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Reading John 15:12-15 where Jesus says again to His disciples to love one another, and there is no greater love than to give up one's life for the sake of another. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Jesus has said to his disciples, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. And he comes back to this command again. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you, when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back again to our study of the gospel of John chapter 15. And I'll begin reading in verse 12 through verse 17 today. Jesus said to his disciples, 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. Once again, Jesus comes back to the commandment to love one another. He gave this back in chapter 13, verse 34. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you, so you also are to love one another.
Several times over the course of the gospel of John, we have seen Jesus say something one way, and then he will expound upon that in his discourse. And then he'll make the same statement again, but he'll use slightly different words or he'll explain it in a different way.
And this is a tactic that Charles Spurgeon imitated in his preaching and also encouraged other preachers to preach the same way. Say something one way, and then say it again, using slightly different words, so that the meaning of the statement that you are making will have a more firm grasp upon the hearer.
It will plant more solidly in their heart. It will be more meaningful to them. It's a teaching tool, that a person may come to understand it all the more clearly. And so I believe that's what Jesus' motivation was here.
Of course, he is God, and by the aid of the Holy Spirit, the disciples come to understand these things, but nevertheless, he is speaking to them according to their human limitations. And it is in repeating things several times that the disciples will come to understand the importance and the significance of this command that Jesus is giving to his disciples.
This is the way that he started out his discourse, washing their feet, saying, as I have done for you, so you are to do for one another, and then saying a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Now, back when we were talking about this in chapter 13, one of the things I said was, often a response I get to this particular verse is, well, how is this a new commandment? Because doesn't the Old Testament also tell us to love one another?
Absolutely it does. But what makes this commandment new is that now the disciples have an example to follow. Now God has done for us something that had never been done in human history up to the giving of his son.
Jesus taking on human flesh, he came not to be served, but to serve and to lay his life down as a ransom for many. And as he had given his life for our sake, so we are to do that for one another. Philippians chapter two, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but that you would consider others needs ahead of your own.
And this is the apostle Paul repeating to the Philippians, the same thing that Jesus said to his own disciples, that you would lay down your life for your friend. So this is a new commandment in the sense that we are imitating our Lord Christ in the way that we show love for each other.
Jesus said this in John 13, and then he repeats it again in John 15. Now, oftentimes when he makes these repeating statements, we don't have that much discourse happen before he repeats it again. But in this particular case, it spans over two chapters.
And then he says it again, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Now he doesn't say it this time or preface it this time by saying a new commandment I give to you because he's already said that.
He's already said a new commandment I give that you love one another. And then in the first half of chapter 15, he talked about loving Christ in obedience to his commands. You show that you love God when you obey what it is that he has commanded.
Well, he said that in chapter 14 as well. Verse 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And then he says this again also in chapter 15, as the father has loved me, so I have 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. That was verses nine and 10. So now we get to verse 12 where he says, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.
I've been going through Galatians with my church congregation in our Sunday morning service. And Galatians chapter five is, what I'm going through right now, I was about to say I just finished it up, but that's not, I actually have a couple more weeks in chapter five.
But I just got through the section in Galatians 5, verses 13 through 15, where Paul says the following. For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love, serve one another.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. As I've talked about with my own church congregation, and I've shared this on this program as well, the second half of the 10 commandments were really commandments five through 10 are the second table of the law and they deal with how we love one another.
It's the horizontal commandments, man loving man. And the first commandment of the horizontal commandments is honor your father and your mother. That's commandment number five. The next one is do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet.
And these commandments can be summed up in this one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The first table of the law, the first four commandments that have to do with how we love God, they can be summed up in this way.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Love the Lord your God. That's the summation of the first table of the law. The second table of the law can be summed up this way.
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And so with Jesus giving this commandment to his disciples, he is giving them the second table of the law. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.
So it's more than just saying love one another because that was in the law the entire time. It's now saying love one another as you've seen me do this, as I have loved you, as I am gonna lay my life down for you so that you can have the forgiveness of sins and fellowship with God.
So you must do this for one another. Now, of course, we can't lay down our lives for each other in such a way that atones for sin. And that's not what Jesus is suggesting. But the way that we lay down our lives for each other would be so that we could grow in sanctification.
