Berry Picking Series: Sermon one. "Son Ripened Christian."

 4^th Sunday after the Epiphany!

Introduction:

A.   Have you ever gone Berry Picking, especially for the kind that has thorns?

 

B.   Where my grandmother lived in Corning when I was young, she had some Blackberries in her yard; she was unable to care for them properly, but when we came to visit, there was always plenty of Berries to pick.  I usually got to help my dad do that.

 

C.   Upon reflecting on berry picking, there are a lot of connections with the Christian life.  It could be used as modern day parables about the Christian life.

 

D.   Over the next 3 weeks we will look at a short series of sermons: modern day parables about berry picking.

     (Since we were closed last week, I may combine the last 2 into a message for this week, making it a 2 message series.)

 

Trans.

Today, we are going to talk about the "Son Ripened  Christian."

                            Prayer

                  John 8:12 and I Cor. 1:26-31

 

I.   Let's first look at the berry itself.

 

A.   A berry or any plant in complete darkness will not grow and will eventually die; sunlight is an essential ingredient for life.

B.   When a berry gets the right amount of sunlight, it ripens and makes a delicious fruit that we all love to eat and enjoy.

 

C.   Also, after long exposure to the sunlight, the berry dries, drops off into the soil, and reproduces, making another vine come up.

 

1.   This is a natural process for the berry to yield  itself to exposure to the sun thereby

reproducing. It will grow toward the sun!

 

2.   After reproducing, there are thousands more berries than before.

 

3.   My grandmother’s berry vines were very large, and each year, they had grown larger.

 

II.  How does this apply to our Christian lives?

 

A.   As we look at our scripture, we see that God has given us Jesus to be our Sonlight!

 

1.   Through Christ, we attain wisdom, righteousness,  sanctification, and redemption.

 

2.   Through Christ, we grow and mature into what God would have us to be, through God’s Sanctifying Grace.

3.   We become the beautiful fruit after the proper exposure to the Son; we become something that is  able to be used to feed and help others!

     a.   We learn to love like Jesus!

     b.   We learn to share that love with all people

          and invite them into the Kingdom of God!

B.   Also, we become something that reproduces for Christ.

 

1.   As Christians, our part is in the yielding our lives to the Son. Just like berries grow toward the son!

 

2.   When we do, it is natural that we will reproduce.

 

a.      We will want to share in some way. Because

of God’s love shown through us, we will draw people to God!

 

b.   We may never really know who all we have led to a closer walk with God when we are exposed to the Son!

 

c.   A life that is yielded to the Son will reproduce thousands of times itself in a lifetime!

 

3.   All because of our exposure to the Son!

 

III. What is this proper exposure to the Son, and how can we be exposed?          Rom. 12:1&2

 

A.   It is a complete surrender to the will of the Son!    (Complete exposure!)

1.   It isn't a Spot exposure where we let the Son hit this spot but hide other places in our lives!

 

2.   We are to present ourselves whole and complete unto the Lord!

 

 

a.   It should be an everyday communication and walk with Christ where Christ is the reason we do the things we do!

 

b.   Christ's way is the best for us and for those around us.

 

B.   It is allowing Christ to transform us by the renewing  of our minds!  This is the way we continually get   exposure to the Son, by seeing that our minds are  renewed.

 

1.   Through Bible Study and by reading the right things.

 

a.   The Bible is God's written word.

 

b.      Through the Bible, we are exposed to God through Christ. Christ is our best

revelation of God!  We understand God best by looking at the life of Christ!

 

2.   By letting the right people influence us, Christian people who are dedicated.

3.   By being selective of what we hear and see.

 

a.   When we see something enough, it affects us.

 

b.   When we think of what is out there to see today, this is scary!

 

4.   By seeing that our minds continually get a dose of Sonlight and not darkness!

C.   A Christian must have Sonlight to live & grow!

 

1.   When we shut ourselves off from the Son, we will  die spiritually.

 

2.   Without continually being exposed to the Son, we  can't grow toward perfection in Christ!

 

Conclusion:

 

A.   When we have the right amount of exposure to the Son, we will mature to the point we will multiply (bear fruit).

 

B.   We may not always know who we have influenced, but we can rest assured we will multiply!

 

C.   Are we getting this much exposure to the Son?

 

D.   As we encounter Christ at the table today, we can

yield to Christ those areas where we need to grow or

change!

 

                      Prayer of Confession

Service of Communion