Abide

Okay so I have going to this group on Sunday nights that they call DOXA. I know I should know what that means, but I don't. For all I know it could mean sell your soul, give you money and sacrifice a goat but I don't think so. Last Sunday we sat around and talked about the idea of the vine and branches that Jesus used to illustrate what it meant to be one of His disciples, as recorded in John 15. We were also given the assignment of reading that chapter and meditating on that illustration over the course of the week, to see what stood out to us individually. For me, I have continued to chew on the picture of what a grapevine looks like. When I look at a plant, whether it be a tree, bush, shrub or vine I don't see pieces - I see the whole thing. Meaning, yeah a tree is made up of a trunk, roots, branches, leaves and seeds - but it is all still a tree. Also, with the passing time the whole structure continues to grow and sooner or later, even though in your mind you know that it all started with a seed you can't help but see the tree as being completely connected as a whole entity. Another way of saying it is; the top branch is connected not only to the trunk but also to the bottom branch as well as the deepest root. The youngest seed is connected to the oldest leaf, etc. Now if Jesus is going to decompartmentalize the plant by saying that He is the vine (or trunk) and we are the branches then it is not only true that we cannot separate ourselves from Him, but we would not be able to separate ourselves from one another as well because through Him we are all connected. And this whole paragraph is a rant that I didn't mean to focus on so I will move on now.

What I did want to focus on was the idea of being grafted with Christ and what that means in our day to day lives. It is the whole idea of being able to truly say that in my life there is no way to pinpoint where my life is separate from Christ, or as Paul put it in Galatians 2:20; "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer life, but it is Christ who lives in me". Is it true that I can be so intimate with Christ that my life really is an extension of His life on earth and if so, what does that look like? The following is my opinion and, as always, please know that you are invited to share yours as well (and yes agreeing with me and sharing it will go along way to boost my ego). I truly believe that the key to the ministry if Jesus, and the work of God on earth, is recognizing and seizing the opportunities as they present themselves. Jesus said clearly that His ministry was "watching what the Father was doing and doing likewise". The miracle of Jesus was that, in the records we have of Him, He always knew the right thing to say or do to the right person at the right time. Even in His willingness to be martyred for the sake of humanity, it wasn't until the right time. It is widely known that some of Jesus' travel to certain regions was to avoid other regions where He would have been hunted down as well as instances where He fled through the crowd as they were going to stone Him or throw Him off a cliff. Other times we have recording where He walked into entire communities of the sick and impoverished and only heals a few and then leaves. Also in His teaching, there were times where He was very direct in what He was saying and other times where He spoke in riddles. All of this to say that Jesus was the master of recognizing what was needed in each particular situation.

I would even say that was the difference in the ministry of the disciples pre and post Pentecost. Pre-Pentecost we see instances where the disciples either failed to recognize an opportunity because they were focused on meeting their own needs (ie John 4) or they recognized the opportunity but failed to see what was needed for the situation (ie Matthew 17). On the other hand, the first half of the Book of Acts is dedicated to telling the stories of how the disciples reacted to situations they found themselves in. I would submit that the "Filling of the Holy Spirit" was/is not for the purpose of endowing the disciples of Christ with the abilities to react in supernatural ways. The purpose is to endow the disciples of Christ with the ability to recognize, just as Jesus did, what God is doing in the world around us and to act accordingly.

So, back to the original question; "What does it mean to Abide in Christ?" To me it means this, 1) Recognize the fact that as I am grafted to Christ, I am also grafted to everyone else who is "called according to His name". 2) To be a "minister" of Christ means to live my life as normal and as I am doing that when I see the opportunity to extend His hand or speak His words, do so knowing that as I do - He does. 3) Maturity in Christ means to recognize more and more the opportunities to rest in the knowledge of both 1 and 2.

Neviusology 227