Jesus' Legacy Of Love (Sixth Sunday Of Easter May 5, 2024)

JESUS' LEGACY OF LOVE

Text: John 15: 9-17

John 15:9-17  I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love.  (10)  If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.  (11)  "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  (12)  My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you.  (13)  The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them.  (14)  And you are my friends if you do what I command you.  (15)  I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father.  (16)  You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name.  (17)  This, then, is what I command you: love one another.

"An ancient clay tablet inscribed about 4000 B.C. tells of a mystic who believed that the secret of life could be discovered by going without food, he died. Those who attempt to live without love meet the same fate." …….Why does the love section contain the largest number of pages in most quotation books? Because love is one of our greatest needs and one of life's most obvious truths". (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 68 - 69). … ". Jesus gives His disciples the commandment to love one another as He had shown His love to them (John 15:12). Jesus' commandment to love one another was a legacy to Jesus' disciples then as much as it is also a legacy to Jesus' disciples today and in every generation.

The kind of love that Jesus is talking about is the kind of love that "does not count the cost or keep score" because love in its true godly form is unconditional and fulfilling. Jesus was and is calling His disciples to remain in His legacy of love. Outside the bounds of Jesus' love, there is a hunger that is never satisfied because it longs for true joy and happiness and yet it never gets fulfillment. The human heart hungers for the fulfilling love of Jesus. The human heart starves for Jesus' love when it seeks fulfillment in a counterfeit form of that love---materialism, substance abuse, immorality form.

KEEPING THE CONNECTION

Are we doing our part to keep the connection of His love?

1) Active agents: The world we live in has spies and agents who watch each other because they do not trust each other. They usually refer to spy as someone who gathers information to inform the agency that they work for. If you recall the old TV show Mission Impossible, every mission came with a self-destructing message that stated the mission and then a warning. “As always, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape/disc will self-destruct in five/ten seconds. Good luck, Dan/Jim”. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mission:_Impossible The difference between those agents and us is that we don’t hide who we are. We are not supposed to conceal our identity or who Jesus is through our love and witness in His Name.

2) Provocative witness: Jesus told us that others would hate us as they hated Him. John 15:18  "If the world hates you, just remember that it has hated me first” (NRSV). God did not call to be us to be Chameleon Christians who blend in with the environment. As Christians, we are called to stand out by being salty and bright (Matthew 5: 1 -16) for the forwarding of His Kingdom here on earth. Our purpose is not to be “in-your-face type-of witnesses” looking for fight. Nevertheless, if it is genuine, our witness will provoke others because our agenda is “not of this world” (John 18:32) because this world is not our home!

3) Holy Spirit: guidance: Romans 8:16-17  God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God's children.  (17)  Since we are his children, we will possess the blessings he keeps for his people, and we will also possess with Christ what God has kept for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we will also share his glory (GNB).

4) Fruits of the Spirit: The fruits of the Holy Spirit are the things that demonstrate that we are God’s children. >>>>>> Galatians 5:22-23  “But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  (23)  humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these” (GNB).