Love Sustaining Love

A few weeks back someone asked me, “How love could be both the root and the fruit of the Christian life?” It actually is a very good question. Today I hope to describe how love and be the root, growth, and fruit of the Christian life. In order to illustrate this I am going to use the analogy of an apple tree. I am holding in my hand here an apple seed. And in my other hand an apple. Now we can understand how this can become this over time. This analogy is useful in understanding love of God and how it can be the seed, root, growth, and fruit of our lives.

Another way to examine love is to look at it grammatically. “Love loves love!” is a complete sentence. Love is the subject, action and object. In this way we can look at love as being a complete package. It is the fullness of love that is lived out in the Christian life.

As I mentioned in last weeks sermon God is the source and author of love. God is love. In this way when we come to Christ God plants the seed of love in our heart and lives that is His Holy Spirit. When we allow this love to mature in our lives it is the action of the this love to produce sanctification in our lives. By loving God and others well the seed of love grows into maturity. In the flesh we simply love those who love us. Jesus says “What good is it to only love those who love you. Even sinners do the same.” So then the higher mature love is to let God through His process of sanctification work in your heart to put to death selfish and unloving ways. As we mature then God uses our lives to produce mature fruit. This fruit of love is then a witness to a lost world, but also a ministry to the brothers and sisters in Christ.

In this way love can be both the source and the fruit. And this should not come as a surprise to us. The Bible frequently describes how we reap what we sow.

Galatians 6:7–9 CSB

Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up.

Why should we expect anything different when it comes to the greatest spiritual virtue of love.

2 Corinthians 9:6 CSB

The point is this: The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously.

Let’s dig into God’s Word!

John 15:1–17 CSB

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. “This is what I command you: Love one another.

I have already talked about the second part of that passages in the past two sermons. Jesus has laid down His life for our sins. He is talking about those that place their faith in Him the ones that listen and obey Him. Jesus is calling them friends. This is what happens when we turn from living a sinful and selfish life to trusting in Christ as our Lord and Savior. What a friend we have in Jesus.

This command to love is connected then to the sacrifice that Jesus has made. Jesus also is a commanding us to “love one another.” This command to love one another is connected then to the first part of this passage with a very important phrase. Jesus says In John 15:9 ““As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.” The phrase “remain in my love” establishes a clear connection between the visual of vine and branches and His teaching on loving obedience to God and sacrificial love toward others. Taking it a step further I believe that the description the follows the metaphorical language is one of Jesus’ explanations to his disciples (See Matthew 13:10-17). We know that Jesus would use the metaphorical language of parables and then pull His disciples aside to explain what the parables meant.

The Source of Love

Ultimately Jesus is our source of Life and Love. In this passage Jesus refers to himself as the vine and refers to us as branches. God the Father is the gardener. We see then that it is our connection to and abiding in Christ that gives us life and fruitfulness. We often look at our salvation experience through the lens of getting a ticket to heaven. However, if we take the metaphoric language seriously there is a life sustaining connection to Christ that is needed. It also says that those that are not fruitful are cut off and thrown into the fire.

The question might be what causes a branch to be unfruitful? There is a verse I want to zero in on here. John 15:6 “If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

I recall when we used to have rose bushes that I would cut back once a year. In the spring as the bush would grow there were on occasion branches on the bush that although they were connected to the base of the rose bush physically they were not connected in a life giving way. This is referred to as die back. It is important to cut out the die back when it is detected as what ever is causing it can infect the health tissue in the rose bush and cause it to die. I bring this up because Jesus seems to be saying that there is a difference between being physically connected to the vine and abiding in the vine. When we are merely physically connected we do not produce fruit because we are dead. In the same way a dead rose branch will never produce a rose and needs to be cut off if we are not connected to abiding in Christ then we will likewise be cut off. That is dead in a spiritual sense. This has eternal consequences. This passage also says that these branches will be burned up. This is a clear representation of eternal punishment in hell in my opinion.

John 3:16 “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” This is a familiar verse to most church goers. It also can be familiar to the world at large. Less familiar is John 3:18 “Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.” It is this condemnation that leads to branches being burned up.

Notice the connection to love though. In John 3:16 we read “For God so loved the world.” In John 15:9 we read “remain in my love.” The Gospel is an expression of God’s love for us. We experience and are connected to God’s love when we believe in Jesus Christ as our savior.

Jesus is the source of our love. It is his love that flows into our lives and enables us to bear the fruit of love.

Using the picture then this apple seed is symbolic of the gospel of God’s love. If this gospel it received and planted then it grows up. Love, more specifically God’s love is that seed.

The Growth of Love

Pruning

It would seem that there is more to this than simply believing in Christ. In this metaphorical language Jesus also says that God the Father is pruning those that remain in Christ. That is to say there is not only salvation, but also a process of sanctification that is occuring as God removes those parts of you that are getting the way of being fruitful. As followers of Christ then we must be willing to respond to God to remove those barriers. Jesus not only describes the action of being cleaned, but also the method of being cleaned. Notice John 15:3 “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

It is the Word that God uses to do His pruning. Our Heavenly Father is the Gardener and His Word is the pruning shears. God’s word is often represented as an instrument that cuts.

Hebrews 4:12 CSB

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

There are so many things that get in the way of the fruit of love. None greater in my estimation than the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Truly as I think about the times that I have failed to love well it is nearly always one of these two. On the one hand the way that I think about the other person has a huge influence on how I treat them. It is also possible that when it comes down to it I really never intended to love them in the first place. My thoughts about the other person simply become a way to soothe my conscience for acting in an unloving manner toward them. I can justify being unloving because they deserve it.

