Sermon Tone Analysis

last week we saw that we are messed up, but clean.

Jesus has cleaned us.

not with soap but by his Words.

when we mediate on his words, it cleans us from the inside and sets us free.

if the inside is not clean thats when it defiles a person.

we can be unclean with unclean spirits that dwell inside us

any kind of cleansing form the outside or the thai kind of washing festival will not get the inside clean

today we are going to see one of the most scariest passage in the scriptures what has troubled a lot of Christians and believers are under stress because of this verse and the metaphor that Jesus taught about the vine and the branches.

uncle can you read that in malayalam

എന്നിൽ കായ്ക്കാത്ത കൊമ്പു ഒക്കെയും അവൻ നീക്കിക്കളയുന്നു; കായക്കുന്നതു ഒക്കെയും അധികം ഫലം കായ്ക്കേണ്ടതിന്നു ചെത്തി വെടിപ്പാക്കുന്നു

so looks like both are the same and painfull.

if you don't produce fruits, u’ll be cut off

and if you produce fruits, u’ll be skinned.

both are painful

if so whats the benefit?

valid question?

so today we’ll try and understand what did Jesus intend to say

this protion and the topic starts by 2 important concepts

Jesus - True Vine

Father - Vine dresser

this is huge theology for me

Jesus says that he is the true vine.

which means that there were fake vines.

Other types of vine in the bible, but Jesus is the true vine

these are all metaphors used in the scripture

in the midst of all these vines, jesus says that i am the true vine

the most beaitiful vine is jesus.

its beautiful to see a well maintained vineyard

here are some pictures of a beautiful vineyard

im sure if u ve been to some colder regions of the world, you would have seen vineyards, even in India like in Blore.

My father is the vine dresser.

to see the vineyard as good as these pictures theres a vine dresser.

and that is God the father.

Jesus - True Vine , Deals from inside the body

Father - Vine dresser, deals from outside the body

We - Branches - the referred body

Action of the Father

No Fruit - Takes away - Cut off

Fruits - Pruned.

first if cut away

can any branch in ME -Jesus be useless?

is there a union in Christ and then be cursed and cut off from christ.

will Jesus allow that?

for a part of him to be cut off?

the difference is in the abiding / believing in Jesus

so who are in jesus who will be thrown out

its believers who are not true

like one of the chosen who was a betrayer

judas was brought in to the vine

so there is a difference between being a believer and being a disciple of Jesus.

so it is these so called believers, and not true disciples that left and that is the metaphor that Jesus talks about that the father will remove them.

the moment the person will stop believing or abiding in the words of Jesus the branch will stop flourishing and it is these branches that the father will cut off.

Prunes: καθαίρω (kathairō)

to cause something.

to become clean, make clean.

to remove superfluous growth from a plant, clear.

we have a mango tree in front of our house in kerala and for years it used to flower, but not much fruits.

and the reason that even the few fruits we could not enjoy is because when we go to pluck the mangos, theres all the orange ants.

its called the NERU.

these ants are big orange color and they sting u. the sting is not poisnous or bad to health, but its anoying.

but now we have certain medicines that we keep on the tree before it flowers and this keeps three from all kinds of bugs.

even the bugs that get into the seed of the mango when it flowers are also gone. the tree is clean now and we can enjoy all the fruits.

so this is what my parents did back home.

and i beleive a lot of people do that now.

this is what the father does to keep the branch clean.

FATHER makes sure that

1.

All Unbelievers and fake Disciples are removed.

2. All of us are cleaned from any kind of invaders.

3. Support for the branch

so what is the key in all these scriptures

its belief in Jesus.

the moment your faith or belief will be off, you wither and are cut off

and that beleif is reinstated by the fact that you abide in him - the true vine

Abide

Remain, Stay, dwell, live, exist, Stand fast, to remain in the same place,

To be in the vine, as we have seen, is to be in Jesus—more specifically, to be counted among that people whom Jesus represents: true Israel.

When we become part of the church, we join a web of relationships with other members, all of whom are connected to Christ.

The lives of the members are woven together by the invisible bond of the Holy Spirit.

We all depend on one another

V 4 - Abide in me to bear fruit

V 5 - Abide in me to bear much fruit

V 6 - If you do not abide, you wither and thrown into the fire

V 7 - Abide in Jesus and ask whatever you wish and it will be done.

V 9 - Abide in the Love of Jesus, like the father loved Jesus

V 10 - Abide in Jesus Love, by keeping his commandments.

so it is this abiding that is important.

letting the vine flow through us and being a part of him

we have a curry leaf plant at home.

many of you would have seen that when you visited our home.

during the qurantine when we did the sermon recorded from home, people have seen that plant and asked about it.

unfortunatly, due to some soil change in some other plant besides it, some bud - spider mites invaded all the neighbouring plants and started growing on this curry leaf plant too. it had happened before and i got a insectide to get rid of these mites.

but the meds were wrong and the meds burned the plants.

so all the leaves started to wither and die.

we waited for some time and then we saw that a new few sprouts started to come but that too withered.

so what i thought that let me trim off the top of the trunk, that might triger ther growing.

it did but that too dint last.

in this process, i realised one thing, when i cut off the to of the plant trunk, it had the smell of the curry leaf.

like the extract.

i always thought the the curry leaf had the smell or the essence, and it did.

but the essence was not created in the leaf.

it came from the stem.