Sermon
Notes: UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF A TEXT
By
Rick Warren
John 15:1-7 Jesus said, “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 bear FRUIT he
prunes so that it will be even more FRUITFUL. You are already clean
because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will 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 a man
remains in me and I in him, he will bear much FRUIT; apart from me you
can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is 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 given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much FRUIT,
showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has LOVED me, so
have I LOVED you. Now remain in my LOVE. If you obey my commands,
you will remain in my LOVE, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands
and remain in his LOVE. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: LOVE each
other as I You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you
servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I
have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have
made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to
go and bear FRUIT- FRUIT that will last. Then the Father will
give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: LOVE each
other.”
SOME MAJOR QUESTIONS TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF A TEXT
1.
OBSERVATION— The first
thing you do is to ask what does it
say? What does the Bible say? It’s just what is it obviously saying in this
passage?
2.
INTERPRETATION –Next, you ask the question, what does it mean? The Bible means what it means. We’re going to talk about that more
today.
3.
CORRELATION-- That is where you ask, what does it say in other verses in
the Bible that explain this verse?
Because the best Bible commentary is the Bible itself. When you don’t understand a particular
passage, you look at what other verses say to help you understand it. That’s called correlation.
4.
APPLICATION--
That is, what am I going to do about it?
It isn’t a Bible study until you actually do something about it. It’s not enough to just put thoughts in your
mind; it must change your life.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
A. BEARING FRUIT IS PRODUCED BY ____________ ___
__________.
B. BEARING FRUIT WILL GIVE ME COMPLETE _____.
C. REMAINING IN
CHRIST PRODUCES ANSWERED _______
D. I BEAR FRUIT BY ASKING IN _________.
MY PERSONAL APPLICATION
This week I will pray for: _______________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF A TEXT
by Rick
Warren (ABRIDGED)
Today’s sermon was written by
Rick Warren, to use as a part of our “40 Days in the Word” series. Today we are going to look at one of Rick
Warren’s bible study method, which is rather foundational. Rick Warrens says that regardless of any type of bible study
that we do--- you always come back to four main categories of questions, which
are: Observation, Interpretation, Correlation, and Application.
So, as a case study, today we
are going to look at our New Testament reading from the Gospel of John. Would you please take out your sermon notes,
which we are now going to follow.
1.
OBSERVATION— The first thing you do is to ask what does it say? What does the Bible say? It’s just what is it obviously saying in this
passage?
Now you can see from this
passage, John 15, that the word “love” is used nine times and the word “fruit”
is used nine times in seventeen verses. Most
of us would figure out, I think I know what love is. But what is fruit? If I’m called to be fruitful, if God expects me
to bear fruit in my life, I’d better know what it means. What is fruit?
Well, it is clear that Jesus is using the vine as an image/ as a metaphor. So, to help us to better understand what He is
saying, we can make a correlation. So, look at # 3 in the types of questions
listed above: CORRELATION--
That is where you ask, what does it say in other verses in the Bible that
explain this verse? Because the best
Bible commentary is the Bible itself.
That’s called correlation.
Looking at today’s First reading, we see that fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace,
patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, kindness, self control
– those nine qualities. So, these are all great things. Most everybody would want them, right? So, how does that fruit get manifested or produced
in my life?
Well, we now move to interpretation.. Point # 2 in your sermons notes:
INTERPRETATION –you ask the question, what does it
mean? Most of the time, it is best to assume that
the Bible means what it means.
2.
In verse 4 it says this, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you.” “Remain”
means to stay, to continue, to abide, to connect, to last. A branch that’s disconnected from the vine is
not going to bear any fruit. It’s got to
stay connected or it won’t bear any fruit.
That’s all he’s saying. Be connected
to me and I’ll be connected to you.
So let’s look at point # A , please fill in the blank,
· BEARING FRUIT IS PRODUCED BY REMAINING IN CHRIST. (PAUSE)
What does that mean? Fruit is an inside job. You can’t just tack it on to your life and
pretend like you’re bearing fruit. That
would be like taking a barren tree, with no leaves on it and tying apples to it
and saying, I’ve got an apple tree. No. A lot of Christians try to do that. They try to tie on good works to their life
and say, see I’m bearing fruit. The type
of fruit that the Bible is talking about has got to come from within. He says the Holy Spirit flowing in you is going
to bear fruit. Fruit is produced by
remaining in Christ.
