WEBVTT 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:06.959 Welcome to the MetaCurch Podcast. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:08.080 My name's Clayton. 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.320 I'm the pastor here at MetaCurch. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:18.000 And my hope is that today's podcast finds you at the perfect time in your life that God uses it to inspire and enlighten you. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.559 I hope that you enjoy today's message. 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:26.000 All right, MetaCurch, how are you guys doing? 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:29.280 Yeah, I want to welcome you. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:31.440 Thank you so much for being here with us today. 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:36.719 Those of you who are here in Helotus, watching online and at the 151 Saloon. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:38.560 If you're new with us, my name is Clayton. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:39.520 I'm the lead pastor. 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:40.320 Got some new people. 00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:41.280 That's beautiful. 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:47.119 And uh we are in the last week, week seven of our series that we called I Am. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:53.920 And so if you're just getting caught up, know that all of the weeks of this series are online at metachurch.tv. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:02.240 And what we've been doing is we've been deepening our understanding of who Jesus is, and we've been learning about Jesus from Jesus. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:12.159 In John's gospel, he quotes Jesus seven different times, starting these passages by saying, I am, and we've really dug into these and explored them. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:16.159 And today we're going to be in John chapter 15, starting in verse 1. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:18.239 So our seventh I am statement. 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:23.519 Jesus says, I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:32.079 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he lifts up, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit, so that it will produce more. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:36.079 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:46.400 Remain in me and I in you, just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself, unless it remains on the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in me. 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:50.159 I am the vine, and you are the branches. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:58.400 The one who remains in me, and I in him, produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:11.680 Today we're looking at a unique moment in Scripture, and Jesus is not only revealing deep truths about himself, he is also speaking to our lived experience and how we live in light of what he's done for us. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.280 My message today is called contingency plan. 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:16.639 Contingency plan. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:18.400 Would you guys pray with me? 00:02:18.639 --> 00:02:20.479 Father, we love you and we thank you. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:33.280 We thank you for this gathering of people who are coming to explore you, many people who believe in you, God, and are wanting to follow you more and more and live out more and more of the purpose you've given us. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:39.680 And God, others who are exploring the idea of faith, maybe they are curious, maybe they're skeptical. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:54.639 God, I pray that wherever we're at on our faith journey, that we would come before you and have the humility to lay down our own preconceived notions, to have open minds and open hearts, and that we would receive exactly what you want to say to us today. 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:58.159 We thank you for this time, and we pray it all in Jesus' name. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:02:59.439 And everyone said? 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:01.039 Amen. 00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:07.520 We're talking about a contingency plan, and Jesus made some very big statements in this passage. 00:03:07.599 --> 00:03:16.400 And it's a it's a really interesting I am passage because the other six we've looked at have pretty much exclusively been about Jesus. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:19.520 I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the gate for the sheep. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:24.080 I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection, the way, the truth, and the life. 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:27.680 These are deep and profound truths about the person of Jesus. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:34.479 But today he says, I am, but he also adds, he is, and you are. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:41.120 I am the true vine, my father, he is the gardener, and you are the branches. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:45.280 And so he's pulling us in, and there's a reason for this. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:47.919 It's because we need a contingency plan. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:58.240 We are contingent beings, and to be contingent means that you are relying on something outside of you for whatever intended result that you want. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:06.879 And so if you want to go 70 miles an hour, that is only contingent on you finding a vehicle that can take you that fast. 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:14.000 The fastest humans that have ever lived can barely break 30 miles an hour, and they can only do that for about 20 yards at a time. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:20.959 The human body can't go 70 miles an hour, so you're limited, and that limit being crossed is contingent. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:24.079 It's contingent on motorized vehicles. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:27.199 We don't like the idea of being contingent beings. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:31.360 We don't like relying on other people or places or processes. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:40.240 We have bought this idea, especially in the West, that, you know, we are the determiners of our own destiny, that we are the captains of the ships of our life. 