The Church of Divine Guidance Sunday morning Adult Bible Study is embarking on an exhaustive study of the book of John. Of the four gospels, John’s gospel presents Jesus as God most forcefully. John explicitly declared Jesus to be God who brought all things into existence. John’s gospel confirmed that Jesus was YHVH of the Jews . He is light and life . These are the notes of that study along with the recorded audio of the session.
Last Week
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| Jesus is the vine, believers are the branches, God The Father is the gardener |
Jesus started talk to His disciples to settle them down and calm them after telling them that He was going to be betrayed and that He was going to leave them and they couldn’t follow Him. He told them that although He wouldn’t be with them that He was actually going back to His Father and He would be preparing a permanent place for them there. Meanwhile He was going to ask the Father to send someone to comfort, help, and advocate for them. The Father was going to send the Holy Spirit who would compensate for His not being with them physically. The Holy Spirit would actually be in them, as would He and the Father.
John 14:15-21, 26-27 (NLT)15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live.20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid
The Holy Spirit would give them peace.
He stressed that if they loved Him they would obey His commandments, the things that He had told them while He was physically with Him.
Today
As Jesus prepared his disciples to face life without his visible presence, he impressed on them the importance of staying close to him spiritually.
Have you ever felt far from Christ since becoming a Christian? What circumstances made you feel that way?
John 15:1-8 (NLT)1 “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.
Jesus' instruction to his disciples in this passage revolve around three symbols—the vine, the gardener and the branches. What is Jesus trying to communicate by calling himself the true vine?
The vine is used in the Old Testament as a figure for the people of Israel as God's chosen people.
Psalm 80:8-19 (NLT)8 You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.9 You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land.10 Our shade covered the mountains; our branches covered the mighty cedars.11 We spread our branches west to the Mediterranean Sea; our shoots spread east to the Euphrates River.12 But now, why have you broken down our walls so that all who pass by may steal our fruit?13 The wild boar from the forest devours it, and the wild animals feed on it.14 Come back, we beg you, O God of Heaven’s Armies. Look down from heaven and see our plight. Take care of this grapevine15 that you yourself have planted, this son you have raised for yourself.16 For we are chopped up and burned by our enemies. May they perish at the sight of your frown.17 Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice.18 Then we will never abandon you again. Revive us so we can call on your name once more.19 Turn us again to yourself, O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved.
The people in Israel had not obeyed God. They had worshipped false gods. But the Psalmist also foresees the coming of a divine Redeemer—(verse 17 " Strengthen the man you love, the son of your choice.”
Jesus said that He was the true vine, the unfailing channel of God's grace and power.
When we believe in Jesus, we are like the branches of a vine in a spiritual sense.
The good work that we do on his behalf is the fruit. God the Father is like the gardener who looks after the vine. Like a gardener God wants the branches, us, to produce much fruit. In order for a tree to produce more fruit a gardner often prunes the tree. Sometimes, he must cut off parts of the branch. If he just leaves a branch to grow it may produce leaves instead of fruit but add nothing to its usefulness.
Or, the branch may grow in the wrong direction. So other branches would become weak. So, like the branches, we need God to remove everything that is wrong in our lives. We need him to guide us back when we follow our own way instead of his way. We also need him to make us clean inside our hearts. We cannot do this by our own efforts.
What does it mean to remain in Christ?
Here it relates to, the decision to depend consciously upon Christ as the condition of fruitfulness. A branch detached from the vine is necessarily unfruitful. A vital union is in view.
The vine and the branches are distinguished. From the vine comes the life; from the branches, as a result, comes the fruit. Our abiding in Christ connects us with the source of life. His abiding in us brings a steady supply of fruit. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary
Genuine followers of Jesus will produce much ‘fruit’ in their lives. In order to produce ‘fruit’, we need to have a close relationship with Jesus. He is like the vine. We must take our strength and energy from him. We do this when we spend time with him through prayer, and study. We must obey him always. We cannot do his work if we separate ourselves from him. Then we would become like useless branches.
In the same way an unproductive child of God who persists in his own will may expect to be set aside. God's chastening hand may even remove such a person through death. He purgeth it. This applies to the fruitful branch. It is kept clean of any tendency to deadness or to mere growth of the branch as distinct from production of fruit. The object is more fruit. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The Father's ministry as the gardener is to "cut off every branch . . . that bears no fruit". What do you think that means?
A number of views exist on what it means for a branch to be "cut off." One is that we lose our salvation if we are unfruitful. That view, however, seems to contradict some things that Jesus has said earlier in the Gospel about our security.
