abiding in Christ

Kids In A Candy Store?

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Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. – 1 John 3:21-22 ESV

1 John 3:11-24

The two verses above sound almost too good to be true. They appear to be giving us some kind of divine carte blanche, providing us with a blank check from God to get whatever we want from Him. All we have to do is ask. Of course, there does appear to be some fine print attached to this too-good-to-be-true promise. John seems to indicate that we have to keep God’s commandments and do what pleases Him. The condition is that I have to live obediently and keep God happy, THEN I can get whatever I want from Him. That explains everything. The reason I don’t get all that I ask for from God is because I fail to measure up. Or is it? Is John saying my behavior is the key to getting what I want from God? A little bit later on, in chapter five, John brings up this matter again. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15 ESV). Did you catch the condition John placed in these verses? “If we ask anything according to his will.” Ah, now it’s all starting to make sense. I just have to figure out what God’s will is, then I can get what I want from Him. But wait a minute. Think about that last statement. God’s will and my desires are, in most cases, not one in the same. What I want and what God wants are not necessarily compatible. In fact, I would say that in most cases, our desires and God’s will are naturally and normally incompatible and at odds with one another. Paul reminds us, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Galatians 5:17 ESV). We have a sin nature, and it is diametrically opposed to the will of God. It has a mind of its own. Its desires are contrary to the desires of God. Earlier in his letter, John warned us about three things that are constantly wreaking havoc in our lives: the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life. The New Living Translation describes them in plain language we can understand – “a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.” So what I want is not always what God wants. And what I ask Him for is not always within His will.

So what is John trying to tell us? What is he teaching us about prayer that we need to know? First of all, he is NOT telling us that we can get whatever we want from God. God is not some kind of a cosmic genie required to grant our every wish. He is holy and righteous. He is sovereign and all-knowing. He is all-powerful and, while He is fully capable of giving us whatever we ask for, He is too loving to do so. He is our heavenly Father and is not going to give in to our every whim and sinful desire. God loves us too much to cater to us. Jesus had this to say about the Father: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11 ESV). But the key seems to be what we ask for must be within His will. So how do we know God’s will? And how do we live obediently, doing what pleases Him? Those things seem to create conditions that make getting what we ask for from God impossible or at least, highly unlikely. As always, context is critical. John has gone out of his way to establish the non-negotiable necessity of abiding in Christ. Jesus Himself established it as the key to fruitfulness. “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” (John 15:5 ESV). Abiding is the key to the behavior that is pleasing to God. God desires fruitfulness. Abiding in Christ makes it possible. But abiding also provides us with an intimate relationship with the Son and the Father that allows us to better know what their will is for us. As we abide, remaining dependent upon and energized by God, we discover what it is that He wants. We learn His will. And we begin to want what He wants. Our desires come in line with His desires. We become less and less driven by cravings for physical pleasure, cravings for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. So what we ask God for becomes increasingly more what He wants and less what we desire. Rather than ask for things that would simply make us happy, we begin to seek those things that would make us holy. Instead of simply asking God to remove the difficulties in our life, we learn to ask Him to use them to make us more like His Son. We begin to ask within His will. Our requests begin to fall in line with what God desires, not what we desire. As we abide in Christ, our hearts are slowly changed to reflect the will of God. So what we ask of Him, we receive. What we desire, He fulfills. Because our wills have come in line with His.

Fulness of Joy.

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And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. – 1 John 1:4 ESV

In the book of First John, the apostle John is writing to believers. He is reminding them of the tlmeless significance of Jesus Christ. Which is why he opens his letter with a reminder of the non-negotiable reality of Jesus’ divinity – “that which was from the beginning” – and his humanity – “which we have heard, which we have seen … and have touched with our hands.” He is unapologetically proclaiming his belief in the incarnation of Christ. He had been a first-hand witness of Jesus’ humanity, having spent three years of his life in close proximity to Him. But John had also seen Jesus put to death and buried in a borrowed tomb. But then three days later, he had personally witnessed Jesus’ miraculous resurrection. He had talked with Him, ate with Him, and then watched as Jesus ascended back into heaven, having just promised to return some day.

John tells his readers, “And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete” (1 John 1:4 ESV). In other words, his purpose for writing the letter was to instill in his readers the same joy he knew and had experienced. God had come in human flesh. Jesus had ended up being far more than John initially perceived or expected. He was more than just a human Messiah or earthly king. He was the Son of God, the Word “that became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 ESV). But it didn’t stop there. Jesus took on “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8 ESV). He had died a sinner’s death on behalf of men. And His death made it possible for men to have a restored relationship with God the Father. John says that truth, that reality should produce in us a joy that is full and complete.

But many believers today lack joy. They have Christ, but their joy seems to be less than full. In John’s estimation, joylessness is nothing less than Christ-lessness. We can have Christ, but not take full advantage of all He has to offer. Instead, we can easily make Christ a means to something else … our happiness, the hope of a better life or even eternal life. But John would have us realize that Jesus is not a means to finding joy, He is our joy. Many today are suffering from spiritual starvation because they are surrounded by information regarding Christ, but fail to ingest it and feed themselves from it. Starvation doesn’t take a complete absence of food, just an inadequate amount of it for survival. I can starve to death standing the aisle of a well-stocked grocery store. The presence of food does me no good if I don’t take advantage of it. I can also starve by eating a steady diet of the wrong things. A diet of Twinkies and Moon Pies will not end well. I may feel full, but I will starve my body of the nutrients it needs to survive and thrive. Many of us as Christians do the same thing with Christ. We seek satisfaction and joy in the wrong places. We turn to something or someone other than Christ for what we need and end up starving to death spiritually.

