Abiding In Christ (John 15:1-11)

Today, I would like us to look at another basic idea of what we should be doing as the body of Christ. This one is not as obvious as the others. This topic might be something that Christians rarely think about or do. But, as the body of Christ, we are called to this. It should be something that we are engaged in all the time. Perhaps some of you do it often without realizing what it is called. What is it? We are called to abide in Christ.

What Are We Talking About?

Abide is a word we don't often use. If we know what it means, we still don't understand how it relates to our Christian walk. The very idea of being in the body of Christ tells us that we abide in Christ because the word "abide" means to connect with or live in. We often refer to our home as our "abode" or "the place where we abide." So, when we say "abide in Christ," we are talking about being in Christ and letting Christ be in us. We are talking about dwelling in him and letting him dwell in us.

As the body of Christ, we are called to abide in Christ. Those who simply "go to church" do not abide in Christ. But we must learn how to abide in Christ if we are going to be the body of Christ.

What Would This Look Like?

Abiding in Christ is illustrated with us being the body of Christ, but it's also illustrated as a vine and branches in John 15. Let's look at this text and learn more about abiding in Christ.

The Vine and The Branches (1)

John 15:1 (ESV) --- 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

In this text, we read a powerful illustration about Jesus being the vine and God being the vinedresser. As we work through this text, we see that we are the branches (2). Jesus says that as a branch abides in the vine or is connected to the vine, so his disciples are connected to him. We are all connected to him like a branch is connected to the vine. As the branch receives water and nutrients from the vine, so do we. Our very life is dependent on the vine.

Do you feel close to Christ? Are you connected to him on a deep level, or is it more surface level? It's so easy for many of us to know about Jesus and not know him. We can know the teachings and the doctrines. We can know the answers to many questions. But do we know Jesus? Are we walking with him and talking to him? Do we consider his feelings and act based on his wants because we love him?

Now, I want us to understand why we need to abide in Christ based on this continued illustration.

Abiding For Growth (2-3)

John 15:2--3 (ESV) --- 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.

Jesus says that if we want to bear fruit for God, we must abide in Jesus and let God, our vinedresser, prune us. Abiding in Jesus doesn't mean we are free from pain or suffering. It simply means we still have life as we endure pain and suffering. Not only that, but we are promised to have life more abundantly through suffering and trials.

Abiding For Fruit (4-5)

John 15:4--5 (ESV) --- 4 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. 5 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.

Also, notice from verse 4 that a branch cannot bear fruit by itself. Can you imagine that? Imagine cutting a branch off of a grapevine, and it continues to grow grapes. That's what we imagine when we think we can produce fruit without Jesus. It's not real. So often, we believe that we have to figure everything out for ourselves, learn to say the right things, and learn to do the right things. No. The only way we will ever bear fruit is if we abide in Jesus.

Failing To Abide In Christ (6)

John 15:6 (ESV) --- 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

There is also a sense that survival depends on abiding in Jesus. If we want spiritual nourishment, we need to remain connected to the vine. Those who are disconnected dry out and die. They cannot survive without the vine and most certainly won't produce fruit. Our connection to Jesus is vital for our spiritual life. Believing that drives us to abide in Jesus.

This means that we must never lose sight of our reliance on Jesus. Have you ever considered salvation primarily dependent on your efforts or abilities? We abide in him because we rely on him. Instead of trying to survive without him, we must learn to abandon ourselves and seek him more. Without him, we can do nothing.

To abide in Jesus is to look to him as the source of wisdom, strength, and comfort. It means to consider him to be your closest friend and brother. If we abide in him, we trust him, obey him, and seek to follow him wherever he may lead us.

You might ask, "How does that work?" Look at verses 7-8.

Abide With His Words (7-8)

John 15:7--8 (ESV) --- 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

These verses sound like a blank check, but he talks to his disciples about bearing fruit. Please don't take it out of context. He says that abiding in Jesus opens the door for disciples to be heard when they pray about bearing fruit. God wants us to bear fruit. He is working on our behalf to help us bear fruit. But he expects us to do something.

Jesus tells his disciples, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you." This describes how the apostles were to abide in Christ, and he abides in them. They must believe and follow the concepts that he has taught them. If this is true, they can "ask whatever they wish." Then, they will bear much fruit, God will be glorified, and they will prove to be Jesus' disciples.

All of this holds for us as well. Those who understand, believe, and follow the concepts of Christ will not be unfruitful in God's kingdom. They can ask God to help them and find fruit. Abiding in Christ will always result in fruitfulness because God will help us with this. That's why he saved us!

Can you imagine a Christian hearing the words of Christ and refusing to make them a part of his life? Wouldn't that be a sad situation? It's unfortunate when we read verse 6. Failure to abide in Christ and bear fruit has catastrophic results.

