Reinterpretando Juan 15

good

morning I know it's already been said

but Happy New Year um I'm up here just

to introduce us for those of you you who

don't know we are the chus Tina and

Martin and we have the great PIV

privilege of serving in the Spanish

speaking

Ministry yes yes as well as as of this

month we're also helping to serve and

support the South and they have

graciously welcomed us so thank you

thank you thank you for

that but I wanted just to take a moment

to encourage all of us to be here

now um I don't know about you but

hearing about the fires and other things

that are happening in our lives has been

a little

overwhelming and for me going to sleep

last night all I thought about was all

the things I had to do today and the

rest of the week and then waking up this

morning all I thought about was all

things I have to do after service and so

sometimes coming in on a Sunday when it

should be a day of rest and worship can

feel very busy and hectic and then if

you're like me and you're parent and you

have two little ones you're trying to

get out of the house it's even more but

I want to encourage you like I said to

be here now God's word going to be spoke

spoken um Marine will be teaching and

preaching which I'm excited to hear but

of course as less about him and more

about God and what he will be saying to

each of us where we are currently in our

life and in our season so take a breath

with me if you

will and be here and be ready to embrace

what God will say to you and how he will

lead you not only today but through the

rest of this week and aort to the rest

of our lives so happy New Year here's

Mar all

right you guys hear me well good morning

please turn your Bibles to John chapter

John 15 · chapter mention

15 I do want want to say a special shout

out uh to our translators who are

translating in Korean and in Spanish

it's great to be part of a church uh we

are one church with three languages uh

and as we come together we have

translation like this but the rest of

the month uh we honor language uh God

does not call us to assimilate but

honors and speaks to us in our native

languages and so to be able to have a

Spanish and a Korean in um church and

service in those languages is quite a

privilege and a blessing

amen John chapter 15 I have a question

John 15 · chapter mention

for you as we get started has this ever

happened to you someone you trust in

know well tells you something about

another person that you also trust and

know well but what this person tells you

about that person doesn't really sound

like that person at

all has that ever happened to you can

you raise your hand has that happened to

you it's a mess

right this happened to me reading the

Gospel of

John

for us in the Spanish Ministry we spent

two years in the Gospel of John and so

we have 40 different lessons in the

Gospel of John 40 different Sundays

between 203

2023 and 202

24 and as I'm reading you know trying to

stay ahead of where we are in the church

and so I've been read you know there's

kind of a pattern that I have read the

entire gospel one time get five or six

different commentaries from different

sources spend at least two three hours a

week diving into each chapter

understanding the big picture I mean

it's just been beautiful it's been great

but as I got to chapter 15

I had that experience based on that

question Jesus did not sound like he has

been sounding from chapter 1 to chapter

14 and I just couldn't shake it and I

kept reading and I'm like why is this

why is there a why is there a knot in my

stomach when I read

John chapter

John 15 · chapter mention

15 and so I took a deep dive and I want

to you know walk us through that deep

dive of John 15 here today

amen and so as I said you know we spent

all this time in the Gospel of John and

I I'll share some thoughts and some

themes in the Gospel of John but first I

want to be able to

read John

15 let's see how you hear it and how you

feel about it verse

one Jesus says I am the True Vine

and my father is the gardener he cuts

off every branch in me that bears no

fruit while every branch that does not

bear fruit he

prunes so that it will be more

fruitful you are already clean because

of the word I have spoken to you remain

in me as I also remain in you no Branch

can bear fruit by itself it must remain

in the vine neither can you bear fruit

unless you remain in me I am the vine

you are the branches if you remain in me

and I in you you will bear much fruit

apart from me you can do nothing if you

do not remain in me you are like a

branch that is thrown away and Withers

such branches are picked up thrown into

the fire and burned if you remain in me

and my words remain in you ask whatever

you wish and it will be done for you

this is to my father's Glory that you

bear much

fruit showing yourselves to be my

disciples and there's more but we'll

stop there so again we've all had that

experience right someone we know and

trust tells us something about someone

else we know and trust us but what this

person is telling us about this person

doesn't really sound like that's them

again that happened to me I'm reading

John chapter

John 1 · chapter mention

1-4 and when I get to chapter

15 I kind of hit a

wall and up comes this

image of a God that I should be afraid

of because if I'm not close to this God

