CRCF\u201d\u201d3-20-11<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/p>\n
From Leaving Religion, Following Jesus (McBrayer)
\nPaul Rusesabagina is the former hotel manager who inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda. Beginning in April 1994, over the course of a hundred days, an estimated one million Rwandans were killed after extremists in the majority Hutu population turned on the Tutsi minority. Fifteen percent of the population was annihilated. For perspective, that would be the percentage equivalent of a genocide wiping out forty-six million Americans, the total combined population of the greater Southeastern United States: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee \u201d\u201c every human being living in those states, gone in three months. Hotel Rwanda focuses on the seventy-six days in which Mr. Rusesabagina transformed the luxury hotel over which he was responsible, into a refuge for the terrified.
\nOn the first day of violence, twenty-six people came to Paul\u201d\u2122s home for shelter. They knew he was a person of influence with high connections and that he could help them. That is why they came. But they also knew he was a person of compassion. Paul had grown up in the Seventh Day Adventist Church and studied theology before becoming a hotel manager. His father had also taught him to always do what is right, no matter the consequences. His father would say to him, \u201cIf two brothers are fighting, and you are called upon to separate them, you shouldn\u201d\u2122t look at those guys, one on your right hand side, or on the left hand side\u201d\u00a6You only have to look up and see the truth, and only the truth.\u201d
\nThat truth became a shining light of compassion, when at the end of those three months of killings Paul Rusesabagina had sheltered and saved 1,268 people in his hotel. They all survived on the ingenuity and creativity of an ordinary hospitality worker. Somehow Paul kept corn and beans in the kitchen, rationed the water in the pool for drinking when militia cut the pipes, who took all the room numbers off the doors and burned the registration records, so the roving bands of machete-welding killers would not know the identities of those under his protection. At one point, Paul and his family were given the opportunity to leave Rwanda. He packed his bags to depart. It was then the residents of his hotel came to him and begged him to stay.
\n\u201cPaul,\u201d they said, \u201cwe know you are going to be leaving this place tomorrow. But please, if you are really leaving, tell us, because we will go to the roof of the hotel and jump. A better death would be to jump and die immediately than to be tortured.\u201d Paul said, \u201cBy that afternoon I had made the toughest decision of my life. I said to myself, \u201d\u02dcListen, Paul, if you leave, and those people are killed, you will never be a free man. You will be a prisoner of your own conscience.\u201d\u2122 I then decided to remain behind.\u201d He further explained his actions this way: \u201cIf I am going to die, then I will die helping my neighbor.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life\u201d
\nEmil Brunner
\nPaul gave hope in a hopeless situation in Rwanda.<\/p>\n
YOUR world needs hope!<\/p>\n
23 million Americans suffer from anxiety disorders.<\/p>\n
Rene Schlaepfer<\/p>\n
In contrast to a freaked-out world, [we can] be people of joyful hope!<\/p>\n
This morning, I want us to meditate on a vital connection that Jesus teaches us about\u201d\u201da connection vital to our enjoyment of hope, as well as our display of hope before a watching, needy world!<\/p>\n
Hope\u201d\u2122s Root\u201d\u00a6Hope\u201d\u2122s Fruit
\nJohn 15:1-17<\/p>\n
Our hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others.<\/p>\n
[Mount of Olives Slide] After the Last Supper in that upper room, Jesus and His disciples took a walk (about \u00bd mile) to the Mount of Olives. That is where John 15-17 takes place.<\/p>\n
John 15:1-17 (MSG)<\/p>\n
1-3 “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.
\n4″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.
\n5-8″I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation 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. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is\u201d\u201dwhen you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.
\n9-10″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\u201d\u201dkept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
\n11-15″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.
\n16″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.
\n17″But remember the root command: Love one another.
\nOur hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others.
