Loving your enemies, John 15:18-16:4

Christians have been the object of persecution by many nations and many regimes for centuries. In the years following Christ’s death, Nero the Roman Emperor declared Christians to be the enemy of Rome and began an empire wide persecution that if not for the grace of God would have eradicated Christianity.  In the nineteenth century  the Ottomans massacred about two-and-a-half million Christians. In the twentieth century, it’s estimated that the Soviets killed half a million Christians; and the Germans under Hitler, another quarter of a million. In the last 66 years in China, it is possible that those numbers have been exceeded.  One source said that in 2014 alone, 17,800 Christians were persecuted by the communist regime.  Christians have been persecuted by the hundreds of thousands all over the planet, from Africa to Spain, from Mexico to Iran, from Japan to India, from Germany to Russia, from France to the Middle East. This is what I would call organized persecution, that is state supported persecution. That kind of persecution was certainly included in this warning from Christ.

There is another, more common means of persecution though that also would have been in His thoughts.  This kind does not usually make headlines except in well publicised cases like that of the bakers in Colorado.  But it is persecution on a personal  level brought about by families, work places, and local people that react to you on some level of antagonism due to your religious beliefs. Jesus warns His disciples and by extension is warning us, that as we are reflections of Him, we can expect that kind of hatred and persecution because they persecuted and hated Him.  The more we are like Christ, the more we will find ourselves hated.  That’s really ironic, isn’t it?  Because you would think that the more you are like Christ, the more the world would like you.  But that is not what Jesus is teaching. He is saying that the more you act like Him, the more you teach what He taught, the more the world will hate you. 

And the reason is because Christianity purports to be the truth.  That’s why it’s hated.  That is what Christianity is, by the way.  It is believing in the truth as explained and proclaimed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is believing in absolute truth, and thus it brings hatred from every facet of society that feels threatened by the truth.  That is why Satan is so opposed to Christianity.  Because he is the father of lies, and there is no truth in him.  He has organized the world system so that it keeps mankind captive to his lies.  He hates the truth because as Jesus said the truth will make you free.  Truth frees mankind from the snare and trap of the devil’s lies. So the devil hates the truth, thus he hates Christians who are a living testimony to the truth.

And likewise the world hates Christianity, because it exposes their belief system as a lie.  And the world hates to be told that it’s way is a lie.  That everything they are working for, everything they believe in and hold dear is a lie.  No one wants to hear that.  

When I was actively involved in the antiques business, before I became a pastor, I quite often gave appraisals to people.  For a while I did it in conjunction with appearing on the Antiques Roadshow.  And as a result, people would often contact me for an appraisal of something they had acquired or inherited.  When my appraisal agreed with or exceeded their expectations, then things were good.  The people were happy, gratified to learn how much their item was worth. But when I had to tell someone that their item was fake, and consequently it was worthless, then they could get very angry at me.  They would become defensive, and that would sometimes escalate to anger and even hatred.  The reason that had that reaction was usually because they had invested so much in the item.  They had bought it at an auction or flea market believing they were getting a great deal and it was really worth a lot of money.  So when I threw cold water on their dream, which by this point they are so invested in, their response is to be angry, which often resulted in acting hateful towards me.  

The same situation occurs in the world concerning religion.  Some people inherit their religion.  It’s passed on from parent to child, from generation to generation.  So they are quite invested in their religion, and to have it challenged, and have their ancestor’s faith challenged is quite upsetting to them.  Others come to their religious beliefs by buying into a plausible sales job by a church that perhaps is a cult. They may have worked at it very hard, and sacrificed a lot for what they perceive to be true. Others have come to their religion or anti-religion because of research and study or  science.  Regardless of how they come by their religious views, when confronted with orthodox Christianity that purports to be the only truth by which you can be saved, the world not only hates the message, but also it hates the messenger.

So in these last hours before His death, Christ speaks to this fact of Christianity to prepare His disciples for what will occur after He has left them.  He wants to prepare them for the reality of continuing His ministry and the animosity that will be towards them. He doesn’t want them to be dismayed at the persecution that is coming, resulting in falling away from the faith. In chapter 16 vs.1 Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.”  That means to fall away, or be tripped up in your Christian walk.

Now just to remind you of the context, Jesus and the disciples have left the Upper Room and are walking in the darkness to the Mount of Olives.  Jesus has told them He is leaving them soon.  Judas has deserted them to betray Him to the authorities.  And in these final moments Jesus is reminding them of certain essential things as His last instructions to them.  He first reminded them of the importance of their relationship with God, which they should secure by abiding in Him, which really is another way of saying they were to love Him, to draw close to Him.  Secondly He reminds them of the importance of their relationship to each other, which is buttressed by His command to love one another.  That is the way in which they show their love for God.  And now thirdly, He reminds them of their hostile relationship with the world. That relationship will be one in which they are hated by the world.  But not so clearly stated is the underlying principle that though the world hates them, they are to love the world.  Not to love the system of the world, or the lusts of the world, or the things of the world, but to love the people of the world who are antagonistic towards them.  They are to love their enemies.  And the way that they will do that is to be witnesses to the world.   

Now let’s look specifically at why the world will hate us.  Look at vs.18,"If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also." (John 15:18-20 RSV)

Here Jesus helps us understand the hostility of the world. First, there is nothing personal about this type of reaction. He says, "It happened to me, too." Jesus experienced hatred and rejection, and yet He was perfect.  So one way to diffuse that type of hostility is not to take it personally.  Yet I will concede that it can be hard to detach yourself from hatred or rejection or even persecution.  I confess that I often find myself faced with rejection or even hatred based on things that I have preached as the pastor of the Beach Fellowship.  I could avoid certain subjects that I know are controversial, but I can’t do that in good conscience and be true to the scriptures and what I believe is my responsibility.  I do try my best not to offend people.  But some people are eventually offended.  And some of those people leave the church.  And some of those, not all of them, thank God, end up becoming hostile and even hateful towards me.  I can easily in those circumstances get a persecution complex.  I can end up feeling like their rejection is of me personally.  So I have to remind myself that they are not rejecting me, but they are rejecting Christ’s gospel.  They are really rejecting Christ as presented in the gospel and redefining His doctrine to suit their agenda.  So first, don’t take it personally.  Realize that they hated Christ as well. 

