Barriers
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· 9 viewsJesus understood the major “barriers” between the various levels of fruitfulness. He taught his disciples these barriers to help them become Chair 4 “much fruit” multiplying disciples.
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Last week
Last week
recognize veterans day?
[slide] 4 Chairs Review
At the Exponential conference i heard something that struck me - we often function with the mindset, church staff can do it, and… you can help.
What if we learned from Home Depot - you can do it, we can help?
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What were humans made for?
Some of you spiritual folk would say, “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
And i would say - yes - but how do we go about glorifying him. Is it just singing songs and telling everyone about Him?
How do we glorify Him?
The Bible is pretty clear what our purpose is - but it’s not going to sound very exciting, or very “Christian” even.
Often, when I ask people, if God and heaven exists, why God would let them into heaven
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But what does it mean to glorify God or enjoy Him?
We usually use these two words to summarize how other people find their confidence.
The Bible is pretty clear what our purpose is - but it’s not going to sound very exciting, or very “Christian” even. We usually use these two words to summarize how other people find their confidence.
We usually use these two words as the WRONG RESPONSE to how you are saved.
“Good works”
You were made to not just do good works, but to abound in good works. What are good works? To serve one another in love.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
“These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Do you abound in good works? Or are you just a “good person”?
Jesus as the true vine.
I know how much we care about something by how long it affects us.
The vine imagery is widely used but most relevantly used of Israel (). The vine imagery in the old testament was generally negative and God’s pending judgment, also often associated with fire, is nearby those vine illustrations. That vine out of Egypt failed to bear fruit, and those in it have no hope, but those in Jesus, the true vine, can find rest and fruit.
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[SLIDE] we must be ruthlessly intentional about about cultivating relationships with others in such a way that we constantly examining the things standing in the way of their growth.
Where as some thought their fruitfulness, their belonging-ness was rooted in their membership in a nation, particularly for Jews, the nation of Israel - Jesus is taking nationalism - their former pride - and saying - where you once took pride in belonging, in being an Israelite. You USED to think you were the vine - but you were fruitless.
Jesus is claiming to be the true vine - He is the one.
[slide] 4 Chairs Review
[slide] 4 Chairs Review
4 chairs overview
[slide] 4 Chairs Review
[slide] 4 Chairs Review
We are in a series called, “Like Jesus.” We want to live the life Jesus lived. We aren’t content with just talking about Jesus - or just having the right ideas about Jesus; but to actually develop a rhythm of life and a rhythm of church that looks more and more like Jesus. This year we are particularly focused on his mission. We understand that Jesus developed his disciples in four stages.Chair one is the seeker, curious type. They are coming to see the claims of Jesus. Finish line - submitting and accepting Jesus as the one. Chair two is the believer, the follower - the re-born person who is learning how to talk, walk, and clean up like Jesus. Chair three is the worker, the laborer, the one who embraces the hard work of ministryChair four the friend of Jesus, the lover, who is replicating their life in someone else.
We are in a series called, “Like Jesus.” We want to live the life Jesus lived. We aren’t content with just talking about Jesus - or just having the right ideas about Jesus; but to actually develop a rhythm of life and a rhythm of church that looks more and more like Jesus. This year we are particularly focused on his mission. We understand that Jesus developed his disciples in four stages.
Chair one is the seeker, curious type. They are coming to see the claims of Jesus. Finish line - submitting and accepting Jesus as the one
Chair two is the believer, the follower - the re-born person who is learning how to talk, walk, and clean up like Jesus, finish like is becoming other-oriented.
Chair three is the worker, the laborer, the one who embraces the hard work of ministry, finish line is playing a significant role in helping someone move from chair 1 to chair 2
Chair four the friend of Jesus, the lover, who is replicating their life in someone else
Today we are framing the four chairs in 4 new ways:
Today we are framing the four chairs in 4 new ways:
Chair 1 - when someone is incapable of bearing fruit
Chair 2 - when someone begins to bear fruit
Chair 3 - when someone bears more fruit
Chair 4 - when someone begins to bear much fruit
We understand there are barriers between the chairs that keep people from bearing fruit, and we will be looking at the gospel of John chapter 15.
Context of page 1147 in your pew Bibles
but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
They are walking - on the way to the garden of gesthemane - they were likely in an actual vineyard.
