LESSON 3 Embrace Christ s Missio Key Text: Joh 15:1-17 Itroductio Over the last two weeks, we have bee studyig the Parable of the Vie i Joh 15:1-17. I this passage, we fid a illustratio that Christ gave His disciples of how their relatioship with Him should be. We have see that everyoe who places his faith i Jesus Christ ad cofesses Christ as their Lord receives a ew positio i life. Each ew believer goes from beig dead i his sis i Adam to beig alive to God i Christ. I Jesus illustratio i Joh 15, God is the gardeer, Christ is the true vie, His disciples are the braches held i place by the vie, ad the Holy Spirit is the sap that flows from the vie to the braches, givig them the vie s life ad power. We have see that the braches caot bear fruit uless they remai (abide) i the vie at all times. The gardeer grafts the braches ito the vie, ad as the braches remai (abide) i this ew positio, they become oe wood with the vie. Christ used this example from ature to help His disciples uderstad how importat daily itimacy ad coectio with Him would be i their lives i order for them to bear fruit for God s glory which is the purpose for which He saves us. God s visio for every Christ follower is that we kow ad become like Jesus. The oly way to kow ad become like Christ is to abide i Him. We abide by surrederig our lives to Him ad allowig the Holy Spirit to cotrol us istead of beig cotrolled by our siful desires. As we cotiue to study Joh 15:1-17, we will begi to uderstad that the reaso we have bee give this ew positio i Christ, ad the reaso He commads us to abide i Him, is so that we ca bear fruit for the glory of God. As we study this passage, it will become evidet that the focus of the passage is ot o abidig, but o bearig fruit. The poit of this series is ot just to
teach us how to abide it is to help us uderstad that abidig is the oly way that our lives will glorify God because whe we abide, we bear the fruit that the vie produces. God s will for us is ot just that we have a itimate relatioship with Christ through abidig. His will is that we have a itimate relatioship with Christ so that we will bear fruit for His glory. I this lesso, we will see what kid of fruit God iteds for us to bear as we abide i Christ. Opeig Activity Before you begi today s lesso, lead your group i a quick review of what they ve studied so far (5 miutes). The followig questios will help as you review. 1) What is God s visio for every believer s life? 2) What does it mea to remai or abide i Christ? 3) What did Jesus promise i Joh 15:4 to His disciples? 4) What is the role of the Holy Spirit i producig ad bearig fruit? 5) What is the differece i tryig to produce fruit i our lives, ad abidig i Christ to bear fruit? Opeig Prayer Begi your time i study of God s Word by prayig for your group. Pray that God will ope the heart of every perso ad reveal Himself to you all i a ew way as you study ad discuss His Word together. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you ito the truth ad show you all how to apply what you lear to your lives i a practical way. Ad pray that God will be glorified through your discussio today. 2 Key Study It is importat as we begi our study today that we take a momet to remember ad reflect o the cotext of Joh 15:1-17. Jesus had just fiished the Last Supper with His disciples, oe of whom was about to betray Him. He had explaied His fast-approachig crucifixio usig a loaf of bread ad a glass of wie. He had humbled Himself before them as He washed their dirty feet, tellig them to do the same for others. This was a somber, emotioal ight for Jesus ad the 12 me He had poured the past three years of His life ito them. This was, i may ways, a farewell eve if oly for a short time. Jesus kew He would be raised back to life after three days, but thigs would ever be the same agai. His time o earth was almost over, ad He loved these me. As they exited the home where they had eate dier they bega to walk towards the Garde where Jesus would pray the amazig prayer for His disciples foud i Joh 17. Somewhere alog the way, maybe eve i a vieyard, Jesus begis to teach His disciples this parable i Joh 15. He begis, I am the true vie ad My Father is the gardeer. He cuts off (lifts up) every brach i Me that bears o fruit, while every brach that does bear fruit He prues so that it will be eve more fruitful. This is oe of the last chaces Jesus will have to teach ad ecourage His disciples i perso, ad He chooses to explai to them i simple terms how they ca be fruitful ad fulfill His missio for their lives. Got Fruit? O the surface it may seem strage, but thik about it. How may truly fruitful Christias do you kow? Have you ever wodered why that is? Why are so may believers o more fruitful ow tha before they bega followig Christ? What are we missig? We ca be fairly certai that followig Christ did ot tur out how those 12 disciples had expected. They were ru out of tow, hated, persecuted, ad eve killed. They sacrificed comfort,
