Bible Study on John 17:6-19 (short)

Forgive the dated language, but this was written in the early 1940s…

“The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man which is the result of his encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death. Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.

When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave home and work to follow Him, or it may be a death like Luther’s, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time—death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call.”

So wrote Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his brilliant little book: The Cost of Discipleship. Bonhoeffer captures the non-negotiable realities of Christian (re-)birth, which is paradoxically a death. And this dying with Christ, remains every bit as essential as our being born again (Jn.3:3; I Pet.1:23), as our ‘new birth into a living hope’ (I Pet.1:3). We cannot be born into a new life unless we have died to the old one (Rom.6:1-11).

For many of us, the limitations and frustrations we have endured throughout our Christian lives are the result of bad births. We may not be able to name them, or explain them, but we have been left with a feeling of spiritual unease. We are only too aware of how complications at birth can affect us physically, and mentally. The same can be true spiritually. If our being born (-again) is attended with complications, we may be affected throughout our discipleship. This is the tragedy of the truncated, simplified, and sometimes distorted presentation of the Gospel many of us believed; and subsequently, the inadequate vision of, and training for, discipleship we were given.

If we never understand that the way of Christ is the way of the cross, we will never make it past first base. Our propensity to avoid the aspects of discipleship that implicate us in rejection, suffering and struggle is deeply problematic. Our ignorance of such dynamics is culpable. And yet many of us were never taught that we cannot follow Christ without dying; and more of us were never taught what that meant. ‘Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me…”’. (Matt.16:24). The idea that suffering may be part of God’s plan for us, and a necessary part of our disicpleship, can be destabilising when we first realise it. And the idea that Jesus sends us out knowing we will be hated is hardly eased by the knowledge that He prays for us in the midst of experiencing that hatred. We should have been taught this even before we decided to become Christians. We might have made more progress if we had known that the very thing we’ve spent our life avoiding is the very thing that Jesus is praying about for us, and the path to spiritual maturity…

Questions:

Does John 17:6 describe us? What does Jesus mean when He speaks of us having been given to Him by the Father? How do you feel about that? Are we those who can be described as having obeyed God’s Word?

As you read through this passage, what does Jesus assume is the relationship between the Church and the Word of God?

Why is it so important that we know everything Jesus has, is given Him by the Father (17:7, 10)? If you didn’t know this, how would it affect your experience of being a Christian?

How has Jesus protected the disciples throughout the period covered by the Gospels? How does Jesus envisage the Father’s ongoing protection of ‘them’? When you look at the experience of the persecuted Church (and of the Apostles themselves), how can we say that Jesus’ prayer is answered (17:11-12)?

How can Christians experience the full measure of Christ’s joy, even while the world hates us (17:13-14)?

If the world’s hatred of the Church is based simply on the fact of our being ‘not of othe world’, is there any way to be a Christian without encountering that hatred (17:14-16, see also e.g. II Tim.3:12)? Can you share your experience of being hated in this way? Is Jesus exaggerating here to make a point?

What is ‘the evil one’ seeking to do to us that we need protecting from (17:15)? How does the Father protect us from him?

What is Jesus praying for when He speaks of our being sanctified by the truth that is God’s Word (17:17)? How does that process work? What does that mean for our relationship with that Word? How does you involvement with MIE help in this regard?

How is our sanctification (being set apart for holiness) shaped and defined by Jesus’ sanctifying Himself (17:17-18)?

Bible Study on John 17:1-5 (short)

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the ‘Spirit of … supplication’ (Zech.12:10). Supplication is: The act of supplicating or entreating; humble and earnest petition or prayer. In other words, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of humble and earnest prayer. And a Christian or a Church that is Spirit-ual will be shaped and defined by their experience of such prayer. We see this personified in the Anointed One, Jesus. Everything Jesus does, He does by the Spirit, including His praying. There is a great deal we could say about Jesus and His life of prayer, notably how much time He gives to it.  He spends entire nights in prayer, and often withdraws from teaching and public ministry in order to pray.

It is worth reflecting on this. Much of our experience of prayer is born out of our acute sense of need… we need forgiveness, need strength, need guidance, need wisdom, need encouraging... Indeed, when we go to prayer it is generally driven by our profound sense of our need of God. That’s why we tend to pray more when facing crises.

Jesus prays more out of desire. He delights to pray. Jesus is the One who from the beginning has been with the Father, who from everlasting ages past has delighted in intimate fellowship with the Father, who has shared the glory of His Father – and that dynamic of desire and delight, that longing to commune and fellowship with His Father, does not diminish when He becomes flesh and dwells amongst us. He delights to pray, to enjoy His relationship with His Father through the Spirit.

And this is the relationship into which we are caught up by that same Spirit. We tend to get side-tracked by questions about whether prayer makes any difference. Meanwhile, the Spirit’s heart is for us to share in Jesus’ delight of prayer. We tend to parody prayer, seeking God’s involvement in what we are doing. Jesus longs to be faithful to what His Father is doing, and His own part in that. The hope of His heart is that through His own faithfulness, the Father may be glorified. Jesus’ example resonates perfectly with His teaching that we pray: Hallowed be your Name (that your Son may glorify you); your kingdom come (that He might give eternal life); your will be done (to all you have given Him… finishing the work you gave Him to do).

