Reformation Seminary Lecture - KJV John 15 - The True Vine. 11 AM Central Today

 

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15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit [karpos, Polycarp] he taketh away [removes]: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it [cleanse, kathy], that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean [kathy] through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. [same as grapes or roses]

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.

19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.

22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.

23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.

24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.

25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

Church Commodities Do Not Last - Part 2.Faith Alone Bears Fruit!

 

Nothing in a church building will do anything for the Christian Faith. The commodities do not last, so here is a brief list:

1. A building and land owned by a group of people.
2. Special seating.
3. Expensive clergy costumes and crowns (aka fish-hats).
4. A person or parson reading a script guaranteed to increase the numbers.
5. Food and beverages during the worship service.
6. Training in plagiarizing various ridiculous fads.
7. Earning a D.Min. in copying theories based on salesmanship and enthusiasm.

John 15 teaches what everyone ignores, ridicules, and rejects. Our little congregation will provide a lecture on this chapter - today at 11 AM.

Jesus is the True Vine. We only bear fruit in Him by clinging to the Vine.  

Church Commodities Do Not Last - Part 1

 

I started a list of famous flops, often quoted by their names alone, from the current stars down to the ancient disasters.

Joel Osteen is the most recent big star. He began falling apart when people questioned his faith in Christian doctrine. Anyone who saw a glimpse of his circus routine would anticipate the slow motion wreck to follow, a loud, gay, jazzy version of ELCA. No wonder the Glende-Ski WELS coalition had to rush down South for an Osteen entertainment event. Osteen is the commodity, and the "conservative" Lutherans soaked it up like floor-rags after a drinking party.

Glende-Ski continues, years later, with trying to be Unstuck, a commodity hilariously funny and bankrupt at the same time. I would enjoy the strategy parties where they figure out the next fad. "There's got to be a morning after," the paid singer warbled.

Robert Schuller started this, except for pioneers before him. Norman Vincent Peale - who plagiarized The Power of Positive Thinking - became the template for Boomers who wanted success rather than the cross. Schuller used Peale as the commodity, until Schuller himself became the nurturing Hour of Power commodity.

Lacking, until that special moment in time, was the thrill of being Rick Warren's Purpose Driven! - an offspring of Robert Schuller (though often denied). Wandering around after an insurance meeting, Christina and I saw a street sign - Purpose Driven. Could it be? - the elixir of of WELS, LCMS, ELCA and worse?!

"The Warrens planted Saddleback in 1980, pioneering a then-revolutionary method of starting a church that has since become the accepted model. He borrowed tricks from entrepreneurs and CEOs, using market research and census information to determine what a church specifically tailored to the needs of its community would look like."

Warren was a Babtist, we found out, as we parked the car and found a place to participate. How odd, we thought, as many also said, to hide his faith so spinelessly. Warren was having a "paid event," so we were not allowed. Christina told the doorman that I published a lot of articles on the topic, so we got in free. Warren told jokes and we slipped out as soon as we could.

Many people could add a few more names, which never seem to pop up and dissipate. I am including a graphic for all the Lutherans, who grovel before the super-stars. Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared for a few weeks in 1926. Her super-stardom faded away too.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Epiphany 2 - "To turn water into wine is to render the interpretation of the Law delightful."

 

Luther's Sermons - John 2:1-11.
THE CONSOLATION OF MARRIED PEOPLE AND THE GLORY OF THE MARRIED STATE. Second Sunday after Epiphany

III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS MARRIAGE.

22. In the third place, we must briefly touch upon the spiritual significance of the text. This marriage and every marriage signifies Christ, the true bridegroom, and Christendom, the bride; as the Gospel lesson of Matthew 22:1-14 sufficiently shows.

23. This marriage took place in Cana of Galilee; that is, Christendom began in the days of Christ among the Jewish people, and continues still among all who are like the Jews. The Jewish nation is called Cana, which signifies, zeal, because it diligently practiced the Law and zealously clung to the works of the Law, so that even the Gospel lessons always call the Jews zealots, and especially St. Paul in Romans 9 and Romans 10. It is natural too that wherever Law and good works are, there zeal will be and contention, one claiming to be better than the other, first of all, however, opposing faith which cares naught for works and boasts only of God’s grace. Now wherever Christ is there such zealots will always be, and his marriage must be at Zeal City, for you always find by the side of the Gospel and faith work-righteous people and Jewish zealots who quarrel with faith.

24. Galilee signifies border or the edge of the country, where you pass from one country into another. This signifies the same people in Zeal City who dwell between the Law and the Gospel, and ought to emigrate and pass from works to faith, from the Law into the Christian liberty; as some also have done, and now still do. But the greater part remain in their works and dwell on the border, achieving neither good works nor faith, shielding themselves behind the shine and glitter of works.

25. Christ’s being bidden to the marriage signifies that he was promised long ago in the Law and the prophets and is earnestly expected and invoked to turn water into wine, fulfill the Law and establish faith, and make true Galileans of us.

26. His disciples are bidden with him; for he is expected to be a great King, hence to need apostles and disciples in order to have his Word freely and fully preached everywhere. Likewise, his mother is the Christian church, taken from the Jews, who herself most of all belongs to the marriage, for Christ was really promised to the Jewish nation.

27. The six waterpots of stone, for the purification of the Jews, are the books of the Old Testament which by law and commandment made the Jewish people only outwardly pious and pure; for which reason the Evangelist says, they were set there after the Jews’ manner of purifying, as if to say: This signifies the purification by works without faith, which never purifies the heart, but only makes it more impure; which is a Jewish, not a Christian or spiritual purification.

28. There being six waterpots signifies the labor and toil which they who deal in works undergo in such purification; for the heart finds no rest in them, since the Sabbath, the seventh day, is wanting, in which we rest from our works and let God work in us. For there are six work-days, in which God created heaven and earth, and commanded us to labor. The seventh day is the day of rest, in which we are not to toil in the works of the Law, but to let God work in us by faith, while we remain quiet and enjoy a holiday from the labors of the Law.

29. The water in the pots is the contents and substance of the Law by which conscience is governed, and is graven in letters as in the waterpots of stone.

30. And they are of stone, as were the tables of Moses, signifying the stiffnecked people of the Jews. For as their heart is set against the Law, so the Law appears outwardly to be against them. It seems hard and difficult to them, and therefore it is hard and difficult; the reason in that their heart is hard and averse to the Law; we all find, feel and discover by experience that we are hard and averse to what is good, and soft and prone to what is evil. This the wicked do not feel, but those who long to be pious and labor exceedingly with their works. This is the significance of the two or three firkins apiece.

31. To turn water into wine is to render the interpretation of the Law delightful. This is done as follows: Before the Gospel arrives everyone understands the Law as demanding our works, that we must fulfill it with works of our own. This interpretation begets either hardened, presumptuous dissemblers and hypocrites, harder than any pot of stone, or timid, restless consciences. There remains nothing but water in the pot, fear and dread of God’s Judgment. This is the water-interpretation, not intended for drinking, neither filling any with delight; on the contrary, there is nothing to it but washing and purification, and yet no true inner cleansing. But the Gospel explains the Law, showing that it requires more than we can render, and that it demands a person different from ourselves to fulfill it; that is, it demands Christ and brings us unto him, so that first of all by his grace we are made in true faith a different people like unto Christ, and that then we do truly good works. Thus the right interpretation and significance of the law is to lead us to the knowledge of our helplessness, to drive us from ourselves to another, namely to Christ, to seek grace and help of him.