“If” is the biggest word in the dictionary. It contains potential and doubt at the same time. It can be releasing into dreams or restricting to doubt.
If is a crossroads of thought. It is a conditional thing. If we do one thing this will happen, if we do another something else will happen. If we do nothing, rarely will nothing happen. Weeds in the garden. Something is always going to grow in the garden of our lives, whether we tend to it or not. If never allows for a vacuum.
There are two different kinds of “if;” what if and but if. What if contains the potential of possibility. But if contains the fear of the unknown.
Today I want us to briefly look at three biblical “ifs”. I would like us all to think in terms of ‘what if’, but I know that it is human nature to allow the ‘but ifs’ to build up in our lives. The only butts in church should be those we are sitting on!
Here then are three potential statements then, three little keys, that will change our spiritual lives. Now having said that, they are small. This is not the kind of message where I will promise you heaven’s riches if you apply three steps, four keys or five promises.
They are hinges though. It has been said that the doors of history swing on small hinges. We have been having new doors put into the refurbished areas, fire doors which are really heavy, but they swing on small hinges, three hinges in fact. The main problem we face in church is un-hinged Christians!
Putting these three things into our lives will mean small changes but will also swing a big thing as we establish these in our lives:
John 15: 1-17: ’I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 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.
5 ‘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. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 ‘As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: love each other.
The metaphor of the Vine does not only speak of who Christ is, but points to the relationship that He has with His disciples.
5 ‘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.
Remain is taken from a Greek word (meño) which is used several ways in the NT. Broadly it is used of:
A place to be in (Matt. 10:11; metaphorically of God, 1 John 4:15; of Jesus John 6:56, 15:4; the Holy Spirit, John 1:32-33 etc).
We begin to see that we can be in the ‘place’ where Jesus is, the Father is, the Spirit is.
When Jesus says remain in me He is talking about being located in His will, His presence, with Him.
It is relational, it has to to with a physical reality. In other words, we send time with Him. We are not somewhere else, multi-tasking our way through a quiet time, but with Him.
Remind, abide, continue, is used to describe periods of time in our lives. You will have used this kind of phrase yourselves, “Stay here until I get back.”
It speaks of consistency. Keep doing what you are doing. Do not stop.
Of enduring qualities (1 Corinthians 13:13; John 15:10).
Again there is the idea of endurance, not failing, not giving up. The kind of qualities that outshine others and are hallmarks of the Christian faith:
1 Corinthians 13:13: And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
These are things that grow in our lives by the power of the Spirit. The Spiritual Fruits or Fruits of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Discipleship means more than just believing, it involves remaining. It means continuing and nurturing that relationship. That nurture and relationship springs forth from remaining or abiding in Christ. To physical spend a few more minutes with Him each day.
I know that for some of you this will be tough. For some you are privileged to be able to send many hours each week in His presence. For others, you have young families, and busy lives. You’ll struggle to have just 10 minutes in your day. I would encourage all of us to turn the IF of this into a WHAT IF!
A challenge to us all: spend five minutes more a day than we currently do just being with Jesus. Put on some worship music. Spend a few minutes longer listening to Jesus.
It speaks of a consistency that is seen in how we live.
2. Stay Upright!
10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love…
Someone has collated a list and come up with 49. There are probably a few others too that a careful reading fo the Bible would show, but these are certainly the main ones:
• Repent (Matthew 4:17).
• Follow Me (Matthew 4:19).
• Rejoice (Matthew 5:11–12).
• Let Your Light Shine (Matthew 5:16).
• Honour God’s Law (Matthew 5:17).
• Be Reconciled (Matthew 5:23–25).
• Do Not Lust (Matthew 5:28–30).
• Keep Your Word (Matthew 5:37).
• Go the Second Mile (Matthew 5:38–42).
• Love Your Enemies (Matthew 5:44–46).
• Be Holy (Matthew 5:46–48).
• Practice Secret Disciplines (Matthew 6:1–18).
• Lay Up Treasures (Matthew 6:19–21).
• Seek God’s Kingdom (Matthew 6:33).
• Judge Not (Matthew 7:1–3).
• Do Not Cast Pearls (Matthew 7:6).
• Ask, Seek, Knock (Matthew 7:7–8).
• Do Unto Others (Matthew 7:12).
• Choose the Narrow Way (Matthew 7:13–14).
• Beware of False Prophets (Matthew 7:15–16).
• Pray for Labourers (Matthew 9:37–38).
• Be Wise as Serpents (Matthew 10:16).
• Fear Not (Matthew 10:28).
• Hear God’s Voice (Matthew 11:15).
• Take My Yoke (Matthew 11:28–30).
• Honour Your Parents (Matthew 15:4).
• Beware of Leaven (Matthew 16:6).
• Deny Yourself (Luke 9:23–25).
• Despise Not Little Ones (Matthew 18:10).
