back to index2016-11-06 Bearing Fruit in the Spirit
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They're in two different sections, but again, 00:00:08.000 |
the heaviest teaching of the Holy Spirit is in John chapter 00:00:12.000 |
14, 15, and 16, and also Romans chapter 7 and 8. 00:00:16.000 |
So I wanted to really get to this last week, but I thought today would be more 00:00:20.000 |
appropriate, so we're going to be doing the exposition on John 15, 00:00:24.000 |
or at least a portion of that, and then we'll jump back to Romans chapter 8. 00:00:28.000 |
So we want to read Romans chapter 8, verse 12-17 before we jump there. 00:01:08.000 |
Okay, if you can turn your Bibles again to John chapter 15. 00:02:48.000 |
I don't know if any of you have any experience planting vegetables 00:02:56.000 |
You know the joy that comes from at the end after you've done it 00:03:00.000 |
whether it takes a few months or a while and you start to see the fruit. 00:03:04.000 |
I know some of you guys in your backyard have planted trees, whatever trees you have. 00:03:08.000 |
And it may take years before you actually see the fruit. 00:03:12.000 |
I don't have a whole lot of experience. The only real experience I've ever had was planting 00:03:20.000 |
And my dad decided to plant corn all over our yard, front yard and the 00:03:24.000 |
backyard. It was pretty embarrassing. But I remember when 00:03:28.000 |
he did that one of the first things I noticed is that 00:03:36.000 |
It took maybe no more than a week or two before we started seeing signs of growth. 00:03:40.000 |
And we got pretty excited. And so I would say it took no more than 00:03:44.000 |
two to three months at most. It might have been less than that where it grew 00:03:48.000 |
high enough where we began to see the corn coming out. So I remember 00:03:52.000 |
one day thinking, "Wow, I think in a couple more weeks we're going to be able to eat corn." 00:03:56.000 |
And so after a while, I mean my dad planted it everywhere. 00:04:00.000 |
So we had a lot of corn. So we thought we're going to have a corn feast today. 00:04:04.000 |
And so when the day came and we took all the corn down and we actually started 00:04:08.000 |
opening it up, we found out it was completely inedible. 00:04:12.000 |
The corn was not yellow like you normally, it was black. 00:04:20.000 |
And so initially what I thought to be, "Wow, this is pretty easy. Just drop it in the 00:04:24.000 |
ground and pour water. I mean it just sprouts out." And later on, 00:04:28.000 |
I was talking to different people. It's like, "Oh yeah, we did that and it didn't work." 00:04:32.000 |
And growing corn is a lot harder than I thought. And they said, "Of course 00:04:36.000 |
you can't just drop it on the ground. You have to till the land and you have to make sure 00:04:40.000 |
you have proper fertilizers. And even when you water it, you have to make sure that you have to do 00:04:44.000 |
this and that." And the rock, the soil that we had 00:04:48.000 |
in our house was very, very rocky. So we didn't prepare, we didn't think anything 00:04:52.000 |
because it was just sprouting up. So we thought, "Yes, we got fruit." 00:04:56.000 |
The reason why I share this story is because I think 00:05:00.000 |
spiritually, a lot of people go through that same kind 00:05:08.000 |
That you want to bear fruit. Who doesn't? You're a Christian, you're excited about your faith. 00:05:12.000 |
You come to church, you volunteer to serve. You go to short-term missions. 00:05:16.000 |
You lead small groups. And then initially you start to see 00:05:20.000 |
progress because there's a bit of change in your life and there's certain things that you were 00:05:24.000 |
challenged by. But if you've been a Christian for a while, you've 00:05:28.000 |
gone through that period of thinking that there was 00:05:36.000 |
Being disappointed that it's taken a lot longer than you thought 00:05:44.000 |
that you had. Or even the people around you, you weren't as patient as you'd like to be. 00:05:48.000 |
But if you look around you and there's a growing cynicism in you, 00:05:52.000 |
then maybe this is just what it is. There's something missing. 00:05:56.000 |
And possibly you may have already maybe even given up in your heart. 00:06:00.000 |
So we see a lot of young people who are excited about their faith, but then if you've been a Christian 00:06:04.000 |
for a while and you went through this cycle, you know, after that experience of 00:06:08.000 |
planting corn and being disappointed, I've never done it again. Because I don't want 00:06:12.000 |
to be disappointed. Some of us have spiritually got to a point 00:06:16.000 |
where you just kind of given up. You're just like, well, you know, what's the 00:06:20.000 |
point? You know, I've done that before. I've gone to short term missions. I've gotten 00:06:24.000 |
excited about church and I've done all of this before. And there's a sense of cynicism 00:06:28.000 |
especially when you see young Christians becoming Christians. You're kind of like, 00:06:32.000 |
yeah, I remember when I was like that. You just wait until you get a full time job 00:06:36.000 |
and see what happens to you. You just wait when you start dating 00:06:40.000 |
and you get married and see what happens. You're going to get rocked. You wait. 00:06:44.000 |
You know, you see young couple who don't have children excited about their faith. You wait 00:06:48.000 |
once you have a kid and you see what happens to you. And so we 00:06:52.000 |
have this growing cynicism toward any excitement 00:06:56.000 |
toward God because we've been there, done that, heard everything. 00:07:00.000 |
But the problem with that is that frustration 00:07:04.000 |
it never leaves. And you just kind of, if you're not careful, you can come to a point, you think 00:07:08.000 |
