Abide in Christ

Tonight I want to spend our remaining time studying from God’s Word and examining the importance of abiding in Christ and producing fruit as His followers.

What does it mean to abide? The Oxford dictionary says that to abide means to, “accept or act in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation).”

Several Bible dictionaries talk about abiding in terms of waiting for something.

What do you think of whenever you read about abiding in the Bible?

Andreas Kostenberger, one of the foremost experts on the New Testament and a prof at MBTS, shares this, “Abiding is John’s way of speaking of the need for believers to live their lives in close communion with Christ.”

We think of abiding in Christ today and it can be a challenging subject. We are busy people and we are tempted to spend our time doing lots of different things. There are even good things that can pop up and distract us from the most important thing. The call from Christ is simply this: Abide in me. Remain in me. Jesus doesn’t want us to be half in and half out - He wants us to remain in Him completely and wholly. This means that we have 2 choices today: Are we in or are we out? Are we abiding in Christ or are we not?

We’ll be in John 15 this evening as we look at the impact that abiding in Christ has on our lives as individuals but also on those in our sphere of influence as we are able to witness to them and let Christ’s light shine through us.

John 15:1–8 CSB

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

How Can We Abide in Christ?

Lots of people claim to be Christians and they usually do this with their words. They talk about something they’ve done in the past or something that they said when they were young. Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount that there would be people who say to Him on the day of judgment that they did lots and lots of things for Him but that He would reply and say that He never knew them. Jesus isn’t interested in mere words and He isn’t interested in empty actions.

What does it look like to genuinely follow Jesus?

While some people might say that following Jesus only means to go to church or to do something different every now and then, the Bible tells us a different story! The Bible tells us in Luke 9:23 that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross daily as we follow Jesus. This means that following Jesus requires us to do something every single day.

In John 15 one of the things that followers of Jesus do is produce fruit and Jesus gives us this picture of Him being a vine and we, His followers, being a branch. He begins by saying that He is the true vine. If you have a true vine, what must there also be? There must be a false vine. There must be a false path with false hope.

What are some false vines that people look for today?

Salvation through their individual works. Being saved because of their last name or family affiliation. See, to Jesus’ context there were people who believed that they were automatically saved because they were Jewish. This is a reoccurring theme in the New Testament, especially with Paul in Romans 9-11 as he talks about how Gentiles are grafted into God’s forever family. In the 1st century world if you came to a religious leader and wanted to be saved they would give you works to do. Make some sacrifices, be circumcised, and other visible works could save yourself… Then Jesus comes along and shares a different way. Instead of go and do - Jesus shares that the work is done. That He is the true vine that saves and connects the branch to eternal life. If you want to live, Jesus is saying, you must be connected to me because I am the vine of life.

Part of being connected to Jesus is that you’ll be pruned by God just like a gardener prunes a tree. Is God’s pruning process always enjoyable? No! But it is done out of love and for our good - to be more like Christ! Matt Carter shares that, “If you are connected to the vine, God is going to do whatever it takes to cause you to bear fruit. God will cut you and prune you and trim you and chop you. He is not content to let you stay on the vine bearing little fruit. God is ruthlessly determined to shape you into something much better and more beautiful than you are right now.”

Jesus shares that He is the true vine and that God will prune us to help us be more like Christ… But others that might be a little connected but don’t produce fruit will be removed from the vine. We’ll touch more on the importance of producing fruit later - but this is a stern warning that we have to hold on to.

The main thrust of these verses is 4-5 as Jesus shares that we must remain in Him… If we do, we will produce fruit… If not, we can do nothing.

Let’s think about the totality of Jesus’ ministry and what this means. How can we abide/remain/live in communion with Jesus?

For the disciples, they literally did life with Jesus every single day in the flesh for years… How can you and I do this today?

