Ever find yourself saying the things that you never swore you would say that you heard from your parents?
! Yeah, I'm there. I've been there. I continue to live in that space.
How about some of these statements?
Don't look at me with those eyes.
Quiet down. I can't hear myself think.
Or, as long as you're under my roof, you live by my rules.
Or, shut the door. We were raised in a barn.
Or, stop crying. This is my favorite. Stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about.
I think I've said that more than once.
No means no. And that's all no means.
Or, I'm going to count to three.
And one that we use quite often at our home is,
If you eat too many snacks, you might ruin your dinner.
Well, I want to key in on that last phrase because I think that's probably true in the Christian life as well.
Over the last couple weeks, we've been talking about the significance of fruitfulness and talking about the importance of our abiding relationship in Christ.
And I think what stands in the way more than anything else in life is that we fill ourself up with all of the good things of life and we have no space left for the best thing in God.
What stands in the way of an abiding relationship with Christ is that we find ourselves abiding and satisfying our heart and soul, at least temporarily, in everything else other than Christ.
So we have no room left in our hearts for Him.
We have no room left in our life to be filled up with the real soul-satisfying life source of Jesus.
And so, because of that, we do not abide in Christ.
And because of that, we are barren in life.
We are empty in our fruitfulness.
And we wonder why we can't find the kind of rest and satisfaction and contentment our soul really needs.
C.S. Lewis puts it this way.
It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and pleasure and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum,
because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
We are far too easily pleased.
And yet, as we look into the scriptures, we see that the psalmist, in particular, his heart was filled up with a deep, satisfying relationship with God.
He says in Psalm 1611,
There is fullness of joy at his right hand, our pleasures forevermore.
Is that your experience this morning?
An experience of being filled up with the pleasure and wonder of God today?
We have been spoiling our dinner, as it were.
The things that were meant to nurture and encourage and comfort and give us joy and peace and meaning and purpose in life are spoiled by the things of life we fill ourself up with to kind of salve over the hurt and the anxiety and the pressures that we feel from day to day.
We run to the well of the world rather than running to the true life source that can be found in God.
When we come to our text this morning, in John chapter 15, verses 12 to 17, and I have to be honest, it was really difficult this week for me to get my arms around this passage.
Not because the truths that are in the passage are difficult to grasp, but there seems to be so much interplay between concepts that seem to interact with one another.
And it's hard to know what comes first and hard to know what follows afterwards.
What stands as the starting point for the fruitfulness that God wants us to have?
And how do we, as God's people, live in a way that is pleasing to him?
The challenge comes to us because of two things, I believe.
First, the challenge comes because most of the words that we read and most of the concepts that we'll find in this passage of Scripture are familiar to us.
And that's a challenge because we have grown up with them.
From the time that we were in church, from the earliest points of our life, we've heard about the love of Christ.
And so as soon as we hear about the love of Christ, we figure we can just flip that switch.
We've heard this message, we know this truth, we can check out and just think about what's happening the rest of the week.
There's a familiarity, but there's also something that is quite foreign about this passage.
When we talk about an abiding relationship, when we talk about dwelling and existing in God,
we don't comprehend, it doesn't quite compute because we know doing, but we don't know being.
How can we do being?
How can I accomplish that in my life?
And that's what makes a passage like this so difficult, is the competition between the familiar and the foreign.
Well, I wish I could tell you that I have all the answers, but I trust that through our time this morning,
there will be at least a little clarity in our understanding of the Scripture.
So if you would, please turn to John chapter 15.
John chapter 15.
Let me read for us, beginning in verse 9, and I'll read through verse 12.
If you're a guest with us this morning, it's on page 901 in the Pew Bible in front of you.
I'm starting in verse 9 because it provides a little segue into our discussion for this morning.
He says this, excuse me, it's 902.
As the Father loved me, so I have loved you.
Abide in my love.
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.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be full.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command.
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing.
But I have called you friends.
For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
You did not choose me, but I chose you,
and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit,
and that your fruit should abide,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name,
He may give it to you.
These things I command you,
so that you will love one another.
Well, one thing is absolutely clear in this passage.
There is something to be understood in relationship to love.
As a matter of fact, the Gospel of John is so incaptivated by this concept of love,
57 times John talks about love throughout his Gospel record.
Four times as many as any of the other Gospel records.
And in these few chapters, from chapter 13 to 17,
in these last final hours, the final moments of Jesus with His disciples,
Jesus is talking about love 34 out of those 57 times.
Almost 60% of the time He spends talking about love,
He is dealing with the issue with His disciples.
