INTRO...“FOR THE ONE”

…living our lives —> “FOR THE ONE”...I want this to be more than a title of a sermon series here at Creekside, my prayer is that in the days and years to come this three word statement becomes the anthem of creekside church!

WEEK 1 > OUR CALL…LOVE GOD AND OTHERS
-- QUESTION...Who is your ONE?

WEEK 2 > OUR POWER…THE GOSPEL
-- Our ‘first brick’ PROCLAIM CHRIST… When we are “Proclaiming Christ” we are demonstrating and declaring the GOSPEL…and we identified 3 ways the GOSPEL is applied to our lives:
1. JUSTIFIED (saved from penalty of sin)
2. SANCTIFIED (being saved from the power of sin) and
3. GLORIFIED (will be saved from the presence of sin)

WEEK 3 > OUR IDENTITY…BAPTISM
-- FATHER/SON/SPIRIT…FAMILY/SERVANT/SENT

WEEK 4 > OUR PURPOSE…MAKE DISCIPLES
-- Going...Baptizing...Teaching to Observe

THIS WEEK >WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR US TO ABIDE IN JESUS AS DISCIPLES?

FOUR QUESTIONS...REAP!

We have been working with these questions as we learn to REAP scripture, so this seems like a perfect time to walk through it together, both to show you how to use the tool and to also REAP this passage together…so lets do it!

1. WHO IS GOD?
- We see both the Father and the Son
--> FATHER: gardener, vinedresser (vs1)
--> JESUS/SON: the True Vine (vs1, vs5) (he is di ‘vine' I am de ‘branch’)

2. WHAT DID GOD DO?
--> FATHER:
* He prunes (vs2)
* He lifts up (vs2)
* He cuts off/prune (vs6) so that branches that are not bearing fruit might bear more fruit..
* He hears us and answers prayers (vs7,16)
* He loves the Son (vs9)
* He gave commands to Jesus (vs15)
--> JESUS/SON:
* He cleaned us by his word (vs3)
* He enables us to bear fruit (vs4)
* He abides in us (vs5)
* He loves us like the Father loves him (vs9)
* He kept the Fathers commands (vs10)
* He abides in the Fathers love (10)
* He gives us commands to obey (vs10,17) [abide in Him vs 4,7,9,10]--[love each other vs 12,17]
* He gave us these commands to give us HIS JOY so that we would be filled with JOY (vs11)
* He laid down his life for us (vs13)
* He called us His friends (vs15)
* He made know to us all the things He heard from the Father (vs14)
* He chose us (vs16)
* He appointed us to go and bear fruit (vs16)

3. WHO AM I?
* I am a branch (vs5)
* I am clean (vs3) disciples/Judas, [John 13:10-11]… “10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
* I am a friend (vs14)
* I am chosen (vs16)
* I am appointed to bear fruit (vs16)

4. WHAT DO I DO?
* Abide in Jesus (vs4,5,6,7,9,10)
* 2 realities as a disciple… 1. I bear fruit 2. I don’t bear any fruit … there is work the Father does to help me bear fruit…he lifts up, he prunes (vs2,6) --> fruit bearing can only happen if I am abiding in Jesus, being attached to Jesus (without him I can do nothing) (vs5)
* I obey his commands (vs10,12,14,17)
* I pray to the Father while I am abiding in Jesus (vs7,16)

ABOUT ABIDING, OBEYING AND FRUIT BEARING…

- So we see 4 things that we are to do in the passage above:
1. ABIDE IN JESUS
2. BEAR FRUIT
3. OBEY COMMANDS
4. PRAY TO THE FATHER

- Abiding in Jesus is repeated many times…so…
- “How do we abide in Jesus?” … It is not “by bearing fruit” (byproduct), It is not “by keeping the commandments.” (byproduct) || That misses the whole point. The point is to discover how to bear fruit. The answer is, by abiding in Jesus.

And so now the question becomes: How do we abide in Jesus? What does it ACTUALLY mean?

