ABIDING IN LOVE
Scripture Text: John 15:9
Introduction: I really have hoped to tie this message today to Father’s Day by saying that all relationship issues that are healthy; especially a father and his child, are encompassed by Scripture….. and even exemplified in the gospel message itself. From the very beginning of Scripture, we see various dynamics in the family. Consider the loving relationship of Jacob to his son Joseph; and also the favoritism that he showed to Joseph over his other sons. We have much to learn about relationships from the many examples in Scripture; but I have chosen the ultimate example of a Father-Son relationship that impacts all us. May we be blessed today as we discover what the Scripture has to say about abiding in love.
While we want to consider today how the ultimate Father-child relationship impacts us; in contrast, I have to wonder what my relationship with my own dad would have been like had we not known the Lord. The complexities of our relationships that are affected by our culture, peers, and even our own selfishness need to be influenced by ‘goodness’. I lost my dad not too long ago; but I will always cherish the fact that our relationship was good. We are kind of men’s men… the kind that don’t show too much emotion because it appears that there is weakness or not enough control. Today, I hope that your relationships are strong and good; and that they have the quality of abiding love. I also pray, that if you don’t have that kind of relationship, that you will have restoration and hope in your life.
Propositional Statement: The relationship that I am explaining, is the ultimate relationship….the relationship of Jesus and His Father; which gives us an example to follow in our own lives. The mercy, love, and grace that the Father has shown you has its basis in the relationship that Jesus has with His Father. The Father loves the Son, and that love is reflected in the love that He has for each one of you. The Son loves the Father, and that love is characterized in the obedience that Jesus exhibited during His earthly ministry. You are given those same characterizations to model in your life today: The love of God and the responsibility for obedience in that love!
I. The Father Loves the Son – (in our passage) A fathers love is one of the most sought after an profound things in the world. What child doesn’t want to know that they are loved and hopefully every father wants to love their children. In some families the love comes easily; yet in others it is searched for as though it could not be found. It profoundly saddens me that some children are exposed to some of the willful and not-so willful mistakes of a Father. A common error is to blame our own mistakes on God.
A story I heard recently explained how some emergent church teachers have compared the crushing of Jesus on the cross by His Father to child abuse. Oh, what a wicked thought…. Even as Jesus was dealt a crushing blow on the cross to satisfy the justice of God; Jesus willingly laid down His life for each one of you. He loved His Father and He loves you! Titus 1:2 tells us that this plan between the Father and Son took place before the foundation of creation. It says, “in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” The question then becomes, “long ago” or literally “before times eternal” …. who was there? 2 Timothy supports this further when it says that God … “saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity….”
If we know that only God existed in eternity, then we also know that salvation was promised to Jesus by His Father before any time that we have any concept of. It is not as if Jesus grudgingly did what His Father wanted…no, there was a mutual love that allowed Jesus to follow His Father in total obedience. This obedience, of course; is in addition to Jesus’ utter sinlessness.
I personally regret some of the times that I was a poor Father; either by mistake or foolishness; yet I recognize as I hope you all do today, that we cannot project those mistakes on God. Despite circumstances that are caused by mistakes of a father, we should recognize; that the epitome of genuine love is grounded in Father God.
What does that genuine love look like?
A. Epitome of Genuine Love: In Luke 15, a son prematurely requests the inheritance that his father has worked for all his life. Not only was that inheritance supposed to be left at his father’s death; but it was also supposed to be first left to the oldest son. Despite the son’s foolishness, the father gave the son his share of the inheritance; which the son immediately went out and blew on lavish living and sexual sin. When the son thought that he might perhaps return to his father to be cared for again; what was the father’s response? Did he condemn the son for his foolishness?
No, the Father was only interested in the Son’s well-being! It says in Luke 15:20-24, “So he got up (the wayward son) and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found (NASB).” In the Bible, what you are wearing is a symbol of your status.
You probably have heard the phrase…a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’? (dramatic wolf in the closet) I digress a little here; but there is a verse in Matthew 7:15 that has similar meaning: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves (NASB).” The point that I wanted to get to though is: the clothing that the father offered his son represents something just as the clothing that the wolf symbolically wears does. Here the son is given a preeminent place of honor, the place of a king. He’s provided for with clothing and something to eat. He is brought to the attention of others around him. Simply put, even after the child made terribly horrendous mistakes, ….the father had compassion on him!
