Title: Stay in me
Contents
John 15:1-7 abide in me
Fall is fast approaching. It is said that autumn leaves are already beautifully colored in the Rocky Mountains, including Banff and Kananaski. And here in Calgary, the autumn leaves are slowly changing. There are times when I feel lonely when I look at the leaves falling in the wind along with the autumn leaves. What's more, as we approach fall here in Calgary, we're like, "Oh, it's going to snow soon! How will you spend the long Calgary winter? Lord, help me not to get cold!” The prayer comes naturally.
But as autumn approaches, I think of this. “Yes, autumn is the season of fruits! It's time for the farmer to feel rewarded when the sweat and hard work he's worked so far has come to fruition! But how sad would it be if the farmer did not reap the fruits properly and produced no crops? If there were a lot of fruit, the winter would be warm... But if there were no fruit, the winter would feel colder!”
Gentlemen, we want to be fruitful. I wish your life to be prosperous. In a way, studying here in Canada is to get a lot of fruit in the future. And the reason I came here to immigrate is to get more good fruits than in Korea. This is because the winter of life can be lived more warmly and happily. A fruitless autumn, a fruitless life is just lonely.
But Jesus is teaching us the secret of bearing abundant fruit in today's text. “Abide in me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you are in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. This man bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).
Ladies and gentlemen, in today's text, Jesus is teaching us the secret of abundance, the secret of blessing, and the secret of bearing fruit so easily and so surely that even elementary school students can understand it. none other than, “Remain in me. stick to me don't leave me Get close to me.” Isn't it really natural for a branch to be attached to a tree in order to bear fruit? Likewise, we who are branches cannot bear fruit unless we remain attached to Jesus, who is the true vine.
However, the branches of the vine are attached naturally from the time the vine is formed, but since humans are human beings with free will, in order to be attached to Jesus, one's decisive determination and constant struggle are necessary. In other words, we have the will to abide in Jesus and the will to leave Jesus, but we have to make that choice. When we hear the words of Jesus, we say, “No, if Jesus is the vine and I am the branch, what am I going to do when I fall from the vine? Do you want me to die for nothing?” and will never fall off.
But it's really unfortunate. Even after hearing these words, there are many people who are very determined to leave Jesus and live their lives. They do not believe this word and say it. “Hey, even if you live apart from Jesus, you can live well.” Some say this. “Jesus, I am very busy right now. So, I will finish my busy work and go inside Jesus later.”
However, those who have met God through Jesus and those who have realized and experienced the truth will answer these words in their hearts. “Twitter, man, how can a branch live without a tree? No matter how beautiful a branch is, no matter how beautiful it blooms, once it falls from the tree, it doesn’t die soon enough.”
Today's text also says: “If a man does not abide in me, it is thrown out like a branch and withers away. People gather it and throw it into the fire, and it is burned up” (John 15:6). Perhaps, when the flowered branches are decorated in a beautiful shape in a vase, many people may feel embarrassed when they hear “Hey, that flower is beautiful.”
But do not forget. That praise and honor and glory is only for a very, very short time. Eventually, a branch that falls from a tree will wither no matter how hard you try. Praise dies, wealth dies, joy dies, hope dies, happiness dies. And people collect the dried branches like garbage and throw them into the fire to burn them up. In other words, life without Jesus itself is the beginning of unhappiness, giving up life and running towards death. And the end awaits the dreadful judgment of fire.
Of course, when you are young, you will want to leave Jesus and live independently. You would think that leaving Jesus would make you more free. It seems that you will be able to live a fruitful life even with your own efforts. However, the Bible prophesies the outcome of life after Jesus left us like this. “Apart from me you can do nothing.” That's right. This truth is our own confession. we confess “Apart from the Lord I can do nothing.”
he cried inwardly. “I can do anything. It’s okay if you leave God.” But suddenly one day he lost his sight and became blind. Then my beloved wife and children left, and the notification of permission to study in the United States became a piece of paper. He finally became a beggar. The shoeshine boy is begging for a few slices of bread, and he is in a miserable situation. Only then did he acknowledge the fact that apart from the Lord he could do nothing, and returned to the Lord's arms.
