1.2 Abide in Me
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Abide in Me. Abide in Me and I in you (John 15:3). Consider these words carefully, in their context. 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 (John 15:5-6).
Jesus seems to place everything for us upon this one command. I have placed this most important commandment in the Bible as part of the “tenth” most important verse, not because it is the last, but because it must come after all the others, for it is the only obedience that makes all the other verses ours.
No Other Commandment. Abide in Me and I in you. There is no other commandment in the Bible. As we keep this commandment we find the Lord Jesus Christ Himself fulfilling the entire Bible in our lives. Yet those who fail to keep this commandment, though they “keep” all other commandments in the Bible, live only separated from Christ in their minds and do not know God.
Inside of “Abide in Me and I in you” we find everything that is of God. Outside of our personal abiding IN Jesus, everything is all wrong for us, including every word in the Bible.
A College “Quiz.” When I was in college, one of our teachers gave us a “quiz.” It was a page of little things to do, such as “write the date on the top left corner of your paper,” or “circle the word ‘because.’” The test was timed; we all attacked it earnestly. The directions said, “Read all the questions before you begin.” Well, I followed the directions. The last item on the quiz said. “Do not do anything except #1: ‘Write your name.’” I happily obeyed #1 and sat back laughing at all the other students but one who were busy, busy, busy, doing all that the test said to do.
The rest did all the questions correctly and failed the whole purpose of the quiz.
Divided Christians. Inside of all who name the name of Jesus is a great divide. The majority seem to give little thought to how we abide in Jesus and how Jesus abides in us. For myself, whenever I read anything that does not place us utterly inside of Jesus and Jesus in every part of us, that does not see all things out from Christ alone, I am uninterested.
Yet inside of those who do consider abiding in Jesus and He in us, we find another great divide. Some assert that we abide in Christ through faith, through believing that what God says is true, that God Himself has already placed us into Christ. But others say, “No, God also expects our own performance.”
Works – or Faith? And so many define “abiding” by some human ability, some personal effort to “get the flesh under control,” or to “get rid of an ‘Adamic’ nature.” Others look for “someday” when they will finally walk “in” Jesus and Jesus “in” them, someday, after they have done –? Who knows what they must accomplish first; they do not, no matter how strong their foreheads might be. They will not first believe that they are already IN Christ and Christ IN them.
But Paul says that Jesus lives in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17). And John says that we are in Him through faith. We know that means today; now is the day of salvation (1 Corinthians 6:2). – Today if you will hear His voice… (Hebrews 3:15).
Today. Today we abide in Christ and Christ abides in us.
In that day you shall know that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you (John 14:20). Today is that day. Today we believe that God is telling us the truth. Today we know, today we see that everything that we are right now in this world is IN the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus Christ fills every particle that we are. Absolute and today.
Abide in Me and I in you. There is no other commandment in the Bible, and even this word is not a command; it is an invitation only.
What Do You Want? What do you want? This is the most important question in the Bible. Jesus asked it over and over. “What do you want?”
I know what I want; I believe you want the same. When Jesus stands in the full revelation of His glory upon this earth, I will be found only IN Him, just like Him in all ways, His glory revealed IN me. I want to know God. I want to know Jesus Christ whom God has sent. Therefore, I will not see myself anywhere but inside of the Lord Jesus and Jesus inside of me in all the knowledge of God.
What do you want?
Eternal Life. Jesus said, “Seek and you will find.” We know Jesus’ words are not hypothetical. He was not referring to “maybe someday.” Everyone finds what they seek. In the end, everyone will have from God precisely what they want. What do you want?
The goal of the believer is zoe aeonian, the life of the age to come in us today. There is one definition only of zoe aeonian, “eternal life,” in the Bible and that is John 17:3. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. Eternal life is NOT anything else except: – To know God. – To know Jesus-Sent.
A Different Direction. Now, you can see that I seem to be going in a different direction than many Christians would go in giving my own answer to the deepest levels of “What do you want?” As we have seen, because of the “most important verse in the Bible” in the minds of most Christians, that Jesus is far away, “in heaven,” most Christians assume that “going to” heaven after we die must be the goal of salvation. They assume that heaven is our “home,” and that “eternal life” means living forever “in heaven” with no relationship with the physical side of God’s creation.
Yet I am asserting that I want ALL that “eternal life” means, right here on this earth and right now in this age!
Man at the Center. But here is the problem. In the thinking of most, everything is centered on man, how sinful man is, what man does or doesn’t do, how God is going to rescue, at least a few of these wayward humans. And how these “rescued” humans are going to be happy forever. God Himself is distant, cold almost, certainly not Someone whom any human might know personally except maybe some “high and lofty” personage like Moses. And in the end, all the stated explanations of “The PURPOSE Of GOD for man” reduce down to one small concept – that humans will be happy.
Few seem to consider what God might want for Himself.
Does God Desire? Does God Himself want something He does not possess?
How could that be? Isn’t part of God’s “definition” the fact that He is completely self-sufficient and has no “need” for anything outside of Himself? But consider these two lines: This is eternal life, that they might know You, the only true God. – This is the Covenant that I will make (with them) …all shall know Me.
God is invisible; God cannot be seen or known by anyone. If God cannot be known by anyone on the one hand, but desires to be known by all on the other hand, then it is evident that God desires something that He does not presently possess. God desires to be seen and known, touched and handled.
Is God Lowly of Heart? Then consider these words, spoken by the Man who said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” – “I am meek and lowly of heart.”
Is God meek and lowly of heart? Does God desire that those whom He has created would know His tender heart? That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life (1 John 1:1). Does God desire to be touched and handled, and to touch others, that all may know Him?
Relationships, Not Display. Let me explain further. If I build a row of houses, putting all of my skill and knowledge, with unlimited resources, into those houses, each showcasing a unique style, then I can take visitors through that row of houses and they can see my skill and artistic vision. Those houses would glorify me. That is what most believe that God’s purpose for man is. They are seeing backwards, leaving God Himself out in the cold.
Sure, I would take pleasure in your enjoyment of my outward ability – but those things are not my heart. Those things show only a few of the outer parts of my person. What I desire most is friends who know me, who walk with me, who share my interests and concerns. What I want most is relationships of the heart and the tenderness of touch.
What Does Jesus Mean? There are so many, many verses, especially in the New Testament, that just do not fit inside the paradigm of most Christian thinking. How is that possible?
What does Jesus mean when He says, “Abide in Me and I in you?” What does He mean by branches being taken out and burned? Is there a knowing of God and the Bible that is found ONLY by living inside the Person of the Lord Jesus and He inside of us? Do all these darkened “Christian definitions” come from those who were removed from Christ, branches cut off and withered, because they would not live inside of Jesus?
Father at the Center. Let us rather place God Himself, the Father, at the center of all our definitions, what Father desires, what Father intends to have for Himself out from this whole thing called creation.
God created man in His own likeness and image for a definite purpose, a purpose entirely God’s. And He created man fully of heaven and fully of earth both at the same time and all intermingled. Yet man in the beginning was not God’s intention for man in the end. And human iniquity cannot turn God from obtaining His purpose. God has no “Plan B.”
If we are willing to look, we will find God’s true purpose all through the Bible and with it, those specific verses that rule.