wealth ad eve relatioships to follow Christ. Ad thik how they felt whe He died. This is ot what they expected. It was hard ad Jesus kew it would be hard. Do t you thik it s the same for may of us today? We place our faith i Christ expectig life to be easier, better, to be happier. We thik, Christ will save my marriage, my childre will follow Christ, my fiacial eeds will be met. Ad the life happes. Ad it brigs hardship, pai ad disappoitmet. We feel cofused ad disillusioed, ad sometimes eve betrayed by God. Most of us surely would t characterize our lives as fruitful. Let s be hoest. It s ot easy to admit, but may people who follow Christ experiece these feeligs, we just do t talk about it especially to other seemigly happy Christias. We expect the love we feel for Christ o the day He saves us to make it easy to sacrifice for Him but it s ot ay easier ow tha it was 2,000 years ago. Pursuig Us I Joh 15, Christ is about to had over His miistry to eleve me who have little kowledge of what they are i for. I just a few days He will sed them out to make disciples of all atios for His glory. Now, 2000 years later, His miistry has bee haded over to us. Like the first disciples, we did t kow what we were i for whe we decided to follow Christ either. The good ews is that God ever expected us to accomplish His missio i our ow power or i out ow ways. God has give us everythig we eed to have a abudat, fruitful life by graftig us ito the Vie. Christ does ot wat us to settle for a relatioship with Him that is fruitless. I this passage, Christ shows us the life He wats for us, ad it is a fruitful life that bears a abudat harvest for His glory. He also tells us how to have this fruitful life we must abide i Him. Braches are meat to bear fruit it is the oly reaso for their existece. If our lives are ot fruitful, somethig is missig. God will ever allow us to be satisfied if we are t bearig fruit. To do so would be allowig us to miss out o the purpose for which we exist. Could it be that the feeligs of disappoitmet or emptiess that may believers sometimes face are a result of a life without fruit? What if this is His way of pursuig us, of showig us that there is somethig more, somethig better that we are missig? 3 His Desire for Us As we study today, let s take to heart these life-givig words of Christ i Joh 15. God created ad saved us to bear fruit. This is His desire for us. Every circumstace He allows ito our lives is for the purpose of makig us fruitful. Oce we begi to uderstad this truth, we will be able to view our lives from His eteral perspective, facig each challege ad sacrifice as a opportuity to brig Him glory by bearig fruit. God has a amazig pla to keep His braches flourishig ad fruitful. This is the life we are iteded to live, ad this is the life that will satisfy us bearig fruit for God s glory. How do we kow that it is God s purpose for our lives to be fruitful? Notice that before Jesus eve tells His disciples to abide i Him, He begis explaiig God s process of makig the braches fruitful. I verse 2 He addresses how God makes a ufruitful brach fruitful, ad how He makes fruitful braches eve more fruitful. Nowhere do we see the Gardeer igorig a fruitless brach. Eve the oes bearig fruit receive urturig from God so that they will bear more fruit. The i verse 4, Jesus tells His disciples to remai i Him. But why? Because, No brach ca bear fruit by itself; it must abide i the vie. Neither ca
you bear fruit uless you abide i Me. The purpose of Christ s commad to abide i Him is to bear fruit. The ed goal is ot abidig for the sake of beig close to God. The ed goal is to remai close to Christ so we will be fruitful braches. Jesus begis this parable talkig about bearig fruit i verse 2, ad He eds the parable talkig about bearig fruit i verse 16. It is here that we see how bearig fruit is God s purpose for our lives. Jesus says, You did ot choose Me, but I chose you ad appoited you to go ad bear fruit fruit that will last. Jesus sort of pulls rak i this verse. He remids His disciples that He chose them, ad He did so for a purpose so they would bear lastig fruit. Why Is This God s Purpose for Us? Why is bearig fruit God s purpose for our lives? Joh 15:8 says, This is to My Father s glory, that you bear much fruit, showig yourselves to be My disciples. Bearig lastig fruit brigs great glory to God. The Father is ot lookig to see if we are abidig, He is lookig to see if we are bearig fruit. This is what brigs Him glory. If He sees we are t bearig fruit, the He kows we are t abidig because abidig is the oly way to bear fruit. A fruitless brach is of o use to a vie or to a gardeer. 