Jesus confidence in the Father’s will being done doesn’t undermine His commitment to prayer. It makes it more compelling. Here Jesus is praying for His ascension. There is precisely no chance that this isn’t going to happen. All creation exists for the sake of this ‘hour’. And because His Father has decreed it, Jesus prays about it. There is something about this dynamic of prayer the Spirit may want to teach us.

Oh well… sometimes being sidetracked isn’t a complete waste of time.

Questions:

It might be worth reading I Cor.15:20-28 alongside John 17:1-5.

How is the glorifying of the Son the foundation for the glorifying of the Father? Could the Father be glorified without the glorifying of the Son? How do we - as Christians - fit into this transaction between the Father and Son? How should it affect how we see the place of the Church in history and in the world?

What do you make of Jesus’ language about giving eternal life to all those the Father has given Him (see also Jn.6:35-40 for similar ideas)? What is Jesus teaching here? Do you agree with it? Does it cause you to feel anxiety or adoration? How does it affect your thinking about evangelism?

How should the link Jesus makes here between evangelism and the glory of God affect our ministry and outreach at MIE?

How do you know if someone ‘knows’ the Father? Have a look at some other passages where John explores this: I Jn.2:1-5; 3:1-6; 4:6-8. What would you say to someone who said they had eternal life, but didn’t exhibit the characteristics of those who know God?

Can you know God without knowing Jesus Christ? What would you then say to someone who claimed to do so? How would you help them to realise the indispensibility of Jesus? What would you say to someone who thought you could know God through sincerely following other religions?

Jesus had a clear vision of the work the Father had called Him to do. Is this unique to Jesus, or is there any sense in which we can know the work the Father has called us to? How could we know if we had ‘finished’ it?

based on the last few chapters of John’s Gospel that we’ve been studying together, what would you say was our ‘work’ as a Church?

We too will share in the glory of God, see e.g. Rom.8:17-21; II Cor.3:18 etc. What does this mean? How does it shape the decisions we make about how we live now? How does it shape our thinking about and expereince of suffering (see Rom.8:17-21 again, or II Cor.4:16-18)?

What is the connection between present suffering and future glory? What is there from Jesus’ recent teaching in previous chapters that might help us answer this question? How does that play out in our experience at MIE?

Bible Study on John 16:25-33 (short)

Perhaps slightly counter-intuitively, one of the hardest ideas in the Bible to get our heads around is the love of God. When you study this glorious dimension of the life of our God it turns out to be a sophisticated and multi-faceted reality. Too often we lose much of the richness of the idea (and of the experience) by reducing it to a rather bland: ‘God loves everyone the same’, or ‘God’s love is unconditional’. Neither idea resonates particularly well with what the Bible actually says. Even in this week’s reading we can see a sense of discrimination in God’s love. ‘…the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from God’ (16:27). A straightforward reading would suggest that God doesn’t love - at least doesn’t love in the same way - those who haven’t loved Jesus, and believed that He came from God.

And this sense of God’s love as a differentiated experience turns out to reflect much more adequately the teaching of the Bible. It is those who are adopted in Christ who are able to call God Father, and to approach Him in prayer. Through Christ, we have entered into covenant relationship with God and He relates to us in a way now fundamentally different from the rest of the world. The emotional landscape of God’s being is rich, which is no less than we should expect. And His love for His (adopted) children is different from His love for the world. Yes, the Bible does speak of God’s love for the world, and that love found expression in His sending Christ as an atoning sacrifice (Jn.3:16, Rom.5:8, I Jn.4:10). That love is not withdrawn when we become Christians, but other dynamics of His love become part of our experience. And it is our appreciation and experience of that covenant love that God has for the Church, that qualitatively different love, that is the basis of our confidence in His delighting to hear us pray (16:26).

And of course, the converse can also be true. Those who have no such confidence might find that behind their impoverished experience of prayer, lurks an insecurity, or perhaps a confusion about the nature of God’s love for us in Christ…

Questions:

How does God’s love take on different dynamics when we are thinking about:

(i) The Father’s love for the Son?

(ii) The Father’s love for the world?

(iii) The Father’s love for the Church?

(iv) The Son’s love for the Church?

Can you show from the Bible how these ‘loves’ have different elements and features? In what ways does thinking about how God’s love for the Church differs from His love for the world enrich our experience of worship, prayer, discipleship and mission?

How does remembering that God is Trinity open up the richness of the Bible’s teaching about the love of God? Why does Jesus focus on the Father’s love for the disciples in this passage (16:27)?

When is the time Jesus envisages no longer speaking figuratively abut the Father (16:25)? In what way has Jesus been using figures of speech up to that point? Does Jesus speak ‘plainly’ to the Church now? What implications does that have for how well we should know about God?

Over the last three months, we’ve heard Jesus teach a lot about prayer (14:13-14; 15:7; 16:24; 16:26). How has your approach to, and experience of prayer changed over this year in the light of Jesus’ teaching? Have you grown more fully into what Jesus says our experience of prayer should be? How can you support each other as a HomeGroup as you grow in this area of your life as Christians?

Why does the disciples’ realisation that Jesus doesn’t even need to have someone ask Him questions convince them that He is in fact ‘from God’ (16:30)?

