Abide 3

Dwell, DO, Abide

When you are saved, you become a Christian. The term “Christian” means ‘Little Christ’. When the term was first used, it was meant to be a derogatory title. A title that would label a people so that they may be further persecuted. By the term backfired. You see, when followers of God face persecution they know that they are headed in the right direction, and it gave them encouragement.

And who wouldn’t like for their lives to be described as a miniature Christ??

That is exactly what happens to us as you dwell on God’s word, as you become a doer of God’s word, you will abide in Him.

John 15:1–11 ESV

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

I love the imagery here in this section of God’s scriptures. It paints a realistic picture of how we interact with our Lord. You could find grape Vines all over ancient Israel. The soil and terrain was perfect for growing grapes. The Hebrews had grapes in everything.

Also, God referred to the people of Israel as a vine or a vineyard many times in the OT. In the temple of Jerusalem at the time of this

There was a massive decoration made out of gold of a grapevine on the wall of the temple, and it was a well known feature of the temple, it represented the people of Israel. According to Romans 11:23 we are the wild branch grafted in to reap the benefits of the vine as well.

We also have the idea that the vine was a recognized symbol of the Messiah, Jesus drew all these figures together and told them “I am the true vine.”

So Jesus gives the disciples this comparison to help them understand their relationship. “I am the vine, it is ME. You are the branches, my Father is the vinedresser.”

The Vine and the Branches:

The Vine ((Present the gospel here))

Jesus is the true vine. There are no other vines but Him. Jesus Himself warned that there would be people who came after Him (and there were some before Him) that would claim to be the Messiah. There have even been people who were lead astray by these false Messiahs, and in the end times there will be one, the Anti-Christ, who will lead millions astray… but there is only One True Vine. That is Jesus Christ. If you want life, you must be connected to Him.

But He said “I am the true vine.” Not money, not your works, not your giving, it in ME and only me.

Many people search for life in many Things, money, success, material possessions, relationships, fame, you name it, but only Jesus will give you true life.

Branch:

Sometimes people are tempted to believe they can do things on their own. Now I am not saying that success cannot be had on one’s own. If you look around the world, there are thousands of successful people who are following their own compass, doing things their own way, but in the grand scheme of things their achievements will not amount to much. We need to be careful not to compare ourselves to them.

Worldly people do things on their own, but what they are doing does not build the kingdom of God in any way. They are only building the kingdom of self, and that will crumble in a very short amount of time.

If you want to live a righteous and good life, you must be connected to Jesus. Just as a branch cannot live without the vine, so a Christian should operate their lives. That they will not survive without Christ being the center of their life.

You must ABIDE in Christ.

We will talk about this a little more in the next session, but in order to be viable at all, you must be saved. You cannot be connected to the vine, or Jesus, if you are not first saved. Maybe you have heard the phrase “put the cart before the horse”, which means, you will not put the animal that pulls the cart behind the cart. It does not work.

If you are not saved, then you cannot live your life for Christ. If you are sitting in a church, if you are singing the songs, it you are even studying the word but you are not saved you are simply a branch that bears leaves, but it does not bear fruit. The vinedresser knows. An onlooker might say “what a beautiful branch, what grand leaves” but the vinedresser truly knows that the branch is useless.

If you are already saved, how do you grow? How are you useful? How do you take hold of all the promises that God has for us in His word? We abide in Him.

What does it mean to abide?

The definition of abide is To accept or act in accordance with.

How do we abide in Jesus? We keep His commandments. How do we do that? It is simple. You read God’s word, and you do what it says to do. “If you keep my commandments, you ill abide in my love…”

In the previous chapter, John 14:15 says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

It’s not just a list of do’s and don’ts. It is a relationship with the Lord. Love, and abide. If you Love the Lord, you will abide in Him, and if you abide in Him it is because you Love Him.

Jesus promises that if we abide in Him, His joy will be in us and our joy will be full. It does not always light my fire to follow the rules, and I bet it doesn’t always drive you to excitement either. Doing things your parents tell you, especially on weekend or breaks.

But following the Lord does bring us joy. It makes us happy to make the Lord happy. There are times, many times, when it is difficult and it takes discipline, but there will never be a time where it is not rewarding to our soul.

These disciples ate with Jesus. They walked with Jesus. They sat down with Him in private and they talked with Jesus. Jesus sat them down and taught them. They worked with Jesus, they napped with Jesus, and for 3 1/2 years, unless Jesus told them to leave Him or go do something for Him, they were in the immediate presence of Jesus.

