A look at the truths within Jesus teaching us that we must live in Him...

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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. -- John 15: 4 (NKJV) 

 

In this age of quick and dirty one paragraph devotionals, is it any wonder that we are often found lacking the spiritual fruit Jesus expects us to bear for His kingdom? That is not to say that you cannot find valuable nuggets of God's wisdom in short sentences but rather that it lends itself to an abbreviated relationship with the Lord. When our relationship with God is abbreviated, our fruit is minimized and when that happens we walk in far less power than God intended for us. Too often we find ourselves powerless as individuals over the trappings of this world and the enemy. Too often our churches are powerless in the advancement of the kingdom. Under the Bible sub-heading "Living by the Spirit's Power", we find the listing of the fruit:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! -- Galatians 5: 22-23 (NLT)

People who are prone to anxiety are lacking peace. People who are prone to anger are lacking joy and possibly patience. Unkind churches will not be advancing the kingdom. Remember we are in a spiritual war and while these are the fruits of God's Holy Spirit, there are also other spirits which lead to other outcomes:

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. -- Galatians 5: 19-21 (NLT)

These things war against each other in the spiritual realm within us. Whether it be idolatrous churches mixing secularism with holiness or individuals falling into the temptations of the flesh, there are reasons why we walk sometimes devoid of the power Christ died to provide for us in this life. The secret of fruit bearing is found in our key verse today. There are a few truths to digest from this verse starting with the fact that we are supposed to be in a reciprocal relationship with Christ. That is a fancy way of saying it takes two to tango. Have you ever been in a one sided relationship? Where you were the only one trying? The only one striving to make it work? The only one pouring into the relationship? The key verse starts with "abide in me as I in you." This was not meant to be a one sided relationship beloved. We all know that God has done His part. He has poured into us the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead! His own Holy Spirit. In the old covenant the only place you could go to experience the presence of God was the Holy of Holies within the temple. There was a large curtain from ceiling to floor which separated the people from God's presence. But Jesus tore that curtain from top to bottom with His work on Calvary's cross.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. -- Hebrews 10: 19-22 (NIV)

Now we have confidence to enter into the Most Holy Place because we are that place! The Bible says that we are the new temple. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit who now lives in us. There is no question that God has done His part in our relationship. He is all in. Unfortunately, we can tend to treat God as if we were causally dating Him. We have a set date with Him every Sunday for a couple of hours. Maybe do something on Friday night and a few phone calls during the week; mostly when we want something. That is not a reciprocal relationship beloved. God does not want to casually date you.

The next interesting thing is the usage of the word abide. The dictionary defines abide as to "dwell, reside, to continue in a particular condition, attitude, relationship ." The truth is that we often lack the power we are supposed to have in Christ because we do not abide very well. We are visiting Christians. We hang out with Jesus but do not make our dwelling in Him. This is part of the dangers of the new theology that turns our Sovereign Lord into our buddy and pal. Yes, God is our friend but only after we have made Him Lord of our lives. Too often we see Christians skipping the first step. The problem is that we do not by nature abide in our friends. We do not obey them as much as we seek their advice. God is not in the advice giving business. The Psalmist reminds us:

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High   will find rest in the shadow of the almighty. -- Psalm 91: 1 (NLT)

Not those who visit the shelter of the Most High. We need to reign in this propensity we have to be visiting Christians. If we ever expect to find rest in this life we need to be abiding Christians. As the definition says we need to continue. We do not continue very well sometimes. We take breaks from God. The problem is the devil never takes a break from us. Too often we try to fit Jesus into our lives instead of making our life to be about Christ. God doesn't want to be scheduled beloved. He isn't an appointment. When we try to fit Him in, He can become a chore -- something we feel we have to do, or should do. We then can start to feel as if we are doing Him the favor! Sound ridiculous? Think about it. There are a lot of people who feel they do the church a favor by attending and tithing. When we try to fit Jesus into our lives He is not first. If God is not first in your life -- what is? Who is? There are only two kingdoms and two choices beloved. By default you are serving one of them.

