Fruitfully Abide

Personal Intro

Family

Three questions

I’m really excited to be here with y’all. It’s fun to be able to be here with a new group. I’ve been at my church for almost nine years, I’ve told them all my stories! They’re boring to my students now, but they’re new this weekend! Also, I don’t have to worry about offending your parents! I get to say whatever I want this weekend!

Abide - endure; continue without fading or being lost

One of the lines repeated in the song Abide is “I depend on You”. I think that gives a good idea of what it means biblically to abide…

Scriptural context of John 15

This is right after the Last Supper. So the apostles have seen Jesus enter in to Jerusalem and everyone was praising Him. He’s been teaching to huge crowds for a week. He sends some of his apostles to go ask some guy for a room to have the Passover meal in and it works out. He’s washed his disciples feet. It’s been a pretty cool week.

Then all of a sudden He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The He tells Peter that he’s going to deny Him. Then He begins preparing them for his departure.

At the end of chapter 14 Jesus says, “Rise, let us go from here.” So they have left the dinner and it seems like they are one their way to the Garden of Gethsemane and talking on their way. That’s when John 15 happens.

Try and think about where the disciples are at and how Jesus is ministering to them on this walk… They’ve just found out the guy they’ve been following and been devoted to for the last three years has told them He’s going to be betrayed and He’s going somewhere and they can’t go with Him… But He tells them He’s not leaving them alone, the Spirit is coming…

read verses 1-7 and PRAY

We must be connected to Christ for the blessings of a God-honoring life.

Pruning

God will discipline us and remove things from our lives so that we can continue to grow closer to Him.

Pruning is a process of cutting away pieces that are not productive so there is more room for parts that are and so more energy can go to those productive parts. It’s not dead parts that are cut away, it’s live pieces. Think about having a live part of yourself cut away.

1-2

God is the initiator and finisher in the process, but that doesn’t mean that we are inactive in it.

Philippians 2:12 ESV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,

So you can’t sit back and make no effort to make your life look like Jesus.

1 John 2:6 ESV

whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

So, where is God pruning in your life? Where do you need to cooperate in what He is doing?

Because He is at work in you if you are a Christian! And He is at work with you because you are connected to Him. That connection is essential.

Connection

If we do not stay connected to Jesus then we will not grow closer to Him or more like Him.

What possession do you have that you would miss the most? It’s our phone for most of us, right? We use it all the time! Even if it’s not in an unhealthy way, we use them all the time.

What happens to your phone after a day of using it? The battery goes dead. So you have to put it on the charger. You ever wake up in the morning to the terrifying realization that your phone didn’t charge? You didn’t get it plugged all the way in like you thought. It wasn’t set down on the drop charger in the right position. It’s dead. If it doesn’t stay connected to the charger, the battery dies because it has no power.

If we don’t stay connected to Jesus, we have no power.

3-5

How do we stay connected to Jesus then?

Be in his Word

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Be in prayer

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Be in community

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

This is all important. There are different results for those who abide in Christ and those who don’t.

Results

If you know Jesus you will abide in Him and become more and more like Him. If you do not know Him you will not abide in Him and you will be separated from Him.

Any gamers? I’m a gamer-dad. It got me through COVID. What happens if you’re in the storm and don’t get to the circle? Or if you’re in the gas and don’t get in?

If you do not abide in Christ, if you are not connected to Him and you are never connected to Him, you do not know Him. If you do not know Him, this is what happens.

6

Matthew 25:41 ESV

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

You must know Him!

Present Gospel

If you do know Him, you will grow to be more like Him. Your desires will begin to align with his. When that happens, your prayers align with his will. When you pray in line with his will, you receive what you ask for.

7

1 John 5:14 ESV

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

If we are going to abide in Christ, we have to stay connected to Him. If you truly belong to Him, then you will desire to stay connected to Him. You will be ok with the pruning that God does in your life, you will cooperate with it. And you will bear the fruit from the vine in your life, which we will talk more about later.

Are you abiding in Christ?

If you had been following and learning from someone for years and suddenly found out they were leaving you, what would you want from them? What did Jesus offer to his disciples? How does it make you feel to know that Jesus cares for his people, still today, in this way?

What in your life may need to be pruned so you can better honor God and grow closer to Him?