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Significant John 15 Human beings desire significance! We want to be valued, cared for, and useful! But so often our significance, when we finally achieve it, seems to slip through our fingers: Victories fade, relationships falter, new things grow old, and once again we find ourselves chasing after things that experience tells us won’t give us what we want. Last week we talked about the eternal, eternity, and eternal life: a pretty significant topic, one that I hope you’ve considered a bit this week. And maybe you've just been caught up in a series of moments. My sense is that you've probably spent more time focused on the “NOW”. When we look at this world and the God who created it, it can be a bit overwhelming and we can seem so small. And in this we find the paradox that haunts each of us. Eternity is huge, our lives seem to be just blinks on a time line in comparison, yet we know we were made for something more. It’s time that we begin to see our lives as being eternally significant. We must stop measuring our lives in the little ways of the moment to moment and look beyond to what God sees in us. God sees us as being eternally significant! God is Important But that almost seems to make the problem worse. The whole idea just keeps building. 1. My little corner of the world is more than I can handle. 2. My little corner of the world is fairly insignificant in the bigger picture of this world. 3. My little world sits in a solar system on the edge of galaxy floating in a universe beyond comprehension. 4. And this Universe was made by an omnipotent and eternal God that completely overshadows His creation... and yet... People are Important! YOU are significant! This is what Jesus was teaching wherever He walked! This is what God thinks of us. We are valuable! When we recognize this we find Eternal Significance.…Unfading significance, significance that isn’t forgotten, or imagined. Our significance must come from God for it to have eternal meaning… The disciples walked with Jesus, they experienced his miracles, and yet they wondered about their significance. People didn’t understand Jesus! You’d think they could…You'd think Jesus could get people to understand. And yet in His life and teaching there was discord and misunderstanding! It just doesn’t make sense! At the end of chapter 14 of the Gospel of John we heard Jesus uttered these words…”Come now; let us leave.” And with those words he stepped out of the comfort of the last supper and began a walk to the garden… to pray… to be arrested… Judas had already left to go and betray Jesus! We are just hours from the cross… What is about to happen is crazy! The disciples are about to face one of the most tragic moments that has ever occurred on the face of the earth… the death of a perfect man…the death of a wonderful God! And they need a crash course on how to view the world!
That’s what this walk is all about! Christ offers us a way to make sense of the world! He offers true significance to us. First… 1) We find Significance only in Jesus Christ! (15:1-17) “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4) And Verse 17 "This is my command: Love each other." a) Remain in me! (15:1-9) b) Then he tells to “Love each other” (15:10-17) i) These are foundational components to the Christian Life! A Christian must hang on to both of these are lessons at all cost! ii) REMAIN IN CHRIST! Never lose sight of Him! Live close to Him! That gives us the proper perspective to love each other! iii) LOVE EACH OTHER! Draw close to each other! We are not made to live alone… from the very beginning God knew that… He looked at Adam and said, Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. (1) I know this in my life! I can hold it together with people… it is when I am alone that I am in danger… (a) I must remain close to Christ! (b) And then remain close to each other… (2) And I need Christ to hold it together when I am with people. c) And if we look honestly at our world… at all the discord of the world… we’ll see that the human race hasn’t done a great job of these two most important components of life! We are reaping the consequences of our own action! When people speak to me about the problem of evil…and raise the question of how a good God could allow such horrible things to happen… i) I look at humanity… and realize that we are the problem… (1) We haven’t drawn close to God… (2) And we don’t love each other very well! ii) All I have to do is look at my own life… I am a good man… and good father… and yet I can’t help but be selfish with my time… hard on my kids, unfair with my wife… and those are the people closest to me! d) The answer is to turn to God… to abide in Christ! To experience His grace… and then offer that grace to the world… i) The Grace of Christ is the perfect answer to the problem of evil in the world! His forgiveness offers us a way to make sense of the world! (1) Accept His forgiveness… enter into a relationship with Him, and then (2) Set aside what isn’t motivated by love… what isn’t the fruit of your relationship with Christ! e) This is how we will bear fruit! This is the place of Power! But the world surrounds us!!! The very world that crucified Christ! How are we to view this world… and how are we to find a way to live in the here and now! Jesus doesn’t mince words with his disciples… he knows there isn’t time to talk around the subject… 2) Jesus offers significance in the midst of the Battle (15:18-25) 18 "When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. 19 The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. a) Doesn’t it seem strange to you that verses 17 and 18 are placed so close together! I mean there should be a lot of distance between these verses! 17 This is my command: Love each other. 18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. i) Christ loved us so much that he gave his life for us! And the world killed Him! ii) We are called to love Christ and each other… and if we do, the world will hate us! iii) Jesus speaks about the pain that is involved in following truth... in following Jesus. Jesus will not lie to us... he won't make us think that life with Him is life without sorrow and suffering... That abiding in Christ is like life in a cabin up in Idyllwild, where all is perfect and pleasant... iv) But the Christian life often isn’t wonderful… WHY? (1) Verse 19 gives us the answer… 19 The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. (2) The world doesn’t’ like God answer! 21 The people of the world will hate you because you belong to me, for they don't know God who sent me. (3) And the problem isn’t with God… it’s with us! 22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. (a) When we look at verse 22 we see why people… and why the world puts so much distance between themselves and God… it is a desire to run from the realization of their own sin… of their own sense of falling short before God! (b) That’s my normal response when I am confronted with one of my mistakes… I deny… I get angry… I fight back! I shut down! I mock! b) The grace of Christ applies to this very situation! There is no reason to turn from Christ… even when I am the one who is ungrateful! i) He offers grace to all who look to Him! ii) He offers truth! He cuts through the intricate dance of sin… Christ offers us a way to make sense of the world! iii) Remain in me! Abide in Me! iv) Love each other! And yet we are living in enemy territory! We were chosen to come out of the world, (even if) it hates you… Christ offers us a way to make sense of the world! And we aren’t left to walk alone! NOW THERE’S SOME GOOD NEWS! 3) Jesus offers significance in the midst of the Battle (15:18-25) 18 "When the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you. 19 The world would love you if you belonged to it, but you don't. I chose you to come out of the world, and so it hates you. a) Christ sends us the Counselor… the Spirit of Truth… God’s truth… God view of the world is the only one that makes sense! God will send us this truth… we’ll understand Christ… and through Christ we will understand this world! b) AND we are called to take this truth to the world… you must also tell others about me! We are called to enter the battle! i) To do this we mustn’t fall away (6:1). We must go back to those foundational components of the Christian life! (1) Remain in Me… (2) Love each other… (a) In those words are the power and plan of God! (3) And not only are we to remain in Christ… but we can know that the Holy Spirit will remain in us! 4) Conclusion… a) And so as we walk through life… and we seek to make sense of this world… it is important that we realize these things… i) That we need to stay close to Jesus! ii) We need to love each other! iii) We need to recognize that we are in a battle iv) We need to remember that we aren’t alone… the Holy Spirit is with us! b) That’s the only way to make sense of the world! To allow Christ to work in us… and in the world… Christ offers us a way to make sense of the world! c) Are you ready to let Him make sense of your life? To let someone with a bigger vision and greater power lead you in the right direction! i) It’s the way to eternal significance!
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