Abide In Love

Introduction

So last week my youngest son came away from the sermon confused why I kept saying Biden because it didn’t make sense. First all, that is a compliment that children are listening and paying attention during the sermon time. Second, just in case anyone else was wondering the same thing, when you say Abide and then you say the word in immediately after, it does sound like I am saying a Biden. Just to clear up the confusion, and prevent the confusion this week, I am not saying Biden but Abide and the word in. I may try to use a different word just to make sure I talking about Jesus. Today is the 6th Sunday in the Easter season. Today’s passage is a continuation of the passage we studied last week. Listen to John 15:9-17

John 15:9–17 NRSV

9 As the Father has loved me, so I have 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 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Last week we focused on remaining in the love of Jesus and letting Jesus’ love remain in the center of our hearts. This week we are shifting to our relationship with each other. Just as we must individually stay part of the vine of Jesus, each of us and our relationships must also be bound to the same vine. In other words, based on following Jesus, we must love each other the same way we love and are loved Jesus.

First, based on our relationship and love of and with Jesus, we are able to love. It is not just a preference thought. Jesus said here it is a commandment to love each other. In other words, if you say you love Jesus and want to follow Jesus, then following this commandment is essential. This is easy when we are good friends and when we all think the same way. Jesus was talking to his disciples in this passage. Think about who all was there. Peter who would deny him and others who would desert him in his darkest hour, yet love was not based on their actions or words. It is who Jesus is simply. He loved each of them, including Judas. Peter would lead the church, Philip would evangelize, Thomas would doubt after the crucifixion. Great triumphs and great mistakes individuals, including the disciples would make, yet not only were they to love Jesus completely, they were to love each other completely.

All of this was based first being immersed and staying immersed in the love of Jesus. Love other disciples was not possible otherwise. This love of each other is based on being chosen by Jesus to bear fruit, fruit that last. Joy is completed by our loving Jesus and loving each other. The more fully we learn to love unconditionally because of who each of us are in Christ, the more our joy will replace our anger, our frustrations, or worries, and evil thoughts. This does not mean we all agree with everything else thinks or does or says, but your love for them won’t change because of these things that are temporary. Love Jesus has for us is eternal. Love we have for Jesus is eternal. So should our love for each other should be permanent.

If we don’t love each other, how can we work together for building the kingdom? Love is what gets us through disagreements, through setbacks, through upsetting moments, through tragedies, through victorious moments. Each of us has been chosen to love, and by choosing to remain in, that is abide, the love of Jesus, are then empowered to love each other fully and completely. This love and ability to love comes from Jesus’ love of us and is grounded in our love of Jesus being firm.

Last part of this passage I want to focus on, Jesus chose these disciples and called them his friends. This spoke of not just a master/servant relationship but a deep love for each of them individually and as a group. Jesus loved these disciples fully and completely. He called them brothers and sisters as well as friends to establish the special relationship bound in love. This love bound them together in fellowship with each other and with Jesus. This love bound them together in mission with each other for serving in the kingdom of God, fulfilling Jesus’ mission he gave the disciples.

Let us remember this same love binds us not just to Jesus but to all other believers. Not just those we agree with or believe the same way as but also the ones we don’t get along with, the ones we disagree with. The hard part of this is separating the ability to love based on our ability to relate to them. This is not easy but remember it starts with our learning and understanding and accepting Jesus’ unconditional love for us and our attempts to love Jesus fully in return. By letting Jesus’ love rule in our hearts and mind and fill us up, we are then empowered to start learning to love others unconditionally. Jesus chose you. Jesus appointed you to love, to produce fruit for the kingdom of God. Make the choice each day you get up to let Jesus love you, to love Jesus, and to love others as Christ has commanded you.