The Christadelphians are calling people to abide in Christ like they are brothers and sisters in Christ. We want to show the world that Jesus pleads with people who are superficial branches. Jesus never wanted to do his own will but did everything to do the Will of his heavenly Father, the Only One God. Too many people are calling themselves Christian but do not believe in the words of Jesus Christ nor in his Father Who called Jesus is only begotten beloved son.

 

This son of God asked his followers to become one in him like he is one with the Father. Jesus asked his followers to abide in him. He is saying to those who are like Judas, "Be genuine; abide in me and show that your faith is real; bear fruit and remain on the vine." It is like saying, "You superficial branches: be saved; have a genuine relation to Christ."

Abiding in Christ is a mark of true salvation. Sometimes a person who is active in the church leaves suddenly and never goes back to church again. Or a leader in the church may become apostate. People in the church wonder what happened.

 

The explanation is in 1 John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us."

 

If a person's relationship to Christ is genuine, he remains. First John 2:24-25 says, "As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which he himself made to us: eternal life." Those who abide inherit eternal life.

That is not to say that you can be saved by being steadfast, neither that you can trust you are saved for ever and do not have to mind what you do further in life. The point is that if you continue in the faith, you are showing that your connection to Christ is real; if you depart, you demonstrate that it never was. Jesus gave many illustrations of how people can hear the Good News, be attracted to it and even come to believe it. But after a while the faith seems to wither. It does not seem to have found the good soil to grow strongly.

 

Paul in Colossians 1:22-23 tells us: "He has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach--if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven."

Hebrews 3:6 likewise says, "Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end." By continuing in Christ we give evidence that we are really part of His household. Later, the same chapter says, "For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end" (v. 14). A true believer has a living and vital relationship with Jesus Christ that cannot give way to unbelief or apostasy.

 

Only the person who abides in the true Vine can claim the promise of the constant presence of God. Jesus said, "Abide in Me, and I in you." That means if we truly abide in Him, He will truly abide in us.

 

Many people come to church thinking that God is with them just because they sit in the pew. But being in a church doesn't mean God is with you. It also does not proof the Christ Jesus is carried in the heart and that the person keeps to the commandments of Christ. In Christendom we can find many theologians or people who say they are a priest of God, who do not keep to Christ Jesus his teaching nor to God His Higher commandments. We do find them having their flock bowing down and praying to graven images of man.

 

When we look at those churches we should see that Jesus does not live inside those churches nor in the followers of that denomination. Though in those churches we may find people who are different and who have Jesus really in their heart. It is to those we call to come out of those false churches. It is to those and all others we want to show that Jesus lives in the heart of individuals and that any person can be chosen by God to find Jesus who lives in his disciples.

 

We all should be aware of the danger that a person who sits among true disciples might be as far from Christ as the native of a tribe that has never heard the gospel--if he does not abide in the true Vine.

 

Jesus says "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in my love." A real disciple doesn't come to Christ, receive his love, and then leave again; he remains. That is what Jesus is saying, whether He says "abide," bear much fruit," or "abide in my love." They all mean, "Be a real believer."

 

A Christian can abide only by being firmly grounded in Jesus. If a branch is to abide, it cannot be even half an inch away--it must be connected. Those who are saved are those who are abiding, and those who are not abiding are not saved.