Life in the Vineyward: How Jesus Empowers and Commands You To Abide in Him

Proof is in the Abiding

A few years ago, NPR did a short blip of the origins of the idiom, “The proof is in the pudding.”

Steve Inskeep notes that “In Britain, dating back centuries, pudding meant more than a sweet dessert. Back then, pudding referred to a kind of sausage, filling the intestines of some animal with minced meat and other things - something you probably want to try out carefully since that kind of food could be rather treacherous.”

He goes on to say, “So, over the years, the original proverb has evolved. The original was the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It was shortened to the proof of the pudding, and then here in America, it morphed again to the proof is in the pudding. Apparently, the proof of the listening is in the correcting.”

One knew the pudding was good and ok to eat by the way it tasted. If you want proof that the pudding is good you have to eat it. If you want to know something is right, you have to try it. For example, Devon Allman said in an article in the St. Louis Dispatch,

“I'm making music with my friends, and it just so happens that the three of us are the next generation of the Allman Brothers Band. But at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding is that record. Once the world hears that record, they'll realize we really have our own thing going on.” — Devon Allman, quoted in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 21 Dec. 2018

If you want to know if something is good, you have to test it for something. The proof is in the pudding.

In the same way, the world will know you are a true believer by the way you abide in Jesus. John says as much in

John 15:8 ESV

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

You prove that you are a disciple of Jesus by bearing God-glorifying fruit. You bear fruit by abiding in Jesus. The proof is in the abiding.

it is important for us to know the dynamics of abiding in Jesus. On the one hand, Jesus is the one who empowers you to abide in him, and yet, he commands you to abide in him. This morning I want to explore what it means to abide in Jesus and its implications for our church. Understanding abiding is important for us because we need what does real abiding looks like. Jesus makes clear distinctions in the text. There are some who abide and some who like like they do, but really don’t. The proof is in the abiding.

Jesus empowers you and commands you to abide in Him.

Jesus graphs you into the Vine (John 15:3)

John 15:3 ESV

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

At first, this seems out of place. One minute he is talking about branches bearing fruit, but then he seems to take a turn he declares the disciples clean because of the word that Jesus spoke to the them. What is Jesus saying in verse 3? What does being clean have to do with being in the Vine?

Verse 3, is a vote of confidence for his disciples. They are in the are “cleansed” and therefore are grafted into the vine. How does this work? If look closely at verse 3, and the context of John 15, there are three points to consider.

Jesus Chose You (John 15:16)

John 15:16 ESV

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

In Jesus’ day it was common for students to go and search for a rabbi to study under. In this case, the disciples did not choose Jesus. Jesus came for them and chose to reveal himself as the Messiah to them. He initiates the whole thing so that none of them can boast as being wiser or better than anyone else. And what Jesus did with them, so he does with all of his disciples. He explains this more several chapters earlier.

Jesus explained in John 6 the inner process of how a person comes to Jesus. If you turn back to John 6, Jesus is explaining who he is and how one enters the kingdom. In this context of John’s Gospel, Jesus feeds the five thousand and then tells them he is the Bread of life, the true manna from heaven. It’s Passover time, so Jesus tells the people that he is the true Sacrificial Lamb. Jesus says crazy things like, “You must eat of my flesh and drink of my blood to enter the kingdom, which is metaphorical for believing in Him. The Jews grumble at this because they presumed they were guaranteed to enter the kingdom of God. Jesus corrects their understanding of things when He tells them,

John 6:44 ESV

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

The Father must draw you to the Son. The idea of draw is likened to dragging a net in the sea to catch fish. Or, it is likened to a Roman guard dragging a prisoner. R.C. Sproul describe it like God putting you in a headlock and dragging you toward the Son. No one comes to the Son unless the Father draws them to the Son.

The Father works a special grace to regenerate your heart, that is make it alive-born again. Its what Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about in John 3. The Father must take your heart of stone out and put in a heart of flesh so that you will be able to be spiritually alive. Ezekiel says God will give you his Spirit and cause you to walk in his ways (Ezek 36:25-27). The Father draws you to the Son for eternal life by giving you a heart of flesh that pulsates with life to see the Son.

Jesus says the same thing to his disciples a few verse later in chapter six when they were grumbling. Many people stopped following Jesus in chapter six because his teaching was to hard to accept. So, Jesus confronts their heart and says to them,

John 6:61–65 ESV

But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”

The flesh is no help because the flesh cannot give life. Going back to Nicodemus you see that the flesh is no help.

