How to Obey God: According to John--Parenting Series

            Its fascinating the way that living in a certain place can shape you in so many different ways. It can shape the way you think by shaping your values and the opinions that you hold or the goals and dreams that you have. You probably wouldn’t dream about becoming a rodeo champion if you grew up in the city, for instance.

            It can shape the way you talk as well. It may shape how fast you talk or what kind of vocabulary you use. You may say “soda” rather than “pop,” or even “soda, don’t ya know.” You might say “warsh” rather than “wash,” or use words like “perti’near.”

            The place you live may shape your hobbies, your habits, your wardrobe, and even the way you drive! In Kansas City, it wasn’t too hard to spot the people who weren’t used to “city driving.” They were usually the ones the rest of us were “politely gesturing” at.

            Today, we’re going to continue talking about how to obey God so we’ll know what kind of ideas we need to pass along to our kids as they grow up. We’re going to look at a word picture from the Apostle John. His word picture draws on this whole idea of finding a home somewhere and allowing it to shape your life. This word picture comes directly from the Lord Jesus, but the Apostle John is the only New Testament writer who took this idea and ran with it.

According to the Apostle John, how can we obey God’s commands?

            For John, the answer to this question is “by abiding in Christ.” The idea of that word is to remain somewhere, to stay there, to make yourself at home and put down roots and drink up the life of the place that you have chosen to call home. As I said, John took this word picture from Jesus, and Jesus placed it in an agricultural context by talking about how a branch draws its life from the vine to which it is attached.

            This idea is very similar to what we learned from Paul last week, but Paul used images taken from the world of law and the courtroom. Jesus and John, however, drew on this image taken from something that the people were involved in all the time—gardening. Its an image that I think all of us in an agricultural setting can really appreciate.

            John records Jesus’ teaching on this whole idea of abiding in John 15. Why don’t you turn there with me, please? I’d like to read vv. 1-11 and talk through them just briefly, then we’ll take a closer look at the blessings of abiding in Christ and the means of abiding in Christ. This passage is from the night before Jesus was crucified. As He was speaking in chapter 15, He was probably walking with His disciples from the upper room where they ate together to the Garden of Gethsemane where He was ultimately arrested. As they walked, they would have likely been passing some vineyards, so Jesus uses that setting to make a spiritual point.

            Let’s read and I’ll offer some brief comments [READ v. 1]. Jesus probably called Himself the “true” vine in contrast to the leaders and the people of Israel. In the same way that we use the bald eagle as a symbol of our country, the people of Israel used a vine as a symbol of their country. This picture was taken directly from the Old Testament, and it was supposed to mean that the nation was bearing God’s fruit in the world. But since they had rejected Jesus, they had rejected God, and so Jesus says that He is the true vine—the one who is truly bearing God’s fruit in this world.

            Let’s continue [READ v. 2]. I think “lifts up” is a better translation here than “takes away” for the branches that are not bearing fruit. I think Jesus is referring to the practice of elevating the vines on a trellis of some kind. In other words, I think the picture is of tender care rather than removal.

            Moving on…[READ vv. 3-6]. Some interpreters read v. 6 as a statement about false Christians or sinning Christians being thrown out into Hell for failing to abide in Christ. In my opinion, this cannot be because of the audience to whom Jesus is speaking. He is speaking these words only to the 11 faithful disciples. Judas had already left to commit his betrayal, so Jesus was speaking only to His faithful followers, whom he said in v. 3 were “already clean.” Thus, the command to abide is for those who are already clean! So abiding is not a way to become clean in the eyes of God, but the way to live as someone who already is clean.

            Let’s finish the passage now [READ vv. 7-11]. This is such a beautiful section of Scripture. You may have already noticed some blessings that Jesus connects with the idea of abiding. Remember that the idea of abiding is the idea of making a home somewhere and taking on the life of that place, just like a branch has its home in the vine to which it is attached and draws its very lifeblood from it. In our lives, we’re talking about finding a home in Jesus and letting Him shape the way we think and act and live—shaping our goals and motives and desires and dreams and the choices we make. Just as the branch simply produces the fruit of the vine, we are to produce the spiritual fruit that God desires to produce in this world. It’s the same idea that we learned from Paul last week, only through a different word picture. We are simply supposed to live out the life of Christ.

Let’s take a closer look now at the blessings of abiding.

1. Bearing much fruit for God (v. 5)

            Look again at v. 5 [READ v. 5]. Its interesting that Jesus said apart from Him we can do nothing—nothing of any spiritual value. We tend to think that the choice to allow Jesus to work in us is like the choice between thriving and just getting by. We think, “Yeah, I know I could thrive if I got to know Jesus better, but I’m getting along okay in my spiritual life.” Well, according to Jesus, the choice is not between thriving and getting by—the choice is between thriving and nothing!

            If we are not allowing Jesus to do His work in us to change us, we will not accomplish anything of spiritual value. If we’re not living out the life of Christ the way that a branch carries the life of its vine, we are accomplishing nothing of spiritual value. But if we allow Jesus to shape us the way that the town we live in shapes us, we will bear much fruit for God.

