1 Keeping connected to Christ: the key to fruitful ministry Jn 15:1-17 Part 2 St Stephens Belrose Feb 28, 2016 Words Introduction What is the key to fruitful ministry? That s the question I want to address today from John 15. If you are like me then you want very much to be an effective Christian. You are not happy just to go through the motions of the Christian life. You hope that your life in the Lord will be to good effect; that your discipleship will be beneficial in some way to others. So what is the key to fruitful ministry? The key is keeping connected to Christ. That it seems to me is what Jn 15 teaches. The key to fruitful ministry is keeping connected to Christ. In Jn 15 Jesus teaches his disciples. They are in the upper room somewhere in Jerusalem. Judas has already gone out into the night to betray Jesus. Before the night is over Jesus will be arrested and beaten. In less than 24 hrs he will be dead. Knowing this Jesus teaches his disciples how to live in his absence. And how to stay connected with him even though he will be physically absent. I am the Vine he says. And you are the branches (5). Lose contact with me and you will wither and die. Keep connected to me and you will bear fruit. Now as it happens I preached from this same passage some three years ago. And I spoke about
2 the same theme: keeping connected to Christ as the key to fruitful ministry. On that occasion I spoke about dwelling on Jesus words (memorizing them; obeying them; meditating on them; letting their shape slowly change us). And about loving as he loved (self-giving service of others). But today I have the opportunity to take this theme further and to explore a couple of other ways of keeping connected to Christ which are evident here in John 15. First, living as the friends of Jesus. Second, praying in the name of Jesus. How then can we keep connected to Christ? Here s two more ideas from Jn 15. 1. Living as his friends Explanation We keep connected to Jesus when we live as the friends of Jesus. As we saw last time Jesus urges his disciples to love as he loved and he repeats his command to love each other as I have loved you (12). He then offers this general principle: Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (13). And then rather than take up the theme of love he takes up the theme of friendship. He says two things about being his friends. The first is about obedience: you are my friends if you do what I command (14). This is not a new theme in Jesus teaching. Just minutes before Jesus told the disciples If anyone loves me he will obey my teaching (14:23). And then He who does not love me will not obey my teaching (14:24). Love for Jesus is shown in obedience. And here in 15:14 friendship with Jesus is demonstrated by obedience to him. To be the friend of Jesus means to obey his commands. And then the second thing Jesus says is about knowledge. What is the difference between a servant and a friend? Well says Jesus a servant does not know his masters business (15). A servant must obey his master s commands. But the master feels no obligation to explain what he is thinking or why he is issuing this command. He just tells his servant what to do in the expectation that the servant will automatically comply. But a friend is different. The master will know that his friend needs to have some kind of insight into what the master in trying to achieve. And so Jesus says to his disciples I have called you friends because everything I have learned from the Father I have made known to you (15). His disciples are called to obey. Yes that is true. But not blindly. They understand their master s business ; they understand what their master is thinking and why this command makes sense. And their insight is not partial or incomplete. Jesus tells them that he has told them everything (he has) learned from the
3 Father (15). The disciples know as much as Jesus does about his heavenly Father. And why? Because Jesus has shared it with them. Because they are his friends. So here is another way we can keep connected with Christ: we can live as friends of Jesus. Illustration There is something very special about friendship don t you think? Family relationships are wonderful of course. But they have an element of necessity about them. You have to get on with your family; you re kind of stuck with them. But friendship is different. There is kind of freedom in making friends. And a joy as well. I spent some time recently with some very old friends. We sat on the deck and over a few hours and a few drinks we chatted. That feels good doesn t it? Our old friends know us somehow, even if many years have passed and our lives have gone their separate ways. Even then we feel known and somehow secured by our knowledge of each other. And there is a joy in this knowing and being known. Over the past few months a number of young adults from our 5.30 service have moved away from Belrose and into the next stage of their lives. It has been sad to say farewell to each of these wonderful people. But we say goodbye to young people who have been wonderfully equipped here at St Stephens for useful service in whatever quarter of the world the Lord sends them. And we send them away knowing that they have formed life-changing, lifelong friends here at Stephens. And Jesus calls his disciples into this kind of relationship. He calls us his friends. What does it mean then for us to live as friends of Jesus? Application The first thing to say is that we must be obedient to Jesus. You are my friends if you do what I command (14). Now that might take you by surprise. When we think of friendship the last thing we think of is a command-and-obey kind of relationship. But this is no ordinary friendship. This is friendship with the Son of God. He is the Lord and we are his people. We love him and we obey him. Just as Jesus loves and obeys his heavenly Father (14:31). If we are the friends of Jesus we must obey him. Now I am sad to say that our evangelical tradition has not been strong on this aspect of knowing Christ. We have been so fixated on the distinction between works and faith that we have been tempted to think that we have skipped clear of the duty to be obedient. We are under grace and not
