Connect Others to God (Part 5)

John 15 talks about connecting to God through abiding and connecting to others through loving, but if we stop right there we have stopped too short. 

Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last.”

Have you ever wondered what lasting fruit is? We don’t have lasting fruit here on planet earth; all our fruit spoils and rots. But there is a fruit that is everlasting, and Jesus appoints us to go and bear it.

There isn’t much in this life that is eternal anyway. We know that God is eternal, we know that His Word is eternal, and we know that God gives our souls eternal life when we believe in Jesus.

So this must be what lasting, eternal fruit is all about: connecting the eternal God and the eternal Word of God with the souls of men.

Connect with God. Connect with others. Connect others to God. 

This has been God’s purpose since the beginning of time. From Genesis to Revelation we see God pursuing his people to bring them back into right relationship with him. This is God’s mission, and he invites us to participate in his pursuit of the hearts of men. This is why Jesus gave the great commission to go and make disciplines of all nations. This is our purpose in life, to go out from here and connect others to God.

Missions has less to do with location or vocation and has much more to do with obedience and faithfulness to the task in the vocation and location where you are. There are people in your life who need Jesus, and they need to hear about him from you. They need somebody to do the connecting, and that somebody might be you.

Who in your life needs to be connected to God? And what will you do to connect them?

John 15 shows us that it starts with abiding. Actually, it doesn’t just start with abiding; it is wrapped entirely around abiding. There is nothing better you can do with your time, your days, and your life than to abide in Christ. (And there is no better way to spend your quarantine hours during coronavirus than to abide in Christ!) Out of that abiding, you will be empowered to connect with others, especially people who don’t know God, and to love them well. And as you connect with God and connect with others, you will connect others to God. Its the natural by-product of abiding in the Vine; its the fruit that lasts.

I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is who will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Abide in my love. You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should last.