Mar 14 2021 John 15 - God is Love; Love One Another!

John 15: ⁹ "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ "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. ¹¹ "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. ¹² "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

There are two specific practices that Jesus gives that will help us to abide in Him – last week – first – ASK!

The second – LOVE!

The first thing we must understand – understanding God’s love is foundational to bearing fruit. We must begin by having a clear understanding of His love for us.

Then He says – Abide in My love – very specifically – He gives us a way to do that – keeping His commandments – and starting in 13:1 – He assures the disciples how much He loves them – so that acts as a foundation for all of this abiding.

How do we get to that point?

Abiding in His love – we cannot obey His commandments – unless we are convinced He lvoes us. You will be unable to obey His commandments unless You know His love for You.

Guilt and shame cannot produce obedient and faithful children.

It MAY produce outward temporal conformity in children!

Abiding in God’s love is a practice – and our hearts and lives are transformed – and we slowly, naturally begin acting out His commandments. We don’t try to obey His commandments, we TRAIN to obey His commandments.

Trying doesn’t work; training does.

I can try all I want to lift 100 pounds – but unless I train, it will never happen.

First – fill your hearts and minds with the truth of How God loves us.

That requires us to get into the Bible – we need to find verses and passages that show us and teach us about God’s love for us. As we find those – I’ve found it helpful to memorize verses that speak of God’s love for me – and spend time memorizing and contemplating.

I’ve found it helpful to use my SPIRITUAL IMAGINATION – taking the words and putting them into my heart to move us.

Isaiah 30:18 – the Lord LONGS to be gracious to you and waits on high to have compassion on you.

This verse always moves me – God, on high – CAN’T WAIT to have compassion on you! I can’t WAIT to be gracious to you! He is drawing a picture of what is happening! He is laying this out!

As a mother with a nursing child – how could a mother with a nursing child forget her baby? Even if she could, I won’t forget you!

Zeph 3:17 – I will rejoice over you with shouts of joy! I imagine God jumping for joy over us! Allow your imagination to go whtere the Bible is leading you!

The second practice – learn to draw near to God, even when you’ve failed

Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus did not sin – we sin. Our tendency is to hide.

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When we fail, God wants us to draw near to Him – our tendency is to pull away.

We need to learn, and practice receiving God’s mercy and grace – continually – His mercy and grace were poured out on the cross for us. We need to be able to receive it and learn to live as receivers. Mercy – God not giving us what we deserve!

Third – how to abide in God’s love – address your misconceptions and wrong-thinking about God.

What wrong-thinking tends to come from – our family of origin – guilt and shame – all families have that – yours isn’t unique! We are all PEOPLE – we have all failed

But it also comes from culture. Think of the ancient art in the cathedrals of Europe and how they show God! People think that is what God is like! Dante’s inferno! On clouds – Pictures in our culture – we get a false understanding of God through poor Bible teaching. We hear stuff and have the wrong emphasis.

The Bible says – GOD IS LOVE! Not just God loves us! Those are two really different things. God DOES love us – but HE IS LOVE. That is the only time a personal pronoun is used to describe God.

God is holy – that is a bullet point under GOD IS LOVE. He only acts as a holy being because His very nature is love. He is faithful only because He is love. The fruit of the spirit is LOVE – the sum total – and the bullet points are goodness, kindness, joy peace, gentleness, self- control

His love is that humble service love – not just a feeling. Those are 3 practices that help us to abide in God’s love.

If you keep my commandments (plural) – just as I have kept my father’s commandments (plural) and abide in His love –

This is my commandment (singular) – yes, we should keep all of His commandments – but how do we keep all His commandments? Loving one another as He has loved us – John 13 through 17.

As we love others as God loves us – self sacrificial love – then naturally – we will keep all the other commandments -t hey will flow out of us naturally.

Love

Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Rom 13:8)

When you love as Jesus loved you – you obey all the commandments -

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

(Gal 5:14)

Entire law – all the commandments – is fulfilled in keeping this one command –

Do you believe this? We must believe this!

There were folks in the NT who did not believe this – they focused on specific commands – tithing, purity laws – but they missed love, compassion, mercy, justice. They zero in on specific commands but neglected the things that mattered most.

We need to be careful to not do THAT.

John 15:13 ¹³ "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay 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 slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

Jesus is talking about this relational love – a friendship love – highlighted 3 times here – He speaks of friends. Our love needs to go beyond this doing of stuff to where the community – we become friends – create friendships. Church must be built around friendship love – not programs, mission, vision – those are important – but Jesus built His community on friends. A love that is close.

Sometimes it is good to do things for people from a distance, but God wants, in His family – for us to come close. So often, it is described as a family. We sometimes don’t like the people we have to love! You have to like your friends, right? Sometimes people will say, I know God loves me – but I’m not sure He likes me!

First – we need to show kindness to all. Including the least of these. This is how we treat people practically – speech, action, and thoughts – to everyone.

You can be close and friends with people who are not like you – just think of marriage! How often, marriage is polar opposites!

We don’t think that when we go into marriage! We’re soulmates! In love! We’ll never have disagreements or arguments! And yet, this polar opposite can become your best relationship.

We need to not just connect with those we are comfortable with – even the heathen do that – Jesus said.

And the one of many friends will come to ruin – so we need to have good strong relationships – not just acquaintances.

Some have a different bandwidth for friends – too many and you are not close. You don’t have close friendships with 100 people.

When churches are built around friendships – there can be a problem with cliques. Or Paul refers to them as factions.

We live in a society that is built on factions and that infiltrates the church – white, black, conservative, liberal, coke, pepsi –

One of the biggest complaints I get as a pastor – the church is cliquey –

We naturally gravitate toward those we are comfortable with. When we talk about loving others, we also have to love those we are not comfortable with.

We often see cliques in relationships that are not cliques! People sit in the same seats! Everyone does that – and that is fine – and you might only see people in Sunday – and after church – they turn around and talk to the person behind them! And we think – they always talk to each other! But they might only speak on Sundays!

The difference between introverts and extraverts –

They are uncomfortable initiating with a lot of people.

And extraverts are judged – they talk to everyone else but me!

Someone was going through the sermon on the mount and don’t judge – and the log, when they said, “We judge ourselves by our intentions. I have a good heart – comfortable with 2 or 3 – a person of good will…We judge others by their actions. You hurt me by what you did!”

You didn’t come talk to me – so you are cliquey.

We need to see people as people of good will – but our actions can have a negative impact.

We are going to talk about one more practice – we are going to have communion together.

John 15:16 ¹⁶ "You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. ¹⁷ "This I command you, that you love one another.