4 the law we say to ourselves. And when we read the NT and come across texts which exhort us to do this or command us to do that a theological veil comes over our eyes and we reason that Jesus or Paul could not really mean that. But Jesus did mean that. Here Jesus makes it plain that his disciples must take his commands seriously. You are my friends if you do what I command. In this upper room discourse (Jn 13-17) I can see 11 commands. Two are commands to trust Jesus (14:1,11). Think about that. Jesus commands his disciples to trust him just as he did when he came into Galilee preaching the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news (Mk 1:15). That s why the NT can speak about people obeying the gospel (2 Thess 1:8) and the obedience of faith (Rom 1:5). Four of the commands are to love one another (13:34,35; 15:12,17). Two are about staying connected to Jesus (15:4,9). I don t have time to address each of these commands. Only time to make the point that the friends of Jesus take Jesus commands seriously. We hear them. We meditate on them. We bring them to mind when we face decisions and choices. We seek to obey them. He is the Lord. We are his disciples. We obey him. And in so doing we show that we are his friends. But the second thing to say is that it is an immense privilege to be called the friends of Jesus. And the privilege lies in the fact that Jesus has shared with us what he is thinking and feeling when he issues his commands. We understand what Jesus is seeking to achieve; indeed what God the Father is seeking to achieve. Jesus tells us everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (15). Yes we are servants who must do our duty. But we are also friends because we understand our master s business. Our knowledge of the gospel elevates us into the position of the friends of Jesus. I wonder then if you feel something of that immense privilege. God is under no obligation to us. And yet in his Son Jesus he shows his extraordinary love for the human race. He sends his Son to us. He shares his Fathers love and lays down his life for us. He shares with us everything he knows about his God and Father. He chooses us and draws us to himself and includes us amongst his new community. And he calls us his friends. In a world that does not know God Jesus has revealed him. And we have been privileged to hear the words of Jesus and to begin to understand the God who sent him. And in understanding to begin
5 to experience his immense love for us and for the whole of creation. What an honour! What a joy! What grace! What a privilege! I hope you sense that and live in it: the very great privilege of being called a friend of Jesus. So to live as a friend of Jesus is one way of keeping connected to Jesus. 2. Praying in his name Explanation Yet another way of keeping connected to Christ is to pray in his name. We read in v16 the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. What does this mean: to pray in Jesus name? On the surface it looks like the secret to unlimited power. At last the key to unlocking the power of God! Take this promise and harness it to selfish ambition, and you have created a monster. Whatever you ask! Imagine that! Whatever you want! Think about that. A new car? Ask for it in the name of Jesus. A higher-paying job? Ask for it in the name of Jesus! A better husband? Ask for it in the name of Jesus. Is this what Jesus was teaching? Well in a sense yes. He was pointing his disciples to the source of unlimited power. To be fruitful they will need to pray in Jesus name. To do the greater works Jesus speaks of (14:12) they will need to pray in Jesus name. But in another sense no. The power of God is not available to accomplish whatever we want to do. It is available to accomplish what God wants to do. This is what it means to pray in Jesus name. It is to share in the whole purpose of Jesus coming and life and death and resurrection. Let me draw out the elements of this wonderful truth. First, to pray in Jesus name is to share in Jesus access to the Father. The Father always hears the prayers of the Son (11:41-42). So to pray in Jesus name means to share that same immediate and permanent access to God. Second, it means to pray in the light of all that Jesus is and is doing. The name of Jesus is a way of speaking about the core truths of Jesus identity and mission. To believe in the name of Jesus means to come to the conviction that Jesus from Nazereth is the Son of God sent into the world to save it (3:16-18). And it means to receive Jesus into our lives and so to receive life and membership of God s family (1:12-13). That s believing in the name of Jesus.