Secondly, Jesus says persecution comes because you are now a different person than you were. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." You are different, and the world does not like anything different. The unrelenting pressure of society around us is to conform to the world’s system. And because we do not conform to the world but rather we conform to Christ, we stand in opposition to the world.  And that attracts hostility. 

There is a you tube video making the rounds about a waiting room situation in which a bell is rung every few minutes.  The people waiting who are part of the experiment are told to rise when the bell rings.  Then new people are added to the room, one by one.  As they sit down, and the bell rings, everyone stands up and they stay seated, looking around quizzically  at what is going on.  But by the third time, the new person usually joins those standing.  More and more people come in, and all follow the same example.  Then the reverse happens, and everyone is called out one by one until there is one last person in the room.  That person still stands when the bell rings.  

I guess that experiment is an example of the herd mentality that is indicative of the human race. Everyone wants to fit in.  Those that don’t  are pushed out by the herd.  In the animal kingdom, we even see the herd sometimes attack and kill a member that doesn’t fit in.  So because of our new birth, our new life in Christ, we are no longer of the world.  And also implicit in that statement is the understanding that we don’t act like the world, we don’t think like the world, we don’t have the same desires as the world.  John expands upon this principle  in  1John 2:15 which says, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Peter also speaks of this principle. In the fourth chapter of his first letter he makes that distinction between the life of a Christian and the life of the world saying; "For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”  We don’t fit in with the world, and so the world hates us. If we’re genuine believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we differ with the world. Jesus said He chose us out of the world. We are plucked out of the world system and given new life, new motivations, new desires. We are put on a different course. We are interested in knowing God, we are interested in spiritual things.  We are interested in spiritual life. 

As a result, Jesus declares, persecution is to be expected as a part of the Christian life: "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”  As we follow Christ, we can expect to follow in the sufferings of Christ.  In fact, that is the hallmark of our relationship to Christ.   Philippians 3:10, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” Paul goes on to say elsewhere that our suffering with Him is a prerequisite for our glorification with Him. Romans 8:17, “and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  

As an example to us the saints of old counted it a privilege to suffer with Christ. You will remember the apostles being beaten and jailed for preaching the gospel of Christ and it said in Acts 5:41, “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”  

And suffer they did. Are you familiar with the end of the apostle’s lives? Do you know that all but the Apostle John were martyred in death? And John had to spend his life in exile on the Isle of Patmos. Steven was stoned to death. James, the brother of John, was beheaded by Herod Agrippa. Phillip suffered martyrdom in Phrygia being scourged, imprisoned and crucified. Matthew was slain with a halberd in Nadabah. James the Less (Jesus’s half brother) was beaten and stoned at the age of ninety-four and finally had his brains dashed out with a fuller’s club. Matthias was stoned and beheaded at Jerusalem. Andrew was crucified at Edessa on a cross with the two ends fixed transversely in the ground. Mark was dragged to death in Alexandria. Peter, according to Jerome, was crucified at Rome under Nero with his head down thinking himself unworthy to be crucified as master. Jude was crucified at Edessa. Bartholomew was crucified in India. Thomas was thrust through with a spear in India. And Simon the Zealot was crucified in Britain. Paul was reported by Ignatius and others to have been martyred by decapitation near the end of Nero’s reign. This is what tradition tell us. But in any case, most of the apostles and those that followed them gave their lives for the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I don’t know the extent to which we may be called upon to suffer for Christ.  But I know that God has a special place for those that suffer for His name sake.  And He has a special grace that He gives according to the measure of the suffering.  I believe that.  One need only to look at the martyrdom of Steven to know that.  God gives a special grace in that time.

A further point Jesus makes concerning persecution is, it is marked by criticism. "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.” My interpretation is at odds with most commentators at this point, but in keeping with the context of the passage, I believe the idea of the Greek word “tēreō” indicates to observe critically.  In a negative context Jesus relates “keeping” in the next verse (21) as something that is included in the phrase “all these things” as because they do not know the Father.  If they do not know God, then they will not keep His word as we would normally think of the word “keep”.  So then we must interpret the word translated as “keep,” which literally means “to observe,” as better interpreted  “to observe critically", because it results in something Jesus says is characteristic of those that do not know God.  So with that context, we can deduce that the persecution of the world will include a critical watching of every word that we utter, in order to find fault, to find something by which they can condemn us.  And we know that they did the same thing to Jesus in His ministry.  They were continually watching Him to see if they could find something for which to find fault.  And finally, at His trial, having failed to find something, they twisted His words, or made up things which they attributed to Him so that they might find reason to kill Him.  

So then Jesus explains, their criticism stems from a deeper antagonism towards God. It’s because they hate God.  ”But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and my Father. It is to fulfill the word that is written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.'" (John 15:21-25)

Jesus identifies the basic cause of this deep-rooted hatred as godlessness. It is because "they do not know Him who sent me." Any attempt to subvert the truth of God for a lie results in a religion that at it’s root hates God.  No matter how noble or plausible it may seem on the surface, if it does not agree with the revealed truth of God, then it is antagonistic towards God.  In fact, Paul says in Romans that they hate God.  Romans 1:21, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.” Paul follows by giving a list of characteristics of the ungodly, in which he lists in vs 30 that they are “haters of God.”  That is the root of their antagonism towards Christians.

Now Jesus is speaking specifically of the Jews of His generation, and He says that they are inexcusable because they had heard his words and saw his works. What that means is that when someone is exposed to the truth and still rejects it his condemnation is double. They rejected his words and thus manifested their hatred of His Father. They ignored his works, the works predicted of the Messiah, and so compounded their condemnation. But, Jesus says it was all a fulfillment of prophecy. God knew it would happen. They fulfilled the prophetical word of David in Psalms 69  that said, "They hated me without a cause.” 

Notice vs. 24, Jesus said, “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.”  Now I want to explain that verse, because it can be misunderstood.  It is not saying  that some people don’t have sin because they have not seen the works of Christ.  The word translated sin there literally means “guilt.”  There is a special guilt for those that physically witnessed Christ’s works on Earth and still rejected Him.  Guilt is specific to a specific sin, is it not?  I am not guilty of murder because I haven’t murdered someone.  I am guilty of sin in a  generic sense.  But I am not guilty of that specific sin.  And that is what Jesus is referring to.  He is speaking of the specific sin of rejecting Him as the Messiah by the leaders of the Jews.  They have a greater condemnation.  And I believe the Bible teaches that there are degrees of hell.  For to whom much is given, much shall be required. (Luke 12:48)

Thus I believe that those of this generation that reject the truth of God’s word are subject to a greater judgment, because they have the full revealed truth of God in scripture.  Our modern society has unequaled access to the scriptures which so many people in the past could never have imagined.  We have had more exposure to the truth through preaching and teaching than ever possible in past history.  And so Jesus is stressing the principle that there will be a special judgment which correlates to one’s exposure to the truth and yet still reject it.

In the last section, Jesus tells the disciples and by extension tells us what our response is to be to the hatred of the world.  It is not an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth.  In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus had this to say about how to respond to your enemies.  

Matt. 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

So in light of that teaching, what Christ is saying to the disciples is that they are to return love for hate.  The kindness of God leads to repentance. We are to return a blessing for cursing.  And we do that by being a witness to the truth.  "But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about Me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them." (John 15:26 - 16:4)

There are four important things to consider here: First, by what means should we respond? "The Spirit is coming," Jesus promises. For us, of course, He has already come. For these men when he comes, Jesus says, "He will testify  about Me.”  As you consider the words and the works of Christ, the Spirit of God will bear witness to you of it’s truth and that truth will give you boldness and power. And as you speak the truth of God, the Spirit of Truth will work through it to bring about conviction and repentance in their hearts.

And in his next point He says, "You also are witnesses because you have been with Me from the beginning." Clearly he is referring to the apostles here, but it also applies to us. How do you witness? You tell someone about what has happened to you, that is all. You testify to what God has done for you, what He means to you, how He has given you a new life.  The testimony of a transformed life is the most effective effective witness.  And our testimony to a hostile world is evidence of our love for our enemies.  That we care enough about them to warn them of their rejection of God, and the impending judgment to come.  

We cannot say we love our families, or love our neighbors, or that we love our enemies, if we are silent on the most important issue of their lives.  If I had discovered a cure for cancer, and kept it to myself, I would be the opposite of a loving person.  My refusal to share the antidote with people who are dying from cancer would show me to be a heartless, hateful person.  So it is with our salvation.  We must share it with those who are dying without it.  Love for our fellow man compels us to share the good news of the gospel.  

But the consequence of that love means your witness will result in increased persecution. "They will cast you out of the synagogues. They will kill you and think they are offering service to God." This was especially true of the first century Christians.  Being cast out of the synagogue was specific to the Jews.  But the world's persecution can effect modern Christians in much the same way.  Because the synagogue was the center of Jewish culture.  It was the center of community.  And today it is possible that persecution can sometimes mean being excommunicated or exiled from community.   Being a Christian can make you a social outcast.  It can separate you from family.  It can cause divisions in a man’s own household. 

And the final point Jesus makes is: “But these things I have spoken to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them."  You are forewarned. Do not be surprised when the world hates you.  Again, Peter continues that idea in 1 Peter 4:12: "Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is coming upon you.”  Persecution is part of the process, it is what Jesus said would happen. Let us forget once and for all of this idea of living comfortably in this world,  being liked by everybody and having no problems and no hardships.  But rather understand as Paul told Timothy that "They that live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution," (2 Timothy 3:12). There is a war going on, but victory is certain."  The way we win this war is to change our enemies into friends.  And we do that by telling the truth in love.  We love the world enough to tell them the truth, and when they know the truth, the truth will make them free.  That’s how we win.  Not by retaliation.  But through our witness, we testify to the truth of God. And through our witness, we prove our love for our enemies.  Even as Christ suffered and died on the cross as evidence of His love for the world, even while they were hating Him, so as His disciples we must suffer the hatred of the world for the sake of winning them to Christ.  That is love.  And that is what we are commanded to do.  

Love one another, John 15: 12-17

The most desired ambition of the popular culture is that of love.  Love is the theme of more songs, more books, more poetry, more art and more movies than any other theme.  And I believe this is so because it is the most essential need of the human condition.  It is as fundamental to life as food and water, if not more so. God declared at creation that it was not good for man to be alone.  It is an essential component of the human psyche.  Everyone wants to know love.

However, human nature is not satisfied with unrequited love.  Neither does this need find fulfillment in undesired love.  In other words, one doesn’t find satisfaction in being loved by someone whom you don’t love in return.  What satisfies this great human need is reciprocal love.  Love of relationship, where each one loves the other, and they receive love in return.  

This is the human condition because God created us for love.  He created us for Himself.  He loves us, and desires that we should love Him in return.  The relationship that God wants to have with us is pictured in the scriptures by the love of a husband and wife.  We just recently studied that principle in Ephesians chapter 5, in which Paul talks of marriage between a husband and wife, but says he is speaking of the relationship of Christ and the church.  The church was designed to be the bride of Christ. 