He wants His disciples to know that there is staying power,
there is buttressing strength,
there is fortification for a life of a disciple.
As He comes to understand and to dwell in the love of Christ,
it will accomplish the objective that God has for them.
If they come to terms with what He means about this important concept of love.
And so in these final moments,
these final hours of Jesus with His disciples,
before He will go to the cross,
He wants them to appreciate what it means
to be filled up with the love of Christ.
This morning, as we approach this passage,
I want to ask this pertinent question.
The question is,
are you a friend of God?
And I ask you that question because
we come to that in the middle of this passage,
and what will robe our life,
the fruit that will be evidenced from our life
will demonstrate whether or not you are truly a friend of God today.
Well, we find something about friendship through these verses,
beginning in verse 12.
It begins with,
This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you.
Front and center,
we see that the friendship with God comes
because you are cherished by Christ.
You are cherished by Christ.
Notice,
everything that will follow from their life
is a result of the initiating love of Christ for them.
This is my commandment,
that you love,
how?
You love as I have loved you.
Their ability to bear the fruitfulness of love
will come as a result of understanding
and steeping themselves in the love of Christ,
as I have loved you.
We saw that the key for fruitfulness
is this abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus begins to put some flesh on that in verse 9,
where he begins to be more specific
about what does that abiding relationship look like.
It's not just abiding in Christ,
it's abiding in something very specifically.
Abiding, as it says at the end of verse 9,
in His love,
which will produce a changed life,
a pure life,
a holy life.
Well, you might say,
that sounds like doing to me.
How do we do this?
What does it mean to have an abiding relationship with Christ
that is abiding in His love?
Help me understand.
How do we exist in God's love?
How are we aware of this love
and come to appreciate this love?
Is it about being satisfied with Him?
Is it about being secure in His love?
What is this really about?
How does one arrive in this place?
This is where the familiar moves into the realm of the foreign.
And whatever the answer is,
Jesus is proposing that the key to fruitfulness
is this concept of loving.
So whatever will come from our life
in terms of fruitfulness
is dependent upon understanding
the significance of abiding in His love.
And the Apostle Paul
reinforces this significance
in Ephesians chapter 3.
Listen as I read from verses 14 to 19.
Paul is praying for the church of Ephesus.
He says,
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and earth is named,
that according to the riches of His glory
He may grant you to be strengthened with power
through His Spirit in your inner being.
Now this,
So that Christ may dwell,
same word,
in your hearts through faith.
And what does it lead to?
That you, being rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend
with all the saints
what is the breadth and length
and height and depth
and to know the love of Christ
that surpasses knowledge.
This is not only a significant concept
for the church of Ephesus to understand,
but it was something that they still
hadn't quite come to terms with.
And so Paul is praying
that God would do a work in their life
to help tune them in
to the significance
of this abiding relationship with Christ,
abiding in His love.
And we know this is important
because John,
this beloved apostle,
actually deals with the church of Ephesus
in Revelation chapter 2,
and it's clear that this church
had forgotten the significance
of what Paul was telling them.
Jesus, through the gospel writer John,
says this in Revelation chapter 2
about this church.
I know your works,
your toil,
your patient endurance,
and how you cannot bear
with those who are evil,
but have tested those
who call themselves apostles
and are not,
and have found them to be false.
All sounds good on the surface.
I know you are enduring patiently
and bearing up for my namesake
and have not grown weary.
Still very good.
But, he says,
I have this against you,
that you have abandoned
the love you had at first.
Somehow in all of their orthodoxy,
somehow in all of their purity of doctrine,
they had forgotten the significance
of this abiding relationship
with Christ,
abiding in his love.
So whatever this is
that we need to know
about abiding in the love
is foundational for everything
in the Christian life.
It stands before obedience.
It stands even before relationships
with our brothers and sisters.
It stands before our mission.
But what is it?
And how do I obtain it?
I'd like to suggest
that the way to nurture
this abiding relationship
with Christ,
abiding in the love of Christ,
is for us
to put away other loves
and to be filled up
with the love of God.
Clearly, Jesus
says in verse 9,
as the Father has loved me,
so have I loved you.
Jesus himself
set the model
of drinking
at the well
of the Father's love
so that he could pour out
the love of God
for his disciples.
We see throughout
the course of
the Gospel of John
that Jesus himself
had been ministered to
by the love of the Father.
And as a result
of being ministered to
by the love of the Father,
was able to dispense
that love
on the people
that he was surrounded with.
So,
how do we pursue
an abiding relationship
with Christ?
Like everything else,
we have to develop
a taste for it.
