E N G A G I N G

THE GREAT ENDS OF THE CHURCH • SPR ING 2014

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E N G A G I N G

THE GREAT ENDS OF THE CHURCH • SPR ING 2014

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Week 7 – May 18th 2014 - John 15:1-17

GettinG to knoW one another

1. What are you looking forward to this summer?

SettinG the Context

In the Old Testament, grapes symbolized Israel’s faithfulness in doing God’s work on earth. The prophets had written of Israel as God’s vine, carefully planted and cared for. But the vine was ultimately a disappointment because it yielded only rotten fruit; that is, they refused to give Him love and obedience. This is very graphic and poignant in Isaiah 5:1-7, a passage Jesus seems to have drawn upon at the beginning of John 15. Jesus, with all believers “abiding” in Him, is the true vine—the true fulfillment of God’s plan for His people. The new society of God’s people—Christians—originates from Christ and is united to Him as branches to a vine.

Jesus knew that His physical presence with His precious disciples would soon end. He also knew that these men would need a clear understanding of their position with God, as well as what was expected of them. So He consciously filled their minds with pictures and ideas to help them survive the days to come. But these same lessons also provide vital resources for preparing future generations of disciples to grow in their faith.

Jesus regularly used objects and customs from daily life to illustrate profound spiritual lessons. Many of these are no longer available or common in our times. The introduction of machinery has made farming, for instance, remarkably different from what it was in Jesus’ time. But the growing and care of grapevines has changed little over the centuries. The following facts about grapes help us understand Jesus’ use of that particular plant to illustrate the relationship He expected between Himself and His disciples:

> Grapes are the most widely grown fruit in the world.> Archaeological evidence from Egyptian tombs shows that grapes were being cultivated

2,500 years before Christ.> Even today, grapes are central to Israel’s agriculture and economy.

Growth Groups

Week 7Week of May 18th

La JoLLa PreSbyterian ChurCh • 858-454-0713 • www.ljpres.orgLa J

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> The grapevine is part of Israel’s national emblem.> Grapes are consumed in three popular forms; fresh, raisins, wine.> Grapes grow in a multitude of colors, sizes, and flavors.> The quality of a vine is only as good as the rooted stock. Individual branches are grafted into

the healthy, productive stock.> Vines are adaptable, but require attentive care; water, fertilizer, pruning.> New plants are pruned for three to five years to “train” them before they are allowed to

produce a crop.> Good roots produce for as many as a hundred years.> For their size, vines are very productive, yielding as much as eighty pounds of grapes in a

single season.> Disease and lack of productivity can spread from dead branches that have not been removed.> Well-tended grapevines are beautiful and aesthetic plants.

In order to achieve their best productivity, grapevines need the attention of a loving gardener. Wild vines are unproductive. Successful gardeners know that pruning, cutting back the branches, increases fruit bearing. Each spring vinedressers cut back each vine to its rootstock to enhance its fruitfulness. But branches that don’t bear fruit are cut off at the trunk and completely discarded because they are worthless and often infect the rest of the plant.

The act of pruning appears harsh. The vinedresser cuts back the lush, growing branches just as they are about to flower. The wise gardener knows that good must sometimes be sacrificed for better. Grape branches or tendrils can grow very fast and very long (twelve to twenty feet). But as they develop length and size, they use resources that could be channeled into making fruit. Pruning focuses the growth and energy of the plant. A lush vine with little fruit has failed its purpose.

Curiously, a grapevine branch can survive and produce foliage for a while after it has been severed, but it cannot produce fruit unless it is connected to a rootstock. As Jesus had a living dependence on the Father (see 6:57), so believers in Jesus need to have a living dependence on Him.

John 15:4 presents an important theme in this week’s passage: Believers are to abide or remain in Jesus, the Vine. The Greek word for “abide” is spoken as a command. It also has an ongoing emphasis; that is, the command to “abide” is not fulfilled in a single act. Abiding, for the disciples and for all believers today, means to make a constant, moment-by-moment decision to follow Christ. And we must not be passive—believers don’t just sit and “abide” until they die. (All abovei)

Of itself, a branch is weak and useless. The branch cannot produce its own life; it must draw that life from the vine. It is our communion with Christ through the Spirit that makes possible the bearing of the fruit. This abiding relationship is natural to the branch and the vine, but it must be cultivated in the Christian life. It is not automatic. Abiding in Christ demands worship, meditation on God’s Word, prayer, sacrifice, and service—but what a joyful experience it is!ii

2. If you reflect upon your life as part of the vine how would you describe yourself right now (for example, clinging on tight, deep rooted, growing steadily, withering, budding, weak and uselessness,

needing deep watering, feeling pruned,…)?

exPLorinG the text Read John 15:1-17 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 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. 5 “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. 6 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. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”

3. What can we do to stay close to Jesus, like a branch to the Vine?iii

Although a “list of things to do” does not necessarily ensure that we are abiding in Christ, the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life (Bible study, prayer, community, etc.) are a way through which we abide. The goal is not “performing” these spiritual disciplines—the goal is an intimate relationship with Christ.iv

One of the ways that we can abide in Christ is by abiding in His word.

Read 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

2 Peter 1:20-21 “Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

Psalm 119:105 “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”

Psalm 119:9-11 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your Word. I seek You with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.”

John 17:17 “Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth.”

1 Peter 1:23-25 “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed; but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God. For, ‘All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of the Lord stands forever.’ And this is the Word that was preached to you.”

4. Describe the impact of abiding in God’s word, as described in these verses.

As we abide in the Vine, the Holy Spirit works in our lives to develop Christ’s character in us. As His character is produced in us, we bear fruit that the world can see; and the fruit we bear looks like Christ.v

5. Encourage one another with how time in God’s word has helped you to “abide in Him”.

Because grape vines grow so quickly the branches become so dense that light cannot reach the area where fruit grows. If left alone by the gardener, the branches will always favor new growth over fruit. Therefore, pruning is the most important function of a gardener to keep a branch healthy and bearing fruit. “Rampant growth” can also occur in our lives, choking out the light of Christ in us. This unhealthy growth could be characterized as those things in our lives that aren’t necessarily bad, but keep us from bearing more fruit.vi

6. Are there any “good things” in your own life that may be taking up too much time and attention so that you are not reaching your full potential in Christ? What might they be?

7. The Father prunes fruitful branches to make them more fruitful (vs. 2). In what ways have you experienced the Father’s “pruning” and what were the results?vii

8. Instead of commanding us to bear fruit, why is Jesus’ only command to “remain in me” (vs. 4)?viii

9. Remaining in Christ allows us to bear much fruit (vs. 5). What kind of fruit should our lives bear?

This is the beauty of abiding in Christ. We receive so that we can give. As we bear fruit, God is glorified through our lives and we experience unspeakable joy and satisfaction because we are fulfilling the purpose for which we have been saved.ix

For Further Study

In the last half of this passage Jesus mentions love 8 times and He ends in verse 17 with the command to Love each other. Read John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus had already told His disciples to love each other in this earlier passage. How does His instruction in verse 15:12 raise the standard of our love?x

i. Barton, B.B., et al., Life Application Bible Commentary - John. Life Application Bible Commentary, ed. P.W. Comfort. 1993, Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

ii. Wiersbe, W.W., The Wiersbe Bible Commentary New Testament. 2007, Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook.

iii. Trenner, R.E., et al., Life Application Bible Studies - John. 1998, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

iv. www.crosspointechurch.com/resources/biblestudies_files. v. ibid. vi. ibid. vii. Connelly, D., John, the Way to True Life. Life Guide Bible Studies. 2002: Intervarsity Press. viii. ibid. ix. www.crosspointechurch.com/resources/biblestudies_files. x. Connelly, D., John, the Way to True Life. Life Guide Bible Studies. 2002: Intervarsity Press.