In the mystery of God, it pleased God to procure a people for Himself from the nations of the earth to be the bride of Christ.  In that purpose He appeared unto Abraham, and called him out of the Ur of the Chaldees, and told him to go to the land that He would show him.  Whereupon, after many generations, God raised up from Abraham’s offspring a nation, a chosen people, for whom He would be their God, and they would be His people.  God established a theocracy, based on His law, given through the prophets.  

But this was only Act One of God’s great plan.  In the first Act, the nation of Israel was not much different than the kingdom’s of antiquity that ruled through a feudal system of serfdom.  Serfdom was a system of bondage in which the people were given a plot of land to tend and produce crops and herds, of which a percentage went to the King, and in return the King provided services and protections for the people.  Jesus  often uses the analogy of stewardship which is a form of serfdom as an illustration of that relationship with God.

However, the birth of Christ ushered in Act Two.  And in this act man’s relationship with God was changed from that of servanthood, or serfdom, to that of an intimate relationship.  Believers in Christ were no longer servants, but bond slaves, set free by redemption, but cleaving to their master out of love.  And as a result of that commitment, God actually makes us part of His family, sons and daughters of God.  And because we are His family, we are elevated to a position of heirs, heirs of God and co heirs of Christ.   So that Peter might proclaim in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 

Paul presents the same principle in Titus 2:14, saying, “Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Now this relationship is the subject of Christ’s teaching in this chapter.  He illustrated this relationship in vs.1 by the analogy of He being the vine, and we being the branches.  His lesson that He taught in that picture was that we should abide in Him, and He in us.  That relationship is the key to the full Christian life.  The principle of “abide in Me and I in you” is the fundamental relationship out of which everything else flows, even as the life of the branch and it’s fruitfulness flows from it’s abiding in the vine.

In this chapter John describes  three things that will happen when this principle of Christ abiding in us and we in Him begins to work in our lives. The first result is described in the opening verses which we looked at last week, which is the fruitfulness that abiding produces. We begin to grow more Christlike. We display the "fruits of the Spirit” which are the characteristics of Christ.  

We look now at a brief paragraph in which our Lord describes the change that will happen in our relationships with each other within the community of faith as a result of abiding in Him. Then, in the last section of Chapter 15, Jesus states the relationship that we will have with a hostile world.

There are three points which Jesus makes in speaking of our relationship with others.  The first is the mandate to love, then the motive of love, and finally the manifestation of love.  Let’s consider first the mandate to love.  Jesus says in vs 12, ““This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.”

It’s noteworthy that we are commanded to love.  I believe that is because though the need for love is intrinsic, it’s not something that we do as we should. I’m sure we all think we are loving people, but I would suggest that the majority of the time we base our love for others on how much we like them.  Our idea of love is based on a feeling of attraction towards someone, and that perspective limits love to only those we like.  And we like certain people more than others, perhaps because we are like them, or we are attracted to them, or we think we can benefit from our relationship with them in some way. 

But the command of Christ is quite different than the typical concept of love.  The Lord puts it as a command because real love, according to God’s standard of love, is a decision to act for the benefit of someone else no matter how you feel about him or her. Love is based on a commitment, not a feeling or an attraction.  Love is a decision, thus it can be commanded.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus extrapolated that principle of deciding to love out to it’s furthest possibility. He  declared that we should even love our enemies.   Matthew 5:43, “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”  If we are to be like God, then we must love like God loves.

That’s the example that Jesus gave to us, even while we were enemies of God, He died for us on the cross.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  So then in like manner should we love those that are unlovable, that are unattractive, that are not like us, even those that are opposed to us.  

Notice that Jesus has given only one commandment, that you love one another.  In  Matthew 22:36 Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And Jesus said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” All 612 commandments found their root in those two commandments.  And now in this statement, Jesus is saying those two have now become one for those that have believed in Christ.  

John explains how that consolidation is possible in  1John 4:20, in which he said, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.”  So we understand that our love for God is evidenced by our love for one another.

So that is the mandate, the commandment, that we love one another. Next let’s look at the motive for love.  Jesus doesn’t just give us a command which we must do grudgingly, but He gives us a motive, that we might be compelled to love, and do it cheerfully.  That we might be enabled to obey this command. And that motive is found in the words, “as I have loved you.” 

That raises the question, how did Jesus love His disciples? The answer is found in vs.9. “As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you.” So we love one another as Christ loved us, and as the Father loved Christ.  In other words, love flows out of a heart that is conscious of being loved.  As John said in  1John 4:19, “We love, because He first loved us.”  

Think about vs.9 for a moment.  As the Father loved Jesus, so Jesus loves us. That’s amazing.  Jesus was sinless.  Jesus was perfect.  Jesus was one with the Father and had been with the Father from eternity past.  And yet that kind of love is the same kind of love that Christ had for us.  That love Christ had for us compelled Him to suffer to a degree far beyond what we can imagine, as the holy, righteous God humbled himself to become our servant, to shed his blood on a cross, that we might be reconciled to God, that our dirty sins might be put upon His back, so that His righteousness might be transferred to us.  That is how God can love us as He loves Jesus, because we are righteous and holy in His sight, even as Jesus is. 

That love is our motivation.  It constrains us, controls us, compels us to do what is pleasing to Him.   2 Cor. 5:14 says, “For the love of Christ constrains us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”  When we really come to understand the love of God for us, then we should have no problem loving one another as He has loved us.