Perhaps you lack joy because you don’t get enough of Christ. John said that what he was writing would lead to complete joy – full, abounding, full-to-the-brim joy. Jesus Himself made a similar promise when He told His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11 ESV). He had just finished teaching the about what it means to abide in Him. He had told them that fruitfulness would be a direct by-product of abiding or remaining in Him. Because apart from Him, we can do nothing. It would seem that John believed fulness of joy was directly tied to our fulfillment in Christ. Is Christ enough? Or do we require more? Is it not enough that the God of the universe sent His own Son to take on human flesh and die a sinner’s death in our place? Is it not enough the a holy God would provide a means by which sinful men could be made right with Him and enjoy intimate fellowship with Him now and for eternity? Many of us lack joy, because we are not fully satisfied with Christ. We believe He is enough to save us, but not enough to fulfill us and bring us joy – even in the midst of uncertainty, sorrow, pain and suffering. The apostle Paul would have us understand that it is Jesus Christ – God in the flesh – who alone can provide salvation and satisfaction. He prayed, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fulness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19 ESV). Fulness of God brings fulness of joy. Christ is enough. Christ is sufficient. And when we finally realize that truth, we will find true joy.

Day 121 – John 15:1-17

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Fruitfulness and Friendship.

John 15:1-17

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mind that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” – John 15:1-2 NLT

Not only does Jesus desire that His followers fully know Him, and understand the significance of His deity and sovereignty, but He wants them to comprehend their complete dependence upon Him. Here Jesus uses the metaphor of the vine and the branches to help the disciples understand both the intimacy and dependency of their relationship with Him. He illustrates that relationship with the image of a vine and its branches. He repeatedly encourages them to “remain” or “abide” in Him. He lets them know that, just as a branch cannot bear fruit apart from the vine, so they cannot bear fruit apart from Him. But fruitfulness requires abiding or remaining. The greater the degree of intimacy and dependency, the more fruitful the branch will be. The vine will produce fruit through the branch. The branch doesn’t produce the fruit on its own – it simply bears the fruit.

Jesus warns His disciples that constant attachment is required for fruitfulness to occur. Those who choose to disconnect themselves from the life-giving power of Jesus will find themselves living fruitless lives. And eventually, God will prune them from the vine. This is not speaking of a loss of salvation, but sadly, a loss of usefulness. You can be in Christ, yet useless to Him. You can be saved, but refuse to be sanctified, remaining satisfied with the current state of your spiritual life, and neglecting to grow in Christ. But when we remain in Him, He produces His fruit through us. And God, the faithful gardener, prunes and cleanses us in order that we might produce even more fruit. It is when we refuse to remain in and depend on Christ that we lose our fruitfulness. We become severed, so to speak, from the vine and lose our ability to bear fruit. I branch that becomes separated from the vine will never bear fruit, because it has lost its connection with the source of fruitfulness. Jesus said, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NLT). And it is our fruitfulness that reveals or proves the reality of our relationship with Christ.

Jesus makes it clear that one of the greatest expressions of our fruitfulness is our love for one another. In other words, we can’t love the way He requires unless that love is produced by Him through us. Which is why He tells the disciples to “remain in my love” (John 15:9 NLT). Remaining in His love requires remaining that we remain attached to Him, so that He can love through us. A big part of remaining or abiding in Christ is reflected in our obedience to Him. And obedience is a willing submission to His will for us. It is not so much about rule keeping as it is about trust that He knows what is best, and obeying what He tells us to do. Even the capacity to obey Him comes from Him. When Jesus said, “When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love” (John 15:10 NLT), He was not teaching that His love is contingent upon our obedience. In other words, Jesus’ love for us is not conditional. No, our obedience is a reflection of His abiding love for us, flowing through us, creating in us a desire to obey. It also creates in us a desire to love others. “This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you” (John 15:12 NLT). When we abide in Him, His love flows through us and is to be shared with those around us. One of the interesting things about fruitfulness is that it is other-oriented, not self-centered. The fruit produced by a branch is not for the benefit of the branch, but is for others. My fruitfulness is not for me, but for the benefit of others. Think about the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – none of these things are self-directed. They are to be outwardly focused and exist for the good of others. Fruitfulness is about otherness. It is about loving others as we have been loved by Christ. Abiding in Him will result in our ability to love like Him. Even to the point of laying down our lives like He did for us. As branches, we exist for the vine and, ultimately for the gardener. It is God who prunes us in order that we might be increasingly more fruitful. Our job is to remain or abide. We don’t produce the fruit, Jesus does. We simply have to be ready and willing for Him to flow through us. What we end up producing is His work and belongs to those He brings into our path. For the believer, fruitfulness is a non-negotiable. Fruitlessness results in uselessness. A fruitless branch is a useless branch. And we must understand that our fruitfulness is simply the result of our willful desire to remain intimately attached to Jesus so that He can do through us and in us what we could never do on our own.

Father, I want to be fruitful. But I don’t want to try and produce that fruit in my own effort. I want it to be a natural outflow of my intimate relationship with Your Son. I want His love to flow through me. I want His fruit produced as a result of me abiding in Him. I want the fruit of my life to be proof of my relationship with Him. Help me abide. Help me remain completely dependent on Jesus each and every day of my life. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org