Sermon Archives
Abide in Love
John 15:1-17Love One Another
J. Josh Smith
January 22, 2017
Description:
God promised Abraham to bless the world through Abraham’s “seed.” Israel ultimately failed to accomplish this mission due to hard hearts that were never changed by God’s Spirit. Jesus, however, is the fulfillment of God’s promise. God’s plan is to mediate all spiritual blessing through His Son, the Seed of Abraham. Therefore, Jesus is the source of all spiritual life. Unless you are connected to Jesus, you can have no spiritual life. He is the vine.
The amazing reality of the New Covenant is that Christians become one with Christ! We are “in Christ,” joined to Him in an inseparable way. Nevertheless, we are still commanded to “abide in Christ.” Why does Jesus command those who are “in Christ” to abide? Just as you can lack the experience of intimacy with your wife even while being joined with her in marriage, you can lack the experience of oneness with Christ even while being joined to Him by the New Covenant. So, we must work to stay as closely connected to Christ as possible.
Abiding in Christ means depending upon Him in every area of your life, communing with Him moment-by-moment, and submitting to His will. We are never commanded to produce fruit; the only command Jesus gives in John 15:1-12 is to abide. Fruit is the necessary result of being connected to the vine. The ultimate fruit of the Christian life is love. We are only able to love as Christ loved us when we abide in Him. You cannot give what you have not received. The degree to which you abide in His love is the degree to which you will be able to love others.
Keywords:
Love