4 I the same way, a believer who is ot demostratig Christ s fruit is of o use to the Father. This explais the care He (the gardeer) takes i Joh 15:2 to make us fruitful. God wats to demostrate His glory through our lives. Look at God s words i Psalm 46:10: Be still, ad kow that I am God; I will be exalted amog the atios, I will be exalted i the earth. God s missio is that His ame be glorified to the eds of the earth (Psalm 96:1-3). How has He chose to accomplish this missio? He has chose to glorify His ame by placig us i His So so that we ca bear fruit. Usig the commetary above, explai the cotext of Joh 15 to your group. Ope your Bibles ad have someoe read Joh 15:1-17 aloud. Explai that bearig fruit is the mai poit of this parable. Jesus commad to remai i Me is so that our lives will be fruitful. Use the followig questios ad the commetary above to lead your group i a discussio of God s purpose that we bear fruit. 1) Accordig to verse 2, what does God do to braches that do t bear fruit? Leader Note: The phrase cut off i verse 2 actually meas, to lift up. We will be studyig what this meas i a couple of weeks. Just make sure your group does ot misiterpret the meaig of the phrase i light of our study. This cuttig off or liftig up is the process of makig a fruitless brach fruitful. 2) What does verse 2 say that God does to braches that are bearig fruit? 3) What does Jesus say about a brach i verse 4? 4) Accordig to verse 4, how are we (Christ s disciples), like these braches? 5) Accordig to verse 5, how are we guarateed to bear fruit? 6) Based o verse 8, why is it so importat to Christ that His disciples be fruitful? 7) Accordig to verse 16, why has Christ saved us ad what has He appoited us to do? 8) How does verse 6 describe a disciple who does ot bear fruit through abidig i Christ?
9) Accordig to verse 16, what kid of fruit does Christ wat His disciples to bear? 10) How does our lives bearig fruit brig God glory? Lastig Fruit We have see i Joh 15 that it is God s will for every follower of Christ to bear lastig fruit. We have also see that the oly way to do that is by abidig i Christ. As we surreder daily to Him ad allow the Holy Spirit to cotrol our lives, we will bear fruit. Christ promises us that i Joh 15:5. I verse 16, Christ is specific about the kid of fruit He wats His disciples to bear fruit that will last. So ow we wat to aswer the questio, What does God cosider lastig fruit? I order to aswer this questio, let s go back to Jesus parable ad a example from ature. What kid of fruit do braches bear i ature? They bear fruit after their kid. I other words, apple tree braches bear apples, orage tree braches bear orages, plum tree braches bear plums, etc. So what kid of fruit does Christ ited for His braches to bear? Christlike fruit! Not fruit of this world, but fruit that shows the world the character of the Vie. Remember, as the brach abides i the vie, the vie produces the fruit - so the fruit should look like the vie. If the fruit our life is bearig does t look like Christ, the He did t produce the fruit, which meas we re abidig i somethig other tha Him. Abidig ad fruitfuless go had-i-had. You ca always tell where you re abidig by examiig the fruit your life is bearig. Ier ad Outer The fruit from your life is how God receives His due hoor o earth. At its simplest level, the lastig fruit Jesus metios i Joh 15:16 ca be uderstood i two categories, so to speak. There is ier fruit, which is bore whe we abide, allowig Christ to develop His character i us. Secodly, there is outer fruit, which is bore whe we abide, allowig Christ to reproduce Himself through our lives as we multiply ourselves by makig disciples. God desires to use both our ier fruit ad our outer fruit to fulfill His missio for us to make disciples of all atios. 5 The Fruit of Christlike Character As we abide i Christ, we will bear the fruit of a chaged life. As the sap of the Holy Spirit flows from the Vie through our lives, we are trasformed (chaged from the iside out) ito the likeess of the Vie. We will begi to thik like Christ, love like Christ, pray like Christ ad act like Christ. Our character is always growig ad chagig as we abide, bearig the fruit of attitudes, motives ad thoughts that please God ad brig Him glory. Let s look at some cross-refereces that will help us uderstad this ier fruit. Ephesias 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved childre ad live a life of love, just as Christ loved us ad gave Himself up for us as a fragrat offerig ad sacrifice to God. I this verse we see the commad to imitate how Christ lived o earth. The commad i this verse is ot to perform the deeds of Christ, but to imitate His character. As His character is produced i us, we will begi to imitate His behavior as well. This life will bear the lastig fruit of sacrificial love that is a pleasig sacrifice to God. Notice the words just as i this verse. Christ is our ultimate example of a fruitful life. As we bear the fruit of love ad compassio, Christ is revealed through us i a way that others kow He loves them, so that they will wat to kow Him too.
