Christ is the vine and we are the branches.
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series V, Cycle B
Theme For The Day: The life of faith, begun in baptism, remains alive if we stay close to Christ. Christ is the vine and we are the branches.
BRIEF COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 8:26--40 (C, E)
Philip is instructed by an angel to go to the road that leads from Jerusalem past Gaza down to Egypt. On the road he encounters an Ethiopian official, the steward of the queen's treasury. He is traveling along in a chariot and reading the Old Testament, Isaiah 53. He was either a proselyte of the Jewish faith, one who was circumcised and accepted the whole of Jewish law, or he was a God--fearer, which means that he wasn't circumcised or baptized but he read the Hebrew scriptures and adhered to the moral principles of the Jewish religion. Philip runs up alongside the chariot and asks the official if he knows what he is reading. The official is puzzled by the identity of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Philip sits alongside him and explains how Christ fulfills the Hebrew Scriptures. The official is won to Christ and asks to be baptized in a body of water near them. When the official comes up out of the water, Philip is spirited off to another place, Azotus. The new convert continues his journey, rejoicing. Many feel that he was the person who first missionized the Ethiopian people.
Lesson 1: Acts 9:26--31 (RC)
After his conversion, Paul gets himself in trouble by boldly preaching Christ. His enemies plot to kill him and so his disciples let him down in a basket from an opening in the city wall. Paul travels to Jerusalem, where the church greets him with suspicion. Barnabas vouches for Paul, which makes him accepted by the church. The apostle makes enemies amongst the Hellenistic Jews, who want to kill him. Fellow believers spirit him off to Tarsus, his birthplace. Meanwhile, the church continues to prosper and grow.
Lesson 2: 1 John 4:7--21 (C)
John urges the believers to love one another because God is the source of love. Whoever loves, knows God, but the reverse is true as well. God's love is shown in the sending of his Son, which ought to be the inspiration for our love. The invisible God becomes visible in us when we live in love.
Lesson 2: 1 John 3:18--24 (RC); 1 John 3:(14--17) 18--24 (E)
(See Easter 4)
Gospel: John 15:1--8 (C, RC)
The relationship of the believer to Christ is compared to the relationship of the branches to the trunk of the vine. Just as the branches derive their existence from the trunk of the vine, so believers receive their life from Christ. The object of the believer's existence is to bear fruit (the works of love). A note of judgment is also sounded; those who do not bear fruit are pruned from the vine and burned (v. 6). We can do nothing good or of eternal consequence if we do not remain close to Christ.
Gospel: John 14:15--21 (E)
If the believer loves God by keeping his commandments, Christ will ask the Father to send to them the Counselor, the Holy Spirit.
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 22:25--31 (C) - "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord..." (v. 27).
Psalm 21 (RC)
Psalm 66:1--11 (E)
Prayer Of The Day
O God, form the minds of your faithful people into a single will. Make us love what you command and desire what you promise, that amid all the changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joy is found. Amen.
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 8:26--40
The treasurer finds true treasure. The eunuch was treasurer for the Candace, the queen of Ethiopia (Candace is a title, not a name). Yet he was looking for something more in life and was attracted by the Jewish religion. Still he was searching for more. As he read Isaiah 53, God answered his prayers by sending Philip to explain the gospel to him. After being baptized he then possessed the true treasure, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Spiritual guides (vv. 31--32). When Philip reached the Ethiopian official and he was reading the Bible, Philip asked if he understood what he read. He replied, "How can I unless someone guides me?" Philip proceeded to interpret scripture in light of the Christ event. Before long, everything fell into place for the official and he was ready to commit his life to Christ and be baptized. It never would have happened had God not sent the official a spiritual guide.
Christ is the key. The Ethiopian could not clearly understand the Bible without knowing about Christ. Philip was able to supply the key, Christ, that enabled the eunuch rightly to understand scripture and respond in faith. The Word can only be understood when one personally encounters the Word Incarnate.
On his way rejoicing (v. 39). After the official was baptized, Philip vanished and he went on his way rejoicing. And why shouldn't he? He had been reborn; as he came out of the waters he was a new person. As Christ's baptized disciples, are we going on our way rejoicing?
Lesson 2: 1 John 4:7--21
This is love. Many people spend their lives looking for love but they probably wouldn't know real love if it stared them in the face. John is telling us: You want to know what love is? This is love, "not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin" (v. 10).
Beloved. John employs this address time and again. The very form by which he addressed the church reminded them that they were the objects of God's love, that they were precious in God's sight.
