Living life to the glory of God part 3
Sun, 14th Jun 2015
Terry Jones
John 15 v 1-11
Summary:
Is there something of Jesus coming out of us. Without us having to do anything, he loves us unconditionally. We have a challenge to know Jesus intimately.
"It is to my Fathers glory that you bear much fruit" If there is much fruit it is how you can glorify him. He is the gardener and he prunes the vines. We cannot bear fruit unless we remain in him.
1) God is looking for fruit. (v1-2) He cuts off branches that do not bear fruit and cares for the branches that do. We are to go out and reveal God to others. What a privilege to be what he has called us to be. If fruitless branches are not removed then fruitful branches can suffer.
How can we be fruitful Christians? Character, Obedience, Service, Witness, Intimacy, Gifting, Giving.
These things have the capacity to please God. Jesus calls us to be in the world
How can we become faithful Christians?
a) By drawing from the source of life (v4-5) The branch cant do anything without the stem. He is the true vine, we must remain in him and not become separate.
b) By expecting to be cleansed (v2) or pruned. He can chastise us to prune us. We must seek first the kingdom of God
c) By resting and not striving (v7-8) Fruitfulness can be seen as the things we don't do. We must be connected to him. We can have undeserved favour, we cannot do anything without him.
We must in an intimacy with him and bring forth much fruit and then he will be glorified
Further Reading:
The gospel of John
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