Abide

Introduction

We are still in passion week and Jesus is still pouring out the last of his wisdom and word on the disciples as he inches nearer and nearer to the moment that He will go to the cross. In fact this whole narrative that we are going to be talking about is a continued passion narrative and I think because of that there is something extremely valuable to be taken. It is if Jesus is pouring out the deepest thoughts and wisdom from His heart as he is facing the destiny of the cross.

To Avide is to Strive

John 15:1–8 NIV

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Jesus starts out chapter 15 with a metaphor that isn’t really old news for anyone that would have known the story of Israel, which most Jewish people would have. The vine illustration draws its background from the use of vine imagery for Israel and it was always negative and centering on this divine judgement for Israel’s unfaithfulness. Now Jesus seems to flip the script and gives it this positive, hopeful, tone with a promise of life, abundance, and fruit that will flow from him. It is a pretty great promise for anyone of these disciples to hold on to.

So what is Jesus saying? What do we actually need to do? How do we actually “abide” in Him? According to Webster Dictionary the word “Abide” means “to remain stable or fixed in a state” or “to continue in a certain place”. Jesus isn’t just asking us to stay where we are at in our lives right? I definitely know he isn’t asking us to sit comfortably in a church that we like that fits just our needs and we can become once a week believers in the process. No Jesus is asking for something more. I mean he is asking us to literally abide in him. In fact that is the only way we are going to bear fruit as believers. The Hebrew word that Jesus uses is μένω (meno). It isn’t just staying in a certain place, but Jesus is literally saying to dwell there. To let it become where you live and to let it become every part of who you are

The interesting part starts in verse 3 where there is this sort of weird interruption in the story

John 15:3 NIV

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

What we need to understand is this everything that Jesus centers abiding in around. His very word. His very word has the power to make you clean and if you continue to abide in His word it has the power to plunge you into a life of abundance and adventure far greater than you would have thought possible on your own.

The Word of God isn’t just a good philosophy tool for us that helps us a little in our remaining in Christ, but abiding, remaining, staying connected to the vine is dependent upon the teaching and very words of Jesus which he has so graciously handed over to you for your own personal holding! You want to remain in Christ you remain in the word and let it engulf your life. My weakest moments as a believer have come when my time in the word was the least.

Remain to Love, experience joy, and defeat Sin.

John 15:7–8 NIV

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Now Jesus starts to speak out on what some of the benefits are. This seems like a big promise. “Ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you”. My goodness! Some of ya’ll are like this is the best news I’ve heard all week! But I want to stop and really understand what Jesus is saying here. When you begin to remain in the same place as Jesus you begin to think like him. You begin to talk like him. You begin to love like him. You begin to experience the joy that he experienced. So your thoughts and will are aligned all the sudden with the will of Jesus and the will of God and you begin to ask things that are coming from the very heart of God. His desires become your desires and His thoughts become your thoughts. You starting to see what I am saying now. When you remain in Him whatever you ask will be what He already desires. To seek and save the lost. To bring Him glory and honor. To see His will done in the darkest places of the earth.

Remain in Him and you will begin to see answered prayer

John 15:7 NIV

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:16 NIV

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Let me tell you something that holds a lot of truth today. You want to see more answered prayer begin to remain more in Him. You’ll be seeing so much answered prayer you won’t know what to do with it.

Remain in Him and all of the sudden you will begin to see persistent sin die out.

1 John 3:6–9 NIV

6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

1 John

It’s a promise. Sin cannot remain where the very Holy one of God remains. (Remain in me and I in you)

He isn’t asking you to stop sinning before you come into His presence He is just commanding you to remain and watch the sin bow to the King of Kings. If you see a lot of persistent sin in your life it might be time to evaluate where you stand in terms of remaining in Christ, because I promise you Christ and Sin cannot coexist. Does this mean that we won’t ever sin again, no, but we will be a lot more victorious in overcoming the sin that triest to crawl into our life.

Remain in Him and you have direct access to God the father.

2 John 9 NIV

9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

Another promise that remaining in Christ will give you direct access to God the father. The creator of all things. I know this might not seem like a big deal, but it is a pretty huge deal.

Remaining in Him gives a hope that cannot be quenched.

Baba’s Funeral

We remain in Him and He remains in us

We remain in Him and He remains in us

I think this is something that we often forget about. We remain in Christ but Christ also remains in us.

If you remain in me, I will also remain in you.” We are responsible to live entirely in union with Jesus and in dependence on his presence. Branches have life only to the extent to which they are attached to the vine, and fruitfulness stems only from the life-giving sap provided by the vine. All this illustrates the fact that the extent to which we rely on ourselves and our resources is the extent to which we will fail. So we must dwell entirely in Christ and the Spirit. As both Paul () and James (2:14–26) firmly state, works cannot produce faith, but faith must produce works. We are responsible to draw sustenance and life from our union with the vine, Jesus.

When we remain in Christ there is this process of completely emptying us so that the fullness of God can flow in. We aren’t claiming ourselves as helpless and wretched, but rather we are acknowledging how much better he is at what he has intended for us to do.

I want to look at one last thing Jesus says in this passage.There is this part that we can’t ignore. The fruitless branches will be cut off and thrown into the fire to be burned. If you were to honestly look at your life would you confidently be able to say your life is producing the kind of fruit that Jesus is talking about in ?

Although they seem to be connected to the vine there is no fruit production, meaning there is not life being pulled from the source.