Making Room for God (Make Room): How do we make room for more of God in our lives? By remaining connected to Jesus, our true vine. He is our Source. As we stay connected to him, we (the branches) are pruned by God to be more like Christ. This is what the Christian life and spiritual growth are all about! Recorded on Aug 23, 2026, on John 15:1-8 by Pastor David Parks.
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Make Room is a three-part sermon series considering the need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Why? Because more people need good news! More people need the life and love, the freedom and forgiveness, and so much more that is only found in Christ. Our prayer is that in the coming years, many more people will experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Sermon Transcript
So, for the next three weeks, we’re doing something a little different in our preaching ministry. Normally, our sermon series are based on a book of the Bible, like our series on Jonah in the spring, the book of Revelation that we just finished, or the book of Nehemiah that we’ll start in September. But today, we’re starting a three-week series called Make Room to revisit some of the Biblical foundations of our 2030 Ministry Vision. Some of you weren’t around two years ago, but back in 2024, the elder board spent months praying/talking about who we are as a church, where God was bearing fruit in our ministry, and where we believed God was leading us over the next 5-7 years. The outcome of this process was that we didn’t feel that God was leading us in a dramatically new direction. We didn’t need to reinvent ourselves or radically change our mission, vision, or values. Instead, the phrase that kept coming up was “make room.” We needed to make room. We needed to make room in response to the growth we had experienced and to prepare for what God might do in and through our church in the future. And in many ways, that’s exactly what we’ve been trying to do for the past two years. We’ve gone from one to two worship services, multiplied our community groups, expanded our kids’ ministry, hired a full-time associate pastor, expanded our staff team, and more. As we tried to make room, God continued to bring the growth. By God’s grace, we’ve come a long way in the last two years, even getting some of the things we thought would have to wait until phase 2 done in phase 1! I’m very proud of how so many of you have stepped up in the face of some significant changes around here and have risen to the challenge and potential discomfort of making room. Even change for the best can be hard to deal with. But we’ve seen an incredible spirit of unity, joy, and gratitude here over the past two years. Way to go. But we’re not done yet; there’s more work to do. We still need to make room. But in what ways? Well, there are many plans and logistical details, but this whole Make Room initiative was founded on three big ideas: We need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. This is what our 2030 Vision and all these plans and changes are all about. But now it’s 2026, and as we start phase 2 of this plan, we wanted to revisit these three big ideas. So today, how can we make room for more of God in our lives? If you’re a follower of Jesus, this is always a good question, because Christians are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If there’s some corner of your life that remains relatively untouched by your faith, that’s probably the place where we need to make room for more of him. If you’re not a follower of Jesus, this sermon will help you better understand what it might look like to become a Christian. So if you have your Bible/app, please open it to John 15:1. As you head there, just a little context: We’re coming into the middle of one of Jesus’ longer teachings, known as the Upper Room Discourse. But more importantly, what’s going on is that Jesus is teaching his closest friends/followers on the night of all nights—the night before his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and death. Let me ask you this: if you knew you were dying tomorrow, what would you want to tell the closest people in your life? Only the most important things, right? Let’s see what Jesus had to say.
John 15:1–8 (NIV), “1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” This is God’s word. The gospel of John comes to us from the Apostle John, the author of the book of Revelation we just finished. John was likely a young man and a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him and his older brother, James, to become his disciples and follow him. Along with Peter and James, John became one of Jesus’ closest disciples. Again, this is the night before the cross of Christ. And Jesus is telling the Twelve (minus Judas at this point in the evening) some very important things to help them not only get through the next few traumatic days, but to equip them for the whole of the Christian life. And there are few other passages as important as John 15 for understanding what life looks like with Jesus. Now, Jesus is a brilliant teacher. And he uses the analogy of the vine and the branches to teach us something about himself, about us, and about the work that God is doing in our lives when we are connected to him. Just like in Revelation, the number seven is a big deal in John’s gospel because the number seven represents wholeness or completion. And the statement of Jesus, “I am the true vine…” is the seventh of seven “I AM” statements of Jesus in John’s gospel. I am the bread of life, the light of the world, and so on. For Jewish people, they would have known that “I AM” refers to the divine name of God in the OT (God said, “I AM WHO I AM,” to Moses in the burning bush (Ex 3:14)), so these “I AM” statements are making a claim to the divinity of Jesus. But also, these statements reveal something about Jesus’ mission/purpose. So what does this “I AM” statement mean about who Jesus is and what he’s up to? Well, here, he says, “I am the true vine,” which is a metaphor meaning that he is the source of life for the branches—that is, for his disciples. He makes that clear in v. 5. And if there’s a branch that fails to produce fruit, it’s cut off. More likely, if a branch isn’t bearing fruit, it wasn’t connected to the vine in the first place. But every branch that does bear fruit—every believer who receives the life of Jesus from the source and bears the fruit of the Spirit, fruit of righteousness, goodness, and truth—then they are, what, good to go? No! Every branch that is connected to the vine, every believer who receives the life of Jesus and is fruitful, is pruned by God the Father to be even more fruitful. Now, I’m guessing that most of us don’t have an extensive farming background. So, to prune something means to remove anything that hinders life. With a tomato plant, pruning might mean removing a branch that is too low or has been damaged somehow and is unproductive. With a person, pruning might mean correcting a false belief or removing a destructive habit that harms their identity/worth, their obedience to Christ, or their view of God. I’ve been following Jesus for many years now. But there are still things in my life that need to be pruned. I bet the same is true for you too. But isn’t this a beautiful picture of life in God’s kingdom? The kingdom of God is like a garden where God is not far off and removed from our lives; he’s the gardener. He walks through his garden, looking for ways to prune us so that we might be even better connected to the vine, more able to grow and flourish, and to be even more fruitful in life. And