he's going to cut me

off but if I'm close to this God God and

I bear fruit now watch out now he's

going to prune you so you can bear even

more

fruit that's how I was reading it that's

how I was interpreted I think that's how

we have heard it I would even venture to

say that's how we've taught

it and so it made no sense maybe I'm

alone here maybe you can

relate then we were we were having a

zoom call and those meetings always go

great

and so we're in a zoom call and you know

it's it was the beginning of the year of

I think it was last year or so and so we

read this passage wanting to be

encouraging wanting to make the points

of remaining in God and abiding in God

abide means delighting in God but we

just all of us sort of just felt like we

couldn't get past this

imagery of watch out with God watch out

with this

Gardener because if you're not

behaving he's gonna cut you off and not

just that tossed you into the

fire to get

burned and that doesn't make sense that

does not sound like God because God in j

John Chapter 13 has told us I have come

John 13 · chapter mention

to save the world not to condemn

the

world and so today it is my

hope to circle around this theme of

trusting in God by looking into this

picture and hopefully we

restore this

passage and we can cast off the image of

a god who's out to cut and to pruned

just so you can

produce and restore the true meaning of

this passage message The God Who in

chapter 14 says I give you my peace who

here he says I give you my love and I

give you my joy and if you're familiar

with the fruits of the spirit those are

the first three The God Who says I love

you remain in me because I Delight in

you Delight in me as I Delight in you

the god who's not looking for us to be

performative but the god who's looking

to form us into his

likeness so today our task is to restore

John chapter for 15 and the correct

imagery so we have a lot a little bit of

work to do

amen so let's start with this theme of

The Gospel of John and then we'll come

back and dive deep into the meaning of

these words in John chapter 15 so let me

John 15 · chapter mention

tell you about the Gospel of John a

little bit there's a ton of questions in

the Gospel of John in fact Jesus asked

about 52 questions and so there's a

theme about

questions but the first human question

is Jesus is walking and there's two of

John the Baptist disciples who have just

been told look the Lamb of God who takes

away the sin of the world and so they're

following

Jesus and so they don't initiate because

they're too shy God turns around God

initiates and they

say where are you

staying and that is the first human

question God where are you you see the

Gospel of John is written in a way where

on the surface it makes perfect sense

it's very clear but it's intended that

way to invite you to a deeper meaning

because when the gospel of joh John says

that these disciples asked Jesus hey

where are you staying on the surface

where are you staying and if you read

the gospel that sounds kind of like an

awkward

question but the deeper meaning is it's

what the gospel is trying to answer

where is God

located where is God because it just

told us that the word has become flesh

that God has made his dwelling among us

and that's not the arrival of God

because that would imply that God was

absent it is the revelation of God that

God reveals godself in human

flesh and so now the question is where

is God and so this theme of location

continues

because Jesus goes and speaks to this

man named Nathaniel and Nathaniel is

Prejudice he probably inherited but he's

like

Nazareth north of sea just kidding so he

says not that Nazareth what can come

from there well Jesus is from

there right and again this idea of

location God isn't supposed to work in

that

area

right and

so Jesus says you're going to see great

things in fact you're going to see

the angels of

God

ascending and descending did you get

that Jesus doesn't say you're going to

see the Angels

descending and ascending Jesus says

you're going to see the Angels

ascending and descend because the

beginning of the commute of the Angels

is the god the presence of God and so if

the angels are ascending and descending

where is God here

and then Jesus goes to the temple the

historical site of the presence of God

and what does he do he flips the tables

I just bought this one I'm not going to

toss it we have to be financially

responsible and so he flips the

tables and in there he describes he

drove out cattle and doves doves

represents what the holy SP Spirit what

is God doing in the temple leaving the

temple God says you have turned this

place into a market it is no longer the

house of God and again this question if

this is not the house of God then where

is the house of God leading us to

chapter 14 in my father's house are many

rooms and we're going to get to

that but this idea where is God because

if we're going to trust in God we got to

identify where God is

and God is not an absent or distant

God God is a living present and active

God

restoring the Brokenness of the

world in our

lives and so the disciples say man

they're reminded later Zeal for his

house will consume me I think there is

also a big misunderstanding there we

tend to think Z for his house will

consume me that God was filled with

righteous

[Music]

