Sermon(Jn 15:1-12): Jesus is the vine, I'm the branch

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025252815

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Jn 15:1-12

) --> 

>> 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ... 6 If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. ... 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. .... 12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. <<

) --> 

The smell and taste of grapes is the best of all. Sometimes the wine given in small cups at Communion makes us unsatisfied. If the cup were bigger! The temperance is observed strictly especially in the protestant church in Korea, so I'm much disappointed that I can't drink wine (or beer) as much as I want. It is my wish to eat fruits of tree and drink delicious mature wine in the shade of the trees of life by the river of life in heaven. But I must not drink liquor here ordinary times.

) --> 

If we believe in Jesus, we'll bear the best fruit of all fruits like the vine. If you believe in Jesus, your nasty rotten nature of sin changes to a holy fragrant nature which tastes good. In the past, dirty stories and abuses were uttered from your mouth, smelling like rotten eggs. Before, stinking words of envies and complaints would come out of your mouth automatically. But now the bad smell has disappeared. Because the heavenly Father has cleansed us of all our rotten parts and made us clean in order that we may bear holy fruit. “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (v. 2)”

) --> 

My beloved brethren, if you do not become clean, you will never be able to bear holy fruits. And the means by which we are cleansed is the words Jesus spoke to us (v. 3). When Jesus washed his disciples' feet, he said that they were already clean. All their sins would be washed away by the blood of Jesus' crucifixion, and even before that, they were already set outside the power of the sin by the divine authority of Jesus for they were his disciples. Jesus healed the sick, saying, "Your sins are forgiven." The Son of God who paid dear for the sins of the whole world has the power and authority to say, "Your sins are forgiven." The only way you become clean is for Jesus to declare, "Your sins are forgiven, and I see you as a clean man." If we believe in Jesus and are forgiven our sins, and the Holy Spirit dwells in us, the root of all our sins has been cut off already, and we have become holy and clean ones qualitatively quite different from before. When God the Father calls you out of the world to believe in Jesus Christ and transforms you into a new man, you become a holy vine branch bearing fragrant and sweet fruit.

) --> 

By the way, Jesus says that he is the true vine and we are his branches, and that we can bear fruit only when we are in him and he is in us. That is, we must attach to Jesus like a vine branch to bear fruit. When are we attached to Jesus? We are attached to Jesus as long as we are loved by him. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (v. 10)” If a father and his son love each other deeply, there is an invisible bond to them. They are connected by an invisible life line. If a man and a woman love, they are tied to each other by a cord of love that can not be broken. God the Father loves the Son Jesus so much that the Son Jesus abides in the Father. Likewise, because Jesus loves you most, you live in Jesus and are a living branch attached to the vine, Jesus. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (Jn 15:16)” “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. (1 Jn 4:10)” If you believe this, you will abide in the love of Jesus and you will be the branch attached to Jesus, the vine. But your faith is proved by keeping voluntarily the commandments of Jesus. “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. (v. 10)” And the commandment is the love of brother (the brotherly love). “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (v. 12)” “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 Jn 4:11, 12)” And Jesus teaches the most valuable love in the world. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (Jn 15:13)” Heavenly Father has shown the greatest love in the world. “For the God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)”

) --> 

Thus the heavenly Father loved us through the Son Jesus, and we love Jesus and abide in his love by keeping his commandments gladly. The key point is the love of brother. If you love your brothers, you are now attached to Jesus. If you hate and hurt your brother, you are a branch cut off from the tree. What did Jesus say about such a branch? “If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. (v. 6)”

) --> 

As your soul gradually withers away, you become a cut branch. Brethren, do not hate anyone without reason. Do not loathe anyone just because his face or voice or personality is not to your liking. Especially, do not despise a man, who led a prodigal life before and now has become a new man, when you think of his past. Welcome him with a warm heart, a kind smile, and a tender voice full of love. Brethren, treat another man more humbly when you are in a higher social position than he. He can be hurt by your trivial facial ｅxpression or tone of voice. If your love has cooled and your heart has become waste as you know, invite again in your heart Jesus who loved you who were a sinner, and warm up your heart with his love.