Jesus uses two phrases that point to the answer…
1. He refers to ABIDING IN HIS LOVE
2. And he refers toABIDING IN HIS WORD

ABIDING = a continual trust in
1. the certainty of Jesus’ love and
2. in the truth of Jesus’ words

1. ABIDING MEANS TRUSTING IN THE CERTAINTY OF JESUS' LOVE...
(VS9) "Abide in my love..."

- Not to abide in Jesus’s love would mean that we stop believing that we are loved by Jesus. We look at our circumstances—perhaps persecution or disease or abandonment—and we conclude that we are not loved by Jesus anymore. That’s the opposite of abiding in the love of Jesus.
- So abiding in his love means continuing to believe, moment by moment, that we are loved by Jesus.
- Everything that comes into our lives under Jesus’s sovereign authority (Matt. 8:8) is part of his love for us.
- If it is pleasant, he says, (Matt. 6:26–30) “That’s how my Father cares for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field; how much more you!”.
- If it is painful, he says, “don’t be afraid, the worst that can happen is death, and I have overcome death. I will be with you to the end. And you will be rewarded at the resurrection” (cf. Matt. 10:28; 28:20; John 11:25–26; Luke 14:14).

—> Abiding in Jesus means trusting that this is true—and true for you…resting on this truth moment by moment.
—> It flows to us like sap flows to a branch. We receive it and get our life from it every day.

2. ABIDING MEANS TRUSTING IN THE CERTAINTY OF JESUS' WORD...
(VS7,3) "Abide in my word..."

- This isn’t just referring to keeping His commandments…It is more than that. Instead, it means, “Keep on trusting my word. Keep on trusting what I have revealed to you about who I am, and what my Father and I are doing.”
- The context of [John 8:31–32] explains and confirms this:
--- “31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

- The result of abiding in Jesus’s word is being set free. From what? From sin…[John 8:34]...
--- “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin”

- So abiding in the words of Jesus means that we will be set free from sin. Freedom from sin is the FRUIT of ABIDING IN JESUS.
- We can be satisfied in Jesus…He says He is our living water…which means when we drink this water—we will be satisfied with it.
- It is the same thing with the “vine and branches”…the sap that flows from the vine to the branch…We receive it, drink it, and satisfy our souls with it.
- This daily ever-renewed satisfaction in Jesus is the key to bearing fruit.
- This is what it means to abide in Jesus.

JESUS KEEPS US ABIDING…

- As easy as it seems to abide, to stay implanted, to drink, to rest in Jesus…the truth is that we are often tempted to find our life-giving sap from another plant. And besides our own sinful tendencies, the devil himself wants to snatch us out of the vine.
- We must pray daily, Jesus said, that God would “deliver us from evil” [Matt. 6:13]. Therefore, we need to remind ourselves that Jesus does not leave us to ourselves. Even though he commands us to abide in him—and we are responsible to abide there—he himself keeps us there.
- And we would not abide there without his crucial keeping. How does he do it?

THREE WAYS JESUS KEEPS US, ABIDES IN US…
(vs5, MT28)… “I am with you always”

1. He said that no one can snatch his own sheep (his own true branches) out of his hand.[JN 10:27-29] “27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”

2. Then he prayed to his Father that God would cause us to keep on abiding in his name (that is, in Jesus). [JN 17:11b-12] “11b Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
- So it is God who does the decisive work in keeping us in the vine.

3. Then Jesus prays for his own disciples and preserves them from falling away. He predicted Simon Peter’s three denials on the night before his death. But then he spoke with sovereign authority to Simon in words that should encourage all of us.
[LK 22:31-32] “31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you,[d] that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
- Jesus prayed for Simon’s keeping and knew it would happen. He said, “When you have turned” not “If you turn.” God’s answer to Jesus’s prayer was sovereignly decisive. Yes, Simon’s faith faltered, and he sinned by denying Jesus. But his faith did not fail utterly. He was not cut off from the vine. Jesus prayed for him. And we know Jesus still prays for us this way today.
- We see it illustrated in John 17 in his priestly prayer for us and also proclaimed in [HB 7:25] “25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

--> Jesus helps us abide…he wins. No one can snatch us out of his hand. He and his Father are greater than all.

--> So we conclude that abiding in Jesus—in his love and in his word—is trusting that he really is loving us at every moment and that everything he has revealed about himself and his work for us and our future with him is true.

PRAYER, REFLECTION AND COMMUNION…

- ARE YOU ABIDING IN JESUS’ LOVE? Do you believe moment by moment that Jesus loves you and are you resting in that truth?

- ARE YOU ABIDING IN JESUS’ WORD? Do you believe that all that Jesus revealed about himself (who he is and what he does) is true?

- ARE YOU BEARING FRUIT? Do you see fruit (increasingly) being produced in your life? (Gal 5 fruit of the Spirit)

- WHAT IS JESUS SAYING TO YOU TODAY?

- WHAT IS JESUS ASKING YOU TO DO?

- WHO IS THE ONE YOU ARE CALLED TO?