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WEEK SIX

Day Two

DAILY SCRIPTURE

John 15:5-6

LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS

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Know: Read John 15

Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases. (love, hate, world, Father, Son, Holy Spirit)

Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:

• Who is Jesus speaking to?

• What is about to happen to Jesus?

• When?

• Where?

• Why?

• How?

Observation:

What: What does today’s study reveal to you about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today?

The Golden Candlestick

“I AM the light of the world.” John 8:12

Positioned opposite the Table of Shewbread, it was lit by seven lighted lamps with a continual supply of oil poured into them. Made of one solid piece of gold, it speaks of the deity of Christ and of the church because, through them, the Divine nature of Christ would be revealed. “You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:15-16) 

The Greek word for “oil” is “charisma,” translated as “anointing.” Christ is the Anointed One, and the believers of Christ are "anointed ones,” continually burning with the Spirit and God’s anointing. Without the light from the Candlestick, The Holy Place would remain in shadow, but the light produced highlighted the Table and the Alter of Incense. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the Oil that continually burns with a believer highlighting Christ in a dark world. 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” John 15:1

By: Laura Thevaos

John fifteen begins with Jesus saying to his disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” They would have understood the analogy since, in the Old Testament, a vine represented the nation of Israel, “Remember how you brought a young vine from Egypt, cleared out the brambles and briers and planted your very own vineyard?” (Psalm 80:8-10). Israel was a vine God had planted, but now the true vine had come. Jesus is the true vine, the only true source of life on Earth; Jesus is the ultimate source, and without him, everything will dry up and die.

If we read this passage like a play, we will see there are several different characters in the story:

• The Vine: The Son

• The Vinedresser: The Father

• 3 Types of Branches: People

Another vocabulary essential to understand in this passage:

• Fruit: the characteristics of Jesus expressed in the lives of people

• Abiding: to remain, dwell in, connected to, to draw life from.

After Jesus explains that he is the vine and that his Father is the vinedresser, he interprets the three types of branches as:

1. Those who are connected to him and are bearing fruit

2. Those who are connected to him and are not bearing fruit

3. Those who are not connected to him.

The first branches are those abiding in Him, meaning they have been grafted in. They are connected to Him by the Spirit, those who have believed in him and are children of God. These branches bear fruit (the characteristics of Christ). Their branches will be washed in water, His Word, to bear more fruit. Jesus tells his disciples they are already washed because of His word, which is another way of telling them they are bearing good fruit. “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will bear even more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you” (15:2).

Then, there are the branches that are not bearing fruit (not showing the characteristics of Christ). “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit” (15:2). The branches are “cut off.” while this might seem harsh at first, if you look up the Greek word for “cut off,” it means to be “lifted up, exalted, draw up.” These are the followers of Jesus that are His but might not be acting like it. These branches will be drawn closer to Christ. God is not going to “cut them off,” but rather, he is going to “lift them up.” He will draw them close to his heart like a parent would their upset child.

Thirdly, some branches are not in Christ, those who have not believed and those who do not belong to Him. They will be cut off and thrown into the fire. “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” (15:6). Just like those who do not drink water will die of dehydration, those not grafted into Christ will perish.

It is not a punishment but a reality of nature that Jesus reminds them of. Jesus metaphorically paints a clear picture of the Kingdom of God for his disciples. The vine is also a reminder of the garden and how God designed man to be in a loving, relational conversation with Him. The branches have been disconnected for too long. He came to bridge the gap, extend the hand of God and invite mankind back into communion.

Communion promises that whatever we ask in His name will be done for us. Not only is a relationship provided through Him, but we also have the benefits of sonship with a good Father. The result of this communion is that the branches will look like the vine; there would be no distinction or separation. The world will know his disciples by their fruit. “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” (15:4).

Jesus then seems to give a condition to his love, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 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” (15:10). Remember, Jesus already gave his first command: to abide in Him. Jesus promises to remain in his love if we abide in Him. The amazing thing about all of this is, as Christians, we already abide in Him, and he abides in us!

Jesus is telling his disciples this so that his joy might be in us and our joy might be complete. Jesus is the most joyful being in existence, and if we are connected to Him, his joy will rub off on us. Since Jesus has set the stage for his first command, he gives a second one, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (15:13). Since we have the command to abide in Him and in His love, we now can love others. We can only love deeply when we have been deeply loved. This is only possible if we continue to draw from the life of Jesus.

The last of Jesus’ message of the vine will now make sense, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” We are his friends if we do what he commands (by abiding in him). “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. This is my command: Love each other.” (15:16-17) We will look like Jesus when we are his children, and he will hear our prayers and help us to love. The fruit he wants us to bear is the kind that will last. The fruit that will last is a tangible, selfless love that overflows from a heart in communion with the Father.