In John 15:5 the Lord said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
The Lord said, “For apart from Me you can do nothing.” What does this mean? As far as we are concerned, we are still able to do many things apart from the Lord. It seems that we do not need to rely on the Lord to preach the gospel, we do not need to rely on the Lord to visit the saints, and we do not need to rely on the Lord to serve Him. Many of us have had this kind of experience. In our service, our work, our preaching of the gospel, and our visiting of the saints, we can apparently accomplish a great deal without having much fellowship with the Lord and abiding in Him. In the Lord’s eyes, however, everything that we do without fellowshipping with Him or relying on Him-everything that we do by ourselves-does not count. This is why He said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” This means that only the things which we do by abiding in the Lord count in God’s eyes. Apart from Him, everything that we do means nothing.
The Lord’s word here does not necessarily mean that we are fallen and are far away from the Lord but that there is a barrier between us and the Lord. The first part of the verse speaks of one who abides in the Lord and the Lord in him. Then the latter part says, “For apart from Me you can do nothing.” The word for indicates that this phrase explains the preceding part. Hence, the part on the branches being apart from the vine and not being able to bear fruit explains the preceding part which is on not abiding in the Lord. What does it mean by “apart from Me”? This does not necessarily mean that when we are apart from the Lord, we do not look like Christians anymore because we have committed sins or trespasses. We may pray, go to meetings, and preach the gospel as usual. Apparently, we may not have any problem with the Lord and may appear to be normal Christians, but in fact, we may be apart from the Lord and may have lost our fellowship with the Lord inwardly.
What does it mean to abide in the Lord? We may use the following example. A telephone “abides” in electricity. Once the electricity is switched on, the telephone begins to “abide” in the electricity, and at the same time the electricity also “abides” in the telephone. The telephone and the electricity are in communication and in union with each other. This kind of communication and union produces an effect that enables the telephone to transmit sound. However, whenever the electricity is turned off, the electricity ceases to abide in the telephone, and the telephone is no longer able to transmit sound. The telephone apparently remains the same, but actually it is disconnected from the electricity. A Christian may be right and proper in appearance and irreproachable in his spiritual living; however, he may not be abiding in the Lord, and the Lord also may not be abiding in him. At this time, everything that he does and all of his living are worthless in God’s eyes and do not mean anything. His so-called normal living is one that is lived out from himself and by himself but not one that is in union or fellowship with the Lord or one that the Lord lives out from within him.
From God’s perspective, all spiritual reality is Christ Himself. In all of our spiritual progress and living before God, only that which is Christ counts. Our spiritual life is Christ Himself, our spiritual living is Christ Himself, and our spiritual growth is also Christ Himself; all spiritual matters are just Christ Himself. Therefore, without Christ in us, we do not have a spiritual life; without living in Christ, we do not have a spiritual living; and without the increase of Christ in us, we do not have any spiritual progress. We may have a great amount of doctrinal knowledge and many spiritual practices, but they cannot be counted as spiritual progress. Our spiritual progress is the increase of Christ in us. Anything that is not Christ is not spiritual and has no spiritual value in God’s eyes.
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