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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 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 anyone 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.
Jesus is claiming to be the true vine - He is the one. And we will discuss some of the barriers that keep us from connecting fully into the true vine.
The gospel of John contains 2 mashals - the mashal of the Good Shepherd in chapter 10 and the mashal of the Vine in
Vine Imagery in OT
Jesus as the true vine.
The vine imagery is widely used but most relevantly used of Israel (). The vine imagery in the old testament was generally negative and God’s pending judgment, also often associated with fire, is nearby those vine illustrations. That vine out of Egypt failed to bear fruit, and those in it have no hope, but those in Jesus, the true vine, can find rest and fruit.
Where as some thought their fruitfulness, their belonging-ness was rooted in their membership in a nation, particularly for Jews, the nation of Israel - Jesus is taking nationalism - their former pride - and saying - where you once took pride in belonging, in being an Israelite. You USED to think you were the vine - but you were fruitless.
Jesus is claiming to be the true vine - He is the one.
The New American Commentary: John 12–21 (1) The Mashal of the Vine and the Branches: A Portrait of Discipleship (15:1–11)
In the Old Testament texts, therefore, if Israel is the vine or the vineyard, then the Lord God is viewed as the vinedresser or gardener (cf. Isa 27:2–6). But what is totally different in the Johannine mashal is the role of Jesus and the disciples. In this metaphorical description the Father is still portrayed as the gardener, but Jesus is the Vine, not Israel, and the disciples, the followers of the way of God, are pictured as branches.
Question - many people want to jump to wonder the “status of the branches” that were cut away - and if they were ever attached to the vine and therefore, one can lose their salvation.
The New American Commentary: John 12–21 (1) The Mashal of the Vine and the Branches: A Portrait of Discipleship (15:1–11)
Although some commentators want to debate the issue of the status of the branches that were cut away and whether or not they were originally attached and nourished branches, I would suggest that the key to interpreting this mashal does not lie so much in the question of status as it does in the issue of fruitfulness. The mashal here sets the fruitfulness of Christians as a test of belonging in the Vine.
[slide] Wondering whether you can lose your salvation is the wrong question, we have a question of fruitfulness.
[slide] Wondering whether you can lose your salvation is the wrong question, we have a question of fruitfulness.
The branches derive their life from the vine; the vine produces its fruit through the branches.
The branches derive their life from the vine; the vine produces its fruit through the branches.
[TRANSITION] So what are the barriers to fruit.
Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 514). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.
The question is fruit and what are the barriers to fruit.
Barrier 1: Good Things
Barrier 1: Good Things
“cuts off”
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.
“takes away” or some translations say “cuts off” αἴρει (αιρω - VPAI3S).
This is the same verb used when Jesus tells the man, pick (αιρω) up your mat and walk - to lift it and take it someplace else.
This means that they aren’t just cut off, they are carried somewhere else - and vine branches are not like olive branches, that have other uses, they are only good for fires.
This may sound harsh. he takes them away - and burns them.
“Sin causes us to fall out of the sunlight.”
If we have not exposure to the light - sin, like mold, grows fastest in darkness. Bad habits always grow in the dark. But when God lifts us up, puts us on the trellises, we we are led to confess our sin, the sin is exposed to light and it’s power over us seems to vanish as quickly as the light takes over the darkness.
Can you be a Christian and bear nor fruit - or live in long-term besetting sin? Spader says no, I think, he’s right - fruit is the best indication.
This is the same verb used when Jesus tells the man, pick (αιρω) up your mat and walk - to lift it and take it someplace else.
Distinction between fellowship with God and relationship with God.
[pictures] Trellises empty, then picture of vines and trellises full.
These branches that do not bear fruit are considered “dead wood” and this dead wood simply get in the way of the fruitful branches from bearing more fruit. This may sound harsh.
What are some of the barriers that people run into that keep them from bearing the fruit of faith?
I think many of the things that keep people from faith are actually good things.
If we have not exposure to the light - sin, like mold, grows fastest in darkness, but when we confess our sin, the sin is exposed to light and it’s power over us seems to vanish as quickly as the light takes over the darkness.
