Where do we Live?

A message by Phil Rogers from John 15:4-8 4/03/07

To listen to Phil's message click here mp3

Where we live is very important to each one of us. In the UK we describe people who don’t have anywhere to live as being of ‘no fixed abode’. An abode is where we abide, both very antiquated terms today. We don’t ask ‘where do you abide?’ or ‘where do you dwell?’ but ‘where do you live?’ Our name and the address, where we live, are part of who we are. We have to write it down on almost every form we ever fill in. Where we live is where we belong, where we are at home. Jesus’ home was in Nazareth but when he left home he lived nowhere. “Foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” he once said. Thank God for our homes where we belong, a bed where we can sleep every night, the equivalent of our own ‘hole’ or ‘nest’. In John 15 Jesus speaks about ‘abiding’ or living in him’.

Live in me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it lives in the vine, neither can you unless you live in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who lives in me and I in them produces quality fruit; without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not live in me, he is like a dried up branch that is thrown away and gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you live in me and my words live in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will happen for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear quality fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. John 15:4-8

Essentially there is only one place for us to make our home spiritually, which is ‘in Christ’, and there are only two kinds of people on the earth, those who who live in him and those who don’t.

1. Abiding in Christ.
The NIV translates this as “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” Jesus used the same word when he told his disciples in Gethsemane “Stay here and keep watch”. Here ‘stay in me and I in you’ is not short term; Jesus is talking about to our absolute standing with him. “I am the vine, you are the branches.” Branches cannot one day be in the vine and the next day somehow go off and need to be put back into the vine. In the rare event that a branch does get torn from the vine through storms or vandalism, there is no way it can be grafted back into the vine - its removal is final.So is Jesus warning us against backsliding or falling away, even loosing our salvation? It could seem so in light of the reference to dried up branches being gathered up and thrown in the fire. (v6) But Hengstberg, a Jewish Christian scholar, argues that Jesus is not referring to believers but to the Jews who would not receive him as Messiah. The vine is an OT image of the Jewish people whom God brought out of Egypt and planted in Cannan like a vine which spread out and filled the whole land. Ps 80:8, Hos 10:1. In Ezek 15 God speaks of the wood of the vine in a strong indictment against Israel, as ‘useful only for making fires’ and in Isa 5:1-7 the nation is compared to a vineyard that produces only bad fruit. These all speak of Israel’s judgement. So when Jesus said I am the ‘true vine’ these Jewish disciples would understand that while Israel is the vine that has only produced bad fruit, and like dried up branches is fit only to be gathered up and thrown in the fire and burned, Jesus is God’s true vine that will produce the quality fruit that God always intended. Unbelieving Jews who would not accept their own Messiah are no different to anyone else who does not accept Christ or believe in him. Jesus’ is not warning believers to be careful not to fall away but is speaking about the judgment that awaits all unbelievers.

2. A Gospel Call
Although Jesus is talking to his disciples, this is a gospel call like others that Jesus gave ‘come to me, take my yoke upon you, take up your cross and follow me.’ It is an invitation to ‘live in me and I in you’ or ‘stay with me and I with you’ or ‘make your home in me and I in you’. He is not inviting us into a temporary arrangement or into something we need to maintain, this is a permanent state. The tense here is not continuous, ‘go on living in me’ as in Eph 5:19 ‘go on being filled with the spirit.’ but a single one-offaction. Live in me! It is also a two way command:‘live in me and I in you,’ not conditional ‘live in me and then I will live in you’, but mutual. As we make him our home, he is already making himself at home in us. As the prodigal son, trudging along the path to his home, looked up he saw his father already running towards him. From the moment we make ourselves at home in him we become permanently part of him and he part of us. Every branch is firmly and securely attached to the vine for as long as we live. This is a call to follow Christ; this is what it means to be a believer. It is not a call to some higher level of faith or some much deeper relationship with Christ. We live in Christ and he lives in us. Gal 2:20

3. Dependent upon Christ
Jesus’ main point is about how much we depend on him. “just as the branch is not able to produce fruit by itself unless it lives in the vine so neither can you unless you live in me.” and "The one who lives in me and I in them produces top quality fruit, for without me you can do nothing." The Jews thought that they were OK by knowing the scriptures. Jesus said “You search the scriptures because you believe they will give you eternal life, but they point to me, yet you will not come to me to get eternal life.” So life can only come about through being joined to Christ, not by anything we do or any effort we make. When we live in Christ, his love, life and power flow into us and through us because we are joined to him. Jesus wanted them to realise how totally dependent they were, and always would be, on him. We cannot produce anything of lasting spritual value except through our connection to Christ. Without him we can do absolutely nothing of eternal value. But out of the life that flows from him into each individual branch, top quality fruit is produced, fruit that lasts for ever, because we live in Chist and he lives in us! So let’s just relax and enjoy being what we have been called to be. Don’t get intense, it is not hard work, him in us and us at home in him.

