You can't pick and choose where you live your Christian life like, yeah well it's Sunday so I'm going to smile and be a Christian.
Tomorrow's Monday. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there and I'm going to bark loud. You can't say that I'm going to live my Christian life in my business but not my marriage or I'm going to live my Christian life in my marriage but not my business.
He wants it all. The Christian life isn't easy but it's definitely rewarding. Connect with Skip Heitzig today as he shares about the special calling God has given you and how it gives you a great sense of purpose and joy. But before we begin, we want to tell you about an exciting opportunity you have to encounter the roots of your faith in the land of the Bible. Skip and his wife Lenya are taking a group to Israel in 2022 and you're invited on the journey. Visit places like Nazareth, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea in Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount in the Garden Tomb and that's just a quick look at the trip.
Find out more about the trip at inspirationcruises.com slash cabq. Okay we'll be in John chapter 15 for today's study so let's join Skip Heitzig. So when Jesus talks about joy and fullness of joy it's not like a service emotion of I'm kind of happy today things are going my way. It's something much deeper and more profound than that.
It's the kind of reality that permeates your life and controls your outlook. That's fullness of joy. Listen to it in the amplified Bible. I have told you these things that my joy and delight may be in you and that your joy and gladness may be full measure complete and overflowing.
Now here's what's amazing. In the upper room discourse, which is John chapter 13, 14, 15, and 16, four chapters, Jesus gets his disciples around a table in an upper room, has the last supper, and says these four chapters. In that discourse, in that speech he gives over supper, he tells them the kind of news that is breaking their hearts right now. He told them I'm leaving you.
I'm leaving you and I'm going back to my father's house. And they were discouraged they would be despondent and he knew it and yet there were three emotions that Jesus speaks about in this same speech that he said they could have, they should have, and one day they will have. Three emotions. The first is peace. John chapter 14 he said, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives, I give it to you. Peace number one.
Number two, love. In these chapters he says I've loved you, the father loves you, we both love you together, I'm going to reveal my love to you, love one another. So peace and love and then now joy. I speak these things to you that my joy might be with you and that your joy would be full. So peace, love, and joy.
While he says I'm leaving and you're going to really be bummed out, you can and you will one day have peace and love and joy. And last time I checked that's exactly what the world is craving today. If you ask a person what do you want in life they're going to give you the standard answer, I just want to be happy. What do you want for your kids?
I just want them to be happy. You drill down on that answer and what they really mean is if I could only find the inner peace, if I could only find true love, and if I could only find lasting joy. Jesus said I'm promising you all three of those things. You are chosen for fullness.
Now hold that thought for a minute. Sadly throughout Christian history Christianity has not been noticed, seen, regarded as a joyful experience. So much so I told you this a few weeks ago when I announced to my friends that I was following Jesus now. A couple of them said, oh I'm so sorry to hear that.
Because they figured that Jesus would take joy out of my life rather than inject joy into my life. And think of how Christianity has been represented over the years. Clergymen traditionally throughout history wore black. That's like the color of mourning.
Black robes. The music was largely sounded like funeral dirges. Not really happy things. The voices of many preachers were sort of deep and rolling and God bless you.
Whatever you do, do not laugh. Really serious stuff. Oliver Wendell Holmes, I don't know if you know that name, Oliver Wendell Holmes went on to become the Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. So he had a law profession.
At one time he was thinking about being a clergyman, a preacher, but he said this, I would have entered the ministry if the clergyman I know didn't look and act so much like undertakers. Who wrote those rules? Certainly not Jesus. Certainly not the New Testament. It is time to overturn that by joyful Christianity.
That should mark us. Fullness of joy. It's my personal joy. I'm giving it to you and you can remain in it. You can remain in it.
It can be your constant experience. I'm almost certain that you haven't heard this next name that I'm going to quote. A theologian by the name of Helmut Thieleke. Did you talk about that guy yesterday?
