We cannot live the Christian life until we learn how to abide, says Rich Villodas.,,,
What does it mean to abide in God? That was the question Rich Villodas, pastor of New Life Fellowship Church in New York, posed at this year’s Elim Leadership Summit in Harrogate.
“Jesus encounters you, but this has to be sustained because you can’t live off encounter – you have to abide,” Rich Villodas told the Elim Leadership Summit.
The importance of remaining in God is outlined in John 15:3, he explained: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jesus said this after he had been preaching about the kingdom of God for three years. At this point, he summarised his entire ministry into one word: abide.
“We cannot live the Christian life until we learn how to abide,” said Rich.
He likened the experience of this to making a cup of tea, where instead of constantly dipping a teabag to get flavour, you let it rest in the water to brew.
“When you just sit there, the presence of God can sometimes get too strong. Sometimes it begins to overwhelm you and you find yourself doing things in God’s strength that you couldn’t do on your own. You find yourself forgiving people you used to resent, being generous when you used to be stingy, being bold when you used to be fearful.
“Jesus is saying the only life that can do something is one that dwells and abides in him.”
To do this, we need to cultivate a contemplative life – one where we slow down to be with Jesus, Rich said. “It’s in this unhurried presence of God that we are changed. One of the greatest gifts we offer the world is simply being with Jesus and our ongoing transformation as we abide in him.”
From this, he explained, we can give to others.
“A man named Robert Mulholland wrote about spiritual formation. He said there are two ways of being in the world: we can be in the world for God, or we can be in God for the world.
“There’s a big difference, because to be in the world for God you don’t need God. You can do everything in your own strength.
“But we’re invited to be in God for the sake of the world, to live a life of beholding.”
David understood this well, Rich said. In Psalm 27 David says, “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.”
Abiding with God allows us to move away from transactional faith – where I pray/God does, or I do this/God does that – into communion with him.
We also need to abide with Jesus so we learn how to abide with others, Rich added. “Jesus looks at his disciples and tells them that as God has loved him, so he has loved them, and now they need to live in that reality – loving one another as Jesus has loved them.”
This was no easy task, Rich pointed out, with a group of disciples who couldn’t have been more different. Take Matthew and Simon.
“Matthew was a tax collector, Simon was a tax protester. Matthew was collecting revenue from the Romans. Simon was a rebel against the Romans. Matthew was wealthy, Simon was a commoner. Matthew lived to make money by overcharging people like Simon, and Simon lived to kill people like Matthew.
“Jesus was saying, ‘We’re in this small group together. I want to demonstrate what’s possible when people submit to my authority. I want to show what unity and reconciliation can look like.’”
From Direction Magazine issue 241
