Abiding In Christ!

.....John 15: 1-8 says, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."

.....This passage of scripture speaks a lot about abiding in Christ. Let's look at this in a human perspective that fits us for today.

.....Suppose a person is weak. He has fallen into temptation and sin. For example - An Addict or An Alcoholic. He has made a real mess of things; and he is on his way down to a degenerate mind and heart, giving up on life, even to the point of suicide. Now suppose that he has a friend of a strong, lovely, and loving nature, who rescues him from his degraded situation. There is only one way in which he can retain his reformation and keep himself on the right path.

How you might ask?

.....He must keep contact with his friend. If he loses that contact; all of his weakness will eventually overcome him. The old temptations will rear their ugly head again, and he will fall. His salvation, ( or victory), lies in his continual contact with the strength of his friend. Many times a down and out person has been helped by someone, and while in their presence was safe, but when they went out on their own, they fell, or messed up.

.....The main point I would like to bring to your attention today is that we must keep in touch with strength of our friend, Jesus Christ. Abiding in Christ means something like what I have just explained. The secret of the strength and life of Jesus was His continuous contact with God. Again and again, He withdrew into a solitary place to meet and commune with Him. We must do the same with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We cannot do this unless we take deliberate steps, and decisions to make make it happen.

.....An example of this would be to set aside a specific time, like first thing in the morning, to pray and devote that time to God through studying His word, establishing your relationship with Him, and gaining focus for what may lay ahead of you for the day. This ultimately allows us to "Walk in the Spirit", not fulfilling the lust of the flesh.

.....For most of us, we will need a constant contact with Him, and a complete lifestyle change. It will mean rearranging our lives completely in such a way that there will never be a day when we give ourselves a chance to forget Him.

.....Our Christian Discipleship Program is about changing men's lives forever and making Disciples for Christ. There are two distinct things about being a disciple:

1. A disciple enriches his own life; his constant contact with God, through Christ, makes him a fruitful branch.

God's expectation for us is to bear fruit, not to produce it. Our faith is known to others through the good deeds that overflow from our character which is developed through Truth, and Relationship.

2. This in turn brings glory to God; the sight of His life in us turns men's thoughts to God, who created us to be in His image and likeness.

For the greatest glory of Christian life is that by our life and conduct, we can bring glory to Him.

.....One thing is clear from this passage of scripture. What Jesus calls us to do is impossible, without Him. Not difficult, not simply a struggle, not just hard, it is impossible. For apart from Him, we can do nothing, not a little, not a few things, but nothing.
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