John 15:9-17 “How Do I Abide?”

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Last week we started talking about abiding in Christ.

As we heard that gracious command from Jesus to His followers, to abide in me.

To be at home in Jesus.

He is the true vine, remember?

We are the branches.

Life and fruitfulness are always and only in Him.

And this weekend we've had plenty of chances to see branches all over the ground, all over town.

Be reminders to us of how much we need Jesus.

That's what you've all been thinking as you've driven around, right?

That we need to stay connected to Him.

We must.

I've received several helpful comments and questions since last week.

I want to respond to one now and one at the end.

Perhaps the most repeated question that I got this week was,

Really?

I mean, abiding all the time?

And actually I really, really appreciate whatever version of this question you have asked because

it means you're taking Jesus' words seriously.

Abiding, staying, being at home with.

That can't be occasional, right?

It's not a come and go type of relationship.

But do you want your surgeon daydreaming about Jesus mid-surgery, pastor?

That's what someone asked me.

I mean, I can't always be talking to Jesus, right?

I have kids to care for, problems to solve, rockets to launch.

That's right.

Being at home in Jesus doesn't mean that you do no other activity ever, okay?

Jesus sends us out, but He never leaves us.

It's that moment-by-moment walking with Him that we talked about this summer if you were here.

His word, prayer, worshiping together, relationships, all helping us walk with Him, abide in Him,

even while we do other things, lots of other things.

For example, I don't get to be, much as I might like, with my wife 24-7, right?

But we spend time together.

That's really important.

It does take time, time together, so that when we're not together, when I am doing something else,

I still haven't left that primary relationship.

Sometimes I just find myself doing things that I know she will love,

even though she's not right there telling me that in the moment,

like cleaning up the kitchen or getting her coffee or getting my hair cut.

Sometimes I just want to call and share a struggle with her in the middle of the day

and not be alone in it and remember that she loves me.

I just need that.

Sometimes it is simply too busy in the middle of the day to share what we're facing,

but I know that she's there and that she'll be at home at the end of that day, right?

And listen, as wonderful as that is, it's even better in our relationship with God

because he always keeps us, doesn't he?

He never sleeps.

He actually goes with us by his spirit,

whether our minds or emotions are tied up with something else because we're so limited, right?

He is holding us.

And abiding means this.

Abiding means knowing that he's got me,

even in those moments when I am too weak, too human,

to be consciously aware of it.

That's what abiding is.

Have you spent enough time with him to trust him for all the time?

That's Jesus' invitation to abide, okay?

That's what he's inviting you into.

And he wants to unpack the image of branches abiding in the vine a little bit more today,

which is so helpful because this is meant to be practical, not just theoretical.

How does it happen?

This is the essence of life in relationship with God.

It's the way he made us.

How do we live like this?

Let's continue listening to Jesus at verse 9 of John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

God's word.

Jesus says,

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

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.

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

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.

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.

These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Pray with me.

Jesus, we hear your words.

Would we by your Spirit now hear you speaking to our hearts,

shaping us, changing us, making us more like you,

growing our love for you.

Do that work we ask in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanksgiving weekend every year, my family has a special tradition of getting our Christmas tree.

There's a lot of traditions around it.

It happens at halftime of the Iron Bowl,

when the rest of town is busy with something inside.

And we bundle up,

pack all of us into the van with all of the necessary tools,

and go to pick out our Christmas tree from the gorgeous neighborhood Lowe's lot.

We bring it home.

We wrestle it into the tree stand,

while apple cider and hot chocolate are warming,

and sometimes that takes longer than others.

We debate very patiently whether the tree is straight or not every year.

And then, to be honest, we downright argue over white lights or different colors.

That is a tradition.

It's important.

If, if fewer than half of us are crying or angry by this point in the evening,

which is a pretty big if,

we decorate the tree.

And it is always really fun, honestly,

to get out old ornaments,

to tell stories together,

to kick off the Christmas season.

And that night, that Saturday in November,

the tree looks fantastic.

