Illustrations of Love and Warnings of Hate John 15:11-25
Jesus tells us in John 15:11: “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” Jesus is on His way to the cross and promises His followers (including you and me) that His joy will remain (abide) in you to the fullest amount, filled to the brim. The joy of the Lord is Perfect joy because as followers, we know that Jesus is the Messiah and so the Messiah has come and fulfilled His promise to save us from our sins. The evidence for us is His perfect Life, His resurrection and victory over sin and the grave, and His ascension back to the Father where Jesus still rules today. We have the blessing of the Lord NOW and more blessings promised in the future.
Jesus continues to teach in John 15:12-17: “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 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, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
A Lay-down-your-life-love
Here Jesus restates and then clarifies His commandment of John 13:34 “to love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” He explains that love in the terms of verse 13: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” Our society often speaks of “tough love” but it doesn’t have this kind of love in mind, the type which is willing to die for the sake of others. The disciples would visually understand this the next morning as Jesus was laid down upon the cross and the nails would be driven into His already beaten and bruised body. There could be no greater love than Jesus clearly, visibly, graciously, and undeniably giving His life on behalf of “his friends”. This is the kind of self-sacrificial love we are to have for each other, a lay-down-your-life-love for each other.
Jesus is not making a comparison between the type of love that one would have for your enemies verses your friends, because Jesus had already taught earlier in His ministry that citizens of God’s Kingdom were to love extravagantly and unceasingly, even to love your enemies and those who may persecute you. If a Christian begins to ask, “Who is my friend? And who is my enemy” then the Love of which Jesus speaks is probably not the kind of love that you have, after all, you were an enemy of God and Jesus still died for you! (Romans 5:8 says: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, [that is, enemies of God!] Christ died for us.”) So we are to exercise this kind of Christ-like love within the family of believers.
Who are my friends?
The question “Who are your friends?” would naturally arise in the disciples’ minds in similar fashion to Luke 10 in the Parable of the Good Samaritan when the expert asked “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responds in verses 14-15: “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
Jesus’ friends are characterized by continual and habitual obedience to His commandment to love one another with Christ-like love. Jesus’ friends have an intimate knowledge of His plans and purpose, unlike a servant or a slave. Servants or slaves are no more than instruments in the master’s hands and would not develop a pattern of a loving relationship. Friends have an even higher status than disciples and Jesus has not kept anything from His disciples but has revealed all that the Father has desired Him to reveal. They still have much to learn, but that will come with the arrival of the Spirit of Truth, the Helper.
He chose Us!
We must remember that being a “friend” of Jesus in no way diminishes His Divine nature. He is still Holy God, Perfect in all of His ways, worthy of worship and adoration as we will later see, because He gave His life for His friends, for us and another reason is that HE CHOSE US. Jesus continues in verse 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, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
“Man always tends to feel that the initiative is with him. Jesus now assures His followers that this is not the case. It was not they who chose Him, as was normally the case when disciples attached themselves to a particular Rabbi. Students the world over delight to seek out the teacher of their choice and attach themselves to him. But Jesus’ disciples did not hold the initiative. On the contrary it was He who chose them. And not only did He choose them but He appointed them to their task.” (“The Gospel According to John”, Morris, p. 676)
In the Old Testament God “chose” Abraham and God “chose” Moses. He “chose” the children of Israel out of all the people on earth; Deuteronomy 7:7-8 explains: The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Jesus includes two reasons for His election or choosing: His choosing is for God-glorifying purposes. One is to “GO” and “bear fruit that would remain.” This would include sharing the Gospel so that others may hear and be converted. When others enter the Kingdom and receive forgiveness and eternal life, they too will abide in Christ and He in them, as they too produce fruit. What a privilege to be appointed by God to become God’s children, and then to be used by Him in His drawing of others as we demonstrate and share His love.
The second purpose is to be engaged in prevailing, purposeful prayer in Jesus’ name. This is not self-centered listing of our needs but this is Kingdom Prayer. It is praying the heart of God TO God. No doubt, loving one another as Christ has loved would be a constant prayer of the Church. It’s praying the very desires of the will of God and His Kingdom, knowing all that Jesus is, how He works, and how He has revealed Himself and purpose and love to us, and bringing these to the Father through the Son and waiting on the Father to answer and bless. What a privilege is ours to meet with the King and seek His Kingdom Purposes and power through prayer!
