On Wednesday Night, Feb 25th, we will discuss “Abiding in Christ.”  We live in an organized world. We are connected to other people through a variety of organizations. We have relationships with others beyond our family through membership in different groups. There are fraternities, sororities, civic clubs, honor societies, labor unions, political parties, professional clubs, sports leagues, charitable organizations, School PTA, and shopping clubs like Sam’s and Costco. In order to be members in these groups, there are usually some minimum standards like having things in common, attending meetings, and paying dues.

Since we are surrounded with these kinds of organizations, it is easy to think that the church is a similar group. In order to be a Christian and “go to Heaven when we die” – it is necessary to become a member of a church and pay our dues and attend when we can – maybe even serve if we have time.

There is a problem with this kind of thinking. The Apostle John records the words of Jesus in John 15, where Jesus says that in order to be a Christian – there is a requirement to “abide in Me and I in you.”  This “Abiding in Christ” is something like the relationship between a vine and it’s branches. It order to “live”, you must “abide in Christ”. If you do NOT “abide in Christ”, then, the Bible says, you wither and die and are thrown in the fire and burned. Somehow, “abiding” seems to have a higher commitment level than being a member of a club called “Church.”

What does it mean to “Abide in Christ”? How do you get “in Christ”?  Is “abiding” more than Church membership? In what sense is Christ “in” us and we are “in” Christ?  What does “abide” mean?

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