John 15:5 - LEARNING TO ABIDE IN JESUS.
John 15:5 (ESV) 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.
John 15:5 (NLT) Yes, I am the vine; you are
the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in
them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me
you can do nothing.
John 15:5 (CEV) I am the vine, and you are
the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I
stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of
fruit. But you cannot do anything without me.
John 15:5 (MSG) I am the Vine, you are the
branches. When you're joined with me and I with you,
the relation intimate and organic, the harvest
is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't
produce a thing.
INTRODUCTION
The 7th I AM Statement of Jesus; I AM the
Vine!
Twenty-three times in all we find our
Lord's meaningful "I AM" in the Greek text of this
Gospel 4:26; 6:20, 35, 41, 48, 51; 8:12, 18, 24,
28, 58; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6;
15:1, 5; 18:5, 6, 8). In several of these, He
joins His "I AM" with seven tremendous metaphors
which are expressive of His saving relationship
toward the world.
"I AM the Bread of life" (6:35, 41, 48,
51).
"I AM the Light of the world" (8:12).
"I AM the Door of the sheep" (10:7, 9).
"I AM the Good Shepherd" (10:11, 14).
"I AM the Resurrection and the Life"
(11:25).
"I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life"
(14:6).
"I AM the true Vine" (15:1, 5).
[MacArthur Daily Bible 2003]
COMMENTARY PEARL SUPREME
Learning to Abide
All too often as Christians, we
substitute perspiration for inspiration. Were so
busy doing Christian things that we forget about
Christ.
Did you know thats possible? We can be
going to our Bible studies and teaching over here
and helping over there. And then suddenly one
day we say, Im overwhelmed. Im feeling
burned out.
Psalm 91 says, He who dwells in the
secret place of the Most High shall abide under the
shadow of the Almighty (verse 1 NKJV). The
Hebrew word used here for dwells speaks of quiet,
resting, and remaining with consistency.
It parallels the New Testament word that
Jesus used in John 15, where He said, He who
abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for
without Me you can do nothing (verse 5 NKJV). The
word abide means to stay in a given place.
So essentially God is saying, I
dont merely want a relationship with you, I want
fellowship with you. I want you to come close to Me. I
want you to be near Me. I want you to remain
consistently in My presence.
Yet many of us can be like Martha, who
frantically worked to prepare something for the Lord
while Mary sat at His feet, drinking in His every
word. Martha became frustrated and demanded that
the Lord tell Mary to help her.
But Jesus corrected her and said,
Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about
many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary
has chosen that good part, which will not be
taken away from her (Luke 10:41-42 NKJV).
Mary knew what was important. She knew
there was a time for work and there was a time for
worship.
Yes, there is a time for work and
serving. At the same time, the best work always will
overflow from a life of worship. However, it can
never take the place of it.
Are you dwelling in the secret place of
the Most High? [Greg Laurie from Harvest
Ministries; https://www.harvestdaily.com]
COMMENTARY
A union with Christ by living faith is
enduring; every other union must perish. Christ first
chose us, paying an infinite price for our
redemption; and the true believer chooses Christ as
first, and last, and best in everything. But this
union costs us something. It is a relation of
utter dependence to be entered into by a proud
being. All who form this union must feel their need
of the atoning blood of Christ. They must have
a change of heart. They must submit their own
will to the will of God. There will be a struggle
with outward and internal obstacles. There must
be a painful work of detachment, as well as a
work of attachment. Pride, selfishness, vanity,
worldliness--sin in all its forms--must be overcome, if we
would enter into a union with Christ. The reason
why many find the Christian life so deplorably
hard, why they are so fickle, so variable, is,
they try to attach themselves to Christ without
detaching themselves from these cherished idols.
5BC1143
Apart from Him you have no life. You have
no power to resist temptation or to grow in
grace and holiness. Abiding in Him, you may
flourish.
