04 May
2025

The Joy of Discipleship

Passage: John 15:9-17

“One of the most interesting and remarkable things Christians learn is that laughter does not exclude weeping. Christian joy is not an escape from sorrow. Pain and hardship still come, but they are unable to drive out the happiness of the redeemed.” – Eugene Peterson

Sermon Outline:

  • Joy in midst of pain
  • Joy that is deeply rooted in love
  • Joy that comes from purpose

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

Define joy and share a time you experienced great joy. Consider what joy looks and feels like. How is joy nurtured?

Read John 15:9-17. What does this passage show you about God’s character and about being his follower? What challenges, encourages, or sparks questions for you in this passage?

Jesus speaks these words to his disciples in the midst of great pain. Consider the troubles in the context of Jesus’s words – what has happened or been communicated before and after this passage in the life of Jesus?
In John 15:11, Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” How does Jesus’s message of joy in the context of great pain, shape our understanding of joy and give perspective to our circumstances?
The joy Jesus wants to give us is rooted in love received. Read 15:9. How did Jesus experience and respond to the Father’s love during his life and ministry?
John, one of Jesus’s disciples refers to himself as “the one Jesus loved.” This self-description is fitting for every follower of Jesus. Read 15:14-17 how do these verses describe and expand on what it means to be loved by God?
In the sermon, Guy Gray described remaining in Jesus’s love (15:9) as abiding and making our home in God’s love. Three ways we can do this is to make Christ’s promises personal to ourselves, pray Jesus’s love into our hearts, and obey his commands. Love the things God loves and obey the things he says. Spend time praying for each other specifically for Jesus’s joy to be in one another and complete. Consider reading and praying phrases from John 15 and Ephesians 3:14-21 for each other.
As brothers and sisters in Christ, part of the Covenant church family, how can we encourage one another in the joy of the Lord?

What from this passage and this discussion is something you want to put into practice or be more aware of this week?

PRAYER

Share with your group how they can be praying for you: what is weighing on you from this past week? What are you praising God for from this past week?

John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”