SERVANT LEADERSHIP - The Blue Letter Bible Institute

Servant Leadership – Lesson 27 7
An Abiding Relationship with Christ by Brian Brodersen
And then thirdly—and I do not want to underestimate this, but again, I have just been trying to
look at it in order or priority—there of course is the issue of converts and disciples. That is
certainly an aspect of fruit as well. This is what Jesus is talking about. This is what He is desiring.
This is what God was looking for with Israel. They failed miserably. This is what God has been
looking for throughout the church age. This is what God is looking for in our lives, that there
would be fruit coming forth. That is, personal godliness, good works, and then impacting the lives
of other people—seeing converts, seeing people come into a relationship with the Lord, or taking
young Christians and building them up in the faith.
When we went to London we just had the most fabulous time. Before we went, God really spoke
to me and showed me that our ministry was not initially to be an evangelistic ministry. It would
be first of all a ministry to the suffering sheep, and secondly out of that, evangelism would spring
forth. And that is exactly what the Lord did when we got to England. He began to bring to us, by
the dozens, sheep that had been wounded, sheep that had just been starving and abused. People
came from situations where they had been so disillusioned with church that they had not been in a
church in ten years. Others were still in the church but they were just hanging on by a thread, just
hoping and praying that something else would come along to minister to them. God began to
bring them to us and then, out of that, evangelism began to take place as well.
I will never forget when we were leaving London. A number of the families in the church asked
me one night, “Would you come over for dinner? We just want to have you over.” They were all
of Afro-Caribbean background and they wanted to give me a nice Jamaican meal, which sounded
good to me. As we were there, each one of them wanted to just take a few minutes to tell me how
much I had impacted their lives. It was one of those heart-wrenching times when everybody was
weeping and telling their stories. As I was listening I was thinking, “All these guys are really
doing is testifying to the power of the Word of God.” They did not realize it because they were
saying, “You did this and you did that.” After about 45 minutes of that I thanked them for their
graciousness and all the wonderful things that they shared. I said, “But I want to draw your
attention to something. I want you to notice there is a common thread in what you have been
saying tonight. What I heard from every one of you was how the Word of God transformed your
lives. I did not really do much. I just got up every week and faithfully taught you the Bible and
God did the rest.”
That is the kind of fruit that we are talking about—that fruit of conversion, that fruit of
discipleship. I believe that is the definition of fruit. I think that is what Jesus is talking about when
He is talking about bearing fruit. But now the question is: How is fruit born? Jesus gives us the
answer in the text. He says,
4 Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you
abide in Me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and
I in him, bears much fruit. (John 15:4-5)
We saw what fruit is, now how is it born? Jesus said, “Abide in Me,” but what does it mean?
What does it mean to abide?
Jesus said, “The Father and I will come and we will make our abode with you.” I would like to
think of abide in that sense of abode. What is your abode? Your abode is your home. Your abode
is the place you live. That is the place your life is centered. That is where you dwell. That is the
place where everything that is of any importance to you is more or less based, isn’t it?