Living Stones – Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Abiding
John 15:4
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
In the passage about the vine and fruitfulness, John 15:1-8, the matter of abiding in Christ is repeated several times. It is mentioned three times in today’s key verse, verse 4, and seven times overall in the passage we are meditating on, then is repeated further down the chapter, and in the chapters that follow. The passage establishes that fruitfulness is not optional, and that the key to fruitfulness is abiding in Christ.
The basic message about abiding is very clear. If we look at the basic lesson from the vine, once the branch is not connected to the vine, once it is not abiding, then it does not receive the health producing, fruit producing sap, and it dies.
When that basic lesson is applied to the Christian it is just as simple. If we do not remain connected to Christ we are robbed of spiritual vitality and our lives as Christians become unproductive, and we would be cast aside.
Most times, when we are taught from this passage, we are told that there are two things that abiding means, the first is prayer and the second is the reading of the bible. The old Sunday School chorus said, “read your bible, pray every day, pray every day, pray every day; read your bible pray every day and you would grow, grow, grow.”
And this is true, the vital life of the Christian requires a daily life of prayer and consumption of the word of God. However, much of this has become mechanical. The way children are taught to pray is by repeating the “Lord’s Prayer” and by repeating prayers for bed time and before meals. Many take this repetition of prayers into the rest of their lives. Someone called me recently and asked if I had any prayers for a particular situation that I could send for them to say.
Digressing a bit, there are a lot of charlatans who are practicing witchcraft, or just outright swindling gullible people, all while pretending to be Christian. They are offering people special prayers and verses to deal with particular situations and conditions, for a price. Beware of them. they look and sound like the real deal but they are not.
Prayer and the reading of the scripture, when reduced to mere routines and chores do not speak of a vital life of abiding in Christ. While there is a benefit to making our prayer times and study times routine, so that we have a pattern and rhythm that we stick to, the activity itself should not be mere routine. Just as life and circumstances change so too should our prayer and study life be dynamic as we relate to the person Jesus Christ.
But there is another dimension, prayer and reading are not ends in themselves. We are not to merely say, I prayed this morning and read some verses, so I am abiding in Christ. The branch remained connected to the vine and so was shaped by the vine that continuously provided the life-giving sap. That speaks to dependency. The branches are dependent upon the vine for their very existence.
So it must be with us. When we are abiding in Christ it must be reflected in all aspects of our lives that we are dependent upon Him continuously.
Paul writing to the church at Corinth said, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” We know that there are two aspects to this “being in Christ.” When the sinner is converted he is now considered to be “in Christ” to be a “new person.” And then as he abides in Christ the convert is constantly being made into a new person.
To abide is to “act in accordance with” or to “conform to.” To abide then could include observation, obedience, following, upholding and so on. As we pray and study the scriptures and we begin to observe, to follow, to obey, and so on we are going to be transformed into the character of Christ – that new creation.
Remember, we are abiding to bear fruit. In our lives the first real fruit must be the transformed character that we call the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 says “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
This list usually reads like very lofty ideals that are unattainable on our own. That is true, they are unattainable on our own. But if we abide in Christ, if we maintain a dynamic relationship with Him through prayer and the study of the Scriptures, and listen to the leadership of His Holy Spirit, then we can experience this transformed character. This fruit.
But the passage is clear that fruitfulness also involves that which is external, fruitfulness in evangelism as we bear witness to Jesus and his work. Back to the second letter to the Corinthians, the verses after the one quoted earlier, verses 18 and 19 say “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
Once we are reconciled with God and are abiding in Christ, we will experience a continuous transformation of our character, and we won’t be able to resist the ministry of reconciliation.
Think on these things:
- Do you have a dynamic prayer and bible study life?
- Can you think of any area of your life where character transformation is taking place?
- Do you see yourself as a minister of reconciliation as described in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would remain connected and dependant on Christ continually.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex
