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Scripture Reading: John 15:4-5, 7-8; 21-23, 1 John 2:27-28; Col. 2:4, 8; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 4:14; 1 John 2:16; James 4:1, 3; Phil. 4:6; 2:14; Eph. 4:26, 31; Gal. 5:2-4; Col. 2:20-21; 1 John 1:2-3, 1:5-7; 4:8, 4:15, 16; 2:6; 3:24; John 14:23; Rom. 6:5; Eph. 4:15; Col. 2:7; 1 Cor. 3:6
In the previous chapter we saw our organic union with Christ. In this organic union we are actually one with Christ in the Spirit. Based upon this union the New Testament tells us that we need to abide in Christ. The Gospel of John tells us that Christ is the vine and we are the branches (15:5). As the branches, we should abide in Christ as the vine all the time. The branches and the vine not only give us a good illustration of the organic union, but they also illustrate how the branches abide in the vine. When the branches abide in the vine, the vine also abides in the branches. This mutual abiding actually causes the vine and the branches to grow. The growth of the entire vine depends upon this abiding. Christ is the vine, and we are His branches. For us to grow in Him and for Him to grow in us, we need to abide in Him. The matter of abiding in Christ is a central teaching in the New Testament, especially in the writings of John and Paul. The foundation of this teaching of abiding is in John 15. Then Paul in his Epistles goes on to develop this teaching of abiding.
To abide in Christ is to remain in Him. All the branches abiding in a vine remain in it. Once a branch is removed, it dies. On the one hand, the tree must support the branches, and on the other hand, the branches must remain in the tree. As believers, we should remain in Christ, but there are many things that would distract us from Him. Therefore, in order to remain in Christ we must avoid being distracted by any of these things.
The first category of things that can distract us from Christ is heresies. Some of the teachings among Christians today are good, but some are heretical. One of the greatest heresies today is a movement whose founder claims to be another Christ. He says that Jesus Christ was defeated, but he will be victorious. What a great heresy this is! Anyone who would accept this kind of heresy would surely be distracted from Christ. We must not be distracted from Christ but rather remain in Christ. First John 2:21 says, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth.” The word truth in John’s writings refers to Christ as the reality of the Triune God, and the word lie refers to a teaching denying this truth of Christ being the reality of the Triune God. First John 2:22 says, “Who is the liar if not he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.” At John’s time there were some who taught that Jesus was an earthly man, the son of Joseph and Mary, and that Christ was another person. These were heretics who taught that Jesus was not the Christ. In this verse John says that whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ is an antichrist. Such a person is antichrist, that is, against Christ. To deny that Jesus is the Christ is to deny the Father and the Son. If you say that Jesus is not the Christ, then you deny both the Father and the Son because the Triune God is one. The New Testament tells us that Jesus is the Christ, that Christ is the Son of God, and that this Son of God is always together with the Father and one with the Father (Matt. 16:13, 16; John 16:32; 10:30). If you say that Jesus is not the Christ, that means you deny Christ. If you deny Christ, you deny the Son of God and you also deny the Father who is one with the Son. This is surely a heresy.
First John 2:23 says, “Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.” This verse also shows that the Father is one with the Son. If you have the Son, then you have the Father. Negatively speaking, if you deny the Son, you reject the Father, and you have neither the Son nor the Father. Positively speaking, he who confesses the Son has the Father also. If we confess the Son, then we have the Father also. This is the truth. To deny the Son is a heresy. Such a heresy distracts the believers from Christ.
Another category of distractions from Christ is philosophy (Col. 2:4, 8). Philosophy in Colossians 2 refers to the ancient Greek philosophy. As early as the first century this kind of philosophy invaded the church. Heresies came mainly from the Jews, while philosophy came mainly from the Greeks. It is the subtlety of the enemy Satan to bring in these things among Christians to distract them from Christ.
Traditions are also a distraction from Christ. In the first century there were Jewish traditions and also Greek traditions. Wherever the gospel goes, those who hear it have their own kind of tradition. All such traditions distract believers from Christ.
Another category of distractions from Christ is teachings other than God’s economy. In 1 Timothy 1:3-4 Paul tells us that we must avoid the teachings that differ from God’s economy. In the human thought there are many different kinds of teachings. The good teachings as well as the bad teachings distract us from Christ. The teachings of Confucius are good, but in China those teachings have distracted many learned people from Christ. At the apostles’ time the Jews had many teachings from the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. After the churches were established, these Jewish teachings entered into the church life. There was a strong invasion of the Jewish teachings and the Greek philosophy into the church life. Both the Jewish teachings and the Greek philosophy distracted the early Christians from Christ. These are some of the winds of teaching that Paul refers to in Ephesians 4:14. Through the past twenty centuries many teachings have become winds to blow Christians away from Christ. For example, the Catholic Church teaches people to worship the “holy mother” instead of worshipping God and Christ directly. They teach people to pray to Mary, and that Mary will carry their prayer to God. What a distraction this is! This teaching is a great heresy. However, even some teachings that seem to be quite good may distract people from Christ. In order for us to remain in Christ, we must stay away from all heresies, philosophies, traditions, and even so many good teachings that are not concerning God’s New Testament economy.