John 3:6–7 ESV

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

The flesh is your natural sinfully depraved heart. It can only beget more naturally depraved hearts. The Spirit of God must come and give life to your heart.

Therefore, regeneration does not happen when you confess Jesus as Lord. It happens before so that you can confess Jesus as Lord. The Spirit must give you life first.

You are empowered to live in the vine because the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, have worked a special grace in your life to remove your heart of stone and given you a heart of flesh.

It is the sovereign grace of God that empowers you to abide in Jesus.

Jesus Loves You (John 15:12-14)

John 15:12–14 ESV

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Jesus loves you. He loved you with such depth and conviction that he died on the cross to save you. It was the Father’s love that sent the Son to redeem sinners, and it was the Sons love for the Father that he obeyed his will to die a sinners death that he did not deserve, and it was both the Father and the Sons love that secured your salvation and “grafted into the Vine.”

What kind of love are speaking of here?

It was a before the world existed he chose to adopt you kind of love.

Ephesians 1:4–5 ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Its a “while I am a sinner and enemy to His kingdom, he kept his love for me to save me” kind of love

Romans 5:8 HCSB

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

It is a “never stopping, never giving up, never separating” kind of love.

Romans 8:35–39 ESV

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It”s his love that motivates Him to draw you to the Son. It’s His love that moves him to give you life in the Son. He loves you through the Son. He promises to never ever leave you and sustain you because you are forever connected to the Son, i.e the true Vine.

It is the lavishing love of God that empowers you to abide in Jesus.

Jesus Justifies You (John 15:3)

The word “clean” means you have been freed from sin, or, you have been pruned or purified. It refers to justification. Their sins have been forgiven and they are part of the vine. They are ready to bear fruit.

The word refers to Jesus’s teaching; everything from the gospel message to keeping his commands. The disciples have been made clean because they have believed the gospel. John said at the beginning of his letter,

John 1:12 ESV

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

His disciples received his word and believed. They trusted that Jesus was the Messiah. However, how does believing the message make you clean before God? I think the footwashing scene in John 13 helps us understand what Jesus means by “being made clean.”

Jesus says in,

John 13:10 ESV

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

Here again Jesus says that his disciples are clean. What made the disciples clean? The purpose of the footwashing is to point the disciples to the cleansing work of the cross. Jesus gave his disciples a lesson about why the cross is necessary. They need to be made clean by the once and for all atoning and cleansing death of Jesus. He was pointing them to his crucifixion. Jesus knew he was going to cleanse them with his cross. The disciples received the cleansing salvation by faith. Genuine cleansing is made possible only through Jesus’ revealed word and atoning sacrifice. He knew their faith because he chose them (John 15:16). All of them who believed Jesus, who loved him, were made clean when they accepted his message, that is, all but one. Judas did not believe in Jesus. He was not made clean by the word because he did not have the right faith.

It is the atoning work of the cross that empowers you to abide in Jesus.

John 15:3, is the entrance into the vine. Jesus chose you. Jesus loves you. Jesus justifies you. His life began to pulsate through the veins of the Vine. And yet

Jesus commands you to abide in the true Vine (John 15:4-5)

John says in verse 4-5,

John 15:4–5 ESV

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.

Jesus uses the word “abide” eleven times in chapter fifteen. The word “abide” is the greek word meno, which means “to remain.” Abiding means to continue in the faith, to stay. The word abide is used in the imperative form. Jesus is exhorting his disciples to remain in him; almost like, “You must remain in Me, and I in you.” He says it in such a way, though, that conveys a condition with a result; “Remain in me, so that I will remain in you.”

What you have here is the tension of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

As we have already seen, the Father draws you to the Son. His Spirit gives you life and enables you to believe the gospel.

You must respond in faith. You must receive the Son. You must believe upon the Son. You must accept His free gift of Salvation. To abide in Jesus is to believe his message, it is to receive his gospel, it is to trust Him for you salvation. God does the work of regenerating your heart, drawing you to the Son-giving the eyes of your heart the ability to see your need for a Savior. You respond to that work by believing, receiving, and trusting in Jesus- believing He is the Way, the truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Him (John 14:6). And you prove that you have trusted in Jesus by the way you live your life.

