Not My Family Tree

[Detailed outline from guest preacher Steve Limiero]

I. Thanks, I can't wait to get started. I am very excited to preach today, because I think there are some great things God wants to teach us!

A. Get your bibles open to John 15. Get ready to listen to verses 1-6 in the Message Version.

The Vine and the Branches
I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.
Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.
I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, and our relationship is intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.

B. These verses tell us how to have life! They tell us we can have real, growing, healthy, amazing life. Jesus says, "Hey, if you join with me you get to be part of my vine!"

C. Isn't that great! You get to be a vine!

II. Really! We get to be plants, grapes and vines? Sounds like some weird super-hero stuff.

A. OK, now let's really take a look at what Jesus really meant. He says, "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. When you are joined with me and I am joined with you, you'll be really alive! You'll grow, and God's sweet fruit will come into your life. You'll be able to present a big fat harvest to God!"

B. Obviously Jesus doesn't want us to actually be plants. But he uses this picture to help us understand the only way to have real life – We get it by connecting to the Real Vine, Jesus.

C. But why do we need life? Let's check quickly. Raise your hand if you are dead today? Anyone? Anyone? It sure doesn't look like it, but some of you are.

D. That's because something really bad happened in God's garden just after Adam and Eve were created.

1. God's garden was perfect.

a. God gave Adam and Eve everything they would ever need.

b. In fact, God had given them the whole garden! And God walked and talked with them.

2. But that sneaky serpent tricked them.

a. He lied to them.

b. He told them that they didn't really have all that they needed.

c. He told them that if they just ate the fruit from one special tree, (from which God told them they should not eat) they would become just like God!

d. What happened?

3. They ate the fruit that they were not supposed to eat.

a. They sinned. They chose to follow their own ideas instead of trusting in God's ideas.

b. And everything that was perfect in God's garden broke!

c. Adam and Eve couldn't be in God's garden anymore.

d. They couldn't be with God anymore.

4. From that time on, everyone has been trying to grow their own gardens – they want to get back to what they had with God.

a. But we can't ever get it right!

b. Sin just keeps killing our plant!

c. You see, sin is like the bugs, weeds, diseases, the scorching sun and all the animals that so easily destroy plants. We can't defeat them.

d. Because of that, we cannot really live.

5. But Jesus told us that it doesn't have to be this way! We can have real life.

6. Jesus tells us to let him be the strong vine. He has deep roots. He has a thick stem. He invites us to become part of his plant.

7. He will be the vine and we will be the branches.

8. Once we hold on to him, he will hold on to us and he will be our life!

9. Jesus did not and does not have any sin. The sin that messes up our lives cannot harm him.

10. When we join him, sin can't stop us from living either.

11. You don't have to eat any seeds.

12. You don't have to try to dig your own hole in the ground.

13. You don't have to fight the bugs and bunnies!

14. You just admit to Jesus that your life isn't working because of your sin. Ask him to forgive your sins. Ask him to give you a new life with him. Let him help you live and grow.

15. After all, without being connected to Jesus, you are just firewood!

E. Strangely, there are a few things that seem to keep people from taking God up on his gift of life. Let's take a look at some of those things.

F. But first, where are my kids?

1. I know some of you have learned a bit about plants. Raise your hand if you remember some of the main parts of a plant. Right! Stem, leaves, roots, flowers and seeds!

2. Now what will happen to this flower if I cut a flower off at the bottom of the stem? Right, it will die. Good job. You've obviously learned lots!

3. But there is a crazy thing about life in Jesus. In order to have life in Jesus, we first have to die.

4. And many people don't want Jesus' life because they are afraid to die.

III. Hey, wait a minute! You just told us that we get to live and now you tell us we have to die?

A. We don't really like to talk about dying do we?

B. But this kind of dying really makes sense! That's because we cannot have a new life and keep our old life as well.

C. Can a plant be half rose bush and half cedar tree? No. It doesn't work.

D. Can a plant be part carrot, part poison ivy and part pine tree? No.

E. In order to have life as a part of Jesus' vine, we have to allow our old life to be pulled up from the ground, chopped off and connected into Jesus.