anger and that can justify us feeling

like we can have

that but perhaps Zeal for his house will

consume me was not a Zeal the god that

Jesus has but it was the Temple Police

the leadership the guards that they were

zealous to the point of

violence so Zeal for your house will

consume me they wanted to protect and

control and domesticate God to the point

that they executed God to want to keep

their

status a lot of that going

around and so then Jesus interacts with

the Samaritan woman in chapter 4 and

she's over associating the presence of

God in the mountain of her people and

God says nope that's not the place of

God but neither is the Jewish Mountain

Mountain there's going to be a third

Mountain where all people will be able

to Worship in spirit and in truth do you

see this theme of with the location of

God and we can skip over to John chapter

John 10 · chapter mention

10 the Good Shepherd where it's

describing Jesus walking his people out

of the temple system that is outdated

broken corrupt no longer the place of

God and the Good Shepherd knows his

flock they know him he knows them by

name they listen to to his voice he's

the shepherd he's the door he's the gate

he's and so he brings them into a new

location where God is present so that

they are no

longer

confined to that Temple system that is

no longer about God but it's a

market and God walks them over because

God Is With Us leading us God's over

always moving God's

people things come to an end and that's

no long that doesn't necessarily be a

bad thing God's good and faithful and he

moves us to the new

things you see

that and then the resurrection my

favorite character in The Gospel of John

Mary Magdalene she runs to the

resurrected Lord and has on the surface

kind of an awkward interaction Jesus

says don't hold on to me

right I have not yet ascended to the

father and I think it's implying that

Mary Magdalene was so Overjoyed that

Jesus is back that she thought things

were going to be the same before the

cross and we tend to do that as human in

our human nature we tend to want to go

back to the past and relive the good old

days and sometimes we don't discern

discern that the present Living God is

doing something new are you with me

right

here and so God is always doing

something new moving

us but God is always living present and

active and then Jesus gets into this dis

discourse of the kind of it's called

kind of the farewell discourse from

chapter 13 till about chapter 18 or 17

and he begins to say I am returning to

the father and we understand that as

he's

leaving and I think that's a dominant

image that is hurting our Christianity

our faith how we interpret scripture how

we uh view God and how we see ourselves

think about how important all those

things are and I think there's this

ongoing imagination where we feel like

God

left he ascended he

left but but he left me with a

mission to fulfill the mission he was

not able to complete and now it's up to

me to save the world for the absent God

who one day will

return and when we live that way after a

decade or two you're just burned out

because you can't carry on what is

God's but that's a wrong and God never

left God is a living present God and so

when Jesus talks about the Ascension

he's not t or departure that sounds like

leaving that doesn't that is not what it

means what it means is departure and

Ascension is God this is us this is

Earth and here's Jesus and we we see him

departure and Ascension means a return

to invisibility but still

present and so our God in his Ascension

and departure justes did not leave he he

just now

invisible and why is that important

because the word became flesh the

Incarnation is super important but the

Incarnation is limited to a geographical

location and to a historical time you

get that Jesus was bound to a

geographical location and time but in

taking the Cross and in the pouring out

of God s the Holy Spirit God is now

present in all at all times in all

places so where is your god brothers and

sisters we can trust in the living

present and

active

God so when I read John 15 I'm like why

do I feel

scared because I think what has happened

generally

speaking is I think we have read most of

the Bible with predetermined

answers and it no longer surprises many

of us it no longer encourages I was

there I confess I was bored reading the

gospels I felt like I already knew what

they were I felt like I already knew

what they said that sounds so arrogant

like I didn't say this out loud because

I would have felt like private that's

how I felt so I would just skip through

them

but the gospels are so unique all four

of them are very different and distinct

for a purpose I know some of us are

great fans of the show the show The

Chosen I've never seen an episode I hear

great things about it I am not saying

you shouldn't I'm just letting you know

making a point here that the go The

Chosen seems to just blend all

four that's cool I'm sure it's really

encouraging keep watching it this is the

abundance of God there's a lot of

goodness out

there but just note the gospels were

intended to be distinct for a reason not

to be

Blended because every gospel is written

for a unique audience going through

something unique and

different it's intended that way so that

every church and every generation has an

interaction with the living and present

God through the gospels so we can ask

ourselves as a region in OC what gospel

world are we in in our local Ministries

what gospel world are we in for the

South o sea we have discerned that we

are in the gospel of Mark and we're

going to be walking with Jesus in The

Gospel of

Mark I say all that to

