Good morning brothers and sisters,
Jesus tells his disciples that he loves them and that keeping his commandments will help them rest closely in his love. Try not to be put off by the word commandment; as we'll find out the commandment is to love one another. We often think of commands and commandments negatively, but Jesus' commandments are about love and discipleship. He leads the way by showing us the greatest love by laying down his life for his friends. That's a good word this week as we remember our fallen military brothers and sisters, and it's a good word as we think about Jesus call to discipleship. The call to discipleship is a call to follow Jesus in loving others actively. True love isn't fuzzy and it sometimes costs us dearly. So let us abide in Christ's love and bear lasting fruit for the kingdom.
God bless,
Sam
John 15:9-17
9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Showing posts with label bearing fruit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bearing fruit. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Thursday, August 12, 2010
God's vineyard
Good morning friends,
Our passage this morning shows that it wasn't just Jesus who used parables to teach. Isaiah sings what he calls a love song about his beloved's vineyard, but it seems more like a story than a love song. It's not just the story format that reminds us of Jesus; Jesus often encouraged his listeners to bear good fruit too. It's an analogy that makes sense. Israel was an agricultural society, so the concept would be familiar every-day stuff both for Isaiah's listeners and Jesus' listeners. God plants us and gives us good soil and abundant rain. Particularly with both Israel and the church, he specifically tends and cares for us. Our role is to bear fruit, to show in our lives that God's care isn't wasted on us, to return not only to God but to our neighbors as well, a harvest of love and justice.
This passage can serve as a call to repentance, an opportunity to examine our lives and see if we are bearing good fruit for God, and if not, to return to God. It can also be an invitation to think what we might need more of in our life to be more fruitful. Pray for what you need from God and share with me or with other leaders in the church what the church could give you more of. Together we can bear good fruit for God and for a world in need of justice.
In Christ's service,
Sam
Isaiah 5:1-10
Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
8Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land! 9The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. 10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.
Our passage this morning shows that it wasn't just Jesus who used parables to teach. Isaiah sings what he calls a love song about his beloved's vineyard, but it seems more like a story than a love song. It's not just the story format that reminds us of Jesus; Jesus often encouraged his listeners to bear good fruit too. It's an analogy that makes sense. Israel was an agricultural society, so the concept would be familiar every-day stuff both for Isaiah's listeners and Jesus' listeners. God plants us and gives us good soil and abundant rain. Particularly with both Israel and the church, he specifically tends and cares for us. Our role is to bear fruit, to show in our lives that God's care isn't wasted on us, to return not only to God but to our neighbors as well, a harvest of love and justice.
This passage can serve as a call to repentance, an opportunity to examine our lives and see if we are bearing good fruit for God, and if not, to return to God. It can also be an invitation to think what we might need more of in our life to be more fruitful. Pray for what you need from God and share with me or with other leaders in the church what the church could give you more of. Together we can bear good fruit for God and for a world in need of justice.
In Christ's service,
Sam
Isaiah 5:1-10
Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
8Ah, you who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is room for no one but you, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land! 9The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. 10For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
be the good soil
Good morning friends,
We normally think of soil as passive, but in this parable the listeners are different kinds of soil. The sower sows God's word and the question is, what kind of soil will we be? Will we receive the word and bear fruit with patient endurance or will the cares of our lives choke out that growth? What kind of soil do you feel like today? What's your next step to be more receptive to God's word and to let it bear fruit in your life? How can Laurelton help you become better soil?
God bless,
Sam
Luke 8:4-15
4When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5“A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
9Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’ 11“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. 14As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
We normally think of soil as passive, but in this parable the listeners are different kinds of soil. The sower sows God's word and the question is, what kind of soil will we be? Will we receive the word and bear fruit with patient endurance or will the cares of our lives choke out that growth? What kind of soil do you feel like today? What's your next step to be more receptive to God's word and to let it bear fruit in your life? How can Laurelton help you become better soil?
God bless,
Sam
Luke 8:4-15
4When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5“A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
9Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’ 11“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. 14As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.
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