The branches are strong.

They're holding up beautiful lights and ornaments,

just where we put them.

A few festive weeks of this tree we're going to experience,

and then every year,

it will go to the side of the road.

Branches drooping and brittle,

already turning brown.

Not very festive anymore.

Why do we know that?

Even that first special night,

why do we know that those days are numbered for that tree?

Well, it's because it's been disconnected from its source of life, right?

You may be able to decorate it for a few weeks

and make it look fruitful,

but there will be no lasting life and fruit for this tree anymore.

And Jesus is making a similar point about us here.

Because we all long to live beautiful, full lives, don't we?

We want to grow.

We want to change over time.

We want to have an impact.

We want to bear fruit.

All of us do.

But you can't have lasting change.

Real fruit by just hanging some on the exterior of your life.

Doesn't work that way.

Apart from Jesus, he told us last week,

we can do nothing.

Real change, he says, comes from abiding in Christ.

From the inside out.

It's from the root all the way through the fruit.

That is his point.

About the branch having to stay at home in the vine.

His point is there's great hope for anxious people to become peaceful and courageous.

There's great hope for selfish people to be those who bless others.

There's great hope for us to grow into permanently life-giving trees bearing much fruit

if and only if we stay with Jesus.

Right?

Now that's counterintuitive to most of us.

It's not up to us and our own efforts to get better.

I've been told I can improve myself.

It's certainly countercultural.

It's not dig deep.

You've got it in you.

It's not the message.

Let's see how Jesus says it actually works.

He gets a bit more tangible for how we abide in him.

Same overall idea.

Just a couple more specifics.

If you're like me, we need that help.

Thankful for these specific instructions.

First, that abiding in Jesus means abiding in his love.

Which will bear the fruit of sacrificial love in our lives.

Verse 9, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.

Abide in my love.

Can we just slow down there with me for a second?

This short little verse is mind-blowing.

The Father has loved Jesus with full knowledge,

with eternal perfection,

with the complete sharing of all good things,

this Trinitarian love within the God who is love.

He says, just in that way,

Jesus has loved you.

He knows you completely.

And he loves you completely.

So much so that Paul says,

this is a love that surpasses knowledge.

And yet he also prays that we will know

how wide and how long and how high

and how deep is this measureless love

because we are told to abide in it.

To be at home there.

To have this reality that is beyond our full comprehension.

Be the one that shapes our entire lives.

I mean, we sing,

Jesus loves me.

Some of you have been singing that for decades.

Do you marvel at that?

Jesus loves me.

We could sing a million songs about it

and barely scratch the surface

because we have been shown the greatest love.

Right?

Verse 13 says that.

Nothing could be done beyond laying down your life for someone.

You couldn't love them any more than that.

The God who set the galaxies in motion

would descend to give his life for me.

Is that story, that love,

is that home for you?

That, Jesus says, is what will empower you.

It will transform you

and it will give you the power to love one another

as I have loved you.

As you abide in my love,

Jesus says,

the more it becomes home,

you will love others

who are undeserving and need grace.

Who are lonely and they need welcome.

Who are broken and need care.

Several years ago,

the football team at Grapevine Faith High School,

it's a Christian school in Texas,

they were in the middle of a very successful season

and had a game coming up the next weekend

against a winless opponent.

Seemed like a week to relax.

Gainesville State was coming to their stadium.

A team of kids

from a maximum security correctional facility

who hadn't won a game.

And Grapevine Faith's coach had an idea.

He gathered some parents

and started talking about what it could look like

to show the love of Jesus

to young men that most people had given up on

and stopped cheering for.

Here was the idea.

What would it look like

to love them the way Jesus loves us?

That's what they talked about.

Here's what happened.

Before the game,

over 200 faith fans

made a tunnel for the Tornadoes.

That's the other team

to run through into the stadium.

Then they went and sat

in their stands

on their side of the field.

They learned the names

of the players from the other team

and cheered for them by name.