Ephesias 5:8-10 For you were oce darkess, but ow you are light i the Lord. Live as childre of light (for the fruit of the light cosists i all goodess, righteousess ad truth) ad fid out what pleases the Lord. I this verse we see the compariso of life outside of Christ before salvatio, to life i Christ. The commad is to live as childre of light. Notice that the fruit of the light give i verse 9 is ot a list of deeds, but a list of ier qualities. Here agai i this passage we see the fruit of a Christlike character that lives i goodess, righteousess ad truth. As we bear the fruit of light, we demostrate the chagig power of God to those who are still i darkess. 1 Peter 1:15-16 Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy i all you do; for it is writte: Be holy, because I am holy. I this verse we see the commad to be like Christ. Christ was holy, so we are to be holy. The oly way for us to be holy is by abidig i Christ ad allowig Him to produce His character i us. Philippias 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, beig i very ature God, did ot cosider equality with God somethig to be grasped, but made Himself othig, takig the very ature of a servat, beig made i huma likeess. Ad beig foud i appearace as a ma, He humbled Himself ad became obediet to death eve death o a cross. 6 Agai i this passage we see that our lives should bear the fruit of Christlike character. Our attitudes should be like Christ s, who humbled Himself ad put the eeds of others before His ow. His heart was surredered ad His will was submitted to the Father. This resulted i His whole life beig committed to recocilig others to the Father. We, too, are give the miistry of recociliatio (2 Corithias 5:17-19). The Fruit of More Disciples As we abide i Christ, He produces His character i us so that others see Him through our lives. As we become more like Him, we are motivated to serve others. As we demostrate His love, mercy, goodess, ad grace our lives become tools that the Holy Spirit uses to covict the world of si, righteousess ad judgmet (Joh 16:7-8). As the Holy Spirit covicts, ad we abide i Christ, we will be give the opportuity to make disciples by pourig our lives ito others, just as Christ has poured Himself ito us. God is always at work, drawig me to Himself. As we abide i the Vie we will see Him at work ad have the opportuity to joi i His work by Sharig the Word, Showig the Word, Teachig the Word, ad Servig the World this is disciple-makig. Let s look at some cross-refereces to help us better uderstad our missio. Romas 10:13-15 Everyoe who calls o the ame of the Lord will be saved. How, the, ca they call o the Oe they have ot believed i? Ad how ca they believe i the Oe of whom they have ot heard? Ad how ca they hear without someoe preachig to them? Ad how ca they preach uless they are set? As it is writte, How beautiful are the feet of those who brig good ews!
