Grace and Peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in
the truth, for His word is truth. Amen
Sixth Sunday of
Easter (2009)
Abiding in the Love of Jesus
John 15:9-17 (ESV)
As the Father has loved me, so have I 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, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be full.
[12]
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. [13] Greater love has no one than
this, that someone lays 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
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. [16] 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. [17] These things I command
you, so that you will love one another.
The Greek language of the Bible has three words to
describe love; ajgavph (agape’), filevw (phileo), and ejravw (erao). The first two, ajgavph
(agape’) and filevw (phileo), describe
love that is affectionate, personal, and deliberate; such as the love of a
parent for their children. The last one, ejravw, is sensual love, a love
that emanates from desire or yearning. In today’s Gospel Reading the apostle
John uses the Greek word ajgavph to describe the love of Jesus. When Jesus says; “As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (v. 9)
the word He uses is ajgavph (agape’). Thus, our Lord Jesus is
saying His love for us is a personal, affectionate, and deliberate love. A love
that desires nothing but the very best for each one of us; a love that says you
are mine.
Jesus’ love for His disciples is exactly the same type
of love as His Father’s love for Him. In His comments, Jesus is speaking of the
Father’s love for Him as the Incarnate Son. God attests to this love when, at
Jesus’ baptism, He says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well
pleased” (Matt.
Immediately after telling His disciples to “Abide
in my love”, Jesus says, “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” (v. 10). Pretty straight forward explanation, “If
you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love”.
Now, this is not the first time that Jesus has told
His disciples that they will show their love for Him by keeping His commandments.
Just prior to His promise of sending the Holy Spirit, Jesus said: “If
you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John
You may have heard it said that there aren’t any
commandments in the New Testament; Jesus did away with the commandments when He
died on the
On His last evening with the disciples, Jesus told
them, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I
have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know
that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John
Love of neighbor is an all encompassing term. It reaches
out to everyone, even to our enemies. Our Lord Jesus brought a new love into
the world, a love that is not only faultless and perfect but one that is
intelligently bent on the salvation of the object of His love; you and me. Thus,
it is a new commandment, one that brings to believers a new understanding of
how we are to live in relationship with each other. The disciples intimately knew
the experience of Jesus’ love. Now, since He would be leaving them, they were commanded
to carry on His love by loving each other and taking that love to the world so
that all mankind could love as Jesus loved them. Moreover, our Savior’s love is
a redeeming love; a love that destroys sin, death, and the devil while offering
eternal salvation to all who abide in Him. Therefore, as His disciples, you and
I are to love all mankind with a love that always has their best interest at
heart. It is a love that is expressed through the proclamation of the Gospel of
the forgiveness of sins in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a love
that is manifested in our caring for the lives of others; caring for their
eternal salvation and caring for their earthly welfare. It is a love that
emulates the love of Jesus, a selfless, humble, life-giving love. It is a love
that is quick to forgive, a love that seeks no vengeance, and a love that
requires no penitence. It is a love based solely on the all-forgiving,
all-loving attributes of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a love that
fulfills both the first and second greatest commandments.
In the world there are all types of love, but by
far, the most intense is the love of family. Our love for our spouse, our
parents, our children, or our biological brother or sister is a special kind of
love; one that is not shared with those outside the family. Thus, family is
special and that’s why it is such a marvelous word, it carries such warm and
loving connotations, and this is exactly what each of us here this morning
belong to, the same family, the family of believers in Jesus Christ. As Christians
we are eternal brothers and sisters, members of the body of Christ. We all
share in and abide in the love of the Father and the Son forever. As such, we are
to always strive to support each other by encouraging one another to come to a
better understanding of Jesus’ love for us through a better understanding of
His revealed Word in Holy Scripture, and by seeking His forgiveness through
prayer, intercessions, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Moreover, such special love is the love of a Christian for all mankind. We are
driven by our love for Christ and His love for us to invite the world into our
family. That is why when our invitation is rebuffed, we grieve because we do
not want to lose one single soul to Satan, and this is the nature of all who do
not abide in the love of Christ. The focus of our love toward our neighbor is
for them to know the love of Christ, to believe in the forgiveness of sins, and
to relish in the promise of eternal life with our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ.
However, as happens from time to time within
families, some Christians get angry at other Christians within their
congregation over the silliest things. Now, I’m not talking about a righteous
anger over the teaching of heresy or that which stems from the revelation that
one who was trusted turns out to be a hypocrite. Nor am I talking about the
anger that stems from one who is unwilling to repent of their sin, because our
Lord provides us with clear instructions in how to deal with such sins.
However, I am talking about anger that is driven by pride or selfishness. Such
as getting angry because your child isn’t the lead singer in choir; or getting
angry because your name wasn’t mentioned in the credits for something; or getting
angry because someone within the congregation did or didn’t do something you thought
needed to be done; or getting angry because the pastor makes a human mistake
from the pulpit. Before you know it, in a huff, these angry people leave the
church, hopping to another one in the community. Many times people such as
these become nothing more than church-hoppers. It doesn’t matter where they are,
eventually they will find something to get angry about. They cannot control
themselves, they cannot stop their anger, and they cannot maintain lasting
friendships. These they cannot do because they are not Abiding in the Love of Jesus. Moreover,
without such love, they cannot function in a family that is built, solely on
The Love of Christ and they become outcasts.
Our Lord, Jesus told His disciples, “By
this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another” (John
Love, the type Jesus brought to the world, is always
constructive, building up those who are loved. If a Christian brother or sister
stumbles and falls, we don’t revel in their sin saying, “Aha, their getting
just what they deserve!” These fallen, family members of the Body of Christ are
not heretics, disavowing God and the Gospel. No, they are nothing more than
sinners; just like you and I. Each of us are all guilty of sin and but for our
heavenly Father who sent His Son to rescue us from the clutches of hell, we
would all be lost. Therefore, we also, like our heavenly Father, should reach
out our hand to pick up these fallen brothers and sisters from the ditch of sin,
dust them off, and give them aide toward healing their pain with the loving,
soothing words of the Gospel. True love, as expressed by Jesus in today’s
Gospel, is a love that says, “Regardless of their actions, they will always be
my children and I will do everything I can to help them, to heal them, and to
lead them away from the harm they would do themselves.” This is the love that
Christians have for each other. A love that says, “Greater love has no one than
this, that someone lays down his life for his friends” (v. 13).
In verse 16 of today’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that
we did not choose Him but He chose us. How truly fortunate we are, for is there
any doubt that we were undeserving of His choice? There’s nothing we have done
or ever will do that can earn His choosing us. Just as there is nothing we have
ever done or ever will do that deserved His dying on Calvary’s Cross for the
forgiveness of our sins and the reconciliation He obtained for us with His heavenly
Father by His sacrificial death. However, this is exactly what Jesus did for
us. His love for us was so great that He willing went to His death so that we
might live. He willing suffered on the altar of the cross so that we wouldn’t
have to suffer in the eternal fires of hell. How does one describe such love? Listen
to the voice of
Our Lord Jesus makes it clear, “You are my friends if you do
what I command you” and “These things I command you, so that you will love one
another” (vv. 14, 17). How do we know that we are Abiding in the Love of Jesus, we know if we love one another. Amen.
May the Peace of God which passeth all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.