What is the future to you, a black emptiness, a fortune teller’s cards, or something that begins today? That question leads us to Jesus at supper with his disciples, standing at a turning point in their lives and hearing the image of the vine and the branches (John 15). The sermon shows that God does not want to be an acquaintance from across the hallway or a doorman we pass for thirty years, but someone as close as a branch grown into the trunk, and that his love is unconditional even when he prunes our overgrown leaves. Listen if you want to ask who Jesus really is to you today.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Jesus tells the parable of the vine to disciples who fear for their future because they know He is going to die. What might this picture have told them about what would become of them?
- In John 15 the Father prunes the branches that bear fruit. Which "leaves" from the sermon, such as education, status, or connections, might be blocking God from you, and how does He prune them?
- The sermon compares some relationships with God to knowing a doorman you have seen every day for 30 years without knowing anything about him. How would you describe your everyday closeness with Jesus, and what builds or weakens it?
- Judas called Jesus Teacher, never Lord. If someone walked in and saw you with Jesus, how would you finish the sentence "This is my..." and what does that reveal about your relationship with Him?
- When do you sense God looking at you with love: only when everything is in order, or also after you fail? Where does an image of God as a judge on a panel come from in your life?
- The sermon encourages talking to Jesus in simple words about ordinary things instead of writing Him "official applications." What everyday matter do you want to talk with Him about honestly this week?
