The best good news (you didn’t want to hear!)

Stories from the vineyard pt 2 John 15 v 1-17 Introduction R u you on speaking terms with God? Caught in a net? Feel pain, feel like a failure, where is the significance, wondering why? R U one of these? Jesus is talking to you in the vineyard Today look at barren branches/empty baskets, and see how God responds to them, not a lovely cosy message, but one that turns the barren into the bountiful The barren branch John 15 v 2, every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit he breaks off If you bear no fruit you are not a Christian? No evidence of your salvation you lose it? The key is the phrase “in me”, to be in Christ means to be a believer (I Cor 1 v 30, 2 Cor 5 v 17, Eph 2 v 10, Phil 3v9) Not a salvation issue, it is how we grow, how we get through the barren seasons, you know yourself when you are not bearing fruit. Puzzling bit is v 3, “already clean”, what does cleanliness have to do with fruit? 2 part answer! Clearer translation of the Greek word airo is not break off rather, take up or lift up, 5000 baskets, Simon bearing cross, Jesus taking away sins of the world. Airo never means break off, much better lift up, brings picture of a gardener lifting up the branch. 2nd part, have you ever spoken to a owner of a vineyard? New branches tend to trail down, left untouched, they get muddy and mouldy, branch becomes sick and useless, barren, what do you do? Break it off, chuck it? No! Branch is too valuable for that, gardener goes through with a bucket of water, lifts them up, washes them, ties them to the trellis, and pretty soon the branch is flourishing So can you see what Jesus is saying? He says the father will tend to us, and make us flourish, but he has to work on us! Lift up, clean, John 15 looks totally different, for Christians, sin is the dirt, air and light can’t get in, it is a barren branch that results How does the gardener tend to us? First rule of the vine- IF YOUR LIFE CONSISTENTLY BEARS NO FRUIT, GOD WILL INTERVENE AND DISCIPLINE YOU The Good Hurt discipline, it is when Father intervenes to save us from destruction -discipline feel good? Nope, not for the child or the dad, but discipline comes because of committed love. Heb 12 v 5-6, God the source of discipline, all believers, out of love God does all that is necessary as a gardener does to a wayward branch! Why would God do this? To get our attention, to change a life, Heb 12 v 11, not fun but will bring fruit Parents know how it works, Christopher road, God is a loving Father, he disciplines for our own good, God wants to nudge you, to be all he wants you to be, all that you cant do on your own! It is all up to you! Discipline only lasts as long as you stay in sin, the gardener wants a full harvest, he will do what is needed, until fruit is growing! Naughty step, mother sorted you out she never stopped loving you, Satan would love you to think God hated you, if you don’t get discipline then you should worry! Hard realities Are you a sick branch? Don’t be shocked when God intervenes, you may think the trials you are in is because God is punishing you, God doesn’t work that way, he may be tending to you, so that you will change your life. An empty basket = misery, let God Love by degrees Power of an eyebrow, Sometimes God just this, if you ignore the eyebrow what happens? Can you look back and see where God has led you? If so you are growing, if not you may have an empty basket and God is disciplining you! (same root for disciple) Three degrees of intervention Heb 12 v 5&6, rebuke, correction, punish (scourge) C.S Lewis, God whispers through pleasure, but shouts through pain, 1 cor 11 v 30, sick, weak, dead, not OT thing, but NT too! Some cautions- God doesn’t hurt innocent because sin of an other, God disciplines out of love, and he always offers a chance to respond What stops good people from cleaning up their act? Convenience, various excuses, God is love, I am just weak, I enjoy it this way, cant help myself, can’t all be Billy Graham or Mother Teresa, it is how I am made What you are saying is that sin has no consequences, I like it too much to quit, what is your sin? (Opposite of the fruits of the spirit). You stay in sin, the greater the discipline! The Joyful turning REPENTANCE, one day I hope you look back and see the dirt that has fallen from your life, only when we respond to the Father’s discipline will we escape the cycle of sin, not only that we will grow in Maturity Repentance is not a one time act, it is a lifestyle, a commitment, a daily invitation to God to let him train and grow us so we bear fruit, to experience his pleasure, we move from no fruit to fruit, next week we see how we move from fruit to more fruit! May you….