He Is Risen, Now What? Part 1

Two weeks ago we celebrated Easter, the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ defeated death, sin, and evil by resurrecting from the dead. I want to acknowledge that this was a little late getting up on our site, you can blame Josh for that (yes he told me I could say that). However, this is still an important topic that I want to discuss and spend some time dwelling on. We love celebrating Easter because it is our future reality as well. We too will one day be resurrected with Christ in glory, and what a day that will be! But, what happens now? Do we just wait until next Easter to be reminded again of our future reality? Or is there more to the story and more for our current, present realities? 

I want to take a few weeks to provide some Biblical understanding of what it means to “abide in Jesus.” Unpacking how Christ’s resurrection is not just a stamped ticket to heaven, but is in fact a relationship with God that has implications for the way we live, and move, and function in our day to day lives. We will primarily be looking at the abide passage in John 15 over the coming weeks, but I first want to frame up this passage by looking at what I believe to be the foundation for abiding in Christ, and that is John 14. 

This foundation has three legs, so think of it like a tripod. All three have to happen in order for abiding to work. The first leg is Jesus Christ himself. 

The first leg can be found in the context surrounding our passage, specifically in John 14:1-6. Thomas, the doubting Thomas, asks a question after Jesus says this in John 14:1-4, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? (So Jesus is talking about a place that we are going to go to, and dwell, reside, and live in) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” 

Jesus here says I’m going to take you to a place, where you are going to dwell, and this place has many rooms. Ok, looking at that for face value, you might be picturing a Holiday Inn (if you have low standards), a Disney Resort, for me I’m thinking Opryland Hotel, sort of this oasis of paradise with all these separate rooms, but that’s not what this is. The Greek word translated “rooms” could be rendered “abodes,” since it is related to the verb “abide.” This “room” is not just a physical place, but a “state of being” a “relational” term depicting a mutual union between two people who are not only dwelling with but actually indwelling in. So this place is a mutual indwelling of believers in Christ as Christ is in the Father and the Holy Spirit. It’s a little fancier than your average Motel 6 as the “abode” is fitted with the glory and inheritance of Jesus Christ himself.

So after Jesus says this, Thomas asks in John 14:5-6, “Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’” What Thomas is asking in that question is, Jesus if you are preparing a place for us to reside, and in that place is where you will be, and not only that but the place is us in you, then how can we get there? How can we dwell with God? How can we reside with God? This is not only the hope and question for Thomas, but also the desire of all who seek the Lord. Listen to what David longs for in Psalm 27:4, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” 

To dwell with the Lord is what David is after, it’s what Thomas is after, and for any and everyone who receive the grace of God so desperately long for, is to dwell, reside, and abide in the Lord. And the way we get there is what Jesus says in John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” No one can dwell, reside, and abide in the Lord, with the Father, except through abiding in Jesus. 

So that’s the first leg. The second leg is salvation. This is the way God brings us into this abiding relationship and that is through salvation, which is faith/belief in Jesus. Look at it picking it up in John 14:7-11, “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that  I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” 

So here we see the relationship between believing that leads to knowing, and by knowing we mean intimately knowing. The knowledge of God is more than a mere mental grasp, because it involves a personal relationship with wholehearted commitment. So he goes on to use the language we talked about on Easter and the Sunday after Easter. Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” That means whoever has believed Jesus believes in the Father. Whoever is in relationship with Jesus is in relationship with the Father because in verse 10 Jesus says “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” So belief in Jesus is the salvation that brings us into relationship with the Father. It brings us into the residing, dwelling, and abiding relationship with God. 

So that’s the second leg. We must “believe” or “see” that Jesus is the Son of God, that he lived the perfect life, died the death we deserved on account of our sins, and rose from the grave defeating death and sin and giving life to those who “believe” who “understand” this to be true. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” Jesus said, and Jesus never lies.

The third leg is the response. This leg proves that the other two legs are holding up. Look at John 14:12-17, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” 

So now there is this call to action. It first begins with Jesus Christ as the way to dwelling with God, then moves into asking the question “how do we get there?” and Jesus answers by believing, seeing, and knowing me through salvation, and now he says “and whoever believes in me will have some work to do.” 