that that's what normal Christianity is. And it's completely contradictory to what we 00:07:12.000 |
see in scripture. Every once in a while you'll hear a testimony 00:07:16.000 |
of somebody who's passionate for God and it seems so foreign. Something that you read 00:07:28.000 |
says the identifying mark of a Christian and non-Christian are fruits. 00:07:36.000 |
if the God of the universe is dwelling in you 00:07:44.000 |
evidence that that is the case? In fact, Matthew 00:07:48.000 |
3, 7 and 8 says, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for 00:07:52.000 |
baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the 00:07:56.000 |
wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 00:08:00.000 |
If your repentance is genuine, where is the fruit?'" He says. 00:08:08.000 |
something that we can identify based upon our fruit. Matthew 13, 23 00:08:12.000 |
"As for what was sown on the good soil" he's talking about four 00:08:16.000 |
different soils. Remember all three soils. The first three soils for whatever 00:08:20.000 |
the reason ends up dying. The only fourth soil 00:08:24.000 |
ends up surviving and he said you need to be like the fourth soil. And this is how 00:08:28.000 |
he describes the fourth soil. "As for what was sown on good soil" this is the one 00:08:32.000 |
who hears the word and understands it. "He indeed bears fruit and yields 00:08:36.000 |
in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, in another thirty." 00:08:40.000 |
So if you notice here that each of the fruits, it's different. 00:08:44.000 |
Some are thirty, some are sixty, some are a hundredfold. But the 00:08:48.000 |
unifying, identifying mark of a Christian that doesn't just die 00:08:52.000 |
out is fruit. So it may look different in the lives of 00:08:56.000 |
different lives of people, but at the end genuine 00:09:00.000 |
fruit is what identifies a Christian and a non-Christian. Romans 7, 4 00:09:04.000 |
"Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may 00:09:08.000 |
belong to another." And I want you to listen carefully to this. "To him 00:09:12.000 |
who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God." 00:09:20.000 |
Not simply so that we don't go to Hell. He said 00:09:24.000 |
He didn't say He died and was resurrected so you could be in Heaven forever. 00:09:28.000 |
He says He died and resurrected that you may have a new life and 00:09:36.000 |
See, the goal of salvation is that we may bear fruit for God. 00:09:48.000 |
The corrupting nature of sin. That in bearing fruit that 00:09:52.000 |
we give Him the ultimate glory. Now, the reason 00:09:56.000 |
why I am in this passage in John chapter 15, if 00:10:00.000 |
you read the questions that I asked on the Facebook page, some of you guys 00:10:04.000 |
who may have read that, if you were paying attention you might have asked 00:10:08.000 |
the question that I asked was, "What does it mean to abide in 00:10:12.000 |
the Spirit?" Right? You read that. So, if you were reading carefully 00:10:16.000 |
you might have asked, if you came to this passage and read that, "Well Jesus is 00:10:20.000 |
talking about Himself. Why does He ask abiding in the Spirit?" 00:10:24.000 |
And I'm assuming everybody was thinking that, right? Everybody was thinking that. So let me answer this 00:10:28.000 |
question. The reason why I asked, "What does it mean to abide in 00:10:32.000 |
the Spirit?" Even though Jesus is talking about Himself. If you look at John chapter 00:10:40.000 |
disciples that He is going to leave. And they are freaking out. If you 00:10:44.000 |
leave, what about us? And so Jesus tells them to comfort them in verse 18, 00:10:48.000 |
"I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." And then He 00:10:52.000 |
describes who this person that is going to come. The Holy Spirit, 00:10:56.000 |
the Helper, the Spirit of Truth. He's going to come and He's 00:11:00.000 |
going to remind you of everything that I've done. So He says, "I'm not going to leave you alone." 00:11:04.000 |
And then He jumps to chapter 15 and He says, "Well if you want to 00:11:08.000 |
bear fruit and not fall apart, you need to continue 00:11:12.000 |
with Me. You need to remain with Me." And then He goes back 00:11:16.000 |
to chapter 16 and He picks back up the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:11:24.000 |
in Romans chapter 8 in the previous passage that we looked at, remember 00:11:28.000 |
Paul uses the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and indwelling 00:11:32.000 |
of Jesus Christ interchangeably. Remember we talked about that? There is 00:11:36.000 |
a clear declaration of the Trinity in that passage. 00:11:40.000 |
He uses Himself and the Holy Spirit interchangeably. Here He says, 00:11:44.000 |
"I am leaving where I am going. You cannot come, but 00:11:48.000 |
the Holy Spirit is going to come and you need to remain in Me." 00:12:00.000 |
remaining in who? The Holy Spirit. Right? The Holy 00:12:04.000 |
Spirit is coming and He's going to lead you. He's going to remind you. He's going 00:12:08.000 |
to teach you. So He's using again Himself and the Holy Spirit 00:12:12.000 |
interchangeably. And that's why I asked the question, "What does it mean to abide in 00:12:16.000 |
Christ? What does it mean to abide in the Spirit?" Now, why is this 00:12:20.000 |
so important? And we're taking so many Sundays 00:12:32.000 |
begins in John chapter 6 and it takes us all the way to John chapter 15. 00:12:36.000 |
The seven "I Am" statements, and I want you to listen to the "I Am" statements that 00:12:40.000 |
this book is--this Gospel is organized in. John chapter 00:12:44.000 |
6 is, "I am the bread of life." Now I'm not going to go through all 00:12:48.000 |
of them. But when he says, "I am the bread of life," it's because 00:12:52.000 |