) --> 

If you are under the denunciation of having no love, you're already the one thrown into the fire. The most severe punishment on earth is for Christians to be accused of having no love for God and man. If a man feels hot (with his face going red) while accused with such criticism, his soul is not yet dead. He has a little chance to recover and to live still now. But there are some stubborn people who go their own way despite all kinds of condemnation from the servants of God and the laymen. Because their conscience is seared (1 Tim 4:2). Eternal flame of hell awaits them. When God warns you once or twice, you must immediately repent and turn around from the false way and go the right way, or your mind is hardened. If you, disregarding repeated warnings, harden your heart and keep going your way, the feeling of your conscience becomes dull so that you continue to commit sins unashamedly. Then the gate of hell is wide open for you.

) --> 

You won't get electricity until your home and the power plant are connected by wires. Likewise, the joy of Jesus is not delivered to us until we are connected to Jesus by a cord of love. When we are connected to him, the joy of Jesus overflows us. Jesus is telling us to be attached to him to give us overflowing joy. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (v. 11)” If both man and woman are connected to each other in love, both sides are full of joy. The joy of the man reaches the woman and becomes the woman's pleasure. The joy of the woman reaches the man and becomes the man's pleasure. A man loving a woman is infinitely glad just because she feels happy. If a man and a woman are in love, both a hut and a palace are good to them. For them, the circumstances are not a problem at all. If there is no obstacle to their love, all is OK. I'm happy when you see me and feel happy. Isn't it true? Joy is the first fruit I bear when I am attached to Jesus. Jesus has joy when he sees me, and I have joy when I see Jesus. Joy itself is the happiness. Love is the premise for the fruit of joy. We volunteer to do what Jesus pleases in order to make him glad. It is brotherly love. We are not jealous of the one whom Jesus loves, but we also love him. Because Jesus will feel sad if we are envious of the love Jesus has shown other men. We love brothers because Jesus is pleased when we love them without jealousy or hate. All the good fruits in the Bible are included in the love of God and brothers.

) --> 

Only those who have met Jesus and tasted the true joy love Jesus more than the world and practice the true love. If you feel that your faith-life is a heavy burden, and if you have an arid feelings about your neighbors, this is the evidence that the joy of Jesus has not yet reached you. Accept the love of Jesus. At that moment you'll be the most precious one in the world. Is it a commonplace event that Jesus the God loves you? No! It is another new creation of the universe! As soon as you feel that you have received the most precious love in the world, your mind is filled with the joy of Jesus. A reborn man is he who realizes that he is the object of the love and delight of God. That is the core of the Christian salvation. Christianity believes that the realization of God's love for me opens the door to salvation. To accept Jesus' love is to be attached to him. When I'm his branch, that is, when I stick to him, all the holy fruits such as salvation, love, and joy are produced in me and for me.

) --> 

The Father is glorified when we bear much holy fruit. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. (v. 8)” God is love (1 Jn 4:16). God the Father is the vineyard farmer (Jn 15:1). The Father planted the love in this world through Jesus the Son. He planted the vine of love, Jesus, in this world. It is not an honor to God the Father if this tree of love does not bear much fruit, but great honor to him if the tree puts out many branches to all over the world and produces a lot of fruit. Isn't the farmer's pride established when he harvests abundant produce? When the world is filled with true love, the pride of God the Father who is love is established. God the Father is greatly pleased and glorified when the same true love as Jesus showed us is realized in my life. When my life is the fruit of true love, I will be kept in the storehouse of God at the last harvest. All chaff-like men with no fruit of love in life will be gathered and burned.

) --> 

May you accept the holy love of Jesus and become those who dwell in Jesus. May your life be a glory to God the Father through many holy fruits.

) --> 

Chong Tack Kim

) --> 

                             - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -