Mid-Week Lenten Vespers. March 19, 2014

Mid-Week Lenten Vespers

March 19, 2014

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central

The Hymn #347   Jesus, Priceless Treasure            2:77     
The Order of Vespers                                             p. 41

The Psalmody                  Psalm 22                              
The Lection                            The Passion History

The Sermon Hymn #175            When I Survey            2:43  

The Sermon –   Growth and Adiaphora

 
The Prayers

The Lord’s Prayer

The Collect for Grace                                            p. 45

The Hymn #558               All Praise             2:8

KJV John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean 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. 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.

KJV John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

This is a beautiful passage, especially for those who know about pruning. Although most of us do not grow grapes, roses respond to the same kind of care.

Thus there are two meanings for pruning in gardening and in this sermon by Jesus.

For a rose bush, pruning has two main applications. The first one is to remove all harmful growth and dead branches. Newbies do not understand that the plant material they love on their roses is keeping the plant from doing its best. The rose may survive their lack of knowledge, but it will not thrive.

Grape vines are similar. So when diseased plant material or dead wood is pruned away. It is not left on the ground, where it will contribute to diseased. It is gathered, removed, and burned.

Plants want to go to seed. They were created by the Word to have this goal. Flowering leads to fruiting and fruiting produces the seed. Once the seed is matured, the plant wants to become dormant. 

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

Jesus said this kind of pruning (cleansing) is to make us fruitful. We can see that on our favorite rose bushes. When the flowers are cut from the bush, new growth starts to form new branches and buds.

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.

Here is the essence of the Christian faith, as taught throughout the Scriptures and practiced in the Christian Church. Believers are to remain with Christ to bear fruit. If they do not, they will wither and die spiritually.

Someone can be "in church" and wither away. The entire congregation can wither away spiritually, because they do not receive the Gospel. Luther even warned that an entire nation can be lost from false doctrine, which begins with one point of doctrine. 

But in contrast, if they remain in the Means of Grace, they produce abundant fruit.

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.

Jesus sermons are so simple yet profound, as each verse takes the message to another level in the most basic language possible.

We are simply branches of that living Body, formed by Christ. Detached from it, we die spiritually. Apart from it, no matter how outwardly successful we might seem, we are doing nothing. 

Here is the warning verse, if it were not clear enough already - 

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.

This is followed by a much longer section of Promise -

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.

If anyone wants to know how to grow in Christ, here is the passage. Dwell in Christ. Dwell in His Words. Live in them. Remember them. Repeat them in giving spiritual advice. Pray with these Promises in mind. They are all grace, given to sinners to keep their fruitful, to keep them from withering away on their own.

Mid-Week Lenten Worship. John 15:1-10. The True Vine and Adiaphora

Mid-Week Lenten Vespers

Pastor Gregory L. Jackson

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bethany-lutheran-worship

Bethany Lutheran Worship, 7 PM Central

The Hymn #347   Jesus, Priceless Treasure            2:77     
The Order of Vespers                                             p. 41

The Psalmody                   Psalm                         p. 123
The Lection                            The Passion History

The Sermon Hymn #175            When I Survey            2:43  

The Sermon –   Growth and Adiaphora

 
The Prayers

The Lord’s Prayer

The Collect for Grace                                            p. 45

The Hymn #558               All Praise             2:8

KJV John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean 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. 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.

Growth and Adiaphora

Spring is a good time to speak about Jesus as the True Vine.

The Bible is filled with Creation metaphors, which are impossible to forget. The Song of the Vineyard is from Isaiah.

KJV Isaiah 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. 8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9 In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. 10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.

The Kingdom of God is compared to yeast growing in dough, a treasure buried in a field, the pearl of great price, and seed being sown.

The more we learn about Creation, the more we understand about these comparisons.

Today’s consultants would like people to think that all growth is good, but Jesus spoke of bad growth as well as good growth.

Good leaven leavens dough but evil leaven ruins it. “Beware the leaven of the Pharisees.”

Crops flower, fruit, and go to seed to feed people – but tares sown among the good seeds will also grow.

When the sower casts the seed around, the good  seed starts to grow, but weeds also grow and choke the good growth.

In the parable of the True Vine, the growth and fruiting of the Vine are good, but the Vine must be pruned – first with cleansing ( justification by faith ),  secondly by cutting off and gathering up the deadwood, which impedes the good growth.

I want to address this in terms of adiaphora ( matters of indifference ). This term was used because the Lutherans were forced to compromise after Emperor Charles V took over Germany after he was done whooping the Muslim forces.

The Lutherans agreed that many matters are adiaphora and not doctrinal by themselves. Worship varies in many ways. Practices vary, too.

One is not superior over the other when no issue of doctrine is involved.

However, this has been used to excuse a complete abandonment of the Gospel in the name of “growth” because people like wolf-preaching, as Luther calls it.

Wolf-preaching takes place when ministers shape their message to please the congregation by avoiding what the Word of God teaches. Worse than that, the Word of God is turned upside-down to make the message appealing to as many as possible.

One current example is having everyone bring in a favorite object (football, computer keyboard) and fuse it to a frame and call it a Lenten cross. This is the sort of “artwork” that Picasso did, long ago, and it was clever in its own way. But the cross is not clever artwork or appealing to the senses. It is not an object that makes us focus on ourselves and our hobbies, but on what Christ has suffered and done for us.

No matter how this is justified, it is another step in trivializing the Gospel of Christ. An ancient Lutheran said to me, “They call so many things adiaphora that nothing is left.”

Here are some things not mandated as such by the Scriptures – the exact form of worship, including the Creeds, the hymns, the garments worn by ministers, church decorations, the name of the denomination.