One more point before moving on. I realize that we can push metaphors too far so as to loose their meaning, but if you will indulge me just a bit. Pruning shears are no good to us if they simply sit in the shed collecting dust. It is only when we take them out and use them to prune that the purpose of the shears is fulfilled. Can I just say an unopened Bible is like pruning shears stored away in a shed. As we talked about last week it is only by being in the Word of God that we can know what it is that we are to obey. This week I would extend that to say that it is only by studying the Word of God that God can actively remove those things that God wants out of our lives. If you wonder why God is not producing fruit in our life individually or in the collective lives of our church is it possible that we do not spend nearly enough time in His Word if we spend any time at all?

So back to my analogy then. The seed of the gospel grows up into a tree. This apple tree is cared for by God. He loves and cleans the believer so that they will be fruitful. At times this cleaning is unpleasant.

Hebrews 12:11 CSB

No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

We often consider suffering and discipline as being the opposite of love. But it is not so God genuinely cares for you and longs for good in your life. Submitting to His discipline is for our ultimate well-being. Apathy that is a lack of care or concern is the opposite of love.

Proverbs 3:11–12 CSB

Do not despise the Lord’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.

So then love is the growth of the apple tree toward maturity.

The Fruit of Love

Keep my commands / Love one another

I know we discussed this last week. One of the key ways that we express love toward God is through obedience to His commands. Jesus tells us that keeping His commands is the way that we remain in His love. This truth can generally apply to all the commands of God. In the New Testament there are over 300 commands of Christ. Admittedly not all the commands apply to us. Some apply to the disciples alive at the time of Christ. Jesus in this passage focuses on one command in particular. In John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.” He then redirects the command to focus on others in John 15:12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.” He repeats the command again saying John 15:17 “This is what I command you: Love one another.”

The command to “Love one another” placed so closely to the Vine metaphor and the keep my commands statement would make this particular command of primary importance. The fact that Jesus says it twice would make this a very important emphasis of His teaching to “remain in his love.” It seems that to remain in Christ’s love that we are obliged to love one another. This is consistent with other passages in scripture as well. I have covered many of these love one another commandments in my previous two sermons. Just to highlight a couple of them:

1 Peter 4:8 CSB

Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.

1 John 4:11 CSB

Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

Romans 12:10 CSB

Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.

Truthfully I could go on and on with the multitude of verses that command us to love one another that are in God’s Word. The command to love is an unambiguous teaching of God’s word. If we are to remain in Christ then Love ought to be central theme of our relationships. Further Love that is our ability to love one another is the central evidence that God’s love is in us.

The primary purpose of abiding, pruning, obeying, and loving is found in John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.” The aim is to glorify God through being fruitful and proving to be Jesus disciples.

In Galatians and Ephesians we find a good summary of what this fruit is to look like.

Galatians 5:22–23 CSB

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.

Ephesians 5:8–10 (CSB)

Walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—testing what is pleasing to the Lord.

Love is a sort of shorthand for all these things. Notice that the in the Fruit of the Spirit that Love is the first thing that is mentioned. It is not a stretch to suggest that Love is the premier fruit. Notice also that the Fruit of Light which is goodness, righteousness, and truth is consistent with Loving God which is to say obeying His truth. Fruitfulness in the Christian life necessarily involves love both loving God and loving others. That is why Jesus said:

Matthew 22:37–40 (CSB)

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Love also is how we prove that we are Jesus’ disciples as well:

John 13:34–35 CSB

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

When the people outside the church look in they don’t say, “Oh those people sure are smart!” Nor do they say, “Those Christians they are so righteous.” No Jesus says it plainly, “Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love is our witness to a dark world. Love is our witness when everything around us is violence. Love is our witness when contempt is the way of the times. Love is our witness while the world is tearing itself apart. Love, it is love that is our witness. It is love that shows others that we are abiding in Christ. In short if you want to Glorify God then you must love Him and love one another.

This apple is the fruit of the seed and the tree of the the apple. In this same way Love in particular the love of Christ is the seed of love in our lives. As we abide in Christ the love and life giving sap allows us to grow up and mature like an apple tree. God prunes us with His word. Finally this same love become the fruit that glorifies our Heavenly Father. Love sustains love.

Love Sustains Love

As we draw to a close this series of messages on love I want to challenge you all to consider a few things.

First are you in Christ? This message only makes sense if you are in Christ. If not then I want to encourage you to seek to be in Christ. Truthfully Jesus is seeking for you this morning. If you want to be found in Christ then in a few minutes we will be having a time of commitment. I would love to have a chance to share with you about how to abide in Christ. Our staff would also be available after the service if you want to pull one of us aside to learn more about this.

Second, if you are in Christ are you in God’s Word? As we have learned the only way we can know what is pleasing to God is to study His message to us found in the Bible. We also learned today That God prunes the dead things in our lives using the Word found in scripture.

Finally, Are you fruitful in love? This is a burden for me. Everywhere I look in our times there is contempt, mean spirited words, hate, and violence. Brothers and Sisters we must present ourselves different from the world. We cannot fall into the darkness of the world or follow the ways of the world. Let our love that is love for God and love for others shine brightly in a dark dark world. Further let’s not make this love mere lip service. Let’s not make this love be a simple attitude adjustment. No let’s serve God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. Let’s sacrificially love and build up one another. Let’s take the greatest love story humanity has ever known to a world that desperately needs His love. That is the heart our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s pray!