REMAINING IN CHRIST
John 15:1-7, 1/14/2018
Introduction: A teacher who quizzed a group of
college-bound high school juniors and seniors on the Bible. The quiz preceded a
Bible-as-literature course he planned to teach at the Newton (Massachusetts)
High School, generally considered one of the best public schools in the nation.
Among the most astounding findings he got from the students were: Sodom and
Gomorrah were lovers. Jezebel was Ahab’s donkey. The four horsemen appeared on
the Acropolis.
The New Testament Gospels were
written by Matthew, Mark, Luther, and John. Eve was created from an apple. Jesus
was baptized by Moses. The answer that took the cake was given by a fellow who
was in the top 5 percent of the graduating class, academically. The question:
What was Golgotha? The answer: Golgotha was the name of the giant who slew
the apostle David.
Isn’t it amazing how pitifully
illiterate the younger generation is of the written Word of God? In a land
filled with churches and chapels, temples and tabernacles, there is only an
insignificant handful of fairly well-informed students of the Book of books. We
have Scriptures in hardback, paperback, cloth, and leather. Versions and
paraphrases too numerous to count, red-letter editions along with various sizes
of print on the page. Bibles as big as a library dictionary and as small as one
frame of microfilm, yet the years roll by as one generation after another pass
on its biblical illiteracy.”[1]
In order for us to avoid that
embarrassment of Biblical illiteracy in the beginning of New Year we are
encouraging you to read the Bible. It is not too late to pick up a One Year
Bible reading plan and start reading, in one year you will complete reading
through the whole Bible.
More
importantly, that you will continue to, abide or remain in Christ John 15:1-7
One of the things we will discover
in reading through the gospel of John is the boldness of Christ. He made
several bold assertions about himself, one of such confident statements was, “I
am the True vine…You are the branches.” This explains how Jesus chooses to
manifest himself in our lives. How he wants us to develop a dependent
relationship with him. How he wants us to remain in him so that we can bear
much fruit for the glory of God. What does it mean to abide in Christ? How can
we abide in Him? What does it look like to bear fruit for Him?
I REMAINING IN CHRIST
Jesus reminded his disciples
repeatedly about the importance of abiding in Him. In Greek the word Meno was used, it has a range of
meanings: To abide, dwell, keep watch, endure, persevere, to stand firm, or
steadfast, to remain alive, to remain etc. In English “remain” means; “continue
to exist, especially after other similar or related people or things have
ceased to exist. Jesus wants us to
abide or remain in Him because His Word endures forever. Consider these
passages: Luke 21:33, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never
pass away.” Isaiah 55:10-11, “As the
rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for
the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I
desire and
achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
God’s word will accomplish what He
desires and achieves the purpose for which it is sent. God’s word is all
powerful, to change the hard hearted, break the yoke of bondage, heal the sick,
raise the dead, set people free from addictions, perform miracles, lead a skeptic
to faith, encourage a troubled heart, comfort the grieving, encourage the
fearful, lead the seekers and give hope to the hopeless. When I say God’s word
whom am I talking about, is it the Bible?
In the same Gospel of John 1st
Chapter we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were
made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and
that life was the light of all mankind.”
In Vs 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have
seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth.” Who was John talking about here, it was none other
than Jesus.
Jesus is that all powerful, ever
enduring, all convincing, all protecting, all providing and all convicting word
of God. In the passage we read, Jesus is calling us to abide in Him, in other
words study the Word. Jesus is personally not in our midst today, you and I can
never know what Jesus is like, his person and work and his call on our lives
without the Holy Scriptures. That is why it is important that we pick the Bible
and start reading it reverently and with anticipation as it contains the very
words of God. The more you read the more you will come to know God.
The Apostle Paul an ardent reader of
the ancient Hebrew scriptures, someone who was trained by a Harvard professor
of his time, writing to his young disciple Timothy about the power and
inspiration of Scriptures. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for
teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the
servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy
3:16-17.
I can testify firsthand how God’s
word has changed my perspective, pursuits and gave purpose in life. I can build
a strong and compelling argument on the power, and the impact of God’s word, or
I can share the stories of changed lives by God’s word, but none of that is
going to do anything to you, but when you begin to believe and put your trust
in God, and His word, and appropriate his promises, apply his teaching then
your life will be radically transformed.
II. HOW DO WE REMAIN IN CHRIST?
In John 15: 7 we read, “If you abide (remain) in me and my
words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Here
Jesus is laying a path way of success and giving us a key for answers to our
prayers. What does it mean for us to
remain in Him and let his words remain in us? Last fall we spent eight weeks
studying the ten traits of a healthy disciple. One of the traits is that, “The healthy disciple pursues the daily
disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and reflection in the quietness of one’s
personal prayer closet.” Many would agree without hesitation the importance
of discipline in life. We know that
discipline is indispensable if we want to succeed in any field of life. A well-disciplined life is a well-ordered
life.
When we talk about the daily
disciplines of prayer, bible study we can learn a lot from observing the lives
of devoted Muslims. Recently I was given a book titled, “Seeking Allah &
Finding Jesus,” it is the story of Nabeel Qureshi a devout Muslim, how he
encountered Jesus by intensely studying the Bible. It is a fascinating story,
if you want to understand and know what Muslims, believe, their traditions and
how to share the gospel with them, I highly recommend this book. By reading it
I was freshly challenged about my spiritual discipline of reading God’s
word. Let me share how disciplined the
Muslims are when it comes to reading the Quran.
Muslims believe that every single
word of the Quran was dictated verbatim by Allah, (An Arabic name for God)
through the Archangel Gabriel, to Muhammad.
They believe that the Quran has always been exactly the same word for
word, dot for dot. Muslim parents teach
their children to recite the portions of the Quran daily. By age six they will
have read and recited the whole Quran which contains 114 chapters. From that time every year during the thirty
days of Ramadan they read the entire Quran. Can you imagine what a difference
that would make if only Christians are as devoted and disciplined as Muslims when
it comes to reading the Bible?
I want to give a challenge to us
this morning, how has been the discipline of your Bible reading? Is it about
time that you take the bible from the shelf, dust it off and start reading it
daily? Why daily? As how bread is food for our body, God’s word is food for our
soul. Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
comes from the mouth of the Lord. How are we feeding your souls today? A few
practical ways to read and apply the Bible.
Approach God’s word with reverence
and respect as it is precious and Holy. Choose a quiet place and a time,
prayerfully open up the Bible and ask God to speak and guide you through the
passages of scripture. With the illumination of the Holy Spirit discover life
changing truth and principles. Ask God again to give you the grace of obedience
to apply those truths and principles in your life and strength to live
accordingly. If you practice this daily discipline of reading, praying, and
meditating God word then you are indeed abiding in Christ.
Let me close with this analogy from
the parable of the soil and the seed. Our life is like the good soil and the
seed is the word of God. When we accept Christ as our personal savior He plants
the seed of salvation in us. We will nurture that seed through holding on to
the Word, dwelling in it through our daily reading. That seed will grow and
bear much fruit through our obedience to the truth. Coming back to our theme verse, Jesus said, “If you abide (remain) in me and my words
remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you
bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Bearing much
fruit for God means, letting Jesus shine through all the aspects of our lives. It
means, loving our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, and forgiving
them as Christ has forgiven us. It means sharing the good news of the gospel
with our friends, neighbors and at our work place. All that, and much more can
only be accomplished as we abide in Christ. My hope and prayer is that we will cultivate a
well-disciplined life of reading The Bible daily in 2018.
[1] (Excerpted from Come Before Winter
and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc.)
