Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

Jesus and the disciples had left the upper room where they had their Passover gathering and were making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane, the place where they usually spent the Passover evening in the city. It is possible that on their way there they passed a vine that Jesus used as an illustration of spiritual fruitbearing. Passover occurred during the spring, and springtime was when good branches were pruned and dead branches removed. The owner may have cut off unfruitful branches and they were lying on the ground. Either the owner or his servants would gather them for burning. The owner had also pruned fruitful branches, and passers-by would not see any unwelcome growths on them. Jesus, however, was not merely using an illustration from the natural world. When he called himself the true vine, he showed that there was a false one as well. The Old Testament calls Israel a vine several times, but as Isaiah 5 emphasises, it had failed to produce fruit for God and was not a true vin...

We live in changing times. There is a sense in which we always do so. Our circumstances change every day, and we change along with them. We can look back on our lives and see many changes have occurred throughout the years, some that we did not see coming, but which had their effects. Some changes are good. Children grow up, become adults, marry, and have their own families. People get jobs a nd form career paths which fit the gifts with which the Lord has endowed them as creatures made in his image. In contrast, some changes are bad, such as when a country may find itself at war because of an aggressive neighbour. Some changes are limited in their effects while others are far reaching. All institutions in a society experience change. Governments change and introduce new policies, and they bring further changes, which are changed again in the future. Churches change and do so in a variety of ways. Believers finish their course in this world and go to heaven and their absence from the c...