SJG 11: The Master as the Vine #dumcMY #fb #sermon

Pastor Tan Moy How, 25/06/2011

Joh 15:1-17  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, 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.  (6)  If 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.  (7)  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  (8)  This 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.  (10)  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.  (11)  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  (12)  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  (13)  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  (14)  You are my friends if you do what I command.  (15)  I 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.  (16)  You 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.  (17)  This is my command: Love each other.

181 or more than 50% of the Nobel Prize winner are Jews. 42% of them are experts in economy. They are good in number and business, having been grounded in the Torah since young.

The CALL

1.       To do exactly

Joh 14:31  but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. "Come now; let us leave.

2.       To do ­greater things

Joh 14:12  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

The CAUSE

Becoming a genuine disciple and bearing fruit for the glory of the Father.

1.       The Person of the True Vine

a.       Jesus, the True Vine

Joh 15:1  I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

                                                   i.      The source of life to all (Jn 6:51)

                                                 ii.      The source of abundant life (Jn.10:10)

                                                iii.      The source of xx life (Jn 11:25, 14:6, Jn 11:12)

b.      God the Father, the Gardener of the of the True Vine

                                                   i.      The responsibilities of the Gardener

                                                 ii.      He protects up the branches

                                                iii.      He prunes the branches.

1.       Like a mirror the Word of God reveals problem (Jas 1:22-25)

2.       Like a xx the Word of God cuts to the heart (Heb 4:32)

                                               iv.      He picked up and throws away the useless branches into the fire

Joh 15:6  If 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.

2.      The Purpose of the True Vine

a.      A single purpose

                                                  i.      The vine has but one purpose: to produce. (2 Tim 2:6; Jas 5:7)

b.      A distinguished purpose

                                                  i.      The glorifying of the Father

Joh 15:8  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

                                                ii.      “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify and to enjoy Him for forever. #1 Westminster Short Catechism.

c.       A delegated purpose

                                                  i.      The vine supplies life to the branches.

                                                ii.      The branches take that life and use it to bear fruits.

3.      The promise of the True vine

a.      An abundance of food (Jn 15:5, 8)

                                                  i.      Apart from Christ, zero fruit, attached to Christ, much fruit.

                                                ii.      The kind of fruit-bearing which glorifies the Father:

1.      In winning of the lost (Rom 1:13)

2.      In social justice (Isa 5:7)

3.      In character development (Gal 5:22-23)

4.      In praise giving to God Heb 13:15)

5.      In financial giving (Rom 15:27-28, Phil 4:17, KJV)

b.      An astonishing prayer life (Jn 15:7, 16)

1Jn 5:14  This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

c.       An agape love (Jn 15:12-13)

                                                  i.      A sacrificial love

d.      An absolute joy (Jn 15:10-11)

                                                  i.      Definition of joy:

“The spontaneous enthusiasm of my spirit when my soul is in fellowship with the Lord.”