say let's learn or

reread the gospels without predetermined

answers I think John 15 sometimes sounds

harsh to many of us because it has been

influenced with ancient stones from

interpreters preachers like me who go to

that passage to warn you to

behave otherwise you're going to get cut

off and to be humble and sacrificial

because if you're bearing fruit God's

going to keep pruning you because what

matters is the fruit

which is ironic because it's the

opposite of what Jesus is saying the

goal is remaining and yes bearing fruit

that when you're accompanied by God but

again let's put some pieces together if

we believe God left and is absent and is

up to us to do the work how are you

going to bear fruit how are you going to

remain in

God but if God is living present and

active and in Mission yes we need to be

connected with God yes God calls us to

Bear good fruit because he's wor working

in our lives he's working in the lives

of our family members of our classmates

of our schools of our communities and so

we need to learn how to join what God is

doing God is in

mission right and so when we share our

hope and our faith and our perspective

and our convictions and our lives with

others we're not the teachers to show

them what we're partners with them

helping them discern what is God up to

in your life

and then it becomes a conversation about

God and hey let me show you these

scriptures that may give you some

answers to what God might be up to you

see what I'm saying there is a healthier

better way that is more God centered and

there's a lot of work that we got to do

for that we can get into another time

and

finally why does this passage sound so

complicated and scary it's a lot of

times taken out of

context

right and here's for the second and

third decade students there's a

mistranslation In this passage okay

there's many not going to explain all

the translations and all that but here

it

goes the NIV says he cuts off every

branch in me that bears no fruit while

every branch that does not fruit he

prunes so that it will be even more

fruitful cut

off is an an accurate

translation in most of our

Bibles all right this is why it's

important to get dive in and study and

all these different

things that

word shouldn't say cut off it should say

lift up take away carry or clean it's

the word Arrow I you know my my Greek

has a Spanish

accent okay so John uses this era

multiple times and it never means cut

off let me give you some

examples in John chapter 1 Behold the

John 1 · chapter mention

Lamb of God who takes away who lifts up

the sin of the world John 21:16 take

John 21:16

these things away stop making my

father's house into a Market or trade

Jesus said to him get up when he's

talking to the paralytic take your mat

and walk lift

up you see

that John 10:18 no one takes from me but

John 10:18

I lay down my life on my own accord by

the way Jesus was joyfully taking the

Cross in John chapter 10 in in the

John 10 · chapter mention

Gospel of John every branch in me that

bears no fruit he takes up takes away so

let's see this let's change the

translation oh by the

way if we want to argue no it means cut

off actually John knows how to write cut

off in the Greek he uses it in John

John 18:10

18:10 then Simon Peter who had a sword

drew it and struck the servants priests

cutting off and yet that's not the word

that's used in John chapter 15

John 15 · chapter mention

verse ah by the way Peter was not aiming

for the ear he was aiming for the throat

this man was a believer in God but still

had violence that's why Jesus had to

come and appear to him and restore him

because he believed in God but he was

still about violence like the temple

system that's a whole other sermon right

there but I guess you got a free one

happy New Year and so John knows how to

write cut

off so let's adjust

it I am the True Vine and my father is

the gardener he lifts

up every branch in

me that bears no fruit well every branch

that does bear fruit he prunes so that

it will be even more

fruitful so God The Gardener the vine

dresser he's not out looking let's see

if you measure up now you're getting

cut but he's looking hey you're ill

spiritually you're

disconnected you're spiritually

blind you are

hard-hearted cynical and

critical you have just gone you've been

going through the motions for so

long God's not upset with you at that

and he's not going to cut you off what

is he going to do he's going to lift you

up let's talk

about Vines here so in those days in

that gen in that era there's not a whole

lot of wood if you go to you know

Wineries and all that here you see all

the the woods in and kind of the vines

on the top because you don't want those

branches to touch the floor because if

they stay remain in the floor for a long

time they start growing

roots and now you're connected to the

vine but you're connect you have your

own roots

you see what I'm saying so they didn't

use wood what they would do is they

would get rocks a lot of rocks in the

Middle East and so you lift up those

branches that were ill and you place

them on a rock something like this I

hope I don't get electrocuted or burn

the place down right now you put a rock

under it there because it's ill so it

can so we can get

sunlight so it doesn't develop other

Roots but it stays connected to the

root so that it gets

nutrients so that it can

remain because God is God who wants to

save the world not condemn the

world and so as that work took place I

can now read John

15 it's still convicting it's inspiring

but it's not threatening me and giving

me an image that is not true or accurate

to the character and actions of the

living present

[Applause]