That is abiding. It’s not following a bunch of rules. It’s not just completing the do’s and do nots. The Pharisees were doing a good job of that, but Jesus said 2 horribly condemning things about them. “You are white washed tombs” (Pretty on the outside, dead on the inside) and He quoted Isaiah in saying “You honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me” (they sing the songs, say the words, do the ‘good deeds’ but their hearts are far removed from God.)

You can work, and toil, you can sweat and bleed, you can even cry out to God… but if you are not connected to Jesus Then everything you do will be in vain.

To abide is like a branch that depends on the vine for nutrients. If it is not connected to the vine, then it will wither, and if it withers then what good is it? It is good for nothing but it be thrown in a fire and burned up.

As we are with Jesus. Jesus tells us “look, without me you are nothing. You can do nothing.” Jesus has to be everything to us.

WITHOUT THE BRANCHES, THE VINE WOULD STILL BE THE VINE.

WITHOUT THE VINE, THE BRANCHES WILL BEGIN TO DIE IMMEDIATELY.

Now, when we do abide in Christ. When we walk with Him intimately, when we are connected to Him as a branch is connected to the vine, we will bare fruit. The Bible tells us that fruits are things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness. Faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. What it boils down to is that you and I will look like Christ.

And that brings us to the vinedresser.

THE VINEDRESSER

What does the vinedresser do? (To or for the vine? To the branches) The Vinedressers ultimate goal is to tend to the vine from top to bottom to insure that a good, healthy crop is yielded. When they monitor the vine and when they notice a blight, they tend to the illness of the plant as best as they know how. When they notice weak spots on the vine they tie them up the supports so the weight does not damage the vine, when the leaves become too thick they will trim back the foliage so that more sunlight will be made available to the fruit. They monitor the soil in the growing process to insure that the vine has the right nutrients at the right stages to grow to it’s fullest potential. When necessary, the vinedresser takes on the most crucial task, they prune the vine. Prune consists of cutting away ill branches so that others will not be effected (if necessary), it means cutting off dead or dying limbs so that all of the nutrients will go to the healthy branches, and they may produce more fruit.

An interesting fact about grapes vines is that they do not produce fruit from old growth. A vine dresser must prune the vine in order for the vine to produce fruit.

God looks closely at the branches on the vine. He knows them more intimately than anyone. When He sees one that is doing well, He prunes it. Cuts parts of it off so that it will grow better. He makes sure that it has everything it needs in order to produce the best fruit, because it will.

I love the Verse in Romans 12:1–2 and we will use them a little later on tomorrow, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

To conform means you go with the flow. The word used for “conform” in the Greek is syschematizo, it means to pattern one’s mind and character after another. It is where we get the word schematics from, they are a pattern of symbols that represent elements of a system. They are similar to blue prints that construction works use to build things.

God’s word tells us not to follow the pattern of thiss world, but rather follow His word and be transformed into the person He desires you to be.

The word “transform” is metemorphoo which is where we get the word metamorphosis. You have seen a butterfly, right? Where do butterfly’s come from? At one point they were caterpillars. Little wormlike insects inching themselves along on the ground. But the time comes for a caterpillar to go through a change. So they make a Chrysalis (or a cocoon if it is a moth), and the transformation process begins. A little caterpillar goes in, a large butterfly comes out. Two seemingly different creatures. Metamorphosis.

That is what God’s word does inside of us. It turns us into a new creature, a new being. He renews our mind, and changes our way of life.

I love the imagery of God as the potter. As it sits, the clay is pretty unremarkable. There is nothing special about it. Before the potter even begins to mold the clay He already has the image of the masterpiece it will become. So the potter observes the clay and removes any impurities He can find to insure the best results for the final product. Then He molds, and He works, and He folds and He restarts. Working the clay until it is just to His liking.

We do not always know where God is taking us, or what He is doing, but you can rest assured that He knows exactly what He is doing. There is not a thing that He adds or removes that is not meant for the development of our final product.

The Branch needs the vine for everything.

The vine has everything that the branch ever needed and then some.

The vinedresser insures that the vine is sustained and the branches are health.

Jesus is our spiritual life source. If we are not firmly connected in, then we are drying out.

You were never meant to go with the flow. You were meant to pursue Jesus. Be different.

God is going to shape and prune us as we go. Yield your life to Him, and allow Him to bring you to the person that He sees.

Bow your head with me tonight