• Go to Offenders (Matthew 18:15–17).
• Beware of Covetousness (Luke 12:15).
• Forgive Offenders (Matthew 18:21–22).
• Honour Marriage (Matthew 19:4–6).
• Be a Servant (Matthew 20:26–28).
• Be a House of Prayer (Matthew 21:13).
• Ask in Faith (Matthew 21:21–22).
• Bring In the Poor (Luke 14:12–14).
• Render to Caesar (Matthew 22:19–21).
• Love the Lord (Matthew 22:37–38).
• Love Your Neighbour (Matthew 22:39–40).
• Await My Return (Matthew 24:42–44).
• Take, Eat, and Drink (Matthew 26:26–28).
• Be Born Again (John 3:5–7).
• Keep My Commandments (John 14:15).
• Watch and Pray (Matthew 26:41).
• Feed My Sheep (John 21:15–16).
• Baptise My Disciples (Matthew 28:19).
• Receive God’s Power (Luke 24:49).
• Make Disciples (Matthew 28:19–20).
(Taken from http://iblp.org/questions/what-are-commands-christ)
That’s a lot isn't it? We may be overwhelmed at that. But the place of obedience is found in the place of Christ, the secret place:
Psalm 91:1: He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (NKJV).
We may think it’ still too hard, repeating the phrase, “We are under grace, not the law.” Grace is a place of freedom, it is also the place of the most responsibility!
1 Peter 2:16: Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves
Did you see the apparent paradox there? Live as free people… live as God’s slaves.
We no longer live to please ourselves, we live to please Jesus. Some other versions translate slaves as servants or bondservants.
A bond servant is one who is service to someone because they have been purchased. We find this abhorrent because of human trafficking, and on that level we should be appalled. In Bible times there were people in slavery, who were trafficked, who were ‘owned’ by masters. Peter is saying here, you no longer belong to yourselves, you have been purchased. Paul also says this:
1 Corinthians 6:20: For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 7: 23: You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men
How do we do this then?
Sanctification, is a transformational process. Gradual change is more sustainable than a radical change; some radical changes can come and are are sovereign from God, gradual changes are the earnest steps of a disciple who wants to change daily.
In that secret place we need to learn to listen!
Isaiah 30: 21: Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’
Galatians 5:25: Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
So not every behaviour is becoming of a child of God. We live in a daily, greater realm of holiness and dedication to God.
Sometimes we will stumble, and sin, but God will forgive us if we confess and repent of those things (1 John 1:9).
This means keeping His commands, but some commands come easier to us than others. What we must never do is reduce Christianity to just being nice. There are lots of unsaved, but nice people. Nice is a biscuit.
Our transformation often happens in a chrysalis. Much of that deep work of God is done in our hearts. We all celebrate the moment when we get a breakthrough - coming out of the chrysalis - in an area. Without the deep, transformational work in our hearts though, those moments will be short lived.
The benefits of this is that Jesus will call us His friends (John 15:14)
A challenge to us all: spend a few minutes each day listening for God’s voice: how does He want me to walk.
3. Stay Prayerful
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
I’ve heard people pray based on this verse and the attitude seems to be more like a letter to Santa Claus than a plea before the Creator of the Universe!
Jesus is talking about a vibrancy to our prayer lives, our listening to him, Him taking to us. The “yes” to answered prayer for the Christian is remaining in Christ.
If we remain in Jesus and keep His commands our prayers will be allied to the desires of God’s heart, not ours. When the Lord says you can ask for anything in my name and you’ll get it, this is not a shortcut to a materialistic life.
It is the power to a transformed life and a changed world. He desires our cooperation with His plans.
How do we make sure our prayers are entered on God’s desire for us, our family and our nation?
2 Chronicles 7:14: if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
This mirrors the passage in John 15. We see the same things, the same little hinges:
- Humility for for apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
- Seeking Him, remaining in the place where He is (John 15:5)
- Turning from wickedness as an act of primary obedience to Jesus (John 15:10).
The idea of turning is not done in isolation. Repentance and turning from sin is a much to do with whom you are turning towards: Jesus.
Our prayer lives should be bathed in the presence of God. We should find ourselves going into intercessions regularly, seeking God's face for others, because that is where the healing of the land is (2 Chron. 7:14b).
A challenge to us all: pray for five minutes longer each day that we currently do.
Wrapping this Up:
What if we all did this!
What if we all spent five minutes longer with Jesus, in that place of His presence, than we currently do?
What if we all walked a little closer with Jesus than we currently do, listening to and obeying the still small voice?
What of we all sent five minutes longer just praying and seeking the Lord more than we currently do?
I can tell you what would happen if we took the ‘ifs’ and turned them into ‘what ifs.’
The big things we want to see happen will move, just like a heavy door does on three small hinges.
The breakthrough you are desiring will come.
The answered prayer will be there.
Fruit you desire will grow (John 15:5)
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