The Christian Life is a Life of Abiding in the Lord with no Insulation or Limitation

Christ is the true vine and we are the branches in the vine; our Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord, for apart from Him we can’t do nothing, and when we abide in Him, He abides in us and He is everything to us. Amen!

This week we come to a further aspect of the Christian life; the title for this week is, Abiding in Christ as the True Vine.

We have seen that we have a grafted life, for we have been grafted into Christ to have an organic union with Him.

Our human life can be joined to the divine life through grafting, and we believers in Christ have been grafted into Christ to be the many branches abiding in Christ, the vine.

Furthermore, we have seen that, when we remain in the organic union with the Lord, we enjoy the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit with our spirit.

This is the Spirit that God is today, and He is in us – even joined to us as one spirit.

Now we need to learn to abide in Christ as the true vine, realizing that we have been grafted into Him and the Spirit has been given to us to be our bountiful supply.

The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord. In John 15 the Lord spoke concerning Him being the vine and we being the branches, and He said that we need to abide in Him so that He may abide in us.

Many believers throughout the years and throughout the centuries have considered the matter of abiding in the Lord.

Today as we are seeking the Lord and loving Him, we need to treasure the Lord’s word concerning our need to abide in Him.

What does it mean to abide in the Lord? Andrew Murray has a book entitled, Abiding in Christ; if we read this book, we mainly see the need for us to consecrate our lives to the Lord, but we may not see the matter of abiding in Him and how can we abide in Him.

Thank the Lord for the ministry of the age opening up the matter of abiding in the Lord in our experience.

The Lord Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches.

This is not just an illustration or a figure of speech concerning our relationship with the Lord; this is our reality.

There’s something mysterious, profound, and marvellous going on between the vine and the branches.

The branches abide in the vine, and the vine grows in the branches.

In the Bible, God uses many illustrations and relationships to describe the kind of relationship He has with us.

For example, Christ is our Redeemer, and we are His redeemed people. Christ is our Master, and we are His slaves.

He is the husband and we are His wife.

Among so many relationships, the most organic, intimate, and subjective relationship between us and the Lord, beside the Head with the Body, is the vine and the branches.

Our relationship between us and Christ is so intimate, so subjective, and so organic as the relationship is between the vine and the branches.

The Lord Jesus is the True Vine, the Organism of the Triune God in His Economy

In John 15:1 the Lord Jesus said, I am the true vine. Hallelujah, Christ is the vine!

Even more, He is the true vine. There may be other vines there, but He is the true vine.

Actually, according to Rev. 14:18, there is one more vine, the vine of the earth.

There are other counterfeit vines, but the Lord Jesus Christ is the true vine.

In the world there is a vine growing, the vine of the earth; the grapes of this vine are getting more ripe, and this vine is not filled with God but with all kinds of evil things.

The vine of the earth is filled with evil and sins, and it is growing until the day of judgment, waiting for God’s wrath to be poured upon it.

We were once part of that vine, the fake vine filled with wickedness, but the Lord in His wonderful salvation delivered us from that vine!

Praise the Lord for His salvation!

Through repentance and faith into Christ, we were cut off from that evil vine, the uncultivated tree, and we were grafted into Christ as the true vine.

Christ is the true vine, and we are the branches.

This true vine (Christ, the Son of God) with its branches (us, the believers in the Son) is the organism of the Triune God in God’s economy.

God has an economy, which is His plan to dispense Himself into His chosen people to be their life and everything so that He can be expressed through them.

He wants to express His divine attributes through their human virtues; this is God’s economy.

Such an economy, such a great plan of God, is carried out in this universe in this organism of the Triune God – Christ as the true vine. Amen!

When we speak of God’s dispensing, when we speak of Him dispensing all that He is into us, we may think that God is in heaven and we are here on earth, and He is somehow dispensing or imparting something of Himself into us.

It’s not exactly like that, for the God in the heavens has become a man, and then He became a life-giving Spirit who is now joined to our spirit.

The Triune God is cultivating an organism called the vine tree in John 15; the Father is the husbandman, the farmer, and He’s growing a vineyard on His farm.

This vine, the true vine of the Son, is the way for Him to carry out His economy.

Outside abiding in the Lord so that He can abide in us, there’s no way for us to partake of God’s economy.

God’s economy is not something that can be worked out outwardly in an organizational way; His dispensing is carried out in His organism, Christ as the vine with the believers as the many branches in the vine.

What the Father as the farmer is interested in is cultivating this vine tree, which is the greatest vine, spreading all over the earth wherever there are genuine believers in Christ.

