Abide in My Word

We'll we're back in John today. And we'll be looking at something Jesus said that is among His more familiar statements.

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

This is what I'd like to do. First, I'd like to explain what Jesus is talking about when He calls you to abide in His word. Then, I want to relate that call to abide to the promise of freedom. And then, for the last part, I want to connect this with real world expectations.

So, let's begin. What does Jesus mean when He says, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples...'? One popular understanding, which I'm guessing some of you have heard, goes like this. Jesus is saying that those who are truly His disciples will read their Bibles - a lot. The assumption here is that 'My word' is another way of referring to the Bible. So, to abide in His word is to read it. And that is proof of being a real Christian.

But, that's actually not what He's talking about. Let me explain. What John wrote here, rendered 'word', can be translated in several ways. Let me give you some examples. The first is from something earlier in John's Gospel.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”

So, where is 'word' in this passage? It's translated 'saying'. And that makes it clear that the disciples aren't responding to something they read in their Bibles. They are responding to something Jesus was teaching.

In 1 Corinthians Paul writes, 'the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing'. What's he getting at? He's telling those Corinthians something about how the message about Jesus' crucifixion is rejected by unbelievers.

Now, there are places where 'word' is the equivalent of 'Bible', as in, 'the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword...' But that's not what it means in our text. When Jesus says, 'Abide in My word', He isn't talking about what you do with your Bible.

One translation captures pretty well the sense of what Jesus is saying.

If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples.

And that makes a very big difference.

So, you see, today's sermon isn't about how you need to make that New Year's resolution - again! - to read your Bible every day. No, today's sermon is about believing the message of Jesus. And the difference is not a big deal. It is a huge deal. That first way of taking Jesus' words is all about law. Law, when all by itself, kills. How many have begun some plan for Bible reading, resolving that this time it will work. It has to work. After all, a good Christian reads his Bible. Jesus said so, right? Wrong. That's just law. And how many Christians are crushed when they fail! Jesus is all about grace. Those who are truly Jesus' disciples are people who, day in and day out, continue to believe His message. They continue to believe the Gospel. Grace.

That was part one of the sermon, the explanation. Now, we're ready for part two. I want to unpack what Jesus said, and I want to do that in the context of the rest of what He said here.

… and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

There are more than a few currently pagan colleges that have this set in stone somewhere on campus. The point being made (especially when I was a student) goes something like this. If you get a good college education, if you learn what we have to teach, then you will enjoy freedom. And that, of course, is a lie. There is nothing wrong with learning or going to college. But the fact of the matter is that neither of those can give you freedom. Only Jesus gives freedom. Believing, that is, abiding in, the Gospel of Jesus, in the truth, is the only way that anyone will gain freedom.

But how does that happen? Listen to more of what Jesus said.

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.  The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

The freedom that Jesus is talking about is freedom from sin. But that's church words. So, let me translate it with a question. Who is your worst enemy? The answer is clear. You are your worst enemy. Think about it. Who forces you to do the stupid things that you do? Nobody. You choose to do those things all on your own. Who gets you into all that trouble that you find yourself in all too often? You do. Who causes you to believe all those lies about yourself and how life works? Don't point your finger anywhere but at yourself. So, whom do you need freedom from? Yourself. And Jesus has come to do exactly that.

So, let's pick one of the lies that some people believe, especially at times. 'I am a horrible person. Look at what I just did! How awful! I am totally worthless.' And then, life takes a nosedive into darkness, spinning downward out of control. And that becomes its own kind of hellish slavery - from which too many are never freed.

But Jesus frees from slavery. How? Let me re-use something from last week. This is from Isaiah.