Even the son himself realized that he deserved nothing more than a hired hands wages and treatment like a slave; the father’s response was extraordinary, as he gave the child everything he had. He had compassion on him…..
Compassion has absolutely nothing to do with condemnation and everything to do with seeing the condition and acting upon it. Despite our familiarity with the kind of relationships that I am talking about today; the Father knows! …. He knows the condition that you are in today. …. He wants you to know that He loves you!
What do we feel….?....even better, what do we think about the fathers love? ….
The Book of John says, “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand (NASB, John 3:35).” What about you? Has the Father loved you as he so loved His Son Jesus? Because you have not felt that love…. Does it mean the love has not been there? Has he loved you as the father so loved the son in the parable that I just explained? Paul Washer; one of my favorite preachers to listen to says: One of the hardest things that you will ever have to do is comprehend how much God really loves you!
Are you like the older child or the younger child? (when I say son, I mean child)
B. Younger or Older?: Are you like the younger son of squander; or like the older son, who supposedly was of responsibility and obedience. ? The parable in Luke also tells us about the older son….. the one who said to the father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours (never disobeyed, mine for clarification); and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him (NASB, Luke 15:29-30).” Is it better to be the younger or the older son?
Not only do we stand in our sin for disobedience and foolishness; but we equally stand for our own declaration of righteousness. Question: “In consideration of the older and younger son; what is this child-like behavior worth when we stand before such a loving and righteous God?”
In Isaiah’s time, the message of God was: “Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, Sons (children) have I reared and brought up, But they have revolted against me. An ox knows it owner, And a donkey it master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand (NASB, Isaiah 1:2-3).” (explain the ox and the donkey) Are you catching a glimpse of God’s Love yet?
Transition: 1 John 4:9-10 says, “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (NASB)” DA Carson, in the Pillar New Testament Commentary on the Gospel According to John writes, “Of course, the Father himself loves the disciples, but there is a peculiar sense in which Jesus is the mediator of that love, a love whose only adequate analogy is the love of the Father for the Son (520).” You see, ….Not only did Christ die for the glory of God, but for the love of His people. That love is characterized not only in the Fathers love for His Son; but in the Son’s love for you too!
II. Jesus Loves You - Not only does the Father love the Son; but we are told that He loves the Father, and ……………..He loves you!
A. We all need to be loved and supported! Just as the Father loved Jesus, we are also loved! Jesus says, “just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you….(NASB, John 15:9)” SING: You know it,… Jesus loves me this I know, The whole plan of God and the purpose of Jesus laying down His life was to deliver you from ‘darkness into His glorious light.’ Georgia Harkness said, “The cross: God’s way of uniting suffering with love.”
Please join me in watching a short video.
Transition: Video-entitled ‘The Bridge’(Cool Church Films, Abundant Life Church, Happy Valley, OR; Dave Proehl, 2006.) (then say these words)
Upon completion of the video: The point is made: Many people don’t recognize the love that the Father has for His children. But given the choice of surrendering the life of His Son for the lives of many who are oblivious to the sacrifice that was made for them; the Father mercifully and with much grace made that choice
Oh, is the passage old and boring to you? “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (NASB, John 3:16-17).” May it never be boring, may it never lose its meaning to us! Oh, when we consider the love of God directed to the worthless and pitiful…. How about this: do we consider ourselves utterly worthless without the love of God in our lives? …. Do we consider Jesus the Supreme object of love?
Romans 9:16 says, “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy (NASB).” God is able to love you whether you are the strong-willed fighter against His plan for your life; or even the one who runs away when faced with testing or tribulation. God is able!
John 1:12 says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (NASB, John 1:12-13).”
What does abiding have to do with my topic? Well, the relationship of the Father to His children cannot be sealed without the Holy Spirit of God acting in an individual’s life. This whole area of the Bible is focused on a time when the child-like disciples would not be able to physically be with Jesus. In preparation of Jesus’ leaving; He prepared them by explaining that they would soon have a Comforter or Helper. This is further explained in John 14:16-21. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him (NASB, John 14:16-21).”
III. Abide in My Love – In John 16:27 it says, “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father (NASB).” D.A. Carson, in the Gospel According to John also wrote: “If we are the recipients of Jesus’ love in a way that is analogous to his own reception of the Father’s love, we must remain in Jesus’ love by exactly the same means by which he has always remained in His Father’s love: obedience, that total obedience which finds Jesus testifying, ‘The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him’(Pillar NT Commentary; 520).
Obedience is the measure of growth in a Christian’s life! The obedience is not what makes you a child; it is what characterizes a child. Is his love for you enough to compel you to serve Him with utter devotion and obedience?
Hebrews 5:7-9 says, “In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation (NASB, Hebrews 5:7-9).”
John 16:27 prompts us to explore a relationship with God in two ways: Belief and Love. It is through belief and love that we ‘abide in Christ Jesus.’ Abiding means to be in the presence of…or to dwell with… When Jesus spoke of the Helper or Comforter; He was speaking of God being with you, God actually residing in you!
What does belief have to do with being in Christ Jesus or abiding in Him?
A. Believed: In Acts 16:31 we are commissioned as the jailer was: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, …. (NASB)”
Romans 10:9-10 says, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation (NASB, Romans 10:9-10).”
ILLUS> The God Who Is Enough
’Tis far, far better to let Him choose
The way that we should take;
If only we leave our lives to Him
He will guide without mistake
We, in our blindness, would never choose
A pathway dark and rough,
And so we should ever find in Him,
“The God Who Is Enough.”
Belief has to do with trusting Jesus more than you trust anything else; …. It means desiring Him more than anything else. I am reminded of the passage that says, ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…..’
Not only are we to abide in belief; but also in love.
B. Loved: In love, we are to obey His commandments! You might say, that’s not easy……that’s a lot of work; but Galatians 5:1 commends us: “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (NASB, Galatians 5:1). Jesus says in Matthew: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (NASB, Matthew 11:28-30).”
ILLUS> He Chooses To Be Seraphim
It is said that the young son of Bishop Berkeley once asked him the question, “Papa, what do the words, “Cherubim and seraphim” mean?”
The bishop took time to tell the little questioner that cherubim was a Hebrew word meaning knowledge, and the word seraphim stood for flame, explaining that it is commonly supposed the cherubim are angels that excel in knowledge and the seraphim are those who excel in love for God.
“Then I hope,” the boy said, “that when I die I will be a seraphim. I’d a lot rather love God than to know everything.”
And finally, Ephesians 5:1 sums up this love: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma (NASB, Ephesians 5:1-2).”
Transition: You need the abiding presence of God in your life! Have you been missing it? Do you recognize the love that God has for you and the sacrifice that Jesus made when He laid down his life so that you can be delivered? The relationship that Jesus had with his Father characterizes the kind of relationship that we can have with God. Further, our relationship with God will allow us the liberty to have loving relationships now with our loved-ones, friends, and neighbors. The abiding love of God is what allows us to choose to be obedient and allows us to believe that there is hope for tomorrow. Even the worst day as a father or a child can produce hope when we rest in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!
1 John 3:1 says it like this: “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are (NASB, 1 John 3:1).”
It is true, the Father loved the Son, ….we are then shown love by God through Jesus and finally, ……we need to abide in that love. Today we have heard real life testimony about how God’s love impacts an individuals life. Is that enough to allow God to change your heart?
Invitation: Please bow your heads and close your eyes. Honoring fathers and honor you!
-Lord, allow our minds to understand and our hearts to know that you love us, terribly so….
-While we were worthless and simply oblivious bystanders to your will and purpose; you had a plan for our deliverance.
-May we see the difference in a life that is characterized by ultimate ruin; and one that offers rest and hope.
-Father, I ask you now to touch their hearts so that they may see your abiding love….may the Holy Spirit of God flood their hearts like a rushing and cleansing water.
-Thank you Father, may we be blessed in your presence as we abide in you!
Amen