Over a burger? Probably not, yeah. So he's like a German theologian and yet for a German theologian, listen to what he said. I'm going to show you what he wrote. Should we not see that lines of laughter about the eyes are just as much marks of faith as lines of care and seriousness? Is it only earnestness that is baptized? Is laughter pagan?
A church is in a bad way when it banishes laughter from the sanctuary and leaves it to the nightclub. I like that quote. I agree with that quote. You know, Billy Sunday was a preacher. I've quoted him before. Billy Sunday was a baseball player actually.
Major league professional baseball player. Became an evangelist and whenever he preached, people said, man, there's such joy in this guy. There's such enthusiasm and passion and joy whenever he would preach. And one of the things that Billy Sunday used to say is this, don't look as if your Christianity hurts you. Isn't that good? I know people who, bless God. Ooh, don't do that.
Don't advertise. He said the trouble with so many is that they have just enough religion to make them miserable. So Jesus says to his men, you are chosen for friendship, you are chosen for fullness, and here's the third that I will close with. We are chosen for following. We are chosen to be active disciples. Fruit bearing disciples. Look at verse 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go.
Please mark that. I've got an idea. I have a commission that you're to go on. A mission you are to fulfill. I have chosen you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. That whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give you. And because in the fruit of the Spirit, love is on top. The next verse, these things I command you that you love one another.
So get the flow of this. I didn't just choose you to be my friends. I didn't just choose you to be joyful. I've chosen you to be fruitful, to be a fruitful growing disciple. Now fruit is, this whole chapter is filled with that analogy of fruit, right? That's how chapter 15 of John begins. I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain connected, you're going to bear fruit and you'll bear more fruit and you'll bear much fruit.
He talks a lot about that all throughout the chapter. That's because fruit is a sign of growth and growth is a normal part of life. When something is living, you expect it to be growing. And when growth doesn't happen, you're disappointed and shocked.
So here's an example. You can all relate to this. How many of you love babies? Raise your hand. You love babies. If you don't, raise your hand.
We should mark you. So we love babies for a lot of reasons. We love the fact that they're cute, they're soft skinned, their feet are so thick. I mean, just so cute, so many ways. They're little, they're little words they try to say, blah, blah, blah. Well, look, he said my name.
No, he didn't. He was just making a noise, but I'm glad you enjoyed that. And here's one of the reasons, it's not the only, but one of the reasons we love babies so much is because we know they're not going to stay that way. They're going to grow. If we thought they were going to stay that way, we're not going to be as joyful. But one of the reasons we tolerate their cries or their messes is because we know that they're going to grow. That's normal. Somebody once said a baby is just a digestive apparatus with a loud noise at one end and no responsibility at the other.
Pretty good description. But that's okay. We're good with that.
If, however, at 25 years of age, that son or daughter of yours comes and goes blah, blah, blah, and messes, you're not okay with that. That's problematic. So there has to be fruit. There has to be growth. So Jesus uses the idea of fruit to depict the Christian life. And there's some obvious things about fruit. First of all, fruit is noticeable. If you walk by an apple tree, you know it's an apple tree. If you're not a botanist, you know it's an apple tree because it has apples. They don't grow signs that say, I am an apple tree.
This is a grapevine. But you know it because you walk by it and you see the fruit. It's noticeable.
And I'll tell you why I'm bringing that up. Because you really don't have to guess if a person is a believer or not. You just got to look at the fruit.
It's pretty noticeable. So every now and then somebody will say, is that person a believer or a Christian? Well, I think he is.
I think deep down inside, somewhere in the recesses of his heart, he believes. It should be a whole lot simpler than that. Is there any fruit? Is there any evidence of that? It doesn't mean they're going to be perfect. Jesus said some bear 30, 60, 100-fold fruit.
We do it in different stages, different ways. But there has to be some visible, noticeable indication that will set them apart from just a false believer, a professor of faith that has no fruit. So it's noticeable. Also fruit is nourishing. Grapevines have grapes. Apple trees have apples. Fruit trees bear fruit.