It’s like a young man that falls in love with a girl.  He is madly in love her, and he knows that she loves him with all her heart as well.  In that kind of relationship, there is nothing that he wouldn’t do for her.  I knew a young man once who ran 30 miles one way to see his girlfriend.  He didn’t think it was a big deal.  Great distances sometimes separate young people who are in love.  Yet it doesn’t affect their love for one another.  But as the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Love flows naturally out of a heart that knows love.

Not only does Jesus give us a mandate  to love and a motive to love, but He also tells us how love will manifest itself. How does love, God's kind of love, manifest itself when it is worked out in life?  The kind of love Jesus is talking about is manifested in deeds.

He states three ways in which true love will be manifested: First, love is sacrificial.  Vs.13,  "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."   Even though Jesus will die for His friends, He is not necessarily talking about dying for someone, like the kind of ultimate sacrifice one might make on a battlefield. You can only do that once and then you can’t do it again.  Rather, He is describing a lifestyle, a process. There are varying degrees of "laying down your life." It simply means to give of yourself, to take part of your life and to give it on behalf of someone else. It is not putting yourself first, or your needs first, but being willing to lay down your prerogatives, your rights, even your self preservation  for the sake of someone else. That is the first way love appears. Love will be manifested by sacrificial, self-denying service.

The second manifestation of love is found in what Jesus says in vs14, "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." 

This is the new relationship that I was speaking of in my introduction. Jesus is lifting these disciples up from the level of mere slaves, who must obey because it is to their best interests to do so, to another, more intimate, level.  The level of friends who want to obey because they have been brought into an intimate relationship with God.  

James said in James 2:23, that “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called the friend of God.”  Abraham believed God.  And God called him his friend.  That’s an amazing testimony.  To be called the friend of God.  The intimate of God.  Enoch was another man that we can assume was a friend of God.  The Bible says that he walked with God, and God took him to be with Him.  We have that same tremendous opportunity; to be the friends of God.  

Once again, I can’t help but think of a young couple in love.  They have no problem spending hours talking to one another.  It’s amazing to see a young couple in love and how much they speak to one another, and then on the other hand see a couple who have been married for 20 years, and how little they speak to one another.  That reminds me of another adage, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”  That’s not in the Bible however.  And that isn’t something we should aspire to.  That’s a love that has grown cold.

But we should be so in love with Christ that we talk to Him without having to be coerced.  We should desire to spend time alone with God.  Jesus said He has made known to us all that He heard from His Father.  And Jesus had perfect communion with His Father.  So from Christ’s perspective, He has communicated perfectly to us.  We need to reciprocate.  We need simply to start spending time alone with God, and when we do that, our lives will manifest  love for one another.  We will love what God loves, and hate what God hates. Because we are intimate friends of God.  And because we are intimate friends of God we will do what He commands us to do.  If I ask a stranger to take me somewhere, or go out of his way for me, or give me something that I need, I can’t expect much of a response.  But when I ask a friend, I can expect that my friend will do what I ask, because of our relationship.  So God expects us to do what He commands, because of our intimate relationship with Him.

Then the third manifestation of love follows in vs.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 remain so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you." First note that the love of God towards us is deliberate.  He chose to love us, even though we were sinners.  He deliberately sought us when we were in rebellion to Him.  God’s love, and by extension our love, is not based on attraction, but on a decision.

Secondly, Jesus is saying to these men, "Wherever you are, remember that I put you there." That is what He meant by appointed you.  It means strategically placed you.  And He is saying this to us, too. "I strategically placed you right in the midst of those difficult people you have to work with, so that amidst the difficulty, the pressure and the pain you might become an example of Christ;  gracious, loving, patient, merciful. So that you might bear fruit, that you might bear the image of Christ.

Furthermore, when you are bearing fruit, bearing the image of Christ, then whatever you ask in my name the Father will give it to you.  Personally, I think that this promise is related to the promise of loving your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  When you pray in Jesus’  name then you are praying according to His will, according to His purpose, His ministry.  Jesus prayed for those that nailed Him to the cross.  When we pray for people according to the will of God, God will provide it.  

There’s an old story in mythology about a knight who encountered a hideous dragon in the forest. And disregarding the ugliness of the monster, this bold young knight walked up to it and kissed it three times whereupon it became a beautiful maiden. And, of course, they lived happily ever after. MacLaren who told the story comments, “Christ kisses his enemies making them his friends. And if he had never died for his enemies, he would never have possessed his friends.” Or as John puts it, “We love Him, because He first loved us.”

In vs.17, Jesus restates the commandment again.  ““This I command you, that you love one another.”  The fact that He said it twice emphasizes the absolute necessity that we take it to heart. The longer I am in the ministry, the more I am convinced that this is the way to victory in the Christian life. This is the way to effective evangelism.  This is the way to overcome addictions of every sort.  We must show the world the love of God by loving one another. We must love sacrificially, deliberately, without concern for what we can get out of it, without consideration of how much we like someone.  We must love even those who hate us, or hateful to us, forgiving them as God has forgiven us.  Giving love sacrificially even though it means that we give up things that are important to us in order to love them. 

And we do this by starting with knowing the love of God for us. The more we know the love of God for us, the more we will want to love one another.  The more we know the love of God, the more we  will want to obey God. And to love one another is the way to obey Him.  And to obey Him is to love Him.  

God said in Genesis 2:24, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”  When a couple become one flesh, then they have one mind, one heart, one purpose.  They are united.  They abide in one another.  Love then comes naturally.  As the body of Christ we are all united in Christ as the church.  Love should come naturally.  And as we love our neighbor, Jesus said we should love them as we love ourselves.  So that our love for our neighbor comes naturally because we naturally love ourselves.  We are commanded to love one another.  But to do so, we must come to know the love of God for us. And God has chosen to exhibit that through His people loving people.  That knowledge of God’s love is almost too much to comprehend.  But when we consider how much He loves us we find joy and fulfillment and it over flows in love to those around us.  