You can read about it on ESPN.com.

That means it really happened.

Coach Hogan's message

that he wanted the opposing players

to receive.

Quote,

You are just as valuable

as any other person

on planet Earth.

Sounds like a message from Jesus,

doesn't it?

One Gainesville player said

that people were usually afraid of them

and looked at them as criminals

when they came into the game.

But he said,

These people were yelling for us

by our names,

cheering for us

to tackle their kids.

Grapevine Faith won the game.

Then they gathered at midfield

to pray

when Isaiah,

the quarterback of Gainesville,

asked if he could lead.

And he prayed,

Lord,

I don't know how this happened,

so I don't know how to say thank you.

But I never would have known

there was so many people

in the world

that cared about us.

Surprised, wasn't he?

Surprising.

Self-sacrificing love

like God's love.

I don't know what the fruit of love

will look like exactly

in your life.

Maybe your grace group

reaches out to a widow.

Maybe your friend group

welcomes a kid

who doesn't fit

with anybody else

to go to homecoming with you.

Maybe your family

adds a foster child,

adopts a college student,

helps a neighbor,

I don't know.

But the more you find yourself

at home

in the undeserved,

unconditional,

unending love of Jesus,

the more you will love others.

That's why we say

experience grace.

Breathe it in

and then express grace.

Breathe it out.

It's not complicated,

but it's not natural either.

It is divine fruit

grown only God's way

by abiding inside out.

Don't try to change

any other way.

His power

is so much stronger

than our willpower

to just do it.

He changes us

and bears this fruit

in us.

Abiding in Jesus' love

is really the headline

here in this passage.

In some ways,

these other two points

are subsets of that,

but they do stand

on their own too.

So let's ask,

where else

can we be at home?

Can we rest our minds?

Can we find our lives

shaped to other

things you can do?

Abiding

in Christ's word

produces

beautiful obedience.

Jesus already told us this

in John chapter 8

John 8 · chapter mention

that true disciples

abide

in his word.

They stay

in his teachings.

They meditate

on his instructions.

And now here

in these final instructions,

he highlights

the mutual abiding.

Abiding in me,

verse 7,

involves my words,

abiding in you

so that you do them.

Verse 10 says,

that is part

of abiding in my love

just like Jesus

abides in his father's love

and obeys his father,

everything his father

sent him to do.

This is repeated

throughout the scripture,

that the word of Christ

should dwell in us

richly

so that our life

together

as God's people

is shaped

by his word.

That we're to hide

God's word

in our hearts.

Why?

So that we might not

sin against him

because his word

is a lamp

to our feet

and a light

to our path.

So abiding

in his word

means reading it,

yes?

It means meditating

on its direction

for my life,

memorizing it

so that I hear it

through my head

throughout the day

even when my hands

don't have a Bible

in them

in that moment.

It's okay to put it down

but you can still hear it,

right?

Young people,

memorize God's word

now while it

sticks with you

for your entire life.

There's nothing else

that will bear such fruit

in your life

as you grow up

but older people

you can memorize too.

It's not too late.

Just remember

that Jesus isn't talking

about some

robotic relationship.

Automatic,

cold obedience.

Every time we know

what we're supposed to do,

we do it.

Is that your experience?

Not usually.

No, this is

in the context

of love.

love.

A loving relationship

with him

where we are eager

to follow his words.

In fact,

verse 15,

I told you,

my friends,

everything that God

wanted.

You've got all my words.

We're friends.

And I chose you

to bear lasting fruit

so that when you ask

for anything

like to change you,

God,

make me new,

make me different,

help me obey,

then in time

I will do that.

It's lasting fruit.

Isn't that great encouragement?

The fruit will abide too.

It'll have a lasting impact.

It's not the kind

that looks good

for a few weeks

but is really dead inside.

You can put that kind

on your life

and pretend

for a little while.

Now this is the kind

of obedience

that is beautiful,

that adorns

the gospel,

that inspires others,

not shames them

because it grows

inside out

from a love for Jesus

and his design

for my life.

