I have the privilege of preaching John 15:1-17 this weekend in church. here is the passage;
1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will 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 a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.
- Jesus (John 15:1-17)
I don’t want to share too much here but I was wondering what some of your thoughts are on the passage. I know some issues raised are;
- abiding in Christ
- eternal security
- doing what Jesus commands us to do: love our neighbors
- we are no longer considered servants but friends of God (yet at the same time we are still slaves to Christ who is our Master)
What are your thoughts?
We’re to be fruit-bearers, not fruit-producers.
On a completely unrelated topic, you have the link to my blog wrong. It is linked to an old post I had put up, not the actual main page. The proper link is this:
http://www.xanga.com/RedRosesAreBlue
I’ll be interested to hear what you say about John this weekend.
thanks Chris. I changed it.
Are we bearing fruit?
What is the fruit we bear? Are we willing to ask ourselves?
Bearing is only possible by abiding in Christ & living by the Spirit.
Difference b/w bearing fruit and buying fruit (false participation within the body).
We ask why were not happy and life is so hard….? DA
Could the lack of our sensitivity to scriptural reality, our lack of transparency, our prideful lifestyles, our unwillingness to pray for God to change who we are, and our lack of self control destroy our very joy and cause a sense of unattainable love commanded by Christ in loving each other?
were so prideful and sin infested it’s no wonder there is so little true love in our community today.
i’m honestly not capable of loving in this manor… only thru my willingness to allow Christ to control my thoughts and actions will this be possible….my prayer for all Father change us please.
seeking him thanks for the input.