So what is the work? What is the response? What connects the third leg to the other two? It’s what Jesus says in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Well that is an interesting statement thrown in here by Jesus. It’s an important one. Here’s what it means. Jesus says in verses 16-17 that he is going to send the Helper, the Spirit of truth, to lead us right? Romans 8:14-16 says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God  …” 

So follow me here … Because Jesus came down, that’s the first leg, and because we have seen him and believed in him for salvation, that’s the second leg, we are adopted into his family that produces a Spirit of response, “by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” and it also produces a Spirit that bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God, that we are in the family. 

Two things are happening here because of our adoption. 1) There is a delight in the Lord, “by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” My neighbors are Russian Jews who speak Hebrew. I love it. Every time the kids are playing outside and their dad comes home, I hear them yelling “Abba! Abba! Abba is home!” They are so filled with joy and excitement to see their “Abba” their daddy that they can barely hold in the excitement. It’s the Spirit’s job to bear witness to our spirits that we have this kind of access to God the Father. There is a gladness of heart in God. There is a delight towards God, you enjoy being in his presence! 

So the first response in the third leg is a delight in the Lord, and the second response is how the Spirit bears witness to our Spirit that we are children of God. How does the Spirit do this? 2) By giving us a new heart that desires to be obedient to God’s word, although imperfectly executed! Did you get that? There is a desire to be obedient to God’s word, although it will be imperfectly executed. And it will be until glory! I may stumble and find myself off track at times, but the desire is there, the hunger and thirst is there. Hear me, if you don’t have a desire to be obedient to God and what He says in Scripture, I would have you question whether or not you are adopted and justified. I’d have you question whether or not you have the other two legs. Those who posture themselves saying, “I don’t care what God wants, I don’t care what God says, I want to do things my way.”  You have revealed some things about your heart brother and sister. The Bible says, “shall we sin all the more so that grace may abound … may it never be! Damned if you do!” So the desire has to be there! 

So these two things come together, 1) gladness of heart in the Lord and 2) desire for obedience to Him, and they form one word, PURSUIT! We are pursuing the Lord! That’s what the response of the third leg is all about. It’s about pursuing the Lord. Because Jesus has pursued us, we are now also pursuing him! Now what does that look like, it’s going to always involve the Word of God and time with God, and anything else is really between you and the Lord! 

But listen, it isn’t talking about fruit yet! Don’t confuse this leg with being fruit that needs to be produced. Everyone always wants to jump straight to the fruit! Rather, this is the foundation that we need that leads to the fruit being produced later. 

We can’t come to Jesus as the first leg, and then believe in Jesus for the second leg, and then leave those two behind hoping that the third leg would be fruit. The third leg is not the fruit, but rather the abiding on our part that leads to the fruit being produced. 

So here is what that pursuit looks like, it involves the Word of God and prayer. Look back at John 14:13-14, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” What is that? That’s prayer, that’s communication with the Lord. 

And then John 14:15 says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” What does he mean by “keep my commandments?” His commandments are summed up in 1 John 3:21-24, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God (that’s the Spirit that bears witness to our spirit); and whatever we ask we receive from him (there’s the pursuit of prayer), because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him (how do we know what pleases the Lord). And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another (and how do we know how to love one another), just as he has commanded us.” It comes from the Word of God, the revealed Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. 

So what does that mean practically? It’s nothing new to you. It means spend time with Jesus in prayer and His Word. Our pursuit, the third leg is going to involve, as a response to God’s pursuit of us, us pursuing the Lord in prayer and in the reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God so that out of abiding in the Lord via prayer and the Word, fruit is later produced. 

Where can you start? A good place to start is by simply opening up God’s Word, read John 15, and begin praying about what you’re reading. Express your worries and anxieties. Tell him what you are thankful for in this season. Tell Jesus why you think He is good and gracious, and begin to feel the weight lifted off of your shoulders when prayer aligns you with the heart and sovereignty of God! Then do it again! Abiding in Jesus comes through slow consistent steps of faithfulness.

In the next coming weeks, I want to take some time to help us do this with articles and videos that dive deep into John 15 and what it means to abide in Jesus.