You've got a friend in me.

We are in John 15, but I want to start of a different perspective.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NASB95

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

That doesn’t mean that everything written in the bible directly applies to you.

Leviticus 19:28 NASB95

28 ‘You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:27 NASB95

27 ‘You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads nor harm the edges of your beard.

Leviticus 19:19 NASB95

19 ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.

I’m not making the argument that everything in the OT is obsolete.

If the Bible says YOU; identify who YOU is.

In the examples above, YOU is the Jewish People, and no where in scripture are You included in this YOU. as a mater of fact, Acts 14 and 15 make the distinction that you, a Gentile, are saved through Grace, just like the Jew, so why put the Yoke of the law on your next which the Jews were not even able to bear.

I hope this helps you as you read the Bible.

As far as this morning,

Matthew 28:18–20 NASB95

18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus commands love

John 15:12 NASB95

12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

We saw the same commandment in chapter 13. which added:

John 13:35 NASB95

35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I’m commanded to love you, but I don’t have to like you.

1 Corinthians 13:4–8 NASB95

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

Show me where there is room for “I don’t have to like you.”

Here is what love does:

You think of a fellow believer you are commanded to love, but don’t necessary like; then you examine them looking for something in their life that produces fruit. You find something good about them, something admirable, something about their character that is attractive. And you focus on that, and allow the Blood of Christ to cover the rest.

Because that is how God sees you.

Jesus shows us the Highest form of love:

We want to know the minimum, but what Jesus does is shows us the highest form of love.

John 15:13 NASB95

13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

This is more than putting yourself in harms way.

"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you; Jesus Christ and the American soldier.

One died for your soul; the other died for your freedom."

I would argue that soldiers offer to fight for your freedom and tragically sometimes they die, but on the rare occasions that soldiers have actually laid down their life, Navy Seal Michael Murphy, they didn’t do if for you. They did if for the soldiers they were with. Their friends.

Jesus defines who His friends are:

John 15:14 NASB95

14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.

That kind of sucks......You’re my friends only if you do everything I tell you to......

It is not conditional. It can’t be conditional. If I could obey Christ’s commandments on my own power, where is the need for the Gospel?

Remember last week

John 15:5 NASB95

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Jesus saying you are my friends if you do what I command, is an outward expression of what is already on the inside. John 15:15-16

John 15:15–16 NASB95

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. 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.

Jesus opens up the why.....

Forbes article on knowing your why.

There's another thing I know for sure. If you know your why, you’ll figure out the how.

Jesus reiterates

John 15:17 NASB95

17 “This I command you, that you love one another.