This morning I’ld like to focus on three words from John 15 – the words of Jesus, “Abide with me”.
In John 15, Jesus talks about three vital RELATIONSHIPS. Our,
• RELATIONSHIP to Christ (Jn 15:1-17)
• RELATIONSHIP to other believers (Jn 15: 12-18)
• RELATIONSHIP to the world (Jn 15:19-27)
If I were to ask you, “What is your relationship to your mother?” how would you answer? Since there’s a good chance you’re sitting next to your mother this morning, I suggest you choose your words carefully. You might want to consider words like: love, trust, respect, appreciation. Those make for a good start.
But seriously, whatever your relationship is or was, the fact is that it’s deeply felt and very personal. Such should also be the nature of our three relationships with God– deeply felt and very personal. If you don’t feel that way – if all you feel is “okay” or “so-so” – then I suggest there’s a problem. In the Book of Revelation, such relationships are called, “lukewarm”, and that’s not so good.
The key for each of these relationships can be found in the words of Jesus quoted in John 15:4 when he said: “Abide in me.” There’s –
Three Characteristics to Abiding in Christ:
1. The first characteristic is making time.
We live in a society that runs in the fast lane almost all the time. The word “Abide” runs counter current to all this way of life. There’s a tranquility that’s assumed in the word “abide”; a tranquility that comes from spending quality time – unhurried, peaceful, reflective. For instance, you wouldn’t say, “I’ll abide in the burning house.” The images just don’t work.
Jesus was busy - much of the time, but he did take time off to draw aside and pray in the midst of a heavy schedule. We read in the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, after healing many people in Capernaum:
“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, (Jesus) went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” (Mk. 1:35)
Jesus set time apart without distractions. What a novel concept for this age of cell phones and remote controls!!! And by the way, that’s another good thing about Mother’s Day; we make time for a special relationship.
Charles Swindol once wrote, “Busi-ness rapes relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It feeds the ego but starves the inner man. It fills a calendar but fractures a family.
Spending time with Christ, just like your time with your mother, isn’t about being entertained. It’s about talking and especially listening. When you’re in love and your considering a relationship for life, it’s amazing how much time you suddenly have for intimate conversations and long walks on the beach. So consider this, where God’s concerned, you’re seeking a relationship – not for life – but for eternity. So how much time is that worth?
If you take time to abide with Christ, you’ll discover that you have much more time than you ever realized. You’ll also discover that God’s an amazing conversationalist. That “still small voice” will constantly surprise you!!
As Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Watch and pray” (Mk 14:38) .
2. The second characteristic of "abiding in Christ" is getting to know him
The founders of all the other great world religions, Mohammed, Buddha, and Confucius are all dead, but Jesus is alive. It might surprise you how much more you can learn from someone who’s alive. For one thing, the living have a way of doing the unexpected; whereas the dead tend to be rather – predictable.
When I became a Christian, my prayer life changed. I stopped giving God my wish list and hoping it would happen. Instead, I found that when I take time with God – that I actually get answers to my questions. That’s not to say I always like the answers, but I do get them.
When I became a Christian, the words of the Bible took on new significance. They seem to jump out of the page like a living Book. They spoke to me and they spoke into my life. And something else I learned – I learned that often times I had to stop talking in order to hear God speaking.
When I was teaching Middle School, I faced a problem that’s common to all teachers. I’d be giving instructions to the class, and while I was talking, one or two hands would flip up into the air. They had a question. I wasn’t finished giving the instructions, and already they had questions. My response?
“Please put your hand down,” I’d say. “When I finish the instructions, then I’ll answer questions. And besides, you might hear the answer to your questions in my instructions.” Sound familiar?
Eventually, I figured it out, and even before I’d begin giving instructions, I’d explain, “When your hand goes up, did you know that your ears go shut? It’s true – because all you’re thinking about is your question. You’re not hearing what I’m saying. I could be telling you the answer to your very question, but you won’t hear it. All you’re thinking about is remembering your question.”
Sometimes that’s just how it is when we’re praying. Our minds are going a mile-a-minute with questions or concerns, but we’re not listening to God’s explanation. We’re too focused on our question to hear anything God says.
