167. Rock Goes The Gospel - Judas Priest "United"

"United" is the fifth track and last single to be released from the album British Steel by heavy metal group Judas Priest. The song was written very much in the same vein as "Take On the World" from Killing Machine (Hell Bent for Leather in the U.S.) and meant to be a crowd shout-along. It is the fifth track and final song on the first side on the LP version.  The single, with "Grinder" on the B-side, peaked at number 26 on the UK Singles Chart and spent a total of eight weeks on the chart.This song was inspired by the unpopularity of the Conservative government in the UK at the beginning of the 1980s. Frontman and lyricist Rob Halford explained to Billboard magazine: "There was a feeling of the vast population of the British public being united against a government we felt was uncaring. It was also a kind of kickback to the way we were being ignored by various elements of the press in our home country because the punk movement was dominating everything. We wanted to send a rallying call out to the metalheads, not only in the UK but everywhere."

Look around
They're moving in
Hold your ground
When they begin

We can do it
We can do it and if they wanna they can try
But they'll never get near
Then they can get out of here

Gonna keep on driving
Never stop

United, united, united we stand
United we never shall fall
United, united, united we stand
United we stand one and all

So keep it up
Don't give in
Make a stand
We're gonna win

We can do it
We can do it and if they wanna they can try
But they'll never get near
Then they can get out of here

Gonna keep on driving
Never stop

United, united, united we stand
United we never shall fall
United, united, united we stand
United we stand one and all

So keep it up

United, united, united we stand
United we never shall fall
United, united, united we stand
United we stand one and all

United, united, united we stand
United we never shall fall
United, united, united we stand
United we stand one and all

United, united, united we stand
United we never shall fall
United, united, united we stand
United we stand one and all

The sentiments in this song are plain to see "Unity" is what is on offer in this priest song. Priest in this song harness the feeling at the time of "Unrest" with politicians and their so called politics. This song was a way of getting back at the machine. In the scripture passage that today devotion comes from "Unity" is also the theme. This morning we will be looking at John 15. In the illustration of the vine Jesus teaches about being "In Christ" which is the ultimate unity, where all other unities emerge. Jesus unpacks what it looks like to abide in Him and it is to Jesus that we go this morning to understand what "In Christ" Means

One of Jesus’ most vivid and powerful illustrations for the believer’s relationship with him is the vine and branches. Just as branches can only bear fruit if they abide in the vine, so the only way believers can glorify the Father through fruitful lives is by abiding in Jesus. It is in this passage where Jesus prepares his disciples for his imminent death and departure, by instructing them about their calling and mission as his disciples, and emphasizing their absolute dependence on him.

Unpacking the metaphor of being in Christ
This picture is a rich metaphor that needs unpacking. The vine is Jesus, while we (believers, disciples) are the branches. The Father, Jesus says, is the vinedresser (v. 1) – that is the gardener who tends the branches. He prunes the fruitful branches so they will bear more fruit (v. 2), and takes away the unfruitful branches, throwing them into the fire (v. 2, 6). The unfruitful branches appear to be nominal disciples: people who outwardly follow Jesus for a time, but fail to bear fruit. Think, for example, of Judas Iscariot. The fruit we are called to bear probably includes both the fruit of transformed character (similar to “the fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23) and fruitfulness in evangelism as we bear witness to Jesus and his work.This is what it is to be united with Jesus.

What does it mean to abide?
That much seems to be clear. But what does it mean for us to abide in Jesus as branches in the vine? I believe three things are implied: connection, dependence, and continuance. Don’t think of these as three successive steps, but as three interwoven aspects of abiding and being united in Christ.

1. Connection
Abiding in Jesus first of all means having a life-giving connection to him. You are united. A branch is connected to the vine, and a vine to the branch. This is what theologians frequently describe as “union with Christ.” Notice that this connection, this union, is mutual. We abide in him and he abides in us (v. 4). If there is no connection, there is no life, no fruit.

2. Dependence
But abiding also implies dependence. This aspect of abiding, unlike connection, is not reciprocal. The branch is dependent on the vine, but the vine is not dependent on the branch. The branch derives its life and power from the vine. Without the vine, the branch is useless, lifeless, powerless. Sap flows from the vine to the branch, supplying it with water, minerals, and nutrients that make it grow. And believers receive the “sap” of Christ’s grace through our life-giving connection to him. We are completely dependent upon Jesus for everything that counts as spiritual fruit (v. 4). Apart from him, we can do nothing (v. 5).

3. Continuance
Abiding also involves continuance. In fact, “abide” (Greek, meno) means to remain, or stay, or continue. For example, in John 1:38-39, two of the disciples who first encountered Jesus asked him “Where are you staying?” They wanted to know where Jesus made his residence. The word “staying” is the same word translated “abide” in John 15. To abide is to reside. To abide is to continue, to stay, to remain.  This shows us that another aspect of abiding in Jesus is remaining in Jesus. This simply means that we go on trusting, that we keep on depending, that we never stop believing. To abide in Jesus is to persevere in Jesus and his teaching. This is what Jesus is talking about in John 8:31-32, when he says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Who is this for?
In one sense, Jesus description of abiding seems to be an all or nothing deal. If someone abides in him, his love, and his word, this proves that they are his disciples. To not abide in him (and his love and word) is to show that one is not a disciple at all. So, to be a believer is to abide.  But on the other hand, “abide” is a command (v. 4). Jesus tells us to abide in him and to abide in his love (v. 9). It’s something we have to do. So, is abiding in Jesus something that is true of all believers?  There are certain streams of Christian teaching that have made this unnecessarily complicated. They have suggested that abiding in Christ is something additional, something special, that we gain through a crisis experience that ushers into a higher, deeper, or victorious life, sometimes even called the “abiding” life. And it is then suggested that Christians can be broken down into two groups: the “haves” and “have not’s.” The ordinary Christians who believe in Jesus but don’t abide and the extraordinary Christians who believe and also abide.

All or Some?
This is an over complicated way of understanding what it means to abide IN the Vine. It is also not true to scripture or the heart of God. The truth is much simpler to understand it’s simpler and closer to the text to say that abiding, like faith itself, is a reality true of all Christians but also an experience that we grow into by degrees. It’s not that some Christians abide and some don’t. If you believe in Jesus, you are in him. You are united to him. You are connected to the life-giving branch. But no matter where you are on your spiritual journey, you can experience the reality of this connection to Jesus more and more. You can become more fruitful. There are degrees of fruitfulness. The passage not only speaks of bearing fruit, but of bearing “more fruit” (v. 2) and “much fruit” (v. 8). You can enjoy Jesus more. That’s why Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (v. 11). He not only wants us to have joy, he wants us to have full joy. And you can be more like Jesus. You can experience the sweetness, power, and joy of your connection to him in greater degrees, as you grow in ongoing daily dependence on him. In theological terms, all believers have union with Christ, but all believers can also know communion with him in greater (or lesser) degrees.

How do you abide?
That leads to a final question: how do you abide? If abiding in Jesus involves ongoing daily dependence on him, what does that look like? Jesus himself tells us. We abide in Jesus by letting his words abide in us (v. 7) and by abiding in his love (v. 9-10).  To put it simply, abiding in Jesus doesn’t require advancing beyond the gospel to something else. It doesn’t demand a crisis decision or a mystical experience. It just means keeping the words of Jesus in our hearts and minds, so that they are renewing and reviving us, shaping and sanctifying us, filling and forming us. And it means keeping ourselves in his infinite, enduring, sin-bearing, heart-conquering, life-giving love.