John 15:4
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me”.
John 15: 6
“If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned”.
There is a common phrase in Christianity that ‘Abide in Christ’ or live in Christ.
In the first 16 verses of this chapter there are 11 times this word ‘abide’ (in Greek- Meno) appears. In the book of 1 John, there are 24 times this word ‘abide’ appears.
What does it mean to say that we must live in Christ to be called a Christian?
Living in Christ is not optional- but it’s very proof that we are born again and a part of Christ’s body, the Church.
Verse 6 says, if we do not abide in Christ, we are unbelievers, who do not want to be a part of this true vine (Christ).
Simply being religious is not living in Christ. Coming to the church, singing a few songs, reading the Bible, preaching a few sermons or any such religious activities or putting on a religious costume will never make us live in Christ.
Living in Christ means, living like a branch in a tree. Perpetual dependence, until the end!
It’s talking about a new lifestyle, a day to day walk of life.
Please find below three steps to make sure that we are living in Christ.
A. LOOK TO CHRIST
Every day we look at many things in life. What we look at is our aim in life and our destination. We are not aimless. What we are today is because of what we looked at. Someone looks for more comfort in life. Someone looks for more money. Someone looks for acceptance and authority. Someone looks for prosperity and positions in this world
We look at our problems, we look at politics, we look at our economy, we look at ourselves for different reasons. Whatever we look at brings different effects in our life. Some bring fear, some bring anxiety, some bring happiness, and different emotions depending on what we behold.
But the Bible commands us to look at Jesus.
Hebrews 12: 2 “ fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.
Hebrews 12:3 “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart”
Looking at Jesus will not bring fear or anxiety in us. But it will bring hope and boldness in our life. We will be confident and courageous. Life will have meaning. God’ Word brings life to someone who is dry and living in darkness.
1) Look to Him for Salvation.
We see in Numbers 21, a situation where Israel was opposing Moses and Aaron thereby rebelling with God and God sent fiery serpents amongst them and they were bitten by them. They all cried to Moses and God. God commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass and asked him to lift it on a pole and said whoever is bitten by the serpent and look upon it will live.
In John 3:14-15 Jesus referenced himself to this as “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
Jesus was lifted upon the cross in Calvary for the whole world to be saved. Any worst sinner can receive absolute forgiveness by looking unto Jesus in a moment if he repents and believes. Whoever listens to God and receives the Gospel into heart and seeks for salvation will receive the gift of God.
2) Look to him in the storms
In Matthew 14, we see an incident where Peter was sinking in the sea and Jesus stretched out his hands to pick him up from drowning.
When we go through the storms of life we need to look up on to Him. There are situations when no human wisdom would help us. No man will be able to help us no matter how powerful or influential they are. Only God could help us.
3) Look to Him for strength to endure.
Our Lord Jesus Christ showed us a perfect way to live a human life that is both satisfying on earth and be well pleased before the Father. He is the author and finisher of our faith. The life that He lived on earth very well explains how we need to conduct our day to day life.
Gethsemane shows the submission of our Lord- Calvary shows the suffering of our Lord- finally the empty tomb reminds us of the Victory of our Lord.
B. LEARN FROM CHRIST
Life is full of studies. Ever since we were children we have been taught to study. We spend our time, health, money, energy and all resources to get good education and training. All for one purpose, to get a good job or physically and materially settled down. Actually speaking, the subjects we studied academically are of no much use directly to our day to day life. The science we studied, the advanced mathematics we were taught or the literature studies we had done will never give us enough wisdom to tackle the daily problems of our personal, family or social life.
If we had spent at least half an hour in God's Word daily from our childhood and meditated them with the same passion that we had shown for doing our daily school home works, I tell you, our life would have been different now. We would have had enough heavenly wisdom to live a much fruitful life.
Learn every day from the life of Jesus. Apply them into our life in different situations.
Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.
Learn from His humility- Philippians 2:5-8
Learn from His obedience- Philippians 2:8/ Hebrews 5:8
Learn from His submission- John 6:38
Learn from His compassion- Matthew 9:36
Learn from His Endurance- Hebrews 12:2-3
Learn from His dependence on the Father- John 5:19
C) LEAN ON CHRIST
Life has a way of reminding us how fragile we are. Responsibilities pile up. Unexpected storms come. Prayers seem delayed. In those moments we often try to stand in our strength only to discover how limited we truly are.
Lean on Christ- not occasionally, not partially, but completely!
1) Christ is a sure foundation
The Bible says a Christian must be rooted in Christ (Colossians 2:7). Foundation is the invisible part of a building. No matter how huge or attractive the building is, it's foundation is more important than the superstructure. This talks about the private hidden life of a Christian. Our private life is more important than our public life as the foundation is more important than the superstructure.
Matthew 7:24-25
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock”
2) Lean on Christ in your weakness
Proverbs 3:5-6
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight”
Our understanding is limited. We see a moment but God sees the whole eternity. We see only the pains but God sees the purposes!
How do we lean on Christ?
Through prayer- like a helpless baby, pour out your heart and burden before Him.
Through the Word- Scripture anchors our hearts when our emotions try to drift us away.
Isaiah 34:16
“Look in the scroll of the Lord and read: None of these will be missing,
not one will lack her mate. For it is his mouth that has given the order,
and his Spirit will gather them together.”
Through obedience- Each act of obedience is a step of learning, choosing His will over ours.
Through surrender- Leaning means transferring the weight of our worries on to Him.
Result of Leaning
We find peace in chaos, strength in weakness, direction in confusion and rest all the time for our souls.
In conclusion, to live in Christ means- Look to Christ, Learn from Christ and Lean on Christ every single day of our life like a branch remaining in the tree permanently until the end (John 15:1-6)