The circle of love. John states that if we love one another, "God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us" (v. 12). The word perfect connotes a sense of completion. If God is the source of love, and Jesus is the conveyor of that love and we are the recipients of that love, then to complete the circle of God's love we must share God's love with one another. As the old Bible school song says, "The circle of love goes around, the circle of love goes around, reach out your hand, someone needs you. The circle of love goes around."
Gospel: John 15:1--8
Pruned but not cut off (v. 2). There's a difference between cutting and pruning. To cut is to remove and destroy. Pruning is to cut off certain unproductive parts of the vine so as to stimulate further growth. The word for pruning is the same as for cleansing. When we confess our sins and God prunes them, our soul becomes cleansed. God may have to prune us to produce greater fruitfulness.
Jesus is the vine. In Old Testament imagery the Jewish people are the vine. Isaiah says that the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:1--7). Ezekiel also likened the nation to a vine (Ezekiel 15; 19:10). Other passages could be cited as well. Jesus is claiming here that he is the true or authentic vine, not Israel. The Jews believed that the way to stay alive spiritually was to keep in close contact with their ethnic and spiritual identity. "Not so," says Jesus, "I am the true vine." To stay alive spiritually you must adhere to Christ, you must be grafted into the true vine. To be a child of Abraham will not, by itself, save a person. To merely partake of the rituals will not give you life. Only in Christ will our lives prove fruitful.
Hang close. Jesus tells us in this passage that to be fruitfully alive we must hang close to Christ, the source and conduit of our spiritual existence. We hang close through an active prayer and worship life. Hanging close to Christ, the trunk of the vine, also means that we hang close to those other clusters of disciples. Hanging close means living in community with Christ and other Christians.
SERMON APPROACHES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
Lesson 1: Acts 8:26--40
Sermon Title: A Company Of Angels
Sermon Angle: Philip ran down toward Gaza at the instigation of an angel. The Greek word for angel (angelos) also means "messenger." In the past five to ten years there has been a surge of interest in angels. Numerous folks claim to have had brushes with angels where the heavenly being saved them or delivered a message to them. In our story the angel was a messenger and so was Philip. Actually, all of God's people are messengers. We belong to a company of angels.
Outline:
1. There's been much interest of late in angels. (Share an angel story.)
2. We find an angel in our First Lesson. (Explain his role.)
3. The word "angel" means messenger. Philip was also an angel (messenger).
4. Philip communicated to the Ethiopian the gospel of Christ.
5. The Ethiopian received the message of Christ and was baptized.
6. To whom are we going as angel messengers?
Sermon Title: Interpreters Of The Word
Sermon Angle: For many people the Word of God is something of an enigma. The thought forms, the history and the manner of speech seems foreign to them. Until we are well versed on the Scriptures, we need others to help us interpret and understand. The problem comes from the fact that many so--called interpreters of the Word of Truth represent some narrow or sectarian point of view. The world needs interpreters who will translate the gospel against the backdrop of God's entire Word. Too many distortions derive from taking one or two passages out of content. Those who do this treat the Word of God not as a text but as a pretext for their own brand of religious philosophy. Of course, the key to unlocking the riches of the scriptures is the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ. The role of the preacher is to help people understand the meaning of God's Word for their own lives so that they might commit or recommit their lives to Christ.
Outline:
1. The Ethiopian needed an interpreter so that he might understand God's Word.
2. Philip interpreted the meaning of scripture to him, using these principles:
- He started with the man's present question (v. 34).
- He interpreted that passage in light of the whole of Scripture.
- Christ was the key to unlocking the mystery of the Word.
- He led him to commitment.
3. The Ethiopian rejoiced that he understood and received the Word (v. 39).
Lesson 2: 1 John 4:7--21
Sermon Title: Love Child
Sermon Angle: Many young people turn to violence because they perceive that they are nobody's love child. They know that they were not conceived in love and that nobody really cares for them as their own dear child. When it comes to our second birth, we are all love children; we are God's love child. We are born not only because of love but for love. We are God's love child. John states that the sign that points to our identity as God's child is that we love (v. 7).