Folks, so are we. If we do not abide in the Lord who is the vine, we will wither away. The soul is dried up, the values are dried up, and life is messed up. Eventually, they are thrown out and thrown into the fire to be burned. Therefore, we must clarify our identity as branches. “No matter what happens, I, the branch, must not be separated from the Lord who is the vine.”
Guys, don't be overconfident of yourself. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself. A branch is just a branch. The life of a branch is not in the branch, but in the original tree. A branch can never exist independently, but it is attached to the original tree and must be continuously supplied with nutrients to bear fruit. It seems so boring and entangled that the branches are attached to the tree, so if you leave the tree for a while, it means death. It means curse.
Of course, worldly science, worldly philosophy, and worldly friends can live freely without Jesus. Rather, they say that life becomes more interesting when you leave Jesus. But is that really the case? One day there was a hungry fox. The fox roamed around in search of food. The fox came to the pond. I saw a group of small fish playing in the pond.
The fox grinned and shouted at the fish: "Everyone, fish brothers! How frustrated are you to be trapped in a pond? Please be brave and run out. You are so free here. How dangerous is it to be in it? Big fish are trying to eat you, And sometimes you get caught in the fishermen's nets?
Guys, what would happen if the fish heard that and jumped out of the pond? Why don't you get eaten by a fox? Won't you suffocate and die again? Fish have to live in water. The same is true. For God's people, everything must be done in God and in God's will. Never forget. Branches must not fall from the tree.
In Genesis 13 of the Old Testament, Abraham and his nephew Lot choose each other's paths over the land in front of them. Then Lot sees the world through the eyes of the flesh. In his eyes, the land of Sodom and Gomorrah is very rich and prosperous. It looked like paradise on earth. Lot didn't care that the people living in the city were wicked people who had turned away from God. I just thought that if I emigrated to such a prosperous city, I would be happy.
However, how is the end of Lot's departure from God described after some time has passed? Wasn't the gold and silver treasure that Lot worked so hard to gather in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when a volcano erupted and everyone was burned and drowned in the ash? And didn't his wife become a pillar of salt and die while looking sadly at her property that was burning? Moreover, when the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah lost their husbands due to God's judgment, didn't his two daughters drink alcohol with their father Lot and slept with them, giving birth to the seed of misfortune, the Moab and Ammonites?
When we first left God, we were so elated and confident, but in the end, wasn't this the end of our life apart from God? On the other hand, Abraham held on to the word of God. Of course, for a while, it seemed to be suffering without any fruit. But when the time came, didn't God grant him the blessing of soul and body, give him the title of 'father of faith', and make Jesus Christ be born as his descendant and become the father of all people?
If you abide in Jesus, you will eventually bear fruit. It's not because I'm good, but because I get the essence from Jesus. Of course, in order for a branch to stick to a tree, it takes a long time, not a short time of a day or two. In other words, being in Jesus has a lasting meaning. In other words, it takes persevering faith to abide in Jesus.
Since the fruit is not a process, it is a general settlement, so you should never make a hasty midterm settlement. Usually, when you see a person who leaves Jesus in the midst of a good life of faith, it is because they do not have the faith to endure. In particular, Koreans are impatient, so they want things to be done quickly. They want to see good results right away, and they want to bear fruit quickly.
But bearing fruit should not be so hasty. A vine must grow to some degree in order to bear fruit. And when spring comes, buds and flowers should bloom. Sometimes rain and wind can blow hard. The locusts may also sneak in. However, no matter how windy and windy it may be, the locusts should not leave the vine. The branch should be with the vine, life and death.
Sometimes we have to be separated from our beloved parents and siblings to come to this foreign land. But we, the branches, can never be separated from Jesus who became the vine. This is our unchanging confession of faith. I hope that this confession of faith will become a confession of all of us. So in the end, I pray that you will receive the sap from Jesus, who became the vine, and bear abundant fruit, so that you can live warmer and happier in the cold Calgary winter.