Pastor Slaughter
Easter-6
5-9-2021
John 15:9-17
Theme: Love One Another
What do you think is the most defining characteristic of a Christian? I am talking about that something when you see it you think “They must be a Christian!” Is it something they wear, like a cross neckless, or rocking the WWJD bracelet (which I haven’t seen since high school) or sporting that Christian t-shirt? Or is something they do. Seeing them go to Church every week. Or how they constantly look for opportunities to serve both in the community or at church.
How do you think the world would answer the question? What do you think the world would say is the most defining characteristic Christian? Do some think we are closed minded or naive? Do they look at Christianity as a simply a bunch of rules to follow that Christians miss out on all the good stuff? Or do they think we are a bunch of hypocrites?
Last and certainly not least, how do you think Jesus would answer that question? What do you think Jesus would say is the most defining characteristic Christian? Let’s say it’s simply a given that he would say faith that is to say believing in him as your Savior is the most important thing. But what would he say is that defining characteristic that if you don’t possess this trait…that if you don’t do this thing your faith is really called into question? Is it community service? Is it being a good person? Is it going to church? Is it how much you give back to him?
What would he say is the most defining characteristic of a Christian? Jesus says, “These things I am instructing you, so that love one another.” Isn’t it love? By loving God first and loving your neighbor, isn’t that how our faith is seen? But when the world calls Christians hypocrites, is there some truth behind that? Is it because we have failed to show love by what we say or do? When Jesus looks at our lives, what would he say? Have we been putting love into practice? Have we been loving one another? My prayer for us today is that we be encouraged by Jesus’ love for us. That his love for us gives the motivation and the power to do what Christians do, Love One Another.
Last week we heard a nice sermon about staying connected to Jesus. About how Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches and as we stay connected to Jesus, we bear fruit. But what does it look like to go and bear fruit and show what it means when Jesus says, “prove to be my disciples” (v. 8)?
Jesus tells us what it looks like to bear fruit and be his disciple. He tells us to remain in his love, “As the Father has loved me, so also I have loved you. Remain in my love.” So how do we do that? “If you hold on to my commands, you will remain in my love…” (v 10) What is that command? Verse 12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.”
This makes sense, doesn’t? As we are connected to Jesus as a branch is connected to a vine, we bear fruit. The fruit that we bear are the good works we do because we are connected to Jesus. What are those good works? Keeping his commands. What is that command? “Love one another as I have loved you.”
What does that love look like? Jesus says, “No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends” (v. 13). This is the kind of love that Jesus showed us. He laid down his life for us. When Jesus tells us “to love one another as I have loved you,” he doesn’t give a bunch of little examples of what love looks like. He doesn’t say hold the door for someone. Or simply feed the hungry. Instead of giving us a bunch of little examples of what love looks like, he gives to us the ultimate example of what it truly means to love someone. To be willing to lay down your life for them.
To love someone that much…to lay down your life for them. To love someone that much is the most selfless thing you could do and that is precisely what Christ has done for you and me. If you love someone that much to give all that you had for them, that is the complete opposite of selfishness. Love that does everything for the other person. This kind of love is a self-sacrifice in both attitude and action.
What do you think about that? To love others just as Christ loves us, to love someone so much that you are willing to sacrifice your life for them, and if you are willing to sacrifice all of that then how about your pride, or your time, your energy?
On the hand I think all of will wholeheartedly agree. With so much violence and division in our country now, we want it to end. There is tension among friends and family. We think that if everyone loved more, life would be better. Isn’t that what Jackie DeShannon expresses in her song, All we need is love? “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of what the world needs now is love, sweet love. No not just for some, but for everyone.” If only people would love each other the way Christ loves, then everything would be better.
That is a great thought and a nice wish. But how often do we point the finger and say that they should love like Christ but fail to look inward and say, “I should love like Christ.” It’s easier to say that someone else needs to change as opposed to looking inward and saying, “I need to change.” Is that the kind of selfless love that Christ demands from us when he says, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
This is hard. I mean really hard. It’s easy for us to love someone who is like us, if they will listen to us, if they do something for us, if they help us, or if they are kind to us, if they fit in our friend circle. It is easier for us to love someone like that. But what about a total stranger? Or even harder yet someone who has sinned against you, would you be able to have that kind of love that is self-sacrificing in both attitude and action toward them?
The love that Jesus is talking about here, is the love that he showed us on the cross. It is the love that not only led him to sacrifice his life but to endure pains of hell for sins he never committed. It was for a people who sinned against him. It was for the adulterers, the alcoholics, the thief, the murders. It was for the greedy. It was the idolaters. It was for a people who loved other things and people more than him. It was for people who failed to show love by what they say and do. It was for you and me. You know what that sacrifice has won for us? Forgiveness. Do you know what he calls us? His friends.
Jesus says, “But I have called you friends, because everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will endure…” (vs. 15b-16a). Isn’t that a comforting thought? That Jesus not only calls you friend but that he chose you! Not because you and I deserved it but because of his great love. And he chose you for a purpose to bear fruit. But not just any fruit. Fruit that will endure. What fruit will last more than to share Jesus’ love with others? What better way to show we are chosen by Jesus than to love one another?
To bear fruit…to love one another with the same kind of love that Jesus loved us… It’s hard. It’s really hard. At times, keeping God’s commands, it feels like a burden. Why would Jesus command us to love one another when it’s so hard? Listen to what he says, “I have told you these things so that my joy would continue to be in you and that your joy would be complete.” Why does he command us to show love? So that we might have his joy and that our joy may be complete.
God does not give us his commandments to make our lives boring or more difficult but rather because he knows that it is for our good. We are happier when we follow his Commandments. Hebrews 12:2 says, “In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne.” Jesus found joy in keeping his Father’s command… even if that meant going cross. That joy in keeping God’s commands is in us. It brings joy to God when we live in his love by faith and produce fruits of faith. At the same time, we can experience no fuller joy than to live this way in the Savior’s love.
As we keep his commandments, as we remain in his love what does Jesus call us? His friends. Friends whom he has shared the heart and mind of God. That Jesus has been our friend has no greater proof than in what he did for us on the cross. Now we get to show we are his friends by the way we are with one another. Love each other.
What do you think is that most defining characteristic of Christian? It’s love. When the world looks at us what should they see? A people who reflects Christ love by loving one another. That self-sacrificing love in both our attitude and action. This will be hard and truthfully, we will fail at times. But when we do, we run back to the love of Jesus. The more we see Christ love in our lives, it empowers us and motivates us to show that kind of love towards one another. “No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.” Friends of Jesus, go and show that love. Amen!