people were coming to Him and they were seeing a lot of miracles. He 00:12:56.000 |
just fed 5,000. And so people were thinking, "If I 00:13:00.000 |
follow Jesus He's going to feed me. If we follow 00:13:04.000 |
Jesus we get free health care. He heals people. We don't even have to go see the 00:13:08.000 |
doctor. He just says, "Rise." And then they rise. So people were coming to 00:13:12.000 |
Him thinking that if we make Him our King our life is 00:13:16.000 |
set. And Jesus is trying to change their paradigm that 00:13:20.000 |
I did not come to give you food, I came to give you Myself. 00:13:24.000 |
And that's what He means by when He says, "I am the bread of life." You're looking for bread 00:13:28.000 |
but I am the bread of life. So each one of the 00:13:32.000 |
"I Am" statements that He gives in the book of John is to correct 00:13:36.000 |
a wrong thinking, a wrong hope that the nation of 00:13:40.000 |
Israel was placing either upon food, upon power, 00:13:44.000 |
upon their heritage, upon their law, upon the leaders of 00:13:48.000 |
Israel, upon their religious system. So each one of these things He's 00:13:52.000 |
pounding and saying, "You have the wrong perspective of who I am and why I 00:13:56.000 |
came." So if you look at the "I Am" statements 00:14:00.000 |
it kind of grows. He kind of starts to pad off the "I am the bread of life." 00:14:04.000 |
"I am the light of the world." "I am the good shepherd." 00:14:08.000 |
"I am the resurrection." "I am the way and the truth and life." "Nobody comes to the Father 00:14:16.000 |
the "I Am" statements that if you're going to leave with 00:14:20.000 |
the final "I Am" statement that you would choose one of the bigger ones. 00:14:24.000 |
"I am the resurrection and the life." I thought that would be a good place to end it. 00:14:28.000 |
And He said, "You're looking for life but I am the 00:14:32.000 |
resurrection and the life." And then He goes to the cross. Instead 00:14:36.000 |
you kind of see if you play music there's a thing called 00:14:40.000 |
crescendo and it kind of builds in anticipation and you almost think, 00:14:44.000 |
"I am the resurrection and the life." And then the sixth one, 00:14:48.000 |
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." It's almost a summary of all 00:14:52.000 |
the other five. And then the last one is, "I am 00:14:56.000 |
divine. You abide in Me. You want to bear fruit." 00:15:00.000 |
It almost kind of seems anti-climactic, the seventh 00:15:04.000 |
"I Am" statement. And then He just kind of rides off. The reason 00:15:08.000 |
why the "I am divine" statement in John chapter 15 00:15:12.000 |
is the last one, all six of the "I Am" statements was 00:15:16.000 |
preparing them for the seventh one. And the reason 00:15:20.000 |
why is because He just told them He's about to leave. And 00:15:24.000 |
they're concerned. If you leave what about us? And He's 00:15:28.000 |
telling them, "Just as you were fine when I was here, 00:15:32.000 |
after I leave you will be fine if you remain in Me. 00:15:40.000 |
preparing them for His departure. He was teaching 00:15:44.000 |
them throughout the ministry as they were distracted. 00:15:48.000 |
They're thinking, "Oh man, the Messiah is going to come. He's going to overthrow the government. 00:15:52.000 |
He's going to give us food." So everything that went wrong with the nation of Israel 00:15:56.000 |
Jesus is going to fix. And so one by one systematically 00:16:00.000 |
He says, "No, your real problem is not the Romans. Your 00:16:04.000 |
real problem is not poverty. Your real problem is not lack of 00:16:08.000 |
leadership. Your real problem is not the religious system." 00:16:12.000 |
He was telling them, "Your real problem is sin. And I 00:16:20.000 |
prepares them, He says, after He's described, "This is who I am. 00:16:24.000 |
And I've come to forgive sin and restore you back onto My Father. I am the way 00:16:28.000 |
and the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father but through Me. 00:16:32.000 |
But even though I am leaving, I'm not leaving you as an orphan. 00:16:36.000 |
The Helper is going to come and you need to continue with Him 00:16:40.000 |
as you continued with Me." So John chapter 15 is really the 00:16:44.000 |
foundation of Christianity. Everything that you and I know 00:16:48.000 |
about what it means to be a Christian really is summed up in John chapter 15. 00:16:56.000 |
Your desire to make disciples, plant churches, become a missionary, 00:17:00.000 |
whatever it is that you have in your head, if you don't do this 00:17:08.000 |
God has called us to do, the reason why He saved us, the reason why 00:17:12.000 |
we gathered together, the reason why I studied the Bible, if you don't do this, it 00:17:16.000 |
will only lead to frustration. It will feel like 00:17:20.000 |
Romans chapter 7. Everything I want to do, I do 00:17:24.000 |
not do. What I do not want to do, I keep on doing. Oh, what a wretched man that I am. 00:17:28.000 |
And you are left there to suffer. Oh, what a wretched man 00:17:32.000 |
that I am. And so you live the rest of your life. Oh, what a wretched man that I am. 00:17:36.000 |
But you never get to, there is no condemnation 00:17:40.000 |
for those who are in Christ Jesus, for what the law could not do 00:17:44.000 |
weakened by the sinful flesh, God did by sending His Son. 00:17:52.000 |
the last "I am" statement, "I am the vine" is really the key 00:17:56.000 |
to everything that you and I are seeking in this 00:18:00.000 |
Christian life. So how important is it that we understand 00:18:04.000 |
what Jesus is saying here? Absolutely crucial, 00:18:08.000 |
absolutely essential. If you miss this, you miss everything about your Christian 00:18:12.000 |
