Remain

This past week during our Journey reading, John 15:4 really spoke to my heart. I wanted to take a look at it, with you. This verse in the NIV "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "

The word ‘remain’, there I think is key to John’s theology. He uses the word ‘remain’ 11 times in this chapter…40 times in this Gospel…and 27 times in his other writings!

What does it mean to ‘remain’? Remain is to stay...stay the course...wait!

To remain in Christ is to accept Him as Lord & Savior. John 6:54 & 56, ‘for whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’ Verse 56 there says: ‘Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.’ Think of the Holy Communion we celebrate during church services. We remember the sacrifice Jesus made on that cross, by eating His body in the bread we take and drink His blood, in the juice we take.

To remain in Christ can mean to continue, or persevere…in believing, as in John 8:31 which says “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” Hold, there is to remain in Christ’s teachings…Hold to your belief in Him and His word, even when things around you don't look like you think they should. 'My life wasn't supposed to turn out this way'. 'I don't know why this is happening to me.' Remaining here is to know that you know that you know that Christ has it under control.

To remain in Christ can also mean believing, loving obedience, according to John 15:9 & 10
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. We obey because of our love for Christ. We love Him and because of that love, we are motivated to live for Him, please Him, draw people to Him, but above all, obey Him!

John 15:4 --Jesus said these words just after He talked about the Father cutting off every branch that doesn’t bear fruit. Pruning hurts, but the branches that remain will bear even more fruit. Remaining in the Father is necessary, Jesus used this example because the branch that is not attached to the vine has no chance of bearing fruit…we cannot bear fruit without being fully dependent on Christ and His word in us.

If we’re focused on what’s been cut off, we become helpless…this is exactly where our enemy would like us to stay focused. Instead, I would say, focus on the vine...focus on the health that pruning ultimately produces.

In spite of the pruning, enduring in our faith is what produces the life God intends for us to live, to glorify Him…We glorify Him with our fruit, and the only way we’re going to produce fruit is by REMAINING in Him! --Attached to the 'vine' or The Father!

If you're still attached to the vine, you have the ability to bear fruit...much fruit...healthy fruit...by remaining. Stay...endure...wait!