True Home

John 15:1-8




In our Wednesday night study of Genesis we just finished the life of Jacob and are now studying Joseph. What a contrast between the two! Jacob was constantly in trouble. All his life he was pushed around by other people. He was hated and hunted by his uncle and his brother, in thrall to his wives, and stayed in trouble with God. Only after losing a wrestling match with God did he become the man he was destined to be.

Joseph also had enemies. His brothers tried to kill him, he was sold into slavery and unjustly imprisonse. But throughout his trials, he kept an unshakable optimism and destiny. Joseph stayed true to God, and eventually came out on top of every situation.

Jacob and Joseph both must have been highly intelligent. Both were physically handsome and strong. Yet God had to wrestle with Jacob to force his submission, but God was with Joseph from the beginning. Joseph always knew his destiny was in God’s hands, and so he never seemed to worry.

Josephs are rare in the world, but there are a whole lot of Jacobs. Most of us struggle with God—at different times being obedient or disobedient, faithful or doubtful, confident or afraid. But the Josephs of this world have a resilience and optimism that clings to them like the smell of smoke to clothes. When everyone else loses faith, they find it. When everyone else gets tired, they get busy. They possess an inner sense of joy and hope that shines brightly on the dark evenings. There a hidden spring of vitality inside of them which has nothing to do with where they are and everything to do with who they are. They are the ones that the Psalmist wrote about in Psalm 1.

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly

Or stands in the way of sinner

Or sits in the seat of scorners

But his delight is in the law of the Lord

And in that law does he meditate day and night

He shall be like a tree, planted by the wadis of water

Which bears fruit in its season

And whatever he does will prosper.

The King James says “rivers” of water, but the actual word is “wadi.” A wadi is a stream that goes underground part of each year. Trees planted beside a water continue to bloom, when other vegetation dies. It draws nourishment from a hidden spring beneath the surface. The have a hidden connection to water.

Joseph had hidden connections too. He was connected to the living God, drawing spiritual strength like electricity through a wire. The deeper we are connected to Jesus, the more we will find strength beyond our own.

In John15: 1-8. Jesus reveals this connection.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 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.

"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. . . .If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

The secret connection is living in Christ. The King James uses the word “abide” instead of “remain.” Christ is our home. Branches make their home in the vine. We make our home in Jesus.

The reason for Jesus’ spiritual strength was His connection to the Father father. “I have come from heaven, and have come to this world,. Now I am leaving this world and go to my Father.” Jesus knew that His Father’s house was his true home, not this mess of a world we call our home. Jesus offers us the opportunity to make our home in Him in the same way he makes his home in the Father.

When things are going well in this world, we may not sense the reason why this is important. But as we draw closer to death, we realize its importance. When we suffer, we need to experience our connection to this hidden source of strength. Whatever circumstances the world may throw at us, we can stand, because we are connected by His Spirit and His Word..

Abide in Jesus—that is making our home in Jesus. It is not prayer, nor churchgoing, nor Bible study that makes this happen. It is a feeling a sense, and a reckoning that we belong in a different place than this. Churchgoing, Bible study, and prayer are some things we can do throughout a day, but we can have that sense of living in Christ every moment of every day--seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day.

What does it mean to count Jesus ad our home.? It means many things.

Home is where we derive our identity.

I’ve been out of the country a handful of times. But every time I have been out of my country, I get homesick. I can leave America, but I remain an American. I can leave the South, but I am a Southerner. I can leave my family but I remain a Fleming. It is in my DNA. I can’t help it. When I am apart from my roots, I ache for them.

Even more than a Fleming or an American or a Southerner, I am a Christian.. My private prayer, m personal study, my experience of public worship are not required rituals. They are the things I do to keep from being homesick. This is not my true home. Christ is my true home.

Home is where we experience comfort.

I love my house in Waxhaw. There is something about hitting that Waxhaw city limit sign that gladdens my heart. It is where my bed is. It is where my stuff is. I know that when I get there, I can finally relax, because this is my place.

Home is the place where you fit, and that fts you. As Christians we fit in Christ. The word “Christian” means one who makes their home in Christ. We do not have to act more righteous than we are in God’s house, or put on airs. We can simply be ourselves, with all our warts and faults and failings, and know that Christ accepts us just as we are. We fit like an old pair of jeans.

Home is where we live and move.

“In him we live, and move and have our being.” I spend a lot of time making my home my home. I do not do it because I have to be asked to spruce up the place or clean it. I do it because I want to. It is a labor of love.

Why pray? Why read the Bible? Why go to church? Not out of necessity or command, but out of love.

Why kiss your wife? Why call your mother? Why plan vacations with your kids? Because the more time we spend with our loved ones, the closer we become. Family rituals bind us together.

The same thing is true with spiritual observances, such as prayer, church, and tithing. We do these things for one reason only—so we can draw closer to God. We do them to show that we’re not just visiting Him, we are abiding in Him. He is our live, our light, our love, our everything.

Home is the place where we are fed.

We eat out a lot, but we eat in more. Home is usually where we take our meals. When we abide in Christ, we feed on Him regularly.

Food is often used as a metaphor for spiritual nourishment. That is because spiritual nourishment and food have a lot in common. When we are young, our bodies need food to build adult, mature bodies. Food provides the raw materials for bones, organs, and sinews. Our souls are built from ideas and assurances. God’s word gives us the framework of our moral and spiritual lives. Our image of ourselves and our image of the world are built upon what we learn in Sunday School.

In the same way, the Word of God provides the necessary building blocks for our spiritual live. From God’s word, we build a framework of moral life from the earliest age.

As we get older, food is still necessary. We burn food for fuel. We must replace the broken parts of us. Our spiritual lives are the same way. Our old ideals need to be replenished, refreshed and refined. The We need inspiration and encouragement to fuel our enthusiasm in life and love.

The closer we walk with Him, the more we stay in Him, the more we will have resilience.

Home is journey’s end.

There is no better feeling than returning form a long trip and arriving at our own doorstep. At last we know that our journey has ended.

Christ is our journey’s end. As we get closer to home, our hearts quicken at the thought of it.

What should we think about when we think of heaven? Shouldn’t our first thought be of Christ, of union with Him for all eternity? He is all we live for, all we hope for, all we work for.

Let me be clear. It is not just Heaven that is our home. Heaven is where our home lies. Christ is our home. If you take your family away from your childhood home, it just becomes a house. If you take Christ out of Heaven, it no longer describes our destination. We wouldn’t want to go there anyway.

Old hymns, talk a lot about death and going to heaven. In older days, people were a lot closer to death than they are now. But some old hymns don’t seem to describe the Christian heaven. They seem to describe some form of ancestor worship. They talk about meeting dead mother or grandmother in heaven, more than they talk about meeting Jesus.

Suppose you get to heaven, and it isn’t like you think. Suppose that you do not see anyone you know in heaven, not because they aren’t there, but because it is too big to ever find them. Suppose all you meet if Jesus. Would it still be heaven to you?

Home is a personal, individual thing. No two homes are exactly alike. But Jesus is our home for all. We abide in Him. If we do we will bear much fruit, but if we leave our home in Christ, we will accomplish nothing.

Don’t let anything come between you and Him. Don’t neglect spending time with Him. He is the source of all our comfort, all our cares, and all our strength. He is the spring of hidden life that comes up within us. Live in Him, not must now but forever.