Abiding in the Love of God

Two weeks ago, we had a night of vision casting where our chair, Matt Ho, preached on what it means to abide in the love of God. Below is a summary of the night. 



As a fellowship it’s important for us to have a vision of where we see God leading us throughout this year so when things obstacles or issues stray us we have something to come back to, a reminder of where God’s heart is for this fellowship. And so having a vision in itself is very relevant to the vision for this year which is “Abiding in the Love of God”. I’m going to share a bit more on what this phrase really means. We can split this phrase up into two parts mainly “Abiding” and “the Love of God”. We’ll take a look at what each one means by itself and tie everything back together at the end.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. 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. 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.

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another. -John 15:1-17

So here in John 15, Jesus paints a picture of a vine and branches. He begins the passage by stating “I am the true vine”, one of the 7 “I am” statements that are found throughout John. Here Jesus specifically says He is a “true” vine, rather than simply just a vine possibly implying that there are potentially false vines out there. He also uses “THE true vine” instead “A true vine” to say that He is the one and ONLY true vine. There’s a reason He said that. So straight from the first verse we can pull so much out of it, Jesus here is establishing the fact the He in this illustration is THE one true vine, but why is that of such importance? Jesus makes it clear in this passage that we, the people, are the branches and He Himself is the vine, but what is He really trying to say through that parallel?

This parallel starts by having a vinedresser or a gardener who takes care of the vine. That includes removing the branches that don’t bear fruit and pruning the ones that eventually will go on to bear more fruit. Now pruning specifically means to cut off the dead or diseased parts so that more growth can happen. Now we move onto verse 3 where it might seem to be a little out of place. He starts off the first 2 verses by talking about the vine, branches and fruit illustration and all of sudden talks about being clean? He talks about a word that He already spoken so we have to look back and if we look back early to chapter 13:19, we can see that Jesus tells His disciples that they are already clean and that they don’t need a complete washing of the body, but only a washing of the feet. What is He trying to say here? Jesus is affirming that they were already saved and that they needed continued repentance and forgiveness for their sins rather than a complete heart change. So Jesus speaks of this to them now to remind them of their position as a branch, that you guys are already clean, you are already a branch a part of the vine, which is me, and although I may prune and cut a few “dead” things from your life, you are still a branch. And so the importance of verse 3 is reminding His disciples of their identity and the fact of their salvation.

And so Jesus continues on and says “Abide in Me and I in You. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” Now we could ask ourselves what exactly does it mean to abide? The greek translation for abide is “parameno” meaning to remain, the dwell, to continue in. We hear the term “humble abode”, which pretty much means your house so “to find a home in”. But I think the best understanding of what it means to abide is found in this exact illustration that Jesus paints for us through a vine and a branch. The vine is rooted in the ground and over time the branches will grow out of the vine. Now the only way for the branches to grow is through the vine, it isn’t rooted in the ground where it can get nutrients from the soil, nor can it draw water to itself, but the branch itself gets everything that it needs to survive through the vine . And so we can see this beautiful picture of a vine supplying life to its branches kind of like how a baby needs its mother. It’s almost like how a Laptop needs it’s specific charger to continue to run, or how some of us need sleep or we’re just not awake or with this generation now how all of us need internet or they won’t survive. This idea of having a necessity in order to live. And so it’s the exact same with us, as the people of God. Without Jesus as our vine we aren’t experiencing true life, without Jesus as our vine we are going to fail to produce lasting fruit, without Jesus we’re going to be nothing but dead and dying branches that are wasting away.  We can try to produce fruit on our own, we can try to be more patient, we can try to be more loving, we can try to obey all the commandments, do our devos, pray all the time, serve in every ministry but if it isn’t done with having the true Vine as your source, it’s not going to last and your flame will run out of gas. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying in anyway at all that obtaining and bearing fruit is the goal here, experiencing God and receiving true life is. And so you can ask me “Matt, how do we abide in Jesus the vine and obtain true life from it?” or we can ask a better question, “how would the branch draw life from the vine?” Doesn’t it just need to be a branch of that vine? The branch doesn’t need to make itself any more or any less of a branch in order to abide in the vine. Everything is dependent upon the vine and if it doesn’t draw water from the vine, it will die. So in the same manner, when Jesus is calling us to abide in Him, He’s telling us to just come just as you are, “Matt, you’re already my son, you’re already clean, you’re already a branch, verse 3, abide in me, rest in me, let me give you life, let me give you water, let me give you my Spirit, the living water, to help you, to give you life, to work in you to bear the fruit of the Spirit”. Everything is dependent upon the Vine, everything is dependent upon Jesus. And so you might ask what the distinction is between fruitful branches and dead rotting branches are then? Branches that embrace their role as a part of the true vine thrive and flourish, and those branches that will try to draw out of something else that isn’t a vine and in the end will not get what they need to survive. Right from the beginning Jesus had already established that He was the one true vine, the only real living source that could give life and if they aren’t pulling from the TRUE vine, they wouldn’t survive. And so what does it mean to abide? We get this idea of resting, remaining, staying near to Jesus as His children.  We can look to this illustration of vine and branches and how as they rest and remain in the vine, it supplies it, it gives it what it needs. We embrace our roles as branches and we depend on our wonderful Vine that allows us to flourish and bear fruit for His kingdom.

