Month: August 2018

Last week we used John 15:1-17 as our scriptural foundation.  This passage is commonly referred to as the parable of the vine and the branches.  We discussed that our job is to stay connected to the vine so that we can bear fruit, ideally “much” fruit.  Jesus is the vine and God is the Gardner.  We are the branches.

As a recap, fruit generally means good works.  It can only be produced by those who abide in Christ who have a God-honoring motive.  In short, it is any action by a believer that pleases God.

Today we’ll cover pruning because it is a very confusing topic for Christians.  A gardener or vinedresser will either prune a branch or cut it off completely:

• If the branch is unproductive it will be cut off completely
• If the branch is productive then it will be pruned to allow for more fruit

Watch this short video about pruning grape vines.  Listen for concepts that apply to today’s lesson: https://youtu.be/H5RPkF4UoGQ

Here is the problem – whether we’re getting lopped off or pruned, they both HURT!  And it is easy to mistake the pain of pruning for the pain of being lopped off.  Example: when we start to make positive changes in our lives and bear fruit, God will honor that and help us grow more fruit by pruning us.  This might come in the form of dropping habits that we enjoy, losing friends that really weren’t good for us, or changing jobs which hurts at first but ultimately allows us to be more fruitful.

In the rear-view mirror, the pain of pruning is often not all that bad because we can see how it helped us grow and develop into better fruit bearers.  But in the moment, pruning can be painful and even frightening.  While very few of us can hope to fully discern the difference between lopping and pruning, it is helpful to know that certain types of pain are actually signs from God that He likes what we’re doing and wants to encourage us to do more of it.

Here are some questions to discuss:

• In your own words, how would you explain why a gardener would choose to prune a branch vs lopping it off completely?
• Do you have any past or current examples of pruning in your life? If so, have you seen an increase in your fruit-bearing as a result?
• This passage can be very challenging to understand but based on today’s lesson and the one from last week, how would you explain it to someone?
• Based on the past two lessons, what is something you need to do to bear more fruit?
• Do you have any first-hand gardening examples of how pruning helped a plant or tree become more productive?

In John 15: 1-17, Jesus gives us one of the clearest messages about how to live our lives and, as he says “bear fruit”.  He boils it down to one command and repeats it twice:

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (verse 12)

“This is my command: Love each other.” (verse 17)

Jesus starts the parable by saying that He is the true vine, God is the Gardener, and we are the branches.  He says that if we remain in Him and allow Him to remain in us then we will bear much fruit.  This leads to two questions:

• What is fruit? Fruit generally means good works.  It can only be produced by those who abide in Christ who have a God-honoring motive.  In short, it is any action by a believer that pleases God.  Fruit is the result of your effort and labor.
• How do we remain in Him and allow him to remain in us? Jesus says we can only do so “if my words remain in you” and “if you keep my commands”.  A simplified interpretation might be that Jesus wants us to love each other and to read the Bible with the intention for our actions to be God-honoring.

In his outstanding book, The Secrets of the Vine, author Bruce Wilkinson outlines the four stages of fruit-bearing from this passage and gives his estimate of the percentage of Christians in each category.  They are:

• No fruit (60%)
• Fruit (25%)
• More Fruit (10%)
• Much Fruit (5%)

On the surface, these estimates seem a little harsh.  Is it really possible that more than half of all Christians bear NO fruit?   Maybe it is more believable when compared with the filters provided above.  That is, we can only bear fruit if we are consistently abiding in Christ and consistently acting with God-honoring motives.

The last focus of today’s discussion relates to our incentive to be fruit bearers.  Jesus says that we should want to bear fruit so that “my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”.  And also “so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you”.

Next week, we will continue with Part II of this discussion and cover the pruning process outlined in this passage which causes much confusion in the Christian community.  But for now, here are some questions for discussion:

• Based on your understanding of John 15 and of today’s lesson, what are some examples of “fruit”?
• The passage tells us that, by itself, a branch is useless. So what has to happen for fruit to be produced?
• What is your interpretation of how we remain in Jesus and all Him to remain in us?
• Based on the passage above, how much fruit do you believe you produce?
• Do you believe Bruce Wilkinson’s estimate that 60% of Christians produce no fruit is accurate?