\nJohn Piper
\nChrist-exalting hope is the great power to endure in self-denying, sacrificial love that pleases others for their good.<\/p>\n
Our hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others.<\/p>\n
In fact, that\u201d\u2122s the whole reason we\u201d\u2122re here:<\/p>\n
16 I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil.<\/p>\n
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
\n10 For we are God\u201d\u2122s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
\nGalatians 5:6 (NIV)
\nFor in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
\nOur hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others.<\/p>\n
1 John 3:16-24 (MSG)
\n16-17This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
\n18-20My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
\n21-24And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God! We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
\nOur hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others.<\/p>\n
What is necessary for this to be a reality in our lives and not just a possibility?<\/p>\n
1.\tJesus\u201d\u2122 POWER (4-6)
\n4 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. 5-6 I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation 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.<\/p>\n
Beasley-Murray<\/p>\n
In the divine relationship grace is alike the source and support of faith. On this condition alone fruitbearing is possible.<\/p>\n
Ronnie McBrayer<\/p>\n
It\u201d\u2122s not you who has to do the heavy lifting of loving others. Love for the unlovable is not something you muster up. You can\u201d\u2122t love by trying harder. You love by emptying yourself of you \u201d\u201c the true ambition of the Christ-centered life \u201d\u201c and allowing all that God is to flow out of you. It\u201d\u2122s that simple and that profound. Our biggest apprehension should not be \u201cCan I really love like Jesus,\u201d because the answer is \u201cNo.\u201d The challenge before us is to get out of the way, and let God do what God does. All we have to have is an open heart and home to those around us.<\/p>\n
Our hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others, IF we depend on Jesus\u201d\u2122 power.<\/p>\n
2.\tPONDERING\/PRACTICING Jesus\u201d\u2122 Teachings (7a, 9-10)
\n7a But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you\u201d\u00a6 9-10 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\u201d\u201dkept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
\nWhen we truly hope in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love, when we really trust Him, we believe that what He tells us to do is for our best!<\/p>\n
Our hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others, IF we ponder\/practice Jesus\u201d\u2122 teachings.<\/p>\n
Ronnie McBrayer
\nIt wasn\u201d\u2122t enough for Jesus to show up with a heavenly newspaper, a personal delivery about the love of God. Jesus became that love. Like a mother who bears the struggle of pregnancy and ultimately the pain and suffering of birth, to push a child into the world; like a father who will break his back with hard labor and meager wages to house, clothe, and feed his children. Like a lover who will travel any distance, fight any enemy, and bear any burden to get to the one he loves, God went all the way, giving up everything, and leaving nothing else to give. It was a saving, sacrificial, sacred act.
\nIt is this kind of sacrificial love that can flow through us to others, when we give all we have to those who need it. In view of all we have been given, it\u201d\u2122s really no sacrifice at all.
\nPsalm 1:1-3 (NIV)
\n1 Blessed is the one
\nwho does not walk in step with the wicked
\nor stand in the way that sinners take
\nor sit in the company of mockers,
\n2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD,
\nand who meditates on his law day and night.
\n3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
\nwhich yields its fruit in season
\nand whose leaf does not wither\u201d\u201d
\nwhatever they do prospers.<\/p>\n
Our hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others, IF we ponder\/practice Jesus\u201d\u2122 teachings.<\/p>\n
3.\tPRAYER (7b-8)<\/p>\n
7b-8 you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is\u201d\u201dwhen you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.<\/p>\n
G. Campbell Morgan<\/p>\n
Every branch is not only pressing upward, and growing off of the main stem; it is praying; every branch is dependent for sap, life element for maintenance to carry it out, to carry it forward, and press it out into fruit bearing\u201d\u00a6If we abide there, it is His life in us, our life is forevermore demanding more and more, to press it out to that fruit that God expects, and for which the world is waiting.<\/p>\n
Our hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others, IF we pray and ask the Father to help us bear this fruit.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/p>\n
John went on his first volunteer mission trip about a month ago as a part of a 16-person team that Match Point sent to El Salvador. Partnering with The Fuller Center for Housing, the team worked on the construction of a new home, as well as getting to know the folks of the town. For John, it was a truly life-changing experience. It became clear to our Match Point Director, and my friend, Ronnie McBrayer, that this was more than just a clich\u00c3\u00a9 for John. John and his wife are committed to go live in El Salvador and work alongside missionary, Michael Bonner. John and his wife simply want to serve, however they are needed. Jesus\u201d\u2122 love has compelled them to quit their jobs and give a year of their lives sacrificially serving the needs of the poor of El Salvador.<\/p>\n
For most of us, to be obedient and sacrificially love others won\u201d\u2122t lead us to El Salvador. In fact, chances are that our obedience can start today at home, tomorrow by helping with There\u201d\u2122s Hope for the Hungry, or on the job in relationship with your co-worker. Perhaps it\u201d\u2122s your neighbor for whom you need to sacrifice and show love.<\/p>\n
That we walk through the doors God opens in order to love others\u201d\u201dTHAT is the critical part.<\/p>\n
Our hope is rooted in Jesus\u201d\u2122 love for us and can bear the fruit of sacrificial love for others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CRCF\u201d\u201d3-20-11 Introduction From Leaving Religion, Following Jesus (McBrayer) Paul Rusesabagina is the former hotel manager who inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda. Beginning in April 1994, over the course of a hundred days, an estimated one million Rwandans were killed after … Continue reading