They don't consume their own product. They do it to bless others. We get blessed by the fruit that comes from that tree. So likewise, if the life of God is in you, then the life of God will flow through you. You will become a blessing to others. You will exist and find real pleasure in that. In fact, I will say, your life will take a turn for the better.
And you will start getting really excited when you begin not just to consume spiritual things, but nourish others and bless others with spiritual things, where you get engaged and you get involved and you give out. I heard a funny story about a man driving through Florida. He's driving from Tampa to Miami. And he noticed that there are miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of orange groves everywhere. Orange trees are everywhere. Millions of oranges around him. He stops at a little roadside restaurant, orders breakfast, bacon, eggs, and a glass of orange juice.
Why not? I'm in Florida. Fresh squeezed orange juice. He orders orange juice. The waitress says, and I kid you not, I'm sorry, we don't have any orange juice.
What? You don't have any orange juice? She goes, no, I'm sorry, the machine broke.
Machine? I can go outside right now, get two oranges and squeeze them into a cup. That's orange juice. It's not that hard. We don't have any orange juice. The machine broke.
What is the problem? They are dependent on the machine. I think we can become dependent on the machine. It's all about what I'm going to get out of my experience at church or my connect group or my woman's group or my men's group. Listen, let your life be squeezed out to pour into the life of other people.
That's when the excitement really begins. Don't just be a, I'm here to get something. I'm here to get that I might pour out and give to others. I love the description that Jacob had of his son Joseph. He said, Joseph is a fruitful branch or a fruitful vine whose branches go over the wall. He's such a blessing that he is fruitful not just here but out to others.
He blesses other people. His branches go over the wall. I had a neighbor in Huntington Beach who had a lemon tree and I'd always pray for his lemon tree because his branches went over my side of the wall. And the California state law, I can take as many of those lemons that are over my wall as exist.
So I was having free lemonade all the time. Live that kind of a life where your branches go over the wall. So, fruit is noticeable and fruit is nourishing. Also, fruit is natural.
It's just the only thing a branch has to do to produce an apple, stay connected. Doesn't have to struggle. They don't have to work at it.
They don't have to think about it too hard. Just hang in there. Hang in there and you'll produce fruit. Ever see an apple tree sweat?
Ever walk by and here it is. Apple. That was hard.
No, it wasn't. It's normal. It happens naturally as the branch is connected to the stalk or the vine. It naturally produces. You stay close to Jesus as you walk with him, as you talk to him, as you walk with him, as you walk with him, as you walk with him, as you talk to him. It's going to happen.
Going to happen. But therein is the warning because lack of fruit would indicate lack of life. That makes sense. No fruit.
Maybe no life. Look at verse 14. I want you to look at it. I know you've read it, but this should astonish you. Jesus said, But this should astonish you. Jesus said, You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.
How unusual is that? I mean think of it in another way. What if somebody walked up to you and said, Hey, I'm so-and-so.
You can be my friend, but there's only one condition. You have to do everything I tell you. Yeah, right? That's the reaction.
Yeah, right. Like what, it works one way? Well, kind of. In this case, it does. Because here's Jesus, here's God, the Creator of the universe, saying, You can be my friend if you do whatever I command you.
You do whatever I command you. Now, let's look at it this way. We already know Jesus is a pretty good friend to us. He's a great friend to us, right? Didn't He just say, Greater love is no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend? What is He referring to? The cross.
His death. I'm going to die on a cross for you to get to heaven. So that's pretty good love. That's pretty good friendship. So we've established the fact that Jesus is a great friend to us.
The question remaining is, How good of a friend are you to Him? Well, Jesus is my friend. Cool. Great.
Awesome. How good of a friend are you to Jesus? Not looking for perfection here. What He's looking for is obedience, submission to His will, a desire to please Him. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. Notice the word whatever. Last time I checked, you know what that means? Actually means whatever. It means anything and everything. So you can't pick and choose where you live your Christian life like, Yeah, well, it's Sunday, so I'm going to smile and be a Christian.
