🧐 John 15:5 | Jesus Was Cut Off So We Could Abide

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📧 In today’s email…

• Putting together everything we learned this week ⏩️

• The power of the gospel to transform ✝️

• How to abide 🌿 🏡 🔌

• In case you missed it.. 🧐

 🧠 Memorize

_{see if you know what words go in the blanks}

I __ ___ ____; you ___ ___ ________.

Whoever ______ __ __ ___ _ __ ___, __ __ __ ____ bears ____ _____, ___ apart ____ __ ___ ___ __ _______.

John 15:5

A review of what we’ve learned 🤔 

Here’s the background we learned about John 15:5:

• Setting: Jesus is sharing his final words on this side of death with his disciples the night before he is crucified.

• Vineyard: In the OT, Scripture speaks of Israel as a vine, planted and tended by God.

  • The Israelites repeatedly rebelled, showing them to be a false vine.

  • With this in the minds of his hearers, Jesus calls himself the true vine.

🌿 The vine and branch metaphor is about deep union, relationship and connection.

Think: two becoming one, head and body, vine and branch.

We talked through verse 5, phrase by phrase:

• ‘I am the vine; you are the branches.’

  • Jesus is the source of life. When we’re connected to Him, his life and Spirit flows to us.

  • Just like with Paul’s metaphor of Jesus as the head and us as the body, it’s vitally important that we stay connected to Him.

• ‘Whoever abides in me and I in him’

  • This isn’t a one way street - He also abides in us. God is relational and is actively participating in this relationship.

  • Responsibility: Jesus does not command his disciples to produce fruit. He commands them to abide.

• ‘he it is that bears much fruit’ -

  • Abiding comes before fruit. Jesus doesn’t say, “Once you bear enough fruit, you can connect to me.” The right to abide is not earned. We’re offered connection first.

  • Fruitfulness is the natural byproduct of being truly connected to Jesus.

🍇 And lastly, we dug into what Jesus means by fruit:

• Character development (inner transformation and heart-change)

• Good works (external actions aligned with God’s mission)

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The Power of the Gospel to Transform ✝️ 

Ultimately, Jesus never asks us to do something he isn’t willing to do.

At the end of His life, despite his perfect obedience, Jesus was cut off so that we could abide.

Ever since the Fall, God has been working to restore the connection that was lost in the Garden.

And Jesus’ death and resurrection finally made that possible.

It’s the beauty of that truth that transforms us.

• The world says, “Transform, be great. Then we’ll accept you.”

• Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I will make you great.”

The Way of Jesus is internal transformation via invitation, not external change via coercion.

Apply and Respond: Ways to Abide in Jesus 🌿 

Here are some practical ways we can abide in the vine in our daily lives:

• 🎵 Listen to worship music when you do drive, do the dishes or run errands. In other words, go about your everyday activities with a sense of His presence.

• 📖 Read Scripture: Alone, with others, out loud, and in your head.

• 🌿 Do nothing with Jesus: Abiding doesn’t always need to feel “productive.” Just like a best friend, sometimes you don’t even need to “do” anything to enjoy their presence. You just need to be together.

• 👂️ Practice listening prayer. Don’t just study the Bible intellectually - listen to Him through the Bible. Remember it’s a relationship!

• 🗣️ Do the work of making disciples: share one thing that moved you in your Spirit this week with someone you love!

Resources to help you abide in the vine 🌿 

In case you missed it, here’s this week’s round-up of recommended resources to help you abide in the vine:

• 🎵 John 15:5 by the Verses Project to help you memorize (listen on Spotify | listen on Apple Music)

• 🎙️ Tim Keller Sermon: ‘I am the Vine’ (link here)

• 📚️ How to Pray: A Simple Guide for Normal People by Pete Greig (link here)

• 📕 The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. Great little book for how to abide during everyday life (link here)

• 🙏 Wednesday’s email has a section about how to practice listening prayer (link here)

• 📱 If you like apps, the Pause App is free and has guided audio to help you simply “be with Jesus” (link here)

• 🤝 If you want to support our work, click here.

• 📱 Click below if you want to try the new Christian social media app, Tuvu.

Answer key ✅ 

I am the vine; you are the branches.

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

John 15:5

How did you do? 💡