God isn’t doing this work as a chore. This is all to his glory! Is this how you picture God’s work in your life? Many people picture God sitting back, waiting to judge us for our failures. But according to Jesus, when we are connected to him, God is our Father who works in our lives, helping us to grow and flourish. This is as true on Sunday morning as it is on Tuesday afternoon or Friday night. But what does Jesus mean in v. 3 when he says, “You are already clean [pruned] because of the word I have spoken to you”? Well, this is just a bit of wordplay from the Apostle. John loves to use words with double meanings when both meanings work. The word for “clean” is the same word as pruned. Not that you would normally wash a branch to make it clean in your garden, but here, the pruning work of God starts in the lives of the followers of Jesus when they are saved, made clean, and set apart for his purposes. It’s not that God cleans us up so we might be worth saving. Remember, Jesus is talking to people who have already put their faith in him. Believers are connected to the vine when we hear and believe the word of the gospel. As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:17 (NIV), “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” God saves us by his grace alone through faith alone in the person and work of Christ alone, especially his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. But when we hear and believe the gospel and are saved, we are made clean before God. We are justified and forgiven for our sins. But then, the process of sanctification starts. Salvation happens in an instant. But sanctification is the lifelong process by which God the Father transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ. This is where the metaphor of pruning comes in. Now listen, I know that having something stripped out of your heart or life can be very painful. Even something that is harmful to us can be painful to lose. But we must remember that we have a good Father who loves us and does this pruning work in our lives for our good. Nothing that God removes from our lives is without a purpose. Even tragedies can be used for our good. But here, Jesus says that his branches have been cleaned (saved) by his word—that is, the word of God. We are both saved and sanctified by the word of God. But it’s more than Bible study or Biblical knowledge that is needed. We need far more than a list of memorized facts about God to be sanctified—we need a real relationship with a real person. We must abide in Christ. Jesus is very clear about this. In v.4, he says, “No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…apart from me you can do nothing.” Do you really believe that? I’ve been a pastor for over fifteen years now. And I feel like I know pretty much what I’m supposed to be doing and even how I’m supposed to do it most of the time. But apart from the life and power and Spirit and truth of Christ, I can do nothing. Maybe it would even look for a season like my life or this church was bearing fruit, but apart from Christ, it would not be fruit that would last. Cut flowers still look alive for a few days. But they’re really dead; they’re disconnected from their source of life. It’s only a matter of time before that will be obvious. But if we remain in him, then we will bear much fruit! No matter how much money you might have in the bank or how many fans you have on social media, your life will be productive; your life will matter as a little outpost of the kingdom of God. The life-giving power of Jesus will produce certain things in and through us. Now, this really affects almost every area of life, but one example Jesus gives here is in prayer. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Now, have you ever prayed a prayer that didn’t seem to be done for you? I have. Jesus isn’t saying that God is like the genie in Aladdin who always grants our wishes. I think what he’s getting at here is that the more our hearts and minds are filled with the truth of God’s word and the power of his Spirit, and the longer that we sincerely try to follow the way of Jesus, the more our desires will start to conform to God’s will/way. And when that happens, you’ll pray better prayers, prayers more aligned with God’s heart—prayers that will be answered! This is no different than any other personal relationship. The more you get to know someone, the more you’ll know what they might think about something. I wouldn’t ask Holly to do something for me that violates her character or that I know she hates. I doubt she’d want to do that. Prayer works the same way because our God is a personal God. In v. 8, Jesus gives us the threefold purpose of all this. “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” First, we are pruned so that we will be as fruitful as possible. This is the normal reason for pruning in a garden. But in the Christian life, this work is done to remove things from our lives that prevent us from growing to be more like Jesus. In other words, to make room for more of God in our lives! But second, we are pruned so that others would know that we are disciples of Jesus. Both the fruit of our lives and our ability to grow in fruitfulness over time serve as a testimony to others that we are indeed connected to the vine; that we have a different Source, and one that is completely good and true. If there are no discernible differences in the fruit of your life, in your values, habits, attitude, or character, why would anyone think you have a different source of life than they do? Much less one they would want! Third, and most importantly, we are pruned so that our lives will glorify God. As we often say, God loves us exactly as we are today, but he loves us too much to leave us as we are. As he does his pruning work, and as we are able to bear even more fruit as a result, our lives become more and more aligned with and directed towards the glory of God. As the Jewish leaders recognized when they spoke with Peter and John in Acts 4. Acts 4:13 (NIV), “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” They were connected to the vine. Others could see it. They took note of it, and it glorified God. So, what does this mean for us today? Well, the offer to be connected to Jesus the Vine, to become a friend of Jesus, is still available today. Anyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus becomes spiritually connected to the true source of all the life, love, joy, and peace found in him. Would you put your faith in him and be saved (made clean) today? But anyone connected to Jesus in this way will bear fruit, and they will be pruned by the Father to be even more fruitful in Christ. This will impact your prayers for sure. But as God continues to do his work in your life, and as we join him in the work he is doing—making room, rearranging things, stripping some things away, and adding what we need—this good work will impact and transform everything in your life! And in a very real way, this is what it looks like to follow Jesus. This is what our mission and vision as a church are all about. We are sharing good news so that the gospel of Jesus Christ will transform people in every way because we’re saved and sanctified by his word. We need to make room for more of God in our lives. This is what God is doing in the world. This is what Jesus wanted to talk about as one of the most important things, right? God is multiplying his life, love, joy, and peace out to the ends of the earth through Jesus Christ, his son, the true vine. And if all this is true, then we had better make room for more of God in our lives. Let us pray.
