Life is about the connections we make. In fact I believe one doesn’t really experience the fullness of life until we are connected.

 

John 15:4-8 (The Message)

⁴     “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.

     ^5–8     “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—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.^[1]

 

You and I were created to connect. We were created to connect to God and to others in community. When we are connected we have the life stream of God flowing. When we are disconnected we loose our identity, our value and our lives.

 

This is a very strong statement. Did you follow me with this? When we are disconnected we loose our identity, value and our very existence. Look what Jesus says in John:

 

“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. “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.^[2]

 

Let me follow this a little further. When you loose your connection you shrivel up and die. “Anyone who separates from me (Jesus continues) is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire.”^[3] The connection is what is important.

 

That is why I love Velcro. Who doesn’t love Velcro? It is easy, fun, makes a cool noise and it connects. I did a little research to see how we got Velcro.

 

For thousands of years, man has walked through fields of weeds and arrived home with burrs stuck to his clothing. It’s amazing no one took advantage of the problem until 1948. George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, returned from a walk one day in 1948 and found some cockleburs clinging to his cloth jacket. When de Mestral loosened them, he examined one under his microscope. The principle was simple. The cocklebur is a maze of thin strands with burrs (or hooks) on the ends that cling to fabrics or animal fur. By the accident of the cockleburs sticking to his jacket, George de Mestral recognized the potential for a practical new fastener. It took eight years to experiment, develop, and perfect the invention, which consists of two strips of nylon fabric. One strip contains thousands of small hooks. The other strip contains small loops. When the two strips are pressed together, they form a strong bond.  VELCRO, the name de Mestral gave his product, is the brand most people in the United States know. It is strong, easily separated, lightweight, durable, and washable, comes in a variety of colors, and won’t jam.

 

Do you remember this episode of Lettermen? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9uxxqKGmYg

How can you not love the Velcro wall?

 

Now the real reason why I love Velcro… I love Velcro because it connects over and over again. You can pull it apart but it still will connect again. This is different than tape. Now don’t get me wrong duct tape is cool too. I mean I have seen cars held together with Duct tape. But the problem is when you pull tape apart it begins to loose its stickiness.

 

 

Velcro will continue to stick even after being pulled apart. The only time Velcro looses its connectivity is if lint or something gets caught in the hook side of the VELCRO.

 

You know sin separates.

 

Isaiah 59:2 (NIV)

² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. ^[4]

 

The things in our lives that are identified by God as sin separate us from others and from God himself. In fact sin is often identified as anything that would separate us from God or from people. Think about it for a moment. Why is telling a lie a sin, because deceit separates people? Why is stealing, or adultery, or lust or dishonoring one’s parents a sin, because it separates us? Why is idolatry or blasphemy a sin, because it separates us from the true God that loves us?

 

I have lost my connectivity before. Because of relationships that seemed to be ripped apart I lost my heart to connect. The truth is when you loose connectivity with people you also loose it with God, and visa-versa.  That is when you loose your connectivity with God you will loose the ability to connect with people.

 

To regain this connectivity there needs to be a fundamental change in character.

The change must involve going from a duct tape character to a Velcro character. The difference is the ability to forgive. When forgiveness is evident in a person’s life they will be in a ready state to connect.

 

You may feel like you are lifeless. Maybe you are feeling like you are disconnected from God. Maybe it is because you have had relationships rip apart, or maybe there has been something that has gotten in that has ‘gummed up the connection.’ Listen to the heart of God to connect as recorded by John in a message to a church in Laodecia.

 

Revelation 3:14-22 (NIV)

To the Church in Laodicea

¹⁴ “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

¹⁹ Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. ²⁰ Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

²¹ To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ^[5]

 

Notice the heart of Jesus. He wants to connect. He is standing outside the door longing to be let in to connect. Let me give you a little back ground into the people that this note was written to.

 

Laodicea was a prosperous banking center; proud of its wealth, it refused Roman disaster relief after the earthquake of a.d. 60, rebuilding from its own resources. It was also known for its textiles (especially wool) and for its medical school and production of ear medicine and undoubtedly the highly reputed Phrygian eye salve. Everything in which Laodicea could have confidence outwardly, its church, which reflected its culture, lacked spiritually.

^[6]

When I read this week about the confidence that Laodecia had because it was a banking center I was floored. I read this in the wake of the economic melt down in our banking system. The culture today has often been linked with this church. In many ways we are living in Laodecia. And the pride and ‘self reliance’ that we have as a people is the very thing that keeps us from connecting to God.

 

When the House of Representatives debated the ‘bailout’ this past Friday, the leader of the Republicans in the House came to the floor. He focused attention on the fact that the motto is “In God We Trust”. He said, we need to pray because we need God’s help in the coming days.

 

It is easy to say a hardy AMEN when we talk about our countries need to humble itself and connect again with God. But the question is aimed at each of us personally. Ask yourself, are you so self-reliant that you have your trust in the works of your hands (money) or are your relying on your connection with God.

 

To understand this more lets look at the geography of Laodecia.

 

Cold water (and sometimes spiced hot water) was preferred for drinking, and hot water for bathing, but Laodicea lacked a natural water supply. Water piped in from hot springs six miles to the south, like any cold water that could have been procured from the mountains, would be lukewarm by the time it reached Laodicea. Although water could be heated, the natural lukewarmness of local water (in contrast with the hot water available at nearby Hierapolis) was undoubtedly a standard complaint of local residents, most of whom had an otherwise comfortable lifestyle. (Their imported water was also full of sediment, though better, said the geographer Strabo, than the water of Hierapolis.) Jesus says: “Were you hot [i.e., for bathing] or cold [i.e., for drinking], you would be useful; but as it is, I feel toward you the way you feel toward your water supply—you make me sick.”^[7]

 

Often I have heard this interpreted you should be ‘hot for God’ or ‘real cold’ but don’t be caught in the middle. This is not what Jesus was teaching here. He said, be useful. Be either therapeutic or refreshing but don’t just hang out in your setting and be luke-warm.

 

The bottom line is we need to be connected to God. We need to let Jesus in. We need to get His healing, His forgiveness, His provision. Everything else fails us!

 

So let me ask you honestly:

Have you lost your ‘stickiness’? Maybe you need a fundamental healing. God will help you as you receive and give forgiveness. The issue is being connected.

Have you allowed things to come in and gum up the connection? Rid your life of these things. Rely on the only one who connects us to healing and the refreshing that we need in Jesus. Connect with Jesus. Open the door.