The Gospel of John. Love on the Vine John 15:1-11

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1 The Gospel of John Love on the Vine John 15:1-11 W E ARE CALLED TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. And our primary motivation in doing so is in response to God s love of us. As believers we are commanded to love. But what is interesting is, even though we do so out of love and obedience, as with all God s commands we also receive blessing. There are practical benefits in serving one another. Consider People who help others are healthier and live longer. That was one of the conclusions of a team headed by Stephen G. Post, professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, which evaluated fifty scientific studies of volunteers. One of the studies, from Cornell University, spent thirty years following 427 women who were married and had children. Researchers found that only 36 percent of women who regularly volunteered had experienced a major illness, while 52 percent of those who never volunteered had a major illness. Other studies indicated that those who volunteered their time lived longer than those who didn t. Frequent volunteers had a 44 percent reduction in early death when compared to nonvolunteers. Scientists also identified precise areas of the brain that are highly active during empathic and compassionate emotions. These brain studies show this profound state of joy and delight that comes from giving to others, Post said. It doesn t come from any dry action where the act is out of duty in the narrowest sense, like writing a check for a good cause. It comes from working to cultivate a generous quality from interacting with people. There is the smile, the tone in the voice, the touch on the shoulder. We re talking about altruistic love. Jeanie Lerche Davis, The Science of Good Deeds, WebMD.com (November 28, 2005) 1 VIII The Upper Room Discourse Chapters D. Abiding in Christ Chapter Called To Be Fruitful Verses Called To Be Friends Verses Called To Alienation Verses Called To Witness Verses Introduction: As we saw last time Jesus called the disciples to love one another. And considering a reaction to what was coming might have reasonably been hatred towards both the religious leaders and the Roman government for putting Christ on the cross, they needed to be reminded of His call to love. Parenthetically, keep in mind that the disciples would only come to understand after the fact that 1. Nobody put Christ on the cross as He went of His own accord and 2. We all put Him on the cross because He went for our sins. One more point. Jesus is reminding them of the importance of love immediately following His washing their feet. Do you think this may have been in the back of their minds? 1 Larson, Cragin Brian and Phyllis Ten Elshof, eds., 1001 Quotations That Connect, Christianity Today International, Grand Rapids, MI:, 2008, p. 174.

2 2. Called To Be Friends: Anyway, Jesus begins to provide ways the disciples could understand this call to love. This comes on the heels of His discussion of the Spirit s coming. This isn t surprising as it is a gift of the Spirit, as a result of abiding in Jesus, that produces fruit in our lives. Only believers can produce fruit by abiding in Christ and filled with the Spirit. Jesus wants them to comprehend what He means by loving one another. He is speaking of sacrificial love. He is speaking of His love of them, a love demonstrated by His going to the cross for them. walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Ephesians 5:2 ESV). It is worth noting that the aorist tense (eœgapeœsa, GK 26, loved ) is used to call attention to the love of Jesus as demonstrated once and for all on the cross, while the present tense (agapate) is used to stress the continuous relationship of love that should exist between believers. 2 Verses 14-15: Let s be clear, scripture teaches Jesus died for all but His payment for sin is efficacious only to those who accept it. And those who do are His friends. These friends demonstrate that relationship by obedience. Only the saved can obey God s commands. Obedience is the evidence of their salvation. The concept of being called a friend of God must have been a shock to these men. In terms of their day-to-day relationship they may have thought of themselves as Jesus friends. But making a connection between obedience and their relationship to God leading to their being His friends may have been beyond belief. Remember in all of their scripture, the Old Testament, there were only two men in the history of the people who were called friends of God, Abraham and Moses. Now Jesus was saying they were His friends. whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother (Matthew 12:50 ESV). Jesus expands on friendship relationship by noting the disciples were friends not servants. Servants may have loyalty to their master but they are not privy to his secrets. Jesus was sharing with them what He shared with no others. He was sharing what He received from the Father. At this point He is saying, all I know about what is to come I am passing on. That doesn t mean they understood it because they didn t. And it was these truths they would, under the leading of the Spirit, share with others who accepted Christ s gift of salvation becoming His disciples and friends. Verses: 16-17: There is a distinction regarding friendship here that isn t usually found between friends. The disciples are Jesus friends but He doesn t say He is theirs. This is because He is the one who gives commands and they are the ones who obey. Keep in mind that Jesus chose them. They didn t choose Him. 2 Mounce, Robert H., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Vol. 10, John, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 2007, p ) 364 (