life. Maybe part of the reason why we are frustrated is because we are not 00:18:24.000 |
The imperative in this passage in John chapter 15 isn't 00:18:28.000 |
bear fruit. Now I know he says if you do not bear 00:18:32.000 |
fruit, you are going to be cut down. There is judgment coming. 00:18:36.000 |
If you do bear fruit, God is going to prune you so that you may bear more fruit. So well if that is the case, 00:18:40.000 |
if bearing fruit identifies me as a Christian, I better go bear fruit. 00:18:44.000 |
The imperative in this passage is not bear fruit. The imperative, 00:18:48.000 |
the command in this passage is to abide. And you will 00:18:52.000 |
see that even though the word bear fruit, bear fruit keeps coming over and over again. 00:18:56.000 |
The word that is repeated over and over for emphasis is the word abide. 00:19:04.000 |
To abide. You have to abide in me. Abide in me. Abide in me. Abide in me. 00:19:12.000 |
he says if you don't abide, first of all you are not a Christian, 00:19:16.000 |
you can't bear fruit. Your prayers are frustrated. If you 00:19:20.000 |
abide in me, my words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish. In other words if you are not 00:19:24.000 |
abiding in Christ, you can't bear fruit and your prayers are not going to go answered. 00:19:28.000 |
So how important is it that we are abiding in Christ? 00:19:32.000 |
It's the foundation in which we build anything that we 00:19:36.000 |
do as a Christian. So we need to understand what does this word abide 00:19:44.000 |
Some of your translations may have translated obey. 00:19:52.000 |
Some of your translations translated to abide. 00:19:56.000 |
Some of your translations translated continue. So if you 00:20:00.000 |
look at various translations, it translated that word slightly different. 00:20:04.000 |
There's certain nuances that overlap, but some of it just kind of 00:20:08.000 |
says, "Oh, I can see these words are similar but different." 00:20:12.000 |
The reason why there's different words translated is because this is one of 00:20:16.000 |
those words that are, you know it's dynamic in translation 00:20:20.000 |
because there is nothing, one word that captures the essence of this 00:20:28.000 |
to dig and understand when the Bible uses the word love, you know 00:20:32.000 |
the Greek language is a very precise language. 00:20:36.000 |
It has 27 different tenses and they use almost 00:20:44.000 |
what I learned was like 17 and we use like 4 or something. You know. 00:20:48.000 |
So Greek, I can understand God's wisdom and why He chose Greek because it is a very 00:20:52.000 |
specific, precise language. Even the way we use the word 00:20:56.000 |
love. I mean we have one love for love cat, love dog, love God, love 00:21:00.000 |
movies, love wife, love food. I mean it's the same word love. 00:21:04.000 |
In the Greek obviously it is a little bit more precise the way they use the word 00:21:12.000 |
Now there is all kinds of ways that we could translate 00:21:16.000 |
it. It has similar meaning but there is three dynamic definitions 00:21:20.000 |
that I think will help us to understand when Jesus says if you want to bear fruit, 00:21:28.000 |
you have to abide in me. Like what does that mean? There is three 00:21:32.000 |
understandings which I am going to briefly go over this morning. One is 00:21:36.000 |
the word abide, meno, basically means to continue. 00:21:40.000 |
To continue, to remain. The second understanding 00:21:48.000 |
To rest in Christ. And then the third definition 00:22:24.000 |
In Hebrews chapter 2, 1 it says, "Therefore we must pay much closer attention 00:22:28.000 |
to what we have heard lest we drift away from it." 00:22:32.000 |
Lest we drift away from it. The problems that 00:22:36.000 |
the readers of the Hebrews had was that they basically had spiritual 00:22:40.000 |
ADD. If you look at the book of Hebrews it goes over 00:22:44.000 |
the Christology. The primary reason why the author goes 00:22:48.000 |
over the Christology in the first 11 chapters is because 00:22:52.000 |
they took our eyes off of Christ. They weren't embracing 00:22:56.000 |
idolatry. They weren't deliberately denying Christ. They were just drifting. 00:23:08.000 |
That the very thing that saved you is the very 00:23:12.000 |
thing that's going to sustain you. You know we kind of think like okay now 00:23:16.000 |
we've been justified by faith now we need to find another way to be sanctified. 00:23:20.000 |
He says no, what justified you, the same power that justified 00:23:24.000 |
you is the same power that's going to sanctify you. 00:23:32.000 |
what happens is every time in every generation when we 00:23:36.000 |
sense a frustration, spiritual frustration that maybe 00:23:40.000 |
the church is not growing. Maybe we're not reaching this new generation. 00:23:44.000 |
There's always these gatherings to try to figure out 00:23:52.000 |
younger people. Right now the big thing is millennials, which a lot of you guys are in that age 00:23:56.000 |
bracket. And there is a huge concern in the church in 00:24:00.000 |
our part of the world that the millennials are leaving. 00:24:04.000 |
And so they're afraid that if this trend continues 00:24:08.000 |
that we're not going to have a church. I remember this when I was in 00:24:12.000 |
college we went through the exact same thing. People were concerned there was a mass exodus. 00:24:16.000 |
You know and if we don't do something that we're not going 00:24:20.000 |
to have the church next generation 30 years later we're still here. You know. 00:24:24.000 |
But right now there's this big concern that we're losing the millennials and so 00:24:28.000 |
there's these gatherings. There's these conferences. Books being written. 00:24:32.000 |
And the reason the way to reach the millennials is to 00:24:40.000 |
