Lesson #6, Our Need for Purpose, John 15.1 - 8

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This is a great passage to memorize and encourage your people to memorize.

John 15.1 - 8

OPEN

Let’s each share your name and what is your favorite fruit?

DIG

1.       This is one of the richest passages in all the Bible. What is one thing you learn about Christian living from this passage? There are many right answers.

Without Christ, we are capable of no good….

How then do we glorify Him? Jesus gives us the answer in John 15:7: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” We pray! We ask God to do for us through Christ what we can’t do for ourselves—bear fruit. Verse 8 gives the result: “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.” So how is God glorified by prayer? Prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can do nothing. And prayer is the turning away from ourselves to God in the confidence that He will provide the help we need. Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as wealthy. —JOHN PIPER, from Desiring God / Thomas Nelson, A Daybook of Prayer: Meditations, Scriptures and Prayers to Draw near to the Heart of God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006).

2.       Consider the context. Where are we in the story of Jesus’ life?

Have you ever been with someone very close to you who is about to die, someone who loves you and wants to leave you with a final word? “Come closer.” You lean close, straining to hear. “I want to tell you something. I’ve waited until now … but I can’t wait any longer.” You know that you’ll remember every word for the rest of your life. Now imagine that the person who is about to speak is Jesus. How closely would you listen? How long and hard would you ponder your Lord’s last words to you? In the pages to come, I invite you to encounter, perhaps for the first time, Jesus’ words in John 15—the heart of His final message to His disciples on the night He was betrayed. By dusk the following day, Jesus would be stretched out on a cross, His body stripped and pierced, His life ebbing away. Jesus knew the words He spoke that night would echo in His friends’ memories for years. In time, the truth of His “deathbed conversation” would lead them to a whole new way of thinking. These final words are so little understood today that I’ve called them “secrets,” but I’m convinced that Jesus meant for their meaning to be clear. The time for parables and hidden meanings had passed. He wanted every follower for generations to come to know exactly how to live an overflowing life and understand what God would do to make it happen. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

3.       What is fruit?

For years I read this passage as a general call to Christians to bring others to Christ. But there’s no reason to restrict Jesus’ meaning of fruit to winning souls. I have traced the words fruit and good works in the Bible, and they’re used nearly interchangeably. Take, for instance, this verse in Titus: Let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. (3:14) The disciples wouldn’t have interpreted Jesus’ words to mean just evangelism, either. As people who lived close to nature, they would have understood that fruit symbolized the best result or sweetest prize in life.

In practical terms, fruit represents good works—a thought, attitude, or action of ours that God values because it glorifies Him. The fruit from your life is how God receives His due honor on earth. That’s why Jesus declares, “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:8). You bear inner fruit when you allow God to nurture in you a new, Christlike quality: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22). — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

4.       What does it mean to abide in Christ?

His purpose is not that you will do more for Him but that you will choose to be more with Him. Only by abiding can you enjoy the most rewarding friendship with God and experience the greatest abundance for His glory. To abide means to remain, to stay closely connected, to settle in for the long term. With this picture Jesus is showing the disciples how an ongoing, vital connection with Him will directly determine the amount of His supernatural power at work in their lives. Within six verses in John 15, Jesus says abide ten times. You can sense the passion and poignancy of His plea. Jesus knows that He is about to leave His friends, yet He is saying, “We must be together.” He knows that in the coming years, these downcast, frightened men now standing with Him in the vineyard will be called to produce an unheard-of, miraculous amount of fruit—enough fruit to turn the whole world upside down. And Jesus knows they can’t begin to achieve that kind of eternal impact without the one thing they’re most likely to forget: more of Him. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

5.       Look through this passage for, “no fruit,” “fruit,” “more fruit,” and, “much fruit.” What do we learn about each of these?