How does Jesus’ telling the disciples about their upcoming ‘scattering’ ensure their peace in Christ (16:32-33)? How would you counsel a Christian who felt anxious and worried and restless? Does this promise of peace mean that some kind of ‘inner calm’ should be a part of Christian dsicipleship?

How is this peace different from anything a non-Christian can experience or enjoy?

What does it mean to say that Jesus has overcome the world? Why is there still so much sin and suffering, and opposition to the Gospel throughout the world if Jesus has overcome it?

Bible Study on John 16:12-24 (short)

In this week’s reading, Jesus focusses our attention on the legacy of joy He is leaving the Church. It’s perhaps a little unexpected for a number of reasons, not least some of what Jesus has been teaching in recent verses. But even without sombre warnings of enduring the world’s hatred, Jesus’ teaching about joy can seem one of the most challenging aspects of the whole discourse.

We do, after all, live in a fallen and broken world; a world subjected to frustration by God, subjected to decay and death, and replete with suffering and sadness (Rom.8:20-21). It is a world of sickness, sorrow, suffering and sin; a world of disease, despair, degeneration and death. It is a world so very often characterised by conflict, famine, injustice, cruelty and brutality. Whether we are Christians or not, these things overshadow our experience of life… yet Jesus teaches we should be a people of joy?

On top of the common experience of suffering in this world, the Church introduces a a whole other level of suffering. Some of deepest wounds we carry have been received in life of Church, I think partly because the spiritual dynamics of our fellowship are so deep that they leave us vulnerable to being hurt at deep levels… yet Jesus teaches we should be a people of joy?

And our internal life of faith. As we strive and long to live holy Christ-like lives, we experiece a relentless spiritual battle. The turmoil we feel as we seek to resist temptation can at times constitute an almost physically painful experience. Watch Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane if you doubt this. And then there is the pain of godly sorrow in face of our own ongoing sin. During the Cornish revival (early-mid 1800s) people were so burdened by the reality of their sin, that they coined a phrase for it: penitential pain… yet Jesus teaches we should be a people of joy?

And it becomes even more incredulous when we remember that Jesus is saying this from under the shadow of the cross. He is Himself on the cusp of the single most profound experience of suffering that there will ever be in the history of this creation. And from the shadow of the cross, Jesus looks out to the Church, and tells us that His legacy, His anticipation for us, is that we will be defined by joy.

John 16:20-24, ‘your grief will turn to joy. …you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy… your joy will be complete.’

It’s not a joy that is born out of naiveté or of a superficial understanding of the world, still less of denying or downplaying the reality of this world. Our Christianity must never descend to the realm of escapism. Rather, it is a joy that is so profound that it provides a context in which we can uniquely face this world as we pilgrimage through it. The joy provides the solid ground on which we stand to look this world in the eye, and it will inspire and motivate us as we continue to pursue Jesus, the Giver of Joy.

Questions:

In what ways do we risk our Christianity becoming a form of escapism?

Jesus seems to be suggesting that the Spirit of Truth will teach the ‘much more’ that Jesus has to say to His disciples, but which they cannot bear at this point (16:12-15). According to this passage, how does the Spirit do that? How should that shape our experience of Church life today?

What is Jesus referring to in 16:16? Why do you think it causes such confusion in the disciples(16:17-18)?

Why will the world rejoice while the discipels grieve (16:20 & 22)? When will the Church’s grief turn to joy (16:20)? How do you reconcile this with Jesus’ teaching that those who mourn are blessed (Matt.5:4)?

How does a Christian’s joy differ from what is experienced by those who aren’t Christians? Can people who aren’t Christians experience ‘joy’?

In what ways do you think sin affects our emotional life? What do you think a redeemed emotional life looks like?

To what is Jesus comparing the birth of a child (16:21)? Why does Jesus use this analogy?

What does Jesus mean when He says: ‘No-one will take away your joy’ (16:22)? Why - when Jesus says this - does our experience of joy seem so fragile, and our grasp of it so tenuous? How do we reconcile this with Jesus’ teaching about ‘mourning’ (e.g. Matt.5:4), or Paul’s heartfelt ‘great sorrow and unceasing anguish’ (Rom.9:2)?

Why does Jesus begin teaching about prayer again (16:23-24)? How do you feel about Jesus’ teaching on prayer throughout this discourse (14:13-14; 15:7-8)? Do you believe Him? Does this reflect your own experience of prayer? Why do you think that is? What changes might you need to make to the way your pray?

Bible Study on John 16:5-11 (short)

What is the Gospel? When you boil it all down, what are the key elements of the message of hope that we hold out to the world? You might want to stop the conversation right here and talk about that! Let’s say the 3 key elements that someone would have to get hold of in order to be able to meaningfully repent and trust Christ?

Well, we don’t have to guess. Jesus lays them out for us in the passage before us this week. But I warn you, it’s a far more combative message than we might be used to. We were thinking last week about how the world will ‘hate’ the Church (Jesus’ word (Jn.15:18-25), not mine). In fact, we know Jesus is right about this, which is why we re-brand the message. We can talk about God’s love without people getting too riled; likewise, kingdom values and the ‘common good’, and Christ as fulfilment and giving purpose and meaning to our lives. Little of that is going to irritate ‘the world’, unless they are so ideologically secularist that any mention of Jesus at all is considered ‘offensive’.