As we daily partake of God’s dispensing, we grow in life and express Him.

This organism of the Triune God, the true vine of the Son, grows with the riches of Christ and expresses His divine life. Amen!

We believers in Christ are the branches in the vine, for we have been grafted into Him, and now we enjoy God’s dispensing day by day for us to grow with the riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8; 1 John 2:24, 28) and express Him.

The more we grow in Christ by enjoying His divine dispensing, the more we express His divine life.

Our expressing of the Triune God is not by our behaviour or outward conduct but by our receiving the dispensing of the riches of the Triune God to be His organism to express Him. Amen!

Lord Jesus, You are the true vine and we are the many branches in the vine! Thank You for rescuing us and saving us from the vine of the earth and grafting us into Yourself as the true vine! Amen, Lord, we are so happy to be here in You, abiding in the Lord to enjoy all the riches of the Triune God! Praise the Lord, the true vine with its branches is the organism of the Triune God in His economy! Hallelujah, God the Father is a farmer who cultivates a vine, a universally great vine, which is Christ Himself with all the believers as the many branches abiding in the vine! Amen, Lord, we want to abide in You today. We open to You to receive and enjoy all Your riches. Dispense more of Yourself into us. We want to enjoy Your divine dispensing day by day so that we may grow with Your riches and express Your divine life. Grow in us today. Be expressed through us. Amen, Lord, we just want to abide in You!

The Christian Life is a Life of Abiding in the Lord by Dealing with any Insulation and Limitation

In John 15:4-5 we see that not only is Christ the vine but we as the many believers in Christ are the branches in the vine, and we need to abide in the Lord day by day.

The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord.

To abide in the Lord is to stay and dwell in the Lord; it is the Greek word meno, which is different from kataoikeo in Eph. 3:17.

God put us in Christ; we are in Him already, and we just need to abide in Him.

To be in the Lord is a matter of union; to abide in the Lord is a matter of fellowship (1 Cor. 1:9, 30).

We are in Christ. We were in Adam once, but when we were saved, we were transferred out from that old position into a new one; now we are in Christ.

This is our position, and this is permanent. We are in Christ, and we are forever in Him! Praise the Lord!

Everything we need is in Christ.

All the spiritual experiences that we can have with the Lord begin here, by seeing that we are in Christ.

To abide in Christ, however, it is a matter of fellowship. In our experience, we can abide in the Lord by maintaining our fellowship with Him.

Yes, it is of God that we are in Christ Jesus, but our Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord.

Our abiding in Christ as the vine depends on our seeing a clear vision that we are branches in the vine (John 15:2).

Once we see that we’re branches in Christ, the vine, we need to maintain the fellowship between us and the Lord.

We are branches in Christ, the vine; this is a fact. In our condition, there may be some insulation between us and Him, which we need to deal with, but the fact still is that we are branches in Christ. God put us here.

No matter how we feel or whether we feel anything or not, we are in Christ.

No matter whether we feel that we are in Christ or that He is close to us, the fact is that we are joined to the Lord.

We are joined to Him already. We simply need to abide in Him.

We don’t need to try to get into Him; we are in Him, He is in us, and we stop all our trying – we just abide in Him!

Our abiding in Christ as the vine depends on our seeing that we’re branches in Christ as the vine.

We should not be struggling Christians, those trying to enter into Christ somehow; rather, we need to see that we are in Christ, and we need to maintain this position by abiding in the Lord.

This involves that we need to confess to Him when we sin, when we love the world, when we’re distracted from Him, and when we do so many things that do not please Him.

Our union with the Lord is permanent, but our fellowship with Him is conditional.

There may be an insulation between us and Him.

Yes, we are in Christ, but the fellowship between us may be hindered by something, and there’s a disconnect between us and Him.

We need to remove any insulation by confessing it before the Lord as He shines on us.

There may also be some limitation; the Lord wants to spread in us and grow in us, but we may limit Him.

He may want to grow another inch in our emotion, subdue our will a little more, and saturate our mind with His word, but we limit Him.

There may not be anything bad as an insulation between us and Him, but we may limit Him.

Our abiding in the Lord is very delicate and tender; He will not force Himself on us nor will He coerce us to do things we don’t want to do.

He shines on us, He exposes the things that separate us from Him, and He also shows us that we may limit Him in His spreading in us.

He is in us, He is patient and kind, and He will never leave us; He is simply waiting, and at most, He will turn His face aside from us.

But He is still here. He wants to grow in us and expand in every avenue of our thoughts, every desire and feeling, and every decision and part of our will.