John 3:16 (NLT)16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 11:25-26 (NLT)25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.26 Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
John 6:39-40 (NLT)39 And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.40 For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
A second view is that this is a reference to God's discipline brought to bear on an unproductive branch. The genuine believer does not become lost, but is reproved by God. A third view is that these branches were not genuine believers in the first place.
Jesus warned what will happen to false Christians. But immediately, he reminded us of his wonderful promise. This promise is for all of us who remain in a close relationship with him. He will do whatever we ask for in his name. What it says is if they or we abide in Him and His WORDS abide in us we can ask. If His words abide and we are united with him, our prayers will not be selfish. We will want to ask for only those things that he wants, too. His desires will become our desires. He will grant our requests. And the things that we do on his behalf will bring great glory to God.
Remember what I always say about God giving us the desires of our heart if we delight ourselves in Him? If we truly delight ourselves in Him the desires of our heart will be His desires not ours.
The Father prunes fruitful branches to make them more fruitful. In what ways have you experienced the Father's "pruning"? What were the results?
John 15:9-17 (NLT)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.
What spiritual benefits result from remaining in Christ?
Jesus loved his disciples as much as his Father loved him. He knew that his Father loved him completely. We must remain in a close relationship with Jesus at all times. The mention of love in this connection suggests that this is the chief item in the fruit which the Father is concerned to find in his children, fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 (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!
But this is not love in a general sense—rather, the love of Christ. When he comes in to abide, he brings his love with him, which in turn is the very love enjoyed by Christ from the Father. Christian love becomes thereby divine in character. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The enjoyment (that doesn’t mean that there are conditions on His love but through enjoyment of it) of the Saviour's love is conditioned on keeping his commandments. This is no arbitrary requirement, for Christ has operated under this rule himself in his relation to the Father. The disciple is not above his Lord. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
Jesus emphasised that we must obey his commands. When we know Jesus’ love daily, our happiness does not depend on our situation. It depends on him. He will never leave us. And he will always love us.
Jesus' command in John 15:12 is, "Love each other as I have loved you." In what specific ways did Jesus demonstrate his love?
Jesus loves us so much that he died to save us. He said that, like him, we too should love other people. So, we should do whatever we can in order to help other people. We do not need always to do great things in order to show our love. For example, we might simply listen to other people. Or, we might help other people even when we have our own problems. We might spend time with other people when we would prefer to do something else. Or we might just do more things on behalf of other people than they would expect. It is very important that Christians encourage each other. We must love each other at all times. Even if we do not always agree, we must always love each other.
What are the requirements and benefits of friendship with Christ?
Jesus was the disciples’ master and their Lord. Therefore, he had the right to call them his slaves. But slaves do not know their master’s affairs. Instead, Jesus told them the Father’s plans. And Jesus called them his friends. Jesus is our Lord and our master, too. He is God’s Son. He caused everything to exist. He has the right to call us his slaves, too. He could demand that we obey him. Slaves do not have a choice. They must obey their master. But Jesus gives us the choice to obey him or not. He does not want us to obey him because we are afraid of him. He wants us to obey him because we love him.
Jesus’ disciples made a decision to follow him. But they could make that decision only because he chose them.
His choice of them was entirely free, did not arise from any character, motive, or condition in them: the allusion is to a custom of the Jews, the reverse of which Christ acted; with whom it was usual for disciples to choose their own masters, and not masters their disciples.
-To be apostles - somebody sent on a mission.
-Ordained you - Literally, I have placed you, appointed you, set you apart. It does not mean that he had done this by any formal public act of the imposition of hands, as we now use the word, but that he had designated or appointed them to this work,
- To bring forth fruit - That you should be rich in good works; faithful and successful in spreading my gospel. This was the great business to which they were set apart, and this they faithfully accomplished. It may be added that this is the great end for which Christians are chosen. It is not to be idle, or useless, or simply to seek enjoyment. It is to do good, and to spread as far as possible the rich temporal and spiritual blessings which the gospel is fitted to confer on mankind.
Like them whatever Christians, then, possess, they owe to God, and by the most tender and sacred ties they are bound to be his followers.
He has chosen us, too. If he had not chosen us first, we could not choose to follow him.
He has chosen us to work for him. He has chosen us to bring glory to God by what we do. God’s Son has chosen each one of us to achieve good things for him. We are important to him.