So as we leave here today, I would remind each of you to love one another as Christ loved the church.  And I would like to read from Romans 8:28, which is a great summary of the love of God towards us, that you might be motivated to go forward from here and love one another.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;  and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.  Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Just as it is written,

“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;  WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”  But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

The Vine and the Branches, John 15:1-11

The other day I was listening to a Christian radio broadcast as I was driving back from seeing someone who is in prison in Princess Anne, Maryland.  I won’t say the name of the pastor, but doctrinally he is considered sound and he seems to be relatively popular.  And at the end of the sermon, the announcer came on and gave a commercial for the opportunity to go on a luxury cruise with the pastor to some exotic destination which I think was in the Caribbean.  I found myself feeling a little jealous, I guess.  I had just spent four hours visiting some guy in prison who is facing a life sentence, who lost his career, his wife divorced him, and now he just lost a custody hearing for his children and he has no way of seeing them or contacting them anymore.  And I had to try to comfort him as he sat there and wept openly behind the glass partition.  I had to try to convince him that God still loved him.  That God would use this for good in some way.  And I felt that I had failed to comfort him as I would have liked to.  I found myself wanting to question God’s goodness and justice just as he was doing.  Both of us struggling to keep the faith in the face of terrible circumstances.  And against that background, the incongruity of the commercial juxtaposed with the reality of the prisoner’s ordeal seemed almost ludicrous.

There is nothing wrong with going on a luxury cruise with a Bible teacher I guess.  But somehow I have a hard time reconciling drinks by the pool, and dancing on the Lido Deck after the evening Bible teaching seminar as being the epitome of the Christian life.  That sort of thing sounds great and is certainly appealing on some level, but I find it at odds with the reality of my own and very many other’s experience as a Christian.  And I find it at odds with the teachings of Christ and the apostles as well.  We are told in Romans 8:17 that our glorification with Christ is directly tied with whether or not we partake in the sufferings of Christ. It says we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  

So at the risk of sounding “gloom and doom” and offending someone, I urge you to consider the context of the passage of scripture today, because Jesus is preparing His disciples for the rigors and trials and tribulations that are a real and present companion to the Christian experience which was true not only for the disciples, but for the modern church as well. So as we begin this chapter, let’s remember the context; it is dark, and the disciples are walking from the Upper Room where they had just observed the Passover, and where Judas had deserted them after being prophesied by Jesus that he would betray Him.  Jesus has just told them that He is going to die, that He is going back to the Father, and that He is leaving them.  He’s told them that He is going to send the Holy Spirit from heaven to comfort them, but they aren’t sure exactly what that means.  Now it’s dark, and they leave the room and wind their way through the city of Jerusalem and around the temple walls, down into the ravine where the Kidron brook is flowing dark red with the blood of thousands of lamb sacrifices offered in the temple, as they make their way up towards the Mount of Olives.  

The disciples are undoubtedly disillusioned,  saddened, and probably more than a little depressed as they climb the hillside expecting to spend yet another cold night out under the stars as was their custom.  And as they walk, Jesus is still talking to them.  He is still teaching them, right up to the last moment.  In spite of all the stress and concern that Jesus must have been feeling as He anticipated the torture that was in front of Him, yet His primary concern is for His followers.  He has just said to them, “Let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.”  “Peace I leave unto you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world gives.  Let not your hearts be troubled or afraid.” Then He said, “Let’s go, Let’s get out of here.”  And they began their journey to the Mount of Olives, not knowing what distress was ahead of them, yet Jesus knew it full well.  

As they are walking in the dark up the hillside, perhaps they passed a vineyard that someone had planted.  And as was His custom, Jesus picked up on the metaphor at hand to teach them an important final lesson.  He speaks of a vine, and it’s branches, and the fruit that one would expect from a vineyard.  It was a metaphor that they were very much familiar with.  Vineyards were everywhere in Israel.  And Jesus had spoken of vineyards many times in His preaching, using them often as settings for parables.  But they certainly also knew of them first hand.  They were quite common in Israel.  

In fact, they were a common metaphor for Israel in the Old Testament scriptures as well.  For instance, Psalm 80 says in vs.8, “You have  brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it in this land.” And Isaiah expounds upon that picture in the 5th chapter, vs.7, “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.”  Isaiah goes on to paint a picture of a nation that had abandoned righteousness, and justice, and had spent it’s affection on drinking and carousing and taking advantage of others so that they might live luxuriously.  And he prophesied that God would take vengeance upon them, vs.24, “Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”

As the disciples walked past the temple, they may have noticed on the gates of the temple was carved a large gold covered vine, symbolic of Israel.  Israel had been the chosen vine of God, illustrated by the temple, the religious system which God had planted in Israel to give life to the Jews.  But everything that the sacrifices and temple and ceremonies had portrayed, was actually a picture of Jesus.  All the religious life that had been centered in Judaism, actually found it’s source in Him.  The true vine was Jesus.  The religious system centered in the temple was just a picture of Christ.

So Jesus says, “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser.” Jesus is the life, He was the source of life for creation, nothing was made without Him it says in chapter 1 of John.  He was the source of life for Israel, of which the temple and sacrifices merely pointed to. He was the Lamb that was sacrificed for the sins of the world.  He was the rock in the wilderness from which came the living water.  He was the manna from heaven. He was the light that was over the Tabernacle.   And in the same way He is the source of life for the church. He is the Word of God. He is the Way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Him.  The disciples make up the first church who will represent Christ even as the temple and Israel was to have represented the Lord.

"My Father," Jesus declares, "is the vinedresser." This is the Father's work - he is the "vinedresser," the gardener who takes care of the vineyard. In Verse 5, Jesus clearly identifies that believers, the church, are the branches of the vine: "I am the vine, you are the branches." Furthermore, he indicates there are two kinds of branches - fruitless branches and fruitful branches. Thus right at the beginning of this teaching there is a clear indication that there are two kinds of believers. The difference between them is whether they produce fruit or not.