The problem is that we can say all that, and avoid preaching the Gospel to which the Spirit wants to testify. And herein lies what we see as a problem for us - the very things that the Spirit of Christ wants to put front and centre in our evangelism are the very things we want to hide out back. And we want to hide them because we are fully aware they will cause problems. Jesus’ warning about the world’s hatred makes a lot more sense when we realise that the Spirit wants us to be talking about sin and righteousness and judgment (16:8). But in avoiding these things we are storing up problems for the Church.

Not only is the question of the Spirit’s involvement raised, but there is the matter that the Gospel we preach will shape the kind of Christians we produce. If we omit the issues of sin and repentance from our Gospel, we can hardly spring them on the unsuspecting when they decide they want to find fulfilment in Jesus. That’s ‘bait and switch’, and at best it lacks a certain integrity. But the alternative is that we end up with Churches full of people following Jesus, but without categories for spiritual growth in holiness; who struggle to reconcile the idea of judgment with a loving God, and who feel threatened and destabilised in their faith at any mention of sin. That will not bode well for the Church of the future… or indeed of today.

Questions:

What are the benefits of the Advocate being sent to the Church (v.7)? Why should we think it is for our good that Jesus is gone, but the Spirit has come?

Why does Jesus give the Spirit this particular title (Counsellor / Advocate) in the context of this teaching about His ministry? What does it mean, and how is it designed to encourage us in the light of Jesus’ teaching?

Why does the Spirit want to focus on ‘sin and righteousness and judgment’ in this way (v.8)? Doesn’t this sound like a fairly miserable kind of Christianity we’d rather leave in the mediavel age? If you brought a non-Christian friend to Church, how would you feel if the sermon focussed on those themes?

In what ways is ‘the world’ wrong about sin, righteousness and judgment? How does a true preaching of the Gospel challenge people’s ideas on these matters?

Why are these such critical issues for people as they decide whether to become Christians or not? Do you think people can become Christians without these featuring?

How should this shape our evangelism at MIE?

When you read through the Apostles’ preaching in the Book of Acts, how can you see the evidence of the Advocate shaping their message (see: Acts 2:22-41; 3:11-26; 4:8-12; 10:34-43; 13:16-41; etc)?

Bible Study on John 15:18-16:5 (short)

Knowing that Jesus is, at this point, walking toward Gethsemane, towards His passion and death, only adds to the potency and poignancy of the moment. We can barely imagine the atmosphere in which this discourse is delivered. Teaching from under the shadow of the cross gives His words about the world’s hatred of the Church a deep resonance with His own immediate experience. It is tempting to skip these passages. We may feel that while in some ways our culture is becoming less accepting of Christians and their views, in real terms, our experience (generally) still falls somewhat short of ‘hatred’. Maybe if we lived in one of the countries on the Open Doors World Watch List this is a passage that would have something to say to us… but it feels distant for the Church in Ipswich? After all, we haven’t had a martyr here since the 1550’s.

But as we live into Jesus’ vision for the life and mission of the Church we may find that the world, and its reaction to us comes closer to home than we might anticipate. The world seeks to suppress the truth about God (Rom.1:18-21) and so long as it is able to do that effectively, all is calm. But, when the Church fulfills Christ’s ambition for her, and becomes the place where God comes into the world, the reaction is likely to be volatile. We do actually know this. It is why so much of the Church’s outreach in the UK is consciously not evangelistic. We know that as soon as we start bringing Jesus into our mission, it will alienate people, and generate hostility. And so, in our attempts to connect with people, we become unwitting accomplices. We allow the Gospel to be suppressed by the world… even in the mission of the Church. We reject the rejection Jesus experienced from the outset of His public ministry (see Lk.4:28-29). We seem to believe we can reach the world without incurring its ‘hatred', its opposition. …that we can follow Jesus, without sharing in His persecution (vv.20-21).

But Jesus knows better: both from His own experience, and His own understanding and insight into the nature of the world. He knows who ‘the prince of this world’ is (see Jn.12:31, 14:30 & 16:11). And He has warned His disciples of his hostility since the beginning (Matt.5:10-12). And here at the end of His ministry amongst them, He again underlines it. Our response might be to retreat. But Jesus is adamant. Insofar as we keep in step with His Spirit, we must testify (15:26-27). ‘Must’. That’s a strong word. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for manoeuvre…

Questions:

Do you agree with the above analysis of ‘Christless-mission’? …or is it too cynical? Are there any situations in the UK in which it might be legitimate for the Church to outreach that doesn’t explicitly present the Gospel in an integral way?

How can we make sure that in our outreach, the Gospel of Christ is not suppressed by the world we are trying to reach? How can we support each other in the range of responses we likely anticipate when we seek to proclaim God in Christ?

Do you think it is possible to be a Christian without facing the world’s hatred (see e.g. II Tim.3:12)? Can you share your experience of being hated? How did you cope with that? How would you encourage someone else who was now experiencing the same hatred?

Why does the world hate Jesus? Do you think this is a fair way to describe the people you know? Do you think Jesus is describing individuals like the ones you know?