F. Being chopped off from our life sounds scary doesn't it?

1. Let me change images for a minute. Do you think a fish is happy if you take him out of a river, hold him your hand, carry him a few hundred feet to your house and the drop him in a fish bowl full of water, little plastic plants and one of those little bubbly treasure chests?

2. No way! The whole trip he is fighting and wiggling and doing that thing with his gills! He is sure he is going to die. And suddenly, "Ahhhhhh!" He is able to breathe again. The water is back. He is safe. He is alive. Everything he knew is gone.

3. It takes him awhile for him to learn that he is in the safest place ever. No other fish or birds to eat him. No fighting for food. No cold snowy weather or hot scorching sun. Just free food, clean water, and a little bubbly treasure chest.

G. That's a little like how it is for us to die to our old life. It's scary! Our old life may have been lousy, but at least we knew what to expect! This new life means I have to give up control to Jesus.

H. There may be a few of you here today who kind of like the idea of having a new life in Jesus. You're just not sure about the dying.

I. Check out this picture that God gives us.

Romans 6:1-8

So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we've left the country where sin is in charge, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn't you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!
That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we're going in our new grace-ruled country.
Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection.

J. Amazing. God wants us to die. And he gives us a way to do it! Baptism is a pretty amazing picture of dying to the old life with you in charge, and starting a new life with Jesus in control. Don't be afraid to cut your stem and start living in Jesus.

IV. There are also people, many of them kids, who are interested in the life Jesus can give them, but who are scared to try it because they don't think they can measure up to other Christians, let alone to God's standard.

A. Some of you today think that you just couldn't be as good a Christian as the people around you – so you stay away from the vine.

1. Lots of excuses come up.

2. "I'm not funny like she is. I'm not athletic, I'm not smart. I'm not musical or artistic. Look how God uses those people! I'm never going to be one of them."

3. "I hear other people pray and I could never be as good as them. I hear the speakers in church and I know I couldn't speak like they could."

4. "I'll probably never be spiritual enough to do it all right."

5. "What if I start and can't keep it up?"

6. "What if I doubt, or mess up or just can't do it?"

7. "What if I fail?"

B. Listen carefully.

1. You don't have to be any of those things. You don't have to do any of those things. You simply have to want to be alive through Jesus.

2. You don't have to be the same as all of the other Christians you know.

3. In fact, that's not what God is concerned about at all.

4. Jesus may have something spectacular for you alone!

C. We need to learn some more about plants in order to understand this.

D. The Plant kingdom contains as many as 400,000 species of plants.

1. If you wanted to divide those species into the kindergarten through 6th grade classes of an average elementary school, you would need to give each grade about 57,000 species.

2. If each grade wanted to learn about their 57,000 plant species, and they studied continually taking only one minute per plant, it would take 39 days to finish. That means 39 days with no sleeping, eating, drinking or going to the bathroom.

3. But, if you only studied during school hours, it would take each grade 117 school days to finish.

4. That's a lot of plants.

5. I do not think that God accidentally made too many plants.

6. I also do not think that he half-heartedly compared Christians to plants and trees!

7. I believe that he never intended for each of his people plants to be the same!

8. Don't believe me?

E. OK, we'll just take a peek at 8 different plants that God made.

1. This is "Alcea rosea". Also called a black hollyhock. It is the only flower in the world that is black! One scientist calls it the rebel of nature, and "the rock star of the plant world." Black flowers? Yup. Just the way God wanted them to be.

2. This freaky thing is "Amorphophallus titanum," popularly known as the "corpse flower." It is the world's biggest and worst smelling flower. Native to the Borneo rain forest, the plant blooms only a few times in its 40-year life span. During the first eight hours, the bloom emits a scent similar to rotting eggs or a dead animal. Mmmm. And yet, God designed this one.

3. If you don't like the last one, this little guy from the country of Chile is the Azra microphylla and it smells just like white chocolate. Just as sweet to God.

4. This next tree is great for making varnish and dyes. It's called "dracena cinnibaris" or the Dragon's Blood Tree. Quite simply it looks ridiculous! A little like a mushroom with a bad haircut. God made it, God loves it – bad hair and all.

