Today’s Sunday School lesson was taken from the “I am the vine” passage, found in John 15. We tried to get a handle on one of the key concepts of Christian living today… abiding in Christ. Just what does it mean to abide in Him, and what does it look like in our lives?
A tough question, without a doubt.
John 15:1-11 (NASB)
1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.”2“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
3“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”
4“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
6“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”
7“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
8“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”
9“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also 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 so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
Based on the Scripture passage, it seems to me that there are three major “R’s” involved in abiding in Christ: recognizing our need for help, relying on Christ, and resting in His care.
Verses 4 and 5 make the first two “R’s” clear… without Christ, we’re nothing. Without Him, the vine, sustaining us… we, the branches simply wither and die. We can’t survive without Him… much less bear fruit for God’s Kingdom.
That always seems so crystal clear in my life… anytime I try to do anything for God in my own strength, I fail… often miserably. But when I recognize my need for Him and continue on to the second “R” of abiding… relying on Him… I find I’m able to bear fruit. My connection with Christ keeps me strong… gives me wisdom… gives me the ability to do whatever it is He asks. My life begins to reflect Christ more and more.
The third of the “R’s”, though, is the hardest of them all… resting in Him. Verse 9 makes it clear that abiding in Christ allows us to experience the fullness of God’s love for us. Verse 11 makes it clear that doing so allows us to experience complete joy. Yet so often, we try to tackle things on our own, even knowing these things?
We’re so foolish. God wants to be actively involved in every part of our lives… even the supposed trivial things… yet we fail hundreds of times a day to allow Him to help. Yeah, it seems silly that God would want to help us find our car keys, or that He’d want to help us finish a task at work when time’s short… but Scripture tells us He knows the number of hairs on our heads. That’s a trivial detail (for most of us), but He cares.
Why then, do we shut Him out? Why do we fail to abide in Him… to remain connected to Him constantly through the kind of intimate relationship He desires with us? Why do we so often cut ourselves off from life-giver we so desperately need, not only to survive and thrive, but to experience peace and joy in all things?
That’s the million dollar question.
As much as I’d like to be able to boil Christian living down to simple formulas, it just doesn’t work that way… even if they are brilliantly alliterated… 🙂
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