“Renewable Energy: Being A Good Lover”
John 14:15-24 & 15:9-17
In her book “Smoke on the Mountain”, Joy Davidman told of a missionary in a dark corner of Africa where the men had a habit of filing their teeth to sharp points. The missionary was working hard at trying to convert an old native chief. This missionary was very much Old Testament in his approach, leaning heavily on the law and “thou-shalt-nots.” The native listened patiently, until at last he said, “I do not understand. You tell me that I must not take my neighbor’s wife.” “That’s right,” said the missionary. “Or his ivory, or his oxen.” “Quite right.” “And I must not dance the war dance and then ambush him on the trail and kill him.” “Absolutely right!” then the chief said, “But I cannot do any of these things! I am too old. To be old and to be Christian, they are the same thing.”
I wonder how many people see the Christian faith as something old, prohibitive, tiring, lifeless – as the enemy of life and joy. What a shame – for God is a God of rest and joy and life. We are to enjoy Him forever! But how do we do that? Jesus said we do it by being good lovers. In fact, he requires we be good lovers.
Let’s look at THE REQUIREMENTS OF LOVE. Jesus said, “If you love me…” He begins with AN EXAMINATION: “If you love me.” This question “Do you love Jesus?” is the preface to everything in this passage. But that shouldn’t be surprising. We find the same principle in the preface to the 10 commandments: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” Then God shares His commandments, which Jesus summarized as “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The message of God echoed by Jesus is “See how I have loved you.” God has always acted towards His people in love. He defined His relationship with Israel as one of love. He gave them the Law and the commandments not because He’s a tyrannical God but because He loved them and wanted them to walk in the way that would bring them peace, joy, and blessing.
John wants us to learn the same thing. One of the themes of His Gospel is that God does not live in solitary confinement, sequestered in the heavens. Rather He had made Himself known in three persons in order to love us more fully and powerfully. In each person – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – God shows Himself as giving, actively loving – even to the extent that he became flesh and dwelt among us and dwells in us; even to the extent that He gave His only Son to die for us; even to the extent that the Son who was soon to die could say, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.”
So do you pass the exam? DO YOU LOVE JESUS? Do you love the One who gives Himself in love – and in death – for you? Who forgives and delivers you? Who refuses to leave you alone? A shy Welshman went and slipped a love letter under his neighbor lady’s door each week for 40 years. Because of an argument they had years before, she continued to refuse to speak to him. Finally, after 2,184 love letters – with no response of any kind – the now 74 year old man went and knocked on her door and asked her to marry him. Much to his surprise she said yes. His repeated messages of love had melted her heart. To melt your heart, to you to let you know how much He loves you, God has repeatedly sent love messages – the greatest of which is Jesus Himself. So Jesus wants to know: “If you love me…” Do you pass the exam? How can you tell?
Jesus gives us AN EXHORTATION. “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Obedience is not optional; it is THE PROPER AND NATURAL RESPONSE TO LOVE AND GRACE. We cannot pick and choose what to obey; we obey what Jesus commands. Notice that Jesus does not say, “If you love me you will feel good.” He does not say, “If you love me, you will get goose bumps.” He does not say, “If you love me you will have a deep, emotional experience.” He does not say, “If you love me you will become a hero of the faith.” We might prefer He had said some of those things – after all we’re accustomed to living life by our feelings. We prefer that which makes us feel good.
But Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Love issues in obedience. 6 times in our passages Jesus makes the point. We do not obey to gain approval but because we love. Isn’t it true that if someone we don’t love asks something of us we either refuse or do it grudgingly – but if someone we love asks the same from us we do it willingly and lovingly? OBEDIENCE FOLLOWS LOVE. There was a tyrannical husband who demanded that his wife conform to rigid standards of his own choosing. She was to do certain things for him as wife, mother, and homemaker. In time she came to hate him as much as she hated his list of rules. He died and in time she came to love another man whom she married. The two of them lived on a perpetual honeymoon. Joyfully she devoted herself to his happiness and welfare. One day she found one of the lists her first husband had written for her. To her amazement she discovered she was doing for her second husband all the things her first husband had demanded of her – even though it was not required of her. She was doing it all as an expression of love. Obedience follows love. If we love Jesus we will obey Him.
And what does this obedience look like? Jesus gives AN EXPLANATION. (15:12) “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” WE ARE TO LOVE AS WE HAVE BEEN LOVED BY JESUS. How has Jesus loved us? He loves us VOLITIONALLY – AS AN ACT OF THE WILL, without any motivation from us. It is not anything in us that causes Jesus to love us – it’s his will that prompts it. There are times each day when I know Jesus must find it hard to love me – but He loves me because He made a commitment to do so. And we are to make the same commitment to love each other – because Jesus commands it and we are obedient. Love is not altogether or primarily a feeling. We love even if we do not feel like it. We commit ourselves to each other’s health and welfare.