more Facebook present. We need to learn Snapchat. 00:24:44.000 |
You know our sermons have to be shorter. It needs to be this way. I need to dress 00:24:48.000 |
this way. Get rid of the suit. You know what I mean? And so you have all these things 00:24:52.000 |
because millennials feel uncomfortable. Maybe you feel uncomfortable because I'm wearing a suit today. 00:24:56.000 |
Right? Maybe get rid of this and more people will come. That's what they're telling me. 00:25:00.000 |
Over and over again every generation when we feel like there's spiritual 00:25:04.000 |
frustration there's a gathering together like maybe we need to change our technique. 00:25:08.000 |
Maybe the way things are organized it worked in the 00:25:12.000 |
previous generation but it doesn't work now so we need to change all this. 00:25:16.000 |
Never do I see anywhere in the scripture where it tells us 00:25:20.000 |
you know go but then you know you got to contextualize the message and you got to 00:25:24.000 |
find out where they are, where they came from, and how they connect and you got to do a 00:25:28.000 |
sociological study, a psychological study, and then find out how to 00:25:32.000 |
market the church and brand your name and everything that the world 00:25:36.000 |
uses to attract people to get them to buy their product the church is saying maybe 00:25:40.000 |
we need to embrace some of this stuff to get more people to come and to be interested in Christ. 00:25:56.000 |
It frustrates me every time we say oh we're cutting edge. We got 00:26:00.000 |
cutting edge stuff. We're cutting edge this. You know what was cutting edge 00:26:04.000 |
five years ago is no longer cutting edge. It's dull and boring now. So we got to do another 00:26:08.000 |
cutting edge for the new generation. I see the scripture 00:26:16.000 |
to stay focused on what saved you in the beginning. He says if you want to bear 00:26:20.000 |
fruit, he doesn't say find new techniques. He doesn't say 00:26:24.000 |
get a better degree. He says if you want to bear fruit 00:26:36.000 |
personal experience, personal experience and from doing ministry 00:26:40.000 |
that any time there's ever been spiritual frustration 00:26:48.000 |
don't think I'm exaggerating, it is almost always because at some 00:26:52.000 |
place in my life I'm not abiding in Christ. I've neglected 00:26:56.000 |
my time with God. I neglected prayer. I neglected being in the 00:27:00.000 |
Word and I prioritized something else in my heart rather than 00:27:04.000 |
Christ. And that's why he says I'm going to be leaving but the Holy Spirit 00:27:08.000 |
is going to come and you continue to remain in me. 00:27:12.000 |
John 6.56 whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks on my blood abides 00:27:28.000 |
1 John 2.19 he says they went out from us but they were 00:27:32.000 |
not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued 00:27:36.000 |
with us. But they went out that it might become plain 00:27:44.000 |
He said they didn't leave because the church didn't find a new technique. 00:27:48.000 |
We didn't change according to time. You know the church wasn't 00:27:52.000 |
willing to adopt to the new generation. No they left because they were not 00:27:56.000 |
of us. If they were really of us the Gospel would have been 00:28:04.000 |
Colossians 1.21 and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind 00:28:08.000 |
doing evil deeds he has now reconciled in his body of flesh the body of 00:28:12.000 |
his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him 00:28:20.000 |
faith. Stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the Gospel 00:28:28.000 |
and out of season. There's going to come a time when people are not going to put up with sound 00:28:32.000 |
doctrine but gather among themselves. We're going to tickle their itching ears. 00:28:36.000 |
But you preach the word in season and out of season. Because the 00:28:40.000 |
only avenue that God has ordained to bear fruit 00:28:48.000 |
in Christ. Continue in the Holy Spirit. If you have 00:28:52.000 |
ever entertained in your mind the reason why you are not 00:28:56.000 |
walking right with God is because you don't have this X, Y, and Z. 00:29:00.000 |
And if that X, Y, and Z is anything other than 00:29:08.000 |
If you think that your spiritual life is frustrated because 00:29:12.000 |
you don't have a mentor that's not from Christ. 00:29:24.000 |
you're not walking with God is because I didn't place enough mature Christians around 00:29:28.000 |
you and that's why you're not growing. So the rest of your life it's his fault. 00:29:32.000 |
The only thing that he has ordained for you to bear 00:29:40.000 |
Now does having other Christians around us help us? 00:29:44.000 |
Encourage us? Yes. But that can never be the excuse because that's 00:29:48.000 |
not what God ordained. If you've entertained anything 00:29:52.000 |
maybe if we were organized a certain way. Maybe if I had this kind of Bible. 00:29:56.000 |
Maybe if I had this kind of small group. If you 00:30:00.000 |
put anything between me and Christ other than 00:30:04.000 |
Christ himself you've made whatever you put in that 00:30:12.000 |
want to bear fruit he didn't say go find people. Go find a certain 00:30:16.000 |
organization. He said no if you want to abide in me if you want to bear fruit abide 00:30:24.000 |
abiding in Christ obviously will benefit from all the other things. There's nothing 00:30:44.000 |
He says you need to continue. Second thing is he says you need to 00:30:52.000 |
And that's why Jesus when he calls people he says come to me all who are weary and 00:30:56.000 |
heavy laden and I will give you rest. We've talked so much about 00:31:00.000 |
this in the past sermons about how that idea of rest Sabbath 00:31:04.000 |