Tomorrow's Monday. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and I'm going to bark loud. You can't say that I'm going to live my Christian life in my business, but not my marriage, or I'm going to live my Christian life in my marriage, but not my business. He wants it all if you do whatever I command you. I want to close on part of that warning. I want you to go back to the part of that warning. I want you to go back two chapters. We're in John 15. Go to chapter 13.
Actually turn there. John chapter 13 and look at verse 17 where he said, If you know these things, blessed are you, better word is happy are you. If you know these things, you are happy if you do them. I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. Who's he talking about there? Judas Iscariot, one of his friends, one of the guys at dinner with him, who after he announces this in chapter 14, gets up, goes out, and gets up, goes out, gets 30 pieces of silver, and betrays Jesus.
I'm not speaking about all of you. I know whom I have chosen. It's not Judas. Why didn't Jesus choose Judas? Because Judas didn't choose Jesus. God has all foreknowledge.
He knows these things. I know whom I have chosen. Now 11 of his friends, the rest of the disciples, will remain, will be obedient, will bear fruit, will go on to live vibrant Christian lives.
Now Jesus is called the friend of sinners. Question is, will you let him choose you? Will you let him choose you? Because he wants you, he loves you, and he wants to choose you. Well, how do I know if he's chosen me? You can find out pretty quickly here.
In fact, in the next five or ten minutes, some of you are going to discover that. Some years ago, Rich and Patty White traveled to a third world country to adopt a young child. And as you know, who have adopted, it's very time consuming and very costly, very expensive to adopt a child.
Shouldn't be, but it is. They went to a third world country, went through years of paperwork, spent the money. Finally, the day came when the trial was set, the judge was going to adjudicate on the case to give custody to them. The little girl's name that they wanted to adopt was named Alona Morgan. So the day came, everybody's in the courtroom, the judge reads the official document in front of the people who are there, the prospective parents, and the little girl.
Now the little girl had to hear these words. The judge said, inasmuch as Alona Morgan is orphaned and is unwanted by any family in this country, and inasmuch as no citizen of this country wishes to have Alona Morgan. And the judge conferred custody to the couple. As soon as that was done, that couple walked over to the little girl, got on their knees, hugged that little girl, and said to her in that courtroom, you will never have to hear the word unwanted spoken of you again.
They took the little girl home to the United States and changed her name from Alona Morgan to Hope White. Hope, you are not unwanted. He wants you. So much that the best friend you could ever have gave his life to make sure that you have a place in heaven. Shed his own blood, felt the pain of Roman spikes in his hands because he knew it would be enough before a holy God to get you to be one of his friends in his family and have a place with him forever. Greater love has no one than this.
Will you choose the one who is choosing you? That wraps up Skip Heitzig's message from his series now streaming. Now we want to let you know about a resource that will help you hear God's voice more clearly by walking in his word.
2022 is almost here. Plan now for your spiritual menu starting in January. This month, we're offering Skip's daily God book devotional containing strong thoughts for each day of the year.
Here's a sample from January 1st. Martin Luther once said, the Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet.
It runs after me. As you read each day, listen each day and prepare for the greatest adventure of your life. That's an excerpt of the direction found in Skip's daily God book that you'll receive in hard cover when you give $35 or more today to help keep this Bible teaching ministry growing. We'll also include playlist, eight messages by Skip on key Psalms delivered on CD as our thank you. Here's a sample of the wisdom you'll hear in the playlist series.
If you're going to spend energy in life, and we all do, make sure it's about people that you're building up, not just projects that you're building up. To give and receive this month's resource package, visit connectwithskip.com or call 800-922-1888. Now, real quick, we want to invite you to follow Skip on social media to get important updates and biblical encouragement. Just follow Skip on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all the latest from Skip and from this ministry. That's at Skip Heitzit, at Skip, H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. And be sure to come back again next week as Skip Heitzit begins a series in the Psalms called Playlist, revealing how you can experience true happiness. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the cross and cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzit is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-07-10 14:44:48 / 2023-07-10 14:53:56 / 9