Wed Nov 26

Listen up, little ones

Especially for the littles in your household.

Listen for the words branch(es) and fruit.

Reading

John 15:1–8—Cleansed by the Vine

Optional Reading

Micah 5:11-15

Keys for kids

Also for the littles. Young households might choose, after Keys for Kids, to go directly to praise and prayer.

It is only in being savingly connected to Jesus that we bear fruit.
Jesus and His Father cleanse us so that we bear more fruit.
Our fruit is to the Father’s glory.

Questions

(Some read the ?s before the notes/ ask them after.)

Who is the true vine?
How does a branch bear fruit?
How might God prune you so that you bear more fruit?

Notes

(See Saturday for authors. )

Micah promises that the promised Shepherd-King will do some pruning and cleansing of God’s people. In our reading today, Jesus makes clear that he, alongside his Father, does that work in us. Jesus makes a bold claim that He is the vine. All throughout the Old Testament the vine was a picture of God’s people. Although it flourished at times, at times it produced bitter fruit and was torn down (Isaiah 5, Psalm 80). But Jesus claims that He is the true vine producing good fruit. Hughes comments that to Christian believers, this is a wonderfully deep and mystic parable. Christ is the vine (the trunk), we are the branches, and God the Father is the gardener. The picture taken together is that of a vineyard with true believers organically related to Christ (the sap that runs in his veins runs in ours) and of the Father walking among the vines lovingly caring for them so they will bring forth fruit.

Jesus bears good fruit, and in Him we also bear good fruit. The Father may prune us, cutting off what is not helping to produce fruit, just a Micah foretold. Our fruit bearing comes from our union with Jesus. Our cleansing comes from Jesus’s work of speaking His word to us and washing us with it (Eph 5:26).

Phillips asks Do you see any of the fruit of the Spirit in your life? If you are a Christian, the honest answer should be Yes. … Christians who know the fruit of Christ in their lives should thus be assured that their profession of faith is real, since the life of the vine is bearing fruit in the branch.

Swedish Method questions

See the Sunday notes for meaning of the symbols.

Praise

Psalm 80, 88a

Prayer

Ask God to prune you so that you bear more fruit.
Pray for change in you from last Lord’s Day’s sermons.
Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.