"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me."
- John 15: 4 (vv.1-7)
In the book "The Best Is Yet Be" by Henry Durbanville, He tell the story of a young girl who lived in a High-Rise Apartment in London, but she won "First Place" at Flower show for a flower she had grown in her apartment. When she was asked how she had managed to grow such a perfect flower in a surrounding like that? She replied, "I always moved the plant around, so that it was always in the rays of the "Sun."
He also tells about some birds that lived in a country where the climate is very, very cold, that as the Sun was setting for the day. These birds would gather together in a tree and try to catch the last rays of the Sun. They would move up each limb and they would move closer together. When the Sun finally set they would be in a large bunch and touching each other so they could keep each other warm through the night.
I think this was the message given by the Lord Jesus Christ in the discourse of the True Vine here in John 15:7. He says. "If You abide in me and my words abide in you." The term abiding means a little more than just touching, and it carries greater implication than of being constantly connected. It signifies the drawing of resources needed for existence from Him. It says in verse 5, "without me you can do nothing."
Remaining in touch with the "SON" is essential for the existence of the Christian's fruitfulness and unity of the believer.
The believer's relationship with the Father and other believers is not determined by his abiding but if he is to be fruitful and productive, he must be drawing energy and valuable resources from the Son and other believers. Paul made it infinitely clear in 1 Corinthians 12 that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. That the body has many different members and they are dependent upon each other in order for the body to function properly.
So, it is infinitely clear that believers remain in fellowship and communication to provide each other with the necessary development for the body of Christ to have it influence in society.