How does ‘not belonging to the world’ (v.19) impact you? How does it find expression in your experience? How do you manage that sense of alienation? What does Jesus mean when He talks about having chosen us?

Why does Jesus’ presence mean that people have no excuse for sin? Is this true (like so much else is) as a result of the Church’s presence also?

How do you feel about being so closely idenitfied with Jesus that how the world responds to you is how the world responds to Jesus (vv.20-21)? Do you find that intimidating? … inspiring? … encouraging? … fearful?

Given the Spirit’s deep invovlement with the Church’s testifying to Jesus, what conclusions would you draw about a Church that didn’t prioritise evangelism? Can an individual / Chruch be in step with the Spirit without being invovled in ‘testifying’ about Jesus? What consitutes such ‘testifying’?

How does Jesus telling the disciples about this experience of persecution and suffering help? Is this simply a case of ‘forewarned is forearmed’, or is there something more going on?

Bible Study on John 15:1-8 (short)

And so we come to Jesus; discourse on Divine Vinology! He isn’t plucking the idea of a ‘vine’ out of thin air.  Like all of Jesus’ teaching, the image has its roots (no pun intended!) in the Old Testament.  The vine as an image of the Church is found in a number of places, notably throughout Ps.80, and Isaiah 5, where – just in case we’re missing the point – we are explicitly told: The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in (v.7).  It’s a powerful image that works at a number of levels, not least the idea of the Lord delighting in the vine and its fruit. 

Which brings us neatly into John 15.  The Church throughout the Old Testament has proven overwhelmingly unfruitful; and when it has borne fruit, the grapes have been bad (Is.5:4).  In spite of His loving tending of His vine, the Church has rejected her Lord, and as a result has produced only idolatry, greed, injustice, confusion, and drunkenness, slowly becoming more bitter and dark until in the end she cannot even discern truth: ‘Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter’. 

Against the backdrop of this ‘false’ vine, Jesus steps forward as the ‘true vine’.  The image is recast to focus on our union with Christ, and our finding life and a future through our relationship with Him.  The Church becomes the true vine through her being ‘in Christ’.  Outside of Him, and of the loving care the Father continues to bestow, there is only lifelessness.  Such branches, Jesus warns ‘are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned’ (Jn.15:6).  This is the stark choice our Lord puts before us: to endure the pruning in Him that leads to fruitfulness, and authentic discipleship (Jn.15:8), or remain fruitless and face only the prospect of destruction.

Read Isaiah 5:1-7

(you can read the whole chapter if you like, to see how this parable connects with Isaiah’s warning of impending exile in the nations, 5:26-30)

How can the Lord speak (sing, Is.5:1) of His love for His vineyard (and His delight, 5:7), when He treats it as He does in Is.5:5-7? 

Can you identify eras in the history of the Church through the OT that correspond to each of the Lord’s actions in Is.5:5-6?

Do you think this reflects how the Lord would treat the Church today?  What might that look like in our own experience?

Read John 15:1-8

What is Jesus getting at with the imagery of the vine ‘bearing fruit’, or not?  What ‘fruit’ is He looking for in the branches? 

The idea of being ‘already clean’ (15:3), and yet needing ongoing cleansing (15:2) reminds us of similar language in 13:10.  What does the Father pruning / cleaning us look like?  What would it be like for us?  Can you share an experience of being ‘pruned’, such that you became more fruitful?

How do we remain in Christ (15:4)?  What is Jesus teaching when he warns of what will happen if we don’t remain in Him (15:6)?  Is He teaching us that we can be cut off from Christ?

What is the imagery of being ‘thrown into the fire and burned’ meant to represent (15:6)?

How can we make sure Jesus’ words remain in us (15:7)?  How would we recognize someone for whom this was / wasn’t true?

Why is our bearing fruit something that brings the Father glory (15:8)?  Does that motivate you in such fruit bearing?

Bible Study on John 14:25-31 (short)

There is a fantasial re-writing of history that has become so prevalent that even well-meaning Christians who sincerely study their Bibles have started to beleive it. It is designed to chronically undermine our confidence in those Bibles as ‘the Word of God’. It is fiction, but that hasn’t prevented even educated Christian leaders from buying into it, and then confusing the Churches they lead.

The essence of it is a rejection of the Bible’s own account of itself. The fact that those involved in writing and compiling Scripture tell us repeatedly of their experience in being used by the Spirit to do so has to be conveniently overlooked. For only then can it be replaced by the kind of confusion that reigns in the Western Church today. Only then can we be left with the impression that no-one really knew what constituted the Scriptures: not the Apostles, not those who wrote the Gospels and the letters, and still less the hapless Church that received those sacred documents. Further, many other gospels and texts were produced, many of which almost made it into the Canon. The fact they didn’t is an accident of history, or perhaps a political power play. Eitehr way it took centuries for us to work out what we ‘in’ the Bible and what was out.

And even then, those Apostles and Gospel-writers would have been as surprised as anyone, perhaps moreso, that their work was deemed to be ‘inspired’ by the Spirit - or perhaps (we are assured) merely ‘inspiring’. And even then, we have to recognise that said authors were inevitably blinded by their own cultural contexts and personal prejudices. Somehow God’s word has to be disentangled from human error, historical blindspots, and plain first century ignorance… apparently.

