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In John 15:5 the Lord said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
The Lord said, “For apart from Me you can do nothing.” What does this mean? As far as we are concerned, we are still able to do many things apart from the Lord. It seems that we do not need to rely on the Lord to preach the gospel, we do not need to rely on the Lord to visit the saints, and we do not need to rely on the Lord to serve Him. Many of us have had this kind of experience. In our service, our work, our preaching of the gospel, and our visiting of the saints, we can apparently accomplish a great deal without having much fellowship with the Lord and abiding in Him. In the Lord’s eyes, however, everything that we do without fellowshipping with Him or relying on Him — everything that we do by ourselves — does not count. This is why He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” This means that only the things we do by abiding in the Lord count in God’s eyes. Apart from Him everything that we do means nothing.
The Lord’s word here does not necessarily mean that we are fallen and are far away from the Lord but that there is a barrier between us and the Lord. The first part of the verse speaks of one who abides in the Lord and the Lord in him. Then the latter part says, “For apart from Me you can do nothing.” The word for indicates that this phrase explains the preceding part. Hence, the part on the branches being apart from the vine and not being able to bear fruit explains the preceding part, which is on not abiding in the Lord. What does apart from Me mean? This does not necessarily mean that when we are apart from the Lord, we do not look like Christians anymore because we have committed sins or trespasses. We may pray, go to meetings, and preach the gospel as usual. Apparently, we may not have any problem with the Lord and may appear to be normal Christians, but in fact, we may be apart from the Lord and may have lost our fellowship with the Lord inwardly.
What does it mean to abide in the Lord? We may use the following example. A telephone “abides” in electricity. Once the electricity is switched on, the telephone begins to “abide” in the electricity, and at the same time the electricity also “abides” in the telephone. The telephone and the electricity are in communication and in union with each other. This kind of communication and union produces an effect that enables the telephone to transmit sound. However, whenever the electricity is turned off, the electricity ceases to abide in the telephone, and the telephone is no longer able to transmit sound. The telephone apparently remains the same, but actually it is disconnected from the electricity. A Christian may be right and proper in appearance and irreproachable in his spiritual living; however, he may not be abiding in the Lord, and the Lord also may not be abiding in him. At this time everything that he does and all his living are worthless in God’s eyes and do not mean anything. His so-called normal living is one that is lived out from himself and by himself but not one that is in union or fellowship with the Lord or one that the Lord lives out from within him.
From God’s perspective, all spiritual reality is Christ Himself. In all our spiritual progress and living before God, only that which is Christ counts. Our spiritual life is Christ Himself, our spiritual living is Christ Himself, and our spiritual growth is also Christ Himself; all spiritual matters are just Christ Himself. Therefore, without Christ in us, we do not have a spiritual life; without living in Christ, we do not have a spiritual living; and without the increase of Christ in us, we do not have any spiritual progress. We may have a great amount of doctrinal knowledge and many spiritual practices, but they cannot be counted as spiritual progress. Our spiritual progress is the increase of Christ in us. Anything that is not Christ is not spiritual and has no spiritual value in God’s eyes.
Many Christians often ask, “What does the Lord want us to do?” The Lord said that if anyone abides in Him, He will also abide in him. The Lord’s meaning is very clear — He wants us to abide in Him. What does it mean to abide in Him? The word abide is easy to comprehend. For example, when you abide in your house, this means you and your house are joined together. When you abide in your house, you and your house become one. Abiding in the Lord refers to our union with the Lord. Once we are joined to the Lord, we will spontaneously bear fruit.
What does it mean to bear fruit? For the branches of the vine to bear fruit means that the vine is expressed through the branches, that the life within the vine is expressed and seen without. When the branches abide in the vine, they bear fruit, and the life of the vine is expressed through the branches. This is the crystal of the vine, the essence of the vine. The fruit a person bears while abiding in the Lord is the overflow of the Lord’s life — the Lord’s life passing through him and flowing out of him. What flows out of him is Christ’s life, Christ’s essence, and Christ Himself.
Based on this principle, we can examine our daily walk to see whether or not it is Christ Himself and whether or not it is the life of Christ passing through us and flowing out of us. In principle, our Christian living and work should issue from our union with Christ; they must be the result of our abiding in Christ and Christ’s abiding in us, a union of the two. The issue of such a union is the overflow of Christ’s life, Christ’s nature, and Christ Himself in our Christian living.
