John 15 v 12-17 – Our Relationships with One Another – Loving one another as he has loved us

 

John 15 Verses 1-11 dealt with the disciples’ relationship with Jesus.

Verses 12-17 will incorporate into that connection the relationships disciples should have with one another.

12 My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.

It’s agape love here – the deepest, richest, most sacrificial love imaginable – a love so amazing that it’s impossible to show it without God’s help.

 

Let’s look at this for a bit longer to try to understand what Jesus is asking.

 

Notice that the progression in this chapter from the vine analogy to loving one another follows Jesus’ teaching that the greatest commandment is first to love God, then to love your neighbour.

 

Jesus says, first stay close to me, then show agape love to one another.

But to love one another as Jesus loved us is incredibly hard when you stop and think about it.

 

We cannot love perfectly for we ourselves are not perfect.

 

We are dazzled by the light of God’s perfect love for us when we encounter it but can only love him back with the limited capacity that we possess. And now Jesus is asking his disciples to love each other with the same love he has shown to them!

 

That means that I have to love YOU enough to die for you. Enough to teach you what I hear the Father saying out of love for you and concern for your growth, not out of any egotistical self-serving motive.

 

It means that when another member of the church asks a stupid question, you show the grace that Jesus would have done to James or John when they asked who would be the greatest.

 

It means that when someone leaves the church for a reason you just don’t understand, or offends you, speaks about you behind your back, you have to respond the way Jesus did when Peter denied knowing him three times: At the resurrection Jesus named Peter personally among the disciples so he knew he was still loved.

 

It means that when you are full of faith and meat-knowledge, but your Christian brother or sister shares their doubts, you respond the way Jesus did when Thomas wanted evidence.

 

It means being high on acceptance – not just accepting any form of behaviour or approving of sin, but accepting the person as someone you will show unconditional positive regard, regard-less of what they have done. It means being low on judgement – not that people’s actions won’t one day be judged before the great white throne, but having a non-judgemental attitude to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

This may all be easy within this small group. But what about the new person who behaves differently from us? That person who comes across as, well, just a bit weird?

The command from Jesus is that we love one another, not as ourselves as the old covenant stated, but as he loved us.

We can’t do it.

For the record, let’s be absolutely clear. This is an impossible commandment for us, in our own strength.

 

You may think you love everybody beautifully well, but there will come a day when someone rubs you up the wrong way, hurts you, accidentally reveals their imperfection in a way that exposes yours.

So let’s get things in order again. Remain in HIM first. Don’t forget the first part of the chapter. Then we can love others. The more we know his love for us, the more we can pass that love on.

Now we’ve got that straight, Jesus focuses on the emphasis of this instruction
to love one another, i.e. AS HE LOVED THEM.

So the next verses give us a prediction of how Jesus would soon show his love for his disciples, and it’s put out there as a template for them to follow in their love for one another.

Sure you still want to be a disciple!?

13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command.

Remember Jesus has not yet been crucified, and most of his disciples have no clue as to what will happen to him. So this is one of those statements that is best understood by them later on as they reflect on Jesus’ words and realise what he was telling them.

I can imagine one of the disciples present in this chapter recalling the words of Jesus here, later on after the resurrection thinking, “I get it now! Jesus was saying that HE would lay his life down for US! (v13) And we benefit from his death because we are his friends. And we know we are his friends because we obey his commands (v14).”

So although this section of John 15 is mainly addressing the disciples’ relationship with one another, these two verses connect the dots for us between our friendship with Jesus and our friendship with one another.

We are friends of Jesus because we are connected to him in a vine and branches way, which leads us to obey his commands. And our connection to Jesus automatically creates a connection to one another.

This is all made possible because of Jesus’ love for us in laying down his life.

Now it’s time for us to love each other in the same way.

Well that’s some heavy business right there. Jesus is letting his disciples see how God chooses to operate – through a love that the world knows nothing of.

 

He’s giving inside information to his disciples because they are indeed friends…

15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

‘No longer’ suggests that once they were called servants. Perhaps that was a more Jewish way of seeing things. Jesus’ teaching was far more personal and individualised than the Torah and the Prophets. In the Old Testament God’s people had a corporate identity. Most commands were for the community as a whole. Only the poetry touched on the individual’s lifestyle and David had unusual insight into having a personal relationship with God. Generally speaking, the Jews saw themselves as God’s servants, but to call themselves friends of God would sound presumptuous.

Now Jesus opens up a new era. So now we call God ‘Dad’ (Abba) as well as ‘Father’.

We are his friends. And we all confide more in our friends than we do other people.

In the same way, Jesus is still willing to confide in us. He told his first disciples what he heard from the Father. By his Holy Spirit he will speak to you. Are you listening? Are you close to the vine? Is your branch sagging? Draw near to him and he will draw near to you and whisper secrets into your ear that sustain you through the toughest of times. He is your friend.

And all this is within the section to do with loving one another – why? Because when we are close to Jesus and he’s confiding in us, something very special happens when we get together. When two or three are gathered and all of them have spent time feeding from the vine, they are able to share and encourage and make godly plans together. And they find it much easier to love one another too.

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Jesus choosing us rather than us choosing him? Does that make us the special ones that are chosen? I think Jesus is emphasising God’s initiative in our salvation. Without him we are nothing. We didn’t choose to be part of God’s Kingdom on our own terms. No, God chose us to be part of something that he is building. And he chose us to bear fruit, that is so that those who don’t yet realise they are chosen can come and grow into the vine.

And here is the ultimate outcome for disciples who abide in him and love one another with that miraculous love that can only come as a result of abiding in him: FRUIT!

And it is fruit that will last – the phrase ‘fruit that will last’ uses the same word used for ‘remain’ earlier in the chapter (i.e. fruit that remains). In other words, when we remain in him, we can remain friends with one another, and our witness will bring other branches forth that will also remain.

17 This is my command: love each other.

In case you thought Jesus had moved on, he brings us back to his central point for this section. It is all about love. Agape love. It’s a command.

If we want to see the lost saved – and I do – I believe we have to follow the pattern laid out here in John 15. Love God, love one another, and you will bear fruit. It starts in the secret place with Jesus. Spend time with him. Keep that channel clean, clear and connected to God. If we all do that our fellowship will be sweet. By this, others will know that we are his disciples. They will start asking questions, and we will bear fruit.