Abide in Me (Part 2)

Jesus uses the picture of a vine and branches.

You all know more than I do that a branch simply cannot survive if it is cut off the vine. The only way that it stays alive and certainly the only way that it can bear fruit

is if that branch is attached to the vine.

The difference between a branch and us is that we have a responsibility to abide. We have to choose to remain

Here’s what Jesus says about abiding:

1. Abiding in Christ is not an option for His disciples

“Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

It is not an option to come to Christ and say, “I want to be your disciple. But I want to keep my identity and my own ways of doing things and my own agendas. I want to act as close as possible to my home country. And while I’m doing that, i want to be significant in your Kingdom”

This isn’t possible!

Jesus says, unless you abide in me, you can do NOTHING.

Oh sure, you can probably get up in the morning, get dressed, go to work, whatever.

But apart from abiding in Christ, apart from Him, you can do nothing, absolutely nothing of spiritual significance.

There is nothing that you or I can do that will last for eternity

Which is crazy and convicting, especially for people like us who grow up in going to church and doing religious things

It means that it is possible to do a lifetime of good and religious things, and come to the end of our lives having done virtually nothing of value, why? because we were not abiding in Christ.

It is so important that we get this and understand this.

It’s a hard truth to hear and hard to absorb this.

I know that we know full well that these words are in this passage, but how easy

But because these words are so hard to hear and because we are such a self-sufficient people, how easy is it for me to shuffle this one to the back burner.

There is a lot to say about abiding in Christ, but none of it is worth saying, if we don’t understand our absolute dependence on Him.

That our righteousness, our deeds, our work, whatever it is, are all like filthy rags outside of our abiding in Him!

Abiding in Him means that His words are part of us.

If you abide in me and my words abide in you...

Question is, do I know what the words of Jesus are? Do I know what He has said?

And if this is true, do His words abide in me? Are they an active part of who I am?

In every situation of your life, are you reminded of what Jesus said and taught?

Now, I heard one preacher expounding on this and he talks about being intimately familiar with what Jesus said, reading the Scriptures over and over again so that it starts to change the way we think.

And, yes, by all means, this is key.

But how can some of the smartest people, the most knowledgeable people in the world, spend a life time studying the Scriptures, yet come to the the conclusion that Jesus was just a man who set a good example to live by?

I would say it’s because they aren’t abiding in Christ. They aren’t actively pressing in to know Him

And they aren’t allowing His words to abide in the them. They aren’t actively expecting that they will find the Christ of the Scriptures in the words of Jesus

Jesus said in John 5 , John 5:37–40 (ESV) 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Folks, I keep coming back to this: I believe that it is possible to spend a lifetime studying the Scriptures, and studying what Jesus said and did, yet never personally encounter Him!

His word abiding in us can not be separated from us abiding in Him, that is, us recognizing first and foremost, that apart from Him, we are nothing.

2. Abiding means to be constant in prayer

Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ASK!”

Ask what? Ask whatever you want and it will be done for you!

Powerful words! Incredible words! Ask whatever you want!

Many Christians seize hold of these words, and they say, “Hey, look what Jesus says here. He says you can ask for whatever I want, and He’s going to do it!”

Boy, I sure need a new house!

Man, I could use a new car.

Or why don’t I go all out and ask to live like a lot of these TV preachers that I see. After all, they say that God wants to bless me with lots of stuff just like they’ve been blessed with a lot of stuff.

And so, like Aladdin, they grab their magic lamp, and rub it and say, “Genie of the lamp, give me a new house! Grant my wish”.

But so many Christians don’t truly love Jesus. They don’t really know him. They are not abiding in Him, and His words are not abiding in them.

And so when they go to prayer, they do it when they they have a need and don’t know what else to do, or when they really want something.

What Jesus is talking about, as He has been since the beginning of chapter 14, is a close relationship with Him.

This is a moment by moment walk with Him. It’s multiple times during the day being reminded of my absolute humble dependence on Him.

It’s talking to Him,

It’s the Holy Spirit reminding us of what He has said to us and what He has taught us.

And it’s us finding that our wishes become what He wishes. We start praying more “Him-centered” prayers and less “me-centered” prayers.

And these are the “asks” that He will certainly answer!

The Results of Abiding

1. I bear fruit

Very simple. The result of abiding, is that I bear fruit. That’s it.

And the fruit that we bear is our badge which proves that we are His disciples

Remember chapter 13:35 “By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Here it is again: John 15:8–10 (ESV) 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 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.

The fruit of abiding is LOVE. Increased love, love that multiplies and grows.

Our love for Jesus grows

Our love for each other grows

This is the proof that we are abiding in Him.

This is a kind of love that can’t be manufactured or faked. At least, we can’t fake Him out with it. We might be able to pull the wool over the eyes of our brothers and sisters, at least for a time. But sooner or later, it will be exposed.

A Tomb Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier might be able to get ahold of a uniform and a badge somewhere and fake some people into believing that He is a tomb sentinel.

But then if he is asked to walk the walk, perform the ceremonies, recite all the material that they memorize, sooner or later he would be shown to be a fraud

The kind of love that Jesus talks about can not be faked.

Why? Because the only way that this love is displayed is if I am abiding in His love, verse 9. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love”.

Abiding in his love means that you keep his commandments.

And His commandment is that you love each other as He has loved you.

And this love is a self-sacrificing kind of love. It’s this kind of love that is active and can only truly take place among the followers of Jesus.

It’s this kind of love that makes us lay down our lives for each other.

You say, “Well, I’ve never had the opportunity to give my life in place of my brother or sister”

I would say that it happens every day in small ways. It happens every Sunday.

It happens as we serve each other. It happens as we give up what we prefer, as we lay down agendas for the sake of the unity of the Body

The Father is glorified

Bearing fruit is not for the purpose of us going home at the end of the day and saying, “Man, what a spiritual guy I was today!” Did you see how I acted? Did you see how I responded in that one situation? I must be abiding in the vine like never before!

No, it’s for the glory of the Father!

By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit!

Much fruit! Not just a little bit. The more the fruit, the more glory He gets!

Jesus calls us His friends

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Jn 2:6 ). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.