The text this morning is from the Gospel according to John, the 15th chapter:
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And He is risen for you, His friends, just as He laid down His life for you, showing the greatest love in all of the universe. Our Lord today speaks again to us, building off of that which we heard last week, that He is the vine and we are the branches and if we abide in Him, as He abides in us, we shall bear good fruit. And indeed, if you abide in the Lord, and if He is in you, you shall abide in his love. This word, abide, doesn’t mean just be there. It’s not like you just see it. It’s that you remain in it, that you never should leave His love. Imagine the love of Christ as a bubble that surrounds you. Never leave that bubble. Stay inside it.
Our Lord is speaking very plainly here. He is speaking in earthly terms. Friends, slaves, speaking, commandments. These are things we can understand. Yet, there is one term that we will never plumb the depths of: love. The word Jesus uses here is agape. It’s actually the word Jesus uses the most when He speaks of love. It’s often said that this is the love that God has, and it’s true. But there’s something more there. This is self-sacrificing, self-giving, self-focused, selfless love. There is no end to this love. It exists and you can’t stop it.
This is what Jesus is talking about this morning. This love doesn’t stop. And Jesus even then tells you how to abide in this love, how never to leave it. Keep His commandments. This is how Jesus has stayed in the love of the Father, by listening to His Word, following His commandments. And this is how we stay in Jesus then, how we live in Him, thrive in Him.
I know, this sounds like awful, horrible news. “How can I keep His commandments? I’m a sinner. So, if every time I sin, am I outside of Christ?” That’s not what He’s saying here. He’s not saying, “If you sin, you’re gone.” He’s saying, “If you love me, do what I’m telling you to do.” He’s not saying that if you sin, He’ll hate you. He’s saying that if you keep His commandments, you’ll abide in His love. It’s hard to reason this out, but Jesus isn’t saying that you’ll be removed if you fail. He says that keeping His commandments, almost as if it’s any keeping of His commandments at all, shows them they are in His love.
Let’s think of it this way: Jesus is giving this instruction to His disciples Maundy Thursday, the night before He is to be murdered on the cross. Jesus is calling these men His friends, men who have been chosen by Him to follow after Him. And where is Christ going? Where shall they follow? Certainly into suffering. Servants, or slaves, really, don’t know the master’s business, but friends of Jesus are given to know all that He would do. So, they should see His cross and suffering as the Master’s business and be prepared to follow in the same way.
If you stay in the love of Christ, the suffering that you endure will feel like nothing. When you have the self-sacrificing, self-giving, self-focused, selfless love of God in Christ for you, then all that you may endure from that point pales in comparison, and moreover, becomes the joy of life, for you endure it for the sake of Christ.
And as we have learned to endure in the love of Christ, we then are enabled to demonstrate that love to others. We are His friends, we learn from Him, we follow His example. We are easily able and enabled to demonstrate that same love He has shown us to others.
The problem, of course, is this: we don’t often want to show the love of Christ for the very reason of selfishness. We covet what others have. We see their lives, their spouses, their homes, their kids, and it leads us away from showing love, abiding in the commandments of Christ. Why bring this up in this way? Because covetousness shows off our selfishness. It shows off our lack of love for our neighbor, our friends. Covetousness creates in us all kinds of selfish desires. It tries to take for us exactly what we want without any kind of concern for anyone else.
But, here’s where this really becomes the problem: our prayers. What are we praying for and about? Whatever you ask the Father for in my name, He may give it to you. We hear that and think, hmm, money, wealth, power, prestige, whatever, God says He’ll give it. This is where so many of the prosperity preachers go wrong. The problem is that we miss what Jesus says right before this. We abide in His love, He chose us that we might bear good fruit, which is love and service to our neighbor, He chose us to bear good fruit, so that whatever we ask is given. Well, what does that mean?
It means that the more we love and serve our neighbor, the more our desire, our prayers will be for them. Your neighbor needs a hand up, God will work to give it to them when you’re praying as your serve them. Your neighbor needs a soft shoulder to cry on, you pray for it and God has given it to them. As your love and serve your neighbors, your prayers, your desires begin to be shaped by it so that what you’re asking for is what God wants to give and not what your covetous, sinful heart would desire for yourself.
That’s loving one another. It’s a simple thing, really. That’s the fulfillment of the Law. That’s what Jesus says: love God, love others. Do that and you’ll live. I know you’re going to mess up. I know you’re going to fail. I know you’re going to sin. And so does God. That’s not the point. As Christians, friends of Christ, beloved and chosen by the Father, we are brought into His kingdom that we might share the goodness of life and the love of Christ with others. We are illuminated to the Lord’s good work, for we are His friends, and not just His servants. We are about His business, and we know what that is.
We get to go out and do good. We get to keep His commandments. John tells us in his first epistle that the commands of the Lord aren’t burdensome. They’re not. Relatively, we can choose pretty easily to serve others. And, even if you’re kinda mopey, even if you don’t really want to right then, even if your motivation isn’t quite right, guess what. You’re still keeping the Lord’s commands to love one another. You’re not doing it perfectly, which, of course, is sin, and needs to be forgiven, but you’re still doing it.
And if you are in Christ, even your sin-filled good deeds are counted as righteous. You lay yourself aside for others, even you complain about it a little, and you’re abiding in His love, because He laid down His life for you. He laid it down for you that He might pick it up again, and He did, for He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! He has shown us a better way, a good way, that we might care for one another. And why? Why would you care for your brothers and sisters? Because. Because He first loved us. Because you are forgiven. Because you are baptized. Because you have been given His Supper. Because. Because you abide in Christ and because He abides in you. Because He tells you to do so. Because. Because you love others on account of the fact that Christ loves them, and He loves you. Because. Because He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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