Written ~ 12-29-2023
John 15:9-14
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love. 10 When you obey My commandments, you remain in My love, just as I obey My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is My commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command.”
For the past week we have been studying in Luke chapters 1 and 2 about the birth of Jesus (you can go back and read those studies if you haven’t already). This story is all about how much the Father loves His Son and how much He loves us. God loves us so much that He sent His Son to the earth to be born as an innocent baby with the sole purpose of dying for us. We show the Father we love Him by obeying His Word. Obeying the Lord’s commandments is a way we remain connected to the One who sacrificed everything for us. Jesus obeys the Word of God! What if Jesus had said “No” to even the thought of dying for us! That would’ve been quite the turn of events! But Jesus did obey, He did what the Father asked and died a horrible death on a cross. For us. That is love.
In the Dictionary the word love is both a “noun” and a “verb”… so it’s both a thing and an action. God’s commandments are love. Our obeying those commandments is love.
Do you see a promise in our verses today? If we love the Lord and obey His commandments, if we remain in His love, just as the Son remains in the Father’s love, we will be filled with the Lord’s JOY! Not only that, but we will also be filled with JOY to overflowing proportions (verse 15:11)! It should be bubbling up from within! We should be incapable of holding it back! Joy is explosive and uncontainable!
Some may think that following a bunch of rules and regulations would be oppressive and cause life to be dull and boring. But quite the opposite is true when you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul. The Lord produces within your spirit a joy that can only come from Him. Life can be a delight, even if your circumstances are less than desirable. The joy of the Lord can and should break through! Every single one of us is going through something, with varying degrees of difficulty, but we are called to love. Verse 15:12 says,
12 “This is My commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.”
You and I are not perfect, there is no way we can love the way Christ loved us without His help. Verse 15:12 says that this is a commandment from the Lord to love each other in the same way He loved us! Jesus came to this earth to serve, to show unconditional love to those who were sick, hurting and dying, to show a way to life. Our purpose as born-again believers is to serve one another, to love unconditionally, go beyond the call of duty to show a sacrificial love, to lead others to the life altering love of Christ. That’s difficult sometimes, isn’t it? Especially if your life circumstances are much less desirable than what you had planned. But God does not give us any exceptions to the command to love another. He doesn’t say if your circumstances are difficult, if your life isn’t going the way you had planned, then it’s ok, you don’t have to love and serve one another for a time, you can wait until your life gets better, then you can love the way Christ loves. No, if we have the love of Christ within us, we must obey, we must serve, we must love, at all times.
Where is our joy hiding? Where is the love and servanthood concealed? It’s understandable to have a rough go of things, things happen in life that throw us for a loop, and it may take time to regain some sort of normalcy. And during that time, you may find your joy is tucked away, so hidden that it’s almost nonexistent. In your circumstance, whatever that looks like for you, we are all different, whatever is keeping you from living life to its fullest, ask Jesus to fill you each day with His love, ask for His joy to overflow your spirit. And start practicing it out loud! If you only keep it locked away deep within, how is that loving one another as Christ loves? It’s nearly impossible to show the love of the Lord to those around you if you just want to keep it for yourself. Joy is extremely contagious when you let it out and share it with others!
Verse 15:13,
13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
When you see a great need, do you lay your “self” aside and serve? Or do you expect to be served? When you see hurt, tension and stress, do you bring joy overflowing and serve with unconditional love? Or do you add to the tension and stress by your own demands? What does it mean to you to lay your own life down for another? Serving one another is sacrifice. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice by dying on the cross for us. We may not be called to die for someone else, but our sacrifice might be our time, it might be our help in a situation that is riddled with tension. It might be by laying our selfish desires aside and see where you can best help someone else in their need.
In verse 15:14, Jesus hits us square between the eyes,
14 “You are My friends if you do what I command.”
Whew. If you really think about what Jesus is saying here, it should bring great conviction to each of our hearts.
14 “You are My friends if…”
Do you see that tiny little word “if?” That one word, depending on how we use it can turn our hearts inward and we continue to concentrate on ourselves, or it can allow the joy of the Lord to reign in our lives in an outward position.
What are your “ifs” in life? What “ifs” are holding you back from fully exuding Christ’s joy from within you? What “ifs” keep you from serving others? What are the “ifs” in your life that keep you from loving as Christ loves? Are you waiting for your “if” to be resolved before you act? Are you waiting for there to be no more “ifs” before you share the joy Christ has given you?
If we do as the Lord commands, we remain in the Father’s love and Christ’s love will remain in us. The “what ifs” in life will be illuminated by the Word of the Lord. We can choose to bury the Word in our hearts and not apply any action to those words. Or we can bury the Word of God in our hearts and live outwardly, using those words as our guide in serving Him and showing love to others. We should seek to reveal the joy Christ has filled us with, that desire should be so overwhelming that even in the most difficult circumstance, even if we try, we wouldn’t be able to conceal it.
As believers we know what Christ has done for us… He paid the ultimate price. He is asking us to do the same. What is your ultimate price? Is it too difficult to get out of your comfort zone, your little “cone of silence” to serve the Lord? If that answer is yes, then it’s quite possible there is a need for a revitalization of our spirits! What is it that brings renewal to your soul? What can draw you out of your comfort zone and bring you into the fullness of JOY Jesus wants you to experience? Find that “thing” that pulls you out and start a new beginning. Find areas to serve the Lord. Within your own home, within your extended family, within your church group, anywhere God leads your heart to flourish.
John 15:17 simply says,
“This is My command: Love each other.”
~AMEN~