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).
What creates static interference in your walk with the Lord?
1) Static: When we talk about the phone, the radio or the TV as it relates to reception, we call it static when there is an interference. Have you ever noticed how irritated you and I get when we are talking on the phone, especially the cell phone, watching the ball game or one of our favorite TV shows only to have interference that annoys us? What about the increasing secular interference that we are encountering that rivals our calling to be salty and bright for God's kingdom?
2) Spiritual static: Satan tries to create interferences in our spiritual lives in the hope that we will get frustrated with the connection and give up. Satan tries to divert our attention by deceiving us and tempting us. He tries to use all of the negative things in life to cause enough static and interference in our perception so as to frustrate us in our daily devotion to Jesus. He also tries to hinder the fellowship that we share with our fellow brothers and sisters. Satan cannot stand the sight of Christians abiding in the love of Jesus Christ that sets them free even in spite of the hardships of life. Again, that is why Satan tries to use the negative circumstances and hardships of life to distort our perceptions of the benefits of how we abide in Jesus' love.
3) ICU : "The intensive care waiting room is a different world. No one is a stranger. They help one another. They grieve with one another and shed tears of joy together. There is no distinction of race or class. Vanity and pretense vanish. Everything focuses on the next doctor's report or the next telephone call. Here in this anxious stillness it becomes clear that loving someone else is what life is all about. Why does it take the intensive care waiting room to teach us to forget our irritations and love one another?" (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 71). It is then that a crisis provokes us and reminds us once again of our need for God to find affirmation through remaining in Jesus' love and loving our neighbors.
MAINTAINING THE COMMANDMENT
How obedient are we to maintaining the commandment to love?
1) Insulating and isolating: Do we pass by on the other side of the adversity of others? What happens to us when we insulate and isolate ourselves? It is our irritations and the way that we insulate and isolate ourselves as we pass by on the other side of another's need or grief that we avoid the needs of others. When the crowd saw Bartimaeus, they hope that Jesus would walk by on the other side of his adversity and avoid him?
2) Hindering entanglements: 2 Timothy 2:4 says: "No soldier in service gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to satisfy the one who enlisted him" (RSV). How often do we avoid the pain of others for our own pursuits because we did not want to get involved?
3) Rose garden wishes: How many of us suffer from Rose Garden wishes?
It’s Not Always Easy
It’s not always easy to smile and be nice,
When we are called to sacrifice.
It’s not always easy to put others first,
Especially when tired and feeling our worst.
It’s not always easy to do the Father’s will.
It wasn’t so easy to climb Calvary’s hill.
But we as His children, should learn to obey;
Not seeking our own but seeking His way.
It’s not always easy to fight the good fight.
But it is always good and it is always right!
- Glenda Fulton Davis
Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press. [oringinal source:From video, “The Harvest”, by Chuck King].
4) Cancel Culture Contenders: Cancel Culture contenders are everywhere who rival and rebel against God’s love.
>>>>> the PC Police versus Christians upholding JC ---that means Jesus Christ is Lord. There a lot of discussions these days about pronouns. Nowhere in God’s Word will you see where that is endorsed! Is this PC culture like a modern day variation of saying “Caesar is Lord?” There are unfortunately some in our own denomination who buy into this woke foolishness!
>>>>> Palestine vs Israel: Unfortunately, we have some who stay silent when they should speak out against violence against Israel while siding with those who want to wipe out Israel. How many so called “peaceful protests and protesters” have we seen on the news nationwide across college campuses advocating for such foolishness? How many of them destroyed property in the name of their cause? How many of them are advocating for God’s love when they cry out against Israel?
>>>>>> Both of these contentions are not in keeping with God’s Word!
5) Holy Contenders: Paul said, 2 Corinthians_10:5 - 6 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” (ESV). Voddie Bachman once spoke about this scripture in the context of all that is sexually impure in our culture. He said “destroying arguments” seems un-Christlike and arrogant because the Eleventh Commandment is “Thou shalt be nice” and we don’t believe the other ten. He the said “God is right and those people are wrong! … God is not arrogant He is God! He aint running for God! ” Vonnie Bachman “Thou shalt be nice” YouTube. Does that not relate to “being a soldier of Christ who refuses to get entangled with worldliness because that soldier is fighting the good fight for God who is right?
Was Jesus saying that we would always have it easy by following Him?
1) Devotion: Jesus was basically saying to His disciples then as well as His disciples of every age, not to be quitters. Jesus was saying never quit when He said, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; continue in my love" (John 15:9 NKJV).
2) Desertion: When a soldier abandons his post, they call him a deserter. When a Christian disciple abandons his or her faith---defects, the Greek New Testament calls it apostasy.
3) Apostasy: It is said that apostasy is linked to the Greek word for divorce. Jesus was telling His disciples then as well as His disciples of every age to stay united with both their purpose and their mission which is to "continue (to be a living witness) in His love" and "abide (to continue to grow and mature) in His love".
Maintaining the commandment also includes prayer.
1) Earnest prayer: Praying is something we do in and with faith in the name of Christ that God's will be done.
2) Make a mess and seek blessing for it prayer: We simply cannot pray for God’s will to be done in a meeting or in a conference and then turn around and vote against God’s will! God is not going to answer prayer that is self-seeking or self-serving because it is outside of His will.
3) Jesus praying for God’s will: Jesus always prayed to God before He did anything. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to His arrest, He was praying that God let the cup of suffering pass Him by: "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will but as You will" (Matthew 26:39 NKJV). And then a few hours later Jesus laid down His own life because of His love for His friends. And we who live in His love are His friends (John 15:13). There have been times in our lives when we might have wanted a different outcome than the one that we were facing as we prayed.
4) God’s Name and character: When we pray, we are striving to stay in God's will. When we pray in Christ's Name, we are praying for an answer to prayer that reflects God's will as well as His (Name) nature (Character).
May we never outgrow our love for Jesus!
1) Salty and bright love: As long as we are growing, continuing and abiding in His love, we will never outgrow our love for Jesus!
2) Lampstand warning: May we live our lives in such a way that Jesus will never have cause to say to us, "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent" (Revelation 2:4-5 RSV). May we strive to live our lives in such a way that we never abandon our love for Jesus that we had at first!
