Learning to Abide in Jesus
This past year has been so incredibly difficult. Natural disasters, racial tensions, violent protests, quarantine, a contentious election, a global pandemic, and all of the fear, anxiety and unknowns to go with it. To date, millions have lost their jobs and hundreds of thousands have lost their lives. It has been the most difficult year I can remember.
Though celebrations have at times been hard to come by, one of the things this past year has created in me is a deep longing for more of Jesus.
I want more of the work of Jesus. I want more of the person of Jesus. I want more of the presence of Jesus.
I want all of it.
And I want it for you too.
One of the passages I’ve found myself coming back to in recent months is John 15. When Jesus spoke these words, he was a dying man and knew it. He knew that in a matter of hours he would be hanging from a cross and breathing his last breath. He knew his disciples would be terrified and undone in short time. And so he speaks to his disciples with the urgency of a dying man.
These are his words:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
These are some incredibly powerful words. They are words that disciples of Jesus would be wise to sit in, return to often and absorb.
Though much could be said here, I offer just a few observations that I think are particularly important for us in this season:
1. Abiding is a choice.
It’s not a given.
In fact, Jesus clearly doesn’t assume all who claim to be his followers or call themselves “Christians” or “disciples” will do it. It seems this is not something we naturally do. Notice, he doesn’t say, “when you abide” or “while you are abiding.” He says, “IF you abide…”
It’s a conscious choice that we have to make. And it’s not just a one time choice we make, like getting baptized or praying the sinner’s prayer. It’s a choice we have to make every single day. In a year like ours it’s a choice we may need to make multiple times throughout the day. Will I abide in Jesus or not?
2. Abiding is tethered to obedience.
Jesus says, “IF you keep my commands, you will remain in my love..”
We can’t live a life marked by disobedience to Jesus and expect experience the full life Jesus offers.
For too long the modern evangelical church has sought to tame, sanitize and domesticate the real Jesus. And that’s at best. At our worst, we have coopted him for our own purposes and agendas, to the point that he no longer looks like the scandalous, untamable, wild man we find in the gospels. It’s no wonder that so many “Christians” and their churches look so unlike Christ.
Our families, our cities, and our nation needs us to go back to the source, to fall on our face, to immerse ourselves in the real Jesus and let him set the agenda for everything we do.
He is not just the beginning, He is the end. He is not just the ends, He is the means. He is the way, the truth, and the life. We cannot treat Jesus and his way as anything less than everything.
Our abiding in him – and experiencing the fullness of his joy and the fullness of the life that he offers - is tethered to our willingness to walk in his way.
3. Abiding is a discipline.
It’s not only something we have to choose to do each day, but it’s also something we have to learn how to do and grow in. In other words, we are not naturally proficient at this anymore than we are naturally proficient at pole vaulting.
And here we find what I believe is one of the most powerful and hopeful things in this passage. We find here an invitation to more.
There is more to be had. There is more of Jesus for us. There is more of Jesus to be enjoyed. There is more of Jesus to be experienced. There is more of Jesus to know – experientially, personally, relationally. And that, my friends, is really good news to those who want more of Jesus.
It’s there for the taking, if we want it.
