John 15:7-18

 Read: John 15, Sing: Yet Not I and Christ Will be my Hideaway

John 15:7-18

Is anyone else feeling their hearts flood with overwhelming thoughts of love, repentance,mercy and grace as we study John? Every day I find myself in tears as I read and study and go deeper. I am moved by the depths of Christ's words, the linking from the Old Testament and then the teachings of the disciples later on in the New. They lived out these 4 chapters that we are focusing on. It is humbling, beautiful and inspiring.

John 15:7-18. There is much to say but lets cover simply 1 point. Verses 9-11. Jesus teaches as the Father loves the Son, which is infinitely non-understandable because of the vastness an greatness of it, so he has loved us. WHAT!!! How many times do we glaze this scripture just getting through our quiet time. Yet Here is the Savior of the world using the Father's love for Him for the measure of His love for us. This is truly incredible. We are loved in a way that in incomprehensible. I think of the song Indescribable by Chris Tomlin, at one point it says you place the stars and you know them by name, you are amazing God.... this all powerful God, who loved the world so much that he sent His one and only Son, to bear the weight of our sins, that Son loves us just as the Father loves Him. In a world that teaches evolution, and that creation is a matter of sludge and it doesn't matter how you live or where your moral compass lies or what you do as long as your happy, we can stare them down and say NO. The Creator of the Universe and all its vastness and all its molecular matter, all of which declares HIs glory, ALL of that is secondary to His love of the Son, and that Son loves us. You matter because God created you. You are an image bearer. You are loved by the Son. 

Do you love Him in return?

Abide in my love. Remain in His love. Cling to His love. Be in His love.  

He goes on, "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. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. Its hard not to get excited to the point I lose my thought in typing over this. So bear with me. Christ, who came and lived  and died for us and rose again, on earth abided in His love of the Father and it came out through keeping His commandments. For us to now do this, we must first off, know what those commandments are, and secondly follow them not ritualistically as the religious do, thinking that they earn love, but we follow them because we are abiding in His matchless love. His burden is easy and His yolk is light. His commandments are not rules of affliction they are a love letter to teach us how to live as He lived and abide as He abided. Not only does Christ die for us, but he then teaches us how we can now lay down our lives for him. For 99.9% of us, this will not require martyrdom, but sometimes we act as if His Word is a death sentence. Maybe its because we don't know the Father well.

"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy nay be in you, and that your joy may be full." :::Sigh::: So.much. He loves us as the Father loves Him, and gives us joy, that our joy may be full! Joy, is a fruit of the spirit. Not an emotion. Joy is not happiness, although you might feel happy while experiencing joy. But sometimes joy comes is the depths of sorrow, because our joy is from the Lord, because our joy is IN the Lord. He is our strength and our shield. And this joy, is a gift. That through the helper as Christ will teach, we are able to experience His joy. 

In the sermon yesterday the Pastor discussed how in 14 and 15 we see Jesus teaching on His love, His joy and His peace...and if we jump to Galatians the first of the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy and peace! Crazy! Our Father through His Son,bears good fruit. He is the giver of life. And in Him we are able to partake of His love and joy and peace, and then share it with others! 

Are you living a life that reflects this fruit? 1 John 5: 2-3 says, " By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." it goes on in the chapter that John writes these things to us who believe that we may know we have eternal life."

We have been given the fruits of the Spirit through Jesus Christ, if we abide in Him. In a world that tells us we need so many things, are these on the top of your list? Do you pray for fruit? Or more Fruit? Do you pray to be holy as He is holy? I noticed myself, just this week in studying, when is the last time I asked for this? When is the last time I asked to be pruned that I may be made more like Him? We have developed a taste for the world rather than a taste for godliness if we are honest with ourselves. May we urge one another to walk in a manner worthy of Christ today!