Outline:
1. It is a great sorrow to be born for any other reason than as an expression of love.
2. No matter the circumstances of our birth, we are God's love child.
3. God's Son was born out of God's love for the world (v. 10).
4. In Christ, we are God's love child.
5. Let us show that we are God's beloved child by loving others (vv. 11--12).
__________
It seems that if we don't find ourselves in a family, a church or a community that truly loves and values us, we will fall prey for whatever substitutes are available. Street gangs are a self--destructive form of belonging, yet many will choose this option to not belonging at all. These young men, largely devoid of faith, love and spiritual values, see violence as a way of coping with what they regard as a loveless and Godless universe. Listen to Maurice, a New York street gang member.
"I believe the universe came together with, like, one big bang, man. I don't believe in God, man...I also believe that the human race are like pestilent aliens...You know, I don't have words for it, man, but, like _______ {Expletive deleted} man, it's like you, it's like me; we're individuals raised from evolution of the earth and time. That's all there is, man, time and span.
"So I'm like, into partying my life away into a higher existence, man. {Laughs.} Cause we all gonna die one day anyway, and there's no hell and no heaven, right. We all gonna die anyway." (Excerpt from The Search For Meaning by Philip L. Berman.)
Sermon Title: The Circle Of Love
Sermon Angle: God cannot love apart from us. It's true! Love, by its very definition, needs an object. If God is love, God must have someone to love. God's love began when he created us in his image. However, God's love is shown most powerfully in the sending of his Son. Love begins with God, who reaches out to us and makes his home in us. However, that love is not perfect (complete) until God's love is beamed back to him through actions of love toward others. His love is then perfected in us (v. 12), making the circle of God's love complete. (See also the Theological Reflection On The Lessons).
Outline:
1. One cannot love in solitude - love requires an object, another person.
2. God cannot love without us - the objects of his love.
3. Love is a circle - begins with God, goes to us, through us to others and then back to its Source.
4. Keep the circle of love going round.
Gospel: John 15:1--8
Sermon Title: We Stand Connected
Sermon Angle: It's happened to us all. We make an erroneous statement and somebody else chimes in. "Sorry, but you're mistaken...." We respond: "Sorry, I stand corrected." Through Jesus' resurrection we rise (stand up) to newness of life. In communion with Christ and the community of the faithful, we stay standing if we stand connected, just as the grape branches stay standing and fruitful if they stand closely connected to the vine trunk. If we stay connected to Christ and the church, God promises that we will stand eternally in his presence.
Outline:
1. The vine branches stay standing alive and fruitful when connected to the trunk.
2. We can't stand vibrant and fruitful by ourselves but only if we stand close to Christ.
3. How do we stand close?
- Receive and share God's love (v. 9). (Prayer, worship, sacraments.)
- Keep his commandments (v. 10).
Sermon Title: An Old--Fashioned Word For A New Day
Sermon Angle: The word abide seems as old--fashioned to our ears as thee or thou, though it is sometimes employed in legal affairs. Not only does this word sound old but its meaning seems old--fashioned to millions of moderns. Abide means to live, to stay, remain, continue, be faithful....Well, you get the drift. We're not into abiding these days. We're into rising to the top, we're into going places. The concept of abiding seems boring to modern ears. Yet how many hearts could have remained unbroken, how many marriages could have been saved and how many people could have been kept from spiritual shipwreck if only there had been more abiding. Abiding in Christ is the necessary prerequisite for all other kinds of abiding. Abide: we need this old--fashioned word for this new day.
Outline:
1. Abide is an old--fashioned word.
2. Even the meaning of the word seems old--fashioned. (Explain.)
3. Yet countless lives have been injured by not abiding.
4. Abiding means to make Christ and his life our abode and to be faithful to our commitments.
Sermon Title: Understanding The Branch Church
Sermon Angle: Using the vine analogy, the church has three kinds of branches among its members. There are the branches that bear plentiful fruit of the Spirit (v. 8). These are ready for harvesting. There are the branches that bear a little fruit. They require severe pruning (v. 2). Finally, there are those branches that are dead; these produce no fruit at all because they have shriveled from the vine (v. 2). These need to be severed from the trunk and burned as useless (v. 6). However, it remains sometimes difficult to distinguish these last two types. It is best first to attempt to bring all branches to fruitfulness through pruning (cleansing) and cultivation. A fourth type of branch remains; these are supporting branches. They don't appear to possess much fruit themselves but they support those branches that are more productive in fruiting. These branches need to be nourished and appreciated for their vital function.
Outline:
1. List the four different kinds of branches.
2. Look at worship stats, giving, and involvement to see how many of your congregants fall into the respective categories.
- What kind of branch church are you?
- What kind of a branch are you in your church?
