Okay?

They may look pretty, they do, but they only grow.

Plants only grow when they can get nutrients and stability that they need from being in a proper planting and root system.

So, what does that mean for us?

Very simply, it means one word, abide.

We need to be abiding in Christ.

Look back to verse four and five.

It's Jesus says this.

It can't get any any plainer than this, it really can't.

He says this, 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.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

Apart from him, we can do nothing.

Now that doesn't mean absolutely nothing, because we know that non-Christians do plenty of things in business and science, technology, sports, and life.

That's called common grace.

Although if you think about it, Jesus holds everything together by the word of his power.

So literally nothing is possible without him.

But what it means for us is that apart from abiding with Christ, we can do nothing of eternal spiritual value.

Without faith, it's impossible to please God.

We're gonna get to the doing things part in a minute, but first we need to meet what does it mean to abide in Christ?

So, nine weeks ago, two months ago, my wife gave birth to our first boy, my firstborn, my beautiful baby boy Arthur.

Um, since that day, nine weeks ago, there has not been one day that that that boy has been at, has not been at the breast of my wife, or at the very least, on my chest with a bottle.

In fact, when he doesn't feed, when he's not abiding at one of our chests, he gets cranky.

You parents know exactly what I mean.

And when when he's hungry, when we bring that bottle or that that the nipple close to his mouth, he's seeking it.

He's like, Where is it?

I need it, I need the food.

He's magnetic to it.

He craves it, he seeks it above all else.

He pursues it until he's fed.

He needs to be abiding at one of our chests, eating those nutrients in order to grow.

And listen, friends, this is what it should be like for us as Christians.

At one point in our lives, if we're Christians, we're born again.

A spiritual infant.

So abiding for us means we pursue God through prayer, through worship, through communion, through corporate gatherings like church, through reading the word of God.

But at the end of the day, it's not about the activities we do, but the relationship we build.

We're pursuing Jesus Christ.

That's how we abide.

We pursue Christ and all things to do with Christ.

Because He is the one who can accomplish anything in our lives.

Without Him, we can do nothing.

It says so right there in John 15.

Apart from me, you can do nothing.

Like the psalmist says, we should be like a deer panting for water.

Now I know this is kind of a paradox, but having and using that power depends on you not using your own power, but in trusting that the Lord will give you the strength to do it.

But that only comes from abiding.

If you put your phone like near a plug, it's not gonna charge.

You have to plug it into a power source.

It has to abide in the wall, or it's useless to you.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 12 that God's power is made perfect in weakness.

When we're weak, he is strong.

Jesus is the power source, so we need to pursue him.

Let's look back down to verse 3.

It says this already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

Jesus says to them, they're already clean.

The pruning has already happened to them because of the word that Jesus has spoken to them.

They weren't clean because they were good guys.

If you like read the Gospels, the guys he calls are not good guys.

Tax collectors, those guys hated their people.

Okay, they weren't good guys, but they they were clean because of what Jesus had done.

And the same is true of you and me.

We're clean because of what Jesus has done by dying on the cross, not because we not because we come to church, not because we get baptized, not because we have the biggest Bibles, not because we follow a Bible plan daily.

We're clean because we have trusted in the Word of God, which says that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved.

It can't be any clearer.

It's all Him, it's none of us.

I have no power to change any of your hearts here today.

I have no power.

Miles has no power to change any of our hearts.

I have no power to change my own heart.

It all comes from abiding with Christ.

I heard I heard a preacher once say as he was preaching something from John 15, he said, just get in the Bible.

I know often I run a young adults group and a lot of young adults, I'm too busy, I work too much, I I I have too much school, I'm just too busy to get in the Bible for even five minutes.

I don't believe you.

Just get in the Bible.

We can all abide with Christ.

Look at verse, look down at verse 7.

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

There are two conditions there.

If you abide in Christ, and if the words abide in you, ask what you wish and it will be done.

Or in other words, get in God's word until God's word gets into you.

And then ask whatever you will and it will be done, because then your will will line up with God's will, and you won't be asking for silly things, it'll be righteous things.

But notice, it's all about Jesus.

If you abide in me and I abide in you, you are in Christ and his words are in you.

Now, I need to address some people who might be in this room right now.

If you're not doing these things on a regular basis, if you're not abiding with Christ, if you're not pursuing him, if you're not wanting to be with him and his people on a regular basis, you're lacking power.

I'm not talking about missing your Bible plan for a day.

I'm not talking about missing a Sunday at church.