Many have an idea that they must do some
part of the work alone. They have trusted in
Christ for the forgiveness of sin, but now they
seek by their own efforts to live aright. But
every such effort must fail. Jesus says, "Without
Me ye can do nothing." Our growth in grace, our
joy, our usefulness,--all depend upon our union
with Christ. It is by communion with Him, daily,
hourly,--by abiding in Him, --that we are to grow in
grace. He is not only the Author, but the Finisher
of our faith. It is Christ first and last and
always. He is to be with us, not only at the
beginning and the end of our course, but at every step
of the way.
Do you ask, "How am I to abide in
Christ?" In the same way as you received Him at
first. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him."
Consecrate yourself to God in the
morning; make this your very first work. Let your
prayer be, "Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay
all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy
service. Abide with me, and let all my work be
wrought in Thee." This is a daily matter. Each
morning consecrate yourself to God for that day.
Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or
given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus
day by day you may be giving your life into the
hands of God, and thus your life will be molded
more and more after the life of Christ.
Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon
the beauty, the perfection, of His character.
Christ in His self-denial, Christ in His
humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in
His matchless love --this is the subject for the
soul's contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying
Him, depending wholly upon Him, that you are to
be transformed into His likeness.
This rest is not found in inactivity; for
in the Saviour's invitation the promise of rest
is united with the call to labor: "Take My yoke
upon you: . . . and ye shall find rest."
When the mind dwells upon self, it is
turned away from Christ, the source of strength and
life. Hence it is Satan's constant effort to keep
the attention diverted from the Saviour and thus
prevent the union and communion of the soul with
Christ. The pleasures of the world, life's cares and
perplexities and sorrows, the faults of others, or your
own faults and imperfections--to any or all of
these he will seek to divert the mind. Do not be
misled by his devices. Talk and think of Jesus.
Let self be lost in Him. SC68-72
Instead of choosing the graceful palm,
the lofty cedar, or the strong oak, Jesus takes
the vine with its clinging tendrils to represent
Himself. The palm tree, the cedar, and the oak stand
alone. They require no support. But the vine
entwines about the trellis, and thus climbs
heavenward. So Christ in His humanity was dependent upon
divine power.
This union with Christ, once formed, must
be maintained. The life you have received
from Me can be preserved only by continual
communion. Without Me you cannot overcome one sin, or
resist one temptation.
"Abide in Me, and I in you." Abiding in
Christ means a constant receiving of His Spirit, a
life of unreserved surrender to His service. The
channel of communication must be open continually
between man and his God.
When we live by faith on the Son of God,
the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our
lives; not one will be missing.
While the graft is outwardly united with
the vine, there may be no vital connection. Then
there will be no growth or fruitfulness. So there
may be an apparent connection with Christ
without a real union with Him by faith. A profession
of religion places men in the church, but the
character and conduct show whether they are in
connection with Christ. If they bear no fruit, they are
false branches.
It is through the word that Christ abides
in His followers. This is the same vital union
that is represented by eating His flesh and
drinking His blood. The words of Christ are spirit
and life. Receiving them, you receive the life
of the Vine. DA674-7
There are those who profess to serve God,
while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His
law, to form a right character, and secure
salvation. Their hearts are not moved by any deep sense
of the love of Christ, but they seek to perform
the duties of the Christian life as that which
God requires of them in order to gain heaven.
Such religion is worth nothing. When Christ
dwells in the heart, the soul will be so filled
with His love, with the joy of communion with
Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the
contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Love to
Christ will be the spring of action. SC44,45
All true obedience comes from the heart. It
was heart work with Christ. And if we consent,
He will so identify Himself with our thoughts
and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into
conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall
be but carrying out our own impulses. The will,
refined and sanctified, will find its highest
delight in doing His service. When we know God as it
is our privilege to know Him, our life will be
a life of continual obedience. Through an
appreciation of the character of Christ, through
communion with God, sin will become hateful to us. As
Christ lived the law in humanity, so we may do if
we will take hold of the Strong for strength.
{DA 668}
CLOSING THOUGHT
Our first and highest duty is to know that
we are abiding in Christ. He must do the work.