What does he want me

to do?

So imagine,

for example,

you sit with God's word

and you hear Jesus saying,

do not worry

about what you will eat

or drink

or wear.

And for many of us,

if we're honest,

our first thought is,

you know,

you know,

Jesus,

as great as it sounds

not to be worried,

as much as I would like

not to battle anxiety

about my appearance

every day.

Come on,

Jesus.

If I don't,

if I don't worry

at all

about my clothes,

about what I'm going

to look like,

about the things

that I will wear,

no one will like me.

I'll be worthless,

left out.

Can I just handle

this one,

Jesus?

I know how

to handle clothes.

How does abiding

in God's word

change that worried,

anxious heart

over time?

Well,

we hear Jesus

reminding us,

your heavenly Father

knows what you need.

Oh,

listen,

I grieve

when you are cast

aside by others

because you are

so precious.

so you need

to know

that even if

everyone else

discards you,

even if your own

mother forgets you,

yet I will not

forget you.

In fact,

I have engraved you

on the palms

of my hand.

And you hear Jesus

say that,

and when that reality

of being beloved

like that

becomes home

for you,

in other words,

when that takes

hold of your life,

it is beautiful.

beautiful.

You know it,

you've seen it

in people.

You've seen a peaceful,

kind,

humble presence

in the friend group,

right?

Not an anxious,

envious,

desperate friend

fighting for attention

all the time,

knocking everybody

else down.

No.

What do I do

to be abiding

in Christ?

Soak in his words

so that seed

sinks deep.

Ask him

to shape your life

by it.

Pray that he will

make your life

beautiful in a world

that is often full

of ugly fruit.

This fruit,

this obedience,

it doesn't graft you

into the vine,

right?

But it does show

that you are

crafted in,

that you have

the life of the vine

coursing through you.

One more way

to abide in Christ.

Abide in his joy.

And the fruit

will be full joy.

What I think Jesus

means by that word

full

is not

pretend

superficial happiness

like lights

on a dead Christmas tree

for a few weeks,

but deep,

lasting,

full joy

perhaps beyond

what we imagine

it could be like.

Listen to this

mutual abiding again.

It's amazing.

Verse 11.

These things

I have spoken to you

that my joy

may be in you

and that your joy

may be full.

This is,

this is wild.

But listen to how

serious Jesus is

about our abiding.

vine and branches

so closely connected

that we listen

to his word.

That we,

we revel

in his love

and we find

that his joy

is inside of us.

I'm not sure

I can fully describe

this joy

of Jesus

to you,

but it,

it has to do

with the mysterious

relationship

between father

and son

and spirit

into which

we are being

invited.

See,

we know

that Jesus'

joy is not

based on

happy circumstances

and everything

going well

because it was

for the joy

set before him

that he did what?

Endured

the cross.

His joy,

I think we certainly

understand here,

involves obedience

to his father.

And it must have

involved their

rescuing us

and bringing us

into that

relationship,

the joy

set before him.

He delights

in you,

in you sharing

in that relationship.

See,

it's a joy

that knows

no matter what

happens,

even death

on a cross,

good is coming

from his loving

father.

It's a joy

that feels

a certainty

that satisfaction

in God's

provision

is more

fulfilling

than anything

the world

offers.

It's a joy

that trusts

God's

eternal

inheritance

with the

Holy Spirit

as down payment.

That relationship

with him

and his presence

forever

is more

lasting

than any

other relationship.

That joy

has got

to get

deep

inside

us.

how?

When you

wake up

and sit

in my

presence,

Jesus says,

when you

come with

honest tears

and heartache

and you

open my

word

and you

open your

heart to

me,

Jesus says,

here's how

it happens,

I will

pour

my joy

into

you.

A joy

that comes

from knowing

you are the

apple of my

eye,

the delight

of my

heart,

the ones

for whom

I came

to give

my life

so that you

could share

in the greatest

thing ever,

this relationship

of life

with me

and my

Father.

