Abide

Text: John 15:1-17

Main Point: All that we do should come from abiding in Christ.

We had a great week at camp. Yesterday I was thinking about all that had to happen to get us ready for camp and all that had to happen while we were at camp, and I was amazed at how this body worked together. There were many things to be done from breakfast and the Word to worship, to doing our morning backyard Bible club to lunch, to going out to serve or going out to play, to grabbing a snack then going out again, to knocking on doors, to doing our evening Bible club, back to dinner around 8 then to worship and applying God’s Word in small groups together. Everyone contributed a lot, from prayer and financial support back home to getting everyone and everything ready for the week. It was encouraging to see the members working together and I look forward to you talking with our students about their highlights from the week.

The theme of camp was abide. Monday night through Thursday night we spent about an hour singing, studying the Bible, and talking out what it looks like to abide. How do we trust God for our safety? How do we depend on Jesus so we can do what he commands? How do we rest in Jesus’ love? The way to joy and fruitfulness is trusting Christ. I want to pass on to you today what we learned this week about abiding in Christ.

We will start with that verse you see on the back of all these white t-shirts. Turn in your Bible to Psalm 91 and I will read the Psalm.

I. Abide in God because God is our only safe place

But the sad reality is

• Some trust in anything as long as it is not God

Isaiah the prophet exposes this error. “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!…The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together” (Isaiah 31:1, 3).

The question before us is where does our help come from? God condemned his people for looking for their help from a powerful nation like Egypt. The people thought Egypt’s army with their many chariots and strong horses would save the people. But the people were wrong because the Egyptians are man and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. The greatest army is no match for the God of the universe. Do you believe this? What do you think you need to be safe? Is it God? Do you think more money, bigger friends, or the right clothes will make you safe? Do you feel like you have to look after yourself because no one else will? Do you feel alone against the difficulties of this life? Lift your eyes up to God.

• We trust in the name of the Lord our God

This is the call to abide. Psalm 91:1, you see it on the back of these white t-shirts. “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

If money is all there is, then you better trust in money. If you are all there is, then you better trust yourself. If government is all there is, then you better look to government to save you. But since God exists, and since his arm is stronger than the world superpowers, then you better look to him.

Here is a short list of truths that cause us to seek shelter and safety with God and not with the things of this world.

1. God exists
2. God exists as the source of and ruler over all other powers
3. God cares for his creation
4. God cares especially for his covenant people

The God who is there is personal not impersonal. God in three persons, blessed Trinity, means God understands love, relationships, trust, and submission. Before there was matter or space between matter, or any created being, the Father, Son, and Spirit existed together in a relationship of infinite love and mutual joy. God exists and God exists as the creator of every person, power, and thing. God created all things, and he rules over all things. God has not checked out on you. God cares for you. Your boss is under the rule of God. The evil spirits are under the rule of God. The nations are under the rule of God. The HOA and the POA and the county are under the rule of God. We read Psalm 139 last week when we met for worship; there is no where you can go to get away from God’s rule.

The choice is if you are going to kick against God’s rule or if you are going to submit yourself to God’s care. Is God’s way best or is your way best? Are you safe with God or are you safer on your own? Will you obey God or obey your wants?

Psalm 91:1 is the promise that if you submit to God then you will be safe. Now, let’s be careful because we want to define safety as freedom from danger and difficulty so that if I am safe then my life will be easy. But the testimony of the entire Bible is that safe is being under the covenant care of God. To join God’s people is to sign up for a lifetime of war. But in this war, God is your shelter and the means of relief.

What Jesus makes clear is that he is the only way to the safety of the Father. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). You are not born under the safety of God’s care, and you cannot earn the safety of God’s care. We all enjoy the daily provision of God because Jesus opens the way. Trusting in the righteous life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only way we can be restored to that place of safety under God’s covenant love and care.

Like a mother hen gathering her chicks when the rain falls or the hawk circles, so Jesus gathers us to himself and gives us the safety of the Father’s love for the Son. We depend on Jesus so that we are safe. We abide with Jesus. We depend on Jesus. We remain with Jesus as we go through the responsibilities of each day. Jesus is the doorway into the shelter of the Father.

We started here because the Father has good works prepared for us to walk in and those good works require more than you and I have to give. You and I are incapable of doing God’s will. We have been weighed, measured, and found insufficient. We need Jesus. Here is Jesus’ call in John 15

II. Abide in Christ so you are able to bear fruit

Turn to John 15 and consider for a moment that you don’t have what it takes to do God’s will. You and I are insufficient for the work God gives us to do. I can’t get to faithfulness from me, and you can’t get to faithfulness from you. We need Jesus. So,

• The Father joins you to Jesus for fruitfulness (1-3)

Read 1-3.

