Abiding

Since last August the youth have been looking at the Gospel of John on Sunday nights. We’re finishing up this week, so I thought I’d post a few thoughts from the past year that I’ve shared on the youth blog – youthatccc.blogspot.com. Back in June at Sunday night Youth Group we looked at John 15:1-17. Here are some of the thoughts we gleaned from the passage:

In the passage Jesus says in v. 1, “I am the true vine.” He talks about how He’s the vine, God the Father is the vinedresser, and we (Christians) are the branches. By faith we are connected to Christ and can draw on Him for life, love, significance, hope, change, etc.

One of the points Jesus makes to the disciples is that those who are connected to the vine will bear fruit. Just to be clear, us bearing fruit doesn’t get us connected to the vine. After all He says in v. 16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…” But let’s not miss the 2nd part of that verse, that says, “…and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” Also, v. 2, “Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, He takes away.” Again, this isn’t saying you can lose you salvation. It’s not saying if you don’t do enough good stuff, God will discard you. It is saying, though, that if there’s no fruit (change, character growth) in your life, you never really were connected to the vine (Jesus) because as James 2 says, faith without works is dead.

Think of it this way, imagine an apple tree with a bunch of beautiful, ripe apples on it. Do the apples have some sort of innate power to make the tree alive? No, but they do show that the tree is alive. In the same way, bearing fruit as a Christian doesn’t make you alive to God, but it shows you are. So, in no way is the passage saying you are justified by how much fruit you bear or that God’s love for you will rise and fall depending on how much fruit you bear. Absolutely not. However, it is saying that those who have a real, vital connection to Christ will bear fruit.

A big question is how does one change, grow, and bear more fruit? One blog post will not be enough to give a satisfactory response. However, I will point out one thing from the passage. One word that Jesus repeats 8 times in the passage is “abide.” He says to abide in Him (v. 4), abide in His word (v. 7), and abide in His love (v. 9). Let me just expound briefly on one of them here – abiding in His word.

How do you abide in His word? Here are some ideas – read your Bible (not just for information, but to meet God. Dwell on it.), listen to preaching and teaching, get in a d-group or community group, talk to others about God’s Word (community is key), memorize it, apply it, live in it, obey it. When the Word of God (Scripture) gets in you, it shapes you.

Think for a moment how much a TV show or movie can shape you. Has that ever happened to you, where you get caught up in a really funny show or movie? What happens? You go online and look up quotes from it, watch it multiple times, write parts of it on your friend’s facebook wall, use it in conversation, etc. It really starts to shape you. It even shapes how you see the world. (Ex: “Oh, that person’s like Dwight Schrute from The Office.”) It’s silly, but true that it shapes you. Do you abide in God’s Word as much as TV shows? (Fyi – at this point I’m preaching to myself) If a TV show can shape you, how much more do you think God’s Word can?

“I am the vine” is the last of 7 “I am Statements” that Jesus makes in the Gospel of John. Let’s use those as an example. What if you were to abide in those statements? When you’re starving for significance, your mind would go to, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger.” When you’re forgetting who made you, you’d dwell on Christ saying, “Before Abraham was, I am.” The eternal creator and sustainer of all things has loved you and come and died in your place! When you don’t know what to do, you’d think about “I am the light of the world.” When you are feeling like God doesn’t care, you’d hear the words “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” When you feel like finding your own path, you’d be struck anew with “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Abide in God’s Word. Also, abide in Him. Rest in Christ’s finished work on the cross. Abide in His love. What’s your vine? What do you draw on for life and significance? Is it your job, social status, family, athletic ability, money, smarts, friends, goodness? Or is it Christ, the vine? Let your connection to His grace fuel your growth. Let v. 13 & 15 encourage you, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends…No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”