3. How can we move, as a congregation, to greater fruitfulness?
BRIEF COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 8:26--40 (C, E)
Philip is instructed by an angel to go to the road that leads from Jerusalem past Gaza down to Egypt. On the road he encounters an Ethiopian official, the steward of the queen's treasury. He is traveling along in a chariot and reading the Old Testament, Isaiah 53. He was either a proselyte of the Jewish faith, one who was circumcised and accepted the whole of Jewish law, or he was a God--fearer, which means that he wasn't circumcised or baptized but he read the Hebrew scriptures and adhered to the moral principles of the Jewish religion. Philip runs up alongside the chariot and asks the official if he knows what he is reading. The official is puzzled by the identity of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. Philip sits alongside him and explains how Christ fulfills the Hebrew Scriptures. The official is won to Christ and asks to be baptized in a body of water near them. When the official comes up out of the water, Philip is spirited off to another place, Azotus. The new convert continues his journey, rejoicing. Many feel that he was the person who first missionized the Ethiopian people.
Lesson 1: Acts 9:26--31 (RC)
After his conversion, Paul gets himself in trouble by boldly preaching Christ. His enemies plot to kill him and so his disciples let him down in a basket from an opening in the city wall. Paul travels to Jerusalem, where the church greets him with suspicion. Barnabas vouches for Paul, which makes him accepted by the church. The apostle makes enemies amongst the Hellenistic Jews, who want to kill him. Fellow believers spirit him off to Tarsus, his birthplace. Meanwhile, the church continues to prosper and grow.
Lesson 2: 1 John 4:7--21 (C)
John urges the believers to love one another because God is the source of love. Whoever loves, knows God, but the reverse is true as well. God's love is shown in the sending of his Son, which ought to be the inspiration for our love. The invisible God becomes visible in us when we live in love.
Lesson 2: 1 John 3:18--24 (RC); 1 John 3:(14--17) 18--24 (E)
(See Easter 4)
Gospel: John 15:1--8 (C, RC)
The relationship of the believer to Christ is compared to the relationship of the branches to the trunk of the vine. Just as the branches derive their existence from the trunk of the vine, so believers receive their life from Christ. The object of the believer's existence is to bear fruit (the works of love). A note of judgment is also sounded; those who do not bear fruit are pruned from the vine and burned (v. 6). We can do nothing good or of eternal consequence if we do not remain close to Christ.
Gospel: John 14:15--21 (E)
If the believer loves God by keeping his commandments, Christ will ask the Father to send to them the Counselor, the Holy Spirit.
Psalm Of The Day
Psalm 22:25--31 (C) - "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord..." (v. 27).
Psalm 21 (RC)
Psalm 66:1--11 (E)
Prayer Of The Day
O God, form the minds of your faithful people into a single will. Make us love what you command and desire what you promise, that amid all the changes of this world our hearts may be fixed where true joy is found. Amen.
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Acts 8:26--40
The treasurer finds true treasure. The eunuch was treasurer for the Candace, the queen of Ethiopia (Candace is a title, not a name). Yet he was looking for something more in life and was attracted by the Jewish religion. Still he was searching for more. As he read Isaiah 53, God answered his prayers by sending Philip to explain the gospel to him. After being baptized he then possessed the true treasure, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Spiritual guides (vv. 31--32). When Philip reached the Ethiopian official and he was reading the Bible, Philip asked if he understood what he read. He replied, "How can I unless someone guides me?" Philip proceeded to interpret scripture in light of the Christ event. Before long, everything fell into place for the official and he was ready to commit his life to Christ and be baptized. It never would have happened had God not sent the official a spiritual guide.
Christ is the key. The Ethiopian could not clearly understand the Bible without knowing about Christ. Philip was able to supply the key, Christ, that enabled the eunuch rightly to understand scripture and respond in faith. The Word can only be understood when one personally encounters the Word Incarnate.
On his way rejoicing (v. 39). After the official was baptized, Philip vanished and he went on his way rejoicing. And why shouldn't he? He had been reborn; as he came out of the waters he was a new person. As Christ's baptized disciples, are we going on our way rejoicing?
Lesson 2: 1 John 4:7--21
This is love. Many people spend their lives looking for love but they probably wouldn't know real love if it stared them in the face. John is telling us: You want to know what love is? This is love, "not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sin" (v. 10).
Beloved. John employs this address time and again. The very form by which he addressed the church reminded them that they were the objects of God's love, that they were precious in God's sight.
