Parting Words-Part 6- Love & Obedience

Introduction-John 15:9-17

The last time we were here in this passage we learned how that Jesus intends for us to abide in Him and that through our dependence upon Him we shall be able to bear much fruit and in so doing we shall have the opportunity to glorify God.

We must remember that without Him we can do nothing!

In the section before us today of our Lord’s final discourse with His disciples before His betrayal Jesus speaks much of love and obedience.

He speaks of the love of the Father, of His own love for the disciples and of their love of one another.

He also calls once more for the disciples to “keep His commandments” as He gives a clear commandment to them to love one another.

In this passage we will see the connection between the Father’s love for the Son and the Son’s love for His disciples, and their love of one another.

Abiding in His Love (Vs. 9-10)

Jesus begins this portion of the discourse by speaking of the love that the Father has for Him and how that He has loved His disciples with this same perfect love.

There can be no doubt that Jesus love His disciples and here we can discern the true nature of His love for them.

He then instructs the disciples to continue in His love. Jesus’s love for His disciples never changes and it is not based upon their own behavior but upon His own character.

Yet the disciples awareness and experience of His love would be determined by their response to Him.

If they would keep His commandments (do what He has said) they would then have the opportunity to abide in His love just as Jesus kept the Father’s commandments and continually experienced His love.

We must also recognize that the love that Jesus has for us never changes but our awareness and experience of His love will be in the same measure as we are willing to do His will.

We have all known what it is to feel far from God and to experience times when it seems that He has ceased to love us. The reality is that His love never changes, but our failure to do His will can limit our awareness of His love.

Fullness of Joy (Vs. 11)

Here Jesus shares with His disciples His purpose for speaking to them as He has to this point. It is so that they may know the joy that comes from abiding in Him.

He assures them that the instruction that He has given them thus far will produce joy in them and that they will experience the fullness of joy if they will give heed to what He has said.

Joy is a state of rejoicing and the disciple that abides in Jesus and has a constant awareness and experience of His love will know joy no matter the circumstances he faces.

Someone once said “Happiness comes with happenings but joy comes from the Lord” and this is exactly the point that Jesus is making to His disciples.

Though they would ultimately endure many difficulties and hardships in doing the will of the Lord, yet they could have joy even still because of their relationship with Jesus.

How do we experience the joy of the Lord? Very simply by abiding in Him and doing His will!

Loving One Another (Vs. 12-17)

Now Jesus gives to His disciples a clear commandment which they are expected to follow.

He commands them to love one another even as He has loved them!

This would surely be a difficult task among a group with such varied backgrounds and personalities and yet it is what Jesus expects of them.

He then describes for them the type of love that they are to have for one another in verse 13.

There is no greater demonstration of love than for a man to be willing to lay down his own life for those he loves.

This is exactly what Jesus is preparing to do as He willingly lays down His own life for all mankind.

This would serve as the supreme example of love and this would be the pattern of love to be emulated by all those who would be followers of Jesus.

1 John 3:16 KJV 1900

Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Jesus did not merely consider the disciples to be servants but He considered them to be His friends as they lovingly obeyed Him carrying out His will.

The loving obedience of the disciples has secured for them a special relationship with the savior and has given them the opportunity to know Him in a way that others did not.

They have enjoyed revelations and experiences that other believers would never know simply because of their obedience to Christ and their desire to continue with Him.

Under normal circumstances the disciples would choose which master to follow but Jesus makes clear the fact that the disciples had not chosen Him but rather He had chosen them.

Jesus had selected this group of men with the intent that they would carry out His will and that their lives would produce lasting fruit which would impact future generations.

Again here He promises these disciples that whatsoever they would ask in His name they would receive.

Then one more time Jesus reminds them of the commandment He has given that they should love one another.

The disciples will soon face serious persecution and much uncertainty and difficulty and they will certainly need one another if they are to continue to carry out the work that God has called them to do.

You will notice that throughout the New Testament it is almost unheard of for a disciple of Jesus to be alone, but they were always together laboring and serving alongside one another.

This is still the pattern for today. Our Lord never intended that we should labor alone but rather that we would unite with other disciples to labor together to accomplish the work that He has called us to do.