You have to develop
a taste
for the love of Christ
that is sweeter
and better
than any other love.
And I would suggest
that you do that
in a similar way
that you do anything else.
That if you're on a diet
and you're getting rid
of salty foods
or sweet foods,
you do that
by immersing yourself
in the diet
and learning to enjoy
those new foods.
If you are trying
to become more fit
and just be more physically fit
in terms of endurance,
you go and you may start
by walking
and then you'll go
into running
and you'll develop
an enjoyment
for the exercise
that overcomes the pain.
Similarly,
when we develop
a taste for God
that overcomes
other tastes,
even a taste for family
or a taste for jobs
or a taste for hobbies
or leisure,
I think one way
for us to do that
is to lay aside
good things
so that we can enjoy
the best things
in God.
And I think fasting
is one way for us
to begin to nurture
a love for Christ
and to enjoy
love of Christ.
Fasting is a way
for us to demonstrate
that God has
our attention.
we sing,
tune my heart
to sing your praise,
to sing your grace.
It is the posture
of our heart
to lay aside
for a time
other enjoyments,
other pleasures
for us
to sit
and to bask
in the encouragement
and the love
of Christ.
John Piper
puts it this way,
he says,
fasting
is our way
to express
our deep longing
for God,
our supreme
dependence
and to look
to Him
for further direction,
greater presence
and fuller taste
for Him.
The greatest enemy
of hunger
for God
is not poison
but the apple pie.
The greatest
adversary
of love
to God
is not
His enemies
but His gifts.
and the most
deadly appetites
are not
for the poison
of evil
but for the simplest
pleasures of earth.
For when these
replace an appetite
for God
Himself,
the idolatry
is scarcely
recognizable
and almost
incurable.
Do you understand?
we fill
ourselves
up
with the good
gifts of God
that
take up
the space
for the
best
things of God
Himself.
We fill up
our moments
and our days
with good
activities,
even the kinds
of things
that God
has commanded
us to do.
Good things
that cover up
and cover over
the best things
that enjoying
who God
is
and saturating
our lives
in the love
of Christ.
Finding that
He is sufficient,
finding that
He is able
to provide
comfort,
that He is able
to meet our
needs,
that He is
better than
that sport
or that good
thing that you
enjoy.
Setting it
aside for a
time so that
you can
just appreciate
and treasure
Christ.
I don't know
if you've
ever gone
for an
extended period
of time
in fasting
and putting
aside food,
but let me
tell you,
it's a little
scary just to
think about
it as a
possibility.
And if you're
anything like
me,
there's a number
of good reasons
not to have
that exercise.
Like,
I've got to
work today.
How am I
going to have
the energy
that I need
to carry
on the
duties of
my day,
whether I'm
a mom or
whether I'm
an employee or
all the
pressures that
exist on my
life.
And yet,
Piper goes
on to say,
the strongest,
most mature
Christians I
have ever
met are the
hungriest for
God.
It might seem
that those who
eat most would
be least hungry,
but that's
not the way
it works
with an
inexhaustible
fountain,
an infinite
feast,
and a
glorious
Lord.
The more
deeply you
walk with
Christ,
the hungrier
you get
for Christ.
I would
like to
suggest
that the
discipline of
fasting that
is so elusive
for us as
people may
very well be
the very thing
that stands
in the way
of us
enjoying and
savoring this
abiding love
of Christ.
Letting it
thrive,
letting it be
nurtured,
letting it grow
in our life.
I would
encourage us
to consider
the significance
of fasting,
of putting away
other loves
so that you
can revel
and marvel
at the love
of Christ
and see that
he is able
and sufficient
to meet
every need.
second,
we find
here as we
continue to
move on
in verse 12,
it says,
this is my
commandment
that you
love one
another as
I have
loved you.
We find
that we are
not only
cherished by
Christ,
we find that
we are
commanded
to love.
We are
commanded
to love.
This is my
commandment
that you
love one
another.
Now,
this ought
to sound
really familiar
to us
as we
started our
year and
as we
set forth
the initiative
of the
art of
neighboring,
we talked
about the
significance
of loving
the Lord
your God
with all
your heart
and soul
and mind
and loving
your neighbor
as yourself.
Now,
the gospel
writer John
doesn't mention
that those
commands
anywhere in
his gospel
record and
yet here
in these
final moments
he addresses
the significance
of love
to his
disciples
and they
stand here
at the
forefront.
Loving
God leads
to loving
one another.
You want
a fruitful
life?
Abide in
Christ's
love.
Plug in
to true
love.