God and so if God lifts up every branch

that bears no fruit when we are ill and

when we become those things and we will

and we have been and we will again that

I just described the faithful good God

lifts us

up now we must respond to that lifting

up we must choose to be lifted

up we must choose to get the help to get

the correction to get the you know to

remain connected to

God and then later it describes right if

you are if you do get disconnected you

die off that's not God not's doing

that's our

doing that's the consequences of our

decision so we have a healthy

relationship and image of God and we

have a healthy responsibility of

ourselves that's a good

match that's good Christianity right

there but if you choose to be

disconnected yeah the Bible describes

you die off and it says you are picked

up and thrown into the fire but please

note it does not say God picks you up

and throws you into a fire if you read

it in the context it's just

consequential that's not of God's doing

so it's not God who cuts you off and

it's not God who toss tosses you into

the fire so can we please not have that

kind of image of God because that's not

true to

scripture so fear and threats should not

be the way we motivate one

another but helping us see

the presence of the Living

God the activity of the Living God the

unfailing love of the Living God and it

is truly our responsibility to respond

and be faithful and loyal to the God who

loves us and so the God is the gardener

the vine dresser he carries each branch

that's ill he lifts them to receive

sunlight and nutrients lifts them to

avoid competing Roots he lifts them to

ensure a thriving connection with the

vine producing healthy fruit and some of

that fruit is Jesus gives us his peace

there's no anxiety worry because when we

start fearing you start making bad

decisions you start trying to take your

back your life back and try to control

outcomes and you become someone you were

not created to be

God says I give you my love because if

we're not connected and believe that God

loves us we end up looking for love in

all these different places and meaning

and belonging in all these different

places that only leave us more scarred

and

hurt but if we allow God to love

us then we can bear that fruit and God

says I give you

my

joy all all of that is fruits of the

spirit that come about from us Abiding

delighting and remaining and being

connected with

God and again this is not just I'm just

receiving no it's

participating it's participating because

God that fruit is what that fruit is for

the sake of others to feed to strengthen

to encourage to invite others

it's not selfs serving it's outward

Focus not with you as the Savior and the

protagonist but with God leading the

way so I think today we R read this

passage and maybe the entire Gospel of

John with fresh eyes we were discovered

a more accurate meaning and we released

anxious tones that other others have

imposed on passages like this let's

approach John 15 with a deeper

understanding of of God's character may

we cultivate a healthier image of God

honoring the scriptures especially the

gospels may we allow God to continue

transforming how we see God how we see

ourselves and others he who has ears let

let him hear the word of the Lord here's

my

[Applause]

wife well um I wanted to just help guide

us as we go into communion right now

we're GNA have a few moments to have a

time of reflection and thank you my for

all the things that you've shared um

this year will be my 25th year of being

a Christian and similar to what Martin

said about himself after reading God's

word every day for decades you can

sometimes be a little disillusioned or

at least I was about what I read and

with these pre- determined answers of

what God is saying and many times going

to God's word trying to find out what do

I need today versus all letting versus

allowing God's word to take me and these

last few years of going deeper into

God's word reading God's word slower

trying to learn and be present in what

God is trying to reveal has literally

been

life-changing and even reading passages

like we read today it may be one passage

but reading it and being present and

asking God to take us versus us taking

god um can really change our the way

that we re read God's word so we have

three questions up here and I'm going to

read them

what's so the first one is what

surprised you the most from today's

lesson study and

why and we like to ask this question

because God is always working and

sometimes there's something that

surprises you that you never thought of

you never considered right

second if we truly believe that God is

living present and active in our lives

and the

world how does that reshape the way we

connect with God person

personally as a church and how we share

about God with

others and lastly number three how does

the contrast between cut off and lift up

in John 15 deepen your understanding of

God's actions and

character why is it important to

understand the difference between these

two images and how does it influence how

you will sorry how we perceive God's

work in our lives so a practice that we

like to do is take a moment a few

moments and with someone near you around

you you don't need to get up answer just

one of these

questions so someone next to you someone

across from you someone behind someone

with someone behind you answer one of

these questions and then we'll have time

to pray for communion so I'll give you

about three minutes four minutes thank

you