Theme

Life in Christ is fruitful

Questions

• Do you think that society places value on productivity – why/why not? Has the ‘lockdown’ in response to Covid-19 challenged the importance of productivity?
• Jesus describes himself as the vine in this passage, and his followers as the branches (v.1&5).
  • What does the vine do for the branches?
  • How does this describe us being in Christ?
• Jesus describes his Father as the gardener or vinedresser (v.1).
  • In what ways does the gardener care for the branches of the vine?
  • How does this describe the way God cares for us?
• The word ‘abide’ (sometimes translated as ‘remain’ or ‘stay’) appears eight times in these eight verses.
  • Find all of these mentions – who is told to ‘abide’? In what/who are we told to ‘abide’?
  • What does the word ‘abide’ mean to you?
• To ‘abide’ in Christ might not seem to be very productive, but Jesus also describes the branches as ‘producing fruit’ (v.5)
  • Why is remaining in Christ essential for a fruitful life?
  • What does living a fruitful life mean to you – is it about being busy, is it about getting a lot of recognition, is it about something else?
  • Would you say that your life at the moment is fruitful?
• God ‘prunes’ branches in order that they become more fruitful (v.2) - pruning happens to living, fruitful branches, not dead branches, in order that all the plant’s energy is focused on producing fruit. What do you think pruning looks like, or feels like? What is the benefit?
• Jesus tells us to remain in him, and we cannot be fruitful without remaining in him (v.4), then he says “apart from me you can do nothing” (v.5).
  • Do you believe this is true?
  • How do these verses challenge your views about the accomplishments, productivity, and actions you take in life?
• Three times in his last talk with his disciples Jesus says to ask him for anything and it will be given - compare v.7 with John 14:13 & John 15:16.
  • What do you think Jesus means by this? Can we bring our wish-list to God and expect that he will do as we want?
  • What do you think the significance is of ‘remaining in him, and his words remaining in you’? How might this impact the kinds of things we ask God for?
• As we live fruitful lives, Jesus says, we will “show ourselves to be disciples” (v.8)
  • Do you think it is clear that you are a disciple of Christ?
  • How can people show themselves to be his disciples? [For some more ideas look at John 13:34-35, John 8:31-32, 1 John 4:16-21]