The circle of love. John states that if we love one another, "God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us" (v. 12). The word perfect connotes a sense of completion. If God is the source of love, and Jesus is the conveyor of that love and we are the recipients of that love, then to complete the circle of God's love we must share God's love with one another. As the old Bible school song says, "The circle of love goes around, the circle of love goes around, reach out your hand, someone needs you. The circle of love goes around."
Gospel: John 15:1--8
Pruned but not cut off (v. 2). There's a difference between cutting and pruning. To cut is to remove and destroy. Pruning is to cut off certain unproductive parts of the vine so as to stimulate further growth. The word for pruning is the same as for cleansing. When we confess our sins and God prunes them, our soul becomes cleansed. God may have to prune us to produce greater fruitfulness.
Jesus is the vine. In Old Testament imagery the Jewish people are the vine. Isaiah says that the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel (Isaiah 5:1--7). Ezekiel also likened the nation to a vine (Ezekiel 15; 19:10). Other passages could be cited as well. Jesus is claiming here that he is the true or authentic vine, not Israel. The Jews believed that the way to stay alive spiritually was to keep in close contact with their ethnic and spiritual identity. "Not so," says Jesus, "I am the true vine." To stay alive spiritually you must adhere to Christ, you must be grafted into the true vine. To be a child of Abraham will not, by itself, save a person. To merely partake of the rituals will not give you life. Only in Christ will our lives prove fruitful.
Hang close. Jesus tells us in this passage that to be fruitfully alive we must hang close to Christ, the source and conduit of our spiritual existence. We hang close through an active prayer and worship life. Hanging close to Christ, the trunk of the vine, also means that we hang close to those other clusters of disciples. Hanging close means living in community with Christ and other Christians.
SERMON APPROACHES WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
Lesson 1: Acts 8:26--40
Sermon Title: A Company Of Angels
Sermon Angle: Philip ran down toward Gaza at the instigation of an angel. The Greek word for angel (angelos) also means "messenger." In the past five to ten years there has been a surge of interest in angels. Numerous folks claim to have had brushes with angels where the heavenly being saved them or delivered a message to them. In our story the angel was a messenger and so was Philip. Actually, all of God's people are messengers. We belong to a company of angels.
Outline:
1. There's been much interest of late in angels. (Share an angel story.)
2. We find an angel in our First Lesson. (Explain his role.)
3. The word "angel" means messenger. Philip was also an angel (messenger).
4. Philip communicated to the Ethiopian the gospel of Christ.
5. The Ethiopian received the message of Christ and was baptized.
6. To whom are we going as angel messengers?
Sermon Title: Interpreters Of The Word
Sermon Angle: For many people the Word of God is something of an enigma. The thought forms, the history and the manner of speech seems foreign to them. Until we are well versed on the Scriptures, we need others to help us interpret and understand. The problem comes from the fact that many so--called interpreters of the Word of Truth represent some narrow or sectarian point of view. The world needs interpreters who will translate the gospel against the backdrop of God's entire Word. Too many distortions derive from taking one or two passages out of content. Those who do this treat the Word of God not as a text but as a pretext for their own brand of religious philosophy. Of course, the key to unlocking the riches of the scriptures is the Word Made Flesh, Jesus Christ. The role of the preacher is to help people understand the meaning of God's Word for their own lives so that they might commit or recommit their lives to Christ.
Outline:
1. The Ethiopian needed an interpreter so that he might understand God's Word.
2. Philip interpreted the meaning of scripture to him, using these principles:
- He started with the man's present question (v. 34).
- He interpreted that passage in light of the whole of Scripture.
- Christ was the key to unlocking the mystery of the Word.
- He led him to commitment.
3. The Ethiopian rejoiced that he understood and received the Word (v. 39).
Lesson 2: 1 John 4:7--21
Sermon Title: Love Child
Sermon Angle: Many young people turn to violence because they perceive that they are nobody's love child. They know that they were not conceived in love and that nobody really cares for them as their own dear child. When it comes to our second birth, we are all love children; we are God's love child. We are born not only because of love but for love. We are God's love child. John states that the sign that points to our identity as God's child is that we love (v. 7).
