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When the world is going crazy we need to be doing what we should have been doing all along, going, and looking to Christ.
John 15:1-27 – The word of God is all about Jesus. Genesis through Malachi has the theme “He is coming.” The Gospels theme then is “He is here” and the rest of the New Testament “He is coming again.”
There are lots of different kinds of vines. Pole beans. Virginia creeper. Jesus chose to talk about the grapevine, and Jesus says that He is the “true vine.”
We aren’t born connected to the vine. The invitation is open to all though! Jesus, through great personal sacrifice, has opened up a way (and only one way), that we can become a part of the Kingdom. Our purpose then is to bear fruit and to bring glory.
Before Christ, we were floundering around in life trying to find a purpose, which vine would we be “attached to?” We were living and yet dead.
Jesus is the life-giving source. The role of a father is also clear, God the Father is the kind of gardener with clippers. There are two things that the vinedresser is doing, removing branches that aren’t producing fruit, and remove parts of the plant that are hindrances. God is going through our lives and shaping us more into the image of his son.
This abiding is very critical to the life of the believer. Intermittent “juice” doesn’t produce a lot of good fruit. Is there anything in the way of your “graft” this morning?
There is only one life-giver, and it is in the blood and life of Jesus Christ.
If Jesus is so great a part of my life, am I quick to point out the source? “This is not me, it’s because of Jesus.”
Philippians 2:9-11 – When Jesus is lifted up, that is glorifying to the Father! We need to be a church, and a people, that is unashamedly lifting up Jesus.
Are you unashamed? Am I unashamed?