You pick up the first basket and look inside. You don’t see any fruit. Not very encouraging—some branches don’t bear a single grape. Jesus had this kind of branch in mind when He said, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit” (John 15:2). You step over a row and peek into the second basket. The fourth basket strains under the weight of the biggest grapes What a relief! You see several healthy clusters of grapes nestled in the bottom. Some branches, then, are not barren. You can find grapes on them if you look hard enough. Jesus described this branch as one that “bears fruit” (v. 2). Still, not much to get excited about here. You start to wonder about the skill of the vinedresser and the potential of this hillside. Fortunately, the next row over reassures you. You see a basket more than half full of plump, juicy grapes. You’d be proud to walk out of the vineyard with this basket. In Jesus’ illustration, this branch bears “more fruit” (v. 2). Can the harvest get better than this? Yes! Just wait until you feast your eyes on the basket in the last row. Here, you immediately notice that both the size and the amount of the grapes are extraordinary. The fourth basket overflows with the biggest, most desirable grapes you’ve ever seen. You didn’t know that one branch could produce so much. Jesus’ description for this branch is that it “bears much fruit” (v. 5). By the time you get home, you have a fuller sense of what Jesus was trying to say in the vineyard: —Each of us is a branch that is producing a clearly defined level of abundance (which I have represented with baskets): • Basket 1—“no fruit” • Basket 2—“fruit” • Basket 3—“more fruit” • Basket 4—“much fruit. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

6.       How many Christians would you put in each of these baskets?

I’ve asked audiences all over the world how they would describe the level of fruit bearing among Christians today. Their responses are consistent. They conclude that nearly half of all Christians bear little or no fruit. Another third bear some fruit. Only about 5 percent bear a lot. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

7.       Verse 2. What happens to the branch that bears no fruit? Look at this in several translations, including the HCSB.

First, a clearer translation of the Greek word airo, rendered in John 15 as “take away,” would be “take up” or “lift up.” We find accurate renderings of airo, for example, when the disciples “took up” twelve baskets of food after the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:20), when Simon was forced to “bear” Christ’s cross (Matthew 27:32), and when John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who “takes away” the sin of the world (John 1:29). In fact, in both the Bible and in Greek literature, airo never means “cut off.” Therefore, when some Bibles render the word as “takes away” or “cut off” in John 15, it is an unfortunate interpretation rather than a clear translation. “Lifts up” suggest an image of a vinedresser leaning over to lift up a branch. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

8.       Let’s assume the idea that “lifts up” is right. What does it mean for God to lift up the non-fruit bearing branches? Why is this necessary?

“New branches have a natural tendency to trail down and grow along the ground,” he explained. “But they don’t bear fruit down there. When branches grow along the ground, the leaves get coated in dust. When it rains, they get muddy and mildewed. The branch becomes sick and useless.” “What do you do?” I asked. “Cut it off and throw it away?” “Oh, no!” he exclaimed. “The branch is much too valuable for that. We go through the vineyard with a bucket of water looking for those branches. We lift them up and wash them off.” He demonstrated for me with dark, callused hands. “Then we wrap them around the trellis or tie them up. Pretty soon they’re thriving.” As he talked, I could picture Jesus’ own hand motions when He taught in the vineyard that night. He was showing how the Father makes sure His crop comes in full and sweet. When the branches fall into the dirt, God doesn’t throw them away or abandon them. He lifts them up, cleans them off, and helps them flourish again. Suddenly I had a burst of insight. Lift up. clean. I have never read John 15 in the same way again. For the Christian, sin is like dirt covering the grape leaves. Air and light can’t get in. The branch languishes, and no fruit develops. How does our Vinedresser lift us from mud and misery? How does He move our branch from barren to beautiful so we can start filling up our basket? — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

9.       James 1.2 speaks of the testing of our faith? What does it mean that God tests our faith?

Tests of faith have nothing to do with the status of your salvation—that’s a settled fact. Neither are these tests on the level of “Why doesn’t God help me find my car keys?” Tests of faith are various trials and hardships that invite you to surrender something of great value to God even when you have every right not to. You will feel assaulted or stretched by circumstances, but not distant from God; tried by Him, but not judged or guilty. A psalmist described the refining experience … and the priceless result. For you, O God, tested us; “You refined us like silver.… But you brought us to a place of abundance. (Psalm 66:10, 12, NIV) Have you ever realized that a “test of faith” doesn’t really test anything unless it pushes you past your last test? Past what you’ve proven on a previous test? That’s why pruning often lasts longer and goes further than we think is reasonable or fair. And that’s also why if you pull back when you reach what seems like your limit, you will never grow or know how much you can really trust God. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

10.   Is there a way to avoid this pain?

God doesn’t apply pain when a more pleasant method would do just as well. Pruning is always the only and best answer to our deepest desires; it is the tender gift of an all-wise and all-loving Father. “Pain was the loving and legitimate violence necessary to produce my liberty,” wrote Blaise Pascal. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