The first work of the Father in this great vineyard is: "Every branch in Me that bears no fruit'' (every fruitless believer) "he takes away.”  I believe that this statement is actually made about believers, not unbelievers.  In vs.6, Jesus speaks of branches that do not abide and are thrown away and burned.  They are the unbelievers.  But notice Jesus says in vs.2, “In Me.”  He is talking about branches that are His, they are in Him.  He is talking about a believer.  But He is not saying that if they do not bear fruit God will condemn them to be burned with the unbelieving branches in vs.6.  The Greek word translated “takes away” is airo, which actually means to raise up, or lift up from the ground.  It’s not producing fruit because it isn’t getting enough sunlight, it’s lying on the ground.  So there is a work of the vinedresser to lift up unfruitful believers by exposing them to the light.  Fruitfulness is the result of maturity and training and discipline.  So there is a need for that with unfruitful believers and God knows those who are His, those who are in Christ, and He will lift them up to make them productive.  He will raise them up to get them up out of the earth, out of the world, so that they might be exposed to the light of truth, which will train them in righteousness, producing productivity.   So lifting up is speaking of training, discipline which leads to greater fruit.  As  Heb. 12:11says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

The second work of God towards believers is to cleanse the fruit bearing branches.  Jesus said in vs.2, “every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”  The word here, "prunes," really should be “cleanses."  Because vs.3 uses the same word translated as prunes and has it as cleans. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” Now they are both referring to the same thing, so it’s just a matter of semantics.  But for consistency they should be the same. 

But perhaps the reason why the word "prunes" is chosen is because it’s speaking not as being "cut off" but "cut back." This is also what vinedressers do. They not only go through a vineyard and cut off shoots, but they cut back others so that they will bear more fruit.  They are cleaning up the branches by cutting them back.  

I have these knock out rose bushes by my house that I transferred years ago from a development that I was working at.  And in the development, every so often the landscapers would prune those rose bushes back so much that I thought it was ridiculous.  I thought it looked terrible when all these thriving rose bushes were cut so far back.  I didn’t understand why it was necessary.  So I left our bushes alone.  I let them grow bigger and bigger. Today I have the biggest knockout rose bushes that I’ve ever seen.  But the thing is, they don’t produce many roses nowadays.  They have bare areas where nothing grows and sometimes hardly any roses bloom at all.  

So it is with vines and fruit.  God sometimes cuts back fruitful vine to the point of one thinking that they are cut too far back.  They look like He might have killed them.  But God knows that the trials and tribulations that we experience which we think are killing us are only designed to make us more productive.  As the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”  we just sang says, “The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.” 

Pruning, or cleansing is a drastic process. Jesus is clearly teaching here that this is what the Father will do in our lives to make us bear more fruit. He will drastically cut back our lives in a cleansing process. In a vineyard, pruning also removes dirt, cobwebs, dried leaves, and fungus that chokes out growth. And according to the Lord in vs.3, in the life of the believer, this is done by the "word which I have spoken unto you.”

God will use circumstances and trials in a Christian’s life to bring us to the point where the word of God can cleanse us.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  

So the word of God is the knife that does the pruning.  Affliction exposes those areas that need pruning.  Charles Spurgeon spoke of affliction as the dresser, someone that dresses out game.  He said, “Affliction is the dresser that removes our soft garments and lays bare the diseased flesh, so that the knife may get at it.”  Affliction makes us ready for the knife, to prepare us for the Word of God.  So Spurgeon continues,  “It is the Word that prunes the Christian.  It is the truth that purges him.  The Scripture made living and powerful by the Holy Spirit eventually and effectively cleanses the Christian.”

    

Has the word of God ever corrected you in some painful way? I know in my life I went through a time of severe trial, of severe affliction, and I turned to the scriptures to try to understand what was happening.  To know what God was doing, or if in fact it was Him that was doing it.  And why was He doing it.  And ultimately, the word worked in me to prune away deadness, to cleanse me from corruption, chipping away to change me and make me look more like Christ.  To conform me to the image of Jesus by taking away things that were hindering me in my Christian life. It was painful, but it was necessary if I was going to be fruitful.

Many of you have had some experience of this. Sorrow, disappointment, los, or some experience of life left you shocked and hurt, feeling cast off and rejected. Yet here we are encouraged to remind ourselves that this is the work of a loving Father who does it so that we may "bear more fruit.”  

But that raises a very important question. "What exactly is this fruit that God is expecting from us?" The reason our Lord does not identify it directly is because it was already clearly identified in the Old Testament. There, in the passages on the "vine," especially in Isaiah 5, the prophet says that God came to the nation Israel, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts, "looking for fruit," which he identifies as "justice and righteousness." But what he found was oppression and misery - mistreatment of others without, and hurt and misery within. He calls these "sour grapes" - not fruit of justice and righteousness that he had every right to expect,  but twisted, self centered, sour fruit.

Paul speaks of the fruit of self centeredness and fleshly living and contrasts that with the fruit that God desires in Galatians 5:19. “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

it is clear that the fruit which Jesus is referring to here is Christlikeness - his character reproduced in us.  He is refining us, changing us, transforming us through trials and through the Word into representatives of Christ.  2 Cor.3:18 says, ”We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.”  It”s a process. Sometimes it’s a painful process.  It does not happen by magic, all at once. We are being changed from one degree of glory to another, "for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." The image of Christ is the "fruit" that God is looking for.