May there be no insulation and no limitation to the Lord’s spreading and growing in our being.

For example, on Friday night after work, we know that the home meeting is taking place, but we may feel so tired, so we may decide not to go to the meeting.

Outwardly, we may be right in all the reasons, but inwardly because we don’t open to the Lord about it, He cannot grow in us, and we limit Him.

Not going to the meeting is not something sinful; however, our decision not to go and our not opening to Him is a limitation to the Lord’s spreading and growing in us.

May we confess our sins, shortcomings, and mistakes before the Lord to deal with any obstacle between us and Him (1 John 1:7, 9).

May we also remove any limitation we put on the Lord’s spreading and saturating us so that we may live a life of abiding in the Lord.

The Christian life is a life of abiding in the Lord (1 John 2:6, 27-28; 3:24; 4:13, 15).

The apostle John spoke very much concerning this; he mentioned the word abiding more than twenty times in his writings.

We need to live a life of abiding in the Lord so that He can abide in us.

Our abiding in Christ is the condition of His abiding in us (John 15:5).

If we do not first abide in Him, if we don’t take the initiative to abide in Him, He cannot abide in us.

We need to first open to Him, open the door to Him, and then He can open to us.

Our little openness to Him is our abiding in Him, and this will allow Him to abide in us.

We should not trust our feelings but rather turn our heart to Him, for whenever our heart turns to Him, we behold Him and are infused with Him (2 Cor. 3:16-18).

Apart from Christ as the vine, we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing.

We think we are capable and can do many things, but all our accomplishments apart from abiding in the Lord mean nothing.

Only when we as branches abide in Christ as the vine can the vine be everything to us.

May we daily live a life of abiding in the Lord, dealing with any insulation and limitation to His abiding in us, and may we enjoy His bountiful riches as we abide in Him to bear fruit for His glorification!

Lord Jesus, we want to live a life of abiding in the Lord today. We open to You. We turn our heart to You. We want to abide in You so that You can abide in us. Shine on us, Lord, and expose anything that hinders our abiding in You and Your abiding in us. Expose any sin, mistake, failure, or negative thing. We confess our sins before You, and we admit that we limit You in so many ways. Break through in us and have a free way to flow in our being. Oh Lord Jesus, may You have no limitation in our being. May there be no insulation and no limitation to Your life growing in us. Have a free way to spread Yourself in our mind, emotion, will, and heart. we want to remove any insulation and any limitation. Amen, Lord, we want to maintain our fellowship with You and live a life of abiding in the Lord, for apart from You we are nothing, we have nothing, and we can do nothing. Keep us abiding in You today so that You can abide in us. Keep us abiding in You so that we can enjoy all Your riches and grow with the growth of God to bear fruit for God to be glorified!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, Life-study of John, msg. 34, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life (2024 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 4, Abiding in Christ as the True Vine.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Abiding in the Lord, a portion from, The Training and the Practice of the Vital Groups, Chapter 12, by Witness Lee.
  – Love God, Abide Forever in New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Abiding in the Lord and enjoying His life, a portion from, Abiding in the Lord to Enjoy His Life, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
  – 6 Ways to Abide in God, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The experience of the pneumatic Christ in the Gospel of John, article by Ron Kangas in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Mutual Abiding Now, Increasing to New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – A proper Christian living being a life in which we live by the living Person within us, via Hearing of Faith.
  – The Secret of the Christian Life—Living in the Mingled Spirit, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Life-study of John – see the LSM Radio Broadcast.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We’ve found the secret of living, / We’ve seen the vision divine: / We are of God in Christ Jesus, / We’re abiding, abiding in the vine. / Abiding in the vine, / Abiding in the vine, / All the riches of God’s life are mine! / Praise God, He put us here, / Never to leave; oh, we’re— / Abiding, abiding in the vine. (Hymns #1162 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Thou hast said Thou art the Vine, Lord, / And that I’m a branch in Thee, / But I do not know the reason / Why I should so barren be. / Bearing fruit is my deep longing, / More Thy life to manifest, / To Thy throne to bring more glory, / That Thy will may be expressed. / But I fail to understand, Lord, / What it means—“abide in me / For the more I seek “abiding,” / More I feel I’m not in Thee. (Hymns #561 stanzas 1-3)
  – As we hear His instant speaking, / He’s the rich indwelling Word; / To abide we must be faithful / To the speaking that we’ve heard. / For ’tis here we know abiding / In the real and deepest way; / If we love our Lord completely, / We would do whate’er He’d say. (Hymns #1163 stanzas 2-3)