3 And isn t the way salvation works? God chose us to be saved and we accept that gift. He chose us not just for salvation but to produce fruit bringing God glory and us blessing. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10 ESV) With salvation, obedience, and commitment to being who God calls us to be, Jesus reminds the disciples, comes answers to prayers. All this goes hand-in-hand with loving one another. When our prayers reflect God s command to love Him and others, we will pray consistently with this truth and be answered accordingly. 3. Called To Alienation: With this though comes a radical contrast. The more we walk with the Lord, the more we demonstrate His love before the world, the more we exercise our heavenly citizenship, the more we will be hated. As we ve talked about in previous sessions this isn t a popular topic for obvious reasons. No rational person wants to face persecution and so, following the ostrich principle, if we ignore the problem it will go away. But even more problematical are the churches which seem to think it is their responsibility to get along with everyone. The way we show the love of Christ is by not making anyone uncomfortable. But what does Jesus teach? By following Him the believer is no longer part of the world, that is living by the worlds standards. He is the one who chose us out of the world. If we were still part of the world we wouldn t have any problems. The truth is we have chosen to live by God s standards, the standards of the heavenly kingdom. This means reflecting God s truth and light into a darkness that desires to stay dark. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed (John 3:19 20 ESV). Verses 20-21: What Jesus says next should be put on the refrigerators of every church kitchen. Why do we think we should escape trials as we go out in the name of Christ when He was persecuted for the truth? How should believers escape what their Lord and Master didn t. The goal of the Christian life isn t keeping a low profile and out of pain. The goal is to live the reality of God s love for us, our love for Him and for one another before the world. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it. Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. But they ) 365 (

4 cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:52 60 ESV). The problem is up until recently it didn t appear there was much of a cost in following Christ in the surrounding culture. And while there is some truth to this, I suspect the real truth is much of the church was so busy just wanting to get along and accommodating, that it forgot it s calling. The committed believer is welcomed by those who are being led by the Lord. Oh sure, sometimes for a moment, for pragmatic reasons and self interest, the world appreciates Christians. But when we stand for God s truth we will be hated either overtly or covertly. This is because no matter what the lost say, if they don t hear Christ and receive His words they can t know God the Father either. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God s law; indeed, it cannot (Romans 8:7 ESV). Verses 22-25: These last words are a bit difficult. Jesus is saying that if He hadn t brought God s truth to the people, and maybe He s referring to the powers that be, they wouldn t be guilty of sin. But now having heard the truth they have a greater degree of responsibility. And that servant who knew his master s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more (Luke 12:47 48 ESV). This says, though we don t necessarily understand, that the greater the light the greater the responsibility. This is consistent with the idea that those who never having heard the gospel, though they would have rejected it if they had, have less culpability that than those who hear and reject it. And following that thinking by definition anyone who hates Christ hates God the Father regardless of how much they claim to love God. There is no middle ground when it comes to this truth. There is no compromise to the clear truth of the Gospel and any effort to find one is to actually reject it. Christ reiterates the truth by specifically applying it to the inhabitants of Judea. They have seen the credentials He s provided, His works. These show He is from the Father. But they reject Him. They want His death. All of which means that no matter how they try to spin the truth they have rejected the God of their fathers. ) 366 (

