Love is the Root and the Fruit
John 15:9-17
Remsen Bible Fellowship, 02/16/20
Introduction:
- Do you know how it feels to be loved? To feel like someone is totally for you, would give their all for you?
- What does that sort of love do to you? How does it change you? Think in the context of a child, spouse, parent, or friend.
A Context of Love: v9, 13
- Remember that we are in the upper room. John 13:1
- Jesus has just given the illustration of vine/branches: now he’s unpacking that.
- As Jesus moves toward laying a heavy emphasis on obedience, he wants us to remember the setting in which that obedience lies: his full and perfect love. V9
- How long has the Father loved the Son? John 17:24
- Jesus wants that same love to be in us (17:26), and for those chosen by Christ you have been loved since before the foundation of the world. Eph 1:3-6, esp v4
- How does Jesus demonstrate, ultimately, that too the max love? The cross. V13
Commands of Love: v9, 10, 12
- Jesus assures the disciples that they are in his love. Then he gives a command in v9. Cf v4
- Remember what that verb, abide, means? To stay, to remain, to not leave.
- How is the world are you supposed to stay in someone else’s love?
- Jesus tells us how. V10, if you keep... Not keeping = not staying.
This is a hard concept for us to grap, that his love is freely given (no conditions!), and yet there is still responsibility on our part to stay. But imagine for a moment an orphanage. It’s understaffed, the children are malnourished, there is no medical treatment. These children are essentially doomed to die slow deaths apart from the presence of love.
Now imagine a loving couple who absolutely adore children, but have none of their own. They come to this orphanage and see the desperate need. These folks are abundantly wealthy, and they decide out of the abundance of that wealth to pay the adopt several of the children. These children come home with them and become members of the family, with all of the attending rights and privileges. Full inheritance rights, a place at the dinner table, a safe place to sleep, a good education, and most of all, love. But is that all they receive? No, they also receive family responsibilities.
This love is unconditional. The parents walked into that orphanage and chose these children knowing nothing about them, there was no basis for the love besides the choice to love. And yet the full experience of being loved is tied to these children stepping into the role of full-fledged family members. A key aspect of that is embracing the parents as the authority in the relationship.
- Lest we be tempted to think this is unusual, or too much of God to ask, remember that this is how Jesus himself lived. V10b. cf, 10:17-18, 14:31
- God’s gift of love to us is without precondition in us, there is nothing you can do to make God love you. But experiencing his love changes us. Obedience becomes possible, 2 Cor 5:17; and not burdensome, 1 John 5:3, Matthew 11:30
- How does Jesus say to stay in his love? By obeying. Does he love us on the condition of obedience? No. But one of the means of our staying is obedience, which, when from the heart, has the ability to conform our patterns of thinking and feeling.
What are the primary commands we are to obey?
- Believe in God, trust in Jesus: 14:1, cf Matthew 22:37-38.
- I think there is a sense in which the first and great commandment is parallel to the command to abide. This is the vertical axis on the love plane.
- The emphasis in this passage is on the horizontal axis, aimed at others. Specifically, those others who are also in fellowship with Christ. v12
- In what way are we to love other believers? As I have loved you
- Is this greater or lesser than Matthew 22:39? Cf v13
- Why is this important for abiding in Christ? We love and serve a God whom we have not seen. One of our most vital connections to the love of God is through our relationship with, our connection to, his people. This is outside the comfort zone for many of us.
- How can you grow in your love of the other members of this body?
The Fruit of Loving Obedience: v14-16
- Right after Jesus explains the greatest love (dying for friends), he drives home who he’s dying for: his friends. V14
- Have you ever considered yourself a friend of God?
- If so, have you considered how strange it is? Exodus 33:11, James 2:23, cf. 1 Samuel 13:14
- What does v15 mean? Are we not God’s servants or slaves? Didn’t the NT writers see themselves that way?
- Jesus and the disciples would have had mental categories for supreme ruler whom everyone was to obey, who nonetheless had intimate friends with whom he held counsel and revealed himself to. The expected obedience didn’t change. The intimacy and understanding did.
- Jesus came as the full revelation of the Father, and opens up his heart to the disciples. And to us. Part of growing in our friendship with God is growing increasingly like him in our feelings, thoughts, and actions. We can do this because he has
- Revealed himself to us
- Come and taken up residence with us
- Did Jesus choose to make us his “trophy friends”? Again, the point is not that you’re awesome and he needs you; it’s that he loves you and wants to do mighty work in and through you. V16, 14:12
- How does he accomplish these mighty deeds, this bearing of fruit? Primarily (exclusively? That might be an overstatement) through answered prayer. V16b, cf 14:13-14
Conclusion: v11, 17
- Why is Jesus saying these things? What is he trying to accomplish?
- He wants to see your abiding love realized, v17
- He wants joy to characterize your life, v11
- Do you know that there is no one more concerned with your joy than God himself?
- Jesus commands those who have received his love to pour that same self-giving love out for other believers. This obedience to love sustains our connection with Jesus, produces a fruitfulness of Christlike character and witness to Christ, and leads to our lasting joy in him.
- John 13:34-35