James Meehan - How to Stay Connected to God
- Watch
- Audio
- Get involved
Kaitlyn Caffery: Hello and welcome to this episode of Switch Uncut, where we are gonna have a conversation about faith.
James Meehan: Come on.
Kaitlyn Caffery: Following Jesus.
James Meehan: Yep.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And the Bible.
James Meehan: Whoop whoop!
Kaitlyn Caffery: By exploring a passage of scripture.
James Meehan: Okay.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And digging through it kind of verse by verse.
James Meehan: Love it.
Kaitlyn Caffery: Seeing what it means for them, the original audience, and also us now today as we figure out what it looks like to follow Jesus. So James, we are gonna be...
James Meehan: Yes, Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn Caffery: In John 15 today.
James Meehan: Oh.
Kaitlyn Caffery: Which is where we were on Wednesday night.
James Meehan: Come on.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And we were talking about how the son has invited us to remain.
James Meehan: Yep.
Kaitlyn Caffery: So the big idea that we're gonna talk about today is really answering the how question. How do we remain in Jesus?
James Meehan: Great question.
Kaitlyn Caffery: We do that by doing what he says. And the really, really cool thing about doing what Jesus says is that the commands of God, like Jesus's commands are always intended to connect us to the heart of God.
James Meehan: That's good.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And so that's what we're gonna talk about. Starting with verse one of John 15.
James Meehan: Here's Jesus speaking. He says, "I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You've already been pruned and purified by the message I've given you. So remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me".
Kaitlyn Caffery: Right. So Jesus opens up by painting this picture of himself as a grapevine and his Father as a gardener.
James Meehan: Yep.
Kaitlyn Caffery: And then us as the branches. And the invitation to remain is right there in verse four, "Remain in me and I will remain in you". And, but the like first question that kinda jumps into my mind is, why is Jesus using this particular analogy? Like, is it just to be cute and be like, yeah, see those grape vs over there? That's you and me. That's us. I don't actually think so.
— Like he's just looking for the closest thing.
— Right.
— I see a ladder. You see that ladder over there?
— That's me and you.
— It's got rungs on it.
— So I actually think he's doing something a little bit cooler, a little bit more intentional than that.
— Okay, that's good. That's good.
— And what he's doing is he's actually calling back to this Old Testament passage. And it is in Isaiah 5, and it is where God describes the nation of Israel as a vine, as a vineyard.
— Yeah, yeah.
— And it's this vineyard that God has like worked on and labored over, but the results that he's getting are not the ones that he expected.
— Interesting.
— He's getting this like bitter sour fruit and instead of something sweet.
— Yeah.
— And what God says as he describes this is like, this bitter fruit was the nation of Israel's failure to live up to their calling to represent God to the rest of the world.
— Yeah.
— They were supposed to live in this way that they showed the world like who God was and what he was like.
— Yep.
— And that's actually what we're called to do as well.
— Right.
— So I think reading this Isaiah passage might give us a little insight about what Jesus is doing here. And that's Isaiah 5:7.
— Yep. Here's what it says. This is Isaiah chapter five, verse seven. The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of heaven's armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.
— So not so awesome.
— Right, not at all.
— Not producing the kind of fruit that God expected. Says he was looking for justice, and instead he found oppression.
— Yeah.
— He was looking for righteousness, and instead he heard cries of violence. So I think what Jesus is saying in his opening statement in like painting this analogy and this picture calling himself the true grapevine...
— Yeah.
— Is that everything that Israel was supposed to be and everything that we are supposed to be, Jesus actually is.
— Right, yeah, yeah.
— He is the true grapevine.
— Come on.
— And his Father is still this patient gardener who just won't give up.
— Right.
— On this vineyard. So Jesus, as the true grapevine, is the perfect representation of the Father. And what he's doing is inviting us to join that picture.
— Yep.
— But to join that picture, we actually have to be willing to submit to that pruning process that he described in the rest of John 15.
— Yeah. I mean, what I love so much about this is something that we talk about often within Switch is this idea that the Bible...
— Yeah.
— Is a unified story that brings us to Jesus, and it invites us to become like Jesus.
— Yeah.
— Because like Caitlin just shared, what we read in Isaiah, what we read in John...
— Yeah.
— Is this idea that Jesus is the fulfillment of everything we were supposed to be.
— Yep.
— And because he's done it...
— Yep.
— That means that even though we fall short, we can still experience the goodness of a relationship with God.
— Yep.
— And that's a really encouraging to me.
— Exactly. That is the same thing, the same idea is so encouraging to me because Jesus is inviting us to humbly submit to this pruning process.
— Right.