Verse 17 concludes the section on Jesus’ illustrations and the commandment on loving: “These things I command you, that you love one another.” All of the things Jesus has said concerning “abiding in Christ”, of His choosing you, of your going and bearing fruit, will contribute to loving one another, and are a vital weapon in the warfare ahead. Look at verses 18-21 where we see a world which hates Jesus and those who follow Him.
A World that Hates
18 "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” (There is no doubt that the world will certainly hate followers of the Lord Jesus, because the world crucified Christ.)
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (The world loves its own and they love the things of the world. They do not love the things of God. In His Divine Election, God chooses us out of the world to love Him and to love each other the way that He loves us. And so here is the inevitable result:)
20 “Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.”
The world persecuted Jesus, and they will certainly persecute Jesus’ believers because the world and Jesus’ followers have nothing in common. The world will keep the word of Jesus’ followers only as far as they have kept Jesus’ word, and they rejected His word. You cannot be “half in” and be a believer. It’s all or nothing. It’s the world or Jesus.
The fact remains that some had kept Christ’s words and some would keep the words that the disciples would bring; some would be converted. Jesus warns that His followers will be hated by the World and persecuted for Christ’s sake. Even today Jesus’ followers will be hated by the World and persecuted for Christ’s sake. WE are reminded in our daily prayers those who are being persecuted for the sake of God’s Kingdom and the Savior whom they represent.
The Extent of Man’s Sin
Look at the last verses of this section (22-25) where Jesus reveals the extent of man’s sin:
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me, hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'”
The sin of rejecting Jesus as Savior, Messiah, and Lord, sent from God is the only sin that a person needs to commit in order to be under the judgment of God. If Jesus had never come the Jews and the world at large could try and hide behind the pretext or excuse of ignorance concerning their sin and rejection of God, but since Jesus did come and reveal Himself as the only way to God for forgiveness, no one can have an excuse for their unbelief.
Paul later declared the same thing in Acts 17:30-31: “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Rejection of Jesus alone as Savior is an eternally deadly mistake because to do so is also to reject God the Father. I read again this week how the many so-called religions of the world state that though we may call God by different names, He is the same God. No! The Bible does not teach that at all. God has revealed Himself in the Son, Jesus Christ. It is Jesus’ life and work alone which saves spiritually destitute men and women from inevitable eternal judgment. Jesus life and words provide life, not any other person or prophet. The “I AM” statements in the Gospel of John stand as testaments of the deity of the Lord Jesus and there could be absolutely no doubt to the people of His day, who the Lord Jesus claimed to be, and that His WORKS testified undeniably to His WORDS; and so Jesus’ incarnation and work leaves no excuse for unbelief.
John quotes a thought from Psalm 69:4, 35:19 and 109:3, “They hated Me without a cause.” The thought here is if David was hated in such a terrible way by the enemies of God how much more the promised Son of God promised from David’s line who would confront sin and usher in the Kingdom of God’s righteousness!! Jesus fulfills the scripture of such enemies of God. Jesus’ work proves His deity and establishes the grounds not only for salvation by faith to those who believe but also for judgment who have rejected and hated Jesus and by association, His Father without cause. There will be no hope for them in the end.
Not so for those who love and follow Jesus. In John 5:24 He had promised: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” And in John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” Such are the promises to those who embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior. To God be the Glory. Amen
OUTLINE: Vs. 11: Full Joy is Perfect Joy in the blessings of the Lord now and in the future: The Messiah has come and fulfilled His promise to save!
I. Illustrations of the commandment, “to Love as I have loved you.” (13-17)
A. Giving His life for His friends: A lay-down-your-life-love (13)
B. His friends are characterized by habitual obedience to His commandment. (14-15)
C. His election of us: (16)
1. To GO and bear fruit that would remain.
2. Engage in prevailing, purposeful prayer in Jesus’ name. (Kingdom Prayer)
II. Illustrations of Hatred from the World. (18-27)
A. Jesus warns that His followers will be hated by the World and persecuted for Christ’s sake. (17-21)
B. Jesus reveals the extent of man’s hatred and sin.
1. Jesus’ incarnation and work leaves no excuse for unbelief.
2. Jesus’ work proves His deity and establishes the grounds for salvation as well as judgment.
