(This week’s message at Living Word Christian Center turned out to be a review message in many ways. Since this blog follows the message, this will be a review time as well. Sometimes the reviews are even better than the originals.)
John 15:12-15(NKJV) 12This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. 14You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
As I was praying about what to preach last week, this scripture kept coming up in my heart. When I looked it up there were a number of things that struck me about the context in which it was set. He makes this statement after he tells his disciples that love for one another is not an option for them, but it is a commandment.
As we have already discussed this week, Jesus has summed up all of the other commandments in two commandments. The statement in verse 12 is a specific application of the commandments Jesus points to in Matthew 22. We are to love God with our whole heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves. There is no greater expression of neighbor than my brother or sister in Christ.
In verse 11 Jesus makes another interesting statement.
John 15:11(NKJV) 11“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Jesus gave us these commandments so that his joy would remain in us and our joy would be full. When we choose to keep the love commandment, life is more full of joy than if we walk in strife and unforgiveness. When we are at odds with people around us, we are not happy with ourselves. We will find that we are dissatisfied with life in general. We will not have good relationships because people will sense that we do not walk in love.
When we do walk in love, we have peace with those around us even if they are not at peace in their own heart towards us. We reach out to others and help others. We care about people and this leads us to minister to them out of the love of God. When we do that, we find a sense of fulfillment that few things can match.
The problem with walking in love is that you must be willing to become vulnerable. When you love people, a connection is made. Your heart is open to them in a way that enables them to hurt you if they so choose. However, if we truly walk in love, the power of God will be there to bring healing to you and to them as. Since you are loving with God’s love and not just your own, God will ultimately protect you.
Still, there is the opportunity to be hurt by those you choose to love. I started pastoring a local church at the age of 25. I am now 58, so you can do the math as to how many years I have been doing this. In those years it is the ones that I have given the most to who have hurt me the most. How do we deal with that? We must remember that it is God that they are rejecting and not us. It is tempting to stop being vulnerable, but we have a commandment. If we reject the commandment, we will not have the fullness of joy.
Love is also the antitheses of selfishness. I cannot walk in love and serve myself so I must deny myself. I must consider others more important than myself. Why should I do this for others? What validates this commandment?
I believe the statement that is the central thought of this scripture is what validates his commandment to love. Jesus led the way by walking in the greatest love it is possible for a human being to show. He laid down his life for others. In this verse, he says he laid down his life for his friends.
We know that Jesus did not only die for the twelve people he was talking to in this scripture. Why did he say he was laying down his life for his friends? We do not really understand the word friend as Jesus was using it. We have many friends. It is interesting that social media uses this term to apply to people with which we are connected. I have hundreds of “friends.” Most of them are people I do not even know, but according to social media, they are my friends.
I was talking to a young man who is the son of a minister friend of mine, and he said, “Our generation is more connected than you guys ever were. We have all kinds of electronic connections.” That worries me a bit. I like the technology and I use it, but it does not take the place of personal interaction.
This young man’s father and I are friends. We do not talk as much as we probably should. We live hundreds of miles apart. How can I say he is my friend? I can say it because I know that if I call on him with a need he will do whatever he can to meet that need. I would do the same for him. I do not have that trust and confidence in my “Facebook friends.”
Jesus says to his disciples, “I no longer call you servants because I am telling you what I am doing.” Jesus let them know that what he was about to do would elevate them in their relationship with him. What was he doing that would change their relationship? He was going to make covenant with them. The term friend in this context does not mean a casual acquaintance. It means a covenant friend. One with whom you share everything. What is his is yours. What is yours is his. He is going to shed his own blood to seal a blood covenant between him and the Father God. They will be part of that covenant as his friends. He was going to have to die to open this door for them.
Every culture accepts that the sacrifice of your own life for another is the greatest love a human being can express. In times of war, a man may fall on a grenade to save his buddies. Most parents would sacrifice their life for their children and men or woman would sacrifice for their spouses. This is always the greatest form of love. Jesus died for his friends. He was talking to twelve men, but he was not dying for those twelve alone.
Jesus was opening the door to anyone who wanted to enter into the covenant his blood was about to provide. All who partake of salvation in Christ become his covenant friends. Thank God for the revelation that we are children of God, but we are also friends of God in Christ Jesus. All we have is his and all he has is ours because of the blood of Jesus that purchased the New Covenant.
Why is all this important to our love walk? How does this help me love that difficult person I work with? How does it help me overcome the irritating things my husband or wife might do? How does it help me love my brother or sister in Christ when they do not walk in love toward me? The answer is simple.
My covenant friend showed me the greatest possible love any human being can show another. He laid down his own life that I might live. Jesus is not asking us to die for our “friends.” He is not asking us to die for those who have yet to partake of his covenant of friendship. He is asking us to become living sacrifices. He wants us to lay down our selfishness and comfort to minister to them. He wants us to forgive them when they hurt us. Why should we do that? We should do it because, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
We are Jesus friends because we are in covenant with God through his blood. He gave his all for us. Can he ever ask too much of us?
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