Abide in Love Acts 10:44–48; Psalm 98; 1 John 5:1–12; John 15:9–17
Introduction
“She loves me she loves me not.” may be a game played with a flower, but many Christians seem to judge whether God loves them or not by the circumstances of life! this contradicts Christ’s clear command, “Abide in my love.” When we obey this charge we enter into a level of certainty about being loved by God above all circumstances. At one level everyone desires to be immersed in love, at another level few are gripped by the inner wealth of being loved by their Creator (2 Cor 5:14). What’s going on when I ask a person, “Do you know that God loves you.” and they reply, “I know God loves everyone.” In their embarrassment they avoid the intimate depths of the subject. I understand this because for years I struggled a lot with the issue of the “love of God”. I had after all grown up with a father who never told me he loved me, and a mother who often spoke about her love for us, but she was insecure and possessive. I needed what we all need, a close relationship with Jesus. Anyone searching for the truth about love in the teaching of any other religious or philosophical figure will be disappointed. Jesus is unquestionably the great authority on love and for reasons that may surprise us.
John 15:9–17
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” The Son of God was empowered to love others because he knew how much he was loved by his heavenly Father (John 10:17). I was teaching a group of university students from 1 John chapter 3 the other night, it begins with, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” The love of God the Father is the bedrock of all biblical teaching on love and all experience of the love of God.
Jesus always prayed “Father” because “Father” is the highest way of describing what the expression, “God is love” (1 John 4:8), means. This love has nothing to do with the fallible “love” of earthly fathers and mothers. Jesus’ was constantly and completely loved by the Father in the fulness of the Spirit (Luke 4:1) and it was an overwhelming overflowing reality. To “abide” in Jesus’ love is to abide in the invincible love of God. This is the only place of security in an uncertain, unstable world. Suspicious minds might think there has to be a catch or a condition about being loved and at first glance what Jesus says next seems to imply this.
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.”
This sounds like a contract with God: “If you do this for me, then I will do this for you.” This seems to be saying that only to the degree that we keep the commandments can we experience the love of God. This sounds like a terrible unkeepable proposition. Whilst it is true that wilfully breaking God’s law grieves the Holy Spirit (Isa 63:10) so he cannot communicate God’s love for us, Jesus himself summed up the essence of all commandments, ““This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”” (John 6:29). In the New Testament, the highest form of obedience is called “the obedience of faith” in Christ (Rom 1:5; 16:26). By faith we can open our hearts to receive the outpoured love of the Spirit of God (Rom 5:5). Jesus goes on to make it plain that abiding in his love has nothing to do with some sort of transaction between us and God.
My thinking and living were revolutionised some years ago by hearing a theologian[1] contrast contractual thinking with covenantal thought. He insisted that the two must never be confused and that the God of the Bible is a covenant God and not a contract God!” Covenants are unconditional in their terms and in their obligations. A contract however is limited in what is given and what is expected. The total giving of God himself in Christ and the giving back of ourselves makes this clear. The “if…then” structure of contracts does have a place, but one that is subordinate to a relationship already created freely by grace. For example, “if” you worship idols then you will grieve the Holy Spirit and not experience the fulness of God’s love in your life. the only genuine human analogy to the divine covenant is marriage in its call for a total, permanent and exclusive commitment.
11 “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
The incredible promise is that abiding in God’s love brings a share in God’s joy. If God has no parts or divisions then his joy in us flows out of his love for us. The joy Jesus promises is a share in his own delighting in the Father (Luke 10:21). Jesus is an exciting person. Even though these days skipping for joy is a bit difficult it still happens in my early morning prayer walks. Enthusiasm for the Lord isn’t frivolous, its high theology. In 1646 a group of theologians met in London and produced The Westminster Confession of faith, It begins with the question, “What is the chief end/highest purpose of man?” the answer given is…. “…to glorify God and enjoy him forever”. When the Lord raises us from the dead we will be morally perfect as he is (1 John 3:2), then we will go on enjoying him forever and ever. This is “Hallelujah” territory!