And in so doing, we grow closer to the father who gives us forgiveness of sins. So there is a way in which our loving one another does help to perfect one another. And we come to know and receive the forgiveness of God that is given through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
We can't do that. You can't give the forgiveness of God to another person. But the way that we love one another would be partnering in that sanctifying work that we should build one another up, that we should grow in this forgiveness and grace that we have been given by God.
And so this is the way that we love one another as Christ has loved us. We follow his example. And his example, far greater humility than we could ever exercise. When the apostle Paul says in Philippians chapter two to consider others needs more highly than you consider your own.
He goes into the example of Christ in Philippians chapter two verse five. He says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. So he's telling us to consider one another's needs ahead of our own and says, this is the mind of Christ.
And then gives the song of Christ in verses six through 11 who stepped down from his throne in heaven, took on human flesh, became obedient to the father to the praise of his glorious grace. And God has given him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
So as Jesus has done this for us, so we are to do it for each other. We will never be able to exercise the level of humility that Jesus did for us, but nevertheless, we have that example. Jesus gave far more than we will ever give.
So it should be our desire that we should give all of ourselves to Christ in return. Knowing that he gave us everything, we should be willing to give him everything. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.
Verse 13, greater love has no one than this that someone laid down his life for his friends. Now, whenever we read that verse, John 15, 13, we often think of Jesus laying down his own life, dying for his friends, dying for his disciples, dying for us.
Second Corinthians 5, 21, for our sake, he became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He did this for our sake. So Jesus laying down his life, taking the wrath of God upon himself on the cross, being buried in a tomb, rising again from the dead, taking away the sting of death for us.
He conquered death and forgives our sin. Jesus literally laid down his life for us. So that is the way that we'll often interpret John 15, 13. But understand that Jesus, this is following the commandment that Jesus has given to his disciples that you lay down your life for someone else as I have loved you, so you are to love one another.
Greater love has no one than this that someone laid down his life for his friends. So yes, of course, we would be talking about the literal death of Jesus for us. But as this accompanies the commandment that we are to love one another, what does this mean for us and how we love each other?
Not that you would literally lay down your life for somebody else, although there may be an opportunity to do that, for you to actually give up your life that someone else may live, that you would go into the mission field and give your life preaching the gospel and maybe you get killed or murdered for that, martyred for that, but yet you have done this because you love others.
You have given your life so that someone else can hear the gospel and live. And I say, go into the mission, mission field. There are places in the country where you live. You can go and it would be dangerous for you to go there and share the gospel.
But maybe the Lord would call you to that. You would put your life at risk for someone else's sake that they would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and live. Greater love has no one than this that someone would do such a thing, lay down his life for his friends.
So more practically, more generally, more in the everyday sense of the application of this verse, you must give up your own desires and your own will for the benefit of somebody else. There is a way that you can sacrifice for someone else today.
And that's another way that that verse, John 15, 13 becomes applicable to the believer in our lives. Verse 14, you are my friends, Jesus says, if you do what I command you. Once again, Jesus saying the same thing another way using slightly different words, so that what he is saying is all the more meaningful.
It has all the more impact. This goes right back to verse 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. You are my friends, if you do what I command you.
And this also goes back to Genesis, where God revealed his heart, his plans, his intentions with Abraham. And Abraham was a friend of God. And the disciples know that. So as Jesus is saying this to his disciples, all of these things are triggering in their mind.
They're pulling all this stuff together. Well, God was a friend to Abraham. And Jesus is saying we can be a friend of God just as Abraham was a friend of God. James 2 .23, the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
And he was called a friend of God. And so likewise, we can be friends with God if we listen to Jesus Christ and we obey his commandments, specifically the command that we would love one another as God has loved us.
1 John 4 .19, we love because he first loved us. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. Let me tie this back into something that I had talked about yesterday. How is it that we are to show love to our brothers and sisters in the Lord?
How do we do that? How do we obey this command to love one another? Well, first of all, you must go to church. How are you gonna find where your brothers and sisters in the Lord are? You will find them in church.
And you must actually open your heart up to your brothers and sisters that they can come in and know you and that you can have fellowship with one another. You can't just appear in church and say, well, I like these people and boom, there you've fulfilled your obligation to love one another.
There is an intimacy, a fellowship that must happen there, a friendship. Jesus is saying here, I have let you know what the Father has said, what is going on in my heart, what the will of God is. And in this way, I call you friends.