6 And praying in the name means something very similar. It means to speak to God on the basis of Jesus identity and all he has accomplished. And so to pray in the name of Jesus means to pray as Jesus would pray. To pray for things which are consistent with Jesus life and ministry. I am saying that we keep connected with Jesus by praying in his name. But we could put the point around the other way and say that to pray in Jesus name depends on keeping connected with Christ. It depends on having his heart and mission and purpose and motivation. Third, to pray in Jesus name is to pray in full assurance that we will receive what we ask for. Six times in this long speech Jesus makes the same point: And I will do whatever you ask in my name (14:13) You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it (14:14) ask whatever you wish and it will be given you (15:7) my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (15:16) I tell you the truth my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (16:23) Ask and you will receive and your joy will be complete. (16:24) I think Jesus is trying to make a point don t you? Why do you think he is so emphatic? So unguarded? I think it is because he wants his disciples to know that they go into the world as extensions of him. He is the vine and they are the branches. He is the vine and we are the branches. We are Jesus in a sense reaching out into the world. And we are to be thinking, feeling, longing, loving and praying just as he prayed. So fully taken up with his saving purpose that we speak and serve and think and pray in his name. And he wants his disciples to know that they do not go into the world alone. Even though Jesus is about to leave them they will not be orphans. They will have the Spirit alongside them. And the Father and the Son dwelling within them. And so they will have the power of God to strengthen them as they continue Jesus work. And that is the key thing to grasp: we are called to continue Jesus works. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing (14:12). And it is in the context of doing what Jesus was doing that we have this privilege of praying in Jesus name (see 14:12-14). Illustration Which means I think that the more immersed we are in the mission of God into the world the more we will experience this kind of powerful prayer. That is certainly my experience.
7 One day when I was Pastor at Mosman Baptist Church we were putting on a large outdoor event at Balmoral Beach, just near the rotunda. This was a big deal for us. We had outlaid a lot of money and had drawn on the Church s resources of the Church for months in the lead-up. We were due to start at 6pm and needed a full 4 hours to set up all our gear. But at 2pm it was pouring with rain. We stood under a little kiosk shelter and we prayed Lord clear away this rain. It seemed a futile prayer. And yet driven by a sense that this was the mission-hearted will of God we prayed it. And sure enough soon the weather fined up. And we were able to set up our gear. Then just before we were due to start another burst of rain fell on us. We prayed in two groups, one at each end of the space. At my end we prayed oh Lord unless you do something this will all be a terrible failure. The other group had a more assertive prayer. They prayed Lord. We are ready. The musicians are ready. The actors are ready. The technicians are ready. Are you ready? And once again the rain moved away and stayed away for 4 hours. It was as if the Lord just made a hole in the rain clouds to keep us dry. How we rejoiced in the Lord! Application So here is a suggestion. Make a point of praying when you are in public places. When you are on the bus or the train. At the shops or walking down the street. Lift up your head and look at the people around you. And try to connect with the heart of Jesus for the people you see. You see praying in the name of Jesus is not about adding a little postscript to your prayer like an afterthought. It is instead to pray with the heart of Jesus. It is to see with the eyes of Jesus. It is to hope with the hope of Jesus. It is to see the saving, healing, restoring possibilities that arise from the love of Jesus for his world and the people of the world. Prayer in the name of Jesus is missionprayer. It is God-at-work-in-the-world prayer. It is Kingdom-coming prayer. So when you are next on the bus put your phone away and take a look around you. Let the Spirit direct you in your prayer. No need to force it. No need to be too theatrical about it either. Just let Jesus loving, healing, tender prayer shape itself within you. Pray as he might pray. You see praying in the name of Jesus is not about you and your hopes for your life. It is about God and his hope for the world. And yet it is about you because it includes you. This is how God works; in and through his people. God has a wonderful plan for the world and he wants you to share in it.