When an electric lamp is joined to the electricity, the electric lamp is abiding in the electricity, and the electricity is also abiding in the electric lamp; the two are united. The issue of such a union is that the electric lamp shows forth and expresses the electricity within it. The showing forth and the expression of the electricity is the “fruit bearing” of the lamp, the effect of the lamp. When the effect of the lamp is shown outwardly, it becomes the function of the lamp. The function of the lamp is to express the electricity that fills the lamp inwardly. The lamp’s bearing fruit and producing an effect before men is its showing forth of all that is within.
This is the best illustration to portray our relationship with Christ. We abide in the Spirit of Christ, and Christ also abides in our spirit. This is communion and union. The issue of such a communion and union is that we have the crystal of Christ’s life in us. This crystal is the fruit that we bear, which is Christ Himself. This is the principle of our living and work.
We often preach the gospel, give testimonies for the Lord, and exhort people to believe in the Lord, but do we know what the ultimate result of our gospel preaching is? What are the goal, the center, and the reality of the gospel? The issue, the goal, the center, and the reality of the gospel are all for Christ to enter into man, that is, for Christ’s life to enter into those who receive Him as their Savior that they may be produced as “grapes.” If we think that our gospel preaching is for people to “go to heaven” and not to “hell,” then our gospel preaching is too poor. If we have not seen that the preaching of the gospel is for the Christ in us to flow into others, and if we do not take this as the goal, the center, and the reality of the gospel, then our gospel is far off and cannot achieve God’s goal.
How many times do we have a deep sense that in our gospel preaching we have to transmit the Lord’s life into a sinner that he may become a “grape” of Christ the vine and may have the element and the life of Christ within him? How often do we have such a strong feeling in our gospel preaching? I am afraid we only sense that this certain one is our friend, and if he does not believe in Jesus, he will go to hell, which will be very painful. Thus, we may kneel down before God and in tears pray, “O God, please save him because You desire all men to be saved and not one to perish. O God, You see, my friend is still living a sinner’s life; this really grieves my heart.” Many times we think that we can soften the Lord’s heart with our tears so that the Lord will stretch out His hand, pull this person up, and save him from perdition. What is the goal of this kind of gospel preaching? This kind of gospel preaching aims only at saving man from suffering in hell in the future. The Bible shows us, however, that this is not the goal of gospel preaching. To preach the gospel is to dispense Christ from within us into others so that they also may have Christ, His life, His nature, and His element in them. Thus, they will no longer be merely men but Christ-men, even reproductions of Christ. In this way they will become “grapes,” the fruit we bear as branches of the vine.
This does not mean that when we go out to preach the gospel, we do not need to tell people about God, sin, Jesus being the Savior, and the way to receive Him as their Savior and that we only need to tell them that we are transmitting Christ into them that they may become “grapes.” Rather, we hope that all Christians would see this light so that in their gospel preaching they would forget about heaven, hell, and future suffering. We have to tell people that the reason they suffer is that they do not have Christ. They have many other things, but they do not have Christ. We have to let them know that we are Christians, we have Christ in us, we are branches of Christ as the vine, and we have come to contact them in order to transmit Christ into them. When they have Christ in them, they will become precious, bright, and heavenly.
We all should preach the gospel in this way — to transmit the Christ from within us into our friends and everyone in our family. We all are branches of the vine. When Christ’s life is transfused into us and passes through us, flowing out from us into others, they will have Christ’s life and become the fruit we bear as branches of the vine. This is the goal of our gospel preaching. If we preach the gospel without imparting Christ to others, our gospel has no center and no reality. The center and the reality of all our spiritual activities should be Christ Himself.
The principle is the same in the visiting, the building up, and the shepherding of the believers. Christ must be the center and reality of all spiritual activities. For example, there may be a brother who has a problem, who lost his job, or who fell or backslid, and we may go and visit him merely to console him, comfort him, and tell him to pray, to read the Bible, and to receive the enlightening. Even though we cannot say that this is wrong, this shows that we still do not know spiritual reality. We are simply rendering him some help and comfort. Although this is good, if it is void of Christ, there is no center and no reality. The center of all spiritual things is Christ, and the reality of all spiritual things is also Christ.