I used to think that fruit was people that I had led to Christ.  That was the emphasis that my church gave to fruit when I was growing up. Another misconception is that fruit is how much a church grows or how many people attend.  But that’s not accurate.   Bearing fruit is bearing the image of Christ in all that I do and say.  Fruit is not more people, but people more like Christ. And doing that is made possible as you abide in Christ.  Look at vs.4 and 5.  “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  

That makes sense doesn’t it?  If we are going to look like Christ, then we must have Christ in us, and we have to be in Christ.  Now how does that work?  Well, first of all, we must have the Spirit of Christ abiding in us.  This is a supernatural transaction that comes as a result of our salvation.  We repent of our sins, we are made holy by faith in Christ, and we are given new life by being born again in the Spirit.  The Spirit of God takes up residence in us.  

But we can have the Spirit of God in us and yet not be filled with the Spirit, nor do the works of the Spirit.  It takes more than just a spark to make a car’s engine run. It also takes gas.  So though we have the Spirit in us, we must also be attuned to the Spirit through the word.  It’s not enough to say we have the Spirit in us, we can just lay back and cruise through the Christian life and if God wants something done He will do it all by Himself.  We need to depend upon God, but we also need discipline.  That’s the spark and the gasoline.  

Some Christians emphasize dependence on God. But they don’t like the idea of discipline. They never read the Bible. They don’t go to church unless it’s a holiday or some special occasion.  They don’t want to worry about training in holiness.  They expect God to speak directly to them, and put them into automatic pilot. They float around expecting God to do all the directing, open all the doors, and they seldom bother to deny themselves. That kind of dependence without discipline results in empty spirituality, a fake piety that sounds good, but is in fact worthless.  It’s what James referred to as “faith without works.”  It’s dead.  It’s like dead branches that produce no fruit.   Abiding in Christ is a very practical thing.  It’s abiding in the word.  It’s abiding in His body, that is the church.  It’s abiding in His commands, which produces holiness and Christlikeness. That’s the peaceable fruit of righteousness according to Hebrews 12:11.

But not everyone who says that they are in Christ actually are.  Jesus said twice in Matthew 7, “By their fruits you shall know them.”  So He says in Vs.6, ”If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned." If you are not Christ’s, then God will remove the fruitless branch and cast it into the fire.  He is speaking obviously of the judgment against the ungodly.  

That again is the  work of the Father - removing the fruitless branches. Those like Judas who gather with the people of God for awhile and appear to be believers - they show a certain degree of life. Leaves may be present, they hang around with all the fruit bearers,  but there is no fruit in themselves. Ultimately these people eventually leave the vine. They do not stay with the body. As the Lord makes clear, it is a process: There is first the "withering" of the life they apparently had for awhile. Then the branches are "gathered," then "thrown into the fire," and ultimately "burned." This is a reference to Matthew 25:41, when Jesus speaks of the end of the age, when the angels will come and gather out of the Kingdom of God all that are not His, and throw them into eternal fire, and they are burned. These are those that are not truly saved.

Like Judas, they may have looked the part.  They were part of the church.  They even performed works like healing and casting out devils.  But they are not saved.  Jesus speaks of these folks in Matthew 7:21, saying, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Listen, this is a fact about church growth that doesn’t get any traction today in the relevant, seeker friendly church.  God is not interested in numbers.  He isn’t interested in large crowds of people that give lip service, but who are not truly being transformed into the image of Christ.  He cuts away those that are not abiding in Him.  He doesn’t want pew fillers.  He wants disciples who are being made in the image of Christ.  Don’t be discouraged when people leave the church.  God adds, and God takes away.  The church is the Lord’s and He will build the church. And God in HIs wisdom knows which branches to cut away so that the church will bear fruit.

Finally, let’s look really quickly at four evidences of fruit in the last five verses.  Vs.7, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you."

The first evidence of a fruitful life is the impact of answered prayer. You become effective at praying. I’ve said it before, when James says the effective prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much, the emphasis should be on righteous. God hears the prayer of the righteous.  So when you are abiding in Him, and His words are abiding in you, then you will receive what you ask for.  

We must never forget that prayer and promise are linked together. Prayer is not a way of getting God to do what you want him to do, rather it is asking him to do what he has promised to do. We pray according to the promises. So if you want to make your prayers effective begin to read and study the promises of God. When you do, you will pray according to the mind and will of God. And, as Jesus says, whatever you ask will be done. That’s the first fruit.  Abiding in Christ produces effective prayer.

The second fruit is in vs.8, ”By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." Your righteous life will be a testimony to the transformative power of God.  There is no greater witness for God than that of a transformed, sold out life.  And that is how you glorify God.  Again, not by lip service, but by proving to be a disciple.  Abiding in Christ produces righteous living, which proves you are His disciple to a watching world.

Thirdly, vs.9-10, ”As the Father has loved me, so have I 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." The third fruit of abiding in Christ is that you will keep HIs commandments, and thus you will love Him.  The fruit of love is that you keep His commandments, even as Christ kept the Father’s commandments.  We are like Christ, because we are to Christ as Christ was to the Father. So abiding produces love, and love produces obedience.

Then the last evidence of fruit is in vs. 11, "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."  Notice, that My joy may be in you…What was his joy? In the 12th chapter of the book of Hebrews vs.2 it says of Jesus, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.”  What was it that filled his heart with joy as he faced the cross, and enabled him to go through that terrible ordeal? It was the expectation that he would be the instrument of redemption for the entire world - that a host, a great harvest of people, would be changed and redeemed and restored, real life given  to them - by his work on the cross. In other words, his joy was the joy of being used of God.

That is the greatest joy anyone can know. There is the inheritance of the believer; the fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, and peace.  Those are the three themes of chapter 14 an 15.  Not as the world gives, but as God gives, as Christ illustrates, and we imitate.  And as we abide in Christ and He abides in us, we can experience true love, joy and peace because He is the source, the Vine,  and we are the branches which abide in Him.