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:48.800 We we like that idea that really if we can put our mind to it and pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps and we can make it happen. 00:04:48.959 --> 00:05:06.079 And it is true that we have consciousness and we have freedom and we have a will and we make very real decisions and we have responsibility, but to think that we're navigating life alone is a very foolish way to map out your life. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:09.439 We are contingent just in our being. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:14.480 Our very life depends on more factors than you could even fathom. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.959 There are the realities of the world that we live in, the natural and physical laws. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:47.199 And it's almost terrifying to really think through the idea that if our world was just incrementally closer or incrementally further away from the sun, that we would instantly either freeze to death or overheat to our death, that if the gravitational force on Earth was changed by just the slightest degree, if there was slight, slightly more gravity, we would be flattened to the earth, and if there was just slightly less gravity that we would float off to our death in space. 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:57.839 The world is moving at over a thousand miles an hour, and if it sped up by a small percentage or slowed down by a small percentage, we would careen across the universe at thousands of miles an hour. 00:05:58.079 --> 00:06:04.879 All of these variables and so many more have to come together to just hold us in equilibrium. 00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:12.240 And those are things big and outside of us, but even our biology, things are happening beyond the level of our consciousness. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:22.319 Like we have virtually no ability to control the beating of our heart, and yet we are contingent on it pumping and circulating blood throughout our bodies. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:28.800 We are not near as self-sufficient, and we are not as near as independent as we like to think of ourselves. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:35.439 And the idea that we are an individual and we can do it all and don't need anyone around us is just foolish from the start. 00:06:35.600 --> 00:06:38.800 We are also socially contingent beings. 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:47.279 You know, at this point in human history, there's a good chance, besides maybe the rare hunt, that you don't go out and source the protein that you eat. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:51.360 You don't go out and gather the fruits and veggies on your counter. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:52.399 Where is your money? 00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:55.279 Your money's in a bank that you don't own and probably don't work at. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:09.439 We're contingent on the people around us for their goods, their services, their products, their information. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.680 We are individuals and our individuality matters. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:15.920 But we're in a community. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:18.319 We are in this together. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:23.120 We are contingent, and so we need a contingency plan. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:27.279 And maybe you haven't thought much about your life in this regard. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:35.680 And maybe, in fact, some of your framework about who you are as an individual and how much control you have over your life is really being brought into question right now. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:43.920 And I don't do that just to be a sociopath and make you worry about the world, you know, spinning a little slower or whatever. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:49.199 I do that to put you in the exact frame of mind that the disciples found themselves in, John 15. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:53.519 We've actually been in the last few I am statements in this section of John's gospel. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:59.519 It goes from John 12 through John 17, and it's Jesus giving a farewell address to his disciples. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:04.399 And within this farewell address, there's kind of like the unofficial I am statement. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:07.920 He's like, I am the bread, and I and I am the light, and I am the shepherd. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:13.360 And then he gets the disciples, and they're all in the upper room, and he's like, and I am leaving. 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:17.680 Like this was great, and we spent some years together, but I'm leaving. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:22.480 And by leaving, he means dying, and he's making this very, very clear to his disciples. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:30.879 And his disciples have been living a life they could have never imagined: a life of power and purpose, influence, significance. 00:08:31.040 --> 00:08:38.639 They were making a real difference in the world with the lives that they were living, but all of that hope was contingent. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:50.799 It was all attached to Jesus, and they had attached themselves to Jesus, which meant they attached their futures and their destinies to Jesus, and now Jesus, the one they are contingent on to live this life, is leaving. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:09:02.559 They need a contingency plan, and Jesus is laying that out over these chapters, and it's rooted in one very big idea in John chapter 13. 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:06.000 It says, This, I give you a new command. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:08.080 And Jesus didn't often speak like this. 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:12.320 You know, Jesus taught in parable and metaphor, and he led a lot by example. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:15.120 And so when Jesus gives a command, you should really pay attention. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:17.360 He says, I give a new command. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:23.120 Love one another, just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:31.919 And by this, by the way you love, by this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:43.360 And Jesus was born a Jewish man in a Jewish community, and he was born under the Jewish law, 613 rules, regulations, and commandments that covered every single aspect of life. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:50.080 And Scripture says that Jesus fulfilled that law, all 613 of them, and he fulfilled them perfectly. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:55.919 And because he fulfilled them perfectly, he bound them up and released something new. 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:00.480 He took the law of Moses and replaced it with the law of love. 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.879 And the law of love says we love God and we love people. 00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:13.679 And the way that we display this and it kind of fleshes out is we love God because of how he first loved us, demonstrated at the highest degree by his son on the cross. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:22.159 We love God because he loved us, and the way we show our love to God is by the way we love the people he has placed around us. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.080 Love God and love people. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:42.960 And this is such a powerful command that all of the Jewish law, all 613 of them, all morals, all ethical guidelines, all spirituality, all religion, all of it is found and followed if you just follow the premier command: love God and love people. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:52.720 This is the foundation, and what we're moving to in John 15 is the plan to live that out. 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:54.879 And so it was late. 00:10:55.120 --> 00:11:07.120 And Jesus knows that the moment of his arrest to be turned over, to be crucified, is drawing near, and the disciples have finished their meal in the upper room, and so Jesus says, let's go. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:12.080 And they head out to the Mount of Olives, surrounded by different gardens. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:17.200 And it's a agricultural society 2,000 years ago in Jerusalem. 00:11:17.360 --> 00:11:33.840 People are very familiar with the viticultural practices, the practices of growing these vine-based fruits, especially grapes, where they would produce massive amounts of wine in the Jerusalem area, and they are now surrounded by vineyards and plants. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:39.679 And Jesus says in John 15, I am the true vine. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:44.559 And my father, he is the gardener. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.200 I am he is. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:49.279 I am the true vine. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:50.480 I am the source of life. 00:11:50.639 --> 00:11:53.440 I'm all the things that you've seen over the last three years. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:56.960 And these disciples have heard the other six I am statements. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:11:58.399 I am the bread of life. 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:00.559 Your spiritual sustenance depends on me. 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:08.960 I am the light of the world, and the world is full of brokenness and darkness, but I have come to shine a light and show the way, and I am the good shepherd. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:17.120 And if you follow me, you will have green pastures and clear water, you will have vision and purpose and meaning in your life. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:22.879 But the unofficial I am is I am leaving. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:37.679 And the disciples have to be wondering how in the world they're going to survive without the bread of life, how in the world they're going to see without the light of the world, how they are going to be able to navigate life without the shepherd to guide them. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:42.080 And immediately he lets them know there is help. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:45.279 I am the vine and my father. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:46.799 And they knew who his father was. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:48.320 His father is God. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:59.759 They called him Yahweh in the Jewish world, the one true God above all others, and said, My father is the gardener. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:08.159 And this is a beautiful picture because Jesus is going to begin to encourage these broken-hearted, discouraged disciples. 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:12.240 And maybe you're here today and need some encouragement yourself. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:18.240 In verse 2, he says, Every branch in me that does not produce fruit, he lifts up. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:23.360 And he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more. 00:13:23.519 --> 00:13:26.559 Remember, I am, he is, you are. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:30.480 I am the vine, he is the gardener, and you are the branches. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:38.399 And he's admitting there are some branches that are living a very fruitful life, and there are some that seem to be barren. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.879 And so, what exactly is he saying here? 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:46.879 Well, number one, he's saying the ultimate life to live is a fruitful life. 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.200 And what does it mean to live a fruitful life? 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:55.440 A fruitful life is one that produces what it was purposed to produce. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:04.320 And I'll never stop saying this because we start with a core assumption from scripture that you are made on purpose and you were made with purpose. 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:06.720 That it matters that you're here on planet Earth. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:07.759 It was not an accident. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:18.559 You were made on purpose, and you were made with purpose, that God placed something inside of you, and you have a role to play in the history that is being written all around us. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:24.159 And so we have the biggest picture of our purpose, and that's our mission. 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:27.440 And our mission is to bring glory to God and more people to Jesus. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:31.279 We say we'll do whatever it takes to get people to Jesus. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:56.639 That is the highest level of our purpose and our mission, but there are layers to it, and at the very core is where you are found as an individual, and God desires to take all that you are, all that you have, where he has placed you, the talents and gifts inside of you, the personality that has matured in you, and to use you uniquely in the world to make a difference in bringing glory to God and bringing people to Jesus. 00:14:56.799 --> 00:15:04.240 And we move layers out, and we realize we do that in our families because you are the only person who has the position you have in your family. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:18.399 And we move out, and you are the only person who owns your house in your neighborhood, and you have work to do there, and we move out, and you are the only person who has the exact unique connections in your social circle that you have, and there is work to be done in all of them. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:24.159 We are an individual, but we are in this together contingent upon one another. 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:30.080 And he says, anything that anyone who does not bear fruit, he lifts up. 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:38.080 Now, if you're following in your Bible, there's a chance, depending on your translation, that it says, anyone who does not produce fruit, he removes. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.679 And this is a little bit of a debate because we're translating an ancient language. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:45.600 And in ancient Greek, that word is the word ero, it's a-i-r-o. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:50.000 And the word arro can mean to remove or to lift up. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:51.360 And so how do you determine that? 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:52.639 It's by context. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:57.840 And context starts in and goes out, and the closest context is the word itself. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:06.320 We can look at how John used this word in the rest of his document, the rest of his gospel, and we see over and over and over again it means to lift up. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:11.840 When Jesus arrived at the tomb of Lazarus, it says that he arose his eyes and prayed. 00:16:33.279 --> 00:16:35.919 His disciples are grief stricken. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:43.200 He's leaving, and Jesus is seeking to encourage their discouraged hearts. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:46.320 We know how Jesus feels about the Father. 00:16:46.480 --> 00:16:49.759 He's talked about him over and over and over again. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:17:10.079 The picture of a father who loves and always gets it right, and not a father who the first moment that you backslide, the first moment you get it wrong, the first moment that you rebel, just yanks you from the vine and leaves you to your own, but a loving father who encourages us, corrects us, instructs us, who lifts us up. 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:15.759 They're supporting proof in the passage because we know what Jesus thinks about these disciples. 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:22.640 In the very next verse, he says, You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:29.200 The next piece of context we need to understand is the process of growing grapes. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:31.839 It's a very, very involved process. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:48.160 And grapes are vines, and they are climbing vines, which means they need something to attach to to navigate their way up, and they are created with everything they need in order to climb, and yet at times they falter. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:18:08.000 We actually brought a picture of a gardener, a vineyard owner, and you see the process of him taking a vine that is struggling to climb and lifting it up, encouraging it on its way up the trellis, and oftentimes immature branches will fall off. 00:18:08.160 --> 00:18:10.640 They'll get stuck into the dirt. 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:16.160 And once they are stuck in the dirt, it can be very, very difficult for them to get themselves back up. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:28.960 And maybe you know that very personally, that in your quest to follow Jesus, sometimes it is almost like there's a magnetic pull back to the things of the dirt and the deceit and the earth. 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:40.319 And he is the gardener, and he is desperate to come alongside you, to encourage you, to lift you, to train you, to move you, to correct you, to instruct you. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:43.759 All we have to be is willing. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:46.480 You know, it's interesting. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:48.640 Uh grapes take take a long time. 00:18:48.799 --> 00:19:08.640 Like I love plants, and we always have a garden at some level, and we always grow tomatoes, and we we like tomatoes, and we'll usually grow jalapenos and some onions, and basically it's like something we can make a sauce out of, you know, and and it's great because all of those plants, it's like you put the seed in and you water it, and a few months later, you're eating tomatoes. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:10.160 It's beautiful, it's very quick. 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:19.440 Grapes, you may not know this, but from the time you plant the grapevine, three years until you have any grapes. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:22.319 A lot of patience. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:29.920 It takes a long time to fully move in to a fruitful life. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:46.799 And I hope that's encouraging to you because God is wanting to train and lift you and encourage you and instruct you and correct you, and the gardener is very tender, and and he's moving with passion and with love, and he will be patient. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:50.000 It's like Jesus is showing showing his hands here. 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:54.880 It's like, listen, it takes sometimes, sometimes. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:58.160 And some of you are like, yo, I got baptized last week. 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:00.880 Why am I not walking on water yet? 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:05.599 And you know what happens in those three years? 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:16.640 In those three years, if you can see under the soil, the roots are growing down, and the roots are growing out. 