ABIDING IN JOY

John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

I do not have an exhaustive vocabulary to impress you with.

I do not read endlessly on what others think about God, the Bible, doctrine, or the Christian walk.

I do not even seek for you to enjoy what I write here. But there are some things that need to be said.

Let's look at my text from above:

Jesus is stating that if we are of Him, we will produce fruit as long as we abide in Him.

Forgive me if I have trouble adding commentary. It's not my fault. The Bible is so clear on this issue that I really cannot believe how foolishly some have strayed on this very subject. So if what I say seems to only be a paraphrase of the scripture, I am good with that. Our words should ALWAYS be a mirror of God's Word.

If we abide in Christ, we produce fruit (5). The father is glorified when we produce fruit (8). We abide in Christ when we keep His commandments (10).

I know that's rather simplified, but the Bible wasn't written for educated men, it was written for ALL men.

Jesus prefaced all of this in the previous chapter:

John 14:21-24 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

So, after all this doctrine, straight from the mouth of Christ Jesus, he continues in verse 11:

John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

What? Joy? But He spoke of commandments, laws, restrictions, demands?

Have you been paying attention? Look back at verse 10. Jesus says that our love relationship with Him is measured by the same token that His own love with the Father is measured. That token is obedience.

Remember Jesus in the garden? Not my will, but thine?

Our greatest joy can only be found through obedience.

Think of rules you have for your own children:

Don't go near the road! Why? So they don't get hit by a car!
Don't go near the stove! So they don't get burned!
No running with scissors! Really? Good, you're catching on.

The child may think the road looks like a cool place to play, but the parents know better. Their law is based on the extreme love, agape love, they possess for their child.

God's laws are no different.

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

They may seem odd to our human intellect, but remember what Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I know now why my parents had so many rules! I thank God they had so many rules. I'll never regret the rules, only that I didn't always obey them. They had my best interest at heart. They LOVED me and wanted me to succeed in life. They had the wisdom to know that my childish understanding would only bring me hurt and pain without their guidance.

God doesn't wish to restrict you! He wishes to guide you to the best path, and that path is laid out for you in His Word.

Joshua 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

God DOES want you to succeed! But that success is often not what the world sees as success. He is glorified when we abide in him through obedience, and produce fruit.

Verses 14-15 in my text says that when we obey, we are no longer His servants, but His friends. Oh how I long to be a friend of Jesus.

Growing up, we often failed to become friends with certain people. Often we couldn't understand why. What else could we have done to impress them?

It's not that way with God, Jesus gave us clear instruction on what makes us his friends: obedience.

There are now those who have been among us, but were not really a part of us, who have chosen to follow those who preach a heresy of Grace.

Romans 5:20-21 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Then Paul asks the obvious rhetorical question:

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?


2 John 1:1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;
2 For the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
4 I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.
5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
13 The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.

Again in verse 6 we see John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reaffirming what Jesus said in John 14 and 15.

He is making it clear that there is no NEW commandment. What he is saying is that ALL the commandments boil down to LOVE. (see my playing near the road illustration above)

God's ultimate desire is for us to be happy. But just as the restrictions of my earthly father seemed unreasonable to me as a child, sometimes God's commandments will seem unreasonable to us. But the fruit they produce will be what not only glorifies the Father, but brings JOY to us.