But when Christ is your life then you will find yourself abiding in Him. Using the definition, let us see the benefit then. First of all we will continue in the relationship with God and watch as it develops. This is what we have already discussed but there remain two other facets of the definition we will continue in. We will continue in the condition of Christ. We often times confuse our position in this world with our condition in Christ. Our condition is that we are a saved child of the Creator of the universe. We have been granted eternal life now -- not later. Our name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life and our sins have been forgiven. That is a heck of a condition! Realize today that this condition is unconditional! Nothing will change God's mind:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, "For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.") No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^p]"> neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow--not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- Romans 8: 35-39 (NLT)

Read these promises and assurances again. When we face calamity (our position in the world) it does not change our condition (child of God). Look at the list of things that cannot possibly separate us from the love of the Father! That is what we continue in when we choose to abide in Christ. When we are a visitor we can tend to forget these things too easily. We focus too much on our position in the world and lose the perspective of our condition in Christ.

We also get to continue in a Christ-like attitude when we abide in Christ. Paul's letter to the Church at Philippi defines this for us:

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. -- Philippians 2: 1-5 (NLT)

When we choose to live in Christ we are encouraged and comforted; two things sorely lacking in this world. We get to continue in being loving and selfless -- not caring about trying to impress people. Ulterior motives do not exist -- only serving God does. Humility marks our way and caring about others becomes our calling card.

Lastly from the key verse we see an important principle outlined by God. We cannot generate fruit unless we abide in Christ. He is the vine. He is the source. He is the provider. Why would God put this disclaimer here? Because He knows full well the depravity of man and our tendency to try and do things ourselves. The truth is that God knew full well that our pride would lead us to try and fake fruit. One of my favorite stories from the Book of Acts involves the Seven Sons of Sceva.

A group of Jews was traveling from town to town casting out evil spirits. They tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in their incantation, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!" Seven sons of Sceva, a leading priest, were doing this. But one time when they tried it, the evil spirit replied, "I know Jesus, and I know Paul, but who are you?" Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them, and attacked them with such violence that they fled from the house, naked and battered. -- Acts 19: 13-16 (NLT)

They wanted the power of God but not the relationship with Him that is required to wield it. They were sons of a leading priest so they had plenty of religion. Unfortunately for them, religion contains no power outside of the relationship with Christ. I love how the Scripture says they tried to use the name of Jesus. How much of that do we see today in the modern church? Works of the flesh and this world wrapped up in the name of Jesus. Entire congregations being moved by emotionalism instead of the Spirit of God. Blaring music and driving drumbeats. Passing off works of charity or worldly goodwill as fruit. But there is a fundamental truth that we need to grasp today. While, you can fake religion over many many years; you cannot fake the fruit of the Spirit over long periods of time. Let us look at Ananias and Sapphira. These were two of the early believers in the church and the Book of Acts tells us that they sold a piece of property they owned and held back part of the proceeds before giving the rest to the Apostles. While there is nothing wrong with that, they pretended to give the entire proceeds. Why? So they could look more spiritual than they were willing to be! They could not fake the fruit of goodness and kindness here however:

Then Peter said, "Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying to us but to God!" -- Acts 5: 3-4 (NLT)

We cannot lie to the Holy Spirit yet we see behavior similar to this in churches today. People more concerned with appearing spiritual than abiding in Christ. Always having to pray the loudest. Always having to get the credit for serving in ministry. A grandiose and showy spirit within the body of Christ. Remember that anything that distracts from God by definition is not of God. If we behave differently in church then we do at home, including how we pray and worship, we need to check ourselves. When you abide in Christ, you do not worry about such things because the only thing that matters to you is serving God.

What we invest our time in is what we value and what we will see grow in our lives. I understand the pressures of time; I really do and fight against them as well. I get some one-paragraph devotionals sent to me each day and it seems sometimes as if I am rushing to get them over with instead of waiting to hear from God through them. Well, you don't understand preacher -- I have three kids! Do you really think God blessed you with three children so you could spend less time with Him? If we really peel away the hours in our days, we find the time for the most innocuous, or banal things. When we find ourselves at the end of the day giving God the scraps of our time, we run the risk of becoming visiting Christians. We are failing to abide in Him. There is too much at risk in our lives and the lives of the unsaved for that. The power is not in religion; but relationship.

Reverend Anthony Wade -- August 1, 2012

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.