One is video games - video games - these are immersive, interactive, extended stories - minus the artistic quality of actors, directors, and character development. Video games, when they become your life, are simply complex escapes from reality, though necessary to unplug sometimes,
[slides] MVP on Call of Duty - can end up creating an alternative world that give illusions of grandeur.
Some of the fantasy of video games can just as easily be applied to those consumed by sports or competition of any sort - illusions of grandeur - trophies and medals - indications of being the best on various stages. Sports - as a form of identity - can keep people from bearing the true fruit of faith. If your glory days or the last days you truly experienced fun and engaging leadership were on the football field.
Intellectual - you’ve figured it out and no one else has.
[slide] Illusion of grandeur - is essentially plugging into another vine with one of our branches.
[slide] Illusion of grandeur - is essentially plugging into another vine with one of our branches.
Can you regularly identify your illusion of grandeur?
Can you be a Christian and bear nor fruit - or live in long-term besetting sin? Spader says no, I think, Maybe.
[slide] Sin is misdirected devotion - sin is rebellion against God and in the rebellion we direct our love to something else.
[slide] Sin is misdirected devotion - sin is rebellion against God and in the rebellion we direct our love to something else.
Sin is misdirected love - sin is rebellion against God and in the rebellion we direct our love to something else.
Distinction between fellowship with God and relationship with God.
Though a chair 1 seeker may have intellectual qualms with faith, the biggest barrier between no fruit in chair 1 and fruit in chair 2 is sin.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John a. The Extended Metaphor (15:1–8)
But the latter view, that these dead branches are apostate Christians, must confront the strong evidence within John that true disciples are preserved to the end (e.g. notes on 6:37–40; 10:28). It is more satisfactory to recognize that asking the in me language to settle such disputes is to push the vine imagery too far. The transparent purpose of the verse is to insist that there are no true Christians without some measure of fruit. Fruitfulness is an infallible mark of true Christianity; the alternative is dead wood, and the exigencies of the vine metaphor make it necessary that such wood be connected to the vine.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John a. The Extended Metaphor (15:1–8)
Second, the Father (Jesus says) cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, i.e. he gets rid of the dead wood so that the living, fruit-bearing branches may be sharply distinguished from them, and may have more room for growth.
- For apart from me you can do nothing?
Does this mean chair 1 people can do nothing? Surely this isn’t true - we see non-Christians do all sorts of incredible things.
I think it means that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing to win God’s approval. There is nothing we can do to be good enough or to make ourselves right. We can do nothing to bear the sort of fruit that pleases God.
I wonder if chair 1 people go to chair 2 when one of their identities fails them, and they hit the brick wall and they fall apart and find that Christians, people who bear the name of Jesus, are helping them pick their lives back up. and they are carried over this wall.
I wonder, if chair 1 people go to chair 2 when one of their identities fails them, and they hit the brick wall and find that Christians, people who bear the name of Jesus, are helping them pick their lives back up.
[Transition] And someone finds themselves in chair 2 - what are the barriers for someone in chair 2 going to chair 3?
[Transition] And someone finds themselves in chair 2 - what are the barriers for someone in chair 2 going to chair 3?
[slide] Barrier 2: Knowledge
[slide] Barrier 2: Knowledge
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.
The pruning is the destroy branches that are plugged into wrong branches so that the ones that are abiding.
The greek word for prune is καθαίρει (VPAI3S; αιρω) comes from the same root word we mentioned about cutting off.
Pruning - the good things must be pruned to make room for better things.
The greek word for prune is καθαίρει (VPAI3S; αιρω) comes from the same root word we mentioned about cutting off.
The greek word for prune is καθαίρει (VPAI3S; αιρω) comes from the same root word we mentioned about cutting off.
The chair 2 believer is a learner - and we find that learning becomes the fixation and barrier for someone to become a laborer, because books and content become the focus, and someone who is so consumed by learning theology, learning books, learning the 4 chairs, discussing strategy and best practices, all of these things -
Someone who is so consumed by learning theology, learning books, learning the 4 chairs, discussing strategy and best practices, all of these things -
The evangelical trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Bible
How does this person
Books / the Bible / theology
the Bible
And we convince ourselves that we don’t have enough knowledge, we have so much to learn, and we think learning content and meeting PhDs, that’s the pinnacle of Christianity.
[picture] I give away 2 dollar bills, and once at Richards they didn’t believe that it was real. It’s like you’ve found the real money - and you study it but never spend it.
