Abiding the meaning of abiding
Abiding
In a discussion with a friend, the term abiding or to abide came into the discussion. The discussion was about the Rapture and who would be taken and if or who would be left. My friend brought the subject of bearing fruit and this brought my thinking to John 15. In this chapter the word abide occurs no less than 15 times in the first 10 verses, according A. Pink, a noted Bible Scholar. This would seem to point out some importance in this word. Hence this discussion, during which I am going to be quoting from A.H. Pink’s exposition of the Gospel of John. Much of my own thought will also be mixed in. I will try to single out what is mine and what comes from A.H. Pink .
To begin Pink quotes another in a very important area.
“Abide in Me and I in you” (15:4). These two things are *quite distinct*, though closely connected. Just as it is one thing to be “in Christ” and another to “abide in Him” so there is a real difference between His being *in us*, and His *abiding* in us. The one is a matter of His Grace and the other of our responsibility .
This importance of receiving the grace to allow Him to abide in our lives and soul is made quite clear by our Lord in His statement: “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abides in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me”. We could very easily look for a moment at our past resolutions and many attempts which have failed and over such that we have become discouraged and despondent. All of this is met by an announcement of the Word: “I am the vine and you are the branches”. Pink makes this so clear when he states:
“The branch bears the clusters, but it does not produce them. It bears what *the vine* produces, and so the result is expressed by the Apostle, *”to me to live is Christ”*. It is important that in this respect, as well as with reference to righteousness before God, we should be brought to **the end of self** with all its vain efforts and strivings.”
How clear this is. That in our own self, with our insufficiency admitted, we are no better than the branch **severed** from the vine dry-dead.
Now we need to ask was is this abiding. It is a matter of a complete form of communion with Christ. A communion based on perfect fellowship with Christ. Don’t let that word perfect scare you and don’t use it as an excuse. It means a complete fellowship. Now here is where problems begin. Consider the words of John in I John 1:6
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness , we lie and do not practice the truth”
Darkness is willful sin. It stops the fellowship and communion and abiding that has been spoken of. A continued practice of this sin can cause the branch to be barren of fruit. Jesus Himself states the effect of a lack of abiding when He said in John 15:6
“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”
Notice the process. First, the loss of abiding. Second, the period of drying up. Lastly, the awful result of burning. Willful sin causes a lack of fellowship. Continuing in it or not repenting and confessing it causes the drying up which results in the final result of burning. The question we need to ask ourselves is this. Are we abiding and bearing good fruit or are we severed from the vine by acts of unconfessed sin or by a refusal to allow Him to abide by giving up self and its desires?
In the study of abiding, still another point comes out. This is brought out by the words of our Lord.
“Severed from me you can do nothing”
Pink again makes a very strong and related statement on this subject.
“Not only will the allowance of any known sin break our fellowship with Him, but concentration on any thing but Himself will also surely do it. ”
What an exhortation to never never take our eyes or thoughts off of Jesus. What an exhortation to, as Paul put it, “avoid the very appearance of sin. Old satan is very subtle in his ways. If he can get us occupied with ourselves, he can hinder our fruit-bearing or damage our fruit.
Thousands of Christians are complaining of barrenness, but they fail to trace their barrenness to its right source. The lack of communion and fellowship with Christ. What caused this may be sin or rebellion to His claims. In both cases the result is the same barrenness.
How dangerous this barrenness is. And how important this fellowship and communion is. For without it in a Christians life the danger of being “cast forth” is always there.
“If any one of the branches,any believer continues out of fellowship with Me, he is cast out. It could not be said of anyone *who had never come* to Christ that he does abide in Him. This is made more apparent by the limitation in this very verse; “he is cast forth as a ***branch***” (A.H. Pink)
More food for thought. More food for Prayer. Possible answers to problems in the life of a Christian. Pray, Read, and Abide.