The Benefits of an Abiding Relationship

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Manifest = Abide

For Christ to abide in us means that Christ is revealed in a clearer way than ever before.

How?

John 15:7 KJV 1900

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

John 15

Christ abiding in us = Christ’s words abiding in us

Manifest = Abiding = Words Abiding in Us

John 14:26 KJV 1900

26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 14.

Manifest = Abiding = Words Abiding in Us + Illumination of the Holy Spirit

Illustration: Abiding with my wife- learning her likes and dislikes

2. Abiding in Christ

John 15:9–10 KJV 1900

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

John 15.

Abiding in Christ = Abiding in His love = Keeping His commandments

Keeping his commandments the same way Jesus kept the Father’s commandments and abided in His love.

How did Jesus do this?

John 14:30–31 KJV 1900

30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

John 14:31 NASB95

31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

John 14:30 NASB95

30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;

Abiding in Christ = Doing exactly as Christ commands (reveals Himself)

Illustration: Doing the things that I have learned my wife likes, not doing what she dislikes- learning to live with each other. Not about getting my own way, but joyfully sacrificing for the needs of the other.

This is like the vine abiding in the branch and the branch in the vine.

What does this kind of relationship produce?

I. An abiding relationship produces much fruit (v. 5)

John 15:4–5 KJV 1900

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

John 15:5 KJV 1900

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

If we are abiding in Christ and He is abiding in us, then we will bring forth much fruit.

What kind of fruit are we talking about?

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to John a. The Extended Metaphor (15:1–8)

There has been considerable dispute over the nature of the ‘fruit’ that is envisaged: the fruit, we are told, is obedience, or new converts, or love, or Christian character.

Fruit is the outcome of persevering dependence on the vine. If:

Manifest = Abiding = Words Abiding in Us + Illumination of the Holy Spirit

and

Abiding in Christ = Abiding in His love = Keeping His commandments

Then I think fruit is any thought, any action, any word in the life of a person that is transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Isn’t that one of God’s purposes in saving us?

Romans 8:29 KJV 1900

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Do you remember what Jesus said to Philip in ?

John 14:8–10 KJV 1900

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

John 14.8-

The works that Jesus did, He didn’t do them just for the works sake. He did them because they were the works the Father wanted Him to do. The words that Jesus spoke, He did say them just for their own sakes, He said them because they were the words of the Father.

Fruit then is not just going out and witnessing to someone. Fruit is being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. It is witnessing to someone because that is exactly what Jesus wants you to do.

Fruit is not just treating your wife with kindness. Fruit is loving her as Christ loved the church, because that is exactly what Jesus would want you to do.

Jesus reveals Himself to us through His Word and the HS, we receive that revelation as His love, and we respond with love of our own by doing exactly what He wants and in the process we become more like our Savior.

If we are living a life of constantly abiding in Jesus Christ and He constantly abiding in us so that we are transformed into the very image of our Savior- so much so that His works become our works and His words become our words, how can we do anything less than bear much fruit?

Ron Hamilton wrote a song and He said it this way:

When I enter heaven's glory

And I see my Saviour's face,

I will offer Him ten thousand years of praise.

Then I'll find that special one

In whose life I saw God's Son,

And through tears of joy with trembling lips these words I'll say:

I saw Jesus in you,

I could hear His voice in the words you said-

I saw Jesus in you,

In your eyes I saw His care,

I could see His love was there,

You were faithful,

And I saw Jesus in you,

That is biblical fruit.

Have you born much fruit lately? Notice the end of the verse- For without me you can do nothing! Apart from the abiding relationship with Jesus Christ we are entirely barren, void of absolutely any kind of spiritual fruit.

II. An abiding relationship protects us from God’s judgement (v. 6)

(v. 5b) for without me ye can do nothing.

John 15:6 KJV 1900

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Based on the context this passage is given to believers

John 15:3 KJV 1900

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

So, we know (interpreting Scripture with Scripture) that this doesn’t mean it is possible fore believers to be cast into hell fire. There are many other Scriptures that prove that to be impossible.

Rather I think this verse means that the branches (Christians) that do not abide in the vine, and they do so for an extended period of time (how long does it take for a branch to wither after you sever it from the vine?), so we are talking about the believer who makes it his practice to refuse to abide in Christ and he goes on for such a time that he becomes nothing more that a withered dried up fruitless husk, that one faces God’s judgment. What kind of judgement are we talking about? Not wrath of God for sin- that has been forever dealt with by the blood of Jesus Christ. But there are other forms of God’s judgment or chastisement. I think this verse most likely refers to God’s chastisement and removal from service.

