Message: ‘The Fullness of
Love’pt2
Text: John 15:9-17
• I wonder why it’s a
compliment to tell a woman she
looks like a breath of spring,
but not to tell her she looks
like the end of hard winter.
Isn’t it the same thing?
• I wonder why it pleases her
to say time stands still when
you look into her face, but not
to say her face would stop a
clock. Isn’t it the same thing?
• I wonder why we drive on a
parkway and park on a driveway?
There are many things in this
world that cause us to wonder.
But one of the most striking is
that the One True and Ever
Living God, loves us and wants
us to be his friends.
Transition: Open your
Bibles to John 15:12 (pg. 824 in
the Bibles under the chair in
front of you). It’s here that
we’ll discover that friendship
with God is the result of your
love relationship with him.
3. John 15:12 ‘As I have
loved…so you shall love’
Read: John 15:12
Go back to the mental bookmark I
asked you to set a couple weeks
ago. Remember the word ‘as’?
Here it is again in a similar
grammatical structure. Follow me
on this…
• ‘As the Father has
loved me, so I have loved you’
• ‘Love each other as I
have loved you’
Notice the relationships of
love…
• between the members of
the Godhead,
• between Jesus and us,
• and between you and
each other.
There’s something about the love
that exists in the Godhead that
must also be present in our love
for each other. And that’s a
very
high standard.
Loving one another is not an
option. Loving one another is
not an item on a cafeteria line
you can choose not to take.
Loving one another is not just a
commandment, it’s the second
greatest commandment given by
God.
Question: What are some
of the things you love?
We use the word love in such a
common way today that it’s
almost void of meaning. Jesus,
however, qualifies his love for
us. He gives it meaning when he
said I love you the way the
Father loves me. Love each other
in the same way. What is that
love like? It’s love without
strings. Love without end.
• I love you even though
you disobey me
• I love you even though
you ignore me
• I love you even though
you crucified me
Love one another as I have loved
you.
Transition: But just how
far do we go to display this
kind of love for one another?
Jesus set the example for us.
4. John 15:13 ‘The extent
of love’
Read: John 15:13
Forget about mere inconvenience;
forget about giving your time
and effort. Jesus is saying that
loving as he loved means the
life of your friend is more
important then your own life.
WHOA!
ILL: I read the story of
two friends in World War I who
were inseparable. They had
enlisted together, trained
together, were shipped overseas
together, and fought
side-by-side in the trenches.
During an attack, one of the men
was critically wounded in a
field filled with barbed wire
obstacles. He was unable to
crawl back to his foxhole. The
entire area was under enemy
crossfire, and it was suicidal
to try to reach him. Yet his
friend decided to do just that.
The sergeant told him, "It’s too
late. You can’t do him any good,
and you’ll only get yourself
killed." But the man went
anyway. He returned a few
minutes later, carrying his
friend. But he himself had been
mortally wounded. The sergeant
was both angry and deeply moved.
He blurted out, "What a waste!
He’s dead and you’re dying. It
just wasn’t worth it." With
almost his last breath, the
dying man replied, "Oh, yes it
was, Sarge. When I got to him,
the only thing he said was, ’I
knew you’d come, Jim.’"
That’s the ‘as’ when Jesus said
love each other as I have loved
you. Impossible? No! Easy? No!
Expected? Yes!
But I don’t think Jesus was just
talking about a ‘throw yourself
if front of a bus to save your
friend’ kind of love. I believe
it means we need to care for one
another in relevant ways, ways
that respond to our deepest
needs.
Our love for one another may be
expressed as
• Comfort: giving your
friend a a hug when they are
hurting or sad
Our love for one another may be
expressed as
• Acceptance: even though
your friend does things or
believes some things differently
than you, they’re still your
friend.
Our love for one another may be
expressed as
• Appreciation: Sending a
card or e-mail letting your
friend know you value their
friendship
Our love for one another may be
expressed as
• Support: watching their
children so your friends can
attend a bible study or go out
on a date night…and not charging
them.
