JOHN 15: 7-11
HOW TO ABIDE [DWELL] IN JESUS’ LOVE
[John 8: 31-35]
We have learned that fruit-bearing is a byproduct of abiding in Christ for as Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (15:5b). Having an inner relationship with Jesus (as a branch is nourished and strengthened by a vine), is a nonnegotiable feature of following Jesus. To be connected to the Vine means that the life of Jesus is flowing in us and through us, and this leads to fruitfulness. Fruitfulness (Gal. 5:22–23) will be the inevitable outcome of an inner spiritual life with Jesus.
Jesus concludes the metaphor of the Vine and branches in these verses by drawing out some of the results that come from “remaining” or abiding in Him, [many of which repeat what we already have learned in chapter 14].
I. ABIDING IN THE WORD, 7-8. [PRAYER THAT BEARS FRUIT]
II. ABIDING IN LOVE, 9-10.
III. ABUNDANT JOY, 11.
Verse 7 now compares remaining in Jesus with remaining in His Word.“If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
Effective prayer is based on faith in Christ and on His words remaining in believers. Do not overlook the importance of the reference to “My Words.” The teaching of Christ is important. The Lord Jesus lives and works in us only if we are constantly abiding, meditating on His words [John, NIC, 672]. If you are abiding in Christ (the Logas) you will been continually in the Word (the rhçma) because it is the way God speaks to you and you want to hear His voice so that you may obey it.
Christ’s words develop and direct a believer’s mind so that his prayers conform to the Father’s will. Since his prayer is in accord with God’s will, the results are certain—it will be given you (1 John 5:14-15). If our wills are to be harmonized with God’s will in the requests that we make, we will need to abide in Christ and allow His Words to abide in us.
Receiving answers to prayer is one form of spiritual fruit bearing. Fulfilled prayers bring glory to the Father because, like Jesus, His disciples are doing the heavenly Father’s will [“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth”( Mt. 6:10)].
Those whose live in harmony with Jesus will find their prayers controlled by His word, and such prayers will be answered and bring added glory to God (15:7b; 14:10-12).
In verse 8 Jesus teaches us that the proof of discipleship is spiritual fruitfulness (Mt. 7:20). “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
The branch produces what the life coursing through its limbs empowers, which is the “fruit of the vine.” But it is not a mechanical production of fruit. The disciple connects into a relationship of love with both Jesus (v.9) and the Father (v. 10), out of which a transformed life, a fruit-bearing life, will flow. And God will be glorified by believer, by the fruit of believers, who are abiding in Christ and in His words.
The fruit the Father is looking for is spiritual. The Lord Jesus is looking for more than the "leaves" of mere words professed by His followers. He wants them to mature in Him and bear spiritual fruit. Thus the Father, like a good farmer, will do what is necessary to make us fruitful.
ORCHARD EXPERTS say that occasionally a fruit tree will give all its energy to growing wood and leaves but little or no energy to bearing fruit. To correct this condition, the farmer takes an ax and makes a deep wound in its trunk close to the ground. That severe procedure almost always produces a change. The next year the tree gives an excellent yield. It could be called "the fruit of suffering."
Oftentimes God uses a trial as an axe, or suffering as a pruning knife, so that we may stop channeling all our energies into the pursuit of temporal things. Sorrow, tribulation, ill health, and disappointment have a way of stimulating spiritual growth and fruitfulness. Our attention is then redirected toward eternal things, and we produce the fruits of righteousness that glorify His name. - H.G.B. Spiritual fruitfulness often comes through the pruning knife of affliction.
Those that manifest or product the Fruit of the Spirit demonstrate conclusive proof that they are Jesus’ disciples. But the fruit or production of new believers is also a Fruit of the Spirit.
Jesus didn’t ask you or me to EVANGELIZE THE WORLD all by ourselves. We can’t. But He did ask us to bear much fruit. One way is to lead someone to Christ. If we bring even one person to the Lord, and that one brings one, and so on, there is great potential for multiplying just as a planted seed reproduces.
A few years ago, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago had a fascinating display. It showed a checkerboard with 1 grain of wheat on the first square, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, then 8, 16, 32, 64, and so on until they could no longer fit the seeds on the square. Then it asked the question, "At this rate of doubling each successive square, how much would you have on the checkerboard by the 64th square?"
You could punch a button at the bottom of the display to find out. The answer? "Nine sextillion-enough grain to cover the entire nation of India 50 feet deep." Incredible!
If each of us leads just one person to Christ each year, and each of those persons leads one to Christ each year, the harvest would soon be enormous. It’s happening in some parts of the world.
Isn’t it time we started sharing the gospel and bearing eternal fruit? A fruitful harvest requires faithful witnesses.
