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Small Group Study Guide for May 10, 2009
Scripture Text for May 10, 2009: John 15:1-8 AND I John 4:7-21
BradGustafson
Sermon Title: The Fruit of the Vine
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* Last week in the gospel text, Jesus described himself as the good shepherd whose sheep we are – this week he is the ‘good’ vine of which we are the branches. I’m going to suggest this week that we walk through the gospel together, while reading a beautiful parallel lectionary passage from I John:
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from 1 John - 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 4:9 God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
from John – 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.
As much as we might think of love as something ultimate, what is it that verse 7 seems to imply is higher still? Can you imagine a world in which the wisest advice might be different, such as in “People, let us just act in our own obvious self-interest, everyone for themselves, because there is no God and therefore selfishness is the natural order”? Do you know any people who try to live in this world according to such a creed? If you were to try to convey something meaningful to such a person, would you start by talking about love, or about God? Why?
In verse 9, we read that God is love, but that something even deeper is at stake in the world than the absence of love – what is it? So love motivated God to ______________ so that we might ___________. How does this dovetail with verse 1 of John 15? [Hint: If he is the vine, what is the fate of a branch that is severed from the vine?]
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from I John – 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 4:11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
from John - 5:2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
* C.S.Lewis wrote once of the difference between religion and Christianity, to wit: “Religion,” he said, “is man’s search for God – Christianity is the story of God’s search for man.” Which one of these would you say is best reflected in verse 10 above? Sometimes we hear of those who have ‘found Jesus’ after many years of attending and serving in church – we might say their Christian life came after their religious life. On the other hand, if someone were to say to you that their religion follows their Christianity – what do you think they might mean by that? In other words, in what ways do we begin our search for God only after God has first found us? You might have heard a saying like this: that religion is for people who don’t want to go to hell; spirituality is for those people who have already been there! In what way do you think such a saying might have meaning for someone who has ‘met Jesus’ late in their religious career?
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from 1 John – 4:13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
from John - 15:3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you
Although the word ‘Trinity’ does not appear in the New Testament, we find it revealed in these passages. Can you locate all three in these texts so far? In your own words, what role does each member of the Trinity seem to have in the salvation of the world?
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from 1 John - 4:14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 4:15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 4:16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
from John - 15:4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
We are all prone to think that the ultimate goal of Jesus’ ministry to us is to save our souls. But here it seems that the purpose of the branches abiding in the vine is not for their own sake, but for the sake of bearing fruit. We are not the fruit. Care to speculate as to what the fruit might be? In other words, what might be the purpose of Jesus calling us together if it isn’t simply to make us better persons, make us more righteous, make us happier than we would be without him?
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from 1 John – 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 4:19 We love because he first loved us. 4:20 Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
from John - 15:6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Here each passage deals with the power that comes with abiding in God’s love. In the first text, power is manifest as courage, or boldness, in the face of God. In the second text, power is manifest as the ability to thrive in having our prayers answered by God. Have you noticed that in neither case are we enabled to become loved by God as a result of abiding in his love? If you can’t become more loved by Jesus as a result of following him, what on earth is the use? Wouldn’t it be easier to just coast through life without the struggle of learning to love? _____________________________________________________________
from 1 John - 4:21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
from John - 15:8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
It appears once again that God (the Father, the Son and the Spirit) is after something in our lives – love! If this is all God is after, why doesn’t God just say so? Why do you think Christianity becomes so complicated for us? Is love really that hard? Didn’t you have it pretty much figured out by the time you were in your twenties? O.K., maybe your thirties? O.K. maybe…
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What is your growing edge today, in your continuing attempt to bear fruit? Who is it that you are finding particularly difficult to love? [Hint: how about the person in the mirror?]
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