It will
change you.
You will
become a
channel for
the love
that Christ
has poured
into your
life and
it will
flow out
everywhere
you go.
He mentions
here love
for one
another.
Almost as
many as
60 times
throughout the
New Testament
we find the
significance
of love
for one
another.
We find the
significance
of our
relationship
within the
body of
Christ.
We find
various
commands
like we
are to
pray for
one another.
We are to
bear one
another's
burdens.
We are to
sing to
one another
and comfort
one another.
Confess our
faults to
one another.
Prefer one
another.
Be devoted
to one
another.
Forgive one
another.
In order
for us to
express the
love of
God, it
has to
happen as
we are in
community with
one another.
God calls
us to this
kind of life.
It pours out
on the people
that God
has communicated
his love to
and it will
be shared
amongst
those people.
The love
of Christ
and the
spirit of
Christ
create
harmony
within
the body
of Christ.
That's how
it works.
And Jesus
gives us a
real practical
example of
how that
plays out
in verse
13.
He says,
Greater
love has
no one
than this,
that someone
lay down
his life
for his
friends.
Again,
Christ is
the perfect
illustration.
In just
a few
hours from
this point
in Jesus'
conversation
with his
disciples,
he would
do that
very thing.
He would
lay down
his life
for his
disciples.
Lay down
his life
for the
world.
He was
calling his
disciples to
the same
kind of
love.
He's calling
his followers
to the same
kind of
love.
The ultimate
expression of
love in
being willing
to lay
down your
very life
love for
the people
who are
part of
the body
of Christ.
And we
can talk
about this
ultimate
example of
love,
but certainly
if this is
the epitome
of love,
certainly it
should be
easier for
us to
love in
the spaces
in between,
right?
In our
sharing with
one another.
In our
forgiving of
one another.
in our
preferring of
one another.
In being
willing to
see their
preferences in
deferring to
them.
In not
harboring
bitterness.
In not
speaking evil.
In not
demanding our
way.
All of
these ways
for us to
demonstrate
this love
of laying
down our
life for
our brothers.
for one
another.
We may
also talk
about laying
down our
preferences and
serving behind
the scenes.
We might
talk about
laying down
our agenda
to make a
hospital visit
or making
a meal for
someone who
is in
need.
We might
talk about
laying down
our comfort
to reach
out, to
talk to
that person
that you've
seen for
so many
weeks and
maybe even
years here at
the church,
but you've
never reached
out and
gotten to
know them
personally.
What do we
need to do
to lay
down our
life for
the sake
of loving
the people
that God
has put
right in
front of
us?
Are you
a friend
of Christ?
It will
show up in
the way
that you
love others.
Moving on
now to
verse 14.
It says,
You are my
friends if
you do what
I command
you.
No longer
do I call
you servants
for the
servant does
not know
what his
master is
doing, but
I have
called you
friends.
For all
that I
have heard
from my
father I
have made
known to
you.
You are
called his
friends.
Now this
was a
revolutionary
concept for
the disciples.
The disciples
who knew
themselves to
be servants,
who had been
called the
servants of
God.
And not
just any
servant, but
the word in
the Greek is
actually the
word doulos,
or the word
for slave.
It was the
word for
submission.
It was the
word for
total surrender.
It was the
word of
conformity to
the master,
of following
his orders,
and doing
what he
expects.
And Jesus
moves them
from this
position of
submission and
surrender to
a position of
friendship.
Now this is
not to
suppose that
they are now
somehow equal
with God,
but to
demonstrate
their unique
function as
partnering with
God in this
special role that
he has called
them to.
The privilege of
representing God
in the earth.
Throughout the
Old Testament,
we see examples
of how
Moses and
Nehemiah
prayed about
the people of
Israel as being
servants or
slaves of God.
And now Jesus
is helping his
disciples to
understand that
not only are
they disciples,
which is a
notch up from
being a
servant,
but they are
even called to
be a friend
of his.
And as
friends,
God has
let them
in on
this mystery
of the
word of
the Father
to them.
Jesus has
opened the
floodgates of
knowledge,
the knowledge
of God
to his
disciples.
It's
staggering to
consider that
every word
that was
uttered by
Christ was
given first
and foremost
by the
Father to
those to
whom Jesus
was speaking.
we see that
in John
chapter 8
verse 26
it says,
I have many
things to
say and
to judge
concerning you,
but he
who sent
me is
true,
and I
speak to
the world
those things
which I
heard from
him.
Jesus
communicated
the very
words of
the Father
to his
disciples and
to the
people he
was speaking
to.
