ĐƯỢC ĐỨC CHÚA TRỜI TRỒNG TỈA

Kinh thánh: Giăng 15: 1-11

Câu gốc: Ê-SAI 61: 3 phần B – Hầu cho những kẻ ấy được xưng là cây của sự công bình, là cây Đức Giê-hô-va đã trồng để được vinh hiển.

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BEING PLANTED AND PRUNED BY GOD

Bible: John 15: 1-11

Main verse: ISAIAH 61: 3 part B – That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

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– As we have read in the Bible, we can see that God has used many things in this world to teach us about the Kingdom of God and the eternal life. That kind of illustration help us understand spiritual matters more easily.

– As it was recorded in the Gospel of John, Jesus had used vineyard work to describe how Christians should live our spiritual life according to the Bible’s teachings. Jesus had called God “The Vinedresser” and us the “branches”

JOHN 15: 1 – I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

GIĂNG 15: 1 – Ta là gốc nho thật, Cha ta là người trồng nho.

JOHN 15: 5 – I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

GIĂNG 15: 5 – Ta là gốc nho, các ngươi là nhánh. Ai cứ ở trong ta và ta trong họ thì sinh ra lắm trái; vì ngoài ta, các ngươi chẳng làm chi được.

– In the book of Isaiah, God called His people, both the Israelites and Christians, as the trees that He has planted:

ISAIAH 61: 3 – To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Ê-SAI 61: 3 – Đặng ban mão hoa cho kẻ buồn rầu ở Si-ôn thay vì tro bụi, ban dầu vui mừng thay vì tang chế, ban áo ngợi khen thay vì lòng nặng nề; hầu cho những kẻ ấy được xưng là cây của sự công bình, là cây Đức Giê-hô-va đã trồng để được vinh hiển.

– In this illustration, we can understand that Jesus, as a True Vine, a Holy Olive Tree, is in Heaven, the heavenly garden of God; we Christians, as wild olive trees or vine branches, are in the human world, as it was written in Paul’s letter to the Romans:

ROMANS 11: 24 – For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

RÔ-MA 11: 24 – Nếu chính ngươi đã bị cắt khỏi cây ô-li-ve hoang thuận tánh mình, mà được tháp vào cây ô-li-ve tốt nghịch tánh, thì huống chi những kẻ ấy là nhánh nguyên sẽ được tháp vào chính cây ô-li-ve mình!

– When Jesus comes back to Earth, we, who have believed in Him and followed Him faithfully, will be saved and admitted into Heaven, like wild trees being planted into different soil, far better than this wicked world.

– To prepare for that special day, God has given us the Bible with instructions in it for us to learn how to live accordingly.

– If any of us have ever worked in farms, or cultivated agricultural products or taken care of home gardens, then we know that every kind of tree or plant needs different kind of care, even different kind of soil to live, reproduce and blossom.

– For example, there are two kinds of flowers in gardens that needs different cares. First is the Begonia hybrids (Cẩm chướng vua) and the second is the Desert rose (Hoa hồng sa mạc).

– Begonia hybrids are planted in moisture-control soil and needs to be watered on a regular basis. It needs partial sunlight. Three to four hours a day is enough for it to grow. It can handle cold temperature at about 35 degrees. If the temperature is lower than that, it needs to be stored indoor, in a cool, dark place until next summer. It will not be healthy if kept indoor for a long period during summer.

– Desert rose is quite the opposite. It is planted by its trunk with the whole roots in fast draining soil. It needs to be planted in clay or ceramic pots. Plastic pots are not recommended, because it cannot stand too much water or dampened soil. Desert rose needs full sunlight. Six hours or more is better. It also likes hot temperature, about 70 degrees or higher. This kind of flowers does not like heavy rain, so when it is planted in tropical environments, it has to be sheltered from the rain, although it likes the heat.

– In other words, we can say that every tree need a different kind of soil, different level of temperature, sunlight and water. They need specific cares to grow, reproduce and blossom. If their specific needs are not provided or neglected, they will not grow. They will wither and eventually die.

– In this way, we can understand spiritual matters that were recorded in the Bible as we mentioned before.

– God wants to plant us into His heavenly garden for eternal life, so He is preparing us for that glorious day by instructing us what to do while we live on Earth.

– As in God’s words, we are wild olive trees and wild vine branches because we were born into this wicked world and had lived many years in the bondage of sins. Therefore we cannot be planted into the heavenly garden with our old selves. We must change ourselves to be suitable for the Kingdom of God.

– We have to understand that the heavenly garden of God cannot be changed to suit us, but we must change in order to be planted there, to bear fruit for God’s glory and to live forever.

– The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of righteousness and only righteous men and women are allowed to be in there:

MATTHEW 13: 43 – Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

MA-THI-Ơ 13: 43 – Khi ấy, những người công bình sẽ chói rạng như mặt trời trong nước của Cha mình. Ai có tai, hãy nghe!

– According to what Jesus had said in the above verse and in His parable of the True Vine, we can understand that the soil of the heavenly garden is righteous, so the trees in there must be righteous in order to live, thrive and blossom for the glory of God.

– That’s why Jesus want us to set priorities in our lives with righteousness. He want us to change for the future, for the day He comes back and bring us into His heavenly garden and plant us there for eternity.

MATTHEW 6: 33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

MA-THI-Ơ 6: 33 – Nhưng trước hết, hãy tìm kiếm nước Đức Chúa Trời và sự công bình của Ngài, thì Ngài sẽ cho thêm các ngươi mọi điều ấy nữa.

– May God see in us the willingness to seek His righteousness so that we can receive help from Him to change ourselves according to His standards.

– May God bless us much more in the days to come, so that we are encouraged to follow His instructions in the Bible until the day we are planted in the heavenly garden of God. Amen.