Sermon Cloud

John 15:1-11.  Illus: High School Reunion (weight gain; hair loss). Sin has woven into the fabric of creation the principle of deterioration so that decline and decay are part of fallen human existence. Creation groans. There is a natural regression in life – grow old, you lose a step. You can resist it with strenuous effort, but it is inevitable. There are no 50 year olds winning the gold... This principle of deterioration applies to our inward life as well. The downward pull of sin and society effect your heart and your soul – your character. Illus: Hamlet to Ophelia, “Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest; but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my mother had not borne me: I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves, all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.” We feel it: we feel the selfishness, vanity, greed, pride, arrogance, envy, anxiety, fear, grudge holding, lust…We feel it in ourselves (and we notice when we see it in others) and we want to be different. We are not content with the decay of our inner life. Illus: bookstore hundreds of books intended to help you become a better person – reach your potential. Why? Anyone who as a lot of potential has little actual. We ask ourselves, “why did I get so mad? Why am I so anxious? Why do I try to please everyone? Why did I do that yet again?” The Christian faith teaches that there is a way for us to be changed, to be different. There is hope: the selfish can become selfless; the greedy can become generous; the arrogant can become humble; the self-pitying can become servant hearted; the bitter can become forgiving; the lustful can become pure in heart; the angry can become gentle; the anxious can become peaceful; the insecure can find confidence; we can become people who are loving, joyful, full of goodness and self-controlled and free from self-absorption. Jesus says, without him you can’t, but with him personally in your life, you can be changed. 2 Corinthians 4:16 “our outward nature is wasting away, but our inward nature is being renewed day by day.” We may be wasting away physically, but we can be renewed day by day inwardly, becoming more loving, patient, kind, gentle, wise, forgiving, full of grace and goodness. We can experience daily progress in our inward life and character, daily being made new inwardly. Jesus calls this, “bearing fruit;” prospering soul, flourishing life. Big Idea: For a person in relationship with Christ, this inward transformation is not just possible, it’s inevitable. (Why Growth will Happen; How Growth will happen)

Why Growth will Happen. First, because of the consequence of the Gospel: The image of vine and branch is one of vital union where the branch receives its very life and fruitfulness from the vine. Jesus says that is what Christianity is - union with Christ. He is the vine whose roots go into the very Godhead and the very life of God, His very life, flows to us and works its way through us. We are intimately united to him and He is present in us by the indwelling presence of His Spirit. John 14:17. DNA of God implanted in us in the presence of his Spirit overriding our natural sinful DNA with His so that we have new desires, new motivations, new attitudes, new responses and begin to look more like God as He has revealed himself in Christ. This is why we say, that Christianity is not embracing a list of theological propositions or ethical standards. It is embracing a person; it is deeply personal. Not defined by the boundaries, but defined by the center – at the center is personally knowing Jesus Christ and being intimately united to him. Warning in the passage: v.2, 6 no fruit, the branch is cut off, thrown away, dried up and burned. Judas: Jn. 13:10/Jn. 14:3 Judas is the fruitless branch. Difference between influence and indwelling. Familiarity without relationship. Illus: Not Airborne Transmission, but Intentional Ingestion. Can’t accidentally catch it; you have to personally take Him in. When we trust in Him this new, foreign life enters us and alters our internal systems and makes drastic changes in us. This is why Jesus says in v. 5 “apart from me you can do nothing.” Apart from him our essential nature, our spiritual DNA remains the same; But when we embrace Him in faith his very life enters us and find expression through us – just like the life of the vine finds expression through the branches. Do you see how radical this is for Jesus to say? He is saying that human beings in our essential nature do not have the necessary resources to be everything God intends us to be. Sin has ruined us. Christ is saying, only he can restore us. When we receive him and experience the indwelling presence of His Spirit, we begin to experience steady progress into all that God has designed us to be. So, because of the nature of salvation –vital union with Christ through the indwelling of His Spirit – we have the very life of God in us finding expression through our action.
     Secondly, inward renewal and growth is inevitable because of the work of the Father. Jesus says his followers are clean, because of his word they have believed (v.3); Faith in Him=Justification – not working for God’s acceptance (trying to bear fruit so he will accept us), we are working from God’s acceptance. Big Difference. Working for=insecurity and fear of rejection. Working from=gratitude and confidence. God is for us. The vinedresser, intimately involved in our lives working in and on us to bring about more fruitfulness. He has his hands in the soil of our lives diligently working to make us all He intended us to be. He accepts you in Christ as you are, but He will not leave you as you are. He desires that you would bear much fruit. He is not content with the level of fruitfulness in your life. Like any gardener, He has a vision for the kind of flourishing this branch is capable of and He desires to see you become all he saved you to be. He is pruning away things that hinder your fruitfulness, that keep you from flourishing. Pruning requires a knife – a painful process for us when the Father starts cutting some things out of your life that feel like they are a part of you. Brings conviction, says, “That has to go.” He has a vision for all you can be – do you? If we would ask ourselves, “what is the one thing that God wants to cut out or drive away from your life so you could flourish and be closer to all he intends you to be, what would it be? We have to trust our Father, this benevolent gardener who holds a knife and knows just where and how to apply it to make you everything He envisions you to be.  You have to let him do his pruning work. Heb 12.10-11 he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11) For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Conclusion: If you are a Christian, you don’t have to stay the same; you can’t stay the same. Christianity is intimate union with Christ, his life in us. The Father is at work to remove everything from you that would prevent that life from finding expression. Next week: Practically, how this growth will happen – inevitable but not natural; to regress do nothing.  

Next Sunday: How This Growth will Happen.
For the Christian, spiritual formation (inward renewal) is inevitable, but not effortless. It does not happen naturally. With your physical life, you don’t have to do anything to regress, you have to do nothing. Same thing spiritually – you don’t have to be intentional about having your character go bad, it will on its own. If you neglect your soul you will find yourself getting more selfish, more bitter, more angry, more anxious, more self-pitying. We have to give attention to our souls. Growth is a work of grace, but grace is opposed to earning, it is not opposed to effort. Jesus says multiple times in this passage: Abide in Me.