Next, verse 11 we get the
third characteristic. “I have told you this [Jesus says] so that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be complete.” Jesus tells us
his motive for talking about bearing fruit.
It’s joy. So, look at point B in
your sermon notes, and write this down:
· BEARING FRUIT WILL GIVE ME COMPLETE JOY.
He says that. “… so
that your joy may be complete.”
BEARING FRUIT produced by REMAINING
IN CHRIST, will give me great, COMPLETE JOY. Please repeat that after me: BEARING FRUIT ----produced by REMAINING IN
CHRIST---- will give me ----COMPLETE JOY.
Now I’m interested. I want to live a joyful life of complete, complete, joy.
But there is more to it than
that. Verse 7 in chapter 5 says this “If
you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you wish,
and it will be given to you!” Now he’s
talking about prayer. So I fill in the
blank for #C.
· REMAINING IN CHRIST PRODUCES ANSWERED PRAYERS.
That’s no stretch of that
verse; that’s just what that verse says.
‘If you remain in me and my words remain
in you, you can ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you.’ So remaining in Christ, being connected to
Christ, produces answered prayer.
Have you ever thought about
the fact that prayer can do anything that God can do? Prayer can do anything that God can do! So why are you asking these little tiny
prayers? Why not ask him for big prayers? Prayer can do anything that God can do. Don’t expect a thousand dollar answer to a
ten-cent prayer.
You say, wait a minute ! I’ve asked for a lot of things I didn’t get. Whatever you wish. Let me just say this to you. If God doesn’t give you what you ask for it
will always be something better. God
will never give you something worse than you asked for. “I didn’t get what I asked for!” God knew ahead
something better in mind. Maybe you
don’t think it’s better. But God knew it
was better, and God is God and you’re not.
God will never give you something worse than you asked for. He will only give you something better than you
asked for. And when you pray don’t ask God
for what you think is good for you. Say, God I want you to give me what you think is good for me, because you know
what I need more than I do.
So, if we put this all
together, we see that Jesus wants us to be devoted to the apostles’ teachings
(which is God’s Word) and to prayer, so that connected to Jesus, we can bear
the fruit of a good, joyful lives. So, the basic lesson is, please repeat after
me, “I BEAR FRUIT--- BY ASKING IN PRAYER.”
So, fill in blank # D : I BEAR FRUIT BY ASKING IN PRAYER
However, here is the problem:
We treat prayer like a spare tire. The spare tire is there when we have a flat. When you have a flat and your life goes flat
and you’re in trouble you pull out prayer.
In fact we say, all we can do now is pray! Then people say, has it come to that? Like it really must be bad if that’s all we
can do is pray! Prayer is the last
resort.
So, here is the application: Prayer should be your first choice. God does not want prayer to be your spare tire. He wants it to be your steering wheel for your
life. It is where you get all the fruit
in your life. Much prayer, much fruit. Little prayer, little fruit. No prayer, no fruit. If you are not praying you have no fruit in
your life. You’re just hanging apples on
a barren tree. It all comes through
prayer. That’s what Jesus is saying.
The more I pray, the more
fruit I’m going to have. The more fruit
I’m going to have the more prayer I’m going to give and the more fruit I’m going
to have after that. So, you have heard sermons about the value of
prayer before. The Message is the
same. But the problem comes with our
application of the message.
Jesus said, “Every one who hears these words of mine and
puts them into practice is a wise man.
But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do anything about
it, they’re foolish.” So, today, the last thing I want you to do is write out an application, a one sentence of
what you are going to pray about this
week so that you might bear fruit.
Where do you need to bear
fruit? Maybe you need to bear fruit in
your finances. Maybe you need to bear a
little fruit in your marriage. Maybe you
need to bear a little fruit in your heath, in your friendship, in your job, in
your education. I don’t know.
We are going to take a minute
here, and let’s follow Rick Warren’s instructions . He invites you and me to
write down one thing that you will pray about this week. Please look at your sermon note, and write it
down right there. Each day this week,
take a couple minutes to pray, and see if you do not bear fruit.
After two minutes, read aloud
this prayer;
Let us pray. Lord God, your Word teaches us to pray, that
we might receive good things from you.
This week, may we pray as you command, that we would receive what you
promise, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN.
Our service now continues in
your Red Prayer Book with the Apostle’s Creed, page 96.
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