Eternity is now in session. We are wrapping up a five-week series in which we have tried to understand that eternity doesn’t start way out there after we die, eternity and eternal life and the abundant life starts now, we can have it now. Following Jesus is not about getting us into heaven later, that will happen soon enough, but it’s about getting heaven into us now. And when heaven moves into us, when eternal life moves into us, when Jesus moves into us, it changes everything.
Today I want to take you a little deeper. I want you to imagine a life that we could have, that many of us don’t have, but a life that we should have if we follow Jesus.
In one of the last talks that Jesus gave to his disciples he tried to explain to them that the life that they were doing together - Jesus and his disciples - Jesus and his followers - what they were doing together on the earth - walking together - would continue on even though he would be gone.
John 14:18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
The physical absence of Jesus was never to be mistaken that he had abandoned them or us. The relationship simply changes; “you will be in me and I will be in you.”
Wouldn’t it have been amazing to have walked with Jesus, physically, in the flesh while he was on this planet? I would never want that to go away.
I mean, every day getting up, asking Jesus what was on the agenda that day, where they would be going and what they would be doing. And every day you knew that there would be something out of the ordinary, something you’d never heard before, something you’d never seen before, happening with Jesus.
And not only that think about the amazing comfort or safety it must have been like to be in the presence of Jesus. No matter what situation Jesus ever found himself in you would have known secretly, “he’s got this one, I don’t know how he’s got it, but I know he’s got it.” Somehow you would always know that it’s going to be all right when you’re with Jesus, the man from heaven.
- Like when they would meet out of control demon possessed people. Even though it was scary you knew that Jesus was going to drop a load of heaven on that guy.
- Even when you were scared to death on a boat in a storm you knew somehow Jesus was going to get you out of this thing.
- Even when tensions were running high because of bunch of ambitious political and religious people were in your face you knew Jesus was going to outsmart them.
- Even when the most desperate case of disease came before you… There was Jesus.
- In every single need that you could experience… There was Jesus.
How cool that would be.
It wasn’t just witnessing is awesome power but it was all the personal Access you had to the things that he said, the words that he spoke, the parables that he offered up. Even though you may not understand everything that he said you just knew that whatever he said was the way to go because he was Jesus!
And being around Jesus every day, and knowing that he knew everything about you and yet he still loved you and you are experiencing this magnificent thing called grace - and even though you knew you were of little faith or you still had a big mouth or some sin was still entangling you… There was Jesus, still walking with you, still talking to you, still inviting you to participate in his mission to change the world.
I think that being around Jesus at that level I would be amazed, always feel safe, and peace, and be anxious free, and always know that even if I didn’t have the answers I was with somebody who did, somebody who could do something about the problems. That would be awesome!!
You might say that the disciples lived a life of abiding with Jesus or staying with Jesus.
Well, Jesus is about to tell his disciples that even though he is going to go away this relationship of being with him is not going to end.
There’s going to be a key word in this passage of Scripture that were going to read; it is the word “abide.” Not a word that we use a lot today but look for it in this Scripture. There is something tremendously important about this word abide and abiding will deliver to you something more.
John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
Jesus uses this illustration of how this relationship is going to work not just with his disciples but with all of his followers. In our relationship with Jesus he will be the vine; the vine, in a plant, is what produces life, is what sustains life, is what provides life to the rest of the branches of a plant. So Jesus is taking responsibility to give life… “I will be the life giver and the relationship.”
But he goes on…
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 you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Now Jesus introduces the branches. You and I, as we follow Jesus, would be a branch connected to the vine. The branches are dependent upon the vine, the branches get their ability to produce, grow and live from the vine and any branch that is not connected to the vine is dead.
This is a very simple analogy.
And now he gets to the word “abide”….
4 Abide in me, and I in you.
“I want to live in you, and I want you to live in me.” I want to stay with you and I want you to stay with me. I want to make my home in you and I want you to make your home in me.
Jesus is now defining the ongoing relationship that he will have with his followers. It will be a relationship where we will be attached to Jesus (abiding in him) and he will be attached to us and will abide in us.
He further defines this…
As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 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. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Once again Jesus is defining the fact that he is the vine and he is the life giver and he is the source of life. Our connection to him produces something called fruit; fruit is the joy we get staying connected Jesus and it’s the joy others get because we are connected to Jesus.
The focus of this passage? Stay connected to Jesus.
Notice that without a connection to Jesus the branches just withering away.
Abiding is you being with Jesus so that you can receive from Jesus all the nourishment and the good and the life so that you can thrive.
Jesus continues with an astounding promise;
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.
Jesus starts by saying, “stay with me, stay close to me, live with me.”
And then he adds, “let my words stay in your heart, find a home in your heart.”
And that will result in us asking for things in prayer that will get done.
But that’s not even all of what abiding will do…
He says to abide or to be at home in his love. He wants his love to surround us. But notice that being swaddled in his love has something to do with keeping his commandments. Listen, his commands are not a threat to our way of life, they are a path to the good life!
And then he ends by saying that the life of abiding with him will mean that we have the joy of Jesus, fullness of joy.
Nine times Jesus uses the word abide.
So you can see that if you can unpack what this abiding in Jesus life looks like there are huge benefits and blessings and you will also live out the purpose of your life.