That's not what I'm, that's not what I'm talking about.

I think, I mean, I think a lot could be said in a different sermon about people being excited for like a Jays game and not for church.

But that's a completely different thing.

But if your life has nothing to do with God on a daily basis, it's likely that you don't love Jesus.

You just love the idea of him, or maybe you love some benefit he offers.

Like maybe maybe everybody goes out for lunch after church.

Maybe you like the social aspect.

Maybe your crush is here, and this is the only way you get to see him or her.

Maybe you love the tax break from giving.

Or maybe you just coming eases your conscience just a little bit.

If those are the reasons that you come to church, that you love Jesus, then you don't love Jesus.

You love things about yourself.

And Jesus is very clear about what happens to the branches that don't abide, that don't seek him, that are not attached to the vine, that are not bearing fruit.

Those branches were never once part of the vine.

Scripture is very clear.

Once you're part of the true vine, you're sealed, you can you'll never die.

But though there are those who are pretend branches who never accept Jesus, they just look like branches.

Fake plants look pretty real, don't they?

Have you ever gone into like a doctor's office and been like, that's a nice plant?

I wonder if it's whoops, that is real.

Whoops, that leaf is gone.

Pretend branches look real.

They know how to raise their hands in worship.

They, if they're pressed for the right answers, they probably know.

They might have even the pine scent.

They spray themselves with some pine scent, they smell like a tree.

They look like Christians, but in reality they have no relationship with Christ.

Listen to what 2 Timothy 3 says about these kinds of people, okay?

2 Timothy 3 says this.

But understand this that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

Listen carefully.

This this describes our age, okay?

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power, avoid such people.

And these are not like one-time things, like if you lie or steal or cheat once, you're not a Christian.

No, no, no, no.

But if your life is characterized by these things, I believe some people in this room probably need to evaluate are you a real branch?

Are you just a really good-looking fake branch?

And I've got great news.

If you're if you're not attached to a vine, if you're just a pretend branch right now, I've got great news.

If you're not a believer, the Bible says you can believe and be saved today.

We've sung the gospel in in three songs before.

We're gonna sing it again after the sermon.

You're hearing the gospel now.

You can believe in this today.

Stop trying to do it by yourself and ask God to change your heart.

Okay?

This is about having a real, genuine, authentic, pursuing relationship with Jesus.

And when this pursuit is real, when this pursuit is real, all other pursuits become less meaningful because you'll have that power that's only attainable by Christ.

I forget about my Mazda 3 when I'm in the Acura NSX.

Okay?

This is how you pursue his power by abiding in him.

So now what?

What about the the doing things?

Well, here's your second point, and I'll thank my Uncle Ben for this one.

With great power comes great responsibility.

With great power comes great responsibility.

So let's read John 15, verse 8 to 11.

John 15:8–11

Says this, Jesus says this.

He continues, by this my father is glorified.

Doing what?

What?

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 your joy may be full.

So let me be clear at the start of this point.

We don't do good works to be saved, we do good works because we're saved.

So let's revisit my experience in the NSX.

When I got into that car, I knew what I had because I was told.

They give you a little briefing before.

Here's what you have.

I know I have a partially electric car, which means instant acceleration.

I knew I had all-wheel drive, which means the car will accelerate more evenly and not spin the wheels.

I knew I had 573 horsepower compared to 155 in my Mazda 3.

So what does all that mean?

What does all that mean for me?

It means going from a complete stop to driving highway speeds in four seconds.

It means that I had a powerful machine capable of killing somebody, including myself and my friend beside me, if I wasn't careful, if I didn't obey the rules of the road, if I didn't pay attention.

That NSX power, it's a big deal, especially if we don't use it properly.

So, what do we do with God's power?

We obey in order that we might bear fruit.

This is a great responsibility that the Lord has given us.

Look back to verse 8 with me.

Look back.

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

Somebody shouted out how is God glorified?

By this, by what?

By bearing fruit.

By bearing fruit and proving to be disciples.

When we abide and obey, we prove that we're part of the vine.

I know there's a lot of stuff in the world today that says you just need a relationship with Christ.

You don't need to listen to the law.

You don't need to obey those rules.

But listen, if you go to the Psalms, the law is not described as something to hold us back.

It's not.

It's described as amazing.

So, but why do we keep this?

Why should we?

Jesus parallels us abiding and obeying to himself abiding and obeying.

Look at verse 10.

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.

About that?

Going back to our earlier question, how do we abide?

We keep his word.

