The prison warden (Strother Martin) says to his prisoner Luke
(Paul Newman): “You gonna get used to
wearing them chains after awhile, Luke.
Don’t you ever stop listening to them clinking, ‘cause they gonna remind
you what I been saying for your own good.”
Luke replies: “I wish you’d stop being so good to me
Cap’n.”
“Captain” says:
“Don’t you ever talk that way to me.
(He pauses then hits Luke.)
Never! Never!” (Luke rolls down the hill to where all the
other prisoners are standing.) The captain
continues: “WHAT WE’VE GOT HERE IS FAILURE
TO COMMUNICATE. Some men you just can’t reach…”
It’s a great line. It
applies in so many contexts, including the Gospel. It’s hard to imagine that so many Christians
fail to appreciate the lengths to which Jesus goes to explain the nature of
spiritual life.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses two primary images to
describe new life in Christ. In John 3
He’s speaking to a teacher of Israel when He says, “Unless one is born again he
cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Twelve
chapters later He’s speaking to His disciples and He says, “I am the vine and
you are the branches.” In both images it’s
God who does the “birthing”, it’s God who does the “germinating and growing”,
not men and women; and yet so many of us wish to make it a cooperative
effort. Indeed, few places in the
Scriptures are Jesus’ words more twisted to support this fiction than John
15. For years the words of John 15:1-11
have been used as a warning rather than a comfort. Abiding in Christ is seen as a work of human
faithfulness and discipline. This week
we are going to take another look at these famous words, lay our prejudices
aside, and try to avoid a failure to communicate. Before giving you some things to contemplate
in preparation for Sunday’s message, I find Charles Spurgeon’s remarks on John
15:9 to be particularly instructive in establishing a proper context for our
study.
Spurgeon writes:
“The Father loves
the Son in the same manner that Jesus loves His people. What is that divine method? He loved Him without beginning, and
this Jesus loves His members. “I have
loved you with an everlasting love.” You
can trace the beginning of human affection.
You can easily find the beginning of your love to Christ; but His love
to us is a stream whose source is hidden in eternity. God the Father loves Jesus without any
change. Christian, take comfort in
this, there is no change in Jesus Christ’s love to those who also rest in
Him. Yesterday you were on the
mountaintop and you said, ‘He loves me’; today you are in the valley of
humiliation, but He loves you still the same…the Father loves the Son without
any end, and in the same way the Son loves His people. Saint, you need not fear the loosing of the
silver cord, for His love for you will never cease. Rest confident that even down to the grave
Christ will go with you, and that up again from it He will be your guide to the
celestial hills. Moreover, the Father
loves the Son without any measure, and this is the same immeasurable love the
Son bestows upon His chosen ones. The
whole heart of Christ is dedicated to His people. He ‘loved us and gave Himself for us.’ His is a love which passes knowledge. Ah, we have indeed an immutable Savior, a
precious Savior, one who loves without measure, without change, without
beginning, and without end, even as the Father loves Him!”
1. How
do you explain the connection between John13:36-38 and 14:1-7?
2. How
do you explain the connection between John 13, 14, and 15?
3. How
does the comfort of John 14 square with Jesus’ message in today’s text – John
15:1-11?
4. How
does the word “abide” or “remain” express God’s character, rather than our
doing?
5. What
does Jesus mean in verse 2? Is this a
comfort or a stressor?
6. What
does the word airo - “cut off” (NIV)
or “takes up” (ESV) - really mean?
7. What
does “bearing fruit” mean?
8. What
is the connection between Jesus’ words in verse 5 and Paul’s words in Galatians
5?
9. What
is the “action step” that Jesus offers His disciples in this text?
10. What
connections do you draw between John 3:1-7 and John 15:1-11?
See you Sunday.
