For decades, my favorite passage in the Bible has been the “upper room discourse” that is recorded in John chapters 13-17. Jesus’ discussion with His disciples that final night before He allowed Himself to be arrested and taken to the cross has stuck with me and been imprinted upon me over the years. It defines my paradigm for following Jesus, for being His disciple.
According to Jesus, there is one and only one way to follow Him. There is one and only one way to be His disciple. He explained that night how it was all to work — what their lives following Him should look like as He returned to His Father and they remained in the world to do the works He had sent them to do. He was not going to leave them as orphans. He would be returning to them, and they would be able to do greater works than even He had done. He would send the Spirit, who would be in them and empower them. But in the end, they had to choose. They had to hear what He had to say, believe it, and obey it.
Here’s what He told them. “Abide in Me.” (John 15:4) That is a word that we don’t use much these days. But it communicates a very simple and clear concept — remain in Me, continue on in Me, set up your tent and stay with Me. Jesus had spent most of the previous three years instructing them, training them, showing and teaching them how to live life. His final words before He went to the cross were “keep it up.” Continue on as I’ve shown you, taught you, commanded you.
But how? What specifically did that mean? John records three instructions that Jesus gave them about abiding in Him – three different aspects of what “abiding” would look like. And He repeated each of those instructions over and over and over. Here they are . . .
1. keep My word (“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (14:15), “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (14:21), “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” (14:23), “He who does not love Me does not keep My words” (14:24), “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love” (15:10), “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (15:14))
2. love one another as I have loved you (“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you” (13:34), “This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you” (15:12), “This I command you, that you love one another.” (15:17)
3. ask in My name (“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do” (14:13), “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it” (14:14), “ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you” (15:7), “that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give you” (15:16), “if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name” (16:23), “ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full” (16:24), “in that day you will ask in My name” (16:26))
Interestingly enough, John does not record the fourth thing that we know Jesus’ instructed His disciples to do that night. But the other gospel writers did. Here it is from Luke’s gospel:
4. do this in remembrance of Me (“And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying ‘This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.” (Luke 22:19-20)
Stop right here. Reread that list. And then reread it again. This is what it means to abide in Jesus . . . to walk with Jesus . . . to be a disciple of Jesus. On the one hand, isn’t it really really basic . . . almost simple . . . almost too simple? But ask this question . . . “What is missing?” If you are like me, you will be unable to come up with any aspect of being a Christ-follower which does not fit under one or more of these four instructions.
Now ask yourself a more important question, “Do I do this? Does this describe me? If this is what it means to abide in Jesus, am I abiding in Jesus? Do I know and obey His words? Do I love my brothers and sisters as He loves me? Do I ask Him for the things I need to obey Him, regularly and often? Do I break my bread in remembrance of Him as I go throughout my week?”
How do you think the disciples took this instruction? What affect do you think it had on them? You don’t have to go far to find out. Acts chapter 2 – the Day of Pentacost – the Holy Spirit came – Peter explained to the gathered crowd what was happening – 3000 souls were saved – the church of Jesus Christ was born. So what did they do? Their first day as “the church”, what did they do? Read this very slowly. Treat it like one of those huge, round lollipops that you could work on all day. It is only one verse, but it is loaded.
“And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Acts 2:42)
Look at those first six words. Contemplate them one word at a time. “they . . . themselves” – it was a community thing. “continually”. “devoting”. Think about that. Continually devoting themselves. And to what? Jesus four aspects of “abiding” in Him — His word (the apostles’ teaching), loving one another (fellowship), remembering Him (the breaking of bread), and asking (prayer). Is it no wonder that they turned the world upside down. Humble simple obedience to the basics of the faith. Following Jesus 101.
It is time we return to these simple instructions that Jesus has called us to. Forget about all of the mess and fuss and culture and “Christian” stuff. Before you do anything else . . . abide. Make sure you are firmly grafted into the vine. Make sure those around you are firmly grafted into the vine. All of the other things we can do in Jesus’ name amount to nothing if we aren’t first and foremost His disciples. ” . . . apart from Me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