And so now we look at the second portion, “the Love of God” In the later parts of this passage, Jesus calls us to abide in His love. He describes that love as the same love that the Father loves Jesus with. He goes onto say in verse 13 “greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends”. Let me repeat that “greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” If we really think about that, this one statement changes everything. Jesus is saying that there is absolutely nothing else that expresses more love than for someone to die for them. You can shower someone with expensive gifts to show love, you can even express how much you love them through speaking words and affection, but all of those things will fall short in comparison of someone giving their life for you. So when we we’re looking for a picture of what love is, we can’t look simply at just what the world is telling us what love is. It’s more than just a fuzzy feeling inside, or a happy ever after but this picture of love, is the giving up a precious life for the sake of others. This idea that love is about sacrifice, selflessly giving up our desires for others, that the first thought in our minds is how can I serve you, instead of what can I get out of it. And so we can see this heart of sacrifice in Jesus. We can see this heart of love in the gospel. That we as mankind fall short of God’s standard that despite the fact that we didn’t even want God in the first place and our hearts were inclined toward other things and serving ourselves. That in Romans it says that we knew God, yet we didn’t acknowledge Him and instead we exchanged we traded the gift of knowing Him for other futile things. That there was no one righteous, no one who understands or seeks for God, no one who does good, that we have all become useless. That we traded the opportunity to know who created the stars, who created this earth, who created the intricate design of our body, each and every cell, who created birds, trees, people, the one who gives life and continues to sustain life to this day. We gave that all away and we spat in His face and we said no, I know what I want, I know what’s best for me, go away. And in light of all this He still chose to pursue us, He chose to rescue us, He chose to love us. He chose to give us new hearts so that we would see what is truly good in this life. And this saving, redeeming, gift cost a huge price, yet God chose to show us His love in this way. He was wiling to give up the only thing that could be enough for this gift of relationship with Him. That it was such a sacrifice on God’s behalf to give up His son to His creation who didn’t even want to acknowledge Him, but denied and chose to rebel against Him. And so when we think of love, we think of this. That “we know love by this, that He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16) and now we not only are able to know God, but to be intimate with Him, to enjoy true life in Him and to know Him. And because of this love our identities are no longer sinner or slave, but a son and daughter of God. And the beautiful thing is that, this identity never changes, once a child of God always a child. Do you guys truly believe that? That when Jesus said “it is finished” that it truly was finished? That we no longer need to work for this position that never changes. That doing good deeds, being a good person, doing your devos, coming to fellowship doesn’t make you a son of God, the finished work of Jesus did. Things change when we truly believe that. Things are no longer done out of obligation because it’s what a “good Christian” is supposed to do, but instead following and obeying His commandments are out of a genuine love for Him. We are always caught up in our own spiritual walks of if they’re going good or not, but we are reminded of the truth of how good and loving God is and the fact that it never changes. So when we look at love, we look at this. That we know love by this, that He laid down His life for us” and know because of Him, we are able to come into the loving arms of a Father

And so to tie everything all back together into this vision of “Abiding in the love of God”. This idea that we’re resting and remaining in not only what we know about God but who we know God to be for us on a personal level. Receiving the love that God showed to us through Christ and being reminded of who God is when we reflect upon the truth of the gospel. We’re going to let the love of God define who we are, be reminded that in every situation whether we’re blessed in life or going through struggles that a child of a loving God is who we are and what we will be forever. The fact is that God never changes, He remains the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And that is exactly the same with His love. We sometimes struggle with insecurities, like feeling accepted or loved by others so we struggle for things like relationships to fill that void, we forget the finished work of Christ and so strive after deeds and hope our spiritual walks are good enough so that so that we feel accepted by God. And so all of these things stem from a misunderstanding His love and the gospel. And so this year we’re going after a rooted understanding of the gospel and what it truly means to be loved by Him as a son and daughter and what it means to rest and remain in that truth. We want to rest and remain in that truth that you’re a child of God forever that is so loved, so desired, so precious even though you might not see yourself as precious, Jesus is saying to you “I want you, I love you and you’re mine and you’re mine forever” and that never changes.