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:25.279 And the vines and the branches are fairly small, and the grape clusters can grow very big. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.799 And it takes strong roots to hold a fruitful life. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:40.559 And so much of what we're seeing in Christianity is we want all of the fruit, but we don't want the time to establish the roots. 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:46.000 And so Jesus is saying, sometimes you're not producing fruit yet. 00:20:47.039 --> 00:20:49.759 He's not saying, he's not saying you're broken. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:52.960 He might just be saying, give it some time. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:57.519 Let the gardener look to him, open yourself up to being lifted up. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:03.599 And there's more because eventually the gardener will help us on our way up and we'll begin bearing fruit. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:04.799 But the work isn't done. 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:12.079 Verse 2 every branch that doesn't produce fruit, he lifts up, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:18.319 And sometimes we get it twisted because we think pruning means punishment. 00:21:18.720 --> 00:21:20.240 Maybe you've heard of the prodigal son. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:24.240 The prodigal son didn't even want to wait for his dad to die before he got his inheritance. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:29.440 He went and demanded his inheritance, which is kind of like telling your dad, I wish you were dead. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:38.079 And the father gave it to him, and he went to a far country and he he spent it all on gambling and booze and prostitutes, and pretty soon he had nothing left. 00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:41.359 He hung his head and went home. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.440 And of course, guess what? 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:46.720 The life with no fruit in it gets it gets lifted up, baby. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:59.680 The father was there to meet him, put his coat on him, put the ring on him, killed the fatted calf, threw a party, but there was another brother, a fruitful brother, who looked at the fruitless branch, getting all the attention and said, What about me? 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.640 Why do I get punished for living in my purpose? 00:22:06.720 --> 00:22:09.039 You have to understand the power of pruning. 00:22:10.319 --> 00:22:15.359 And I was really bad at this, which is why I've killed like every plant I've ever tried to take care of. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:21.920 And my wife loves plants and she's so good and she decorates well, and we have a lot of plants, which is good because it means there's a lot of life in our house. 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:25.200 But if she leaves for more than four days, all the plants are gonna die. 00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:27.279 And I don't even know how it happens that fast. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:30.079 But I never would prune a plant, you know? 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:35.119 It's like all the leaves are beautiful, and I don't want to, you know, get in there and start messing it up. 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:43.440 And on grape vines, they grow these things, right, where the branch meets the vine called laterals. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:49.759 And the laterals position themselves as close to the vine as possible. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:56.480 And here's how here's how grape growing works from like my non-scientific brain. 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:08.799 Water goes in the ground, the roots draw the water out, the water goes up the vine, out into the branches, and the water has to make it down the branches in order to produce the grapes. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:10.400 That's where the grapes grow. 00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:13.680 So the laterals, they have like a cheat code. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:24.400 They say, I'm going in right next to the vine, and so as the water comes up, before it can get out to the branches where the fruit grows, the laterals suck it dry. 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:37.920 They are stealing the source of growth from the branch, and if you do not prune that which is stealing your power, you will not produce your purpose. 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:59.279 And so we all have laterals in our life, and it's like, good, you're producing fruit, but what in this world is attaching itself to the very base of your life that is taking away your time, your energy, your mental space, your capacity, stealing your joy, that is keeping you from having as fruitful of a life as you could. 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:04.720 Pruning is not punishment, pruning is empowering your purpose. 00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:18.640 And so the gardener knows what the gardener does, and he lifts you up, and once you get fruitful, he will prune what does not belong to make sure that you live the fullness of the life of promise that he made you for. 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:23.279 We're looking for a contingency plan. 00:24:23.359 --> 00:24:29.200 The disciples need to know how do we follow a Jesus who dies? 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.079 How do we follow a Jesus who's telling us he's leaving? 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:35.599 And they don't know the story. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:38.000 They don't know that he dies, but defeats death. 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:42.720 And after he defeats death, there's kind of more bad news for them because it's like, great, he's back. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:43.359 Not really. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.119 40 days later, he's ascending. 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:46.640 Time on earth is done. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:48.480 He is leaving. 00:24:50.079 --> 00:24:52.640 And how do you continue the movement that he started? 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:55.359 And how do you continue the impact that he had? 00:24:56.480 --> 00:25:02.079 First, you have to understand that Jesus is the vine, he is the source of our life. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:07.920 And God, he is the gardener, and he will lift you up. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:16.240 When you just feel stuck in the world, he is desperate to lift you out of that situation. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:21.920 And when you begin to grow and climb, he will prune you. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:30.960 He will help point out what does not belong in your life, the distractions that hold you back from your destiny. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:35.839 And once a vine is healthy, it has to have somewhere to grow. 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:39.200 And so vineyards are full of trellis. 00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:43.200 I brought a picture of what trellis often looks like. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:48.240 And they design these in a lot of different ways, but all of them end up resembling a cross. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:49.599 They have to. 00:25:49.920 --> 00:26:00.000 To get grapes, the vines must go up to a certain height, and once they are up, most vines must go out at least three feet. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:04.880 And only then can they begin producing. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:09.599 And we don't know that, because we just go to H E B to get our wine. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:10.559 You know what I'm saying? 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:13.920 Like, but the disciples knew it. 00:26:14.160 --> 00:26:15.759 They got the picture. 00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:22.480 And the next day, when they saw Jesus on a cross, they began to understand. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:29.519 And the idea is something like this: you can't actually live a fruitful life until you are willing to climb your cross. 00:26:32.640 --> 00:26:35.680 I am, he is, you are. 00:26:36.720 --> 00:26:38.319 We are contingent. 00:26:38.960 --> 00:26:42.079 And without the gardener, we're just stuck in the dirt. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:47.039 And he will lift us if we will let him. 00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:53.680 And in verse 4, we begin to see that we are contingent and we are in a community, but we are individuals and we have a decision to make. 00:26:53.839 --> 00:26:57.519 Verse 4 says, Remain in me and I in you. 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:06.799 Now, if Jesus is imploring us to remain in him, it tells you that we have an option to not remain. 00:27:07.119 --> 00:27:09.759 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:17.920 Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in me. 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:19.680 And we know this. 00:27:20.799 --> 00:27:26.799 The same way we know that you're not gonna plant an apple seed and grow a Tesla cyber truck, we know that. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:30.400 Because you only produce what you were purposed for. 00:27:30.720 --> 00:27:37.440 We also know that you remove the branch, you remove the life, you remove the life, you remove the fruit. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:41.440 There was a man and he had an apple tree and he loved it. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:28:01.519 He loved apples, and he could go out, and when it was a young tree, he could just kind of pull them right off there, and the tree got bigger, and he got older, and so he'd have to go to the back of his garage and get his big metal ladder and he'd bring it out there and he'd have to set it up, and it was kind of a pain, and he'd get a big bushel, you know, and he'd he'd climb up there and it was pretty high, and he was getting pretty old, and he'd have to balance, and he'd pick as many apples as he could, and he'd fill the bushel full. 00:28:01.599 --> 00:28:04.319 And the more apples were in the bushel, the harder it was to balance. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:07.119 He's like, Man, I'm gonna break my neck by the end of this thing, you know? 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:16.880 And so then it's like he goes down, he's gotta put the ladder up, go all the way back to the garage, put it in the back of the garage, and then, you know, a few days later, this guy really loved apples, he'd run through all the apples, he's gotta do the whole thing over again. 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:21.200 And so one time while he was up there, he thought, I'm doing this the hard way, you know? 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:31.039 And so he got his ladder and he got a saw and he went up and he said, I'll just take four or five of the branches inside, problem solved. 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:43.599 And it's so foolish of an anecdote because your first grader can tell you, as soon as you take that branch off that tree, you're not getting any more apples. 00:28:44.480 --> 00:28:47.920 It's so foolish, it's so obvious. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:53.920 And it is how we so often live the Christian life. 00:28:54.640 --> 00:28:58.559 And we're like, God, man, you're never speaking to me, and I don't feel any of that power. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:22.400 And man, I'm like, I'm not fulfilled, and nothing's working, and I just run into the same problems and the same habits over and over again, and and and all the while we are not spending one moment actually remaining in, abiding in, clinging on to the one who gave his life for us, and we think, why is my life not fruitful when we are not living attached purposefully to the vine? 00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:27.119 Verse 5 he says, I am the vine. 00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:28.640 Don't get it twisted. 00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:30.960 You have no life in and of yourself. 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:36.400 You might be living, but there is a big gap between living and being alive. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:47.519 I am the vine, you are the branches, and the one who remains in me, and I in him, produces much fruit, but without me. 00:29:48.480 --> 00:29:54.079 When you sever your life from that vine without me, you can do nothing. 00:29:54.720 --> 00:30:02.880 If you have put your faith in Jesus, your eternal life is settled, but you still have life to live right here and right now. 00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:12.319 And there is no guarantee, just because you've put your faith in Jesus, that you will automatically have a fruitful life. 00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:16.720 We must stay attached to the vine. 