A branch cannot bear fruit without staying well attached to the vine

A well known Christian apologist, had a good illustration of how Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). This was in response to a question from a Muslim gentlemen at one of his talks. The gentleman commented that the Jews had their laws and so did the Muslims. And he asked, and I am paraphrasing, "How can the Christians change the world if the code of life left by Jesus does not have sufficient detail?". See video here. The apologist responded by saying that God's laws did not go away. It just became a mirror to help us see everything that is wrong with us. We are helpless in correcting it by ourselves. And so we need Jesus.

John 15:4-5
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. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Jesus clearly says we need to abide in Him. Apart from Him we can do NOTHING. In this chapter Jesus also says the world will hate us because we abide in Him. It seems terrible that mortal human beings with a God given conscience could do this. In reality it has been happening since the days of Jesus. Are you experiencing it? Or, perhaps you have yet to abide in Him.

John 15:19
If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

So lets not seek to compromise on our God given positions. It is clear that the best remedy for the world is the good news of Jesus Christ. We can never not abide in Him. No matter how great the opposition or the temptation to compromise in any situation.

Father, I will abide in you, and if the world hates me for it, let it be so.

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