Abide

Introduction

“Abide with me” - a common song at funerals

Loss of someone who defined you is the worst experience humanity can endure.

Fiction often portrays hospital accounts (burned, loss of limbs, mental deficiency, even brain dead)

Regardless, the cry is the same - “Don’t let them leave me.”

It was into such a real experience - “Jesus wept.”

[We need to understand John’s experience with Jesus to appreciate 1 John.]

Matthew spends Mt.26:17-30 (13), Mark Mk.14.12-26 (14), and Luke Lk.22.7-38 (31)

John spends chapter 13 through 17 of his Gospel in the Upper Room

John, the one Jesus loved, never forgot how it left him broken.

When the apostles encountered Jesus, it was world-changing.

It wrecked their very definition of existence, they could never go back.

Food tasted different, fashion, leisure, entertainment, friendships: everything shifted.

We know they left family, friendships, careers, political movements

They traded their joys, their weekends, downtime, and peace, everything for a brutal existence

Why? … they found consuming love, warmth. They found a light which shattered the darkness of this life.

They found Jesus.

“Do not be worried and upset” (Jn.14.1) [troubled] (a shadow over this scene, realness, sadness)

“Jesus was troubled in his spirit” (Jn.13.21) - one of you will betray me...

“Little children, I will be with you only a little longer” (Jn.13.33).

So, … take care of one another (Jn.13.34).

“Do not be troubled in your hearts” (Jn 14.1).

If you ever cared for me, loved me, you will be there for one another. You will do it for me, since I can’t.

“I give you my peace. Do not be troubled in your hearts or afraid” (Jn 14.27)

“Love one another. The world will hold so much hatred for you. Take care of one another” (Jn 15).

“They are going to kill you” (Jn 16.2).

“I told you I am leaving, and now you are full of sorrow” (Jn 16.6)

“I have much more to tell you, but you can’t bear it. Your spirit is broken (Jn 16.12).

John 14.15-21- he dwells with you - meno (Imagine meeting, no, imagine losing Jesus)

Message

John uses the term abide (meno) 24 times in 1 John.

58% of NT use of term is by John.

The three tests:

1 John 3:24 “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”

1 John 2:10 “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.”

1 John 2:24 “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.”

John tried hard to love, since Jesus can’t physically be here to do so.

Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,”

John 13:33 “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’”

1 John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.” [John uses same “little children”]

John’s longing to be with Jesus grew in him this great devotion to God’s people.

He mimicked Jesus. The same wording. “Little children.” Persecuted by Rome.

Acts is the church being the body, receiving the Spirit at baptism, healing the lame and confronting Jewish leaders.

Think of Paul. Rejected. No place to call home. A trial in Roman court and all abandoned him. Would eventually receive the sentence of death like Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:16–17 “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me...”

Only those who partner with God and do the things Jesus did dwell together with Him.

Only they experience Him more and more

Honestly, they are the only one’s that desire him anyway.

2 Timothy 4:8 “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” (longed for)

If you learn who He is, you will long for Him. Long for Him.

Conclusion

Some people are able to fix their mind in such a way that they nearly can undergo surgery without anesthesia.

We are all passengers on a train, ignoring its clicking movement toward a cliff.

Train cars for dining, cinema, games, cocktails, music, along with staff and workers

People arguing, backstabbing, cursing, laughing, hating, loving

Some would be steering or adding fuel to keep the train moving to the destination.

If we could step outside, we would see all this.

You would say like Solomon, “Vanity. Everything is vanity.”

Psalm 46:10 ““Be still, and know that I am God.””

Perhaps in such a moment all would cry out, “Lord, abide with me.”