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:28.799 This whole passage is about what it means to remain in Christ once Christ has left the earth, the same position we find ourselves in today. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:33.119 And we have a choice to make every day. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:40.079 Are we going to center our lives on the things of the world, or will we center our lives on Christ? 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:44.640 In verse 6, it says, if anyone does not remain in me. 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:47.359 This is different. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:52.720 This isn't I'm connected to the vine, I'm striving, but I keep falling in the dirt. 00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:56.400 This isn't I'm climbing, but I need some instruction and some encouragement. 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:00.000 This isn't I'm growing and blossoming, but I need to continue pruning. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:04.640 This is I'm walking away from the Christ who saved me. 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:26.480 If we do not remain, not if God comes and yanks us off because we're not living up to some religious standard that someone outside of the Bible set, if you choose not to remain, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers and they gather them and they throw them into the fire and they are burned. 00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:43.119 And we have to be careful because many people and many pastors use this verse to say that if you backslide or you rebel or you have a little bit too much sin or you gossip a little bit too much or you had one too many to drink, or like then good luck, because your salvation is gone and hell is now your reward. 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:47.519 And we have to be really careful because we're like pre-programmed, pre-conditioned. 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:51.519 Every time we see fire or burning in scripture, we just know that it's about hell. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:58.079 As if the holy scriptures that God inspired are not good enough to be able to use imagery to elaborate. 00:31:58.400 --> 00:32:03.759 Like we give the Bible less credit than we give Shakespeare, and I'm sorry, Shakespeare's great, he's just not God. 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:11.440 It's only making the point that it's making, which is if you remove a branch from the vine, it is only good for kindling. 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:17.200 This isn't the path to hell, this is a path to a useless life. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:24.720 And your life apart from Christ, it becomes useless. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:29.839 Not just living, but life, the life that was purchased with the blood of the perfect Son of God. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:44.319 The life that was meant to build an everlasting kingdom, to bring hope to those who are marginalized, to speak life, to be a light in a world of darkness apart from Christ, our lives become useless. 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:46.880 We must stay connected to the vine. 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:50.799 So, how do we keep lifting up? 00:32:52.160 --> 00:32:56.240 How do we become willing to climb our cross? 00:32:56.880 --> 00:32:59.200 How do we make our way to a fruitful life? 00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:03.519 Remember, this whole section, John 12 to 17, it's all rooted in a new command. 00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:09.200 And it's so important that Jesus is going to say it again as he closes out this passage in John 15. 00:33:09.359 --> 00:33:15.839 He says in verse 11, I've told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:17.680 And this is my command. 00:33:17.839 --> 00:33:22.079 Let me remind you: love one another as I have loved you. 00:33:22.880 --> 00:33:25.519 Verse 13, no one has greater love than this. 00:33:26.000 --> 00:33:30.319 To lay down his life for his friends. 00:33:32.079 --> 00:33:34.319 This is the contingency plan. 00:33:35.839 --> 00:33:39.359 And how do we keep ourselves rooted in the vine? 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:42.640 How do we keep ourselves to the gardener? 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.359 How do we become fruitful branches? 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:50.079 Jesus left, but he didn't leave us alone. 00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:53.839 And before he left, he promised his helper would come. 00:33:54.400 --> 00:34:01.119 And we believe that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, lives inside every person who has put their faith in Jesus. 00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:11.679 And if we will slow down our lives enough to listen, and if we will have the faith to act on what we hear, we will walk by our faith and not by our sight. 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:22.639 Jesus gave us his spirit, he gave us his word, and we have the scriptures, and the scriptures are full of life, and the spirit inside of us illuminates the scriptures and makes them applicable in our life. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:26.719 He gave us his spirit, he gave us his word, but he gave us something else. 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:29.119 He gave us his church. 00:34:31.599 --> 00:34:49.280 And before he went to Jerusalem, and before he died, before the upper room, he looked at his disciples and he said, I will build my church, I will start my movement, and the gates of hell will not be able to overpower it. 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:57.199 Jesus created this movement, He created his church as the hope of the world. 00:34:58.079 --> 00:35:04.400 And I like to remind you that what we're doing right now is a part of being the church. 00:35:04.639 --> 00:35:06.719 It is not church itself. 00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:20.559 Our Sunday services are largely individual, and that's important because you are an individual, and you do have to open yourself up to God, and you do have to seek Him, and we come in and we get inspired and enlightened, but we are contingent. 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:23.280 We need each other. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:30.719 Something interesting happens in this whole passage because for the first time in his I am statements, he says, you. 00:35:30.960 --> 00:35:35.440 You are the vine, and if you remain in me, and so it's second person, right? 00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:38.000 First person is I, and second person is you. 00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:39.199 I'm pretty sure I had that right. 