1 John 3:9 ESV

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

This is obviously not perfection, but it is a pattern of practicing righteousness.

1 John 2:29 ESV

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

practicing righteousness can be another way of bearing fruit. If you are abiding the Vine, the tree of your life will bear fruit consistent with a pattern of righteousness. The world will know you are a Christian by the way you abide in Jesus.

We already know to abide in Jesus is to remain. It is to continue in the faith. It is to keep on going until the end. That being said, what helps you remain in him? What is flowing through the veins of the vine that is producing God-glorifying fruit in your life?

What should I be doing to prove Jesus abides in me and I prove to the world I am abiding in him?

Jesus says, “Abide in my Word” (John 15:7)

John 15:7 ESV

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

The word, once again, is the message of the Gospel. But it also pertains to everything Jesus taught, and it extends to the entire Bible. Jesus’s word is God’s word. The scriptures are to flow through your spiritual veins bring life and light to your soul.

Psalm 119:105 ESV

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

and

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Jesus said

Matthew 4:4 ESV

But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Jesus also said

John 8:31–32 ESV

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Paul says we are to,

Colossians 3:16 ESV

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Peter says,

1 Peter 1:23 (ESV)

you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Genuine God-glorifying Christians do not depart from the word of God. The word of God is life to them. Wisdom, knowledge, life, salvation, conformity to Jesus all flows from abiding in the word of God. That is the point of abiding in the word by the way. Abiding in the word is what helps you conform into the image of Jesus. That is why God has called you to live in the vine

Romans 8:29 ESV

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

D.A. Carson says pertaining to abiding in the word of God,

“Such words must so lodge in the disciple’s mind and heart that conformity to Christ, obedience to Christ, is the most natural (supernatural?) thing in the world.” D.A. Carson

Jesus says “Abide in my Love”

Jesus gives us a comparison to help us understand the nature of abiding in Jesus’ love.

John 15:9 ESV

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

How has the Father loved Jesus?

The Father has given the Son everything. He has put everything under the authority of Jesus.

John 3:35 ESV

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

The Father loves the Son by revealing his will to Him.

John 5:20 ESV

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

The Son wants the world to know He loves the Father.

John 15:9–10 ESV

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.

Jesus loves the Father and expresses His love by being obedient to His Father’s will. Listen to how Jesus loves his Father and expresses his love through obedience:

John 4:34 ESV

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

John 6:38 ESV

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 8:29 ESV

And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

John 8:55 ESV

But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word.

John 14:31 (ESV)

but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Jesus wanted the world to know he loved his father. Do you know how the world knew He loved the Father? He abided in His Father’s word. He abided in his Father’s will. He abided in the Father’s love.

And Jesus says to you, Abide in my love. Just as I loved the Father and obeyed the Father, you love me and obey me. Jesus says to his disciples,

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

and

John 14:21 ESV

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

and

John 14:23 ESV

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Obedience in the true mark of love for Jesus. Love for Jesus is what helps you abide in Jesus. Love for Jesus is the proof in the pudding!

Furthermore, verse 11 explains that obedience to Jesus’ commands brings joy to your life.

John 15:11

John 15:11 ESV

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

If you love Jesus, truly love Jesus, you will obey Jesus joyfully. And you will receive more joy for obeying. Its a wonderful cycle.

God brought you to the Son so that he could extend grace to you through his lavishing love. He made your heart alive through his Spirit so that you can hear the gospel and respond. You repond by faith, by receiving His words and trusting Jesus for your salvation. He grafts you into the Son giving you the power to abide, to remain, to hold fast. He gives you a heart to love his word and love his Son. It is all by grace you are saved and love you are adored. You know you are loved because you remain in his word and his love. And the proof in the pudding is your joy in the Lord.

How is your joy this morning?

The Joy of the Lord in my Strength!

Joy in the Lord sustains your abiding. Know Jesus Know Joy. No Jesus No Joy

Hebrews 12:2 ESV

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

The proof is in the abiding.

Abide in his word

Abide in his love

Abide in his joy

People who do not love Jesus do not remain in the faith. People who do not find their joy in the Lord will not joyfully advance his kingdom. Your love for Jesus, His word, and your joy in the Him, as the object of your worship is vital to our mission.

We exist to joyfully advance the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus until everyone in the church, community, and home joyfully abides in Jesus.