Because Jesus did the same.

If we're part of this vine, we'll bear the same fruit.

Just like an apple tree can't produce bananas, if we're branches in Jesus, we should be bearing the fruit of righteousness.

Right?

Right.

There's a scripture passage that sums this up perfectly.

Ephesians 2, 8 to 10.

I think it's going to be on the screen for you.

So it says this for by grace you have been saved through faith.

This is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God.

That's the whole first point.

It's none of you, it's all God.

Okay, verse 9.

Not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are his worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus.

Why?

For good works, to bear fruit, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

We're made branches by the true vine.

This is not our doing, this is not our power.

It's not by us cleaning up our behavior.

It's all God, it's all his power, his might, his strength.

Because if you can save yourself, why would you need God?

If you can just do it on your own, why do you need God?

But no, God chose to save you.

Verse 10, why?

Because we're his worksmanship created in Christ Jesus.

For what?

For good works that God prepared for us, that we should do them.

If you abide, you'll bear fruit.

Do the good works.

So prove to be disciples of Christ.

But like I said at the beginning of the sermon, I fear many of us are content with just living the Mazda 3 life.

We want to live on our own.

We're happy to just do our own thing with no regard for pursuing God or pursuing power.

We are happy to just come to church and do the Christian thing because they're fun.

But when we're told by our pastors or elders or small group leaders, you need to read God's word every day.

You need to pray, you need to obey these commandments, we think they're crazy.

That's outdated, that's not relevant for me, that's not fun, that's not my truth, that's intolerant, that's not how I identify.

The only reason that we're content with living that old life and continue, continuing to go back to that old life over and over is because we've never truly experienced the new life.

Charles Spurgeon says this outer court worshippers little know what belongs to the inner sanctuary, or surely they would press on until the place of nearness and divine familiarity became theirs.

Of course, we think driving the Mazda is fun.

When I first got my Mazda, there's a little button on it that says, what's that little button says?

Boost or speed or whatever.

It doesn't give me any more speed.

It just revs higher.

It doesn't give me any more speed.

Of course, I thought that was fantastic.

I've never driven the Acura.

Of course, we sometimes think that sin is good and fun.

Because sometimes we just we don't know the power of God.

Sometimes we don't love reading God's word because we just think it's a set of rules.

It's described in the Psalms as sweeter than honey, more precious than gold.

I know every one of us would love some more honey or some more gold.

So how do I know this?

How do I know this?

Well, Jesus says, verse 11, let's go back to John 15, 11.

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

So he says these things to his disciples and and to us through his word, that his joy may be in us and our joy might be full.

Well, what was the joy of Christ?

In John 4, Jesus tells his disciples that his food, what fills him up, is to do the will of the Father.

Jesus was most joyful, most fulfilled when he bore fruit, when he did the will of the Father.

And what was the will of the Father?

Well, Isaiah 53 says that it was the will of the Father to crush the Son.

It was God's will for Jesus to go to the cross.

And Hebrews 12, 2 tells us that for the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross.

So, wait a minute.

I'm telling you that Jesus had joy in going to the cross?

Absolutely.

Not happiness.

He knew it was going to hurt a lot, physically, spiritually.

But the joy that he got was because he was being obedient to God, accomplishing his will, ultimately enduring all of that pain and suffering on our behalf.

So that you don't have to go through it.

It's not on you.

So now our joy in life is most full when we abide in Jesus Christ and obey his commandments, no matter how hard that may be.

So I want to encourage you today as we end our service with another song of praise.

We pursue God's power by pursuing a relationship with Christ.

We don't chase the power of God because that's idolatry.

No, let me encourage you today to chase the power giver who is God.

And when you've had that encounter with the living God, your life will never be the same.

And because your life isn't the same, because of what Christ has done for you, that's why we obey.

That's why we bear fruit and prove to be a disciple of Christ.

Don't forget, it's all Him, His power, His sacrifice, His good works that He planned for us before the foundations of the world.

He enables us to give Him glory, and that is awesome.

Amen?

Amen.

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you once again for your word.

You are good, you are righteous.

Thank you for saving us.

Thank you for obeying perfectly.

And then imputing that to us is that we don't have to obey perfectly, but we obey out of joy for being saved.

Help us to pursue you more today.

Whatever that looks like.

Help us to get into the word.

Help us to worship more passionately.

Help us to be more loving to our neighbor, to our spouse, to our friends.

Help us to pursue you more and more because you are worthy of being pursued.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.