Prayer

Bible study

Fellowship with God’s people

Don Whitney’s book on spiritual disciplines in our church library talks about the importance of staying in communion with our Lord through Bible intake and simply spending time growing that relationship. Part of abiding in Christ, though, means to allow Him to guide and direct every aspect of our lives. Many people say that they do spend time doing these types of things… But as we abide in Christ we should look more like Christ. His Words change our thoughts, actions, and motivations. Think about an ocean wave moving millions of molecules of water along with its current. The water droplets are powerless compared to the wave - they go wherever it moves them! God moves us and changes us - whenever we are connected to Him and whenever we abide in Him, we do the things that He wants us to do. This requires us to be intentional about surrendering ourselves to Christ and following through with what He calls us to do. Abiding isn’t for the faint of heart - it requires surrender and sacrifice.

How Can We Produce Fruit?

If abiding in Christ is the center of this text, the result of this text is that our abiding in Christ would produce fruit. Before we look at the connection between abiding in Christ and producing fruit, we have to ask what this fruit is in the first place.

What is the fruit that Jesus wants us to produce?

A lifestyle of actions and thoughts that point people to Him. A life of obedience to the Holy Spirit’s presence and leading in our lives.

The New Testament talks about fruit in a variety of ways but one of the ways it is discussed is in reference to God’s Work in us. Think about that for a minute, John 15 tells us that whenever we abide in Christ, we produce much fruit but apart from Jesus we can do nothing! The only way that we can produce fruit is to be in Christ. The fruit that He wants us to produce are actions and thoughts that glorify Him. The only hope that we have to do this is to be connected to the vine… If you don’t have faith in Jesus then you can’t produce the fruit of the Spirit because the Spirit doesn’t live inside of you but even deeper than that, if you don’t have faith in Jesus Hebrews 11 tells us this

Hebrews 11:6 CSB

6 Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

This is bad news and Jesus paints a clear picture in John 15 - if you don’t remain in Christ, if you’re not in Christ, then you are like a branch that is not connected to the vine. You are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned. This is bad news, guys! The stakes are great. Either you’re in Christ and producing fruit, or you’re not and you’re going to meet a fiery end. This is the logical conclusion of Romans 8:1 which tells us that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus - but if you’re not in Christ then there is condemnation and separation awaiting you. How can we know if we’re in Christ Jesus, though? This is the question that pastors are asked more often than just about any question out there - how can I know that I’m a Christian?

If you’ve ever asked this question or if you’re asking it now, ask yourself this? How has Jesus changed my life. How is my life different as a result of Jesus Christ? Where is the evidence that I belong to Jesus?

The New Testament talks about the relationship between faith and works and some people get tripped up here. They think that their works or their fruit are what saves them and this isn’t true. Jesus saves us and our faith is in Him. We are connected to Him as our vine and we, as the branch, produce fruit because of His work in us. The key to our Christian life isn’t trying harder ourselves but it’s about Christ’s work in and through us. As He works in us and we produce fruit, it demonstrates that we belong to Him.

What is one way that Jesus has changed your actions and the fruit you produce?

Matthew 7:16 helps us out here in relation to seeing fruit and its importance

Matthew 7:16 CSB

16 You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

Fruit reveals followers and a lack of fruit exposes frauds.

Let’s look at 2 passages as we close to see the importance of producing fruit and proving that we belong to Jesus

Ephesians 2:10 CSB

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Good works and fruit of righteousness aren’t supposed to save us. They show others that Jesus has saved us! The only way that we will produce this type of fruit is by being saved and changed by Jesus and by abiding in Him and allowing His Word to impact every aspect of our lives. This means that we might feel a certain way, but if God’s Word says something different then we’d better change the way that we feel pretty quickly! It might mean that someone wrongs us and we want to wrong them back - an eye for an eye type approach - but then we remember that Christ didn’t wrong us, He forgave us… Therefore, a way that we can demonstrate His goodness is to forgive other people. This is the natural fruit of a changed heart that is connected to Jesus Christ.

God’s commitment to you bearing fruit is greater than your commitment to staying comfortable. You’d better get ready to get uncomfortable as a follower of Jesus!

Ask yourself this as you go throughout the rest of your week: Do people see genuine evidence in your life that you belong to Jesus or do they have to search really hard to find any evidence?

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