The Meno Experience

Having shared about the true meaning of covenant in my last two posts -- see "The Eternal Covenant (Part 1)" and "The Eternal Covenant (Part 2)" -- I must now share one more revelation that has transformed my thinking and significantly shaped my life. This revelation is so fundamental to a proper understanding of how the Christian life works, and yet so counter-intuitive to the religious mindset most of us inherent from our upbringing, that it requires what the Bible calls "a renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10). In fact, before we look at this revolutionary subject, let's take a brief look at Romans 12:2, this time from The Amplified Bible:

"Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude]..."

To be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ means two things happening at the same time:

1. The act of not conforming to this world, or what the NIV calls "the pattern of this world."


2. The process of being transformed by "the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude]" -- in other words, conforming to a new pattern of life!

You'll find these twin concepts in many parts of the Bible. For example, take a look at 2 Peter 1:4:

"...[God] has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."

Can you see the same two vital principles at work? Here they are:

• Principle #1 -- Not conforming to this world: "...escap[ing] the corruption in the world caused by evil desires."


• Principle #2 -- Being transformed by the renewing of your mind: "...participat[ing] in the divine nature."

I believe that the application of these two principles to a person's life is the essence of what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these two principles must both operate at the same time; you can't have one without the other. If you are not to conform to the pattern of this world, you must instead conform to another pattern -- the pattern of the life of a true disciple of Jesus (note John 8:31-32; Matthew 7:24-27). And if you are to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus (Romans 8:29), then you must first not be conformed to the pattern of this world! This repentance-transformation principle underpins the great Christian journey -- a journey in which one "escape[s] the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (what you leave behind) and in which one "participate[s] in the divine nature" (what you move toward). Without these two things in operation, there can be no journey.

Well, I've taken a long time to build up to my main point, haven't I? But believe me, unless we understand this twin principle of repentance-transformation, what I'm about to share with you will be little more than a nice chat about a Bible verse. Without being prepared to turn your back on something old and embrace something new (i.e. repentance), there can be no transformation. My prayer is that what I'm about to share with you will have a genuine transformative value in your life -- simply put, that it will change your life forever!

OK, buckle up and let's begin!

In John 15:1-8, Jesus opens his disciple's minds to a revelation of how the Christian life has been designed to work. And he uses a horticultural analogy to explain it all:

"I am the true vine...Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing...If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

I'm going to start from the end backwards. In the last verse quoted above (verse 8), Jesus says that if we apply the principles he is teaching here, then we will truly show ourselves to be His disciples. In other words, as He said in John 8:31, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." And part of the essential teaching of Jesus that we "hold to" is found in John 15. Simply put, Jesus says that the Christian life involves an organic connection with him, in the same way that a branch is organically connected to the vine stem -- drawing life and nourishment from the vine and thus producing the fruit of the vine. In other words, your life as a Christian is not an independent experience. It is a connected experience, and the quality of the fruit you produce is equal to the quality of the connection you have.

Let me emphasise this again. According to Jesus, "bear[ing] much fruit" (verse 8) depends on one's connection to the stem of the vine. An independent branch may temporarily have the outward semblance of life, but that life quickly withers and no fruit is produced. In the same way, says Jesus, "If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Jesus is absolutely clear about this. Independent action on our part, no matter how well intentioned, will ultimately prove "fruitless".

The Greek verb that Jesus uses, which is translated by the NIV as "remain", is meno. It has the following shades of meaning:

• To remain, abide, live in
• To sojourn, tarry, wait
• Not to depart, not to be moved, to stay in a given state or relationship
• To be held, kept continually, fixed immovably, stuck steadfastly
• To continue to be, to last, to endure, to survive
• To remain united, not to become separated or cut off

It is rendered by different Bible translations as "remain", "abide", "joined" and "dwell", to name just a few. All these different words have one common meaning: to be connected securely and continually, so that life may flow.

Take a look at how Eugene Peterson's The Message renders John 15:1-8:

"I am the Real Vine...Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is -- when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples."

Earlier, in John 14:10, Jesus had already described His own relationship with His Father as having exactly the same meno connection:

"Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living (meno) in me, who is doing his work."

The meno experience that Jesus Himself experienced is the same meno experience He has extended to us. Everything in the Christian life revolves around this meno connection with God, through Jesus -- what The Amplified Bible calls a "vital union" or what the Wuest Extended Translation calls "a living communion." Even the quality of our wider unity, as the global Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is based very much on our common meno experience in Christ, for in John 17:20-23 Jesus said:

"...I pray...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me..."

The unity that Jesus prayed for is based on the same "intimate and organic" relationship that Jesus Himself has with His Father - "I in you and you in me" (read again John 14:10). No matter where I look, I keep coming face to face with this description of total intimacy between the Father and the Son, an intimacy that has been extended to you and me -- not as a optional extra for the Christian life, but as an absolute requirement for it (please download my OBC lesson "The Amazing Secret" for a more detailed description of what this means). In fact, when Jesus told his disciples that "apart from me you can do nothing," in John 15:5, He was simply echoing what He had earlier said of His own experience in John 5:19, using the same descriptive terms:

"...I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."

The relationship between the Father and the Son is a meno experience, and our relationship with Jesus is, likewise, also a meno experience. And the strength of this meno connection determines both the quantity and quality of the fruit we produce -- fruit that ultimately brings glory to the Father and "show[s] yourselves to be my disciples" (John 15:8).

If you would like to learn more about how to develop this meno experience for yourself, you can download my OBC lesson on this subject, called "Abiding in the Vine," from the following address:

http://www.online-bible-college.com/downloads/dsc-03.pdf