If we have seen that spiritual reality is Christ Himself, when we go out to visit the saints, to shepherd the saints, or to teach the saints, we will hold on firmly to the principle that we are ministering Christ to them. This is not merely to comfort them in their suffering but to transmit and supply Christ into them through fellowship. For this reason we need to gain and experience more of Christ, because if we have not received the supply from Christ, it will be difficult for us to supply others, and if we have not experienced Christ, it will be difficult for us to nourish others. There is a hymn that says, “He lives for me that I may give / His love to hearts that pine” (Hymns, #362). May we all be this kind of people, giving His love to the hearts that pine.
Some preach the gospel with escape from eternal perdition as the goal, and others preach the gospel with the ministering of Christ to others as the goal. We are already clear about the difference between the two. Hence, when we go out to preach the gospel, we have to firmly grasp this principle and center — that we are transmitting Christ into others so that they may have Christ’s life and nature, that is, so that they may have the life of the vine. This is the goal of our gospel preaching.
Similarly, we may also have two different goals in edifying and caring for the saints. Many times we do not take Christ as our goal in taking care of the saints. For example, when a person is sick and we go to visit him, we often want to give him some consolation. When a person cannot distinguish his left hand from his right and we go to visit him, we want him to have a clear mind. In our visiting, exhorting, and shepherding, we always take things other than Christ as our goal. Because we do not see this matter clearly and do not take it seriously, we miss the center and purpose of our gospel preaching and visiting. We must see that apart from the Lord we can do nothing.
Spiritual reality depends on supplying man’s need with the Christ in us. If we have seen this, no matter what we do, whether exhorting, encouraging, or shepherding people, we will firmly grasp the principle that we are ministering Christ to others so that they may have more of Christ. It is true that when we visit people, we hope that they would be zealous and would not backslide. However, we have a more positive goal, which is Christ Himself; we have to minister Christ to them. Whether they are indifferent, backslidden, or befuddled, we have only one goal, and that is to transfuse Christ into them.
When Paul wrote the book of Philippians in his old age, he still confessed that he did not have an adequate knowledge of Christ. In Philippians 3:10 he says that he was still pursuing to know Christ. Whether we are spiritual or not depends on whether we are pursuing Christ all the time. We are not spiritual because we are short of Christ. We do not have any spiritual increase or spiritual weight because we are short of the knowledge of Christ. We have no spiritual insight and are short of love and holiness because we are short of Christ.
Christians do not lack so many different things; what they lack is Christ Himself. First Corinthians 1:30 says that Christ “became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” We all must realize that Christ is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, our life, our power, our light, and our everything. In God’s eyes every spiritual matter, every spiritual reality, is just Christ Himself.
All our spiritual lack and shortages are due to the fact that we are short of Christ. You are short of zeal because you do not have enough Christ, I am short of love because I do not have enough Christ, and he is short of faith because he does not have enough Christ. It is useless to exhort people to have zeal, love, or faith. All we can do is minister Christ to them; then they will spontaneously have zeal, love, and faith. When Christ comes into us, we have wisdom, light, and the way because Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). Apart from Him we can do nothing, and apart from Him everything we do means nothing in God’s eyes.
If what a person ministers to the church is not Christ, and if the shepherding he renders to the saints is not Christ Himself, then even though he may receive praise from man, he will not receive praise from God, whether he is a deacon, an elder, or a serving one. Even though he may receive man’s approval, he will not receive God’s approval. This is because all that is done outside of Christ is counted as nothing in God’s eyes. Only when we are in Christ and allow Christ to pass through us and to flow out of us will all that we do count. Whether it is in our gospel preaching, in our visiting the saints, in the elders’ shepherding, or in the deacons’ serving, only when Christ passes through us and is expressed through us will anything be valuable. Spiritual value is Christ Himself; only what is of Christ is valuable.
