Welcome to another posting of the Weekend Sermon. Thank you for taking the time to read the sermon this week.
I made quite a bit of progress this week on the book that I am currently working on. I am right on target to have it ready for publication in late Spring of 2016. The job is still having its ups and downs.
I would like to ask those of you who read the blog to please pray for me about a couple of things. First off, I have had a problem with the muscles in my legs since my early 20's. For the last couple of days, the pain in my legs has been intense. Please pray that this pain will abate. Also, we are expecting some very bad storms in my part of the country today. Please pray that these do not materialize.
As you are in prayer this week, please pray for the people affected by the wildfires in California. This is a terrible situation. Also, the earthquake in Chile has proven to be quite damaging. Let us pray for those folks as well. Remember to continue to pray for peace in the troubled areas of the world, and pray for the spread of the gospel in the lands where many people have limited opportunities to hear about the love of Jesus.
In last week's sermon, we continued our series of messages on the "I Am" statements of Jesus focusing on Jesus' statement, "I Am the way, the truth and the life." Today, we will conclude our messages on the "I Am" statements with Jesus' words in John 15:1 were He says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."
John chapter 15 is part of what is known as the Upper Room Discourse. This a long talk that Jesus gave to His disciples on the night when He was betrayed and the sacrament of communion was instituted. I gave a series of messages a couple of years ago on the Upper Room Discourse. In my comments today, I will try not to be repetitive and bring out some other aspects of what Jesus meant when He said that He was the true vine.
As Jesus will mention if you read more of chapter 15, the role of a vine is to bear fruit. A vine is alive and sustains the fruit that is on the branches of the vine.
Jesus is the true vine. When we come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord, we are grafted in as branches on the vine. This means that we receive our life and energy through the Lord Jesus.
Before many people come to have a relationship with the Risen Lord, they are searching for something to sustain their life in a number of different places. Anyplace of anything that a person uses to bring life into them besides the Lord Jesus is a dead vine that will not produce true life.
We can only be truly alive and productive when we find our source of meaning in the person of Jesus. As we mentioned last week, all other world philosophies and movements apart from Jesus who is the true way will lead to futility. One can only find the true meaning for life, when one puts his faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
When we are grafted into the true vine of Jesus, Jesus' life and power begins to flow through us. This allows our lives to produce fruit. What is the fruit that our lives should be producing. First of all, our lives will produce the fruit that comes through acting in the way that Jesus did while He was on this earth. As we abide in the vine, and Jesus' life and power flows into us, we will become more and more like Jesus each day. We will begin to become more like Him, and we will begin to imitate Him in our actions in this world. We will do the things that Jesus did. We will reach out in love and mercy just as Jesus did. And when we do this, people will see our good works and give glory to the Father in Heaven.
Paul also mentions the type of fruit that the believer will produce when the believer abides in the true vine. Paul calls it the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 states, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,"
When we are connected to our source in Jesus, we will show love to others. Our lives we be filled with the joy of knowing Jesus, and His peace will fill our lives causing us to share His peace with others. We will be tolerant of others, and act in a way which makes a positive difference in this world. We will strive to bring others to Jesus, and we will work to make this world a better place than what we found it to be.
Love is what Jesus was all about. He came to share His love with us. His love led Him to die on the cross and rise again. When we are truly connected to the Jesus who is the true vine, His love will flow out of us. Paul tells us what love is like in his great chapter about love found in I Corinthians 13. In I Corinthians 13:4-8, Paul states that, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
What a great passage. Jesus was like this in every way. So when we are abiding in the true vine, our lives should be like this as well.
In John 15, Jesus talks about abiding in the vine or abiding in Him. We are in Jesus and Jesus is in us when we come to saving faith. There are no human works involved. However, we need to stay in relationship with Jesus to let the fullness of His life flow through us and produce as much fruit as possible. This is what it means when it talks about abiding in Christ.
We abide in Christ by communicating with Jesus in prayer and meditation. We abide in Him through reading and following His words. We abide in Jesus when we seek to imitate Him and grow in Him,
Jesus is the true vine and the true source of abundant life because He is God come in the flesh. As the creator and sustainer of all physical life, He is the only one that can make us new and give us the new life of the Spirit. Praise be to His name.
If you have not connected to the true life that only Jesus Christ can give. I invite you to turn to Jesus today in repentance and faith and experience what true life really is.
Next week, we will begin another aspect of studying John's portrayal of the divinity of Christ. John's Gospel gives us seven signs or miracles that are intended to demonstrate that Jesus is God. We will begin studying these seven signs next week. On Monday I will post the verses, and I will post a review on Wednesday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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