Becoming Like Jesus: What Difference Do I Make?Sample

The Father has invited you to trust.

Over the past 4 days, we have been exploring the question: What difference do I make? This is a question that invites us to know the Caller, root our identity in our Creator, let Him define our purpose, and seek Him everyday for our assignment.

And we’ve seen that because God is our Creator, Redeemer, and King, we are masterpieces made in His image, sinners saved by His grace, and citizens of His kingdom. That means we are called to work in partnership with God, worship Him with our whole lives, and serve Him by loving others the same way Jesus has loved us.

The difference we make is we abad—we work, worship, and serve alongside other image-bearers to be a visual representation of who our God is and what He’s like.

Over the next 3 days, we are going to walk through a passage of Scripture where Jesus shows us how to get close to the Caller and live out our calling. This teaching is found in the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel.

Imagine you have just had a farewell meal with someone. You’ve celebrated the time you spent together, shared fun memories and stories, but, the whole time, there’s a different feeling in the room. You are trying to wrap your mind around the fact that this is the last time you’re going to be with this person for a while. It’s sad and a little confusing. Then, you drive them to the airport and they start the conversation about how you are going to stay in contact after they leave.

That’s exactly what’s happening in this passage. Jesus and the disciples have just finished eating the Passover meal in an event known as the Last Supper. Traditionally, Passover is a time where the people of God celebrate their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. But this meal was different. Because it was here that the disciples finally began to realize what Jesus came here to do: sacrifice Himself for the sake of the world. And now, He and His friends are on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus would soon be arrested. As they pass through a vineyard, Jesus points to a grapevine and tells them:

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” John 15:1-2 NLT

It’s like Jesus is saying, “You want to know how we are going to stay connected when I go away? Well, it’s going to be like those grapevines over there. That’s how close we can still be.”

But Jesus quickly points out something that would have been pretty obvious to His friends—the health of those grapevines is dependent on the care of the gardener. In the same way, the health of our relationship with Jesus, our connection to and walk with Him, is dependent on the care of our Father.

He is inviting us to trust Him and the pruning process.

This is the difference we are called to make. We are called to trust the Father, because when we do, He prunes us and we produce good fruit.

What does all that actually mean? Think of how people shape bushes to look like certain objects or take on different shapes. That’s kind of like what our Father does for us. He shapes us to look more like Jesus.

And that’s not a pain-free process. There are things in us that are going to have to die and be cut out of our lives. Because, if we are being honest, we have all attached ourselves to some things that are not good and true and are not producing good things in our lives.

Maybe you’ve attached yourself to the opinions of other people instead of the True Vine. Maybe it’s a harmful, unholy habit like watching porn or lying to your parents about where you are. Maybe you’ve attached yourself to a group of friends that negatively influence you and you can see the impact on your behavior—you’re doing things you never thought you would.

The fruit these things produce in our lives is bad and bitter. We become slaves to what other people think. We devalue people to get what we want. We break down trust in relationships and end up in places we never intended to go, all because we have this tendency to attach ourselves to the wrong things.

And here, Jesus is inviting us to humbly submit ourselves to the often painful, but always beneficial pruning process. To let our Father uproot and tear out the parts of us that have grown ugly and unruly because they are rooted in sin.

The Father prunes us to make us more like Jesus. The Father prunes us so we can experience peace with Him and live with purpose.

Our Father is inviting us to trust. To trust His patience and perspective. To trust His strength and His love.

Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 NLT

Pray:Heavenly Father, thank you for being so committed to me. I want to be submitted to you in every area of my life. Please make me more like Jesus. Show me the places where I am still trusting myself more than I trust you. Show me the parts of me that need to be uprooted. Thank you for your faithfulness and love. In Jesus’ name, amen.