8 Praying with heart of Jesus and in the name of Jesus brings you into the centre of his will and his purposes. And with all those assurances that we will receive what we ask for, who knows what God will accomplish through these prayers? What a wonderful way of keeping connected to Jesus: to pray in his name. Conclusion Jesus wants us to be fruitful disciples. You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit (16). And we can be fruitful only as we stay connected to Jesus: I am the vine you are the branches (5). And I have shared just two ways in which we can stay connected with Jesus: praying in his name and living as his friends. This says Jesus is to my Father s glory, that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples. (8) Is this the deep longing of your life? To be fruitful for Jesus? Fruitful in your family and household? Fruitful in your workplace? And in this way bringing glory to God? Is that your deepest desire? Then keep connected to Jesus. On the day I was ordained the preacher took his text from v5 of this chapter: apart from me you can do nothing. It was a sober warning against prideful self-sufficiency. I am making the same point but in a more positive way. If you want to be fruitful in ministry then here is the key: keep connected to Christ. Appendix: three problems with our traditional way of expressing the gospel. Our evangelical theological tradition for all its many strengths has made it harder for us to connect with the Jesus of the gospels. Let me explain. When we were taught the gospel it went like this: You can t get to heaven by your good works; you can only get to heaven by faith in the completed work of Jesus. This understanding of the gospel is based on Martin Luther s understanding of medieval Catholicism and his reading of Romans. He saw the Catholic Church of his day teaching the people to do all kinds of religious works in order to be sure of entry into heaven. When Luther read Romans he thought Paul was reacting to precisely the same issue in his day. That Paul was opposed to a Jewish way of getting right with God through lots of religious works. And as he read through Romans he came to the view that Paul was teaching an entirely other way of getting right with God; the way of faith. And so the gospel we were taught was you
9 can t get to heaven by your good works but you can by faith in the work of Jesus. There are several problems with this way of understanding the gospel. The first is that Jewish people of the first century did not believe they had to do religious works to be put right with God. They believed they had been made God s people by his sovereign choice and election and that they had a duty to demonstrate that in the way they lived. In other words no-one at that time taught a doctrine of salvation by works. Luther was reading into the NT his experience of 16 th century Catholicism. A second problem with this view of the gospel is that it makes us ignore what Jesus plainly says throughout the gospels. Jesus says here You are my friends if you do what I command (14). And not just here but everywhere throughout the gospels Jesus tells his disciples what they must do. He is the Master and the Lord. He issues commands and expects his disciples to obey them. But that sounds like justification by works. And so we think to ourselves well Jesus cannot really have meant that and a veil drops over our eyes. And we lose touch with the Jesus of the gospels. Our Christianity would be much more practical and active. We would take the commands of Jesus and apply them directly to our world and our lives to help us decide how to live. A third problem with this way of viewing the gospel is the way it is framed. If the gospel is you can t get to heaven by good works but you can by faith in the work of Jesus then what is the basic story? What is the core issue? How to get to heaven. But the ministry of Jesus addressed a completely different issue: how the Kingdom of heaven comes to earth. Imagine if we only had the gospels. We would know nothing of the doctrine of justification by faith. And we would know a lot about the Lord Jesus. And about how he calls his disciples to live.
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