Over and against all such patent nonsense is the simple and straightforward words of Jesus. Jesus’ promise that the Father will send the Spirit of Truth in His Name, to ensure that the Apostles and Evangelists would fully and faithfully represent Christ and His teaching to the Church (John 14:26 & 15:26-27). The Apostles patently understood they were involved in the process of writing Scripture, and the Church immediately recognised their work as such (as it had prevoiusly done in regard to the Prophets of the Old Testament). Such is clear to those who bother to actually read their writings.

(see, for example, II Peter 1:16-21, 3:15-16; Ex.4:10-16; Ezek.3:1-4; Jer.1:9; Num.22:28, 23:16, 24:2, 24:13; Heb.3:7, 4:7, 10:15-16; Acts 4:25; Gal.1:8-12; I Cor.2:10-13; I Thess.2:13, 4:8; II Thess.3:6 & 14; I Tim.6:2-4; II Tim.3:16… honestly, I could keep going, but it will get tedious, and to be fair, we’ve spent the last four weeks looking at this in DTP!).

Perhaps this is why throughout history, Christians have literally been willing to die to ensure this Book remains in the hands of the Church.

Questions:

Why does Jesus speak of the Spirit here in the way He does throughout this discourse? What do each of these titles convey? What picture emerges of His work and relationship to the Church? What is your experience of this ministry of the Spirit that Jesus is emphasizing?

(Spirit of Truth, 14:17 & 15:26 [note also 14:6]; Advocate, 14:16 & 15:26; Holy Spirit, 15:26; sent from the Father, 14:16, 26, 15:26)

In what way is the peace that Jesus gives different from that of the world? How much of that peace do you experience? How would you recognise someone who enjoyed such peace?

What does Jesus envisage that could cause our hearts to be troubled, and us to be afraid? Why do we find it so difficult to obey these commands? What does it look like to experience troubled hearts, and to capitulate to fear? How can we cultivate the spiritual virtue of courage? What does courageous discipleship look like? How can we en-courage one another in that?

In what sense is the Father ‘greater’ than the Son? Why is this a cause for the disciples’ gladness in the light of Jesus’ impending departure?

What does Jesus mean when he says that the ‘princeof this world’ has no hold on him? What gives the devil a hold on people? How does his coming teach the world that Jesus loves the Father, and does what He commands?

What can we learn from that to equip us for our own experience of spiritual warfare?

Looking back over Chapter 14, what are the key things you want to remember and to implement from Jesus’ teaching? How much of this teaching is specifically for the Apostles, and how much is for all Christians?

Bible Study on John 14:15-24 (short)

How do we engage with Jesus’ teaching?  It’s a question we’ve been thinking through perhaps a little more directly in our evening services as we’ve been reflecting on Jesus as our glorious King.   It’s fairly straightforward to grasp the idea of authority that comes from someone sitting on a throne.  What they say is not an optional extra.  It’s a command.  This is how Jesus sees his teaching: in the category of ‘command’.   It is utterly consistent throughout the Scriptures.  It might be easy to lose sight of this if we focus exclusively on Jesus in the Gospels, where usually He is ‘veiled in flesh’, and His authority is hidden.  But concealment is not abdication.  And even ‘veiled’ Jesus clearly considers His teaching to be in the category of command.

We are culturally suspicious of, and generally resistant to, authority.  Where this has inadvertently seeped into our thinking about our relationship with Jesus, we need to repent.  Christ is not one to be cynical of, and His teaching is not to be shrugged off at our discretion.  We may need to be very deliberate in regaining this dynamic in our thinking about our discipleship.

Whilst Jesus sees his teaching as non-negotiable, authoritative, and Himself as having the Creator’s mandate to shape who we are in the real circumstances of life, many Christians seem to feel at liberty to remain relatively uninformed about what He actually says.  And even where we are familiar, we don’t necessarily consider ourselves bound.  At a deep level, we seek to retain the right of refusal.  We engage His teaching with an implicit reservation.  ‘How much of this’ we ask ourselves, ‘am I comfortable with putting into practise?’  ‘How much is realistic'?’

The most basic Christian creed is: Jesus is Lord.  It is at foundation the surrendering of the right to self-determination.  Whatever He says we are committed to pursue.  And as we read this passage we realise that this is our duty and our joy.  For our obedience is the articulation of our love. 

Questions:

How much of Jesus’ teaching are you confident you know and understand?  How much, as a group, can you reproduce verbatim? … or as a general sense of what He says?

What do you think is the Spirit’s ministry in the life of the Church?  How do you experience His work in helping you to love Christ and obey His teaching (v.16)? 

Why does Jesus’ anticipate His disciples might feel orphaned (v.18)?  How would this affect their ability to be authentic disciples?  How does Jesus’ ongoing presence, by His Spirit, impact the Church?  Would you say that is the experience at MIE?

What would you say to someone who was confident of their love for Christ, but whose life was not characterised by obedience to Jesus’ teaching in areas such as their relationship with money, or in their sexual behaviour, or their relationship with family, or Church? 

What kind of excuses do we use to avoid having to put Jesus’ teaching into practise?