5. The "Dorstenia Gigas" kind of messes up most of what we think about trees - it apparently does not require any soil to grow. Instead, it sinks roots straight into the bare rock. That's just God shaking it up a bit.

6. This one is not pretty at all, but Namibia's plant "Welwitschia Mirabilis" can truly claim to be one of a kind. This plant consists of only two leaves – ever. What looks like many leaves is apparently the only two that have been torn, shredded, folded, etc to look like many. The stem thickens, rather than gains in height, and can grow to be almost 2 meters high and 8 meters wide. Their estimated lifespan is 400 to 1500 years. It can survive up to five years with no rain. The plant is also said to be very tasty either raw or baked in hot ashes, and this is how it got its other name, Onyanga, which means onion of the desert. Mmm, onion-breath.

7. If you're not interested in eating the onion flavored Onyanga how about a plant that eats you? The giant pitcher plant was discovered on Mount Victoria in Palawan, central Philippines. This recent discovery measures up to 30 centimeters in diameter and is formed by a tendril, which inflates into a large cup-shaped trap. Around the mouth of the pitcher are secretions of nectar, which attracts insects and small animals. The rim has lots of waxy downward-pointing ridges, which help prey fall directly into the pitcher. The pitchers are half full of a liquid consisting of acids and enzymes, which help break down its prey. They often digest rats and even the occasional, small monkey. God did this.

8. Perhaps you think you've seen it all but have you seen the plant that can actually walk? The walking palm is a palm tree native to the rainforests of central and South America. Its stilt like roots enable it to walk, towards the sun at a rate of 1 meter per year.

F. Don't try to tell God that you could never fit into his life-giving vine.

G. Don't try to tell God that you could never be good enough.

H. God made plants that walk! God made plants that eat things! Oh imagine what he could do with the parts of your life that are uniquely you! Be Your Own Tree.

V. One last thing. Some in this room are pretty sure that God would never ever want you to join your life with his.

A. Some of you have some parts in your family's life and your life that you think are better left unknown.

B. Sin parts. Frightening sin parts. Parts that you are too ashamed to talk about. If people knew about them they would be disgusted, they would leave you forever and never love you.

C. Certainly God would never, ever love you. Would he?

D. Let me tell you a story about a family I have had some interaction with with over the last few years. . .

1. Most of one hundred years ago there was a young man who had deserted from the Italian Army. Because of this, he was wanted by the law. He kept running and hiding.

2. Finally, he hooked up with a rich older woman. They had an affair. No, there was no love. He stayed with her only for her money.

3. Their life was a trainwreck of immorality, lying, cheating, stealing and recklessness with money. This is the happy side of the father's ancestors.

4. The mother was an orphan, probably the daughter of a soldier and his girlfriend. They abandoned her as an orphan.

5. She was adopted, but very much by the mean stepmother. Her adopted father died when she was young. Her life bled out hurt, anger and unforgiveness.

6 The sins of their parents repeated themselves in their lives as they found themselves pregnant before marriage and cut off from their own parents.

7. The recent history of this family, including their own children includes pretty much the same list . . .

a. More children born out of wedlock.

b. Another failed marriage.

c. Greed, reckless spending and runaway debt.

d. Addictions to alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine.

e. Struggles with sexual immorality and pornography.

f. One family member even prostituted herself for cash and drugs.

g. One had a hand in a child's death.

h. This family wrestles with sexual deviancy and homosexuality.

i. They fight the battles of anger, resentment and unforgiveness.

E. If ever there was a family that God could hate – it would be this one.

F. I know this family. My heart aches and agonizes over them. You see, this is my family tree. This is the history of my grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters. Me.

G. I love my family. But God allowed me to cut off my spiritual lifeline to them and find a whole new life and family in Jesus.

H. So maybe you've got some ugly sin as well. Maybe your family tree is like mine – you're not too proud to be part of it.

I. Oh trust me. You are not tied to your family tree. You are never too messed up for God.

J. Let's go back to Jesus words in John 15:9-17.

I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love.
I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.
You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.
But remember the root command: Love one another.