What do we notice about God the Son and God the Father? First, Jesus is the true vine, and the Father is the vinedresser. The false vine is Israel who was outwardly playing like they were God’s obedient people but inwardly they were rebelling against God and going their own way (Jeremiah 2:20-22). Those who trust in other powers and go after other gods will be cut off and cast into the hell of fire. But Jesus will not be cut off or cast off because he is the true vine. Jesus is the faithful and fruitful Son.

God the Father is the vinedresser who is grafting branches into the vine. God is bringing many sons and daughters to repent, believe, and depend on Jesus. Being grafted into the life and power of the vine is a picture of our salvation. What happens then if like Israel you play the game, but you don’t bear fruit? What happens to those who are outwardly religious but are inwardly full of sin and evil? We are cut off. What happens if you do bear fruit? You are pruned so you bear more fruit. The Father is in the loving business of trimming off the selfish and the sinful in each of us so that we can bear more fruit. Do not despise the pain of pruning because God is removing from you what will, if left in you, finally destroy you.

Now bearing fruit has two parts. First, there is the fruit of Christlike character. Galatians 5:22 and 23 calls this the fruit of the Spirit. We depend on Jesus to make us loving, joyful, peace-filled, patient, kind, good, faithful, and to have self-control. The Father uses the Holy Spirit to convict us so that we repent of our evil and the Father uses the Holy Spirit to transform us so that we enjoy more of the relationship Jesus has secured for us with the Father. We bear the fruit of Christlike character.

The second part of bearing fruit is making disciples. This week we went out to sow. We were spreading the gospel through songs, Scripture memory, puppets, testimonies, small groups, and one on one conversations. We emphasized the need to pray and depend on Jesus. We need Jesus’ help if we are going to accomplish Jesus’ will. We need to cultivate an awareness of our need and Jesus’ ability to meet our need.

• We depend on Jesus for fruitfulness (4-8)

Read 4-8

We cannot accomplish God’s will without Jesus’ help. We must have Jesus’ help in our homes and in our heads. We must have Jesus’ help as we go to work and make disciples. The faithful Christian life is a life of constant dependence on Jesus to accomplish the work. Here is the faith that prays for Jesus’ help. Jesus, help me do good work. Jesus, help me discipline my children. Jesus, help me honor you with what I do at school. Jesus, help me be full of the Spirit while I play this instrument or this sport. Two simple prayers come to mind when we think about living out this truth.

You can pray, “Jesus help me be the man I am supposed to be” or “Jesus help me be the woman I am supposed to be.” Andrew Murray encourages the second simple prayer, “I want to abide in Jesus right now.” Before you start, confess your weakness and Jesus’ strength. Ask for help to accomplish the good. Jesus, I want to abide in you right now.

The reality is, we must depend on Jesus for fruitfulness or face judgment. It is invigorating that Jesus will give us what we need to accomplish God’s will. It is terrifying that those who do not bear fruit will be cut down and cast into hell.

Look at verse 8. How do we glorify God? We glorify God by bearing fruit. And what proves that we are disciples? What proves that we are Christians? Bearing much fruit proves we are Christians. The person who depends on Jesus so that he looks more like Jesus and learns to make disciples like Jesus proves that he is a disciple of Jesus. The person who isn’t daily depending, isn’t becoming more like Jesus, and isn’t making disciples proves he does not belong to Jesus. Fruit bearing is faith proving. May we be a people who depend on Jesus and submit ourselves to his word so that we pray and work and give to accomplish the Father’s will. We abide in Jesus for fruit, and we abide in Jesus for love.

III. Abide in Christ for love

We abide in Jesus to be loved and we abide in Jesus in order to love others. Jesus is the one who loves us, and Jesus is the one who empowers us to love others. We get love from Jesus and the love we get empowers us to love. Let’s read John 15:9-11. The call is to

• Abide in Jesus’ love

It was Johnny Lee who admitted to the emptiness of looking for love in all the wrong places. In each of us is this drive to be loved, celebrated, accepted, or affirmed. If Psalm 91 addresses the sin of looking to other people for safety, then John 15 addresses the sin of looking to other people for love.

Look at verse 9. The perfect love of the Father for the Son is duplicated in the perfect love of the Son for his disciples. There is perfect, infinite, and lasting love for you. Jesus’ call is to abide in his love. And how do we do that? How do we abide in Jesus’ love? Verse 10 tells us that if we keep his commandments then we will abide in his love. Just like Jesus obeyed the Father and remained in his love, so also you and I must obey Jesus and thereby remain in his love.