II. ABIDING IN LOVE, 9-10.
Jesus turns from the obligation of His disciples to abide in His word to amazing His love for them. In verse 9 He tells them to abide in His love for them. “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
Jesus declares that He loves us exactly like the Father loved Him. Jesus was motivated to remain faithful and obedient because of the Father’s love for Him and His love for the Father.
A believer too is motivated by the wonder of Jesus’ love, which is patterned after the Father’s love in its quality and extent. Believers are encourage not to break from the love of Jesus for them but to live in it.
The SUBSTITUTE TEACHER was overwhelmed. She was helping to care for a small group of children at a school that specializes in students with severe disabilities. As she sat with a little boy who seemed extremely agitated, she leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, "Jesus loves you." Immediately the boy’s agitation calmed, and he began to laugh and make happy sounds.
Have you ever thought about the significance of the words "Jesus loves you"? Can anything be more simple, yet more profound? Consider what it means to have the Creator of all things love you and call you by name. Think of the comfort in knowing that the Great Physician has your best interests at heart. Ponder the security of knowing that the Good Shepherd is watching over you. Contemplate what it means that the Savior cared enough to die for you.
Ponder too what Paul asked in Romans 8:35. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” The answer: Nothing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v.39). He loves everyone as if there were but one to love.
What does it mean to have Someone like that love you? It means life and peace and hope and joy. JESUS LOVES YOU! What else do you need?
Love unites and strengthens the relationship Jesus has with His disciples. Two results stem from an abiding relationship with Jesus: love and joy. Obedience marks the reason for a disciples fruitfulness and joy is a result of fruitful obedience. In verse 10 Jesus tells them that His love for them should inspire them to keep His commandments. “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.
Remain in My love might seem to be mystical but Jesus makes the demonstration of love for Him very concrete in verse 10. Those that love Jesus keep His commandments. Once again Christ appeals to His own example. Obedience to the Father’s commands is the same for a disciple as it was for the Son (14:15, 21, 23; 1 John 2:3; 3:22, 24; 5:3). Active dependence and loving obedience are the proper paths for all of God’s children. [Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL : Victor Books, 1983, S. 326]
No doubt this recalls the commands to obedience (14:15; 15:10), in which keeping Jesus’ word is how we demonstrate love for Him. When a man keeps Christ’s commandments he is abiding in Christ’s love [Morris, NIC John, 673]. Obedience or faithfulness in carrying out God’s purpose reveals our love for Jesus and marks success in the Christian life. Successful living is seen in faithfulness or obedience to God, not in numerical results, though numerical results could be a mark of fruitfulness.
More than ninety people conducted an ALL-NIGHT SEARCH for an eight-year-old boy named Dominic. While on a skiing trip with his father, this little boy apparently had ridden a new lift and skied off the run without realizing it. They hoped to find Dominic somewhere on the snowy mountain slope before it was too late.
As each hour passed, the search party and the boy’s family became more and more concerned. By dawn they still had found no trace of him. Two helicopters joined the search, and within fifteen minutes had spotted ski tracks. A ground team followed the tracks which changed to small footprints. The footprints led to a tree where they found the boy at last.
“He’s in super shape,” Sgt. Terry Silbaugh, area search and rescue Coordinator, announced to the anxious family and press. "In fact, he’s in better shape than we are right now." A hospital spokesman said the boy was in fine condition and was not even admitted.
Silbaugh explained why the boy did so well despite spending a night in the freezing elements: His father had enough forethought to warn the boy what to do if he became lost, and his son had enough trust to do exactly what his father said.
Dominic protected himself from possible frostbite and hypothermia by snuggling up to a tree and covering himself with branches. As a young child he never would have thought of doing this on his own. He was simply obeying his wise and loving father.
God is not telling us to abide in the Son by abiding in His word for His good but for ours. The question is are we listening with the intent to obey?
In his book The Best Is Yet To Be, Henry Durbanville told the story of a little girl in London who won a prize at a flower show. Her entry was grown in an old cracked teapot and had been placed in the attic window of a rundown tenement house. When someone asked how she managed to raise such a lovely flower in such an unlikely environment, she said she moved it around so it would always be in the sunlight.
Durbanville then reminded his readers of Jesus’ words, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love" (John 15:9). We learn from this that we too must keep ourselves continually in the warmth of Christ’s love.
We are abiding in Christ’s love when we show love to others.[ Jesus made this clear when He said, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love. . . . This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (vv.10,12-13).]
We feel the warmth of Christ’s love when we obey His commandment to love and serve others. That’s the way to stay in the sunshine. [Richard De Haan, Our Daily Bread]
III. ABUNDANT JOY, 11.
As you abide in Christ and become spiritually fruitful the natural result is joy as verse 11 indicates. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
The “peace” promised in 14:27 is now enhanced by “joy.” As verse 10 indicates Joy is the byproduct of obedience to Jesus. The purpose of Jesus words is so that they -and we- may experience His joy. He has spoken all these words in order that His joy might be in His disciples. The purpose of His teachings are to give man an abundant life, not a joyless existence (John 10:10).
