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26th July 2024
FridayReflection
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John Piper, shares
founder and teacher of desiringGod.org
"John's theology of abiding in Christ?""
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This is huge. I mean the challenge to give a theology of abiding in ten minutes.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 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."
.... John 15:1-4
First, I think the essential meaning of our active abiding is the act of receiving and trusting all that God is for us in Jesus.
If a branch remains attached to the vine in such a way that it is receiving all that the vine has to give, then that is a picture of what John means by trusting Jesus.
Believing is a receiving of Jesus into the soul, welcoming him, trusting him, as it were, drinking and eating and savouring him.
This is what he says in John 6:35:
"I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst."
It is trusting in Jesus, remaining in fellowship with Jesus, connecting to Jesus so that all that God is for us in him is flowing like a life-giving sap into our lives.
Jesus gets very specific about what is flowing between the vine and the branch.
He mentions words - his words - his love, and his joy.
John 15:7 says,
"If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
If we are not united to the vine, nothing of any lasting value will come from us.
Nothing of any spiritual, eternal significance is possible apart from this abiding in the vine.
We are not dealing here with something marginal or optional.
Abiding proves whether the attachment to the vine is coursing with life or is merely artificial and external.
Here's John 15:8:
"By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
The negative is also true.
John 15:6 says,
"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."
Earlier (in John 15:1-2), John says if anyone doesn't bear fruit, he's taken away.
Can we be born of God - can we be authentically, in a living way, united to Jesus and truly Christian - and lose our salvation?
Now, In John's understanding of abiding, the answer is no.
No we can't.
In John 10:28-29, he says, quoting Jesus,
"I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
He is bending over backwards to say,
When I choose someone for myself and they hear my voice and I take them to be my sheep and my children, that never changes.
Jesus says in John 15:1-2,
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 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."
Now pruning means cut.
The branches are being cared for (to make them maximally fruitful) by a vinedresser, who with his very painful scissors or saw cuts us and hurts us, so that by these painful providences in life we experience the fullest possible impact of the inner life of Christ.
We are being cared for by the providences of a loving Father who knows how to discipline his children to make them very, very holy.
Finally, the goal of abiding is the glory of God.
John 15:8 says,
"By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
The whole design of depending on a vinedresser to manage the outward shape of our vine structure and our branch structure is so that God gets the glory for bringing it all about.
The bottom line is, hour by hour, let us receive and rest in and trust and savour and enjoy Christ's word and love and joy while we submit externally to the merciful providences of God.
><(((°>
This is an edited version.
The full article and Bible references are avaiable on request
John Piper
is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary.
For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning: Education in Serious Joy.
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