John Bible Study - Lesson 39

John Bible Study - Lesson 39

Read the passage below using the 2 different Bible translations:

John 15:1-17 New International Version (NIV)

The Vine and the Branches

15 “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^[a] 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.

John 15:1-17 New Living Translation (NLT)

Jesus, the True Vine

15 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. ³ You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

⁵ “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. ⁷ But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! ⁸ When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

⁹ “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.¹⁰ When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! ¹² This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. ¹³ There is no greater love than 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 slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. ¹⁶ You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

Note:

Here are the 3 questions for you to answer. I have given some basic answers below the questions to help you understand the passage. Answer the questions first yourself before you look at my answers. Take a moment before you begin and ask God to help you understand what you are reading.

3 questions to answer:

1.    Content: What is this passage about?

2.    Lesson: What do I learn from this passage?

3.    Application: How can I apply what I have learned to my life?

Answers to the questions above and some background:

Content: What is this passage about?

·        Jesus teaches His disciples about the vine and branches.

·        Jesus teaches the disciples about the way to bear fruit for God’s kingdom.

·        Jesus teaches His disciples about love.

Lesson: What do I learn from this passage?

·        Jesus declares to His disciples that He is the true vine.

·        Jesus explains that as the “vine”, He would be the one to nourish and sustain His disciples, “the branches”, so they can bear fruit.

·        Jesus explains that those branches that do not bear fruit will be cut off by God/the Gardner.

·        Jesus tells the disciples that unless they remain in Him they will bear no fruit for God’s kingdom. The spiritual truth for believers is that apart from Jesus no one can bear fruit. Every work that is done for God’s kingdom has to be connected to Christ and His will, measure and prompting. That is why in the life of a follower of Jesus, the Holy Spirit teaches, gifts, leads, equips and counsels every true work that a believer does.

John 14:26 Revised Standard Version (RSV)

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

1 Corinthians 12:4-11 New Living Translation (NLT)

⁴ There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. ⁶ God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

⁷ A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. ⁸ To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. ⁹ The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. ¹⁰ He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. ¹¹ It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

Galatians 5:22-23 New Living Translation (NLT)

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

·        Jesus declares that every true work connected to the vine will produce much fruit and will give great glory to God.

·        These good God-centered works also prove that those who produce them are Jesus’ disciples.

·        When Jesus teaches about love He makes it clear that His followers must remain in His love. We remain in in His love by following all that Jesus and the Father have taught us and have commanded us to do. Jesus also declares that His example of obedience and love for the Father is the model for all His disciples to follow.

We love God by following His commands:

1 John 5:3 New International Version (NIV)

In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

2 John 6 New International Version (NIV)

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

A good reminder about obedience and building upon a solid foundation in Christ:

Luke 6:46-49 New Living Translation (NLT)

Building on a Solid Foundation

⁴⁶ “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? ⁴⁷ I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. ⁴⁸ It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. ⁴⁹ But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

·        Jesus tells His disciples everything they need to know so that they would experience joy.

·        Jesus commands His disciples to love one another as He has loved them.

·        Jesus teaches that the greatest form of love is sacrificial love. Jesus says this:

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

·        Jesus modeled sacrificial love with His work on the Cross.

·        We too can model this kind of love with our love and attitudes toward others.  Part of Jesus’ teaching the parable of the sheep and goats:

Matthew 25:40 New International Version (NIV)

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We need to care for others even at the expense of our own interests:

Philippians 2:3-4 New International Version (NIV)

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

·        Jesus explains to the disciples that they are His friends if they do what He commands.

·        Jesus explains that He chose His disciples, they did not choose Him.

Jesus chose His disciples to go and produce lasting fruit. Jesus also commissioned His disciples to go and share the gospel:

Matthew 28:18-20 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Acts 1:8 New International Version (NIV)

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The New Testament speaks about being equipped to bear fruit for God’s kingdom:

Colossians 1:9-12New Living Translation (NLT)

⁹ So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

¹¹ We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, ¹² always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

Believers should take to heart that God’s Word equips them to carry out all God has called them to do:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We need to be doers of the Word:

James 1:22-25 New Living Translation (NLT)

²² But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. ²³ For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. ²⁴ You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. ²⁵ But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Believers connected to Jesus are doing the good work God has called them to do:

Ephesians 2:10 New International Version (NIV)

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Application: How can I apply what I have learned to my life?

·        Be a doer of the Word.

·        Show love for God through you obedience to His commands.

·        Love others by putting on your God transformed attitude, new level of kindness and acts of compassion.

·        Stay connected to God through His Word, prayer, Bible study, and fellowship with others believers.

·        Look to the interests of others.

·        Act like a disciple of Jesus.

 John 13:35 New Living Translation (NLT)

“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Don’t forget:

John’s main purpose in writing this Gospel:

·        To tell the world that Jesus is the Messiah for the Jews and Gentiles

·        The events were recorded so that we might believe and have eternal life

John 20:30-31 New International Version (NIV)

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

³⁰ Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Questions to ponder:

·        How are you staying connected to God?

·        What kind of fruit are you bearing for God’s kingdom?

·        Are you a doer of God’s Word?

·        How do you love God and others?

·        What work has God given you to do?
 

Have a great week…………….Dave