Remain in Me and I Will Remain in You
John 15:1-5 1 “I am the true vine; my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. And he trims and cleans every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce even more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the words I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. A branch cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit alone but must remain in me.
5 “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any remain in me and I remain in them, they produce much fruit. But without me they can do nothing.
This morning I would like to encourage you to examine the fruit you are producing. Just as an apple tree will not produce pears, Christ followers will only produce the fruit that originates with Christ.
Time as we know it is winding down. It is vital that we follow closely to Jesus so that we may produce good fruit.
Think for a moment of the example you set for others. Will Jesus continue to send people across your path if your fruit is dying on the vine?
We are disciples, and our primary intention should be to learn from the Master and then share that knowledge with others. May we purpose in our hearts to remain in Christ until we draw our last breath.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A Hymn of Hope
Psalm 13:3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Today as my prayer list seems to be growing, I wanted to offer this psalm that includes both a plea for deliverance and a hymn of praise. The psalms are where I point people who are suffering from illness, grief, and other disappointments.
Why? Because in the psalms we can find hope, peace and relief from a multitude of life’s challenges.
I find it comforting to see that others gone before us have faced the same trials, but they have also found blessed relief. And the deliverance they experienced offers hope, and hope builds up our faith.
I’d like to close with a portion of this old hymn of the church.
When we All Get to Heaven
By Eliza Hewitt
- While we walk the pilgrim pathway,
Clouds will overspread the sky;
But when trav’ling days are over,
Not a shadow, not a sigh.- When we all get to heaven,
What a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
We’ll sing and shout the victory!
- When we all get to heaven,
May we sing the songs of victory even before we reach heaven’s shores, knowing and believing that salvation is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Clothe Yourself with Compassion
Colossians 3:12-17 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Have you considered today that as people born into original sin, we must clothe ourselves in the righteousness of Jesus? Isaiah 64:5 says our righteousness is as filthy rags. Therefore, we must put on the righteousness found only in Jesus.and, dear friends, we must do so every day.
And, we need to remember that the qualities of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience are bound together by the love of Christ. It is for this reason that we must walk in forgiveness so that we will be in perfect unity with Christ and with our brothers and sisters.
Finally, we should sing songs of praise to God. As long as we can engage in corporate worship it is imperative that we do so. But if we hold unforgiveness in our hearts then none of our actions are worthwhile.
I’d like to finish with the lyrics of the hymn ‘Bind us Together.”
Bind Us Together
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
With cords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord
Bind us together
Bind us together in Love
There is only one God,
There is only one King
There is only one Body,
That is why we sing.
Fit for the glory of God,
Purchased by His precious Blood
Born with the right to be free
Jesus the victory has won.
We are the family of God
We are the promise divine
We are God’s chosen desire
We are the glorious new wine.
May we engage in holy worship every day, understanding that unless God is in the midst of whatever we do, our worship and our service is in vain.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Turn from evil
1 Peter 3:8-12 (NIV) 8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
When we read Peter’s instructions to the Christians scattered throughout Asia, how many of us relate to these words? As Christ followers, we are called to model our lives after Jesus, who knew no sin. Therefore, the idea that we should even consider speaking evil or returning insult for insult should be foreign to us. Yet, it is Christians to whom this letter is written.
We should remember that although we have invited the Lord of Lords to enter our hearts, we still live in a fleshly vessel. As such, we are subject to the same desires and temptations as those who have no relationship with Jesus. But because we have the Holy Spirit, we can overcome the world.
As Peter said, BE like-minded, BE sympathetic, LOVE one another, BE compassionate and BE humble. If we are to live as Christ lived, we cannot just think on these things, we must act.
May we keep the Word in our hearts and the name of Jesus on our lips so that we may not sin against God.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Blessed is the One
Psalms 1:1-4 1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Don’t you love how often God reveals through His Word the comparison between good and evil? And notice how God talks in terms of good vs evil rather than right vs wrong. Remember, right vs wrong are moral values and may shift over time, while good vs evil are godly values and therefore do not change.
The psalmist (David) goes on to be even more explicit in his warning—do not stand with sinners, nor walk with the wicked, nor sit with mockers.
Notice the progression of sin—first it seems casual as the godly man is warned against even walking in the vicinity of the wicked. Then the warning includes standing with the sinners—the godly man has progressed from walking in the general vicinity to lingering nearby and, finally, the godly man has taken a seat in the council. When we linger as Eve did near the forbidden fruit, the temptation sometimes becomes too strong to resist.
Instead we are told to meditate on the law. Another word for meditate is to ponder, or to think deeply about a subject. When we take the time to truly consider godly instruction, we will be less likely to stray from the pathway of holiness.
May we determine each day that there is only one way to walk the Christian lifestyle, and that is by staying so close to the Master that a detour is not even considered.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Seeking Holiness 