Perhaps some will ask, “How do we allow Christ to pass through us and come out of us?” In order to allow Christ to pass through us and come out of us, our fellowship with Him is indispensable. John 15 mentions our abiding in the Lord; this abiding in the Lord is our fellowship with the Lord. We need to fellowship with Him in everything we do. Whether we are preaching the gospel or visiting someone, we must be inwardly connected with the Lord. Once the electric lamp is connected to the electricity, it shines, and once the electric lamp is disconnected from the electricity, it ceases to shine. In the same way, Christians should not have any problem in their fellowship with the Lord. We must be inwardly connected and joined to the Lord continuously. At every moment and in every matter we must pay attention to our connection and union with the Lord. When we are connected and joined to the Lord, we are fellowshipping with the Lord. Then when we go to preach the gospel, the gospel will be released through us; when we go to visit the saints, Christ will be released through us.
We all know that if we are connected to the electricity, whenever we contact someone, the electricity in us will flow to that person. In the same principle, if we want Christ to pass through us and to reach others through us, we must be those who are in fellowship with Him. We ourselves know whether or not we are connected and joined to Christ. If we are not connected or joined to the Lord, we will be unable to give Christ to others. However, if we are in fellowship and contact with the Lord, whether we are elders or deacons, whether we are going to preach the gospel or going to visit people, once we contact them, Christ will be released through us, and they will gain Christ. We must firmly grasp this basic principle.
Hence, before a person begins to preach the gospel or minister the word, he must first have fellowship with the Lord and contact Him. In this way, when people listen to him, they will sense that his speaking is living. It is only by fellowshipping with the Lord, on the one hand, and by speaking the message, on the other hand, that his message can be living. In preaching the word a person should not depend on his eloquence, utterance, and knowledge; neither should he simply tell people about the Bible. While preaching the word, the preacher must be connected and joined to the Lord. His words, utterance, knowledge, and reading of the Bible are only an outlet for Christ to flow out from him. As a result, after hearing the message, the speaking, and the words of the Bible, people will receive the Christ who is in the message, in the speaking, and in the Word.
All spiritual matters are just Christ Himself. Visiting the believers is Christ Himself, preaching the gospel is Christ Himself, and preaching the word is Christ Himself. Every spiritual matter is simply Christ Himself. If Christ is not the center and the reality, the word itself will be empty, the visiting will be false, and the gospel will be dead. For us to serve God, we must be connected and joined to Christ. Only when we have fellowship with Christ inwardly can we minister Christ to others. Hence, whether we are preaching the gospel, visiting the believers, or serving as an elder, we must always be connected to Christ whenever we serve.
Whenever we sense that we are disconnected from Christ, we have to deal with it immediately. Before we preach the gospel or preach the word, if we sense that we are not connected to Christ, we have to deal with this right away in order that we may be reconnected with the “electricity,” the Spirit. The reason why our preaching cannot touch people is that we are not connected or joined to Christ. The One who touches people is Christ as the Spirit. It is not our mind, our thought, our eloquence, or our knowledge that can touch or minister to others; rather, it is the Christ transfused through our preaching who can touch and minister to people. Therefore, we must be connected to Christ all the time.
Sometimes we may have the experience that right before we are going to speak, our inner fellowship with the Lord is interrupted. At this time we should go to the Lord immediately to deal with what needs to be dealt with in order to restore the fellowship. There is no problem with the Christ who is in us; however, if we do not abide in Christ or fellowship with Him but speak by ourselves in our mind and in our determination, Christ will be gone. This does not mean that Christ is no longer in us but that our fellowship with Him is interrupted. Thus, we must learn that when we are not moved inwardly, we should not say anything, but when we have a feeling within, we should speak according to this inner feeling. We must be cautious and fearful to speak according to our memory, knowledge, and doctrines; rather, we must speak according to the feeling of Christ inwardly. In this way what we speak will be Christ and the Spirit.
We should contact Christ in everything we do. When we serve, we have to contact Christ; when we read the Bible, we have to contact Christ; when we preach the gospel, we have to contact Christ; when we talk, we have to contact Christ; when we pray, we have to contact Christ. We must always contact Christ inwardly. For this we have to practice in our daily living, first, to be connected with Christ, second, to do everything in union with Christ, and third, to take Christ as the goal all the time. If a saint is sad, we should not merely comfort him; we have to give him Christ. When we preach the gospel, we should not only show people that they are sinful, but we should also show them that they need Christ and that God’s purpose in them is for them to receive Christ. We may speak thousands of messages or do thousands of things, but in all of them our unique goal must be Christ. In this way our daily living, our work, and our service will be spiritual and will have spiritual reality.