— But, and it's like, he's not hiding the fact that it'll probably be painful.
— Yeah, yeah. There are some things that are gonna have to be like cut off and burned away.
— Yeah.
— But the result is, or the reason that that's happening is because there are parts of us that have grown ugly and unruly because they're rooted in sin.
— Wow.
— And those are parts of us that our patient, loving Father is wanting to remove.
— Yeah, yeah.
— So that we can look more like Jesus and do what we were supposed to do from the very beginning, which is represent him to the rest of the world.
— Right. When I think what's cool about this is, Jesus is using the analogy of a vineyard, and a vine...
— Yeah.
— And branches that are being pruned.
— Yeah.
— I think for some of us, maybe something that would be more familiar is the analogy of like having surgery done on us.
— Yeah, that's good.
— Like at a hospital. Like I've got this infection, I've got this disease, this cancer that needs to be removed.
— Yeah.
— And that's kind of what Jesus is talking about is, when the father's pruning branches...
— Yeah.
— It's almost like he's performing surgery...
— Yep.
— To remove the things that don't belong.
— Right.
— So that we can be healthy and whole.
— Absolutely. Well, and the crazy thing about plants is when they grow all like gnarled and tangled up like that...
— Yeah, yeah.
— They actually start to fight themselves for the nutrients that they need, and they end up like choking themselves out. It's crazy.
— Yeah, yeah.
— Anyways, we're gonna keep going in that passage. I could keep going on this forever but we're gonna keep reading what Jesus has to say.
— Brilliant. In John 15.
— Yes.
— Picking back up in verse nine, and we're gonna go through verse 11. Jesus says, "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me".
— Yeah.
— "So remain in my love. When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love just as I obey my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you these things so that you'll be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow".
— Yeah, I love this passage because Jesus is so good at anticipating my questions.
— Yeah, yeah.
— It's like, okay, "I've loved you even as the father has loved me. Now remain in my love". I'm like, okay, great. How do I do that? Next verse. "When you obey my commands, you remain in my love". And I think that that is going to connect us back to that picture that we saw in Isaiah.
— Yeah, yeah.
— Because if Jesus is everything that Israel was supposed to be...
— Right.
— Then he is the only one who has the authority to tell us what the law was actually supposed to do.
— Sure, yeah, yeah.
— And what he says in this passage is that the commands of God were always intended to keep us connected to his love.
— Right, yeah, yeah.
— So the commands of God connect us to the heart of God. But like, man, how often do I allow my view of God's commands to be more oppressive than like joyful and life giving?
— Right.
— And so that's like, that's convicting and challenging to me.
— Right. Well, one thing that I think is really cool here is in verse 10 in Jesus says, "When you obey my commandments you remain in my love just as..."
— Yep.
— As in, hey, I've already done what I'm asking you to do.
— Yep.
— "Just as I obey my father's commandments and remain in his love".
— Yeah.
— And I think what's encouraging is the idea that Jesus isn't gonna ask us to do anything that he's not willing to do.
— Right.
— Or that he hasn't done.
— Right.
— And because Jesus was willing to do that, it's like, okay, if that was good for him, it's probably actually good for me.
— Right. No, and I think that that answers like a pretty fair objection that someone could raise.
— Yeah, yeah.
— Of just like, so Jesus is saying that in order to have this like fulfilling life, to stay connected to him, to make a difference, then I have to do what he says. And that seems a little self-serving of Jesus.
— Yeah, yeah, yeah.
— So like, as an example for me, I'm the oldest sibling in my family.
— Come on.
— So I used to babysit my siblings all the time.
— Yeah, put 'em in their place.
— I for sure was power tripping in those moments. I'd be like, "Yeah, you wanna watch that movie? You have to do what I say. You wanna eat some ice cream later? You better do what I say". And if we're not careful...
— Yeah, yeah.
— We could frame up what Jesus is saying here in that same light and accuse him of power tripping.
— Yeah, yeah.
— But I think what he's doing is actually so much more what you described. Like number one, he's inviting us into the same kind of relationship...
— Come on.
— That God, the son...
— Yes.
— Has with God, the father.
— Come on.
— And that's pretty ridiculous.
— Right.
— And number two, he's inviting us to set down our heavy yokes and take up his yoke.
— Yeah.
— Which in like back then, a rabbi, a teacher's yoke was their way of seeing and being in the world.
— Yeah.
— It was their way of interpreting the law. And so if Jesus is the only one who has the authority to tell us what the law was actually meant for, what it was supposed to do, then I wanna understand what Jesus's yoke was.
— Yeah.
— And the beautiful thing is, is that he describes it in this passage. "When you obey my command, you remain in my love just as I obey my father's commands and remain in his love. I've told you these things to be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow". And the passage actually goes on to describe what Jesus's command is.
