Cast Forth Or Kept As Disciples
Jesus makes two promises, the first sorrowful, the second joyful. He says, “If a man does not abide in Christ he will be like a dead branch and will be thrown out of the vineyard. He is very graphic in this description, he wither, is gathered and burned.
The joyful promise is that If a man abides in Christ, and Jesus’ words abide in them then you shall ask anything and it shall be done, thus bringing glory to the Father. By abiding in Him and His words abiding in them, they truly will be His disciples.
Two promises both equally true and both equally misunderstood at times.
The first is a promise of loss because the believer has lost his attachment to Christ, he no longer abides in Him. This is not a promise of damnation in Hell. The passage is a picture, a parable in a sense and it is not about salvation but about discipleship and about fruitfulness. You should never use a symbol, an illustration or a metaphor to prove doctrine, that is how cults start and people lose their way. Jesus is saying that those believers who will not submit themselves to the pruning of the Father, the cutting and preparation of His word and who will not stay attached, stay close to Jesus, then they will be cast off.
Some will be cast off through the discipline of the church, some through sin that removes them from service to Christ, some though depression and anxiety that prevents them from experiencing fruitfulness. Their discipleship and their fruit withers in their life and they are cut away from the vine. But this cutting off is not eternal judgment, Jesus is simply following the symbol of what happens in a literal vineyard. The dead branches are gathered up and burned. It is a judgment of their unfruitfulness and their discipleship but not of their salvation.
Exactly the same thing Paul teaches in 1Corinthains 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The other promise is of fruitfulness, not of being cast away but of glorifying the Father through our discipleship. It is as simple as the illustration itself, the branch that is close to Christ is fruitful, the branch that abides in Him, brings glory to the Father and what he asks is done because of that closeness to Jesus.
Are We Truly Abiding in Christ?
Is this joyful promise of fruitfulness, of a full life, a blessed life, being fulfilled in me today? This is what we hope for, the completion of our purpose to glorify our Father in Heaven. We seek fruitful prayer life where they are answered because Jesus is in us and we are in Him. The key then and the key now is the same, staying attached, stay close, concentrate on Jesus. I must abide, live, dwell in Him? I must let His words dwell in me.
Spend a dedicated part of your day being with Christ? Most of us are too passive in our relationship with our Savior. Talk with Him, walk with Him, listen to Him as He speaks to you through His word. This week we in our Bible readings we finished the Gospels and I realized how much I loved to hear Jesus speak. I love hearing about Jesus, but I should long to hear from Jesus ask He speaks directly to me through His word.
This passage in Acts captures this elemental truth of how important my day by day, personal relationship with Jesus is, Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Conclusion
Aiming To Abide
I let so many things in my life distract me from my life in Jesus. I’m so grateful He promised to never let go or forget me, but I’m afraid too often I can go too long without talking and walking with Jesus.
A new year is coming, I want to dedicate 2025 in my own life to Abiding in Christ. And I want us as a church to aim to abide as well. What can we modify to make more of our life in Him. What needs to be cut away? What needs to be pruned and made ready to bear spiritual fruit for our Savior? Let us put our heart and soul into staying close to the Savior. Aim to Abide!
