It's About Relationship

Jesus said, “I am the Vine, you are the branches…”  

What Jesus was sayin’ was this: it’s good to be part of a larger group, workin’ towards larger goals – but at the same time, we gotta be connected to a center before we can actually be productive!  Our lives are all about relationships.  Scripture says we’re to love God and to love one another – that’s networking – that’s relationship building – that’s reaching out to one another for mutual support and accountability – that’s all about becoming family!  ‘Cuz listen – in the end, relationships with God and with other people – love between us and God, and love between us and other people – that’s real networking, folks!  

So, how connected are you?  I’m not talkin’ about your Facebook or Twitter account – I’m talkin’ about Jesus!  How connected are you to the Vine?  We lose our heart – we lose our value – we lose our WAY – we lose our salvation – we lose our eternity with God – we lose our very souls – we lose everything when we lose our connection to the Vine!  

Jesus once said, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet forfeit their soul?”  

Lose your connection to Jesus – get separated from the Vine – and nothin’ else you accomplish in this world will have any real meaning.  Lose your connection to Jesus – you lose your life. 

When God wanted to save the world – when God wanted to bring us back into relationship with Himself – when God wanted to repair what we broke – He sent a PERSON!  God sent His own Son, Jesus, to fix what we had broken – to call us back to Himself – and to repair and renew our connection with God! 

It just begs the question – How connected are you?  You know, it really is all about WHO you know!  But more important than that is WHO knows YOU!  On that final judgment day, all the nations will be gathered before the throne of Jesus and He will separate all the people like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.  He will say to the sheep, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, and enter into your inheritance…”  He will say to the goats “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire.”  So which would you rather hear from Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant…!”  OR – “Go away from Me, for I never knew you…!”  

So listen – all that isn’t just for the end of the age – it’s for today.  Right now – if you are connected to Jesus, you will find life-sustaining power thru Him, and your life will show the fruit of that connection.  But if you are connected to Jesus in name only, your life will show no fruit – you will have no power or nourishment to be productive.  Only by getting connected and staying connected to Jesus can your life have any real meaning at all!

Pastor Corey Jenkins

Sidney 1st United Methodist Church