5 Jesus isn t saying that people didn t sin before His coming. After all the sacrificial system had been in place of hundreds of years and it s message was You can t live up to God s standards. You are sinners in need of a sacrifice. But what they hadn t received was God incarnate. This means they weren t guilty of rejecting the actual gift of salvation until it was directly offered to them. By rejecting Christ s light they now were accountable before God of doing so. In fact, Christ notes, scripture said this is exactly what the people would do. Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes, and let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause. More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore? (Psalms 35:19; 69:4 ESV). 4. Called To Witness: Jesus has said that the love the disciples were to have and the power given by the Spirit would carry them through the coming days. And those days would include suffering and persecution. But they were to preserver in spite of circumstances. And what were they to do? Witness about Him. The Holy Spirit would witness to them. He would tell them all Christ called Him to tell, all they need to obey Him, love one another and to go and make disciples. This would be especially true for those who actually walked with Him because they were first hand witnesses and would become the foundation of both the Church and the New Testament. While the calling is as much ours as theirs the distinction of being eyewitnesses remains theirs. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him (Acts 5:32 ESV). The important truth to remember, in the midst of all we ve seen, is that our calling to love and witness sacrificially is to be carried out in the midst of all circumstances be they positive or negative. It is God not circumstances who is to control our lives. And that is only possible as we depend on the Spirit. Conclusion: So when we speak of Jesus death as an example of self-sacrifice after which we are to model ourselves we can t. Jesus death was unique in that He chose to die but without that choice He would never have died He was immortal. We will never be able to comprehend the depth of His sacrifice. And this is the other reason His sacrifice is unique. James Boice 3 points out what may be the most significant aspect of Christ s death. It was a spiritual death. Remember that spiritual death is separation from God and for that moment on the cross in some way we can never comprehend Jesus was separated from the Father. The Father could not look upon Him as He carried the sins of the world. Jesus experienced spiritual death so that we will only experience physical death. Born once die twice Born twice die once. 3 Boice, James Montgomery, Boice Expositional Commentary, Vol. 17, Those Who Received Him (John 9 12), Baker Books Publishing, Grand Rapids, MI 1999, p ) 367 (

6 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45 46 ESV). These truths and more are involved in Christ s statement: Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. We read that and acknowledge its truth. But then we go on to say, Yes, and greater love has no one at all either man, devil, or angel than that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, should die a spiritual death for us sinners. 4 Nevertheless, we understand that Jesus in calling us to model ourselves on Him called us to sacrificial love. This means putting the needs of others, as directed by the Lord ahead of our own. It means standing for Jesus regardless of the consequences. Think how effective we would be individually if we lived this way. But more to the point, since the biblical calling is collective, that is we are to function as part of a body, think how effective we d be as a local community of believers if we lived this way. The Christian life, our citizenship in the heavenly kingdom, first and foremost is to be focused on bringing God glory not simply surviving the chaos of our daily living. We are to demonstrate what it means to be part of a loving community. And so, this week let us meditate on Jesus words in this chapter. And more than meditate ask the Spirit to give us discernment as to where we can demonstrate Christ s sacrificial love to someone. Let us do this knowing we will never be asked to do anything that comes close to what He has done for us. Remember we can only love and serve in the Spirit s power and by abiding in Christ. May we chose to do so. the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you ~ John 16:15 NIV11 Heavenly Spirit, gentle Spirit, O descend on us, we pray; Come, console us, and control us, Christ, most fair, to us portray. Come to cheer us, be Thou near us, Kindle in us heaven's love. Keep us burning, humble, yearning. Dwell in us, O heavenly Dove Hear us pleading, interceding, Pilgrims, strangers, 'mid life's dangers. Thou interpreter of love; We on Thee would e'er depend; With Thy fire, us inspire, Spirit, tender, our Defender, Holy flame from God above. Guide us, keep us to the end. 5 4 Ibid. 5 Blomquist, Joel, translated by Gerhard W. Palmgren, Heavenly Spirit, Gentle Spirit, Covenant Press, Chicago, Il, ) 368 (

7 The Gospel of John Love on the Vine John 15:1-11 VIII The Upper Room Discourse Chapters D. Abiding in Christ Chapter Called To Be Fruitful Verses Called To Be Friends Verses Called To Alienation Verses Called To Witness Verses Introduction: 2. Called To Be Friends: (Ephesians 5:2) Verses 14-15: (Matthew 12:50) Verses: 16-17: (Ephesians 2:10)

8 3. Called To Alienation: (John 3:19 20) Verses 20-21: (Acts 7:52 60; Romans 8:7) Verses 22-25: (Luke 12:47 48; Psalms 35:19; 69:4)

9 4. Called To Witness: (Acts 5:32) Conclusion: (Matthew 27:45 46; John 16:15) Personal Application: This week meditate on Jesus words in this chapter. Ask the Spirit to give discernment as to where you can demonstrate His sacrificial love to someone. Prayer for the Week: Lord may Your Spirit help me to walk in a way that brings You glory and joy. In Christ s name, amen.