Abide In Me — Week 6
More Than Christian-ish
You can look Christian and still not be attached.
The Warning
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’”
—Matthew 7:21-23 NLT
Around the Vine vs Attached to the Vine
“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
—John 15:4-5 NLT
You can live around Jesus and never build your life in Him. Salvation secures eternity. Attachment reshapes everyday life.
The Great Substitution
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.”
—James 1:19-25 NLT
Luke 6:45: “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Attachment can be replaced with activity. Information can replace intimacy.
The Saul Warning — Selective Obedience
“When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. “May the Lord bless you,” he said. “I have carried out the Lord’s command!” “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded. “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the Lord told me last night!” “What did he tell you?” Saul asked. And the Lord sent you on a mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’ Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else. Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.””
—1 Samuel 15:13-16, 18-23 NLT
Sacrifice looks spiritual. Obedience requires surrender.
Sacrifice costs time. Obedience costs control.
The Transactional Trap
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”
—John 6:26-27 NLT
“At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?””
—John 6:66-67 NLT
If God stopped giving you what you wanted, would you still want Him?
Borrowed Faith
“You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.”
—John 15:16 NLT
“We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them— even the children not yet born— and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.”
—Psalms 78:4-7 NLT
No one can remain for you.
Fruit Reveals Attachment
Galatians 5:22–23 – The Fruit of the Spirit
“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
—John 15:8 NLT
Fruit shows up in the first 30 seconds of pressure.
How To Abide
Abiding isn’t a feeling. It’s a structure.
- Order your mornings around presence.
Psalm 1 — meditate day and night. - Obey immediately.
John 14:21. - Confess quickly.
1 John 1:9. - Guard what forms your mind.
Romans 8:5. - Practice hidden faithfulness.
Matthew 6.
Attachment grows in the unseen places.
Remain — μένω (meno)
To dwell. To stay. To make your home in.
One response
Thank you Pastor Craig. This was an incredible series.