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:42.880 It's second person, that's you, but it's plural. 00:35:43.119 --> 00:35:44.559 Second person plural. 00:35:44.639 --> 00:35:51.119 And in English, we don't have a great way at getting at second person plural except in Texas. 00:35:51.199 --> 00:35:53.840 You know how we do second person plural in Texas? 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:56.159 Y'all, amen, bro. 00:35:56.400 --> 00:35:59.440 Y'all, you know what the rest of the country does? 00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:00.880 Use guys. 00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:01.840 What? 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:05.840 Y'all, it's beautiful. 00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:10.960 You all, you, second person, all plural, y'all, it's perfect. 00:36:12.159 --> 00:36:14.800 Jesus said, I am the vine. 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:17.599 Y'all are the branches. 00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:20.400 We need each other. 00:36:20.639 --> 00:36:34.079 The contingency plan acknowledges our contingency, and if we need each other, we must be in community and try to find me a vineyard that has a vine with just one branch. 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:43.280 They grow together, they thrive together, they produce together, they become fruitful together. 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:49.039 We've been telling you for the last couple of weeks that we're we're relaunching our life teams. 00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:52.000 And our life teams are the second step to our Sunday services. 00:36:52.079 --> 00:36:56.639 It's where people get in community with one another outside of Sunday. 00:36:56.880 --> 00:37:08.400 And people meet in homes and restaurants and parks and pubs and coffee shops, and they come together and they dive in and they take the information of Sunday and they turn information into application. 00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:12.480 Because information doesn't do anything unless you do something with it. 00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:16.079 And so we come together. 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:19.679 And it's hard because we're busy. 00:37:20.960 --> 00:37:25.039 But we love one another by laying our lives down for one another. 00:37:25.440 --> 00:37:33.199 And so we open up and we bring people in and we do life together because whether or not you want to admit it, we need each other. 00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:39.039 And so at both venues and even online, we're gonna be signing up for life teams. 00:37:39.119 --> 00:37:47.679 And I thought that I would try to describe how great they are, but instead, we want you to hear from some of our people who have been affected by being in a life team. 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:48.719 We have a video for you. 00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:50.239 You guys check this out. 00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:55.280 My name is Ruben Molina. 00:37:55.360 --> 00:37:57.039 This is my wife, Yvette Molina. 00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:04.320 We've been married about two and a half years now, and we've been going to MetaCurch for probably three, three and a half years. 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:13.280 I started volunteering for Setup Team and Teardown, and you know, we just started talking, like we felt like we needed to give back more on top of just tithing. 00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:20.000 You know, we wanted to be a part of the movement that was going on at MetaCurch, you know, and we're like, man, what can we do? 00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:25.679 And then all of a sudden they said, hey, we're gonna have these life teams, and we looked at each other, we're like, that's exactly what we need. 00:38:26.719 --> 00:38:36.400 I was just starting my journey again with God and to get with people, you know, to go over in depth over the sermon that Pastor Clayton had just given. 00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:47.280 It it helps you get, you know, understanding and implement it and put it into your life, and to have those other people with you that are going through it step by step, it's it makes it much more easier. 00:38:47.519 --> 00:38:48.480 It's comfortable. 00:38:48.639 --> 00:38:53.039 And then just the camaraderie that we got between everybody, we basically became a family. 00:38:54.159 --> 00:38:54.400 Yeah. 00:38:54.559 --> 00:39:00.880 I mean, we would call each other and talk to each other about stuff that's going on and shoot a text here and there asking for prayers. 00:39:00.960 --> 00:39:08.719 And like for instance, when we both got diagnosed with COVID, um, they were all praying for us, asking us how we if we needed anything, how we were doing. 00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:14.400 Uh, one of the couples ended up bringing dropped off food and all sorts of masks and sanitizer and everything. 00:39:14.559 --> 00:39:24.320 So, you know, to have that that kind of backing from people that you didn't even know two years ago, you know, and it and to be welcomed as a family, it was really awesome. 00:39:24.559 --> 00:39:37.679 And it's just nice to go to the church on Sundays to service, you know, and know people there, you know, because you see your fellow, you know, life team members and you get to know the staff also. 00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:41.760 Like it's just giving hugs, high fives, you know, hey, how you doing? 00:39:41.840 --> 00:39:42.800 How's so-and-so doing? 00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:44.000 You know, asking about your family. 00:39:44.079 --> 00:39:51.280 It really does uh bring a different vibe when you're at church, when you when you know people and you're comfortable with more people there at your church. 00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:55.679 If something was just pulling at me, like, hey, you gotta you gotta do more. 00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:57.360 There's more for you to give. 00:39:57.599 --> 00:40:00.239 And I didn't really know what that meant, you know. 00:40:00.400 --> 00:40:07.119 And then when you guys were talking about launching new life teams, I brought it up to my wife, and she was like, hey, if you want to do it, you know, I'm with you. 00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:16.639 And when we when we had our lect our next life team meeting, we were all on our Zoom and I let everybody know, and it was just positive vibes from everybody. 00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:18.960 They were all praying for me, like, hey, this is perfect. 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:23.840