The Greatest Love

Prayer

Heavenly Father, the entrance of Your Word gives light!

We ask that You will shine the light of Your Word into our hearts,

so that it may be reflected in our lives and illuminate the world around us.

Amen

The Greatest Love - John 15:12-17

When I was a young man in my late teens, I had one ambition above all others. It was to find some way to reach out to the world with the love of God.

As I read this passage it reminded me that John often shares with us additional intimate insights about Jesus and his final days that are not present in the Synoptic Gospels.

Jesus knew that the time of his departure was approaching, and so he prepared his disciples for the time when he would no longer be with them in person.

It’s almost as if you can hear him saying, “This is what I want you to remember! This is important! This is going to be the Hallmark of your walk with God.”

Love is the greatest thing that God can give us; for He Himself is love; and it is the greatest thing we can give to God; for by it we will also give ourselves, and carry with it all that is ours.

Jeremy Taylor

The Old Testament view of LOVE.

When Jesus taught about love he was focusing upon one of the great themes of the Bible.

I invite you to join me on my whistle-stop tour of some of the highlights of LOVE from the pages of the Old Testament, so that we can consider some of the passages which Jesus and his disciples might have been familiar with:

Moses the Law Giver often taught about love.

Exodus 15:13 “In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.”

Leviticus 19:18 ““ ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Deuteronomy 7:8-9 “But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

The Psalmist David knew about the love of God and wrote:

Psalm 17:6-8 “I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show me the wonders of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings”

King Solomon wrote the following:

Proverbs 3:3-4 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favour and a good name in the sight of God and man.”

The prophet Isaiah taught about the God of love.

Isaiah 54:10 “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

The prophet Jeremiah taught about the God of love.

Jeremiah 31:3 “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

The prophet Hosea taught wrote:

Hosea 10:12 “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.”

1 Chronicles 16:34 So “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Extreme LOVE!

12. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

When Jesus spoke these words he was joining his voice to the voice of the prophets and patriarchs who went before him.

But what do we mean by LOVE?

LOVE can reveal itself in many ways:

LOVE is a deep emotional commitment

LOVE is a sense of obligation to help others

LOVE is a state of mind that moulds our character

LOVE is kind words and considerate actions

LOVE is a way of life and a force for good

LOVE is an inner warmth and a light to illuminate the world around you

Jesus had not asked his disciples for this level of commitment before, but now they were ready.

He does not ask for selfish Love, that works for its own benefit?

He does not ask for a reciprocal love, that works for mutual benefit?

God calls each one of us to selfless sacrificial love, to a love that is ready to give everything because that is its nature.

The incarnation is the second greatest truth in the Bible. The greatest is that this God who became man could also love us enough to go to the cross and die for us personally.

James Montgomery Boice

The Cost of Real LOVE.

13. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Jesus was hinting at his coming sacrificial death on the cross to redeem us.

Jesus set the standard for love, and enshrined self-sacrifice for others as the supreme Christian ethic.

One of the ways that God equips us for this love is by focusing our attention upon the needs of others and not upon our own personal shortcomings.

This love is not characterised by sentimental expressions of feeling, but by actions that speak for themselves.

This self-sacrificial love would inspire the early Christian martyrs to lay down their lives to bring the message of the love of God to those who treated them so badly.

14. You are my friends if you do what I command.

Some people might skip past this part. But friendship with God should show in the way that we live our lives, and in the way that we treat other people.

This love stands firm even in the face of adversity.

This love stands firm even when it is unpopular, even when it becomes hazardous.

This love is faithful and enduring.

Abraham was called the friend of God (Isaiah 41:8) and became a mediator of God’s blessing to all his children, and the spiritual father of all who believe.

He gave up everything he knew and left his home to follow his calling, and God embraced him.

He demonstrated that one person can make a difference, if they are friends with God.

Moses was also known as the friend of God (Exodus 13:11) , and spread the word of God like no other person before him.

He gave up his life as a prince of Egypt and shepherded his people safely through the desert to the promised land.

Moses saw God face to face.

I know that I don’t need to tell this congregation that this love is going to cost you, but it will be worth it.

Friends with God and Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

15. I 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.

In many ways the role of a disciple was the role of a servant, and his rabbi was that of a master.

Soon the apostles would be sent out to represent the Kingdom and the King. They would travel far and wide. They would change the world forever with their message of a God who loves until it hurts, whose love transcends time and space, and endures beyond the bounds of reason or the limitations of death.

The love of God is big enough to embrace king and commoner, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile. This love is big enough for you and me to share with each other and still have plenty left to go round.

Jesus calls us ever closer, and calls us to do as he has done, and live a life of love.

LOVE can Supercharge Your Prayer Life.

16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Why did Jesus choose his disciples?

He chose them to bare fruit. He chose them to produce good works and other disciples.

Fruit defines the nature of the tree or plant that bears it, and the purpose of fruit is the propagation and continuation of the species.

He chose them for effective prayers. He chose them to be fruitful men and women who would have a living relationship with the Creator and wield the prayer of faith as powerful force in a skeptical world.

Brother Lawrence said: That we ought not to be weary of doing little things for the love of God, who regards not the greatness of the work, but the love with which it is performed.

Brother Lawrence

Love of God is the root, and love of our neighbour the fruit of the Tree of Life. Neither can exist without the other, but the one is cause and the other effect.

William Temple (bishop)

And now for the Recap!

17. This is my command: Love each other

Only time would tell if the disciples were ready to meet the challenge posed by Jesus’ call to selfless LOVE.

What we do know is that most of the 12 disciples would lay down their lives for Gospel and for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

What could possibly motivate the disciples to face such fierce opposition, other than the love of God in Christ?

They took the message of the love of God to the heart of the brutal and cruel Roman empire. The contrast between the ruthless materialism of the Roman world and the spirit of selfless love pursued by Christians could not have been greater. But the light shone all the brighter in the deepest darkness.

The Roman army had laid waist to the Carthaginian Empire that had controlled the Mediterranean Sea, it had humbled the Greek Empire that had conquered the Middle East, and the Romas had slaughtered Celtic men, women, and children without pity throughout Europe. They had enslaved millions, and crucified countless thousands, but ultimately this savage pagan empire whose soldiers worshipped the God of war was conquered by the love of God in Christ. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants alike are all still benefitting from that divine conquest of LOVE.

Selfless LOVE was Jesus’ Blueprint for changing the world.

The love of God in Christ has not lost its ancient power, we just need to experience it and show it in our lives.

When I was still living at Mount Gould, I was able to help some young people. They came to me and asked for something that I could tell them and they in turn could tell others. This is what I told them.

God loves you! Pass it on!

This message made all the difference in the world to them, and they spread it all around Plymouth.

The love of God in Christ can work through ordinary people to change the Church and transform neighbourhoods, cities, and civilisations.

I will leave you with this thought:

LOVE is the best introduction to God that you will ever receive and the best introduction that you can give to others.

1 John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”