Think with me for just a moment. If you were given only ONE WORD to describe Jesus, what would that word be? What single word best describes His heart for people, His personality as He interacted with His disciples and others He came into contact with? What word best describes how Christ has related to you? Have you thought of your word? Okay now keep your word locked in your mind, and don’t change it. What was your word? (The majority should choose “love” or a form of the word.)
I’m dating myself I know, but there’s an old song sung by Dion Warwick that said, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. That’s the very thing that there’s just too little of.” If we stop and think about how we described Jesus, the, then what the world really needs then and now is Jesus, sweet Jesus!
Jesus told His disciples, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you. . . the harvest is sure to be abundant” (John 15:5, The Message). What is the life source that flows from the vine to the branches which produces the fruit? What is it that we as believers have within us by His Holy Spirit because we are connected to the vine?
It may be an over simplification, but I believe it is safe to say that THE LIFE SOURCE OR THE ENERGY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN US IS LOVE.
As we will see today, because the love of Christ fills our lives the fruit of our life should have the sweet taste of love. NO MATTER HOW YOU MAY DESCRIBE THE FRUIT WHICH SHOULD BE PRODUCED THROUGH THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER--
▸ the fruit of obedience,
▸ the fruit of reproduction, or
▸ the fruit of the Spirit,
THAT FRUIT SHOULD HAVE THE AROMA AND REFRESHING FLAVOR OF LOVE.
If your life was to be described with just a single word, what word would it be? Would you be described like Jesus as loving? If you are connected to Christ, then the fruit of your life should be increasingly more and more marked by “the sweet taste of love”.
+ John 15:9-17 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I 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. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other. (NIV)
1. CHRIST’S LOVE DOES NOT FAIL.
Americans today “love” everything. I can say that I “love” my wife and kids, but I can also “love” a movie, new clothes, a car, or truck. I can “love” the way a friend got even with someone who did us both dirty. I can “love” Mexican, Chinese, or Italian, food. These days if you name it, someone probably “loves” it!
“Love” is so overused that it can mean everything from “Affection to Zestfulness” and everything in between. “Love” is open to interpretation; what one person means and another thinks they mean could be two very different things. “Love” is so overused that it is almost ambiguous.
Jesus qualifies His love for us; He tells us specifically what He means without any ambiguity. What does it mean to say Christ’s love does not fail?
Jesus says in verse 9: “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.” God the Father and God the Son have always been through out eternity past, and they always will be. At no time has the love of the Father waxed or waned for the Son. The love of the Father remains constant; it endures.
+ Lamentations 3:22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. (NIV)
The prophet Jeremiah announced God’s wrath that would be poured out upon the nation of Israel because of their sin. He witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem just as God had shown him, but even in the midst of the turmoil and confusion that was all around him Jeremiah again saw the great love of God. The Lord’s love for His people would not fail; His mercies are new every morning. Yes great is the faithfulness of our Lord! (Lamentations 3:23)
+ Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (NIV)
Jesus said, “I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me” (The Message). Jesus has no strings attached; He’s not going to “fall out of love with you.” Jesus love for you is an undying love. That’s the sweet taste of love that does not fail.
2. OUR LOVE FOR CHRIST SHOULD NOT FAIL.
With this expression of love Jesus makes a very interesting statement, “Now remain in my love.” Jesus shows us that we are safe in His love; He will never do anything to hurt us. We can rest in the security of Christ’ love for us and should not go looking for other “lovers” who will make us feel good.
Our love for Jesus should not fail. We are to remain in His love; we should not turn our backs on Him betraying His love.
· The movie “Grease” is a fun 50’s musical about a guy and a girl who fall in love. The prim and proper Olivia Newton John gives her heart to John Travolta. Unfortunately her heart is not handled with care and she finds herself being hurt by the one that she loves. Not wanting to give up Olivia sings the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Although she had been neglected and hurt, she would not stop loving her true love.
Jesus is “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Jesus has given Himself without reservation to you; holding nothing back.
Jesus wants us to remain in His love, but do we? To often we find ourselves as another song says, “Looking For Love in All the Wrong Places.”