Outline:
1. It is a great sorrow to be born for any other reason than as an expression of love.
2. No matter the circumstances of our birth, we are God's love child.
3. God's Son was born out of God's love for the world (v. 10).
4. In Christ, we are God's love child.
5. Let us show that we are God's beloved child by loving others (vv. 11--12).
__________
It seems that if we don't find ourselves in a family, a church or a community that truly loves and values us, we will fall prey for whatever substitutes are available. Street gangs are a self--destructive form of belonging, yet many will choose this option to not belonging at all. These young men, largely devoid of faith, love and spiritual values, see violence as a way of coping with what they regard as a loveless and Godless universe. Listen to Maurice, a New York street gang member.
"I believe the universe came together with, like, one big bang, man. I don't believe in God, man...I also believe that the human race are like pestilent aliens...You know, I don't have words for it, man, but, like _______ {Expletive deleted} man, it's like you, it's like me; we're individuals raised from evolution of the earth and time. That's all there is, man, time and span.
"So I'm like, into partying my life away into a higher existence, man. {Laughs.} Cause we all gonna die one day anyway, and there's no hell and no heaven, right. We all gonna die anyway." (Excerpt from The Search For Meaning by Philip L. Berman.)
Sermon Title: The Circle Of Love
Sermon Angle: God cannot love apart from us. It's true! Love, by its very definition, needs an object. If God is love, God must have someone to love. God's love began when he created us in his image. However, God's love is shown most powerfully in the sending of his Son. Love begins with God, who reaches out to us and makes his home in us. However, that love is not perfect (complete) until God's love is beamed back to him through actions of love toward others. His love is then perfected in us (v. 12), making the circle of God's love complete. (See also the Theological Reflection On The Lessons).
Outline:
1. One cannot love in solitude - love requires an object, another person.
2. God cannot love without us - the objects of his love.
3. Love is a circle - begins with God, goes to us, through us to others and then back to its Source.
4. Keep the circle of love going round.
Gospel: John 15:1--8
Sermon Title: We Stand Connected
Sermon Angle: It's happened to us all. We make an erroneous statement and somebody else chimes in. "Sorry, but you're mistaken...." We respond: "Sorry, I stand corrected." Through Jesus' resurrection we rise (stand up) to newness of life. In communion with Christ and the community of the faithful, we stay standing if we stand connected, just as the grape branches stay standing and fruitful if they stand closely connected to the vine trunk. If we stay connected to Christ and the church, God promises that we will stand eternally in his presence.
Outline:
1. The vine branches stay standing alive and fruitful when connected to the trunk.
2. We can't stand vibrant and fruitful by ourselves but only if we stand close to Christ.
3. How do we stand close?
- Receive and share God's love (v. 9). (Prayer, worship, sacraments.)
- Keep his commandments (v. 10).
Sermon Title: An Old--Fashioned Word For A New Day
Sermon Angle: The word abide seems as old--fashioned to our ears as thee or thou, though it is sometimes employed in legal affairs. Not only does this word sound old but its meaning seems old--fashioned to millions of moderns. Abide means to live, to stay, remain, continue, be faithful....Well, you get the drift. We're not into abiding these days. We're into rising to the top, we're into going places. The concept of abiding seems boring to modern ears. Yet how many hearts could have remained unbroken, how many marriages could have been saved and how many people could have been kept from spiritual shipwreck if only there had been more abiding. Abiding in Christ is the necessary prerequisite for all other kinds of abiding. Abide: we need this old--fashioned word for this new day.
Outline:
1. Abide is an old--fashioned word.
2. Even the meaning of the word seems old--fashioned. (Explain.)
3. Yet countless lives have been injured by not abiding.
4. Abiding means to make Christ and his life our abode and to be faithful to our commitments.
Sermon Title: Understanding The Branch Church
Sermon Angle: Using the vine analogy, the church has three kinds of branches among its members. There are the branches that bear plentiful fruit of the Spirit (v. 8). These are ready for harvesting. There are the branches that bear a little fruit. They require severe pruning (v. 2). Finally, there are those branches that are dead; these produce no fruit at all because they have shriveled from the vine (v. 2). These need to be severed from the trunk and burned as useless (v. 6). However, it remains sometimes difficult to distinguish these last two types. It is best first to attempt to bring all branches to fruitfulness through pruning (cleansing) and cultivation. A fourth type of branch remains; these are supporting branches. They don't appear to possess much fruit themselves but they support those branches that are more productive in fruiting. These branches need to be nourished and appreciated for their vital function.
Outline:
1. List the four different kinds of branches.
2. Look at worship stats, giving, and involvement to see how many of your congregants fall into the respective categories.
- What kind of branch church are you?
- What kind of a branch are you in your church?
3. How can we move, as a congregation, to greater fruitfulness?