is not just talking about just resting physically. 00:31:12.000 |
just quit work and rest for the next five days do nothing but watch movies. 00:31:16.000 |
At the end of five days do you feel rested? You probably feel more restless. 00:31:20.000 |
Right? Because the rest the Sabbath that the Bible talks about 00:31:24.000 |
is not from physical fatigue. God did not rest 00:31:28.000 |
after six days of creation and say whew we need to recuperate. 00:31:40.000 |
So his Sabbath that he's talking about is the rest 00:31:44.000 |
from work and did Adam and Eve work before the fall? Yes. 00:31:48.000 |
God called them to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the land. That's exactly what they were doing 00:31:56.000 |
The difference between laboring while you're resting 00:32:04.000 |
when your heart is at unrest. Somebody who was laboring 00:32:08.000 |
while your heart is unrest no matter what you do it creates just more frustration. 00:32:12.000 |
It creates more frustration because your motive 00:32:16.000 |
is you're trying to do something to appease God to earn his favor. 00:32:20.000 |
And if that's the motivation behind what you're doing it only causes 00:32:24.000 |
more restlessness. When he uses the word if you want 00:32:28.000 |
to bear fruit you need to first and foremost rest. In Hebrews chapter 4 00:32:32.000 |
1. "Therefore while the promise of entering his rest still stands let us 00:32:36.000 |
fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it." So then there 00:32:40.000 |
remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God for whoever has entered God's rest 00:32:44.000 |
has also rested from his works as God did from his. Remember how he 00:32:52.000 |
Is God resting because he's tired? No he's not resting 00:32:56.000 |
because he's tired. He said after he created everything everything was good. 00:33:00.000 |
Everything was good. When everything is the way 00:33:04.000 |
it was supposed to be there's a sense of peace. Those of you who are 00:33:12.000 |
you guys know that if you walk into a house and the house is messy there's no rest 00:33:16.000 |
because it's not in order. Those of you who are not OCD have no idea what I'm talking about. 00:33:20.000 |
Right? You're not at rest because things aren't the way 00:33:24.000 |
you think it ought to be. And that's the kind of rest 00:33:28.000 |
he's talking about where what God had intended had fallen apart 00:33:32.000 |
because of sin. And so the rest that he's bringing back is 00:33:40.000 |
Whether it is the role of a man or a woman, our sexuality, 00:33:48.000 |
all of these things that have gone out of whack. To bring that 00:34:00.000 |
are out of whack. So when Christ came and redeemed us 00:34:04.000 |
it is to bring back what was lost, this unrest. 00:34:20.000 |
The very first thing that you need to embrace and believe with all 00:34:24.000 |
your heart is when you confess your sins he is faithful and just to 00:34:28.000 |
forgive you of all your unrighteousness. And if you are 00:34:32.000 |
living your life thinking somehow you're going to earn that back. That when 00:34:36.000 |
I'm right with God I can come to the communion table. When I'm right with God I'll start 00:34:40.000 |
doing this. When I'm right with God I'll start serving. And there's something 00:34:48.000 |
And all it's doing is causing greater and greater 00:34:52.000 |
restlessness in your heart. If you want to bear fruit he says 00:34:56.000 |
first and foremost you have to learn to rest in him. 00:35:00.000 |
That I have been complete. That he's not simply a judge 00:35:04.000 |
who forgave me of my sins. He's our Abba Father that I 00:35:12.000 |
You know in Philippians 127 Paul says let your manner of 00:35:20.000 |
What a burden. If you read that the wrong way 00:35:28.000 |
What does it mean to live worthy of the gospel? Worthy of the blood 00:35:36.000 |
What can you possibly do today that's going to make you 00:35:40.000 |
worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ? I mean you're talking about a burden. 00:35:48.000 |
it'll sound like get your ass straight before you come to him and 00:35:52.000 |
be worthy of the gospel. It's a contradiction of the gospel itself. 00:35:56.000 |
There is a world of difference between somebody 00:36:00.000 |
who is pursuing righteousness because he has been made righteous 00:36:04.000 |
versus somebody who is pursuing righteousness trying to be righteous. 00:36:08.000 |
There's a world of difference. And that's why he says 00:36:16.000 |
three chapters of revelation of teaching us of the depth of the 00:36:24.000 |
And then in chapter 4, therefore a prisoner of the Lord 00:36:28.000 |
urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. 00:36:36.000 |
worthy but because you've been made worthy by the blood of Christ. 00:36:48.000 |
that the throne that we're entering is not the judge 00:36:52.000 |
but our Abba Father. We will never feel comfortable entering into his 00:37:04.000 |
writes and he basically says if you're living in darkness you know you fool yourself 00:37:08.000 |
God is light and there is no fellowship and you're making him out to be a liar and he says 00:37:16.000 |
chapter 2 he says the reason I'm writing to you 00:37:24.000 |
he writes to different groups of people and listen carefully to what he says. 00:37:28.000 |
And this is after he just brought down the hammer in chapter 1. In chapter 1 it says 00:37:32.000 |
if you're walking in darkness you're probably not a Christian. 00:37:36.000 |
Now a Christian stumbles in sin but you're not living in sin and boom brings down the hammer. 00:37:40.000 |
But in chapter 2 verse 12 he says I am writing to you little 00:37:44.000 |
children. I'm saying all of this to you because your sins are forgiven 00:37:48.000 |
