Just as a reminder
John 15: 1-17
I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. 7 But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! 8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
We focused on verses 1-8 last week; we will finish this week with verses 9-17.
As we read verse 9 can we pause for a moment and just imagine how very much we are loved?
Think of it: as much as the Father loves the son, so the son loves us. He is not saying the Father doesn’t love us but stressing that the same way, from all eternity the way the Father has loved him so He loves us and the Father loves us.
At the same time, Jesus repeatedly said, “I do only what my Father commands, desires, or what I see my Father doing.” Obedience is always a loving response! The intimacy Jesus shares with the Father is exemplified through His obedience, just as ours should be. If we frequently break fellowship with the Father by choosing our own way instead of following His plans, we reveal our lack of intimacy with Him. To our own detriment! It takes determined work on our part to cut off the connection. He would never harm us because His plans are for our good!
When we decide, choose, to acknowledge God’s plan for our lives, that we have been created as his masterpiece. He has created us with a divine purpose and we will take the time to get to understand his heart and his love through reading his word, talking with him (through prayer), and fellowship with the family.
When we do, our joy is easily fulfilled because first, our intimacy with the Lord is real, we know and experience his love then we are doing things that bring us joy using our skills, personalities and talents in the way they were designed to be used. We are remaining in his love and that overwhelms us with joy!
We, at times have to shake off the fear, the sense of inadequacy, the worry, anxiety, false expectations, hurts, wounds, rejections, and even the sense of disconnected and just breathe and rest in his love.
We need to jump for a second….Jesus says all of this happens because we are keeping his commandments that he summarizes in the next verse and repeats in the last verse
John 15:12
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
If it helps, reread 1 Corinthians 13 to remind yourself of how Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit love us. When we believe we are loved that way, it is easy to love others because our love storage is filled, and it spills out onto others.
Jesus then connecting love to relationship and action said this
John 15:13
13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Obviously, we know Jesus was speaking about the cross but it is so much more. As we look at the way Jesus loved, for example he had every right to judge people but chose instead to lift them up (woman caught in the act of adultery, the Roman centurion, Peter)
James challenges us to show this love through action when he made this statement
James 2:18
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
This is how Jesus applied it
Maybe we do need to reread 1 Corinthians 13:4-9
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
Jesus loved by helping people find their way instead of demanding it. He had every right to be boastful and proud; after all, he created everything. But instead, he was patient, walking in and living constant forgiveness. Think about all he endured at the hands of his very own creation, and yet, on the cross, he stood for our forgiveness.
I wanted us to read the additional verses because this too, is understanding love. Once again, because of the placement of these verses between two chapters discussing the gifts of the spirit, I believe not only are they their most powerful when love is supreme but by flowing in them in truth we are living out God’s love as well. They are here, according to these verses until the end of this dispensation or age, “when perfection comes”
John 15:14,15
14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Friendship with God….can we fully grasp that concept?
Proverbs 18:24
A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
This is prophetic of Jesus…he sticks closer to you than a brother….What does this mean?
He will never leave you or forsake you – Hebrews 13:5
He is always praying for you – Hebrews 7:25 and 1 John 2:1
He has given the Holy Spirit so that we can be daily, guided, led into all truth – John 16:13
Remember everything that Jesus said and continue to teach you – John 14:26
Know what to say when we don’t have the words – Luke 12:12
Have access to all the gifts – Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and 14
Live out the fruit in our lives – Galatians 5:22,23
It also means something more: Jesus’ statement that “all things he has heard from the Father I have made known to you!”
God is always doing this, but only with his friends!
Abraham was a friend of God, so God revealed to him about the promised land, his son, and what he would do with Sodom and Gomorrah as well as the future of his family.
Who was the beloved prophet in the Old testament? Daniel (Daniel 10:11)! As a friend, God revealed the future to Daniel. He knew what was going to happen on the earth even to setting up the messiah so the wisemen would know
Who was the disciple Jesus loved? John! As his friend, John was not only given an understanding of what it meant to be a friend of God and fully comprehend God’s love for us, but he was also granted insight into the future of the church and the world.
Peace and joy come from knowledge. We can find peace in knowing that God will always disclose to His friends what we need to understand about our future and the world around us. That is part of intimacy. I often encourage couples to pray together because in that intimacy, hearts are revealed.
Know how much you are loved, whether you “remain in the vine,” or not. God doesn’t stop loving you; you just stop feeling it and living it.
Choose to remain in him
You will know the Lord with a deeper understanding than you ever thought possible
You will experience his love in a deeper way than you could ever imagine
You will live in peace and joy because you have his heart and knowledge
You will always know what you need to know about your future and you can trust it.