This passage makes clear God s pla for reachig the world. Christ s followers must go ad proclaim the message of the Gospel. We proclaim with our words ad we proclaim with our lives. The oly hope for a lost world is to call o the ame of the Lord, but they will ever kow this if we, Christ s braches, are ot abidig i the Vie, bearig His fruit of the Gospel, demostratig ad proclaimig His message to all. Joh 17:20-21 My prayer is ot for them aloe. I pray also for those who will believe i Me through their message, that all of them may be oe, Father, just as you are i Me ad I am i You. May they also be i us so that the world may believe that You have set Me. This passage is from Jesus prayer for His disciples right before He goes to the cross. It is obvious from verse 20 that Jesus expects His 11 disciples to bear the fruit of more disciples who will believe i Him through their message. The same is true of us today. God expects us to bear the fruit of more disciples by itetioally reproducig ourselves i others as we abide i Christ. I ature, each piece of fruit has a seed that cotais the potetial of bearig hudreds more pieces of fruit. Each time we bear the fruit of a ew Christfollower, that ew Christ-follower has the potetial of reachig others who will reach others who will reach others. The whole world ad future geeratios deped o us beig faithful to our missio. Matthew 28:18-20 The Jesus came to them ad said, All authority i heave ad o earth has bee give to Me. Therefore go ad make disciples of all atios, baptizig them i the ame of the Father ad of the So ad of the Holy Spirit, ad teachig them to obey everythig I have commaded you. Ad surely I am with you always, to the very ed of the age. 7 The Ultimate Fruit-Bearig Passage This is the ultimate fruit-bearig passage. Jesus makes it clear i verse 18 that God has give Him all authority to issue this commad. His commad is to bear the lastig fruit of disciples i all atios. This fruit will iclude baptizig, teachig, demostratig ad proclaimig. I verse 20, He assures us that He will be with us always. The Oe who has bee give all authority i heave ad o earth will be with us always as His Spirit lives i us. As we abide, Christ s power ad authority flow through our lives ad the result is the lastig fruit of more Christ followers. Usig the commetary above, explai the two categories of lastig fruit that God has purposed for us to bear. Usig the cross-refereces ad the questios o the followig pages, lead your group i a discussio of lastig fruit. This would be a good opportuity to break ito smaller groups as well. If you choose to do so, assig each group either the Fruit of Christlike Character verses or the Fruit of More Disciples verses. Allow them time to read the verses ad discuss them before brigig the groups back together to share what they leared.
The Fruit of Christlike Character Cross-Refereces Ephesias 5:1 1) What is the commad i this verse? 2) What kid of life are we to live? 3) Who is our example of this type of life? 4) How is Christ s love described i this verse? 5) How will God be glorified if we imitate Christ accordig to this verse? 6) What are some ways that Christ demostrated love? 7) What are some ways that we ca imitate Christ by livig a life of love? 8) How is livig a life of love a ier fruit? I other words, what must happe i our character i order for us to love as Christ did? 9) How does obediece to this commad help us to fulfill our missio? Ephesias 5:8-10 1) How does verse 8 describe a life without Christ, ad a ew life i Christ? 2) How does verse 8 tell us to live? 3) How does verse 9 describe the fruit of a life i the light? 4) Is this fruit works or qualities of oe s character? 5) What are some practical ways that this fruit ca be produced i your character as you abide? 6) What is the commad i verse 10? 7) Accordig to what we have leared i Joh 15, how ca you fid out what pleases the Lord? 8) Why is bearig the fruit of light importat to our missio? 8 1 Peter 1:15-16 1) What is the commad i this passage? 2) Why are we to be holy accordig to this verse? 3) How does this passage demostrate the fact that trees bear fruit after their ow kid (the fruit will be like the tree)? 4) What does it mea to be holy i all you do? 5) What does beig holy have to do with our missio? Philippias 2:5-8 1) Accordig to verse 5, how should we be like Christ? 2) Based o verses 6-8, describe Christ s attitude? 3) What are some Christlike qualities that would have to be produced i someoe s character for him to have this type of attitude? 4) How would your life be differet if you had this type of character? 5) How does God receive glory from a Christlike attitude? 6) Why are these qualities foudatioal to our missio? The Fruit of More Disciples Cross-Refereces Romas 10:13-15 1) Accordig to verse 13, how is someoe saved? 2) Based o verses 14-15, what role do Christ followers have i someoe believig i Christ? 3) How does this passage show us that it is God s purpose that we bear the fruit of more disciples? 4) Lookig at these verses i reverse order, what is the result if we as braches do ot aswer the call to go ad preach? 5) What happes if the lost ever hear? 6) What happes if they ever believe?
