Disconnected/Reconnected

Ezekiel 15 & John 15

Emmanuel Christian Church

5.5.24

INTRODUCTION: We live in a mixed up age! In some sense, people are more connected now then they have EVER been. From the phone in our pockets to the watch on our wrist- friended, texted, posted and blogged! And yet on the other hand, people complain of feeling more disconnected and isolated. Unable to have a phone conversation, let alone an actual face-to-face! PROPOSITION: How did we get so disconnected from each other? I would suggest to you the answer goes back to our first, most important connection of all- our connection with God Himself. When we become disconnected from Him, we eventually become disconnected from each other. TRANSITION: Two passages of Scripture this morning- each are only 8 verses in length. One from the Old Testament, the other from the New. The first speaks of disconnection from God, the second points the way back to reconnection with Him. Ezekiel 15:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine better than that of a branch on any of the trees in the forest? 3 Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? 4 And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? 5 If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred? Ezekiel 15:6 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. 7 I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the LORD. 8 I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign LORD.” Ezekiel 15

The long and short of it!

Verses 1-5 are nothing more than 5 rhetorical questions (questions with an obvious answer) whose answer is NO!
Are vines better than boards? NO!!
Are vines useful for making anything? NO!!
Can you even make something as simple as peg out of a vine? NO!!
If you use a vine to fuel a fire, is what’s left useful? NO!!
If vines are useless to begin with, can you use them in the end? NO!!
Dead vines are only partially good as fuel for a fire.
The people still living in Jerusalem are no better than dead vines!
These were the people who were left after the first two deportations by the Babylonians.
These were the people against whom Ezekiel had prophesied for their continued idolatry.
These were the people who thought they had nothing to worry about.
Ezekiel’s message from the mouth very mouth of God was threefold:
I will set my face against them.
They will be consumed by the fire coming their way.
I will make their land a wasteland. APPLICATION: Bad news to be sure! But why? The last verse gives the reason: “because they have been unfaithful”! As a vine in God’s vineyard, they had failed to live up to their purpose. Instead of bearing fruit and bringing God glory, they had become dead and disconnected from Him through their idolatry and disobedience. Instead of bringing God glory, they had become an eyesore and cause for ridicule by their godless neighbors. So much for the “Bad News”! Now, how about some “Good News”? The counter-point to the eight verses of Ezekiel 15 is the first eight verses of John 15 - the very words of Jesus: John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. Let’s take Jesus’ words line by line: “I am the true vine”
Jesus lives up to His role as a productive, life giving vine- NOT like those other worthless, “dead vines” of Ezekiel chapter 15!
As God the Son, Jesus perfectly displays God’s nature of goodness, and power. Instead of being dead and worthless, Jesus said of Himself “I AM the LIFE”! APPLICATION: Nobody I know wants be numbered among the “dead”. Even worse, is the condition of those who are counted among the “non- dead” like the spiritual zombies of Ezekiel 15! “My Father is the gardener”
God the Father, CUTS OFF the unproductive branches.
They are the branches that only take from the vine, wasting its life- giving energy.
They are the branches that fail to fulfill their healthy function of fruit production- they produce nothing of value. Luke 13:6 Then (Jesus) told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ Luke 13:8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” APPLICATION: So, a personal question: How’s the fruit factor in your life?
As the Great Gardener, God the Father “prunes” or “cleans” the productive branches so as to make them even more healthy and productive. APPLICATION: God’s “pruning” in our lives can somewhat painful- that’s to be expected. If we fail to recognize His purpose in the pruning, it can be downright intolerable. On the other hand, when we understand that His pruning is for our perfection- then it becomes something we can actually embrace. The Apostle Paul put it this way:Hebrews 12:7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. “Remain in me, and I will remain in you”
It’s a decision; a decision that only you can make for yourself. To “remain” in Jesus, the life giving “true” vine- is NOT a one-time choice you make on your way to the baptistry! NO! It is a choice we must make DAILY. Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
When we choose connection with Jesus, He in turn chooses us. And when He makes His choice for us- no one and nothing can get in the way!Romans 8:31 “… If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
When we choose connection with Jesus, we will naturally produce, and produce and produce! WHAT? Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
When we choose connection with Jesus, He promises: “…ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
“Oh BOY! A Divine “blank check”! NOPE!!!! James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
It IS a promise given in light of our motives that have been transformed into HIS motives as we live in connection with HIM. CONCLUSION: When we live our lives in reconnection with Jesus, our life giving True Vine, we will fulfill the purpose for which we were created in the first place! When we do that, we will find the thing after which many have sought, but few have found- SATISFACTION & PEACE. That purpose? Jesus put it this way in our last verse: John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.