As mentioned in 1 John 2:16, another category of things that would easily distract us from Christ includes the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life. We are all people in the flesh, and in our flesh there are many lusts. Therefore, we must be very watchful lest at any time, any lust may rise up from our flesh to carry us away from Christ. Besides the lust of the flesh there is the lust of the eyes. In 1933 I went to Shanghai for the first time. In that large city the church had two meeting halls, one on the west side of the city and the other on the north side. While going between the two halls to speak, I traveled down Nanking Road, which was lined with department stores having large show windows. Even at midnight the show windows were brightly lit. After looking at the displays many things came into my mind, and by the time I reached the other hall, I found it difficult to speak the word as a message from my spirit. The show windows in the department stores stir up the lust of the eyes. Whenever you look at all the displays in the department store, it seems that your spirit is gone. It seems that Christ is in the heavens, and you are in hell. By window-shopping in this way, many people indulge the lust of their eyes.
This verse also mentions the vainglory of this life. To have a big house and a better car is a vainglory. To have a big car to show off is the vainglory of this life. These three things—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of this life—all distract us from Christ.
James 4:1 and 3 mention pleasures as another category of distractions from Christ. Drinking, eating, sightseeing, and certain kinds of music are pleasures that can distract us from Christ.
Another big distraction is anxiety. Anxiety is like a little demon always bothering us. Who could live even one day without any kind of anxiety? Very often wives are anxious concerning their husbands. From the day of her engagement a wife may begin to be anxious about whether her husband will be faithful to her or not. Once this anxiety enters into her, it will never leave her. After marriage a husband and wife may have some children. From the first day their little child is born, they may be anxious whether this child will breathe well, sleep well, and eat well. The parents are anxious for their children from the time of their birth to the time they themselves have children. They are anxious to see whether their children will read well, study well, get the best grades, and graduate from the best university. Then they become anxious concerning their children’s marriages. After the children’s marriages they are anxious concerning the grandchildren. This human life is full of anxiety, and this anxiety keeps us away from Christ.
In Philippians, a book on enjoying Christ, Paul tells us, “In nothing be anxious” (4:6). This means that we should not worry about anything. But we all have some worries. Sometimes when we do not have much anxiety today, we borrow the anxiety of tomorrow. Very often we borrow anxiety from tomorrow. Tomorrow has not yet come, yet we borrow tomorrow’s anxiety. We human beings are just people of anxiety. But once you have anxiety, you are cut off from Christ. It is not easy to get rid of anxiety. The best way to get rid of anxiety is to tell your need to God (v. 6). Do not worry about anything, but rather unload your care (1 Pet. 5:7). You need to discharge your anxiety to God. To say this is easy, but to practice not having anxiety is very difficult.
Besides anxiety, another distraction is murmuring (Phil. 2:14). All married persons have murmured about their husband or wife at some time. Even in the church life there may be some murmuring. The brothers may murmur about the elders, and the sisters may murmur about the brothers. The young ones may murmur about the older ones, and the older ones may murmur about the young ones. Anxiety and murmuring are two things that so easily keep us away from Christ. Philippians is a book on the experience of Christ. This experience is quite often frustrated by these two things, anxiety and murmuring. Hence, the apostle Paul exhorts us concerning both.
Anger and any kind of agitation also cut us off from the experience of Christ (Eph. 4:26, 31). We all are too easily agitated. Sometimes just a little word will agitate us. Both the young people and the older ones are very easily agitated. But any time you are agitated by anything or by anyone, you are distracted from Christ.
Anger is an issue of agitation. Although it cannot be considered as sin, it surely distracts us from experiencing Christ in our daily life. Therefore, the apostle exhorts us not to remain in anger to the point where it becomes sin (v. 26).
Another category of distractions includes culture, religion, ethics, morality, and character improvement. Character improvement seems to be quite good. Although it is good, it is nevertheless a problem, for if you try to improve your character, this will distract you from enjoying Christ. This means that you pay your attention to your character rather than to Christ. Therefore, character improvement is also a distraction from Christ.
