Probably for similar reasons the slave owners of Texas kept their slaves in bondage two years after the fact a that proclamation had been signed by the President freeing all enslaved people. (yesterday's post is worth reading if you missed it)
When we have been taught, misled, and indoctrinated our whole life to believe otherwise, I know firsthand how hard it is to embrace this truth that Christ made it possible that we might be truly set free. I think the paradox here in trying to come to terms with how this ‘works’...is the notion that we can walk in freedom almost immediately...yet at the same time, it is a process in which we learn to walk in the freedom that Christ has paid for. Please hear me out if you would...
We call it a ‘walk’ or ‘walk of faith’. Salvation is…a ‘walk’ that has a beginning and an end. We speak in terms of ‘were saved, being saved, will be saved’. Jesus Himself said those ‘who endure till the end will be saved’. (Matt. 24:13). [It also helps to better understand just what it is we are being 'saved from'.] Whenever Jesus healed lame people, those unable to walk, it was always ‘instant’ where they were told to ‘pick up your bed and walk’. Jesus was healing them and restoring them to the condition where they could ‘walk according to the way they were designed and created to walk’. There was never a time where He told them “Now this is a process and you’ll be in therapy and just be willing and some day when you get to heaven you will totally be healed and restored.”
But again, this is not so much about having to do with being ‘saved’ vs. what it means to ‘abide in Christ’.
The big ‘disconnect’ has to do with understanding what it means to ‘abide in Him’. I mean, it is EVERYTHING. Jesus Himself taught this in John 15. “Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” (5). “Anyone who does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered...” (6) as in no fruit is produced. He goes on to tell you what becomes of those fruitless branches as well.
But Jesus also assures us that those who do abide in Him will produce “much fruit”...not just ‘some’ or ‘a little’, but ‘much fruit’. (5). And you know what else He would express shortly after that? This fruit will ‘remain’. (16). The fruit that God desires to produce in us, unlike ‘natural fruit’, is not supposed to be ‘seasonal’. You know...we have ‘good days’ and ‘bad days’. I mean, nobody is perfect, right? Yet, what did Jesus say about ‘good trees producing bad fruit’? He taught it won’t happen and vice versa. (Matt. 7:18)
Interesting side-note here regarding another incident in scripture that always confused me. It’s the story of where Jesus cursed that fig tree because it had no fruit and He was hungry and wanted to eat something. And no, Jesus was not grumpy or ‘hangry’ and throwing a tantrum. What always has puzzled me about this account though, and I never understood...is we read there in Mark 11 that ”it was not the season for figs” (13)
I mean really, we all get it that there is a ‘seedtime and harvest’ process with fruit production. Apple trees do not bear fruit year round. Nor would fig trees. Certainly Jesus understood this given He were there at the beginning of creation when God made all these fruit trees.(Gen. 1). So why curse this one? Please remember, Jesus says or does nothing without something for us to learn from it. Sure, He understood that natural trees are seasonal. But the point He is trying to make here with all His talk on us having fruit is...with us...that fruit is not seasonal. It is to last year round...not just when we ‘feel like being joyful’ or ‘loving’ or ‘gentle’ or ‘patient’ or ‘kind’. You know, the ’fruit of the Spirit’... (Gal. 5:22-23)...This fruit is to remain.
And unless we are abiding in Him, we will never see, experience, or exhibit this kind of fruit that He is looking for. Ever. Anything less is nothing more than a ‘form of godliness’ where we might ‘always be learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth’. (2 Tim. 3:5-7)
Something else I have come to discover about what it means to abide in Him...it’s pretty tough to do if He does not have your Whole heart. I mean it...being 75% in is not abiding. That is not loving God with All your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
You know that verse everyone likes to quote and share from Jeremiah 29:11...the one about all these good plans God has for us and to give us peace and not evil and offers us a future of hope where He answers us when we pray? He adds this small little ‘condition’ there in vs. 13...it happens when we seek and come to Him with ‘all our heart’. And if you really want to drive this point home, go read Deut. 30:1-10...this...is how all of the promises of God’s blessings are ‘activated’ and produced in our lives...when we ‘return to Him with ALL. OUR. HEARTS.