— Yeah.
— And his command is pretty simple. It's that we love others the same way...
— Yeah.
— That Jesus has loved us. He boils it all down, the massive Old Testament law into that one thing.
— Come on.
— And I think that that is why we can describe Jesus's yoke as being easy.
— Yeah.
— And his burden as being light.
— Right.
— Which is what Matthew does in Matthew 11.
— Yeah, Matthew chapter 11 versus 28 through 30. This is Jesus speaking, once again. He says, "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light".
— Yeah. Obeying Jesus is not this burdensome thing.
— Yeah.
— It's not a set of heavy obligations and rules that he wants to place on you. It's actually something that he's inviting you into, an intimate relationship connected to him, and a yoke that's easy, and a burden that's light. Because Jesus has already done everything that he's asking us to do.
— Yeah.
— And we get to step into that. And again, so the thing that's challenging me about this passage is in this whole idea of obedience to God, being the thing that connects me most deeply to his heart is the fact that I so often view my obedience to God as an obligation rather than an opportunity.
— Wow, yeah, yeah, yeah.
— And I wanna ask for his help to change my perspective because God's commands are always to my benefit...
— Right.
— And not to my detriment. And men, like that perception is what led to Adam and Eve getting in so much trouble in the very beginning of the story.
— Right.
— They didn't trust that the commands of God were intended to keep them so intimately connected to him.
— Yeah.
— And so they redefined the rules.
— Right.
— And that's what led to everything going south.
— Yeah.
— And so I just wanna look at myself and examine the places and spaces where I am viewing God's commands as negative, as a burden, as to my detriment rather than to my benefit.
— Yeah. And so, as you're listening to this and you hear how Caitlin is processing through that, are there places where you read scripture, or you read commands from God or Jesus, whether in the Old Testament or the New, where you read it as more oppressive and not as life giving?
— Right.
— And if that's the case, then I think that's a really good place to start trying to learn more.
— Right.
— 'Cause I think that there are lots of places in the Bible where, as I've grown in my faith, I've come to that moment of thinking, oh, I don't know if I like that.
— Right.
— I don't know if I agree with that. I'm not sure I want that. And that's actually a really healthy place to find yourself in.
— Yeah, that's good.
— Because if everything you read is something you already agree with, then it's very likely that instead of following Jesus, you're trying to get Jesus to follow you.
— Come on.
— And so who is Jesus? Is he a bobblehead that just nods his head in agreement with everything you think, or is he the son of the living God?
— Yeah.
— Who has asked us to lay down our lives so that we can follow him.
— That's good.
— And that's really challenging.
— Yeah.
— But the good news, everything we've talked about is that Jesus' commands are always for our good because they're meant to connect us to our heavenly Father.
— Yep.
— And to shape us into the kind of people who can truly love God.
— Yeah.
— And love others, to do what the Old Testament like Jewish people were meant to do.
— Yeah.
— When Isaiah's describing, "Hey, you're meant to be a people where there is justice and righteousness". Instead there's oppression and violence.
— Yeah.
— And so for me, I'm asking the question, is there a space where I'm being selfish, where I'm angry with other people, where I'm not trusting that God's commands are for my good, and how can I learn to see every command as an invitation...
— Yeah.
— To become more of who God's created me to be? Something that is actually for my joy.
— Right.
— And so that his joy will be in me.
— Yeah. And that is so upside down and backwards I think to how our world, how our culture operates.
— Right, yeah.
— We are so against someone telling us what to do 'cause we assume that it is to elevate them...
— Right.
— And oppress us.
— Yeah.
— But the beautiful thing about Jesus is he's nothing like me.
— Come on.
— Every single time, again, the commands of Jesus are meant to bring me into an intimate relationship with him...
— Come on.
— And his Father who love me so much, and they have no desire to oppress me and every desire to fill me with joy.
— Yeah. And so what would it look like for you this week to take a command that God's given you? Maybe it's something that you've read this morning when you're reading your You Version Bible app. Maybe it's something that you know the holy Spirit's been kind of nudging you towards, but you just haven't done it yet.
— Yeah.
— What would it look like to just do it, to trust that if you do this, that God's gonna work through it?
— Yeah.
— And if you're willing to share what that thing might be, I'd love to be able to read it and pray for you. If you'll just type that in the comments below, we'd love to encourage you as you take a step of faith.
— Yep.
— And choose to trust that God's commands are actually for your good.
— Yep. We are with you, and we are praying for you, and we are excited to see you on Switch Uncut next week.
— Yeah, see y'all.
— See ya.