"We accept Christ - then get a bunch of rules to follow"

[Feedmysheep]

An important command of Jesus - "Abide in Me and I in you." (John 15:4a) I is certainky not His the only command. I suggest that it is probably the main one. 

Look now at the whole verse.
Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

This covers much.

1.) It implies that He is alive and availiable. How can we abide in Him if He is not alive and available.
So He is in resurrection and can be known.

2.) It includes the truth that He is enterable. We can enter INTO the available living Person of the Son of God.

3.) It indicates that IF we live in the sphere and realm of Him He will in turn live in and through us.
If we abide in Him He will move, live, and be expressed in our living.

4.) It implies that all His riches of life can flow into us in a vine branch relationship. We derive our health, life, supply only
from being grafted into Him. Without this relationship we can do nothing. Or we may do a lot but it will
eventually all amount to nothing. So we need to abide in Him that He abides in us.

[farouk]

On 2/18/2024 at 4:28 PM, TrueFollowerOfChrist said:

Jesus did not save us simply to follow rules, and you are correct that following the law should be done out of love not obligation. Our obedience to Christ should be because of our appreciation and gratitude for what he has done, not out of fear for what he will do to us if we don't obey. However the Christianity that I see in the world around me has degraded Christianity to simply following rules and trying not to sin. It's sadness me because that only leads to guilt as we fail greatly to live up to God's perfect standard. It does not give the freedom that Christ promised. I fail the Lord daily, then I repent and keep moving forward. I don't dwell on the past or repeatedly ask forgiveness for something that's already been forgiven. Sadly the man who made it famous to say "I did it my way" is likely spending eternity regretting that type of life. We can never be perfect, but it does not require perfection to show love to our neighbor and love to God.

@TrueFollowerOfChrist Paul to the Romans speaks of 'the obedience of faith' and 'obedience to the faith' (1st and last chapters), although this indeed very different from going back to legalism.

[Spock]

On 2/1/2024 at 7:32 AM, Vine Abider said:

In my Tuesday men's fellowship, a brother said this.  So is this what the Christian life is about?

lol, this made me laugh….thanks for that. 
 

Ask your friend what does he prefer - eternal life vs eternal torment? Just curious….I know I went off topic a bit….sorry….that was my first thought that popped into my head. 
 

as for a bunch of rules….ask him what rules of the 10 commandments doesn’t he like?  

then ask him if he is opposed to some new rules Jesus gave his disciples, such as……John 13:34 (ESV) A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

Let me know which ones of the above 11 he doesn’t like…..thanks…s

[Starise]

Everybody follows rules of some kind, even the lost. You won't get out of it.

Could we replace the word rule with the word guide? In some cases I think it fits.

I LIKE to be guided by GOD. I mean He made us right?