The question is if Jesus is demanding that we earn his love. Does Jesus wait to love us until we obey him? Does the Father wait to love the Son until the Son obeys him? Is God’s love dependent on obedience, or is obedience dependent on God’s love? Think about a vine, branch, and its fruit. Does the vine wait for the branch to bear fruit and then the vine will accept it? No, it is acceptance that leads to bearing fruit. There is no fruit bearing without the power of the vine running through the branches. Love initiates abiding and abiding uses that love to make fruit.

Tim Keller is right; we do not obey in order to be loved. The gospel says I am loved therefore I obey. God’s acceptance of us, our justification, is the product of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for us. We abide in Jesus for acceptance. And once accepted, we continue to depend on Jesus to work obedience in us. Jesus, the all-sufficient one, makes us acceptable to God and obedient to God.

So, abide in Jesus’ love because Jesus loves you. Jesus knows your weaknesses, your struggles, your fears, and your sins. He knows all these things about me. And Jesus loves us. Jesus knows all these things and he loves us. I struggle because I think if you knew my weaknesses, my struggles, my fears, and my sins then you wouldn’t love me. You struggle because you think if I knew your weaknesses, your struggles, your fears, and your sins then I wouldn’t love you. That is not true of Jesus, may it not be true of Jesus’ people. Jesus loves us, let us love one another.

IV. Abide in Christ so you are able to love

Read John 15:11-17

• Jesus’ commandments are for our joy

Why does Jesus command us to abide in his love and obey his commandments? Verse 11, Jesus wants us to be happy. It is the devil’s lie that we can find safety, love, and happiness by going our own way and doing our own thing. Let’s get two more things out in the open. First, Jesus’ commandments are hard. We worked on Ephesians 4:32 at camp this week, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.” The command to be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving is hard. Second, Jesus’ commandments are for our joy. The command to be kind when we want to be mean, to be tender-hearted when we want to be cold and separate, to forgive when we want revenge are all commands that lead to joy.

You may be saying right now, “but I can’t be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving.” Well, you are exactly right. Apart from Jesus you can’t be kind, tender-hearted, and forgiving. But if you will abide in Jesus’ love and obey Jesus’ commandments, he will give you the strength and joy you need. Here is the call to repent of our disobedience which is robbing us of our joy.

Look now at verses 12 and 13, what does Jesus command us to do for joy?

• Jesus commands us to love one another

And what kind of love does Jesus command us to give to one another? Jesus commands self-sacrificing love. Like the Father loves the Son, so the Son loves us. Like the Son loves us, so we are to love one another. How will all people know that we are Jesus’ disciples? John 3:35, “If we have love for one another.” And what does it look like to have love for one another? It is to lay down your life for your friends.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. Jesus did that for us. Jesus went to the cross for us. Jesus sacrificed himself for us. We are his friends. Do we trust him? Do we trust the one who laid down his life for us? Do we do what he commands because we know that he loves us? Do we love one another because we know that he loves us? Out of the fullness of his love for you, do you love others?

We are no longer servants. In verse 15, we learn that we are Jesus’ friends. He laid down his life for us and he brings us into the Father’s plan. Jesus wants you to know the Father’s plans so that you will trust Jesus and fulfill the Father’s plans. Jesus is after our obedience because Jesus loves the Father. Jesus is after our obedience because Jesus loves us and is after our joy.

And Jesus chose us for this very thing. Look at verse 16. Jesus didn’t choose those who loved him first. Jesus’ choice of us is not based on our choice of him. According to his great mercy, Jesus chose us and set his love on us and sends us out to accomplish his joy-filled mission of self-sacrifice. Jesus is a lover not a user.

Look around this room. Why do you love these people? Look at these church members. Why do you love us? If you have a spouse or children or parents here, why do you love them? Let’s repent of loving people because they love us. Let’s repent of loving people only when they do what we want and give us what we want. The call today is to love people because Jesus loves us. The generosity of Jesus’ love calls us to be generous with our love for others. We need Jesus’ help to love like this. Oh for parents to love their teenagers and for teenagers to love their parents. We must pray for this.

Jesus commands us to abide in his love, abide in his word, bear fruit, obey his commands, and pray. Verse 17, “Jesus commands these things so that we will have love for one another.” God help us to stop putting ourselves first. God help us sacrifice ourselves first because of the fullness of Jesus’ love and for the fullness of Jesus’ joy. Oh for parents who are joyful in Jesus and sacrificial in love. Of for teenagers who are joyful in Jesus and sacrificial in love.

Jesus is moving toward you in love today calling you to come to him and rest in his free grace and abundant love. Who do you need to move toward in love today? Who have you wronged, and you need to seek forgiveness? Who has something against you, and you need to seek reconciliation? Who are you punishing by withholding your love and affection? Praise God that Jesus came after us and gave himself for us when we were unworthy. May God make us more and more like Jesus. May each of us choose to abide in Jesus so that we can go and bear the fruit of love. Jesus help us. We want to abide in you right now.