YA GOTTA HAVE THIS
John 15:12-17
S: Love
C: David and Jonathan
Pr: WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER.
?: How? How is it to be observed?
KW: Qualities
TS: We will find in John 15:12-17 four qualities that demonstrate love for one another.
Type: Narrative, Inductive
I. SACRIFICE
II. SUBMISSION
III. FRIENDSHIP
IV. FRUITFULNESS
PA: How is the change to be observed?
Version: ESV
RMBC 21 August 05 AM
INTRODUCTION:
There is a quote I really enjoy and have experienced.
It goes like this…
ILL Love
"I know that there are people in this world who do not love their fellow man, and I hate people like that."
Some of you might be able to identify with that.
But it does make one wonder about the concept of consistency.
Inconsistency can get you in trouble…
ILL Consistent: *Go Easy At First*
Joe had asked Bob to help him out with the deck after work, so Bob went straight over to Joe’s place. When they got to the door, Joe went straight to his wife, gave her a hug and told her how beautiful she was and how much he had missed her at work. When it was time for supper, he complimented his wife on her cooking, kissed her and told her how much he loved her.
Once they were working on the deck, Bob told Joe that he was surprised that he fussed so much over his wife. Joe said that he’d started this about 6 months ago, it had revived their marriage, and things couldn’t be better.
Bob thought he’d give it a go. When he got home, he gave his wife a massive hug, kissed her and told her that he loved her.
His wife burst into tears.
Bob was confused and asked why she was crying. She said, "This is the worst day of my life. First, little Billy fell off his bike and twisted his ankle. Then, the washing machine broke and flooded the basement. And now, you come home drunk!"
Well…
How consistent is your love?
Does your family see a consistent demonstration at home?
Do your friends really consider you as a friend?
Or is it something less than that, something that is not as consistent, dependable, or desirable?
NARRATIVE:
There is a story of two friends who were very dear to each other.
Usually, those who are very good friends are near in age, but that was not true in this case.
These two were not.
We know there was a considerable age difference, though history does not exactly tell us what the difference was.
Remove the age difference, and they were very much on the same wave length.
We know that the older one dearly loved the younger.
In fact, the historians tell us that…
1. He loved him as his own soul.
This was a true friendship of the soul.
Do you know how friends often give each other presents?
Well, this is what the older one did.
He shared the best of what he already possessed…a fine robe, some weaponry, and a belt to hold them altogether.
They were excellent gifts befitting friendship.
They were gifts readily and happily received.
Such gifts gave him great confidence, and the younger became a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
This was fortunate since the older friend was a prince and his father needed more warriors.
The father, though, was a jealous man, and as the younger friend became successful as a warrior and popular among the people, he was filled with envy.
And like a lion ready to pounce on his prey, twice the king attempted to put a spear into his son’s friend, but the younger man eluded him both times.
Interestingly, the older friend, the prince did not have the same difficulty as his father.
2. The one was not jealous of the other’s prosperity.
In fact, he was glad of it, in the realization that their nation needed men like his younger friend.
The father, though, could not rid himself of this jealous rage.
In the hope that perhaps he would be killed if he was in more dangerous situations on the battlefield, the king made him a commander.
But the younger friend proved worthy of the promotion.
His success continued.
He was a fierce competitor that felt God’s call on his life.
He was unafraid with God on his side.
The younger friend was blessed with success, and the older friend was glad for him.
(LB)
The king, however, had other ideas.
He was unwilling to have this kind of competition in his kingdom.
He reported to his son that his young friend must die.
(RB)
But the prince, instead of agreeing with his father, went and told the younger friend.
He told him to be careful.
“My father is after you.”
So…
(C)
3. The one protected the other.
(LF)
He kept urging his father to do the right thing.
He should not kill his younger friend.
God had greatly used him.
The son successfully persuaded his father, and the younger friend was welcomed back into the king’s presence.
(LB)
But the king’s goodwill did come to an end.
And though he had promised his son that he would not seek his younger friend’s death, he reneged.
When his son was gone, he once again tried to kill him
(RB)
When the prince heard of this (since he was away at the time), he was stunned.
His father had promised!
He could not believe it.
But the younger friend said that his father was deliberately hiding the truth from him because of their friendship.
It was being held from him, because it compromised the king’s jealousy and desires.
(C)
When the prince is finally confronted with the truth, the father’s fear is exposed.
The kind was afraid that the royal line would end with him.
He would leave no position, no prestige, for his son.
This is why the younger friend must die, for because of his popularity, he was destined to become king instead of the prince.
(RF)
But for the prince, this did not matter.
He was unwilling to give up the friendship to become king.
His friendship was one of the soul.
His friendship was one of covenantal promise.
Being king was nothing compared to losing his friend.
(C)
In fact…
4. The one was willing to give up his position in order for the other to succeed.
He would not betray his friend, though the father the king desired him to do so.
The king continually urged him to give him up, but from that point on, David went into hiding, and Jonathan returned to the palace of his father, King Saul.
You can find the actual story as it is written beginning in I Samuel 17.
It is a story of friendship.
It is a story of promise.
It is a story of love that was based on choice as opposed to convenience.
It is a story of love based on commitment as opposed to usefulness.
It is a story of love that parallels and foreshadows a love that Jesus encouraged His disciples to have.
OUR STUDY:
He said…
(12) “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (13) Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. (14) You are my friends if you do what I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (16) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (17) These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
Love – and thus our title today – “Ya Gotta Have This!”
We have to possess love.
So how does this work for us today?
What is Jesus trying to teach us?
We have heard this command to love one another over and over.
Yet, for us, as individuals, and the community, it is a concept that too often eludes us.
First, Jesus tells us that…
1. When we love each other, we sacrifice for the other’s benefit.
This is the supreme test of love.
