27th June 2022 – John 15:7-16
7 "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."
John 15:6-17
The nature of the union that is effected between Christ and the believer is likewise implied in the words 'abide in Me', for henceforth, life consists of taking the life-giving nourishment of Christ to ourselves. This is expressed in various ways in these verses, as continuing, or abiding, in His love (9, 10), and as being 'friends' with Jesus (15). Love to Christ, friendship with Him, that kind of abiding that kind of union, it is this that should help us to understand the true nature of our relationship with Christ, and how it is maintained. For in any friendship, it is not the protestations of friendship that keep it going, but the moral attitudes and actions involved in it. We are loyal to our friends; we see 'eye to eye' with them in the major issues; there is a community of spirit between us; we have things in common. Thus Jesus says in 10, 'If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love.' Obedience is the heart and touchstone of abiding. That is to say, 'abiding' is a moral question, rather than a mystical one. We do not say, 'I feel as if I am abiding in Christ' or 'I do not feel as if I am abiding in Him'. We are, or we are not, dependent upon our obedience to His commands.
We see here the connection with the idea of the cleansing and pruning action of the Word. The Word summons us to obedience, and when it is having its way in us it produces obedience to Him and this is how abiding is maintained. To walk in unbroken fellowship with the Son of God is to walk in obedience to His Word. Abiding in Him, and His Word abiding in us (7) are correlatives. They belong together being two sides of the same reality.
26th June 2022 – John 15:1-6
15 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.…
25th June 2022 – John 15:1-6
15 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.…
24th June 2022 – John 15:1-6
15″ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already…
23rd June 2022 – John 15:1-6
15 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.…
22nd June 2022 – John 15:1-6
15 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.…
21st June 2022 – John 14:18-31
18 ““I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day…
20th June 2022 – John 14:18-31
18 ““I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day…
19th June 2022 – John 14:18-31
18 ““I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day…
18th June 2022 – John 14:18-31
18 ““I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day…