Jesus Provided, So That We Should Abide

What Did Jesus Do?

But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—
just as it has taught you, abide in him .
1 John 2:27b

I’m a piano player. Bet you didn’t know that about me. In fact, even my family will be surprised when they read this because they have never seen me actually play the piano. But, I am a piano player, honest. Look here—Got a piano. Have a bunch of music books. I listen and watch other piano players (Chico Marx is my favorite!). And, every once in a great while, I actually plink one or two of the old ivories...What’s the matter? I didn’t say I was much of a piano player, I just said I played.

The truth is, I’ve never taken the time to become a piano player, really, I’ve just very occasionally played around with the piano. One of the things that prompted the apostle John to write to his little children (That is the Church, to all who are Christians) was his fear that some believers would have the same kind of relationship with Jesus that I have with my piano. Just as it takes practice to become good at the piano, so too with our faith—if we don’t practice being a Christian, spend time at it daily, using the gifts Jesus himself has provided us, well, we may still be Christians, but we’d have as hard a time convincing others of our faith as I have convincing people I’m a piano player.

Becoming a Christian involves receiving and believing the truth about who Jesus is and what Jesus did—we accept the objective truths about God revealed in Christ and in the Bible by the Holy Spirit. Christian faith begins when we first hear what the Spirit has to say to us. But well begun is, at best, only half done, and John didn’t want any of his little children going around half-baked, as it were. So John urges, “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.” (1 John 2:24) Hearing and receiving the Gospel is absolutely essential for us to become Christians. But, for us to keep going and growing as Christians, what we first hear about the person and work of Jesus (his Sonship, his atoning death, his resurrection), the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, our sinfulness, the saving grace of the Father, and the promise of glory (eternal life, v. 25) has to remain with us, it has to abide in us, residing in the heart and the mind. This is the only way our relationship with the Father and the Son will deepen, become stronger, more intimate, and, more evident. Christians abide in the Word of Truth we’ve heard from the beginning of our new life in Jesus.

Abiding in the truth we first heard also helps to keep us on track, to resist being led astray by those trying to deceive us. (1 John 2:26) John had already warned his little children about antichrists who sought to supplant the revealed truth of God with what they might have called privileged information, but which John plainly called lies. (1 John 2:18-22; see WDJD for 11/26/11) Christians have no need to listen to self-appointed teachers of any so-called new truths because God has poured out his grace upon us, has anointed us with the Holy Spirit who remains with us, and who teaches us. (1 John 2:27) Christians abide in the Holy Spirit with whom we are anointed from the beginning of our new life in Jesus.

You know, even with shelves full of music books, and even with a gifted teacher, I can never become a real piano player if I don’t spend time with the piano itself. It’s rather the same thing with believers. We can have a Bible on the shelf. We can even go to church and Sunday School, and we can even attend rallies and revivals and listen to excellent preaching, but if we never actually spend time with Jesus, if we don’t abide in him (1 John 2:28), there won’t be any real growth, any real power, any real life in us no matter how much we claim to be Christians. Think of the time of the Lord’s appearing as a grand recital, when the faith of every believer will be revealed, sort of how at a big recital many students get to show off how they have been progressing on the piano. If we haven’t spent much time with Jesus we might very well feel ashamed at his coming, much as a piano student who hasn’t practiced suffers great embarrassment at the recital. But, if we practice our faith, if we meet with, talk with, walk with Jesus, every day—if we abide in him now, we can have certain hope and overflowing confidence as we look forward to his coming. Christians whose faith is alive and growing don’t sit around idly waiting for the Lord to return, we abide in Jesus now, even as when we first met him, and even as we shall forever and ever.

While the deceivers and liars, the antichrists whom John regards in sharp contrast to his little children, try to convince us that we must seek something more, something quite different from the Gospel we first received, John assures the Church we have already been given all that is necessary for faith to take root, then to grow and flourish, if we would simply abide in what Jesus has provided.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4