Lent 2024-Who Do You Say That I Am?
Who do you say that I am? • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The True Vine
The True Vine
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 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. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
The Wesleyan Bible Commentary, Volume 4: Matthew–Acts C. The True Vine and the Branches (15:1–17)
It was inevitable that He should proceed to use the present analogy of the vine and branches, or one of like nature. For bread and water can only sustain—they cannot reproduce themselves. The vine with its branches is living and has the power to produce fruit, and so this becomes a more complete illustration of the relationship between Christ and the Christian and the consequences of the relationship. Praying and fruitbearing are closely related here—the one who abides in Christ asks and receives, and the one who abides in Him bears much fruit.
—> The True Vine
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.
—> Jesus is replacing Israel (God’s chosen people) as the TRUE VINE
You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
Yet I planted you as a choice vine,
from the purest stock.
How then did you turn degenerate
and become a wild vine?
Let me sing for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
he expected justice,
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness,
but heard a cry!
Ah, you who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is room for no one but you,
and you are left to live alone
in the midst of the land!
—> Israel was the vine, planted and given every chance to produce fruit but it didn’t.
—> Jesus is now taking its place as the true vine.
—> the vine planted by the vineyard owner to bear much fruit.
—> true vine is different than true bread because even though bread sustains us a vine reproduces and grows fruit.
—> Jesus is expanding not only on what God is doing but on how he is doing it.
—> And let’s be clear it is God who is doing it!
—> The Hierarchy
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
—> There is a hierarchy and we are not at the top:
—> God - vineyard owner
—> Jesus - vine
—> Us - branches
—> God is calling the shots and we are the last part of the process
—> To bear fruit we must “abide”
I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
—> When we talk about vines and branches we talk about them in unison most of the time because you can’t tell where one stops and the other begins.
—> They are so intertwined and interconnected that it takes a great deal of time and trouble to separate them.
—> that is unless they are dead.
—> when branches are no longer connected to the lifeblood that flows to them from the vine they become brittle and are much more easily seperated from the vine.