7) So accordig to this passage, what is God s pla to reach the world with the Gospel? Joh 17:20-21 1) Accordig to verse 20, who else besides His 12 disciples is Christ prayig for i this passage? 2) What does Christ expect from His disciples lives? 3) What does Jesus pray for us i verse 21? 4) Where does Christ pray that we will be i verse 21? 5) How does this prayer relate to what Christ taught i the parable of the vie i Joh 15? 6) Why does Jesus wat us uited i Him accordig to verse 21? (Hit: Look for the so that phrase) 7) What does this teach us about the purpose of abidig? Is it for our ow sake oly, or for the sake of the world? Matthew 28:18-20 1) What authority has bee give to Christ accordig to verse 18? 2) Based o this authority, what commad does Christ issue i verse 19? 3) Which commads were the disciples to teach others, accordig to verse 20? 4) What is Christ s promise i verse 20? 5) Based o what we have leared i Joh 15, how is Christ with us always? 6) Based o this passage, what is the purpose of kowig Christ ad beig like Him? What does He expect us to do with what He teaches us? 7) How does this chage your purpose i life? 8) How does God receive glory whe we pour ito other people what the Holy Spirit pours ito us? 9 Coclusio I Joh 15:4-5, Jesus tells His disciples exactly how to bear fruit by abidig i Him. By explaiig to them how to be fruitful, He is showig them how to brig glory to God. Jesus spet three years with these me, showig them first-had what lastig fruit looks like. They are His lastig fruit, ad so are we, because we have believed through their obediece to His commad to make disciples of all atios. Christ modeled for His disciples what abidig looked like o a day-to-day basis. See this truth i the followig Scriptures. I (Jesus) tell you the truth, the So ca do othig by Himself; He ca do oly what He sees His Father doig, because whatever the Father does the So also does. Joh 5:19 For I (Jesus) have come dow from heave ot to do My will but to do the will of Him who set Me. Joh 6:38 If you obey My (Jesus) commads, you will remai (abide) i My love, just as I have obeyed My Father s commads ad remai (abide) i His love. Joh 15:10 I (Jesus) have brought You (God) glory o earth by completig the work You gave Me to do. Joh 17:4 These four verses show us that Christ abided i God, surrederig His will to the will of His Father. The result was the fruit of a siless life that demostrated the glory of God ad more disciples. Christ came to earth to ot oly tell us God s missio for our lives, but to show us how to accomplish
it. As we abide i Him, He will cotiue to produce the lastig fruit that brigs glory to His Father. As you close your study time together, have someoe read each of these verses aloud. Help your group to uderstad that Christ abided, ad the result was lastig fruit. If the So of God had to abide i order to bear fruit durig His life o earth, how much more must we abide i Him? Applicatio As a Christ follower, you will ever be satisfied if your life is ot bearig lastig fruit because you are ot fulfillig the purpose for which you were grafted ito the Vie. Let s examie the fruit of our lives. Is it the kid of fruit that reveals the character of Christ? Is it the fruit of more disciples? Let s ot settle for fruitless Christiaity. God will do the work of makig us fruitful we must oly abide, surrederig our lives to His missio of makig disciples of all atios through us. For additioal applicatio of today s lesso, a hadout is provided for members of your group to develop their persoal testimoy so they ca be prepared to share the Word as God opes doors. Ecourage them to take some time this week preparig to tell their story ad practice sharig with a fried. 10 Additioal lessos ad iformatio are available at www.godswordisgood.org.
Sharig Your Story Pray for three. Ask God to show you three people who eed to kow Him. Make a commitmet to sped three miutes a day prayig for them that God would ope their eyes to the Truth of the Gospel. Prepare to share. Begi to prepare yourself for opportuities God will give you to bear fruit by developig your testimoy of how Christ saved ad chaged you. Tips o sharig your story. Avoid churchy phrases ad Christia clichés that people who do ot kow Christ will ot uderstad. Be sure to exalt Jesus, ot your life before kowig Him. Si already gets eough attetio from the world. People eed to kow what Christ ca do for them ad how they ca begi a relatioship with Him. Keep it simple ad short. Be ready to share i two miutes or less. Use a theme to cotrast your life before Christ ad ow with Christ. Themes such as emptiess ad fulfillmet, hopelessess ad purpose, fear ad peace are thigs people ca relate to. If you became a Christ-follower at a early age, cotrast your life with those who do t kow Christ or emphasize how Jesus has helped you through your life. Practice with a fried who is also a Christia so you ca help each other get better at tellig how Christ as chaged your lives. Additioal resources are available o the Brook Hills website specifically David Platt s Crossculture series o sharig your faith (six messages) ad the My Story page olie, where you ca write your story i 100 words or less. Click to www.brookhills.org/mystory. Use the outlie to the right to help you develop your story. My Story My life before Christ: How I became a Christ-follower: My life ow with Christ: