How to follow Jesus: By remaining in him
Warm-up: Have you ever given up playing an instrument or a sport, and if so, why?
Context: The Christian life is a spiritual war in the heart (Jn 14:1). After Jesus promised victory in this war to those who love him (Jn 14:15,21-24), he proceeded in Jn 15 to explain that we need to remain in that love, and that this love will be proven as genuine when we obey his will.
Read: John 15
1) What is the recurring keyword in Jn 15?
- What does ‘abiding in Jesus’ mean to you?
- According to Jesus, why is it essential to abide in him? How does the metaphor of the vine illustrate this point?
- Why did Jesus choose the vine over other plants for his illustration?
- Why did Jesus regard himself as the true Israel, v1? cf Ro 2:28-29
2) vv1-3: Did Jesus explain how his disciples became pruned (pure) branches of that true vine?
- What has the vine dresser to do with this, vv1-2?
- What earlier passages in John already spoke about this work of God himself? e.g. Jn 1:12-13; 5:21; 6:65
- v3: Are the branches pruned/pure because they abide in the vine? Or do they abide because they have been pruned by the presence of Christ within them, v5?
- Read Jn 15:16 again. Why did Jesus hammer the point that his followers did not choose him, but that they follow and abide in him because they are chosen? cf Jn 1:12-13
- Hint: If they had become children of God merely by their own choice, who would take credit for that? Why would this rob God of the praise that is due to him alone? cf 1Cor 1:29-31; Eph 1:10-12
3) v6: What did Jesus mean by ‘branches’ that bring no fruit and end up burned by fire? cf Mt 3:10; Mt 7:15-17; Gal 5:22
- Some regard the parable of the vine as proof that a Christian may be saved at one time and yet lose that salvation again later in life (Arminianism, especially in its Wesleyan form): What do you think about that? =>
- v4: What determines whether a branch will bring any fruit at all in the first place?
- Accordingly, is this parable threatening Christians with damnation in case they may not be fruitful enough? Why not?
- Or is it a warning of christless ‘Christianity’ that can never bring forth real conversions, i.e. a change of heart that manifests as love of Jesus and of his followers?
- What characterizes this christless form of Christianity in how it tries to produce spiritual fruit the wrong way, Gal 5:4?*
4) Where does Jesus direct his followers to grow in faith and fruitfulness?
- vv7-8: How does his word help? How can we ‘remain/abide in it’?
- How does that differ from trying to please God by reading the Bible ‘enough’?
- Why is it so important to also obey his commandments by loving one another?
- Can our violation of his commandments diminish God’s love for us, or only our experience of it? cf Gen 3:8
- v10 states “…just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love”. Did Jesus obey out of fear to lose the Father’s love? Why not?
- v11 speaks of ‘complete joy’ coming from what Jesus was saying here:
- Why is only the latter conducive to the joy mentioned by v11? or in order to stay within that love and experience it?
5) If Christianity is ultimately about genuine love and joy, how come that it is not more welcomed by the ‘world’?
- How do vv18-27 define what Jesus actually means by ‘the world’?
- What is the warning in this passage? cf Ja 4:4
- Did Jesus press his disciples to ‘witness’ to the world?
- Did he consider at all that they might opt out, v27? Why not?
6) Personal and applications
- How do you differentiate between the ‘love of the world’ which Jesus condemned (Ja 4:4) and love for the world as he exemplified it (Jn 3:16)? How do you avoid one while practicing the other?
- Do you ever feel pressured to ‘proselytize’ others, or is witnessing for Jesus natural for you?
- Is the parable of the vine for you a source of anxiety, or one of encouragement and joy? Can you explain why?
- How does Bible reading, memorization, and understanding of what you read impact these attitudes, along with your faith in and love of Jesus?
- What do you do to avoid that Bible reading achieves the opposite of what it is intended for, and what it did to the Pharisees (Jn 5:39)?
- What do you think of the approach to only read those parts (if anything) that speak of love and joy etc. and ignore what the Bible says about God’s wrath or judgement, or any other potentially confusing ‘theological’ concepts?
* The whole point of this awsome parable about ‘abiding’ is to teach believers to expect fruit (including their perseverance in the faith) never from their own strength, and nowhere else than from their spiritual union with Jesus
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