Here's something to consider: Until He has your whole heart, you won’t be that interested in abiding in Him. Trust me on that one. No, I mean it. Abiding in Jesus is really not that desirable a thing to do if portions of our heart still long for ‘other things’ besides Him. And Jesus saw this as an all to common symptom when He came to His people. “They like to honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” (Matt. 15:8)
That rich young ruler in Matt. 19...came to Jesus....he just did not continue on...with Jesus. You know why? He didn’t want to give up his whole heart which is what Jesus was telling him was necessary to do if he wanted eternal life. Remember what the definition of ‘abiding’ means? To remain or continue’. At some point in time, if you are not ‘all in’, it will become apparent. Look what we read in John 6:66...where “from that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.”
So let’s talk about some possible reasons as to why we treat this ‘abiding thing’ as more of an ‘option’ but not ‘essential’. Many have been taught that if they simply say some prayer and confess a certain truth that they are going to go to heaven and nothing can hinder or prevent that. This would be a misleading doctrine or ‘other gospel’ to deceive people and lead them astray. How on earth did we ever come to believe that we really don’t need to surrender our entire hearts to God and can continue to live double-minded lives, striving to live in the spirit while serving the flesh? James accused believers who did this as ‘adulterers’ and commanded them to repent of their double-minded hearts’. (4:4-8)
Did Paul not tell us in Romans 8:13 that “if you live according to the flesh you will die’? Sounds vaguely familiar to something God told Adam and Even back in the garden about eating of this one tree ...and if they did, they would ‘surely die’. (Gen. 2:17). To which Satan immediately came to ‘snatch that word from their hearts’ by casting doubt “Hath God really said ?...you surely will not die’ he told them. (Gen. 3:1-4)
I believe another reason so many have come up short on this abiding thing is due to not being fully taught to understand what is at stake here along with the failure to know what the fear of God entails. This is not about the ‘need to straighten up’ or some angry and frustrated deity will pulverize us if we did not do what He ordered us to do. In Col. 1:21-23, Paul explains where we were and where he hopes we end up…provided we continue in the faith. That little, two-letter word, ‘IF’ carries much weight there in vs. 23.
It really is quite the same story we read back in the OT as God was leading His people in to possess the land. Good things awaited those who continued on with Him and for those who did not, and sought to go their own way, the outcome was not good.
I shared another analogy here awhile back that is quite fitting. It had to do with a high school senior receiving an acceptance letter to the college of their choice, and even possibly a full ride scholarship paying for everything…tuition, books, meals, room/board. When a student receives that ‘acceptance letter’, the understanding is clear…everything they will need over the next four years has been taken care of so that they can graduate with their diploma.
Guess what does not come with that acceptance letter? The diploma.
No one ever has the false impression that if they just show up at the university auditorium four years later that some leather bound document will be handed to them. I hesitate to use the word ‘work’ or ‘earn’ here as to imply that we can ‘earn’ or ‘work for’ our ‘salvation’ or…’diploma’; but there is a fine line here that has been blurred for so many people. In our case, something else comes with that ‘acceptance letter’. It is a ‘tutor’ who will walk with us every day of this experience and make us ‘more than conquerors, empowering us to overcome every ‘test’ we face. But it certainly is not automatic.
Those disciples in John 6:66 who turned and no longer walked with Jesus…what do you think became of them? Those ‘many who will come in that day saying’…in Matt. 7:21-23…they thought they were ‘enrolled’ and on their way to graduation. How do you explain the sobering words they heard from Jesus?
Why did the writer of Hebrews point back to the Israelites in the wilderness as examples who were ‘always going astray’ and because of lack of faith and disobedience, and failed to ‘enter His rest’, warning us today that we should ‘fear, lest any of us fall short and fail to enter. (3:7-4:3) If you have not marked the verses there in 3:12-15, do that now and then chew on them for a moment. Why such a serious tone and sense of urgency in those words?
I know countless students over the years who have begun the journey in pursuing a college degree (continuing with this illustration here) experienced periods of anxiety and self-doubt, questioning if they ‘had what it takes to finish the course set before them’. I always remember that example shared by a professor who on the first day with his freshman class tells them to make note of the students sitting on both sides of them and in front and back of them. He reveals to them that statistically, they won’t be there in the end to receive their diploma along with you…provided you continue on. But this idea of having a ‘tutor’ is the game changer for us. And let me tell you about this tutor….He knows. He’s been there. And He is more than willing and ready to come to your aid and assist you wanting nothing less for you than to overcome and ‘finish the race’. (Heb. 4:15; 2:18; 4:16- yes, read in that order).
Abiding with this ‘tutor’ will change your life; I promise you. Join me tomorrow?
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