You're not my servants, you are my friends. We do serve God, we do serve Christ, absolutely. But the honor that is given to us that Jesus would associate with us, even in our sufferings, even in our struggles and frustrations and all of this, Jesus has shared in this with us.
God stepping into human flesh became like his brothers in every respect, as it says in the book of Hebrews, so that he might become that gracious high priest who is able to represent us before the Father when he goes into the Holy of Holies.
So Jesus has experienced everything as a man that we experience. He knows struggle, he knows depression, he knows pain and suffering, he's gone through that. And in ways that we won't ever go through that, praise God, because he has done that for us on our behalf.
So as Jesus has struggled with us, so we must share in one another's trials and sufferings and heartbreaks. And that means you're gonna have to get personal with one another. It's not enough that you just know about people, what do they know about you?
What are you sharing with each other? When we have the commandment in Romans chapter 12, which gets repeated a lot, but weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice, it doesn't just mean, oh, well, this makes this person sad, so I'm gonna be sad with them.
You must actually have a fellowship with that person, put an arm around them, pray together and sob together, weeping with those who weep, not just being sad on behalf of another person, but that you would share in these experiences with one another, helping to encourage one another, building each other up.
There is gonna be some needed personal interaction, fellowship, a vulnerableness to this. You are making yourself vulnerable to another person. You are trusting one another. And I don't just mean to equate like the weeping and the sobbing and the going through trials and sufferings together.
That's certainly gonna be a test of friendship, but even the rejoicing together, you can't properly rejoice with someone else unless you have opened your heart to them as well, unless you guys are united with one another to such a way, in such a way that when someone else gets excited, it also excites you.
You are rejoicing together in the Lord for the things that he is doing in the body of Christ. And it requires you to have a vulnerableness and a trustingness with each other. If you don't make your interaction with the body of Christ personal, then it's just legalistic.
You're just sitting there. You know everybody's names. You know what everybody is going through, but you're not actually wanting to go through it with them or even let anyone else in on the stuff that you're going through, then it's just legalism.
Just, well, I'm here, you know, I'm part of the church. I do my Bible study. I still know what the Bible says. I still pray, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. Well, you're not fulfilling the commandment to love one another.
Jesus even made himself so vulnerable to his disciples that he was betrayed. And when Judas came and kissed him to show that this is the man who needs to be arrested, Jesus' response to Judas' kiss was, friend, do what you came here to do.
Called him friend so that Judas would become aware of the gravity of what it was that he had just done. Jesus had been a friend to him, had even washed his feet, and yet Judas had done this horrible thing.
The apostle Paul talks about Demas who had deserted him. So Paul even had a vulnerableness with his fellow missionaries so that he could be betrayed and let down and have people turn his back on him. That is definitely going to happen.
Unfortunately, that is the case. When we show our love and affection and lay our lives down for one another, people are going to hurt us because we're still sinful human beings who are easily ensnared by the devil and his schemes.
But yet it is necessary for the sake of those whom God is raising up in sanctification that we love each other first and foremost because Jesus has told us to do this. And this is how we show our love for him when we love one another.
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 your fruit should abide. Now there's a lot to unpack there in verse 16, so I don't want to hurry past that.
We'll come back to that portion of this study of John chapter 15 next week. Let's conclude with prayer. Our wonderful God and Savior, we thank you for considering our need. You demonstrated your love for us and that while we were yet sinners, you sent your son Jesus to die for us.
And what a blessing this is to us that you have shown such great sacrifice for us. What a small thing to be asked that we show our love in return by obeying your commandments. May we do so with joy. It would be our delight to follow God and obey him for we know what has been given for us to have fellowship with God.
No longer the wrath of God burning against us, but we have become friends and even fellow heirs of the kingdom of God with Christ. If there is any sinful way in us, if we have been so self-centered and self-motivated that we've been trying to keep people out and not getting personal with others and not truly loving the body of Christ as we have been called to love, then may the Holy Spirit convict our hearts and look for ways that we can continue to grow in friendship with one another.
Not trying to find ways that we can stand off away from each other, but finding ways that we can serve each other in your body, in Christ Jesus. Amen.
You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.
On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on a Old Testament study When We Understand the Text.