How can our love for Jesus be cultivated such that it becomes a more compelling motivation for our obedience to Jesus’ commands?  How can we support each other in this?

Why does Jesus – after His resurrection - show Himself to the Church, but not the world? 

Bible Study on John 14:1-14 (short)

I wonder how often the disciples felt they had lost track of what Jesus was teaching them…  How often they felt they should know what was going on in the conversation, but didn’t?   We are confronted with just such a moment in the Upper Room as we come into John 14.  Was Jesus baiting them?  ‘You know the way to the place where I am going’.  Of course they did – they just didn’t realise they did.

Thomas’ question is one of my favourite instances in the whole Gospel.  Maybe I just feel some sympathy with his frustration at feeling like I’m not keeping up.   Either way, his honesty is refreshing.   I’m not saying that flatly contradicting Jesus is a great model of discipleship (‘You know the way…’, ‘We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way’, 14:5), but his determination to understand Jesus is! 

There is a lot to be said for the spiritual discipline of putting up our hands and admitting that we have no idea what’s going on!  How often do we get sucked into the momentum of Church life and worship, listen to a sermon, sing songs, recite liturgy, sit in Bible Studies, where we hear the words but aren’t sure what they mean.  When we lose track of what’s happening, there is a lot to be said for saying so.

Jesus doesn’t rebuke Thomas or scold him.  He doesn’t condemn or humiliate him in front of other disciples.  Instead, He answers the question; and in doing so articulates on of the most powerful declarations in Scripture.

I wonder how many of us are simply not as spiritually mature as we could be because we aren’t honest enough to admit when we don’t really know what’s going on.  By letting our moment of confusion pass unchecked, we lose the opportunity to be taught by Jesus, and to grow in our vision of Him, and our love for Him.

Questions:

How much do you meditate on your future after death?  What impact would it have on you if you had a more informed and secure hope in Christ?  How could you develop that?

What happens to our experience of following Jesus when that hope isn’t in place? 

What is Jesus seeking to convey in His image of a house with many rooms, one of which is prepared for us?

How comfortable are you with the exclusivity of Jesus’ claims in this passage?  Do you think there is any way to know God, or share in His life without Jesus?

What ‘works’ of Jesus provide evidence that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (v.11)?  What does it mean to say Jesus and the Father are ‘in’ one another? 

Do you agree that v.12 is about ‘quantity’ rather than ‘quality’?  Or do you think that Jesus is telling us that we will perform miraculous signs that are ‘greater’ than those of Jesus?

How do you make sense of Jesus’ words in 14:13-14, in the light of unanswered prayer?  How would you explain God’s dealing with us in prayer?  Why do some prayers get answered, and others don’t?  How does that affect your life of prayer?

How compelling is your life of prayer?  Would you say it was a significant part of your discipleship?  … or of your involvement in the life of MIE? 

Bible Study on John 13:31-38 (short)

Why can’t Peter go with Jesus into death?  At one level we are faced with the unique reality of Jesus’ death.  Jesus is about to be made sin (II Cor.5:21), to bear our sins in His body on the cross (I Pet.2:24); and in so doing to bear the wrath of God against that sin (Rom.2:5, 5:9; I Thess.5:9).  Only One who is fully God could offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin in this way (Heb.7:27; 9:14). 

No Peter, you cannot go where Jesus is going.  You do not yet have the capacity for martyrdom (13:38).  And even if you did, even if tonight you did lay down your life for Jesus, it would be of no spiritual value.  Even a committal so absolute as laying down your life for Jesus would prove futile and empty.  Jesus is protecting you from wasting your death.

Remember the argument the disciples have been having just a few moments before?  Luke 22:24, A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.  Peter’s empty boast is his last roll of the dice in that particular game.  How much greater am I than all these other disciples – I’m ready to lay down my life for Jesus.  You can’t get greater than that! Surely this proves once and for all that Peter is the greatest disciple!?? 

There is a spiritual tragedy lurking in the shadows of Peter’s heart.  Jesus has just commanded that the disciples love one another (13:34).  This is no optional extra.  This is the foundation on which all other authentic discipleship must be based.  Even martyrdom.  ‘If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to death that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing’ (I Cor.13:3).   Love, Peter, does not boast (I Cor.13:4).  It does not use its devotion to prove its superiority to others.

Until Peter learns to love the Church, Jesus will not let him die a martyr’s death. 

How does the shame and indignity of the cross become the means of the glorification of Jesus?  What does it mean for Jesus to be glorified?  How is the Father glorified through the glorification of the Son?

What difference does any of that make to us?

In Leviticus 19 we are commanded to love our neighbour.  What makes this command ‘new’ (13:34)?

Why is our love for each other such a distinguishing feature that it can be considered evidence that we are Jesus’ disciples?  How is the love Christians demonstrate to be so qualitatively different from the love shown by others? Doesn’t everyone love?

Why does Jesus focus the expressing of this love ‘inward’, (i.e. as something the be shown and received within the life of the Church) rather than ‘outward’ towards those who aren’t Christians?

How does that affect our outreach?

Can you share your experience of being loved as part of the Church?  What does it look like (see e.g. I Cor.13:4-7)? 

How is it that our self-awareness of what we are capable of in our own discipleship can be so lacking (vv.37-38).

