Living in Jesus, Abiding in Him (22)

 

 

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove [become] to be My disciples.” John 15:7 – 8.

 

This is one of three passages in the Upper Room in which Jesus speaks to us concerning prayer; the other two are 14:13 – 14 and 16:23 – 24. Jesus has spoken of abiding within us, and of the Father and Holy Spirit abiding in us (14:16 – 17, 23), and now He speaks of His words abiding in us. The motif of the Vine and the branches, “Abide in Me, and I in you,” (15:4), is the motif of the Upper Room, indeed, it is the motif of the Christian life.

 

How tragic that many Christians live with an image of God being “out there” or “up there” rather than being joined to Him in intimate koinonia. How often we are as the people of the Gadarenes, imploring Jesus to leave us (Mt. 8:34), we are uncomfortable in living in proximity to Jesus Christ.

 

The prayer passages of the Upper Room cannot be separated from the motif of intimacy with the Trinity and the words of the Trinity (see also John 17:8). Communion and communication, communication and communion, with the True and Living God (and with one another in Him) is our calling and our destiny; it is to be our center of gravity and our gyroscope. Communion and communication with the Trinity is to be our biosphere, the air we breathe – at home, at work, in the broader community, at school, when we gather to worship, at play.

 

Just as Jesus glorified the Father on earth (17:4), even so we are called to glorify the Father during our time on earth, accomplishing the work which He has given us to do (17:18; Eph. 2:10). We can only experience the fulfilling of our calling as we live in koinonia with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with the words of the Son abiding within us.

 

There is a sense in which “asking” our Father and Jesus is to be our Way of Life. In 14:14:13 – 14 Jesus tells us to ask Him. In 16:23 Jesus tells us to ask the Father. As we live in the Trinity we learn to talk to the Trinity and to listen to the Trinity. As we speak to the Trinity and listen to the Trinity, we learn to live in the Trinity.

 

The “asking” of John 15:7 is literally rooted in 15:4 – 5, as we live in union with the Vine we commune with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; as we commune we communicate, and as we communicate we ask.

 

When Paul writes that we are to “pray without ceasing” (1 Th. 5:17), he is simply stating the way we are called to live – in uninterrupted communion and friendship with God.

 

If God is going to spend the day with us, ought not we to spend the day with God? Would it not be rude to spend the day with someone and not communicate with them?

 

If we will “see” that we are called to be Christ’s Presence to others, if we will “see” that we are called to do the work which our Father has given us – in all spheres and venues of life, if we will “see” that our dear Father wants to transform us into the image of His Firstborn Son and that He employs all elements of life to do so, if we will begin to see these things then we will begin to commune with God in all that we do, for all that we do will be for His glory and we will need His grace, wisdom, love, light, and life…we will need Him…in everything. When Jesus says, “…for apart from Me you can do nothing”, He means “nothing.”

 

Note in the prayer passages of the Upper Room that not only is the Father’s glory in focus, but our joy is also in focus (15:11; 16:24). We have joy in fulfilling the will of our Father, we know joy when His grace and life flow through us to others, we shout with joy when others come to know Him. Most of all, we have joy in friendship with Him.

 

O dear friends, prayer has different expressions and seasons to be sure, but prayer is to be the fabric of life when it is understood to be every breath we breathe – for we are to abide in the Vine. To speak of a “prayer life” has its place in our growth in Christ, but hopefully we come to a place on our pilgrimage where we transition from a “prayer life”  into a “life of prayer.”

 

Can we see the distinction?