Deeper Rock John 15:5-8 Jesus knows nothing about marketing
John 15:5-8“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile and burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great joy to my father.”
Jesus says, “Anyone that does not remain in me is thrown away.” The stakes are really high. God created you to bear fruit. And he’s saying if you don’t bear fruit you’ll be caught off so the branches that do want to bear fruit have room to thrive. But then there is a fantastic promise. When we remain in him we can ask for anything we want, and it will be granted.
You might say to me, “I asked God for a Cadillac and I didn’t get so this verse is wrong!” The catch is, if you are remaining in Jesus, what’s important to him is going to be important to you. God is not concerned with nice stuff here on earth. God’s perspective is much more eternal than that and Cadillac’s rust and break. When you love would Jesus loves, the thing that you’re going to desire is people.
When the things that are important to Jesus are important to you, your fruit is going to be more disciples for Jesus. And we find out at the end of verse nine “this brings great glory to my father.”
The reason Jesus can brag that you can have anything you want, is when you’re close to him you’re going to want pure and holy eternal things.
If God was to grant you a wish, what you wish for. Maybe take a moment close your eyes and think about it, allow yourself to daydream. What would you want more than anything else? After you have that in your mind, ask yourself “self, is this the same thing Jesus would’ve asked for had he been in my same position?” If your answer is not the same as his, I would argue you need to get closer to the vine.
As always I would like to invite you to rock church, so you can be all that God created you to be. May the Lord richly bless you and I hope to see you in church on Sunday.
Pastor Scott J Kruse
