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Jesus told his disciples this in John 15

Lately little Elliot has been coming up to me and asking me to pick him up, and then he wants me to lift him high in the air and touch his head to the ceiling.

And he would like nothing better than for me to do this over and over and over again.

Or he delights in me throwing him up into the air and catching him- and you can be sure that my arms wear out long before he does.

Now imagine, if one day Elliot decided that he wanted to touch the ceiling or he wanted to be launched into the air, but he wanted to do it on his own.

How successful would he be?

It would be a complete failure.

And to that end how much fun would it be for his uncle to try experience the delight of child being thrown into the air without the child?

There is a reciprocal relationship.

Both sides of the relationship are needed or the activity is pointless.

There is a reciprocal relationship that exists in the life of every believer, the relationship of abiding.

It is both the believer abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in the believer.

This abiding relationship is one of exchange and it is essential to fruitful or successful Christian life.

Without it we can do nothing, without it any hope for success in our Christian life is impossible.

And this is not only true in our individual lives, but it is also true for our corporate lives as well.

That means that this assembled body of believers, this church, will never be successful without the reciprocal relationship that is abiding.

I really have a passion for shaping the way we think about the way we function as a church.

I want us to function the way God intended his church to function.

Last week we looked at functioning as an assembled group of priests.

So, functioning as a priest is essential to being the church that God intends for us to be.

You all, every one of you, must use your priestly role to stir each other up to love and good works.

You assemble regularly and you exhort each other, and you use your privilege of entering the holiest to minister to one another.

And we must shaping our thinking about how we minister as the church, the body, if we are to function the way God wants us to.

Just as important as functioning as priests, is the idea of each one of us participating in the reciprocal relationship that is abiding.

What does it mean to abide in Christ?

And what does it mean for Christ to abide in you?

And what does this abiding relationship accomplish in our lives?

These are the questions we will aim to answer today.

I. What does it mean for Christ to abide in the believer?

(John 14:7ff)

The night before the crucifixion, Jesus spent an extended period of time teaching His disciples.

Apparently, Jesus began this instruction while they were in the upper room during the last supper, then he continued to teach as they left the room and walked toward Gethsemane.

Part of that teaching centered on an illustration of the vine and the branches.

And that is where we are headed this morning.

If we are going to understand what it means to abide we must understand the illustration of the vine and the branches.

But before we are ready to understand the vine and the branches illustration, we must follow Jesus’ teaching in Ch 14 about the nature of abiding.

And if we are going to understand what it means for Christ to abide in the believer, we must first understand the abiding relationship that exists between the Father and the Son.

A. An abiding relationship is perfectly pictured in the oneness of the trinity (vv.

7-11)

Let’s back up to v. 1 for context sake.

Jesus has just told the disciples of his imminent death.

V. 7- from know on you know Him (the Father), and you have seen Him- you have seen the Father!

V. 8- Philip- “Lord, show us the Father ,and it is enough!”

If all you do is show us the Father (Yahweh), that will be more than enough, all I need, all I want.

Show us the Father, and it is enough!

He who has seen Me has seen the Father!

How can you say, “Show us the Father?”

What is Jesus talking about?

Inside of the love relationship of the Father and the Son there is complete transparency.

The Father shows the Son all things that He does.

The Son can do nothing of himself, but what He sees the Father do.

Whatever the Father does, these things also the Son does.

There is no other relationship in existence in all of eternity that is as intimate as this one.

Whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.

Therefore, whoever has seen the works of the Son has seen the works of the Father.

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.

And the Son loves the Father and does exactly as the Father commanded Him (i.e.

revealed to Him).

This is not so much a strict commandment (I say jump- you say how high), but a loving revelation and a loving response in doing the works that the Father revealed.

Fully revealing, fully responding- all of it part of the dance of love.

And Jesus directs our attention to the relationship He enjoys with the Father in v. 10

Jesus says, I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.

The words that the Son speaks are not of His own initiative, but they are from the Father that dwells (abides) in the Son, He (the Father) does the works.

So abiding is tied into the idea of the Father fully revealing Himself to the Son, so that what the Son does, is the exact same thing that the Father does.

What the Son speaks, because of the reciprocal abiding relationship, whatever the Son speaks is the very words of the Father.

The Father reveals to the Son all things, and the Son speaks and does only that which the Father shows- this is at the heart of what it means to abide.

That is why Jesus says in v. 11

Either believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me because I am telling you so, or just look at my works.

My works show the Father, because I only do the works that my Father reveals to me, thus they are the very works of the Father- and all of this is possible because the Father abides with, dwells with the Son.

The Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son.

Thus an abiding relationship is perfectly pictured in the oneness of the trinity.

B. An abiding relationship between Christ and the believer is tied to the same idea of oneness (vv.

12-26)

What works did Christ do?

The works of the Father?

How was that possible?

Because the Father shows the Son all things.

So if we are to do the works that Jesus Christ does- “the works that I do shall he do also”- what must take place?

Christ needs to reveal Himself to us.

How does He do that?

The answer is through abiding in us.

V. 13-14, asking in Jesus’ name (get back to this), this is not some magic formula we tack on to the end of our prayers- what does it really mean to pray in Jesus’ name- again this too is tied to the idea of abiding.