Bible Study on John 13:18-30

There is far more going on in the Upper Room than meets the eye.  Christ is present, but so are other heavenly beings.  Lurking in the spiritual shadows, Satan readies himself for a vicious assault on Christ.  Betrayal, disunity, deceit, Satan brings it all to bear as he strives even now to derail Christ’s journey to Golgotha.  Serpent-like he strikes at Jesus’ inner circle.  He enters into Judas (13:27)…

And as this cosmic clash echoes through eternity, no-one notices!!  Immense realities hang in the balance, and there is barely a ripple on the surface of human experience.  The disciples are utterly unaware of all that is unfolding before their very eyes.  As far as they can see, they are sharing the Last Supper (although they don’t yet know it is the Last Supper).  As for the spiritual warfare that rages around them, and the judgement that falls in their midst, they are oblivious.

This isn’t the last time that the Lord’s Supper becomes an arena for such profound spiritual dynamics.  When the Apostle Paul writes to the Church at Corinth, he reveals that again, the bread and wine of the sacrament become either life or death, judgement or blessing depending on how they are received (I Cor.10:27-32). 

This remains the conviction of the Church even yet.  Article 28 of the Church of England’s basis of faith celebrates that when received ‘rightly, worthily and with faith’ and ‘in a Spiritual manner’ the Lord’s Supper is ‘a sacrament of our redemption through Christ’s death’.  Article 29 warns that those who partake without ‘a living faith … are in no way partakers of Christ.  Rather, by eating and drinking the sign or sacrament of so great a thing, they bring condemnation on themselves’.

And still, as eternal destinies are forged in our Churches week by week, there is barely a ripple on the surface of human experience. 

Questions

Read Is.41:21-29.  Against that backdrop, why do Jesus underline the fact that He know what will happen (v.18-19 & 21)?  How does His foreknowledge strengthen our faith in Him (v.19)?

Do you think of yourself as someone ‘sent by Christ’, and sent with such delegated authority to represent Christ, that if someone rejects you, they are in fact rejecting Christ, and in turn, the Father (v.20)?  How does this affect your attitude to questions such as holiness, evangelism etc.?

Does the presence and activity of Satan in such a profoundly intimate and holy moment between Jesus and His disciples surprise you? …disturb you?  …concern you?  Do you think much about the spiritual dynamics that surround worship, and who or what may be present as the saints gather to do so week by week?  How should such awareness affect us?

What had Judas done to make himself vulnerable to Satan in this way?  Can you track the journey that brought him to this point?

How has Judas managed to convince the disciples he is one of them, whilst actually harbouring the capacity to betray Jesus in this way?   How do you think Judas had been able to be so involved with Jesus and His mission, whilst still being so duplicitous?

How can we become more like the Jesus who was so gracious and generous even to one He knew would ultimately betray Him? 

What does this passage teach us about the realities of Church life?

Bible Study on John 13:1-17 (short)

Read John 13:1-17

As we get back into John’s Gospel, we pick up as Jesus withdraws from public ministry.  From here on, his teaching is focused on His disciples.  There is an air of exclusivity.  These are ‘His own’, whom He loved (13:1).   With that comes a sense of urgency and relevance for the Bride.  This teaching is not for ‘the world’, it is for us.  Christ discriminates as He hides Himself from those who would not believe in Him (12:36-37).  And the first item on His agenda, as He withdraws, remains as destabilizing as it is familiar. 

The whole episode of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet is an enacted parable, a drama that captures the dynamics of the Incarnation (see Phil.2:1-11).  He has humbled Himself, come to serve, and through His service to bathe and to wash those who will be served by Him.  The two are interdependent, and we can’t have one without the other.  We are ‘bathed / clean’.  The death of Christ achieves for us an absolute and gloriously irreversible sanctification.  We are united with Christ, and His work is categorical.  But we continue to live in a fallen world, and ongoing patterns of sinful behavior continue to find expression alongside out irresistible impulse to Christ-likeness. ‘No servant is greater than their master…’.  We must love as He has loved, serve as He has served.  Our Lord and Teacher has set us an example and called us to follow it.  There is a tragic irony when we call Him Lord but do not do what He says.  But, to be loved is to be called to obedience.

Many Christians desire to know the blessing of God.  It would appear that the way to do so is the way of sacrificial service of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Questions:

Do you think we should have ‘foot-washing ceremonies’ as part of our worship?   Why / why not?

Why does John make the point that this happened ‘just before the Passover’?

Why do you think we are so reluctant to be served? What can we do to overcome that reluctance?

How is Jesus’ love for the Church different from His love for the world? How comfortable are you with the idea that there is a qualitatively different dynamic at play in Jesus’ (covenant) love for the Church and His love for the world?

How does this moment in the Upper Room, contrast with what had happened less than a week ago at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus (see 12:1-10)?

How can we commit to loving and serving the Church afresh in the light of this passage (see also e.g. I Pet.4:10)?  Do you think we should love and serve everyone in this way, or just the Church? 

How can you support each other as a group to do those things which we know Jesus has taught us?

From this passage, how would you encourage and support a Christian who was finding it difficult to adopt an attitude of service in the Church?

Jesus Washes the Disciple's Feet is a painting by Tracy Councill