11.   Is every painful experience a sign that God is pruning us?

Not every painful experience is the result of pruning. Is your heart breaking because your teenager is experimenting with drugs and sex? God did not cause your son to do these things in order to prune you. Are you suddenly facing a future with diabetes or prostate cancer? God isn’t purposefully constraining your life just to see how you’ll react. Yet every trial you face is an opportunity to let Him work in your life for abundance. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

12.   How long can we expect the season of pruning to last?

Even though the duration, depth, and breadth of pruning seasons will vary, no season lasts indefinitely. A season is coming, I promise, when you will know that you are no longer under God’s shears. Everywhere you look you’ll see amazing evidence of personal transformation and expanded ministry for God. Consider the many trials Paul endured. Then consider the incredible size of Paul’s harvest. It’s impossible even to measure, isn’t it? Paul’s branch is still yielding fruit today. — Secrets of the Vine: Breaking Through to Abundance (Breakthrough Series Book 2) by Bruce Wilkinson

13.   Verse 6. Suppose I say, “I will leave the fruit-bearing to the super-saints.” How would you respond?

When the Lord Jesus Christ unfolded his parable of the vine and the branches he knew what he was talking about, for he wished to stress that his disciples must be fruitful, and it is a characteristic of the vine that it is good for nothing except fruit-bearing. If it does not produce grapes, it is worthless.

The reason for this is that the wood of the vine is too soft for any other purpose. A tree might be cut down, sawed into planks, and then used to construct furniture or build a house. But the vine is always gnarled and twisted and cannot yield planks. Besides, it is brittle. Anything built of it would soon break in the user’s hands and be worthless. It is not even good for burning. William Barclay points out, in his commentary, that at certain times of the year it was stipulated by law that the people were to bring wood offerings to the temple to supply the fires for the sacrifices. But it was also laid down that the wood of the vine must not be brought, because it was useless for that purpose. It burned too quickly. The only thing that could be done with it, save letting it lie around, was to make a bonfire and destroy it quickly. — James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 1165.

14.   Verse 7. Can anyone quote this classic verse?

When I was in the Navy, I met men who professed to be Christians and who studied the Bible. I hung around them hoping that some of their goodness would rub off on me, and that they would wear away some of my badness. One day a buddy handed me some small cards with Bible verses printed on them. Since I claimed to be a Christian (after all, I was born in America), he challenged me to memorize them. I thought to myself, Why not? It couldn’t hurt. And besides, it would be a nice thing to write home about.

Little did I realize then that those Bible verses, so wisely selected, would stir my heart, convict me of my sin, and profoundly change my life. They whetted my appetite for more, and my sailor friend seemed to have an unlimited supply of those little cards. The Word of God was being programmed into my mind, and the Holy Spirit was using it to convince me of my need of Jesus Christ as my Savior, and to transform my life.

What began as an off-the-cuff experiment turned into a lifetime process. What was first like a drop of water on a parched tongue became a downpour of spiritual nourishment to my soul. There soon came a point when I decided to incorporate Scripture memory as a lifetime habit, though it has not been an easy task. It has required a determined effort.

As Christians we are sometimes satisfied with less than what God really wants to give us. We’ll gladly show up in meetings to hear God’s Word preached or taught, but won’t take enough time to thoroughly read our Bible, even with all the modern translations available. Some will settle for reading it, but give little effort to studying it and applying it to their lives. Even fewer will memorize from it. — Discipleship Journal, Issue 32 (March/April 1986) (NavPress, 1986).

15.   Verse 7. Based on this verse, what would you say is the secret to answered prayer?

The word “abide” is really important. It means “be at home in.” “Thy Word have I hid in my heart,” said the psalmist (see Psalm 119:11)—not in his head, but in his heart. Paul prayed in Ephesians 3 “that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” Why does the Lord want His Word to abide in our hearts and not just in our heads? Because affected by data, discussions, and information, the mind is incredibly fickle. I can change my mind one hundred times in a single day concerning a single issue. So can you. But not so the heart. If a girlfriend or boyfriend ever broke up with you, you know how this works. You may have known in your head that you were better off without him or her, but you still cared for that girl or guy. Why? Because the heart doesn’t let go that easily. That’s why the Lord wants His Word to dwell there. How does this happen? For me the most practical way knowledge moves from the head to the heart is through meditation and contemplation—so that the Word can sink in and permeate my inner man. It must not just be written on paper; it’s gotta be written in my heart. — Jon Courson, Jon Courson’s Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 565.