• Listening is an art form that requires practice. This is not true just with our prayers. It’s especially true when we talk with other people. Can you just imagine how many arguments could’ve been avoided if people had really been listening to each other? Unfortunately, we often think that we’re the only one with something important to say.
Have you ever noticed that, if you hang around someone long enough, the
character of that person rubs off on you? That only happens when you’re listening. Well, the same is true with Jesus – his character will be formed in us the longer we abide in him.
As we spend time in prayer, reading and meditating on The Bible and listening to what God says, we get to know Him. He has a way of rubbing off on us. Just going to church soon becomes – well – not enough. We wake up one morning and discover that we’re actually curious, even hungry to know Jesus better.
3. The third characteristic of “abiding in Christ” is following him.
Another word for “following” is “discipleship.”
When you’re around Jesus for awhile, he changes you. You find yourself thinking about things you never gave a second thought to before. In your everyday speech, you hear yourself when you use a swear word, and suddenly it doesn’t seem as comfortable as it once did.
You start to tell an off-color joke, and suddenly – it doesn’t sound as funny as you once thought it did. It’s our changed lives that are going to impress people about the Christian faith – not just our words.
But not everyone’s happy with change. In fact, one of the most common reasons I’ve heard for not accepting Christ is, “I don’t want to change.” Change can be scary to people – especially if they’re not sure what it’ll be like on the other side of the change. That’s probably why most people have to be miserable and desperate before they’re willing to allow Christ into their driver’s seat.
On June 4, 1783 at the market square of the French village of Annonay, not far from Paris, a smoky bonfire on a raised platform was fed by wet straw and old wool rages. Tethered above the fire and straining at its ropes, was a huge cloth bag 33 feet in diameter. It was the world’s first hot-air balloon.
In the presence of “a respectable assembly and a great many other people,” and accompanied by great cheering, the balloon was cut from its moorings and set free to rise majestically into the clear, blue sky. It gracefully climbed to six thousand feet – the first public ascent of a balloon, the first step in the history of human flight. Slowly and silently, it descended back to earth several miles away in a field. That’s where it was promptly attacked by pitchfork-waving peasants and torn to pieces as an instrument of evil!
Change doesn’t come easily to most people. How things are done – according to the world’s traditions – are often radically different from God’s ways. Just talking about it . . . even with clever illustrations and brilliant animations . . . isn’t going to convince people to change.
• If we’re going to share the Good News of Jesus Christ successfully with those around us, it must be by the way we live. Nothing short of that will convince them to change.
St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel to all the world – and if necessary, use words.”
Richard Wurmbrand was a Lutheran Minister in Romania who was imprisoned by the Communist authorities because of his faith. While in prison, Wurmbrand shared a cell with a young Communist who wanted nothing to do with Christianity. Rations were very low in the prison, and yet Wurmbrand often shared his bread with the young atheist.
One day, Wurmbrand was telling the young man about a Christian of whom it was said that “he was like Jesus.” The young man turned to Wurmbrand and said, “If Jesus is like you, I would like to know him.” What a witness for Christ. (from the book "In God’s Underground" by Richard Wurmbrand)
A missionary and his wife used to live in Basle, Switzerland. While living there, they operated a refugee church. One Moslem refugee named Mustapha became a Christian because – as he put it to the church: “You gave love to me – a stranger – and in Islam, there is no love.”
Those who oppose Christianity are fully aware that the love Jesus taught is the most dangerous part of our faith. It’s how Christ touches people. No one can stop you from sharing the love that reflects Jesus Christ . . unless you’re killed. But if you can be silenced, at least others won’t know where that love comes from. That’s precisely why prayer – and any mention of God’s name – is repeatedly suppressed in public (unless, of course, when it’s taken in vain).
Jesus didn’t give us a lot of rules – in fact, in John 15, he made it simple for us: “These things I command you,” he said. “Love one another.”
• Love isn’t measured so much by what you say as by what you do.
I’m going to leave you with a parting thought. If being a Christian were made illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
Is there enough evidence of the love of Christ in your life that people can see it? Mother Theresa was given a state funeral in India, a predominantly Hindu nation. Doesn’t that speak volumes for the love of Christ reflected throughout her life? She lived Christ’s love – and when necessary, even with words!
(adapted from a sermon by Martin Dale, SermonCentral.com, May 2003)