… you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you…

Who is the 'you' here? Is the Father talking to some perfect person? No. He's talking to people who do all sorts of foul things, people who believe lies, people who sin, people just like you. In fact, it isn't even people just like you. He's talking right at you. And He is declaring His absolute love to you. Now, there may be this voice in you saying, 'How can He do that? I sin! Look at what I do. How can He love someone as ugly as I am?' That, of course, is the right question. And you know the answer, though sometimes you forget. The answer is Jesus. Remember the Great Exchange. Jesus has not only taken all of your sin upon Himself, He has also given you His perfection. So, I suppose I should adjust what I said just a bit ago. Is the Father talking to some perfect person? Well, yes. He is talking to someone to whom He has given Jesus' perfection. And it's easy to love perfect people. That's who you are. The Father loves you. And there is freedom when you believe that. Freedom from yourself. All you need do is believe the truth instead of some lie.

Let's flip that last problem around. Instead of someone thinking poorly of himself, the problem is when he thinks so well of himself. Some problem confronts him, and he believes a different lie. 'I can handle this. It may take a little time and effort, but I'll get it. Yeah, I can deal with this.' Really? Let's face it. It's just not true that any of us can handle what comes down the pike with just a little time and effort. Little 'successes' you experience just set you up. They convince you that you can handle life and so that's exactly what you set out to do. And that leads to a different kind of slavery. It's no longer the case that you can deal with life's issues. Now, you have to. And you are no longer dealing with little things that lead to those deceptive little successes. Now, it's the big issues. And there's a different kind of voice speaking. 'I can deal with this. I can fix it. I have to fix it!' That person's sense of himself is now all tied up in seeing himself as the guy who can handle life. And that, of course, is a lie. It is a lie that enslaves, a lie that will ultimate destroy.

Jesus frees from that slavery. And He does that by reminding us of the truth. We are weak, so very weak. We don't know what we need to know to make life work. And the little bit that we do know we fail to put into practice. We are like infants left to fend for themselves. How hopeless. But Jesus said,

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Jesus reminds us of the truth. We are powerless without Him, able to accomplish nothing. It is when we believe that truth, when we accept the fact of our inability and learn to depend on Him, that we flourish. Trying to live in any other way is slavery.

One more. Consider this way of thinking. 'Life is scary. Lots of bad things can happen, and have happened. So, I'm going to be extra careful. I don't want to get hurt. I'm going to play it safe.' What is this but fear. Do lots of bad things happen? Absolutely. Can those bad things happen to you?  Dumb question. They already have. Is it wrong to say that life is scary? Nope. But living in fear is another slavery. And Jesus promises freedom. So, what does He do? Does He promise a life where bad things won't happen? Actually, quite the opposite. But He adds something to that promise of bad things. David understood it.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.

Jesus promises to walk with us into the scary places. And because of that He promises that we will be able to walk out of the scary places, and be better for it. Life is still scary, but we are not enslaved by fear. Let me tell you one reason why this is important. If someone is going to make a dent with the Gospel and advance the Kingdom of God, he's going to have to be ready to walk into some scary places. We need to be freed from our fears for the sake of the spread of the Gospel. Jesus gives that freedom.

So, here is Jesus telling us that what we need to do is to walk through life believing the Gospel. That's what abiding in His word is about. And as we do that, we come to enjoy freedom from sin, freedom from ourselves. And that shows that we are truly His disciples.

But it's here that there's a problem. And this is the third part of the sermon. Let's be honest. We don't walk through life continuing to believe the Gospel. We still do some of those stupid things. We still believe some of those lies. There is still some slavery. So, what does that mean? That we're not truly His disciples? Well, it depends on whether we will believe this other part of Jesus' word: There is forgiveness for those who repent. And repentance isn't complicated. It's just a matter of being honest. It's honestly admitting that you've been stupid again. You've sinned. No excuses or minimizing. You've sinned. If you've been honest in admitting your sin, then you'll have an honest reaction against it. There will be this part of you saying that you really don't want to do that again. And that will lead to an honest resolve to endeavor, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, to live as becomes a follower of Christ. (I hope that sounds familiar.) Once you have repented in this way, it's time to return to believing, to being a faithful disciple of Jesus. And why not? That evil sin that you did has been forgiven and forgotten by the Father.

Jesus calls you to abide in His word. As you do you will experience more and more of the freedom that He promises.