4. Answered Prayer
“If you live in me and my words live in you, ask whatever you wish and it will happen for you.” What an outstanding promise! But it is conditional. Two conditions:
1. ‘If we live in him’,
This promise is only for true believers. Many people pray, but on the whole their prayers do not get answered, but they still do it as prayer makes them feel better, They have no real expectation, no confident faith, just a vague hope. But we are in Christ and he is in us and promises to answer our prayers; that whatever we ask will happen for us.
2.‘and my words live in you’
It also depends on whether his words live within us. We may be in Christ but not have the words he spoke living in us. We saw in v3 the power of God’s word to prune us and change our hearts and our minds, our attitudes and our desires. Which is why ‘ask whatever you want’ is conditional on us having his word living inside us. God will not give us all our human desires. Only when we think the same way he does will he give us ‘whatever we wish’. Because when his words live in us, whatever we wish is exactly the same as what he wants for us which he is eager to give us.

Where do we live? Do we live in the Word? The more time we spend reading scripture, particularly the gospels and making it at home in our hearts, the more answers to prayer we will see. We can all hear his voice and his words to us live within us, we grow up from being spiritual children, to ‘young men’ who are strong and have overcome the evil one. 1Jn 2:14 The consequences of ensuring that the word of God lives in us are victory over Satan, spiritual power, answered prayer, top quality fruit as well as all the benifits of pruning we saw before. This is how we glorify our Father and how we show we truly are Jesus’ followers.The key? Being desperate enough to make sure his words live inside us, knowing that without him we can do nothing, but with him, through his words we get whatever we ask and produce fruit to the Father’s glory.

Some Practical Help (from News & Notices)

Meditating on God’s Word
Psalm 1 has a wonderful promise of fruitfulness and prosperity for all who meditate on the scriptures ‘day and night’. But how do we meditate on scripture? Meditate means to mutter, to mumble. It is not just reading the Bible but ‘muttering it.’ It is not just having the words in our minds but on our lips. See also Josh 1:8 The words are in our mouths when we meditate, because in essence Bible meditation is talking God’s word over with him. So Bible meditation is very different to transcendental meditation, where we let our minds go blank, think of nothing or repeat a mantra over and over again.. Bible meditation fully enagages our minds and our spirits as we commune with the Living God who has given us the very words of these scriptures we are meditating upon. Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and as we meditate we can and do hear his voice.

How can we possibly meditate day and night? Meditation is rather like a cow chewing the cud. It first eats the grass and then at various times during the day, regurgitates the grass it has eaten and chews some more upon it to get more goodness out of it. When we meditate we have to first ‘eat the word’ or ‘gather then manna’ (see Ex 16:13-31) then during the day, when we have a few spare minutes, walking, traveling, in the bathroom, etc, we may well find ourselves meditating some more on the verse we looked at that morning or some other scripture God brings to mind.

Firstly we need to set some realistic, attainable goals. Can we manage to meditate every morning when we get up? Three times a week? Half an hour every lunch time at work? Choose a passage of scripture to work through and then over the days, take it verse by verse, praying over every word, talking about it with the Lord, asking him questions, turning, if possible, every word and every phrase into praise, thanksgiving, confession of truth and of sin, asking and praying for others. The aim in not to study the bible, not to read the bible, not to learn something from the bible but to hear God speak to you through the bible. It is not about trying to apply the bible to our daily lives, but about responding to what the Lord is speaking to us about. “Lord what are you saying to me and how do you want me to respond?” (IMPACT - Intercession, Meditation, Praise, Asking, Confession and Thanksgiving six ways we can respond) It is easier to pray-read the Bible than it is just to read it or just to pray! Use a note book if you like to keep a record of your meditations, your thoughts and prayers. Practice this as often as is possible - at least once a week, several times is better, six days out of seven is best. (see Ex 16) Spurgeon likened this to depositing spiritual currency in our heavenly bank account which we can draw upon at any time of the day as the Spirit brings the truth of God’s word to bear upon us in whatever circumstances we need to make a ‘witihdrawal’.

We can also pray ‘without ceasing’ 1 Thess 5:17. Spending every spare moment chatting to the Lord and involving him in our daily lives. Think of all our spare moments - lying in bed after we wake up, in the bathroom, walking or driving to work or shopping, doing the ironing or just going out for a walk. Relaxing in front of the fire. We can make so many more opportunities to talk to the Lord, who is always with us, than we do - but we do need to switch off the tele and the radio and the ipod and shut out the noise so we can ‘be still and know that he is God’. He says ‘my sheep hear my voice’ and we can if we will only listen. One of our goals for 2007 is to encourage everyone in ABC to develop their personal devotional life with God. I hope that these practical tips will help. It also helps if you partner with someone else to encourage each other and make yourselves accountable to each other, especially in regard to regular bible meditation, to share your successes and failures and pray for each other and with each other. There is nothing like praying with others to stimulate your own prayer life and help you in your own life in Christ.

Phil Rogers