But this part is funny, bizarre, or sad – The reason for dumping so many things is the absolute rule (from Fuller and Willowcreek) that the name Lutheran, the liturgy, the creeds, the hymns, and formal wear must be jettisoned to having a “growing” church. The pipe organ must be removed! (Matter of indifference – not). They MUST have a praise band, etc.

For a gardener like me, this is say, “We have to grow weeds now because the crops are too much trouble and do not give us as many seeds. And weeds grow with rain or without. By golly, they take over.” And they do.

Here is the adiaphora section in the Formula of Concord that these Emergent Church types (Willowcreek, CrossWalk, CrossRoads, The CORE, Grace Point) never quote – my wording –

We dare not give up anything when it is under attack, because that would be compromising with false doctrine.

Formula of Concord, Article 10, Solid Declaration

http://bookofconcord.org/sd-adiaphora.php

15] Likewise, the article concerning Christian liberty also is here at stake, which the Holy Ghost through the mouth of the holy apostle so earnestly charged His Church to preserve, as we have just heard. For as soon as this is weakened and the ordinances of men [human traditions] are forced upon the Church with coercion, as though it were wrong and a sin to omit them, the way is already prepared for idolatry, and by this means ordinances of men [human traditions] are afterwards multiplied and regarded as a divine worship, not only equal to the ordinances of God, but are even placed above them.

16] Moreover, by such [untimely] yielding and conformity in external things, where there has not been previously Christian union in doctrine, idolaters are confirmed in their idolatry; on the other hand, the true believers are grieved, offended, and weakened in their faith [their faith is grievously shaken, and made to totter as though by a battering-ram]; both of which every Christian for the sake of his soul's welfare and salvation is bound to avoid, as it is written: Woe unto the world because of offenses! Also: Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea [Matt. 18:6, 7].

So, the point of this article is NOT identifying with false teachers, even in the most minor matters of indifference, especially when forced upon people, as if by law – “it’s the only way we can grow.”

On the positive side –

The liturgy goes back to the Old Testament and the Apostolic Church. We must go a long way to prove that the Word-centered, Means of Grace oriented liturgy is bad for people.

The Creeds are inherent in the Scriptures, because we have creeds embedded in the Epistles and doubtless in Revelation, too. Hymns and confessions of faith are parallel – poetic, easily memorized, and concise.

The Creeds of man are good because they gather our witness to the Word of God, to clarify what we believe and practice. As one observer said, the church that gets rid of the creeds will soon get rid of the Scriptures as well.

Hymns are Christ-centered, while pop Christian music is me-centered. One song even mocked the other songs, with the group singing, “Give me this, give me that” as Christian Contemporary Music.

Jazzing up a good hymn is a way of saying, “Look at us. Listen to us.” Music should direct us to the Savior, not the performer.

Why must I wear jeans to be relevant as a minister? Must they be wrinkled, too? That is another way of saying, “The Word is not effective, but identifying with the youth is effective. They will listen to the jeans.” Jesus parable says, “They have the Word.” But the false teacher, like the rich man in the Lazarus parable says, “But if only someone preached in wrinkled jeans and a faded shirt! They would listen to me!”

Likewise, a congregation invites people with the Gospel with carnivals, pizza events, and block parties. Nothing says justification by faith like an inflatable bounce house.

How we speak about the Gospel says a lot about how much we treasure the salvation given to us through faith. If we trust man’s methods rather than God’s Word, then we demean the Gospel as something captured and used by man ( for carnal security) rather than a treasure owned and given by God alone.

People make this so difficult, when John 15 simply teaches – abide in the True Vine. There you will find forgiveness and fruitfulness. Whatever you pray for in My Name, I will give you, because that will glorify God.

The Gospel begins and ends with God, for our spiritual benefit.

Controversy Makes Us Fruitful - John 15:1ff.

The True Vine, by Norma Boeckler

KJV John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean 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.

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.

***

This sermon by Jesus is unique to John's Gospel and well worth studying in depth. The reader must know a little bit about gardening to grasp the basic meaning. A grape vine, like roses and many other plants, must be pruned (purged) to make it fruitful. And dead wood must be removed to keep it actively growing. Dead wood is not simply cut off and left around the plant, but gathered, removed, and burned, since plant cuttings can foster disease when left to decay.

There is a double use of pruning here. One is the removal of all those who do not remain in Christ through the Means of Grace. The other meaning is the forgiveness of sins.

Newbie rose growers do not understand their plants. They are too timid in pruning, if they do it at all. They say, "I do not want to hurt the plant." If the rose actually blooms under their uninformed care, they let the rose set seed, making the rose even more reluctant to bloom again. The plant was created to flower, fruit, and set seed. Mission accomplished - back to sleep.

Newbie rose growers do not cut away the dead wood on a rose plant. Those dead stems and errant branches simply take away from the vitality of the plant, evolved created to give us fruit like rose hips or stunning flowers.

The only way a rose is going to bloom is on the plant. And we bear fruit for the Kingdom by remaining with Christ through the Means of Grace.

We are also pruned, that is, cleansed through the forgiveness given to us daily through faith in Christ.

Sincere faith, as Luther wrote, means we will necessarily confess that truth, no matter what. And that always leads to trouble, from the shunning of family and friends to the Satanic anger of district officials.

But this extra study, this confession of truth, and the buffeting from the great and wise of the visible church - all contribute to making us more fruitful.

The Book of Concord is boring and irrelevant - to boring and irrelevant parsons, who spend more time at the gym than they do in visitation.

But the Book of Concord is a treasure-trove of spiritual wisdom for those who want to know the truth of the Scriptures.

The Book of Concord is our best Bible-study book, one that gives all honor to God's Word rather than the institutions of man - "I am surprised that you have abandoned the clear teaching of our synod on UOJ."