Jesus, of course, is saying this just as He is about to go to the cross.
He is declaring the power of the immediate act about to happen.
Within hours, the temple soldiers will come to arrest Him in the garden.
He will give His life.
He will give everything He has.
ILL Sacrifice: A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens captured this concept in his book A Tale of Two Cities:
At the end of this classic, set during the French Revolution in 1789, one good friend is able to sneak himself into the Bastille in Paris and take the place of his other friend, who had a wife and family. The first friend, then, sacrificed his life by going to the guillotine in the other’s place.
Before he was beheaded, he said, “It is a far far greater thing that I do, than I have ever done before.”
He redeemed his own life by giving his life for his friend.
We may not be able to give our whole life, nor might we be called to do so.
But we are responsible to live the principle.
If we love, we will give up what is dear.
Just as Jonathan sacrificed his future position for David, we are to give of what we have.
We offer ourselves so that others might experience the blessing of God’s love on their life.
So, to accomplish this, we do what He says.
2. When we love each other, we submit to Jesus.
It is not a once and done type of act.
We are to continually obey our Lord.
It is how we show Him love.
If you are thinking that it is hard to love God, it is less hard than you might think.
Love is action!
Love is doing what He says.
The great thing is that we do not love Jesus and obey Him only as servants.
We do it as His friends.
We do it as a part of His inner circle.
We do it because we are close, not because we are far away.
Jonathan understood the work of God in his life and in the life of David, even if his father did not.
Jonathan was willing to submit to that.
They had a friendship that was built to last, because it was founded on obedience to God.
3. When we love each other, we build friendships that last.
While we are called to serve each other, it is so much more than that.
We are to be friends.
We are companions.
We are to hold nothing back from each other.
We have the opportunity to follow the example of David and Jonathan, and love each other’s soul.
When we do this…
4. When we love each other, we live fruitful lives.
We have a mission to fulfill.
We are to be fruitful, living a life that makes a difference.
We live in such a way that God’s love is observed and understood.
And it begins…it begins…in how we relate to one another.
APPLICATION:
1. What kind of community does God want us to be?
Jesus was very definite about this.
He wanted a community that was characterized by love.
So, it is an appropriate question to ask…
Are we a community that is characterized by love?
There is no doubt that it is hard for any individual or any community to sustain this consistently, but it is what we are called to do.
We are never to give up on it.
We are to understand the ideal and begin a never-ending pursuit of it.
And we are to learn to practice its partner…forgiveness.
For the longer we know each other, the more we become aware of each other’s weakness.
We can grow tired of each other.
But this is when the power of God’s community can show itself.
ILL Community; Joni Eareckson Tada Needed at Disaster Site
In the aftermath of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada was invited to be part of a Christian counseling team that helped victims. Joni is a quadriplegic. She writes:
Upon arrival, I had to go to the American Red Cross center to be cleared and credentialed. And I will never forget wheeling into that low, flat, red brick building. There were people setting up chairs and tables, stacking forms, and putting out doughnuts and coffee. And across the large room was a tall, officious-looking woman in a white lab coat.
When she saw me wheel through the door, she quickly turned around with her clipboard, put down her glasses, and said, "Oh my, are we glad to see you here!"
That sparked my curiosity, and I said, "Why?"
She responded, "When people walk up to you in your wheelchair and see you handle your personal crisis with that smile of yours, it speaks volumes to them. It assures them that they can handle their crisis too. We need people like you in here. Please, help us go out and find more individuals like you who can assist us."
Immediately, I got this picture in my mind. Wouldn’t it be great, on any given Sunday morning, to see people with white canes, wheelchairs, or walkers come through the doors of our sanctuaries? And wouldn’t it be something if we all turned around in our seats in our congregations and exclaimed, "Oh, my, are we glad to see you here! We need people like you here in our church?" Wouldn’t that be something?
The woman in the American Red Cross white lab coat had caught the drift of 1 Corinthians 12:22-23, which says,
"Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts [of the body] that we think are less honorable we treat them with special honor."
And the woman also caught the simple and profound command of Jesus:
“…love one another as I have loved you.”
Jesus envisioned a community that accepted one another.
Jesus designed a community that recognizes the uniqueness of the other – including their talents, spiritual gifts, passion and personality (sounds a bit like Network).
Jesus created a community that would serve one another out of love.
So, let us understand what we are here for…
2. We are here for people, each other, and not for ourselves.
If we are determined to be the community God desires, then we will love each other.
We will not be looking for the church to serve me by meeting my so-called “needs” (and what are really preferences).
No, we will be here for each other.
We will pray for one another.
We will be friends with one another.
We will affirm and encourage one another.
We will choose to love each other.
But let us not be naïve.
When we seek to do it right, we will be attacked.
Spiritual warfare is real, and the devil will intervene.
He will find our weak point, like anxiety or fear, twist us, until we give in to sin.
We must not give in!
We are to pray before we speak.
We are to think before we act.
We will choose to love.
If we are to be effective as a community, each one must take his/her responsibility to love one another seriously.
You see…
3. If we are truly to accomplish our mission, WE MUST LOVE EACH OTHER.
If God’s mission is our mission, our relationships with one another will not be secondary.
They will be of primary importance.
When we love one another, it is then God’s love for us can be imagined and understood.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Love one another…take the example of Jonathan and David and live it, learn to love the soul.
Love one another…do not be afraid of the sacrifice that comes with love, for within it is the very power of God.
Love one another…for it is true fruit of the Spirit and enables us fulfill our mission to the world.
Now may your love abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best; and may you be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Amen.
RESOURCES:
John: That You May Believe, R. Kent Hughes
NIC: John, Leon Morris