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Not only were we created to be loved by God but also to love “one another” as he loves us. who is this “one another”? Whilst the Bible certainly commands us to honour and provide for our biological families (Ex 20:12; Mark 7:10; Eph 6:2; 1 Tim 5:8), in the order of God those closest to us are our brothers and sisters “in the Lord” (Col 4:7; 1 Thess 5:12). Jesus now expounds on the massive content of the sort of love he commands.
13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Love is more than a feeling, an action to sacrifice on someone else’s behalf. The greater the sacrifice the greater the revelation of love (John 3:1; Rom 5:8; 1 John 4:10). God’s love is extreme in human eyes. Someone said to me recently he was praying that he be able to like people more. Generally speaking, we like people because we see in them something which reminds of of ourselves and we find attractive. But God never commands us to like people, but to love people. Christ’s most extreme saying is, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matt 5:44-45). Who can forget this prayer from the cross, “Father forgive them…” (Luke 23:34). The essence of the love that comes form God is wanting the very best even for those who want the worst for you.
14 “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
This does not mean we earn the status of friendship with God. When Abraham believed God’s promises he was called “the friend of God” (Gen 15:6; 2 Chron 20:7; Isa 41:8; James 2:23). “Name dropping” is a common human problem, but to be a friend of God is a status shared by all who like Abraham are justified by faith alone (Rom 4:12). This awesome privilege should revolutionise our lives.
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.”
Best friends share….everything. God desires to share with us all we can bear at any time. Older versions of the Bible had the expression “bosom friend” in Psalm 41:9, and in this Gospel “the disciple Jesus loved” is described as “leaning on his bosom” (John 13:23). This is a beautiful image of the tender intimate friendship offered to us by God in Christ. Any believer who says, “I have no idea what God is doing in my life.” needs to listen closely to what Jesus says next.
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.”
Every now and then someone tells me they don’t pray for themselves, but there are multiple examples in the Gospels of Jesus praying for himself (Mark 14:32-36; 15:34; John 12:27-28; 17:1-8; Heb 5:7) as well as interceding for his disciples (Luke 22:32; John 17:9, 11, 15). The great goal of all Christ’s prayers was that we his disciples will bear lasting fruit for the glory of God (John 15:1-8). As Christlike people are we praying for ourselves and for one another to become more like Jesus? Have you prayed for yourself during the week that God would use our meeting this morning to make you more like Jesus, have you prayed that the Spirit would speak to everyone else here today, have you interceded for the musicians, the pray-ers, Bible readers and even the preacher?? If you have not then Jesus’ promise, “so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” has been emptied of its power. Let the Lord have the last word.
17 “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
The entire future of the Church depends on a new obedience to love one another! “everyone who loves the Father loves his children” (1 John 5:1).
Conclusion
People today unapologetically strive to love themselves and become all that they can be. The result, fuelled by social media, is a culture of excessive self-concern and great loneliness. JY visiting retirement village last week, many lonely people = a mission field on our doorstep!) (A majority of Australians feel lonely at times. https://psychweek.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Psychology-Week-2018-Australian-Loneliness-Report.pdf) the times are ripe for us to “love one another” and make it a lifegoal to see that others become all that God has created and called them to be. We are called to throw the full weight of our being into maximising the lives of others. This is what God did for us in Christ, he didn’t send a human messenger, like a prophet, but took human nature on himself that he might “give without measure”. It would not be too much to say that God’s being is his giving. This is why Jesus could claim, “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.” (John 3:34). The outpouring of the Spirit matched the outpouring of Christ for us.
And the Lord promised something similar to his disciples, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:37-38).
I believe the Lord is calling his Church, especially in prosperous nations like our own, to a new measure of giving. As we see a need in others, near and far, and are moved to meet that need we will encounter a fulness coming into us without which the need could never be met (Phil 2:30, Col 1:24 1 Thess 3:10). 1 John 3:16 should be just as memorable for us as John 3:16, “By this we know what real love is, that Jesus laid down his life for us, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers/sisters.” This is how we will abide in the love of God now and forever.