Although we turn our backs upon Him living our lives the way we want, Jesus’ love for us does not fail. Jesus feels the pain and heartache of betrayal, but He remains faithful to us with an undying love. That’s real love. That’s love that does not fail.
How do we have a love for Jesus that does not fail Him? How do we keep from hurting the One who has loved us so completely? Jesus tells us how to keep from breaking His heart. “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” (verse 10).
OBEDIENCE IS THE KEY. Through disobedience we turn our back upon His love cutting ourselves off from the free and abundant supply of His love.
If you are connected to Christ, then the fruit of your life is marked by the sweet taste of love. But we must remain in His love; we must stay connected to Jesus. He is the source of love.
Do you remember what Jesus said in John 14:5? It’s very different from what Jesus says here in John 15:10.
+ John 14:15 If you love me, you will obey what I command. (NIV)
Jesus told us that our love for Him would be demonstrated by our obedience to Him. Obedience will not produce love, but genuine love will always bring a heart o f obedience.
One of the marks of loving obedience is consistency, to faithfully continue to walk in obedience to His word. Our love for Christ should never fail and in turn we should continue to walk in obedience.
Loving obedience is not man made; we cannot manufacture a submissive and obedient heart. Our heart is rebellious and disobedient. Only through the work of the Holy Spirit can our hearts be transformed enabling us to obey His word. Now remember what Jesus said in John 15:10:
“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”
By our obedience we remain in His love; we stay connected to the source. In our own strength it’s impossible to continue to live a life of obedience, but Christ makes it possible for us to love and obey Him.
Apart from Him we can do nothing; we must remain connected to the vine the source of love. Separated from the source of love we are unable to produce fruit with the sweet taste of love.
3. LOVE PRODUCES ABUNDANT JOY!
Obedience and submission to the Word of Christ may sound like a heavy burden to some. Why should we give up our freedom to live as we want? How can you be happy if you can’t do what you like?
Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that YOUR JOY MAY BE COMPLETE.” Through obedience we remain in Christ’s love and in turn are recipients of His joy. The joy of the Lord within us makes our joy abundant and complete.
Each of us may try to be happy, to live care-free and easy. But sooner or later tragedy comes to our door and our happiness melts away. Happiness is dependant upon our happenings, but joy runs deeper.
Joy is does not depend upon what’s going on around us; joy is not restricted by what others may say, or limited by how we feel moment to moment. We can choose to be happy or not, but joy is a reality born deep within our hearts that cannot be touched by the circumstances of life. Our joy is complete; it’s abundant and full.
The sweet taste of love is never bitter or sour. Nothing can spoil it. Love is a reality that produces lasting joy deep within us.
1. Christ’s love for us will not fail; Jesus loves us in the same way the Father has loved the Son.
2. Our love for Jesus should not fail. We should let His love within us produce loving obedience so that we remain faithful to Him.
3. His love in us overflows with abundant joy.
And finally, because Christ love is in us and we remain in His love the sweet taste of love is shared with others.
4. OUR LOVE FOR OTHERS SHOULD NOT FAIL.
Jesus requires that we love one another. This is not just a suggestion or a good idea; it’s a command.
+ John 15:12, 17 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. . . This is my command: Love each other. (NIV)
When we thought about how we would describe Jesus using only a single word, many of us thought of “love.” I asked you then if people could only use one word to describe you would it be “love?”
If we are living our lives in obedience to Christ’s command to love one another, to even “love our enemies” (Luke 6:27) then we will be thought of as a loving individual. As we are connected to Jesus the source of love, then the fruit of our lives is marked by the sweet taste of love.
The love we have for one another is not a cheep imitation love or a generic equivalent. Our love for one another should be just like the love Jesus has for us.
+ John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. (NIV)
The Message puts it like this: “This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.” Love holds nothing back; love willing gives all to a friend. That’s what it is like for the love of Jesus to be at work within you.
+ John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. (NIV)
When the love of Christ is evident within our lives it’s not just a flash in the sky. The sweet taste of love within our lives endures.
+ 1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV)