Abide In Love and Joy (9-11)

The problem with abiding in Christ is that it takes a lot of trust. It's not easy to give yourself over to someone. This is my only life. I don't know about giving it to someone else. It's not something I do lightly. Why would I choose to abide in Jesus and trust him to this extent? Jesus gives us every reason to abide in him.

John 15:9--11 (ESV) --- 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. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

The disciples are promised that they will always receive the love of Jesus so long as they keep his commandments. As Christ teaches it, pursuing a righteous and obedient life brings them love and joy unlike anything else they will ever know.

The same thing is true for us. We can experience love, joy, and peace unlike anything this world could give us.

Lessons Learned

As the body of Christ, we are called to abide in Christ. God wants us to have a close, personal, intimate relationship with Christ. He wants us to rely on Jesus to give us wisdom, strength, and comfort. He wants us to look to him for help maintaining spiritual nourishment and bearing fruit.

This gives us confidence that when Jesus comes, we will be loved and accepted. When we fail to abide in Christ, we feel useless and unproductive. When we rely on ourselves, we lose the power, love, joy, and peace God wants to provide us for his glory. We slowly dry up spiritually, becoming less pure and less righteous. We start to abide in the world, and the world influences us instead of Christ.

Can you imagine a bunch of branches coming together without any attachment to the vine? What would be the point of that? We need to encourage one another to abide in Christ. The body of Christ has to abide in Christ. That's the only way we can function as the body of Christ.

Abiding For Confidence

I hope the two texts we will study this morning will illuminate this for you, as it has me. The first one is 1 John 2:28-3:3.

1 John 2:28--3:3 (ESV) --- 28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

‌You can see from this text that John tells us to abide in Christ. If we fail to do this, we will shamefully shrink from him when he comes. This text is full of hopeful words about Jesus coming. He will appear again, and when he does, we, abiding in him, will come forward confidently. Isn't that what you want? That's a powerful image and goal for us to reach.

How many of us are concerned that when Jesus appears, we will shrink from him in shame? If we are abiding by him, we don't have to fear that. Do you see how important this is?

Abiding For Purity

We will draw near with confidence and see that abiding in Christ gives us greater righteousness, purity, and Christ-likeness. He rubs off on us when we abide in Christ, making our home with him. Much like the people you surround yourself with and live with in life rub off on you, Christ rubs off on us.

In verse 29, he says, "He is righteous. You may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him." Those born of Christ, that is to say, that they were spiritually reborn through the salvation that Christ offers, practice righteousness as Christ does. A union happens in the rebirth, just like the connection of a mother and a child when we are initially born. In the following verses, he uses that image of children and the Father to say that we also abide in God; we are connected to him as our heavenly Father.

In verse 3, he says something similar: "Everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." Purity comes to those who abide in Christ. How? Why? Purity comes because they see his purity and long for that type of purity and holiness. It's like the rough guy who finds a pure and sweet girl. Then, he sees how great she is and doesn't want to corrupt her; he wants to be good enough for her. He wants to be pure and innocent as she is. Not only to impress her but also to enjoy a life free from guilt and shame. Remember the confidence we talked about earlier? All these things are connected.

Where Do You Abide?

I know that this might sound mystical or out of our comfort zone, but this is how the Bible talks about the church's relationship with Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. Our relationship is more than knowing about God. It's more intimate than that. If you have spent all your Christian life relying on your knowledge of Christ and failing to abide in him, we want to help you make a change.

It's not enough for a spouse to know about a spouse. We want more than that. We want to be intimate with one another. We want to talk about the deeper thoughts and feelings within us. We want to fulfill one another's desires and needs. We want to align ourselves with each other to seek the same goals in life and work together to accomplish those goals. We want to rely on one another and devote ourselves to each other. This is what it means to abide in one another. That's what the church, as the body of Christ, is supposed to be doing.

How about you? It's challenging to deepen our relationship with our spouse continually, and it's challenging to deepen our relationship with Jesus continually. But we can and we must. This is how we grow spiritually, becoming more pure and righteous like he is, and we develop a greater hope for the future. We will never bear fruit without abiding in Christ and letting him abide in us.

We are here to help one another in that challenge. When we gather together, I'm motivated to press on. I feel the love of Christ from you, and I see the need for the love of Christ to develop in me. That's also why we must study God's word and prayer. The relationship we have in Christ is not sporadic. It won't spontaneously pop up and develop. It comes over time and through our efforts to grow.

Conclusion

This study has shown us that it's crucial for us to prioritize our relationship with Christ and to make that relationship deeper than knowing a lot of information about him. We need to make Jesus our home and welcome him into our lives. This is the only way to be the church of Christ truly. Let him in.