Jesus Himself is the source of our joy! Jesus’ joy came through His reliance on God and His obedience to His Father’s will. The commands for His disciples to obey will result in joy (17:13). [Jesus had great joy in pleasing His Father by living a fruitful life (Heb. 12:2).]
Jesus desires “that My joy may be in you.” This joy supernatural and substantial. It is a gift of Jesus dwelling within and of our living or walking in the Spirit. It is no cheerless barren existence that Jesus plans for His obedient disciples. It is more than simply human JOY we are seeking; we seek the JOY OF KNOWING JESUS! It is the joy of knowing His love, the joy of His victory over the flesh, the joy of fruitfulness in His Spirit. “Joy is the echo of God’s life within us!” Joy is the flag flown high from the heart where King Jesus reigns. -Unknown
C. S. Lewis said, “It is not so much THE JOY OF THE LORD we are seeking as THE LORD OF JOY Himself.” [We inherit not only Jesus’ joy but the capacity given through the Spirit to enjoy God in the same manner Jesus does. The theme of joy will return in this discourse (16:20 – 24; 17:3) and was a personal emphasis for John (1 John 1:4; 2 John 12; 3 John 4). [Burge, Gary. NIV Application Commentary, John, 418-419. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000. ]
We associate joy with moments of exhilaration and intense excitement, with release from anxieties and fears, with the thrill of accomplishment and the fulfillment of cherished dreams. We see joy in the unbridled enthusiasm and carefree play of children, and we sometimes wish we could regain that quality.
We sense though that Jesus has something different in mind when He says to His disciples, “I have been telling you these, things that your joy might be full.” What things? What has He been telling them?
He has been speaking of the importance of abiding in Him. There is joy beyond all measure that comes from abiding in the Lord. For Joy grows out of one’s relationship to Him. Without Jesus, there is no lasting joy.
Joy should be one of the chief characteristics of our Christian faith. In the New Testament the word chara is used 53 times to mean "joy.” But what is spiritual joy? It is much more than mere laughter or even happiness. It is a life that is at rest in the Lord, regardless of life’s circumstances. When life is going well it is easy to feel elated. When hardship comes most sink into depression. True Joy transcends the rolling waves of circumstances.
The Joy that Jesus promises is not merely a human happiness. The world offers "passing pleasures" (Hebrews 11:25), but the Lord Jesus offers to give us full and lasting joy. Pleasure is dependent on circumstances, but joy is inward and is not disturbed by one’s environment.
Pleasure is always changing, but joy is constant! Worldly delights are often followed by depression. True joy is grounded in Jesus Christ, who is "the same yesterday, today, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). To keep experiencing pleasure, we must run from one stimulus to another, for it refuses to be permanently grasped. Joy is just the opposite. It a result of abiding in Christ’s love.
Pleasure is built on self-seeking, but joy is based on self-sacrifice. The more we pursue self-gratification, the more empty we feel. If a pint of pleasure gives momentary happiness today, a gallon of excitement and thrills is necessary for the same effect tomorrow.
Joy, however, is based on the sacrificial giving of ourselves. As we learn what it means to focus on the needs of others, we find greater fulfillment in God Himself, who meets our every need. There is joy beyond all measure that comes from abiding in the Lord. Only when you seek the things of Christ can you find His abundant abiding joy. -HOB So ask the Lord for the ability to distinguish between real joy and the world’s synthetic substitutes.
When our lives are so close to Christ that they are intertwined with His, we will experience joy. He will lift us up no matter the circumstance in which we live. He helps us walk through adversity without sinking into debilitating lows and manage prosperity without become deceptively proud. Such a life cannot help but have a strong impact on nonbelievers. You could say it is a life that sings. If there were more joyfully singing Christians, there would be more Christians.
Jesus has emphasized the importance of fruitfulness. The Christian’s joy is inseparably related to the process of fruit-bearing, of accomplishing God will. Only a joyful exuberant Christian is a worthy representative of the transforming power of Christ’s gospel. No other type of life can match the joy of the servant who will hear the Master say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
CONCLUSION -RESPONSE
Dwelling in Christ means living in His words. Living in the Word leads to communion with Christ which will make us fruitful and prove that we are disciples of Jesus. Love of Christ leads to obedience to Christ.
This Love unites and strengthens the relationship Jesus has with His disciples. Two 2 of the results stem from an abiding relationship with Jesus are fruit and joy.
Are you a fruitful disciple of Jesus? If so you will be a joyful disciple of Jesus.