I've given

you that

great love

so that my

joy can

start to

fill your

heart so

that your

joy will

be full

because nothing

else can fill

you up like

that.

There's no

other way

that you'll

get full

joy.

So when

your kid

wanders

away,

when your

house burns

down,

when your

co-workers

mock you,

you hurt

and you

grieve,

but you

rejoice

in every

season,

every reason,

right,

to praise

the Lord,

to trust

his faithfulness,

to experience

the fullness

of his joy

and that is

beautiful

and that is

unusual

and that is

curiosity

producing

fruit

because the

very life

of Jesus

is coursing

through your

veins,

his love,

his word,

his joy

flowing into

you and

overflowing

from you

over and

over and

over,

it pours

out of

you.

Leads me to

think of a

really thoughtful,

honest question

someone sent me

this week,

I'll close with

this.

In my words,

he asked,

what do I do

if I'm not as

joyful about

abiding

as I should

be?

this guy said

he's heard

his whole

life about

the joy

and value

of this

close

relationship

with Jesus

but he

often finds

himself more

excited by

other fun

things.

First of all,

can we admit

that we all

know that

feeling?

What really

seems exciting

today when I

wake up is

college football.

It's making

money,

it's Pinterest,

it's whatever

it is.

And y'all,

our hearts

have been

conditioned

to delight

in other

things.

We are

bombarded

with messages,

ads,

stories telling

us that joy

is found in

something else,

in someone

else.

It is the

air that we

have been

breathing our

entire lives.

So we should

expect that it

will take time

for our lungs

to be cleared

out,

for our

hearts to be

renewed,

for our

broken joy

seekers to

be reset

to true

north.

My advice,

and I believe

Jesus'

direction here,

is don't

settle for

those lesser

joys,

but at the

same time,

don't try to

force external

joy.

pretend

happiness,

fake

satisfaction.

That's not

what he's

calling us

to.

You're not

in charge

of fruit

production.

You're

invited,

what?

To abide.

To abide

in him.

And I know

that can seem

self-defeating.

I mean,

come on,

pastor,

that's the

only thing

you've told

me to do,

and I told

you I'm

struggling to

do that,

so what

else do I

do?

Y'all,

that is

surrendering.

Surrendering

control to

an all-powerful,

all-gracious,

all-good

God.

Jesus says

it's not joy

actually that

you seek,

it's me,

and you

actually get

me.

I make my

home in you.

We abide

mutually.

I even call

you my

friend,

and for the

rest of

eternity,

your delight

in me

grows as

you see

me more

clearly.

It's okay

that you're

not totally

there today.

Keep walking

with me.

Keep abiding

in me.

You allow

your heart

to be

overwhelmed

by his

sacrificial

love for

someone like

you who

is so

often

unlovely

and yet

is so

often

loved

so

extravagantly.

That's

what you

do.

You

contemplate

his

life-giving

words

that don't

like so

many others

heap a

burden on

you to

change and

fix yourself

and yet

at the

same time

promise to

change you

completely

from the

inside out

and to

make you

into the

glorious

creation

that he

made you

to be.

You

taste his

overflowing

joy in

bringing you

to his

father,

in sustaining

you through

the trials

of life,

in having

you live

with him

forever in

the light

of his

presence and

that's his

delight and

you taste

that and

I don't

know how

many years

from now

it will be

when you'll

feel you

really delight

in abiding

in Christ

the way

that you

should.

I don't

know.

But I

know whenever

it is you'll

have an

eternity of

years ahead

to keep

enjoying that

savior.

Let's pray.

Jesus,

grow our

delight,

help our

joy,

reset our

hearts.

love our

hope.

We won't

look anywhere

else.

We come to

you and we

trust you and

we need your

help because we

are so prone to

wander.

Keep us as

you've promised.

Grow us,

change us,

make our

delight overflow

to many others.

We ask in

your name.

Amen.

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information,

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southwood.org.