March 9, 2025
Morning Service

Chapter 15 started with Jesus using His final “I AM” statement to proclaim “I AM the Vine.”  He went on to explain in parable like fashion that He is the Vine and we are the branches and through Him we are able to produce much fruit.  He is the source of our energy, nourishment, and life.  He reveals to us that we are to “abide in Him to bear much fruit because without Him we can do nothing.”  This parable highlights the importance of our relationship with Him.  Our life in Jesus begins and ends with our relationship with Him.  Jesus said this in Matt. 7 speaking about the day of judgement:

Mat 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  (22)  Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  (23)  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

Our works won’t matter if we don’t know Him and live our lives “abiding” in Him.  We ended in verse 11 where Jesus reveals why He is telling us this; “that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.”  Our relationship with God the Father and our Savior Jesus Christ is designed to bring us joy!  Rejoice this morning God loves you and desires to have a close intimate relationship with you!  Today, Jesus commands us to let our love for Him to overflow to those around us.

John 15:12-13 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.

            What a challenge for us, to love as we have been loved!  To do that we have to measure just how much God loves us.  He loves us so much that He was willing to die for us which, as He tells us here, is the greatest display of love that there is.  Jesus lived His entire life with a purpose.  He lived and died to create a path for us to be redeemed to God, a task we could not do on our own.  God came sacrificially to earth to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.  That is perfect love defined. Now we must follow His example.

  This is a call/ command for all of us to get our eyes off of ourselves and fix them upon Jesus who will give us purpose for our life as well.  It is not likely we will be asked to give our life for others as the ultimate sacrifice, but He is calling us be that “living sacrifice” Paul call us to be in Romans 12.  We are to live a life of sacrificial love in practical ways by engaging, investing, listening, helping, encouraging, and giving to those God has blessed us to be around.  We may not die physically, but we do die to ourselves as we yield our life to God’s Will and become the hands and feet of Jesus to the world we live in.  That is how we are able to love others as we have been loved.  We are following Jesus and He loves us.  He gave His best, His all, for us and commands us to do imitate Him by loving each other in that same manner.

            How are we doing with that?  It is hard to deny yourself and focus on others as we are not internally wired that way.  BUT GOD, through the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to do just that.  Where we are weak, He is strong.  Yield to His calling in your life to love one another.  Again it is all about relationship.  We are to commanded to extend the love we have for Jesus to include all those around us.  Jesus now gives us another revelation that will help.

 

John 15:14-17 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 have seen how we are the children of God, but now we also see that we are the friends of Jesus.  He tells us here that we are His friends “IF we do whatever I command you.”  Over the last three weeks, Jesus has emphasized the importance of obedience in our lives; being doers and not hearers only!  Following Jesus pushes us to show it through our words, works, and deeds.  As we yield to His Will and obey His commands, we become more like Him and it becomes not what we do that matters, but it becomes who we are.  Jesus is our Lord and Master, but He does not look at us as servants, but as His friends!  He confides in us and hides nothing that we need from us as Peter tell us in his second letter:

He then in verse 16 reveals to us that He has “chosen and appointed us to bear fruit.”  He chose you with all your faults, hang-ups, and failings.  He saw something greater in you than you could ever see in yourself.  This fact that we are chosen, loved, and called to follow Him should make us comfortable in our own skin, so much that we then can truly give of ourselves to others loving them as Jesus loved us!  This is a direct command from Jesus, but it is one that we should easily grow into as knowing how it feels to be loved makes it easy to give it away to others.  There are, however, also two sides to this coin.  We are loved by those who follow Jesus with us, but what about those who don’t.

 

 John 15:18-21 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  (19)  If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  (20)  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  (21)  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.

            Here we see a promise from Jesus that is not so sweet to swallow.  “If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you.”  We know the prince of this world “hates” all that Jesus stands for and when we accept His call to follow, we declare war on this world.  We become his enemy just as Jesus is his enemy.  When we take our stand for what we believe in our community, there will those who stand with us and those who will oppose us.  Don’t let that surprise you and know that it is not you they are resisting, but God.  Think of how John the Baptist spoke out against Herod for marrying his brother’s wife.  Herodias, his wife, hated him so much for proclaiming this (truth) she devised a plot to have him beheaded.  We have seen that today as parents speak out about protecting their children and have been persecuted and harassed for it.  It is a part of our spiritual battle.  When we stand with Christ, we stand against the world and persecution will come; this is a promise from God.  Jesus continues with this thought.

 

John 15:22-25 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  (23)  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  (24)  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  (25)  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.'

            Jesus came into this world preaching a message of love, redemption and doing a ministry of healing, but the world rejected Him, His message, and His Father.  Mankind’s dark sin became very apparent when held up to the Light of the world and they hated Him for that. Men choose to love sin, the world, and the flesh more than they love God.  When we also choose to stand for truth, the world will hate us as well.  Know that they are hating the presence of the Spirit in your life, and that is a good thing.  We do not have to face that hate alone.

 

John 15:26-27 "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.  (27)  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

            To be hated and despised is not an easy burden to bear, but God has sent us the Holy Spirit to be able to overcome.  The Spirit is our Helper, Encourager, and Comforter.  It is He that leads us to truth teaching, illuminating, and reminding us of all that Jesus called us to do.  He is in our minds and hearts showing us the path to take and motivating us to do it.  He will empower us to endure the persecution we receive as we recognize it for what it is; a part of our journey with Jesus.

            Today Jesus commanded us to love one another as He loved us.  He reassured us that we are His friends and He has chosen us to follow Him.  He also warned us to be aware that persecution will come, but the Holy Spirit will guide you through it.

 

Heavenly Father, thank You for teaching us in such a clear manner through these scriptures.  Help us to die to ourselves and live for you by loving others as You have loved us!