2. Effective prayer (v. 7)

            Look again at v. 7 [READ v. 7]. Now I confess, when I read a statement like this, I’m the first person to start putting boundaries on it. I think, “surely it can’t mean ‘whatever you wish.’” Then, because I studied Greek in seminary, I think, “surely this is a mistranslation,” so I look at the Greek and it says, “whatever you wish!”

            Now of course, there are two conditions attached to this statement, and we’ll talk more about them in a minute, but let us allow verses like this to move us to prayer. In our parenting efforts, a verse like this should encourage us to pray about anything and everything that we desire for our kids. Are you trying to potty-train a child? Pray about it! Are they having a hard time with math? Pray about it! Are they struggling with motivation? Pray about it! Pray about anything and everything that you desire for your children.

            As you make your home in Christ and draw your lifeblood from Him by allowing His word to have a home in you, it will change the way you pray so that your prayers will become more effective. James 4:4 tells us that one of the reasons that we might not receive what we ask for is that we may ask for something with the wrong motives. But if we allow God’s Word to have a home in us, as this verse says, it will refine our motives and help us pray not only for the right things but for the right reasons as well.

3. Bringing glory to God (v. 8)

            This means that we will enhance God’s reputation and fame. God is already great and wonderful, but our behavior doesn’t always put His greatness on full display. But if we abide in Him, our lives will display His greatness [READ v. 8]. A “disciple” is an apprentice, someone who learns from a master. When we bear the fruit of God in our lives, it shows others that we have learned from Him, and they learn more about what He is like being seeing His fruit in our lives.

4. The knowledge of abiding in God’s love (v. 9-10)

            [READ vv. 9-10] God’s love for us does not change, but our knowledge of it can. If we sin against Him, we put a strain on that relationship, and if we start to experience His discipline, its very easy for Satan to tempt us to think that that discipline is an example of hatred rather than love. But if we obey God, Satan will have very few opportunities to make us doubt God’s love for us, and we will have our eyes open to the examples of God’s love that are all around us.

5. Fullness of joy (v. 11)

            [READ v. 11] By staying connected to Jesus, our joy will reach its fullness, but our joy will be drained if we do not stay connected to Jesus and bear His fruit. The negative consequences of our sin will make life feel like wearisome drag, a mind-numbing exercise in futility where we begin to question our purpose in life. But when we stay connected to Christ—when we make our home in Him—He begins to work in us and through us and we will receive joy from that relationship and from what it produces. That joy will keep building and building until it practically radiates from us!

Now if these are the blessings of abiding, what are the means of abiding? How do we do it?

1. By giving Christ’s words a home within us (v. 7)

            Christ tells us in v. 7 to let His words abide within us—to have a home in our hearts. Obviously, this revolves around knowing what He has taught, so we must study His teachings and internalize them.

            Does God’s Word have a home in your heart, or is it more like an occasional visitor? Have you made a home for yourself in God’s Word, or do you just drop in every so often? Think about the idea of living somewhere versus visiting. If you’re only visiting a place, it doesn’t shape your life the way I that mentioned at the beginning of the sermon. If you visit New England sometime, you won’t really develop a New England frame-of-mind; in fact, you’ll probably feel just a little uncomfortable until you get back home.

            Where you make your home will shape who you are. If you make your home in Christ and His teachings, they will shape who you are. Then, we fully abide in Christ…

2. By obeying the commands of Christ (v. 10)

            Once we’ve learned what Christ asks us to do, we must simply choose to do it. When we do, God’s power will work in our lives to produce His fruit, just as the life of the vine flows through the branch to produce its fruit. This may seem far too simple—just knowing Christ’s commands and then choosing to obey them—but this is really all there is to abiding in Him. There is a big temptation for us to make the Christian life seem far more complicated because then we can shift the blame for our sins onto something beside our own choices. So we may tell ourselves that there must be something that we still lack—perhaps some emotional experience with God or something that we didn’t receive in our upbringing—and then we can place the blame for our sins on those things.

            But in reality, abiding in Christ is just a matter of learning what to do and choosing to do it. That’s not to say that its easy to obey Christ, its just not complicated—that’s all! Its not easy because we have sinful desires that pull us in the other direction, but if we will choose to obey Christ, the fruit of holiness will flourish and leave little room for the weeds of sin to thrive.

            Perhaps you can see how this idea of abiding is similar to what we learned from Paul last week. To Paul, we are Christ’s ambassadors, living with His very identity upon us and living out His life in this world. To John, we are like branches that Christ, as the vine, as sent out into the world to bear His fruit. The result is the same, only the pictures are different, but that’s helpful because they resonate with us in different ways.

            The world of nature all around us provides us with many opportunities to pass this idea of abiding onto our kids. As they work with us in the garden or on the farm, or as we take walks together, we can pass this lesson down to our kids and shape the way that they think about themselves and their purpose in this world. By molding that self-image and sense of purpose, we will set them up for a very fruitful life, indeed.