This was
the revelation
of God
to let
them in
on who
God was
and to
fill them
up with
a knowledge
of God
that would
help them
to come
to a
fuller and
deeper
love for
him.
It's going
to lead
them to
a new
relationship,
help to
nurture
this love
for Christ
and love
for God
through
revelation.
God had
privileged
these people
by helping
them to
come into
the know,
to be
part of
the mystery
that Paul
refers to.
They were
people who
were called
friends,
friends because
they were
part of
the revelation
of God.
And finally,
as we move
to verses
16 and
17,
we see that
they were
chosen to
fulfill
his
purpose.
Verse 16
says,
you did
not choose
me,
but I
chose you
and appointed
you that
you should
go and
bear fruit
and that
your fruit
should abide.
This word
for chosen
is the
word for
God's
work in
a life
of selecting
them out.
It was an
active process
of God
to choose
them out
of the
crowd
and to
set them
apart
for a
special
mission.
So we
have seen
from this
text,
it answers
the question
of origination.
Whose
mission are
we talking
about?
Who is
going to
get the
credit?
Who is
adequate for
this job?
How will
we have the
staying power
for what
we're called
to do?
We'll be
able to do
this because
we understand
that Christ
is the
source.
Christ is
the life
source and
Christ is
the love
source for
us in
terms of
accomplishing the
objectives that
he's called
us to
fulfill.
So why go
and bear
fruit?
We go and
bear fruit
because it's
a representation
of our
God.
It is
the
channel,
the
source of
love that
comes to
us from
Christ
shows up
in the
world.
I like
how John
Piper puts
it.
He says
mission is
not the
ultimate goal
of the
church.
Worship
is.
Missions
exist because
worship
doesn't.
Worship
is the
ultimate,
not
missions.
Because God
is ultimate,
not man.
Worship
therefore is
the fuel
and goal
of missions.
It is the
goal of
missions because
in missions
we simply
aim to
bring the
nations into
the white
hot enjoyment
of God's
glory.
Passion
for God
in worship
precedes the
offer of
God in
preaching.
You cannot
commend what
you do not
cherish.
And the
more we
come to
bask in
the glow
of the
love of
Christ,
the more
it will
propel us
into the
world to
demonstrate
the love
of Christ
to the
world.
You can't
commend what
you do not
cherish.
Do you
cherish
Christ?
Are you
caught up
with the
love of
Christ
today?
If you
are,
then it
will lead
to
verse 17,
which is
where Jesus
ends this
portion.
These
things I
command you
so that
you will
love one
another.
How does
that happen?
Well, it
doesn't happen
because of
duty.
It happens
because you
have been
filled up
with love,
and so what
you have to
give is the
love of
Christ to
the world.
Are you
full?
Are you
abiding in
the love of
Christ?
Christ,
and if
so,
it will
lead to
a love
for the
world.
Let's
pray.
Lord, we
thank you
for the
love of
Christ.
This
familiar
concept that
is so
hard for
us to
miss.
We talk
about it
almost every
week.
We sing
about it
in our
songs and
in our
worship.
We hear
about it
on the
radio.
it has
become so
familiar, but
God, I
pray that
you would
bring us
to the
point of
enjoying the
love of
Christ in
a way that
we have
never enjoyed
it before.
God, I
pray that
you would
move us
to the
place of
setting aside
other loves
for a
time so
that we
can begin
to appreciate
the greatest
love, the
love of
Christ, who
is sufficient
for all
things,
sufficient to
meet our
needs, sufficient
to comfort
us in our
hurts, sufficient
to deal with
our anxieties,
sufficient to
bring peace in
the midst of
the storm,
sufficient to
help us in
our relationships,
sufficient to
encourage us in
the midst of
hard things.
Lord,
wherever we
find ourselves
this morning,
I pray that
you would
help us to
connect into
this wonderful
love of
Christ.
And as we
fill our
lives up with
an understanding
and an
appreciation for
the love of
Christ, Lord, I
pray that you
would help us
to become
conduits of
that love to
the world
around us,
wherever we
are.
Whether we're
in the grocery
store, whether
we're getting
our car fixed
at the
mechanic,
whether we're
stopped by the
side of the
road, wherever
we might be,
God, I pray that
you would help
us to be so
full of the
love of Christ
that we see
opportunities to
convey that love
to the people
you put in our
path.
God, we praise
you for your
enduring love.
Thank you for
forgiveness.
Thank you for
patience.
Thank you that
even when we
fail day after
day, there is
new mercies.
We praise you,
Lord, in Jesus'
name.
Amen.