07.04 Abiding in Christ
IV. ABIDING IN CHRIST Our Lord Himself has put the truth in the plainest words: “He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and mien gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burnt.”
What then, is this “abiding in Christ”?
It is the daily merging of our life in all its purposes, desires, and plans in His. So described, it seems very far from any attainment of ours. But let me point to at least four simple means by which a man can in some degree make sure of “abiding in Christ.” The first is Faith the deliberate converging of all the capacities of our life upon one supreme fact Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life. As faith looks at life, it sees one great purpose standing over it Christ’s Will; one great Presence consecrating it Christ’s Spirit.
Secondly, Prayer. Prayer is the inward activity of faith. It means the uplifting of our souls in desire, affection, and will to God as the supreme end of our life. If our prayers are to be the means whereby we secure our abiding in Christ, their main object must be not to get what we want, but to give what God wants a life surrendered to Himself. Such prayer is the best test as to whether our life is or is not abiding in Christ. If you wish for a simple principle by which you can know whether any pursuit, or ambition, or course of conduct, or friendship is really true to the spirit of Christ, think only whether you can ask Him to accept and bless it in your prayers. William Law,has put this test in his usual trenchant way. “Let us suppose,” he says, “that a rich man was to put up such a prayer as this to God: ’Q Lord, I Thy sinful creature, who am born again to a lively hope of glory in Jesus Christ, beg of Thee to grant me a thousand times more riches than,1 need; grant that as the little span of life wears out, I may still abound more and more in wealth, and that I may use and perceive all the best and surest chances of growing richer than any of my neighbours. This I humbly and fervently beg in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.’ “An impossible prayer, but, alas! a life too possible and too frequent. We may depend upon it that “the same things that make an unchristian prayer, make an unchristian life.” On the other hand, any desire or action of our life which will really stand the test of honest prayer, we may humbly take as “abiding in Christ.”
Thirdly, Self-discipline. It is plain that if we are to keep our life in union with Christ, self -discipline is all essential. The road in which Christ’s companionship is assured is the road of the daily cross. The Cross must come to us, not only in power to forgive our sins, but in power to inspire and to rule our lives. And remember that every act of self -discipline, of which no one in this world may know, is known and seen and registered by Christ Himself, and is a link in the chain that binds us to His own life-giving and sustaining presence.
Faith, Prayer, Self-discipline and lastly Sacrament. If in the first three our will rises to God, then in the fourth God Himself comes down to us, and His Spirit passes within us. I think, of course, especially of the deepest and most wonderful Sacrament of unity with the Living Christ, the Holy Communion.
Surely if any man believes that he runs the risk of being a failure in God’s creation, unless somehow or other he lays hold of and brings into his own life the strong life of the Son of Man if he knows that this is the appointed means by which the life of the Son of Man is communicated to him, then his Communions cannot be merely a privilege, they become something more, a necessity. To such a man the acts of his Communion will be not isolated acts of Christian profession but the supreme acts of all his life, the moments in which all his capacities of thought, of imagination, of desire, of will, are raised to their utmost point of intensity, because there he knows that they meet and mingle with the perfect life of Jesus Christ.
Finally, if by faith, prayer, self -discipline and Sacrament we are “abiding in Christ,” then we shall bear fruit with the simplicity and inevitableness with which a healthy figtree puts forth its figs. We may not always clearly discern the fruit ourselves. Sometimes it is better that we should not; but it will be seen inwardly in the growth of deeper love, strengthened tranquillity, more steadfast joyfulness. It will be seen outwardly in the attractiveness of our example, in the range of our influence, in the perseverance and hopefulness of the service of our fellow-men. This is the bearing of fruit wherein, as our Lord tells us, the Father is glorified. On such a life the Creator, looking down, can see that it is good, and can rejoice in what He has made. Is it not a wonderful thought, almost more wonderful than we can dare to conceive, that my life might become a joy to God Who gave it? “Man’s chief end,” in the noble words of the Scottish Catechism, “is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.” Would not the words be even nobler if they were “to give him joy for ever”? To give joy to God this is surely the most uplifting and inspiring ambition of life.
TAGS: [Parables]