So let me unpack it just a little bit.
I mentioned how fantastic it would be to have been a disciple in the presence of Jesus all the time. How exciting that would be, how comforting that would be, how safe that would be and how dynamic that would be. And when you’re with Jesus you know you are participating in the Jesus story… And the Jesus story is the greatest story on the planet.
And now Jesus is inviting us into that very lifestyle - that even though he is not physically present on this planet we can still be with him all the time and he will still be with us. We can still be part of the Jesus story. We can still be in the presence of Jesus.
Let me put it this way; if you believe that Jesus is great, if you believe that Jesus is always right, if you believe that Jesus is the highest wisdom in the world, if you believe Jesus loves you, if you believe that there is nothing impossible with Jesus, then wouldn’t it make sense that you would want to be with him all the time? Wouldn’t you want to face your next crisis with Jesus? When you want to face your next big decision with Jesus?
Well, Jesus is inviting you to abide in him - to connect with him - to walk with him every day - to be in him and him to be in you - to live in his house. And also to open your heart and mind and soul that he might live in you.
Let me paint it this way…
I have a home, I have a wife, I have three kids, I have four grandkids. My life is centered around my home and these relationships. Nearly every decision I make in life these relationships come into play. These people are always present in my life. They are always in my mind and they are always in my heart. You could say that I’m abiding with them, I am close to them, I am at home with them and they are at home with me. There is nothing that we don’t do together somehow. And these relationships are mutually benefiting - I am for them, and they are for me.
Jesus is inviting you into that kind of a relationship with himself. A relationship where you are living in his house, you are living with him on your mind, a relationship where he is able to pour abundant life into you and you will experience what it means to walk with Jesus in the same dynamic way that the disciples did.
This is possible.
This is the way it can be.
This is the way it should be.
But it’s not the way most of us are doing it.
I remember many years ago this is how I wanted my relationship with Jesus to be. I wanted him to be my vine and I wanted to be his branch, I wanted him to be in me and I wanted to be in him and I would just get down on my knees and pray these desperate prayers that I could just be good enough.
And then one day it changed. The Holy Spirit led me to see that a branch on a tree didn’t need to try to be a part of the tree, it just needed to receive what the tree gave it. In other words, I needed to stop trying so hard to be a good Christian and I just needed to surrender to the vine and let Jesus pour into my life what I needed to have. I needed to stop trying to earn my keep in his house and just enjoy being part of the family.
Imagine your kids trying to earn your love all the time. That’s just not the way it works.
When I figured it out it made a lot of difference.
Jesus has a special place, a special relationship with us while we are alive on this earth that is unlike any other relationship. And in it we are safe. We are all right. It’s walking with Jesus and knowing, “he’s got this.”
Let me get practical and just talk for a minute about how we are to develop this relationship and make the theoretical happen.
I just want to give you one practical thing to do.
Every relationship in our life is either living because we are investing in it or they are dying because we are neglecting it. When I first started dating my wife I couldn’t invest enough. I did all the little things, I did all the big things, I did all the in between things to keep that relationship alive. She didn’t become part of my life by accident, it was on purpose.
Walking with Jesus and abiding in him also needs attention.
If you are not close to Jesus, if what I’m talking about to you today is really foreign to you, maybe your spiritual practices are not doing enough.
I know some people who have these muscle cars. They are so careful about what they put into that muscle car. Only a certain kind of oil and only the right kind of gas.
And I know some people who are bodybuilders. They are so careful about what they put into their bodies; certain kinds of proteins, certain kind of carbs and all kinds of supplements.
And then I know some people who say they follow Jesus who are very disciplined about what they let into their heart and into their head. The word of God and prayer and solid Bible teaching and positive music are the diet that they live on.
But then again I know some people who say they follow Jesus and just let anything, anyone, come flowing into their life and their heart and their head. They have little spiritual growth plan outside of a Sunday morning church.
The things that we say and do all day long testify to whose house were living in, and to what God we are walking with. Negativity, greed, fearfulness coming out of my heart testifies that I’m living in a “not good” environment.
The evidence of fruit. The route that is feeding you will develop the fruit coming out of you.
So let’s change our diet. Let’s change what were connected to.
Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
David first says that is going to change his diet; he’s gonna remove the fat, the saturated stuff, the no good high sugary content, the low nutritional stuff in the greasy food out of his diet. In other words…
- He’s getting no more counseling from people whose life is sold out to doing bad.
- He’s not hanging around anymore with those who don’t value who Jesus is.
- He’s not going to let scoffers, the doubters, the mockers, the fearful be his vine any longer.
The threefold secret sauce here is; a decision to leave something, a decision to add something, and the inevitable results that follow.
What replaces that is the “law of the Lord.” The person in Psalm 1 is now sitting down and meditating and delighting in a new source of information.
A life-giving source of information.
A life living source of information.
A life-changing source of information.
A life building source of information.
A source of information that is pointing him upward and doing something to him inwardly and it is producing fruit outwardly.
He is planted by fresh stream of water.
Ephesians 3:16 …according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…
Jesus wants to dwell in your heart. Have you made some room for him? Have you made room for heaven to get into you? Don’t you want to experience of life of walking with him?