for his name's sake. I'm not saying this so that you can 00:37:52.000 |
earn your forgiveness. I'm saying this because your sins are already forgiven. 00:37:56.000 |
Verse 13 I am writing to you fathers because you know him 00:38:00.000 |
who is from the beginning. I'm not writing this to you so 00:38:04.000 |
pursue him so that you can earn this. I'm writing and I'm saying these things to you 00:38:08.000 |
because you already know him. I am writing to you young men 00:38:12.000 |
because you have overcome the evil one. You've already overcome 00:38:16.000 |
that's why I'm writing this to you. I write to you children because you know the 00:38:20.000 |
Father. He gives assurance after he says boom you can't 00:38:24.000 |
live in darkness and call him your father. But he says but the reason why I'm even saying 00:38:28.000 |
this to you is because you are children of God. Verse 14 I write to you 00:38:32.000 |
fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men 00:38:36.000 |
because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome 00:38:40.000 |
the evil one. And he gives absolute assurance to these people that 00:38:48.000 |
Because the reason why he was writing this letter is 00:38:52.000 |
to prune them and strengthen them. He's to prune 00:38:56.000 |
them and strengthen them. He said he who does not bear any fruit he'll be chopped down 00:39:00.000 |
and he'll be burned. But those who bear fruit however little it may be if you're a child of God 00:39:04.000 |
he will prune you. He said I'm writing these things to you and I'm 00:39:08.000 |
warning you because you're a child of God. So 00:39:16.000 |
confidence that your sins are forgiven. Your sins are 00:39:20.000 |
forgiven. When you came before the Lord in all honesty and asked for forgiveness 00:39:24.000 |
and God said I forgave you. And when he says it is finished 00:39:32.000 |
our job to strive but to live up to what he has already given. 00:39:44.000 |
As I said before anything that we place between us 00:39:48.000 |
and Jesus that I need this for my spiritual walk with God 00:40:00.000 |
If you say you can't walk passionately for Christ because I lack 00:40:04.000 |
these things then those things have become our idol. 00:40:12.000 |
when we start talking again it frustrates me sometimes when I 00:40:16.000 |
see the gatherings of pastors talking about new techniques 00:40:20.000 |
and why we need this and we need more finance, we need more organization, we need to do this 00:40:28.000 |
God deliberately goes the exact opposite direction. 00:40:32.000 |
His choosing of the 12 disciples made no sense. 00:40:44.000 |
the nation of Israel makes absolutely no sense. 00:40:48.000 |
He said I'm not choosing you because you're great I'm choosing you because of the sins and basically 00:40:56.000 |
In every instance God chooses somebody. He said Paul the reason why 00:41:00.000 |
he chose me is because I'm the worst of sinners. He doesn't say God chose me 00:41:04.000 |
because I was a Pharisee and I kind of know the law. 00:41:08.000 |
Anytime we study the apostle Paul and why God chose him we always look from our human 00:41:12.000 |
perspective. Oh he had Roman citizenship so it was easier for him to go 00:41:16.000 |
from place to place. Because that's what we value. 00:41:20.000 |
That's what we think. That's why we think that apostle Paul was 00:41:24.000 |
successful. Oh he's highly educated. He has Roman citizenship. 00:41:28.000 |
He was already well known to every city he went. People already knew who he was. 00:41:32.000 |
He must have been very articulate. He was a Pharisee among Pharisees. 00:41:36.000 |
As to the law he was perfect. A tribe of Benjamin. So anywhere he went 00:41:40.000 |
to the synagogue and he decided to speak people showed respect. That's why 00:41:44.000 |
he must have been chosen. That's why he must have been 00:41:48.000 |
able to bear fruit. And yet Paul says the very 00:41:52.000 |
reason why he was chosen is because he was the worst of sinners. 00:41:56.000 |
Humanly speaking he was the worst person. He was the 00:42:00.000 |
worst person. He hated Jesus. He was willing to kill anybody else 00:42:04.000 |
who was proclaiming Jesus. Why did he choose him? To display 00:42:28.000 |
And how much of what we use as an excuse of why certain 00:42:32.000 |
things aren't happening is nothing more than a 00:42:40.000 |
to the creation rather than the Creator. You know 00:42:44.000 |
the greatest blessing of being a Christian or of salvation 00:43:00.000 |
"If you abide in Me, My words abide in you. Ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you." 00:43:20.000 |
is not like, "Oh you know what Chase Bank is moving next door." 00:43:24.000 |
"Ooo they're next door." You know what I mean? 00:43:28.000 |
They used to close at 5. I get a work for kids 6 and they open at 00:43:36.000 |
Chase, they got billions of dollars and they're moving close. 00:43:40.000 |
As foolish as that may sound, that's what we celebrate sometimes. 00:43:48.000 |
not that we have a close proximity to the bank. 00:43:52.000 |
The benefit of Christian living is that our Father is a billionaire. 00:44:04.000 |
And so our confidence often times comes from what we see. 00:44:08.000 |
And it is ridiculous for us to think, "Oh you know, if we just had 00:44:12.000 |
more people with certain personalities, certain education, and if we were 00:44:20.000 |
And the thing that trips us up more than anything else are the very things that you 00:44:28.000 |
trips you up the most. If you're smart, your intellect 00:44:36.000 |
Because you think that by your smart, somehow 00:44:40.000 |
you're going to add to the kingdom. If you happen to be a physical 00:44:52.000 |
getting in the way of tapping into His power. 00:45:00.000 |
