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You know how the story ends, even if you don’t believe it you know how the Jesus story ends.  There’s no surprise ending or artistic license to be taken, he’s alive.  That’s what makes Jesus – Jesus.  Nobody left the Passion and said, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.”

Something has happened – we’ve become too familiar with the Easter story and so miss the point.  We think it’s a great story on how to die really well which doesn’t interest us because we’re not thinking about death.  Living has preoccupied us.  We’ve been too busy following the path to significance, or someone, or peace, or sometimes truth if we have that luxury. We are too caught up in the living and it seems that a man who is known for his death and resurrection probably doesn’t have a lot to say.

1.       Our search for peace.

• We try to follow the arrow for security and see it’s an endless maze.  Inner peace is best defined as your soul being at rest.  Are you ever just wore out after a day of conflict?
• If we can’t find real peace then we sedate ourselves through a myriad of activities such as TV, Facebook, SecondLife, some sort of virtual reality where we don’t have problems or everyone else’s problems wrap up in 30 minutes.

2.       Our search for someone.

• Belonging is a basic human need, this is why there are so many dating services on the internet.  The arrow is constantly pointing at someone else who will make us happy.
• It’s not just romance.  Having moved several times I understand the difficulty of belonging.  Especially for men, it seems like the last time most of us made a new good friend was high school or college.
• We want to belong but we don’t want to be vulnerable.  We want a sure investment for our emotions.

3.       Our search for significance.

• We all want to matter and make a difference.  I think this is why we have so many opportunities to live out what we think will matter.
• We invest our lives in a job or parents enable their children to pursue every option they never had.
• What we don’t realize is that in chasing these pursuits of significance we move away from the someone and the peace we have sought.

4.       Our search for truth.

• This truth often takes a back seat to the seeming more pressing searches.
• This is maybe the most important for it informs everything else.  What we believe to be true guides us in our quest for peace, security and belonging.  After all we can’t have peace with nagging doubt, we can’t be secure in something that isn’t real and we can’t belong to someone on any meaningful level without sincerity.
• We want to know what we know is a sure thing – a real deal.  So we search.

5. Jesus is our way to truth.  (John 14:5-11)

• I must admit, there are some places where we’ve come awfully close.
  • Genesis tells us that we are created in God’s image and Romans tells us that God has put into our consciences truth.  So, when we get a bunch of people together seeking truth and true beauty good things happen.
  • We call these collective efforts of quests for truth and beauty religions.  The world is full of them.  The problem with all of them as you saw in the video is that the labor is entirely up to us.  If we want out of the hole, if we want true direction then we must figure it out and we must do it alone.
  • The problem is that in our human understanding we can’t fully understand the problem.
• I’ve said this before but one step away from eternity, is an eternal step and it creates and unbridgeable gulf between us and God.
  • It requires God to take our place and bridge that gulf.  In other words it requires someone coming into the hole with us.  Only Jesus Christ has done that.
  • Before I’ll defend Christianity, I’ll defend Christ.  Because everything in my life revolves around him.  The rest is our best attempt to please him.
• The way of truth is not over there somewhere, but here pointing up to Christ.

6. Jesus is our way to significance. (John 14:12-14)

• Easter is a day of power.  It is the day that set the 11 cowering disciples running into harm’s way for the sake of spreading the gospel.
• This power enables us to do greater works than Christ.  What does that mean?  It means that if the church truly takes on the mission of Christ, with the Spirit of Christ then the hundreds of us here are able to do more than the one person of Jesus!
• We see that the way to significance doesn’t take us away from truth but in the same direction as it also is found in Christ.

7. Jesus is our way with someone. (John 14:2-3)

• He is someone to love us unconditionally.  The church becomes a family to call our own.
• Relationships that never end – despite death or distance.
• The way of significance that used to take us away from someone, now is in line with it as they both lead us to Christ.

8. Jesus is our way of peace . (John 14:1)

• Jesus recognizes our need for peace and security and says, “I’m coming back to give you this security.  Oh, and by the way you’re not good enough, thankfully I am.”
• We see that peace is found in Christ and we’re at peace because we don’t have to run in seven directions to find satisfaction in life.
• And when you live a life that death can not stop, you find yourself at complete peace.

All that we looked for is in Christ, answered by his teaching and satisfied in his person.  When we live a life like this that’s when death can’t stand in the way.  Because we know how the story ends we almost miss the point, the resurrection isn’t the end it’s the climax.  Jesus resurrection says this to us, “When you live a life like me, then death is no obstacle.”  The resurrection is not a story about dying well, it’s a story on how to live.  The life the resurrection calls us to is the life that death can not hold down.

Wine was more than a treat or delicacy in the ancient world – it was a necessity.  Water was unpalatable and often unsafe.  So they drank wine, which for them meant mixing wine with the water which made the water safe via the alcohol. Wine was a necessity for social occasions, a groom was liable to a lawsuit or a dissolved marriage if he couldn’t provide enough wine for his guests at a wedding feast and so Jesus’ first miracle saves some newly married man’s marriage and savings.

The fruit of the vine is…

1. The Father’s passion. (1-3)

• He cuts away dead branches.
• He prunes productive branches.
  • This really describes sanctification or purification.  He starts to cut away the parts of us that aren’t fruitful.
  • This could mean trimming away sinful habits that require the blood of Christ for forgiveness.  This could mean trimming away areas that aren’t our giftedness so that we can focus on the mission God has for us.
  • Christ tells us in verse three that it’s the word that does the pruning and it does for it certainly is the sharp double edged sword as scripture describes.
• What determines the difference?  Fruit and it’s bore in a variety of ways.
  • Fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22)
  • Fruit keeping with repentance (Luke 3:8)
  • Fruit will last (John 15:16)
  • Saved souls are considered fruit (1 Corinthians 15:23; Colossians 1:6).  It’s this last fruit I want to focus on this morning because no other fruit displays the full redeeming power of Jesus quite like this fruit.

2. The expression of the Son’s power. (4-7)

• Apart from Jesus we die – as we do not have his blood flowing into us.
  • Walk around the campus today and see the trees that had limbs pruned.  You can see the sap where the saw has been.  When you cut a branch off a tree or vine you see the sap literally bleeding out from a plant.
  • It is this sap that flows from the vine to the branch and into the fruit.
• With Jesus we thrive – living in his purpose, filled with his power.
  • How do we best do this?  Remember back to John 6 where Jesus tells his followers that those who do not eat his flesh and drink his blood have no part in him!
  • This is why communion is so important.  It puts us in constant contact with Jesus’ life giving blood.  This is what centers us then sends us out with his power!
  • We miss some of the necessity of the connection being people not plants.  If there’s no food at home then I’ll go to the store or a restaurant, but what recourse does the branch of the vine have?  None, it’s got to make things work with the vine.
  • In this light the phrase, “Ask whatever you wish” has a deeper meaning.  The branch won’t ask for anything that isn’t good for the vine.  Why?  Because to hurt the vine is to hurt the branch, but to bless the vine is to bless the branch.

3. The glory of the Father. (8)

• The connection for life and the requests granted ultimately come back as glory to God.  No vine tends itself, so a well pruned vine and a healthy plant testify to the goodness of the gardener.  The vinedresser receives praise along with the vine.
• This gives purpose to the Son’s blood – Christ’s blood symbolized by the fruit of the vine was poured out why?  So that we could bear more fruit for the vine.
• When a grape is crushed the Old Testament calls the juice the blood of the grape.  So, the blood of the grape is what brings life very literally to the ancient world by providing potable water.
  • Christ tells us that it’s the blood of the grape or the fruit of the vine that represents his own sacrifice and that every time we take communion we ought to remember that.
  • Just as the grape is crushed and pours out its life so too was Jesus who poured out his life in the cup of our hearts and fills us to overflowing so that we might in turn be crush and pour out into the lives of others.
• Jesus’ life was poured out so that we might have life connected to him and bear new life by bringing others to him.  All of this is powered by Christ’s blood and bringing glory to the Father.
• Realize we bear fruit, we don’t make it.  The vine, Jesus he makes it we bear it.
  • The problem is that so many of us are too weak to bear fruit.  We’ve neglected the call to go and make disciples.  We’ve settled for inviting people to church.
  • Yet, inviting people to church is a step in the right direction, and it could be the first step for someone to discipleship.  Our responsibility does not stop there but we are to hold them up and pour into them the life of Christ.

