Sixth Sunday of Easter (2024)
Notes
Transcript
John 15:9–17 (NASB95)
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. 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. 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.
The central thought of the text is that we are the friends of Jesus.
The goal of the sermon is that the hearers will exercise their responsibilities as friends.
The problem is that we often fail to act like the friends of Jesus that we are.
The means to the goal is that Jesus has given us wonderful privileges as His friends.
The entirety of God’s Word can be summed up in one word: love. God’s Law is all about love. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39). And Jesus loves us so much that He call us “Friends”.
We are accustomed to thinking of Jesus as our friend, and we express this thought with songs like “What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear.” But friendship is a two-way street. Not only is Jesus our friend but we are the friends of Jesus.
Our text today is from the gospel reading, and particularly from verse 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…”
Let us pray: These are Thy words, O Lord. Help us and sanctify us in the truth; Thy word is truth. Amen.
Let's look at what it means to be friends of Jesus.
We have the privileges of friends.
We have the privileges of friends.
Christ has chosen us — John 15:16 “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…”
We were not able to choose Him.
Ephesians 2:3 “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
He chose us purely out of grace.
1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Romans 7:8 “But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”
Christ opens Himself to us — John 15:15
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.
He shares with us the truths regarding His redemptive work, our regeneration in Baptism, and the blessings of His body and blood in Holy Communion.
He has divulged to us the precious truths of His Word.
Christ promises to give us what we ask in His name.
John 15:16 (NASB95)
16 “…so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
Don't we need patience, love, perseverance?
Aren't there fellow Christians whose needs we can bring to Christ?
Don't our home and church have needs?
We are friends of Jesus in every way and He has given us such privileges as His friends. And as His friends we also have responsibilities.
We have the responsibilities of friends.
We have the responsibilities of friends.
We are to do what he commands—John 15:14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.”
We do what He commands when we bind ourselves to the sound doctrine of His Word.
Orthodox — conforming to “established” doctrines
“Ortho” is a Greek prefix which means: “straight”, “upright”, “right” or “correct”.
We practice what agrees with sound doctrine no matter how the world speaks badly of us (John 15:18-20).
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
We are to love one another (John 15:17).
As Christ loved us (John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”
Carrying each other's burdens, overlooking each other's weaknesses, forgiving.
We are to bear abiding fruit (John 15:16).
No matter what the circumstances or how we feel.
By remaining connected to Christ Jesus—John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
There will be abiding fruit when we support the faithful preaching of the Word and the right administration of the sacraments.—John 15:5
“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.”
“You are My friends,” Jesus said. Are you enjoying your great privileges? Are you carrying out your holy responsibilities?
Blessed are you, friend of Jesus!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.