going to add to bearing fruit outside of Christ is getting in the 00:45:04.000 |
way. He says the only way you're going to bear fruit 00:45:12.000 |
when Jesus was about to go to the cross, He says, 00:45:16.000 |
"Where I'm going you cannot come." Peter said to Him, "Lord, where can I, why can I 00:45:20.000 |
not follow You? I will lay down my life for You." Peter meant it 00:45:24.000 |
absolutely. Sometimes people just say things. 00:45:28.000 |
Every once in a while I hear somebody say, "I'll take a bullet for you. I don't believe you." 00:45:36.000 |
Maybe I'm just cynical. Every once in a while somebody 00:45:40.000 |
was like, "Oh, somebody threw a grenade." And you hear stories of a soldier who jumped 00:45:44.000 |
on top of it and took it for the rest of the team. And then it makes the big news. 00:45:48.000 |
Right? He gets a medal. His family meets the president. 00:45:52.000 |
And the reason why that happens is because it's that rare. 00:45:56.000 |
If that's the instinct of every soldier, they wouldn't 00:46:00.000 |
be meeting the president. The reason they meet the president is because 00:46:04.000 |
it's so out of character. Because our natural nature is not 00:46:12.000 |
I believe meant it. "I will lay down my life for you." 00:46:16.000 |
If you know anything about Peter, Peter is the guy who, he's the guy 00:46:20.000 |
like, Jesus walks on water. He's like, "Is that you? 00:46:24.000 |
Oh, let me come." Right? Everybody else is like, "What are you doing?" 00:46:36.000 |
like Esau. You know what I mean? Like Jacob's the slippery one. 00:46:40.000 |
And he's always kind of like, "How can I get his soup?" You know? 00:46:44.000 |
Or not the soup, but the birthright. And he's always conniving. 00:46:52.000 |
Esau's the guy who went hunting. He's a burly man. That's how I see Peter. Peter's the 00:47:00.000 |
hands are all calloused. And he's a burly guy. 00:47:04.000 |
And he's confident. He might be the oldest and toughest guy there. 00:47:08.000 |
And he's weaklings. Yeah. He's computer nerds. They're not going to 00:47:32.000 |
chops down trees. He's like, "I'm going to do it." Because he actually does it. Remember when the 00:47:36.000 |
temple guards come? Right? When the temple guards come, everybody else 00:47:40.000 |
is kind of, "What's going on?" Peter actually takes out his little sword and goes, "Bam!" 00:47:48.000 |
Right? Jesus said, "What are you doing?" He puts the ear back on. 00:47:56.000 |
Peter was a man of his word. He did it. Right? 00:48:00.000 |
But Jesus answers him, "Will you lay down your life for me?" 00:48:04.000 |
It's a rhetorical question. Meaning, Peter, you don't even know yourself. 00:48:12.000 |
You're going to deny me three times before the rooster crows. 00:48:16.000 |
All this time I've been loyal to you. Why would you say that? I know these guys. 00:48:32.000 |
says, "He who thinks he stands, be careful, because that's when you fall." 00:48:36.000 |
When you let your guard down, thinking that, "You know what? I have enough experience. 00:48:40.000 |
I have so much experience. I've been a Christian for this long. I've led 00:48:44.000 |
small groups. I've gone on missions. And I've done this and I've done that." He says, "Be careful. 00:48:48.000 |
Be careful, because that's when you'll fall." 00:48:56.000 |
have been given is our connection with Christ. 00:49:04.000 |
The greatest strategy to plant churches is Christ. 00:49:16.000 |
And we constantly think, "Oh, I haven't been trained enough. I haven't gone to school. 00:49:20.000 |
I don't have an MDiv. I don't have a doctorate. I don't have this. I don't have enough experience." 00:49:28.000 |
He didn't say, "You know what? Let's take a class. Let's go to three years or go to the mountain 00:49:32.000 |
and I'll show you how to bear fruit." He said one thing. 00:49:52.000 |
Think how complicated Christianity has become in our generation. 00:50:04.000 |
think of how many of you were from noble backgrounds. How many of you were wise. 00:50:08.000 |
How many of you were noble. In other words, none of you. 00:50:16.000 |
To demonstrate His power. So why are we trying to be so 00:50:28.000 |
as a Christian is because we've taken our eyes off of Christ. 00:50:40.000 |
"You did not choose me. I chose you and appointed you 00:50:44.000 |
that you should go and bear fruit. That your fruit should abide 00:50:48.000 |
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you." 00:50:56.000 |
is not the great men of our generation. It's not 00:51:00.000 |
the schools. It's not the experienced men. It's not the knowledge. It's not older people 00:51:04.000 |
or younger people. It's not the quality of worship or the songs that we 00:51:08.000 |
pick or how certain things are organized or talent or any of that. 00:51:12.000 |
The greatest resource that you and I have is that 00:51:16.000 |
we're able to come to our Abba Father and ask 00:51:20.000 |
Him to get involved. Ask Him to get involved. 00:51:24.000 |
So when we bear fruit, that everybody will know 00:51:36.000 |
That's what He's seeking. He's seeking His glory in us 00:51:40.000 |
and the person that He will use the most are the one who's emptied. 00:51:44.000 |
And when He works, people will know that it was Him. 00:52:00.000 |
service team comes up, let's take some time to reflect and to pray. 00:52:16.000 |
Let's not complicate the solution. Like we don't know what to do. 00:52:20.000 |
We know exactly what to do. We need to come to 00:52:24.000 |
Christ. We need to depend on Him. We need to cry out to Him. 00:52:28.000 |
The difficult part is wrestling with our flesh. 00:52:32.000 |
But what to do, we know what to do. We need to humble ourselves. 00:52:36.000 |
We need to cry out to Him. We need to prioritize abiding 00:52:40.000 |
in Him. Let's take some time to come before the Lord as we have our worship