16.   What is the relationship between abiding in Christ and prayer?

What fruit specifically did Jesus choose to mention on this occasion? “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (v. 7). An empowered prayer life. As we pray, we abide. As we abide, we pray more, and more deeply. “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (v. 8). The Father is glorified. Verses 9–10 add, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” Love will fill our lives! “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (v. 11). The joy of Jesus in us! Chesterton called this “the gigantic secret of the Christian.” Peter called it “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8, KJV). Joy to the max! — Kent Hughes, John: That You May Believe, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1999), 358.

17.   Suppose a new Christian asked how he could get God to answer his prayers. What would you tell him?

Your father wants to answer prayer. If you are abiding in Christ, and if his Word abides in you, then you will pray in his will and he will answer. “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14). It has well been said that prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven, but getting God’s will done on earth. It is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of God’s willingness.

What a joy it is to have God answer prayer! What confidence it gives you to know that you can take “everything to God in prayer” and he will hear and answer! He does not always give us what we ask, but he does give us what we need, when we need it. This is one of the evidences of abiding. —WARREN W. WIERSBE / Thomas Nelson, A Daybook of Prayer: Meditations, Scriptures and Prayers to Draw near to the Heart of God (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006).

18.   How is Sunday-only Christianity different from abiding in Christ?

When you abide somewhere, you live there. You grow familiar with the surroundings. You don’t pull in the driveway and ask, “Where is the garage?” You don’t consult the blueprint to find the kitchen. To abide is to be at home.

To abide in Christ’s love is to make his love your home. Not a roadside park or hotel room you occasionally visit, but your preferred dwelling. You rest in him. Eat in him. When thunder claps, you step beneath his roof. His walls secure you from the winds. His fireplace warms you from the winters of life. As John urged, “We take up permanent residence in a life of love” (1 John 4:16 MSG).

You abandon the old house of false love and move into his home of real love. — Max Lucado, Grace for the Moment® Volume Ii: More Inspirational Thoughts for Each Day of the Year (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2006).

19.   What benefit have you come to enjoy in abiding in Christ? What do you love about abiding in Christ?

The same thing happens when it comes to following God’s commandments. The closer we get to Jesus, the more in tune we are with God’s will. Jesus said, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love” (John 15:10). The fruit of the Spirit grows only in the garden of obedience. Knowing and loving God is not merely believing in Christ, attending church, or even reading the Bible and praying. It is doing what he tells us to do—not perfectly, of course. We will sin, and we will fail. But if we are true children of God, then we will repent and return to him.

The person who truly seeks God comes to understand that when God tells us to do or not to do something, it is for our own good. It would be like a child complaining to his parents, “Why won’t you let me play on the freeway? Dylan’s mom lets him play on the freeway!” When our lives are about glorifying God, obedience becomes second nature. — Greg Laurie, Walking with Jesus: Daily Inspiration from the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).

20.   What do we miss out on if we don’t abide in Christ?

At first glance, this verse could be construed to mean that Jesus is your “genie.” You ask whatever you wish, and He’ll do it. Sounds pretty good, right? That’s not quite the point.

Do you really abide in Christ? Surrender your false sense of independence so that you can fully understand your reliance on Christ for every aspect of your life—then you can rest in His grace, love, and plan for you.

Do His words abide in you? Read, memorize, and meditate on His Word on a regular basis so that your thoughts and words are more like His.

Imagine how different your wishes would be if you truly abided in Christ and His words abided in you. Gone would be the wishes that everything would go your way and that God would remove those things or people that make life difficult for you. Instead, you would wish for God to make you and those around you more like Him every day. You would desire justice, lasting peace, and the spread of the Gospel. You would ask that God be glorified, no matter the circumstances. — Renae Brumbaugh et al., One-a Daily Devotional: One Way, One Truth, One Life (Uhrichsville, OH: Barbour, 2015).

21.   How much time does it take to abide in Christ?

Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.

Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.

Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.

Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.

22.   What do you want to recall from today’s conversation?

23.   How can we support one another in prayer this week?