I believe Jesus is telling us
that we need to respond to the
needs of our friends in ways
that truly matter…just as he did
when he died for our sin. After
all, that’s what you and I
really needed…relevant? You bet!
Transition: This kind of
love is a sign of relationship,
of friendship.
5. John 15:14-17 ‘The result
of love’
Read: John 15:14-17
There are three aspects of
friendship I want to look at
briefly this morning.
Friendship and God’s Command
Understand that obedience to
God’s commands is not what MAKES
you a friend of God…but it’s
what MARKS you as God’s friend.
Just as it’s not your love for
each other that makes you a
Christian, but your love for
each other is a sign that you
are a Christian.
Read: John 13:35 ‘By this
all men will know that you are
my disciples, if you love one
another.’
Friendship and Servanthood
Jesus is talking about a change
that’s about to be made in his
relationship with this
disciples.
• He will no longer deal
with them as slaves or students
who must do whatever the
master/teacher says.
• Jesus’ disciples would
no longer be in the dark as to
what Jesus has planned. Up to
now they didn’t understand a lot
of what Jesus said and did,
but that will soon
change.
When Jesus is your friend, he
speaks to you, he lets you know
what’s going on, he reveals his
plans for you. That’s what
friends do.
Friendship and Choice
So that there is no
misunderstanding the awesome
privilege it is to be a friend
of God, Jesus reminds his
disciples, then and now, that
his friendship comes not as a
result of their wisdom or
goodness or right choices. Being
a friend of God is first a
choice made by God alone.
Calvinist, Arminian…let’s put
the labels aside for a moment.
OK, the disciples did actually
choose to follow Jesus. They
make a choice, they made a
decision, it was an act of
volition, of their will to
accept Jesus as their savior.
Jesus didn’t grab and take them
kicking and screaming. And
that’s true for you too. You
chose God, you accepted Jesus as
your savior…if you are a
Christian. Jesus didn’t come and
drag you into the Kingdom. BUT…
Because of that you may feel or
think that the initiative lies
within you in becoming a friend
of God...a Christian. But it was
God’s initiative, God’s first
act of grace that you responded
to with an open heart.
Read: John 6:44 ‘No one
can come to me unless the Father
who sent me draws him, and I
will raise him up at the last
day.’
I’m glad it was God’s doing and
not mine.
• I’m fickle, I’m
impulsive and my decisions are
at times based on how I feel at
the moment therefore I can
change my mind very easily.
• God isn’t fickle and he
doesn’t change his mind, he’s
not short sighted or impulsive
like I am, God’s choices have
the weight of eternity behind
them.
I am assured of the forgiveness
of my sin, I am assured of
eternal life in heaven, not
because of my decision to accept
Jesus (which I did make) but
because God initiated the
process of my salvation
• by drawing me to Jesus
• by taking away my heart
of stone and replacing it with a
heart of flesh to love him.
• by making me alive when
I was dead in my sin,
• by giving me the
ability to say yes to the offer
of salvation by Jesus Christ.
Calvinist or Arminian…we can
argue about it till Jesus comes
again…but instead I would rather
spend the time praising and
thanking God for his wonderful
unmerited grace and never ending
love for me.
One last thing, note that God
choose you not only to be his
friend, but to bear fruit. To be
so influenced by God in all your
life that the Holy Spirit is
free to produce spiritual fruit
in you.
Conclusion
• In the Godhead, between
God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Spirit…there is a
relationship of mutual love, joy
and friendship.
• This same relationship
of mutual love, joy and
friendship can exist between you
and God if you ask Jesus to be
your savior.
• And that’s not all…it
can exist between us, between
the children of God…
• and not only can it
exist…it must exist if we want
to faithfully and successfully
navigate the Christian life.
If we are going to make
Christianity work in our lives,
there must be a relationship of
mutual love, joy and friendship
between you and God and between
you and you, and you and you…
