Abide in Christ
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Abide in Christ
Joh 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Jesus is coming to the end of His life on Earth and this conversation is the very last conversation He will have with His disciples. This conversation began at the Last Supper, John 13, and ended at the Garden of Gethsemane. After the Last Supper, Jesus washed his disciples feet, showing them the Spirit of His Kingdom, and then He spoke to Judas instructing him to quickly do that which he is going to do.
Then they begin their walk to the Garden of Gethsemane. They are walking at night, and, as they walk, they talk. Jesus explains they are going to have a completely new kind of relationship, that He no longer will physically be with them, but now will be in them. Jesus is talking, not only with His disciples, but with all those, from that time forward, who will follow Him. We should listen carefully for He is giving the secret to effective and fruitful living - "except you abide in me you can do nothing!"
The Father will send them the Comforter who is the Holy Spirit and through the indwelling Holy Spirit Jesus will reside in His Disciples. This relationship is completely new and had to be difficult to understand. They could no longer physically see Him, but had to believe, by faith, that He would be in them. And, they also had to believe, because of His Life in them, they would be equipped with everything needed for fruitful ministry. This same encouragement Jesus gives to all who follow Him.
The Vine and Its Branches
To further understand the nature of their new relationship, Jesus compares their new relationship to a vine and the branches that grow from the vine. The truth Jesus is communicating is this – He personally is their New Life. He personally is the only Source of fruitful living or fruitful ministry. If their attempts at fruitfulness are dependent on their own wisdom or their own ability to make something happen, then they will fail. We must pay attention to this conversation, for our challenge is to learn how to effectively live, day-by-day, in His Life.
To abide in Christ means to see yourself as born from above and Jesus Christ being your New Life. You are born of God, created in Christ Jesus, old things are passed away, all things concerning my life and my relationship with God are made new! I no longer have a life independent from Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of Glory, James 2:1.
To abide in Christ means to be reconciled to God. Every born-again Christian needs to be able to say "through Christ I am reconciled to and brought into a relationship of peace with God." Reconciliation, however, is more than words. The evidence of one's reconciliation to God is that New Life is in them, they have peace with God, and they are abiding in Christ!
Abiding in Christ is being the Temple (dwelling place) of God. God has said, "I will dwell in them and walk in them, I will be their God and they will be my people". No longer are we members of this World, but we are dead to this World and alive in Christ.
One thing needs to be said. Jesus said if we abide or “yoke” ourselves to Him we will find “His yoke is indeed easy, and His burden is wonderfully light”. The meaning is, if you abide in Jesus, He will never drive you into the ground. If you abide in Him, you will find a freedom that liberates your soul. His Life frees us from dependence on those ways of living and thinking that keep us heavy, frustrated, and unfruitful.
A person who is dependent upon their own abilities for fruitful and godly living is daily confronted with their inability to be the person God has called them to be and do what God has called them to do. Chronic failure is built into a self-sufficient life; dependence upon one's own strength produces a tired, angry, depressed, and burnt-out Christian. It is truly liberating to yoke yourself to the One whose Life in you will make you the person you are called to be!
Jesus is a Life-Giving Spirit, 1Cor. 15:45. This description of Jesus should encourage every follower of Christ, that He is the Giver, and not the taker of Life. Within His Life is found everything we need for a healthy, godly, and productive life.
Jesus links our fruitfulness to His Word abiding in us. We literally have, within our hands, the Word of God. But, for Christ to live His Life in us, His Word must get from our hands into our heart. We must give His Word final say over how we think and how we live life. Fruitfulness requires that we be doers, and not only hearers of His Word. There are no special formulas, no special anointings, no special people, and no special techniques that magically give a good and fruitful life. The Word of God dwelling in us releases the Life of God in us and it is His Life in us that gives a good and fruitful life.
The Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit, and as His Word abides in us, we find the power of God enables us to powerfully stand against every weapon our enemy uses in his attempts to destroy our faith. If the Word of God abides in us, then we can stand against the wiles of the devil and no weapon formed against us will prosper!
Jesus links a life of answered prayer to a dependence on His Word. If we make His Word our life then we will pray in His will, we will pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and our prayers will be answered. There is nothing more liberating than to put our life, or ministry, or anything, in God’s hands, with the assurance that He hears, and is going to answer our prayers.
The spirit of this age daily works to remove the Word from our hearts. This struggle is real, it is intense, and as long as we’re on Planet Earth, we will find opposition to believing, and living by the Word of God. But reality is that the storms are coming, the winds and rain are blowing, and if our house is built on the Rock, then when the storms pass, our house will be standing. Thank you Jesus for saving your people with a Salvation that will not fail!
God bless you,
Jim
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