{"id":3095,"date":"2009-05-10T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-10T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=3095"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:01:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:01:13","slug":"being-a-branch-sermon-talkback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/being-a-branch-sermon-talkback\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a Branch Sermon Talkback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Sermon Talkback<\/strong> May 10, 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/being-a-branch\/\">Being a Branch<\/a> (John 15:1-8)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Knowing God<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus begins speaking in an extended metaphor, saying, \u201cI am the true vine\u201d (15:1). This is the seventh time (out of seven) that the gospel of John has portrayed Jesus using metaphors combined with an \u201cI am,\u201d statement, evoking God\u2019s name from Exodus 3:14, \u201cI AM WHO I AM.\u201d While using common imagery of language (e.g., a vine, a way, bread, shepherd), this usage reinterprets what is usually meant by these common items, much like the OT prophets did at points (e.g., Isaiah 5, where a vineyard represents Israel). In other words, by describing himself as a vine and God as a vinegrower, Jesus instructs the disciples about the nature of both, and how the identity, action and presence of Father and Son affect Jesus\u2019 followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pruning &amp; Cleansing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In John 15:2-3, there\u2019s a play on words as indicated in the NRSV footnotes. John uses the same Greek word (<em>kathairo<\/em>) to refer to both how God \u201cprunes\u201d the branch to make it more productive and how Jesus\u2019 teaching has \u201ccleansed\u201d the disciples. This word play may indicate two things. First, God\u2019s \u201cpruning\u201d should not be considered as acts of judgment (a point made as well by the use of a different word\u2014\u201cremoves,\u201d Greek <em>airo<\/em>\u2014for God\u2019s actions relative to the unproductive branches; v. 2a). These are necessary and supportive acts to assure the branch continues to fulfill its purpose. Second, through the \u201ccleansing\u201d effects of Jesus\u2019 ministry the disciples should have already received what is necessary for them to be productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Abiding with Jesus Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In John 15:7, Jesus said, \u201cIf you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you\u201d has misguidedly suggested that God will grant our requests whenever we ask. Those who are truly mutually abiding in and with Christ will no doubt have their very desires shaped by that relationship. They will understand and even desire the pruning\/cleansing that is required to enable them to fulfill their purpose of bearing fruit. They will desire that \u201cthe Father is glorified by\u2026bearing much fruit\u201d as they are Christ\u2019s disciples (v. 8). Because they are united in relationship and desire God\u2019s purposes, they can be assured that God will answer their requests. Their prayerful requests may be part of what they contribute to the process of bearing fruit, since it is not within the ability of the branches to produce fruit of themselves (vv. 4-5). It may even be the reshaping of our desires to accord with God\u2019s purposes and desires that is referred to allegorically by the pruning\/cleansing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bearing Fruit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you\/we bear fruit as the branches, Jesus the Vine and God the Vinegrower? How do we demonstrate the \u201cfruit\u201d that we bear? In John 15:12-13, we are commanded to love one another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sermon Talkback May 10, 2009 Being a Branch (John 15:1-8) Knowing God Jesus begins speaking in an extended metaphor, saying, \u201cI am the true vine\u201d (15:1). This is the seventh<span class=\"more-button\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/being-a-branch-sermon-talkback\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Being a Branch Sermon Talkback<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-3095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermon-talkbacks","tag-john"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3095"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3096,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3095\/revisions\/3096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}