4. Our joy and purpose. (9-11)

• Our purpose and joy of fulfillment come from obeying Christ’s command to love.
• When was the last time you loved the world?  When was the last time you poured yourself out for the sake of sharing Christ’s love with the world?
• This isn’t easy, but what happens when you crush grapes?  Blood flows out, along with life.

“One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.” – John 19:34

Now we understand what happened when Jesus was pierced and blood and water flowed out.  John is telling us that in Jesus death life flowed out!

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Our response to God (his essence and his revelation) is love, love for God. This love is all consuming, heart, soul, mind and strength. Strength has traditionally been interpreted to mean the body or physical world. This indicates the importance of the physical in our relationship with God as manifested in baptism and communion. If Paul’s analogy of marriage holds true then baptism becomes the consummation of our relationship with God (1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 5:31-32) and communion the perpetual wedding feast.

“Love your neighbor as yourself”
This final portion shows that our relationship with God is to be manifested outwards as well as upwards. Our relationship with others is secondary only to God and the love poured into us should be poured into others. These two relationships are so closely linked that to live without love for our neighbor is to live without love for God (1 John 2:9-10).
This starts with our first neighbors are our families (1 Timothy 5:8) and for those who are married this is your spouse. This means that whatever is good for our relationship with God is good for our relationships with our families and for our other neighbors.
Jesus’ ministry was marked by this love for neighbor, in his inaugural address he states, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).” This should serve as a great indicator to those who follow Christ, the best way to love our God is to love our neighbors.

Is there anything than can unify denominations and “non-denominations”? Richard Foster believes that these different branches of Christianity are all streams of living water flowing together. But what is it that unites these streams? They must be united in the core of the gospel.

I believe that Christ offered the core of the gospel in Mark 12. In an attempt at unity I post this as part one of a multi-part series on the core of the gospel. Christ followers are to be defined and united by what we do, in this teaching Christ focuses on action. We are to unite under the authority of Christ to act as his body in his absence. Isn’t that the most important thing? Acting as the one undivided body of Christ? In order to act in service to God the first statement of the core of the gospel focuses on the nature of who God is.

“Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God,”

The unity of the church is centered on the Lord our God. Here God reveals his personal nature desiring to be known as “the God of his people.” (Jeremiah 24:7) He is defined by his actions of grace and love towards those who are his. He desires to call us as “his own” and for us to call him “ours.” He manifests his grace and love primarily through self revelation and has taken the initiative to reveal himself to humanity. He starts in the garden, works through the law, then is finally revealed through his son Jesus Christ. He will be fully revealed on the last day when heaven and earth are no more. Until that day he reveals himself to humanity through the church which is called his body filled with the Spirit. We are unified in knowing this God and being known by him. We are also unified when we follow his example by coming to know and being known by other believers (James 5:16).

“the Lord is one.”

While God may have three distinct personages (Matthew 3:16-17; Matthew 28:19): Father, Son and Spirit – he is still one. His “oneness” also speaks to his completeness. He is one or as the text in Deuteronomy 6:4 states he is alone. The only God, all sufficient in himself. (See the “Definition of Chalcedon” for a more complete treatment.)

The unity of God is important to note as the “God of the Old Testament” is not opposed to Jesus, rather he is fully revealed through him. Additionally, the Spirit will not manifest any new teachings that are not one with (or congruent) to that which was revealed through Jesus and his disciples (2 Corinthians 11:3-4). It is through this unified revelation (known as the Bible) that we as Christ-followers can be united. We follow Christ’s example and that of those who have gone before us (1 Corinthians 11:1). When we live in unity we act as the Trinity and represent the body of Christ in his absence (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). In order to get to the core of the gospel we must recognize the complete and united nature of God and we must model our lives accordingly.