We may also be distracted by trying to do good. I do not mean that we do not need to do good, but trying to do good distracts us from Christ. Trying to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious also distracts us from Christ. While we are trying to be these things, we are distracted. This means that we should not be people of culture, religion, ethics, or morality. Neither should we be people of improving character, doing good, or trying to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious. We should only be people of Christ! Our entire being—our thought, our consideration, our feeling, our every part—must be filled and saturated with Christ, and we should only care for experiencing Christ. I do not mean that we should be wild, evil, or careless. I mean that we should not be occupied by any good thing other than Christ, nor should we care for anything other than the experience of Christ. This is not my teaching. This is the very thing that I have quoted from the New Testament. After studying the New Testament for many years, I eventually realized that it requires us to drop all things other than Christ Himself and to remain in Christ because Christ is much higher and better than all culture, religion, ethics, morality, and character improvement. He is the most excellent among all things for us to apprehend and experience. Do not stay in anything other than Christ, no matter how good it may be. Do not remain in even the best thing, but rather remain in Christ all the time.
In Message 5 of the Life-study of 1 John we pointed out that, because we have received the divine life, we have been brought into the divine fellowship. This divine fellowship is just the flow of the divine life. With electricity there is a current that supplies all the electrical appliances. Every appliance should remain in the electrical current to receive the supply of electricity. Within us there is a current of the divine life. In order for us to enjoy Christ and experience Him, we must remain in this current of the divine life. When we remain in the current of the divine life, we touch God as the source. This is fully taught by John in his first Epistle. First John tells us that the apostles preached, or ministered, the divine life to us (1:2-3). After we receive this divine life, we are in the divine fellowship. We should remain in this fellowship to touch God and enjoy Him as the very source of grace and truth. In this fellowship we realize that God is love and that God is light (4:8, 16; 1:5-7). The divine love is the source of grace, and the divine light is the source of truth. It is when we are touching the source that we enjoy Christ. We enjoy God as love and light in Christ, and this results in our enjoyment of Christ as grace and truth.
This is the secret of experiencing Christ. In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This is to enjoy the Triune God by remaining in the divine fellowship so that we may touch the Triune God as the source. When we touch the Triune God as the source, as love and light, we enjoy the riches of Christ as grace and truth, and we experience Christ in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as the transmission. This is the enjoyment of grace and truth. In this enjoyment we realize that the source is God’s love and God’s light. All this can be fully proven by our own experiences.
To abide in Christ is not only to remain in Him but also to dwell in Him. To dwell in Him means to make our home in Him. Most English readers understand the word abide to mean simply to remain. But the Greek word for abide means “to make home.” In John 14:23 the same Greek root is used in the nominative form. Used as a noun, this word means “an abode, a dwelling place, a home.” Therefore, the Greek word for abide does not mean simply to remain but also to dwell, to make home.
To abide in Christ is not only to remain in Him but to be fully settled in Him. Sometimes when I visit the churches, I stay in the church guesthouse. Although I may stay there for a time, I do not make my home there. I stay there with the expectation that I will leave after a few days. Our abiding in Christ should not be like this but rather like our dwelling in our own home. If you abide in a certain place for a few days and then leave, that is not a home to you but a hotel or a motel. Unfortunately, many Christians abide in Christ as a motel, just for a temporary stay. But we need to get ourselves settled in Christ, to make Christ our home. We need to dwell in Him. In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” This verse says that both the Father and the Son will come to us and make an abode with us. For the Father and the Son to make an abode with us means that the Triune God settles in us, making us His abode, that we would make Him our abode. The abode in John 14:23 and in 1 John 2:6; 3:24 and 4:15-16 is a mutual abode. God takes us as His abode, and we take Him as our abode. Our real and permanent home is our God. Christ is our home and our dwelling place.
Finally, to abide in Christ is to grow in Christ. If you take Christ as your home, He will eventually become the soil to you. Look at the branches abiding in the vine. The vine is a home to the branches, and at the same time the vine is the soil to the branches. While the branches are abiding in the vine, they are also rooting into the soil (Col. 2:7). Therefore, they all are growing (1 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 4:15). The vine and the branches in John 15 are not an illustration of a dead, lifeless home. The abode in John 15 is an organic home because all the dwellers are fruit-bearing branches (v. 5). That the branches bear fruit indicates that they are growing. While we are abiding in Christ, we are growing. This is the way to experience Christ, to enjoy Him, and to grow in Him and with Him. While we are growing in Him and He is growing in us, there is a kind of mutual growing (Rom. 6:5). This is the enjoyment of Christ, and this is the real experience of Christ. I hope that we all would practice abiding in Christ.