We are to seek to know "What saith the Lord,"
yielding our lives to His guidance. When we have the
Spirit of an abiding Christ, everything will take
on a changed aspect. The Saviour alone can give
us the rest and peace we so much need. And, in
every invitation He gives us to seek the Lord that
He may be found of us, He is calling us to
abide in Him. This is an invitation, not merely to
come to Him, but to remain in Him. It is the
Spirit of God that moves us to come. When we have
this rest and peace, our daily worries will not
lead us to be coarse and rough and uncourteous.
We shall no longer follow our own way and will.
We will want to do the will of God, abiding in
Christ as the branches in the vine. {TDG 140.3}
EXAMPLE
Enoch walked with God three hundred years
previous to his translation to heaven, and the state
of the world was not then more favorable for
the perfection of Christian character than it is
today. And how did Enoch walk with God? He educated
his mind and heart to ever feel that he was in
the presence of God, and when in perplexity his
prayers would ascend to God to keep him. He refused
to take any course that would offend His God.
He kept the Lord continually before Him. He
would pray, "Teach me Thy way, that I may not err.
What is thy pleasure concerning me? What shall I
do to honor Thee, my God?" Thus he was
constantly shaping his way and course in accordance
with God's commandments, and he had perfect
confidence and trust in his heavenly Father, that He
would help him. He had no thought or will of his
own; it was all submerged in the will of his
Father. {1SAT 32.2}
ONE LINERS
The life-giving power of the Holy Spirit,
proceeding from the Saviour, pervades the soul, renews
the motives and affections, and brings even the
thoughts into obedience to the will of God, enabling
the receiver to bear the precious fruit of holy
deeds. AA284
If we are not continually drawing from
Christ, we cannot live the life of Christ; we can do
nothing worthy of his name. RH09-27-92
LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY ON THIS PASSAGE
John 15:5 - The 7th I AM Statement of Jesus;
I AM the Vine!
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20200920-1056.html
John 15:4, 5 - The Crucial and Vital
Relationship With Christ.
http://www.abible.com/devotions/2017/20170915-0913.html
YOUR COMMENTS
If anyone has a paraphrase, commentary or
testimony on this passage of Scripture, either
personal or otherwise, I would be interested in
hearing from you. Thanks in advance and let's keep
uplifting Jesus that all might be drawn to Him. Fred
Gibbs
LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT
Most Important Decision in Life:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/WGnEuGwvXqU?rel=0
Steps to Peace by Billy Graham:
https://stepstopeace.org/
A Man without Equal by Bill Bright:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVa7UoruIo
Seeking God Made Real:
http://vimeo.com/31489782
Prayer Made Real:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc8VdMV26VE
Importance of Choice:
http://creationhealth.com/CREATION-Health/Choice [click on video]
Medical Seminar on Healthful Living by David
DeRose, MD, MPH:
https://www.smartlifestyletv.com/lifestart
LINKS FOR BIBLE STUDIES
Lifting Up Jesus Bible Studies:
http://www.liftingupjesus.net/
Amazing Facts Bible Studies:
http://www.amazingfacts.org/bible-study/bible-study-guides.aspx
Hope Awakens Bible Study Guides:
https://www.hopeawakens.study/lesson-header;id=2
Glow Tract Video Bible Studies:
http://www.bibleresearch.info/
LINKS FOR BIBLE PROPHECY SEMINARS
Islam and Christianity in Prophecy, The
Third and Final Conflict by Tim Roosenberg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHSJB-fuHLU&list=PLWhQIHGTHlkaGg5Cwe3NDzWtFX8vNSpsE
Unlocking Bible Prophecies by Cami Oetman of
Adventist World Radio: https://www.awr.org/bible
Revelation Now by Pastor Doug Batchelor:
https://www.revelationnow.com/
Hope Awakens by John Bradshaw of IIW:
https://itiswritten.tv/programs/hope-awakens
Prophecies Decoded by Pastor Ron Clouzet:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1A435C5373550657
