JOHN 15:1 – 27
Bible Study Notes Rev. Betsy Perkins
Love One Another
- What is the benefit of pruning trees and shrubs? Have you ever done it? How did it turn out?
The True Vine (15:1-8)
- In the Bible, the image of a vine often refers to the people of Israel: read Psalm 80:8-9, Isaiah 5:1-7. What is the problem with the vine of Israel, according to the prophet Isaiah?
- Who is the True Vine in this story that Jesus tells? Who is the Gardener?
- Who are you in Jesus’ story?
- What does the Gardener do to the branches without any fruit?
- What does the Gardener do for the branches that have fruit?
- What do the branches have to do? What is their responsibility?
- How do we, as branches, remain/abide in the True Vine? What does this relationship look like?
- What is the Gardener’s goal? (mentioned six times in vs.1-8!) Who benefits from it?
And, though it always hurts, we must be ready for the Father’s pruning knife. God is glorified, and so will we be, by bearing good quality fruit, and lots of it. For that to happen, there will be extra growth that needs cutting away. That, too, is an intimate process. The vine-dresser is never closer to the vine, taking more thought over its long-term health and productivity, than when He has the knife in His hand. N.T. Wright
- Enter Jesus’ final “I AM” statement on your chart.
Love Each Other (15:9-17):
- How did Jesus remain in God’s love? How are we to remain in God’s love?
- At times, verse 15:13 has been used to recruit and motivate soldiers, but Jesus is not talking about war in this passage. He is talking about love! What difference does that make?
- Sometimes humans use their power and authority to demand that someone love them (an abusive parent, an authoritarian dictator). What gives Jesus the authority to command us to love?
- Who does Jesus command us to love, him or someone else?
- Why does Jesus call us his friends?
Obedience is not what makes believers Jesus’ friends but what characterizes Jesus’ friends.
~NIV text note
At the heart of it all is the humility that comes from knowing who’s in charge. ‘You didn’t choose me, I chose you.” I was once asked, on the radio, which religion I would choose if I could. I pointed out that the idea of ‘choosing your religion’ was a mistake in the first place. Religions are not items on the supermarket shelf that we can pick and choose – though many today try to run their lives that way. If that were the case, you’d have to say that following Jesus wasn’t a ‘religion’. It is a personal relationship of love and loyalty to the One who has loved us more than we can begin to imagine. And the test of that love and loyalty remains the simple, profound, dangerous, and difficult command: love one another. N. T. Wright
If The World Hates You (15:18-27):
- Jesus seems a little paranoid in this passage. Is it justified?
- Why does the world hate you? Who is ‘the world’?
- Why are they guilty of sin now, but not earlier? Who is ‘they’?
- Who is going to testify and give evidence about Jesus?
Those who follow Jesus will find themselves in a new situation, facing new dangers as well as opportunities. Fortunately, they are not alone. The ‘Helper’, the Spirit of Truth, will come from the Father and live in them, telling them, and telling the world through them, who Jesus really was and is. They mustn’t get lured into talking about themselves. That might well make them paranoid, and it would make their hearers either get bored or angry. They must talk about Him. They world won’t like it, but it must be done. N.T. Wright
In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week?
Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life?
Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015
N.T. Wright, John for Everyone, 2002
Max Lucado, Life Lessons from John, 2018
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Gospel of John (RightNowMedia), 2014
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