Word of the Week - Abiding (First Fruits)

“Remain in me, as I also 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.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” -John 15: 3-5

Second only to knowing Jesus through a personal relationship (Salvation), I believe “Abiding (remaining)” in Christ, is the most important and fruitful aspect of the Christian life.  Over the past few weeks, God has again shown afresh how powerful and fruitful this truth has been in my own life.  I attended an abiding retreat with some of our Heritage Forum leadership team a few weeks ago at my good friend Ed Kobel’s plantation in South Georgia.  You can learn more about their abiding ministry by visiting Abide Now.  During this abiding retreat, our team was convicted to refocus the Heritage Forum on this key teaching.  God showed me clearly that if the only Heritage I built, and legacy I left was a life-long abiding relationship with Jesus, transferring this deep conviction/value would be the greatest gift for my kids, grandkids, and future generations. 

 Well, we hosted our 13th Heritage Forum this week and our team used it as an opportunity to share this conviction through personal testimonies from our leadership team of the fruit God has and is producing through our abiding connection to the vine of Christ.  At the end of the Heritage Forum, we challenged all of our participants to take a 6-week abiding challenge, so they can personally experience the power of an ongoing connection with Jesus, especially if we make Him the priority in our daily lives by giving Him our First Fruits.  If you are currently not abiding daily (spending focused time with God in His word, praying and worshipping Him), I would challenge you to the 6-week challenge.  Get an accountability partner and get started and watch what God does in your life.

 The great paradox – I think this is one of the biggest deceptions of religion and the wisdom of the world, doing more is better.  As a type A personality who grew up under the ideal of the “American Dream”, I learned that success is about being proactive to do and achieve more.  This is somewhat the definition of success in our culture and it is typically very useful in producing worldly success.  I personally find great satisfaction in producing and achieving, this is how God wired me.  I don’t think it is a bad or negative thing to be driven to produce, unless it is “the thing” that drives us and defines our identity.  The truth is that no matter how much I produce in my own strength, if it is not “fruit of God’s spirit” then it will not be lasting and it will not bring true fulfillment, especially as a follower of Christ who desires to grow in Christ.  In our walk with God as followers of Christ, we must realize that it is God who produces His fruit through us as a bi-product of our connection to Him – through the vine of Christ.  We cannot produce this in our own strength and efforts because it is of divine nature not of mere human efforts.  So God doesn’t want us to do more for Him.  He wants us to do more with Him. In this context our works are simply an outflow of our abiding love for Christ.  We are not working to earn His love and approval but working out of a heart of gratitude in response to His love for us.   

 Abiding  – “If you remain in me (Abide) and I in you, you will bear much fruit:” John 15:5  Abiding is an imperative from Jesus with a promise.  He makes it very clear to us that in the case of Abiding that He wants us to be the pursuer and initiate.  To abide, we must act, it is not a passive concept.  So even though abiding is not about doing more for God, it is about actively pursuing Him-and typically this does not come naturally or easily.  We have an enemy of our soul that is working 24/7 to keep us from this very powerful connection with Christ.  We have the opportunity to make God our daily priority.  Any of us who are married can probably relate to this concept in relationship with our spouses.  My wife Amy appreciates me doing things for her and our family but what she desires most is connection and me pursuing connection with her.  When I get too focused on doing and producing (performance), which is my nature, then our relationship suffers and is not most fruitful, but when I simply focus my energy on connecting with her by pursuing deeper and more intimate relationship, this is where the stars align and abundant fruit is produced.  In the same way but at a much greater scale, this is how our relationship with God flourishes, the fruit is a bi-product of the abiding connection with the Lord Jesus.  The power is from Him and thus apart from Him we can “do nothing” of eternal significance.

 Priority “First Fruits” – If we understand and believe what Jesus is saying in John 15:1-5 about the importance and power of Abiding in Christ, then we should recognize that this is the most important thing; it trumps everything else.  If it is the most important thing in our walk with Christ then we should make it the highest priority.  If it is the highest priority then it should be the “first” priority that we focus on each and every day.  This is the principle of “First Fruits”, making the Lord and our relationship with Him the “First” and highest priority.  God tells us through scripture that He wants to be first.  The first of the ten commandments tells us that “He wants us to make Him the priority and not put anything before Him” in our lives.  In Matthew 6:33 He tells us to “Seek first the Kingdom (God) and His righteousness, and then all things will be added unto you”.  In other words, Boudreaux translation of the scripture “Put God first and He will take care of da rest”.  Over the last 20 plus years since surrendering my heart to Jesus, I have made this my highest daily priority and goal and I can honesty say that God has done “Immeasurably more than I could have ever asked or imagined by His power at work in me” Ephesians 3:20.  I have a long way to go and will never achieve complete sanctification this side of heaven, but I can honestly say that God has done an amazing work in me and through me as a result (biproduct) of my relentless and at times vigilant pursuit of connecting with Him and making Him a priority in my life.  He is clear when He tells us that “If we seek Him first and make God our priority then we will find Him and live fruitful lives”.

 We are born of the spirit of God by accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior, this is salvation.  We only become fruitful and fulfilled followers of Christ by making our relationship with Him a daily priority through Abiding in Christ.  I believe this to be the most important pursuit of a follower of Christ that will lead to the abundant life that Jesus talked about, the life that is truly life. 

 As another confirmation to my recent conviction to share on this topic; my pastor shared an excellent message on abiding last Sunday titled Daily Time with God . You can click the link to watch the message, I highly recommend it.

 Have a great week abiding in Christ!!!!!!!

Blessings,
Duane