1 Corinthians 11:30 KJV 1900

30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

III. An abiding relationship assures us of answers to our prayers (v. 7)

John 15:7 KJV 1900

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

This brings us back to the idea of praying in Jesus’ name.

John 14:13–15 KJV 1900

13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14.13-

John 15:16 KJV 1900

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

John 16:23–24 KJV 1900

23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

What does it mean to ask in Jesus’ name? It does not mean to add a tagline at the end of every prayer- “In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

What it means to ask in Jesus’ name is the connected to the idea of abiding.

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

What are we talking about here?

Abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us- means that Jesus makes Himself know to us and we become conformed into His very image. It means living with an awareness of His presence. It means know Him, adoring Him, honoring Him, and seeking to please and to delight Him in all that we do. It means that we are not interested in getting our own way, but like the loving husband and wife dwelling together, it means living to please our Savior, it means an ongoing process of joyful surrender to His will in order to delight Jesus Christ. And it is a process that goes on and on for the rest of our lives. In fact, when we have lived with Jesus Christ for a while, and we have learned to do whatever delights Him when someone else looks at the works that we do, they will not see our own works, but the works of our Savior. And when someone hears the words that we say, they will not hear our own words, but the words of our Savior.

So when we pray, if an abiding relationship with Christ is at the heart of our prayer life, then whatever we ask for will be the exact things that Jesus wants us to have. We will be asking for only those things that genuinely delight Him. Therefore, Jesus can say, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

So abiding in Jesus is really the heart of our prayer life. It is the foundation upon which an effective prayer life is built. In a certain sense, it is itself prayer, for what could be more fundamentally prayerful than communion with Christ Himself?

What does James say about unanswered prayer?

James 4:2 KJV 1900

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

James 4:3 KJV 1900

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

So prayer involves asking God for things, good asking is the result of a life lived abiding in Christ and Him abiding in us.

How is your prayer life? Are you asking? Are you asking amiss? “I keep asking God to allow me to win the lottery, but He hasn’t answered yet.” If we are abiding in Christ, we won’t even ask those kinds of things, we will only ask exactly what Jesus wants us to ask. In fact our words will be so closely associated with Jesus’ words that it can be said of us that we pray, we ask in Jesus’ name. It is not a tag line added to the end of our prayers, it is a relationship that is lived in constant awareness of His presence, it is knowing Him, adoring Him, honoring Him, and seeking to please Him and delight Him that we only ask for the very things He wants us to have. We ask in Jesus’ name, and He will answer us abundantly.

IV. An abiding relationship brings glory to the Father (v. 8a)

John 15:8 KJV 1900

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

1 Corinthians 10:31 KJV 1900

31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

As we are being transformed in the image of Jesus Christ, that is bearing fruit, not only do we avoid God’s judgment, but we also pray effectively, in Jesus’ name, asking only for what delight Him, and He abundantly answers. This kind of fruitful life is exactly what the Father desires. This is how Jesus brings glory to the Father, not just in saving us from God’s wrath, but in transforming us, in causing us to bring forth fruit, and when we bring forth much fruit- this is to the Father’s glory.

V. An abiding relationship proves we are Jesus’ disciples (v. 8b)

John 15:8 KJV 1900

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Not only will fruit bearing bring the Father glory, but it will also show or prove that you are indeed followers (disciples) of Jesus Christ. In other words, bearing fruit is an evidence of genuine conversion. No one can actually be conformed to the image of Christ, without Christ living in them. No one can be fruitful without a connection to the vine, thus fruit is an evidence of genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

Matthew 7:20 KJV 1900

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

VI. An abiding relationship is the source of full joy (v. 11)

John 15:11 KJV 1900

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

1 John 1:4 KJV 1900

4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Full joy is possible. So many people are looking for and longing for joy, to be truly happy in life. That can only be found in an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ- which is akin to loving obedience to the commands of Jesus

John 15:9–10 KJV 1900

Being truly happy comes from seeking to please and to delight our Savior in all that we do. That is the source. And it is not just joy, it is full joy, complete joy, all the joy you could ever need. What could be more joyful that to be changed into the image of Christ? Abide in Him and He in you and you will discover full joy.

What does an abiding relationship in Christ produce?