[picture] I give away 2 dollar bills, and once at Richards they didn’t believe that it was real. It’s like you’ve found the real money - and you study it but never spend it.
cousin who bought a skyline - but would never drive it.
[transition] But let’s say you do realize all that theology, all that knowledge, is meant to be spent, spent in the world, and you begin to bear the fruit of engaging and pushing back the lies and bringing truth. Chair 3.
But let’s say
[slide] Barrier 3: Satisfaction
[slide] Barrier 3: Satisfaction
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.
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.
“We can become satisfied with all the fruit.”
There is a temptation to be pleased with addition. I wonder if many churches are content with filling a room that actually making disciples who make disciples isn’t all that important.
To do good things? Or abound in good works?
To do good things? Or abound in good works?
[slide] What are humans made for?
[slide] What are humans made for?
Some of you spiritual folk would say, “to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
And i would say - yes - but how do we go about glorifying him. Is it just singing songs and telling everyone about Him?
The Bible is pretty clear what our purpose is - but it’s not going to sound very exciting, or very “Christian” even.
Often, when I ask people, if God and heaven exists, why God would let them into heaven
We usually use these two words to summarize how other people find their confidence.
We usually use these two words as the WRONG RESPONSE to how you are saved.
[slide] “For good works” (with Eph. 2:10)
[slide] “For good works” (with Eph. 2:10)
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
, ,
You were made to not just do good works, but to abound in good works. What are good works? To serve one another in love.
You were made to not just do good works, but to abound in good works. What are good works? To serve one another in love.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Other scripture: , , , , , , , , , , ,
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Other scripture: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
Chris Donelly - circuit county judge - illusion of grandeur - everyone stands when he enters the room - he can put people in custody - 1/3 of cook county judges could retire, their pensions are maxed out, but people can’t leave the grandeur - can’t imagine leaving the control. Retired at 57. When others asked, “what else would i do?”
This barrier is when we forget to pick up our crosses - and follow Jesus into bearing much fruit.
This barrier is when we forget to pick up our crosses - and follow Jesus into bearing much fruit.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
Matthew
[picture] Chris Donelly - circuit county judge
[picture] Chris Donelly - circuit county judge
Chris Donelly - circuit county judge - illusion of grandeur - everyone stands when he enters the room - he can put people in custody - 1/3 of cook county judges could retire, their pensions are maxed out, but people can’t leave the grandeur - can’t imagine leaving the control. Retired at 57. When others asked, “what else would i do?”
Speaking about Illusion of grandeur - everyone stands when he enters the room - he can put people in custody - 1/3 of cook county judges could retire, their pensions are maxed out, but people can’t leave the grandeur - can’t imagine leaving the control. When others asked, “what else would i do?”
Ministry - southside pregnancy center, bible study fellowship, unofficial lay pastor at First church, grand father.
These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Do you abound in good works? Or are you just a “good person”?
[slide] What would it take to destroy your illusion of grandeur
Ultimately - the difference is someone’s willingness to die to self, to pick up their cross, and follow Jesus - and live fully - to abound in good works.
Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
The gospel - meekness, humility, remembrance that you needed an implanted of the word in you, which is able to save.
Ultimately - the difference is someone’s willingness to die to self, to pick up their cross, and follow Jesus - and live fully - to abound in good works.
Sometimes I wonder if I am the biggest obstacle in your ministerial life.
[slide] Am I, your pastor, the biggest obstacle for you to bear fruit?
[slide] Am I, your pastor, the biggest obstacle for you to bear fruit?
At the Exponential conference i heard something that struck me -
we often function with the mindset, church staff can do it, and… you can help.
What if we learned from Home Depot - you can do it, we can help?
[picture] home depot - 2003 marketing slogan - you can do it, we can help?
[picture] home depot - 2003 marketing slogan - you can do it, we can help?
[slide] What is your ministry - what can you call your own?
[slide] What is your ministry - what can you call your own?
When Chris Donelly retired at 57 - Ministry - southside pregnancy center, bible study fellowship, unofficial lay pastor at First church, grand father.
[bullets in the slide] People, Place, Problem, Purpose/Role
[bullets in the slide] People, Place, Problem, Purpose/Role
Benediction:
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.