John 15:18-25 (NLT)18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the One who sent me.22 They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin.23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father.24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father.25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’
If love is to characterize our relationship with other believers, hate will characterize our relationship with the world. What reasons does Jesus give for the world's hatred?
The world is the human system that opposes God’s purposes.
People rejected Jesus. They refused to believe in him. Many of them especially the leaders hated him. So they also hated everyone who followed him. They were able to convince others to hate him also because He didn’t do what they expected the Messiah to do when He appeared. People still reject Jesus. He never hurt anybody. In fact, he never did anything wrong. But still many people hate him. Therefore, they will hate us, just because we follow Jesus.
Remember what He told them at the Passover Feast after He had washed their feet? They persecuted and killed Him and they would do the same to them.
John 13:16 (NLT)16 I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.
To this day in some countries, people persecute Christians. They may put Christians into prison. They may hurt Christians. Or they may even kill Christians. The only reason for this evil behaviour is that Christians believe in Jesus.The hostility of the world is the price the believer pays for friendship with Christ.
The proof of genuineness in discipleship is the correspondence between the reaction of men to the ministry of Jesus' followers and the reaction of men to Christ in the days of his flesh. Some men would persecute them; others would keep their word. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
Christ suffered rejection because men did not really know the One who sent him. The disciples were being inducted into the circle of the misunderstood, sharing this distinction with their Lord. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
When a person rejects Jesus, they are rejecting also God, his *Father.
What does Jesus mean when he says that without his coming, his words and his miracles, the world "would not be guilty of sin"?
Many people saw Jesus do miracles. Some of the Jewish leaders saw Jesus do miracles. Nobody denied that the miracles had happened. That was not possible because so many people had seen them. But the Jewish leaders did not believe that Jesus’ power came from God. So they hated him.
Matthew 12:24 (NLT)24 But when the Pharisees heard about the miracle, they said, “No wonder he can cast out demons. He gets his power from Satan, the prince of demons.”
They said He was a lawbreaker.
John 5:9-10 (NLT)9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” That was why they were guilty of sin.
The reason that Jesus said they had no excuse was because the Jews had the great privilege of having the Son of God among them in addition to having received God’s special revelation in the Old Testament. With this privilege comes great responsibility. Those who rejected Him were completely guilty and without excuse. If He had not come to them, they would still have been sinners, but they would not have been guilty of rejecting Him directly.
The cost of hating Christ is the condemnation of hating the Father as well. Men cannot treat the Father in one way and the Son in another. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The prophecies that Jesus is talking about in verse 25
Psalm 35:19 (NLT)19 Don’t let my treacherous enemies rejoice over my defeat. Don’t let those who hate me without cause gloat over my sorrow.
Psalm 69:4 (NLT)4 Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs on my head. Many enemies try to destroy me with lies, demanding that I give back what I didn’t steal.
Psalm 109:3 (NLT)3 They surround me with hateful words and fight against me for no reason.
The words from these Psalms were a prophecy that was happening. In the end God’s purpose is always accomplished, despite the belief of those who reject Jesus that they have successfully opposed it.
John 15:26-27 (NLT)26 “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.27 And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.
In what specific ways will the Counselor and the disciples themselves continue the ministry begun by Jesus ?
The disciples would not face the world alone. They would have a divine helper. He would press home the truth about man's sinful condition and the truth about Christ, the remedy for that sin. The disciples would then be qualified to be valid witnesses through the time spent with Jesus and their association with Him in with the addition to the Holy Spirit’s presence. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
Acts 5:32 (NLT)32 We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
John 16:1-4 (NLT)1 “I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. 2 For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God.3 This is because they have never known the Father or me.4 Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning. I didn’t tell you earlier because I was going to be with you for a while longer.
What kind of treatment can the disciples expect from those who do not know Christ?
Jesus warned that the Jewish leaders would persecute them. He didn’t want this to come as a surprise to them. They would continue to worship God in the synagogue because they were Jews. Jesus knew that the Jewish leaders would not allow this, because of the Him. The Jewish leaders had rejected Jesus. They did not believe that he was God’s Son. They thought that Jesus was insulting God. So they would think that God wanted Jesus’ followers to die. And these leaders believed that to kill Jesus’ followers pleased God.
When persecution would strike, the memory of Christ's faithfulness in warning of these things would serve to strengthen his servants. To meet such things unprepared would bring dismay. Christ was their shield against opposition. In the light of his soon going away, the present teaching took on a significance it could not have had before. It was now in order to think more directly about this departure and about what it would mean for those who remained. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
Bible Study Audio
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