May 24, 2015 Sermon “Everyone Shall Be Saved” Ezekiel 37:1-14 37 The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they […]
Protection from all badness. Unity in God’s mission for the world. Set apartness for God. These are the things Jesus prayed for us. Would y’all agree that these are some pretty GOOD things…worthy of being called “good news?”
If you want to love, all you have to do is place the needs of others – all others, even the most difficult and especially the most needy others – above the needs of yourself. Folks, THAT’S love. It’s not really all that complicated. If you really believe you are doing what is in the best interests of others, you are loving. If WE – if CHURCH – really acted in the best interests of others instead of getting caught up in all the others stuff that for some reason so occupies us, I have serious doubts that very many people at all would say we’re more about the organizing part of religion than we are about loving. I seriously doubt that many people at all would call us hypocrites.
So…there it is, the implications of this amazing metaphor of the vine and the branches: God wants all his branches to bear fruit, to do things that make a positive difference in the lives of other people. And that fruit-bearing, THAT is actually our purpose in life, and it’s the key to living a purposeful life. And the only way to bear fruit is through a connection with Jesus – don’t fool yourself into thinking there’s any other way. And the way this works is to develop a relationship, a connection with Jesus and to LISTEN to what HE wants and DO that. That’s what Jesus was and is trying to communicate to us through this metaphor.