Abide In Christ

Introduction

Big Idea: The only way to produce fruit is to abide in Christ. Any other way, the fruit will rot and the branches will wither.

What is up guys?

I am so glad to be back! I have missed having mid-weeks and seeing you guys every week.

I love events, I love having fun, but I also love diving into God’s Word with yall and we are going to have fun regardless.

As you guys see, we are going through a sermon series on what it means to Abide in Christ. How simple habits can produce lasting fruit.

Guys this is a short series by the way. Believe it or not, including today, we have only 9 midweek sermons.

We are going to cover so many things in this sermon series.

We are going to talk about

Fasting

Prayer

Being in the Bible

Evangelism

and other topics.

But I wanted to start off by being in John 15 and talking about abiding in Christ.

We are going to dive into the passage and dive into the word “abide” because I do not want Christianity to be a check list for you guys.

We are going to be going through Spiritual disciplines, we are going to talk all about them in the coming weeks

but it can be easy for it just to be another thing.

Check the box, just to get our daily Jesus

If we are just checking the box we can:

forget what we read in our Bibles as the day goes on

pray before meals because thats how mom and dad raised us

Do these things because they are the right thing to do.

And do them because we spent all spring saying how our faith causes action.

But you guys need to know that real action comes from abiding.

So lets jump into the passage and our first point.

Pruning For Purpose (vv. 1-3)

John 15:1–3 CSB

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

This passage starts off with Jesus saying I am the true vine.

There are 7 times in the book of John when Jesus says “I am.”

This is the last one and he says that I am the true vine.

So we see that if there is a true vine, there are going to be people who claim to be “vines” but are not legit. They be cappin.

The thing is the people who were hearing this they would have known what Jesus was saying.

This is because in the Old Testament, Israel was reffered to as the vine, so when he says that he is the true vine, he is saying I am the true God of Israel.

Jesus takes this illustration and runs with it, but I want you guys to know that he does it on purpose, that he is making a claim to be God here because he is claiming to be the fulfillment of the vine!

But like every great vine, there is a gardener that prunes the vine.

Has anyone ever pruned a plant before?

What does it mean to prune something?

The definition of the word prune is to cut away dead or overgrown parts to improve fruitfulness and growth.

And this is what God does, God is the gardener.

God takes care of his disciples by pruning them, even though it may hurt.

How many of you have ever asked God why before?

That question can be a hard one, one that comes from great grief, but what I want you to know is that God has a plan.

Verse 3 says that you are already clean.

What Jesus means is if you are producing fruit and God is pruning you, you are not being punished.

It is not for you to question your salvation, he is just trimming you up.

If we were to put it in modern terms we could say that God is the barber and he is fading you up.

This is the process of sanctification. Or to become more like God.

God is going to help you cut out the things that are not of him. Guess what it might be painful.

God is going to help you overcome your sin.

He is going to convict you of the things you do.

God might push you to confess your sin.

He might send someone into your life and say you cant watch that, chew that, drink that, or whatever that may look like.

But when we are truly in him, he is going to to make you look more like Jesus.

Sometimes you are going to fail, but fail forward, because sometimes to grow stronger you are going to fall, but God is promising to be with you in the forming of your character.

IF you are on the vine he is shaping you into something more than you are right now.

This is one of my favorite illustrations, but there was once a science experiment done to grow trees super fast.

They went and put them in the perfect environment. It was a biosphere that controlled the amount of water, sunlight, fertilization, all of the things that the science nerds determined would make this tree grow quickly.

And guess what? the tree shot up, it grew ridiculously fast. Faster than any other tree.

Then it fell.

The environment was perfect. And because it was perfect it had no wind. No violent winds. So without the strong winds as it was growing it had no need to grow deep roots, so it fell.

We are not promised an easy life. Jesus tells us in John 16:33 “You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”

We are told that we will have trouble, but God uses it for good.

He uses it for us.

But that is for the ones who are producing fruit.

Jesus gives a warning to those who are not producing fruit.

There is a difference between pruning and cutting off.

God is going to prune those who are in him. We know that by their fruit.

But the ones who do not produce fruit. They are going to be cut off.

This is a warning that Christ gives.

He is the way, the truth, and the life.

For him to be life like John 14:6 says, then those in him are going to be alive.

They are going to be producing that fruit.

You want to be pruned, because that means that you are going to produce more fruit.

The last thing that I want is for any of you to be cut off.

This passage is screaming you need Jesus.

You need to be connected to him.

This is important because if you fast forward to verse 6 it tells us what happens to these branches.

John 15:6 CSB

If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

These dead branches are used for fire wood.

Those who are NOT in Christ are going to be burned.

And I am fully confident that there are an abundant amount of people who are just going through the motions.

They think that they are being pruned, but they are in the process of having their branches chopped.

If you think that those people don’t exsist look at our world and the people who claim to be Christians, but aren’t living it.

People from other denominations that we talked about who were baptized as a baby and think they are secure forever.

Then look at the Bible and look at Judas!

You can exercise your faith, but not be a true disciple.

You can do all of the things in Jesus name, but not be truly connected.

So what is the answer?

The answer is to abide.

To actually be connected to God.