Jesus also loves us REALISTICALLY. Paul wrote that while we were still sinners Jesus died for us. Knowing everything there is to know about us, still he died for us. Although He wants us to grow in godliness and Christ-likeness, He loves us as we are – no strings attached, no ifs and or buts. He loves us. And in that spirit we are to love each other – no preconditions, standards, or ifs. We are to love each other with our warts and pimples, faults and flaws. Barb and I used to promise each other that we’d always love each other – I asked her to love me even if I went bald and she asked me to love her even if she became a blimp! (So far I’ve tested her a whole lot more than she has me!)
And Jesus loves us SACRIFICIALLY. He laid down His life for us. Even now he intercedes for us and is preparing a place for us. It’s amazing to realize that the closer Jesus got to the cross the more joy and love became part of his message. Jesus’ love is all about us. And so our love needs to be all about each other – laying down our lives, giving up ourselves, for each other. “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” It’s what being a good lover is all about.
But Jesus also taught about THE RESULTS OF LOVE. In chapters 14 and 15 of his Gospel, John records five results that Jesus promised for those who love and obey Him. First, WE WILL RECEIVE A SPECIAL MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. (14:16) “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.” He will comfort, help, and strengthen us. All the resources of Jesus will be ours. We will have all we need to love each other. Forever – He will never leave us on our own.
Second, WE WILL RECEIVE A SPECIAL REVELATION OF JESUS. (21) “…I will love him and show myself to him.” As we obediently love each other we will see Jesus. In loving others, we will discover more of Jesus and His love. We may not understand all the implications of how we will see Jesus or what we will see, but we know we will see Him. As we love, Jesus will show Himself to us.
Thirdly, JESUS WILL RESIDE IN US. More than being ever present with us, Jesus and our Father will make their home in us. (14:23) “…we will come to him and make our home with him.” The words used here are the same words used in John 14:1 ff where Jesus says “In my Father’s house are many rooms…I am going there to prepare a place for you.” Just as Jesus is making a place – a room, a residence – for us to live in eternally, so He will settle in and live in us. Not only will He be beside us, not only will we know Him better, we are the holy place where He dwells. He lives in my heart – and yours! 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – He lives in us! If we love one another.
The fourth result of obedient loving is that OUR JOY WILL BE COMPLETE. (15:11) “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Jesus spoke these words just hours before He was arrested and crucified. Yet His joy was complete. And He wants us to experience that same joy throughout our lives. The very reason Jesus taught all this is so we can know, and be filled with, His joy! It’s not that we earn the joy. It’s that we are designed in such a way that our obedient loving opens up the floodgates of joy so joy will flow into our hearts. Perhaps that’s why someone once said, “To know God’s will is life’s greatest treasure; to do God’s will is life’s greatest pleasure.” Doing God’s will, obeying Jesus by loving each other, ushers joy into our lives. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
And the fifth result of obedient loving is that WE WILL BECOME FRIENDS WITH JESUS. (15:14) “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” A slave is obligated to do what his master commands, even if he has no clue why something must be done. But Jesus always tells us why He commands something – He always tells us the rich rewards that are built into the fabric of obedience. So He tells u s to love one another because it’s the way to the fullness of joy. He shares His plans with us; He lets us know what we need to know.
James Small penned some poignant words which eventually became the hymn, “I’ve Found a Friend, O Such a Friend.”
I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love, and thus He bound me to Him;
And round my heart still closely twine those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His, and He is mine, forever and forever.
I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He bled, He died to save me;
And not alone the gift of life, but His own Self He gave me!
Naught that I have mine own I call, I’ll hold it for the Giver,
My heart, my strength, my life, my all are His, and His forever.
I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! All pow’r to Him is given,
To guard me on my onward course, and bring me safe to heaven.
The eternal glories gleam afar, to nerve my faint endeavor;
So now to watch, to work, to war, and then to rest forever.
I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! So kind and true and tender,
So wise a Counselor and Guide, so mighty a Defender!
From Him who loves me now so well what power my soul can sever?
Shall life or death, shall earth or hell? No! I am His forever.
Being a good lover means being friends with, and resting in the friendship of Jesus!
Author Lee Strobel once offered an alternative to what many of us learned for the word J.O.Y. We’ve come, perhaps, to think of Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. Lee pointed out that it can mean Jesus first, yourself last, with a zero – or nothing – in between. JOY IS FOUND WHEN NOTHING COMES BETWEEN JESUS AND YOU. Simply follow the ancient path of obedience. If you love Jesus, you will obey Him. You will love others. And you will be filled with joy. To be a Christian is not the same as being old, lifeless, prohibited, and joyless. It is, rather, to be reborn, to be free, unafraid, full of joy, and eternally young. “If you love me, you will obey what I command. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” When t comes to the test of being a good lover, what’s your grade?