We have to…

Produce Through Connection (vv. 4-8)

John 15:4–8 CSB

Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

We are called to remain or to abide in Christ.

and this might get confusing because your heard me say that just doing the religious things like Judas can cause a person to still get cut off.

So how do we abide?

and the answer to that is…

Christ must be our source of life.

Everything in our lives has to pour out from God.

The point where you say I am abiding is when you are unified with Christ in all that you do.

In the Spiritual disciples and in the every day.

We should praying because of Christ, read our Bibles because of Christ, fast because of Christ, but it is more than that.

It is every second of your life.

Going to school should be a mission for Christ.

You should walk into every moment and be asking and praying for Christ to be present in it.

If you are playing video games find a way for it to honor Christ.

Whatever it might be, honor Christ!

It is intentional, it is an every day every second thing.

It is going all in, putting all the chips out there and betting on Jesus.

Christ has to be your source of life because that is the definition of abiding.

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Our bodies are a living sacrifice. We have to give God are all.

Christianity is not the hokey pokey where you can just put one arm in, you have to put your whole self in!

All the time.

Not just on Sunday, not just on Wednesday!

To abide with Christ is to give your all, all the time.

Something that I want you guys to ponder is, if Christianity was illegal, would you be a convicted Christian?

Like if the government said I am investigating ___________, would they have enough evidence to convict you. If they sent an investigator to observe and get evidence, what would they find?

You they say well sometimes they read their Bible, or I think I saw them pray for a few minutes.

Or would they be like they have been in their Bible everyday this entire week, their relationships at school are always talking about Christ, they are sharing the gospel, they are giving to their Church, and they do it with joy and you can tell since all of them is doing it, then it is not just a check list!

We need to be a convicted Christian.

Christ has to flow through us.

If we are the branch, the Holy Spirit needs to be the sap flowing through us.

This passage tells us to produce fruit, but we cannot force fruit.

The fruit is there because the Holy Spirit is there.

When you go and do things just to mark them off the list because you know you should the fruit is not being attached or produced from the Spirit.

What happens to an apple that is not attached to the branch?

If you let it sit out for too long it is going to rot.

When the apple is still attached to the vine, it is still receiving the nutrients that it needs. It is going to survive.

This is what is happening to people! They are doing things on their own, but their fruit is rotting.

They think they are being pruned because they are doing what is right, but since their branch is not actually producing fruit, they are just trying to do it out of their own strength and effort they are going to be cut off.

We have to rely on Christ and not ourselves.

We are all producing fruit of something.

We are all becoming disciples of something.

We cannot show “fruit of our own effort.”

Things of us do not please God, it must be from God.

The passage says, apart from me you can do nothing.

and when I read this I first pushed back and was like woah there is a lot that people do without God!

You can get into a relationship, get married, start a family, get a job, becoming a millionaire, and do the things that the world says is successful. Or you can give the best advice to friends, be a person people go to in times of comfort, be a really good friend, and do that all without God at the center!

So what is Jesus talking about!

He is saying you can do all these things, but if it does not come from the vine… it. will. die. That it is fake.

This is what he means when he says that you can do nothing without him!

Why focus on the things of the world, when what we are supposed to do it abide in him and him alone.

But through abiding in Him, God wants us to have joy.

Promise of Joy (vv. 9-11)

John 15:9–11 CSB

“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

This passage ends in saying that God loves us.

Maybe you struggled this summer, I just want you to know that God loves you.

No matter if this was hot girl summer and you felt great with your relationship with Christ, or this was a long depressing summer, God loves you specifically.

He loves everyone because you are his creation.

He loves us so much that he sacrificed his son. That Jesus came down and died on our behalf to take our sins.

With the state of our world, we need love. We need the love of Jesus and I am so glad that he offers it to each and every person.

It brings us hope in the state of sadness, knowing that by having faith in Jesus he is going to work things out for my good.

All he does is call us to obey.

To keep his commands.

Obedience doesn’t earn love. Obedience is the evidence of love.

When you love Jesus you are going to obey his commandments.

Guys, we have a debt too big to pay.

but Jesus is willing to take it all.

And when your eyes are opened to that… you will do whatever it takes to serve him. To abide with him.

But obedience really is the evidence of love.

we all know those people who claim to follow Jesus but do not love him.

because we are known by our fruit, and you see the people who says I love Jesus, but are getting drunk, are living it up at the parties, are doing what their heart wants, but you see by their actions they they do not love God.

When you love him with all that you have you obey him, and when you obey him with all you have, you are abiding in him.

We abide in Christ and receive the joy of Christ.

When we abide, we see that we have joy.

People may look at us and say all that we have a list of rules that we follow, but that is far from the truth.

We serve a God who is love and because we love, we obey, and when we are truly abiding we get this peace that surpasses all understanding.

We do not fear the world because Jesus has conquered all.

He has conquered death.

We are no longer dead in our sins.

And that brings us joy.

When Jesus is your friend and you know him, your joy is complete.

You may face hard times, you may go through pruning, but in the end, we get the crown of glory and are filled with joy.

God loves yall and I love yall.

So as we go through this series know that we have to abide first, be unified with Christ, then go obey him through these Spiritual disciplines.

Any thoughts, comments, questions, concerns, stones for heresy?