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This is a challenging passage.
If we want to say we are friends with Jesus, we need to be obeying his commands.
And love is his highest command.
That means even when we are doing the right thing, we need to pay attention to whether we are doing it the right way.
Here’s the thing about that—we are always great at seeing how OTHER people could do better in our eyes.
But get off your high horse and take a look at your own life.
That’s the only way to handle the words of Jesus.
“Keep my commands”, Jesus says.
Yet following Jesus is not just a list of do’s and don’ts.
It’s a way of being in the world.
There are things Jesus commands and warns us NOT to do.
There are things that Jesus commands us TO do.
But there is ONE command that stands out.
In one sense it is the highest command of all.
All the other commands answer to it.
If any are in conflict, this command is the one to be obeyed.
Yet in another sense it is under all the other commands.
Because it is the ground or source of them.
It’s the love of Jesus flowing into our lives that makes our obedience possible.
I’ll say more about this but just like we covered last Sunday—we cannot remain where we have never been.
So we start with a saving encounter with Jesus’ love.
Have you been to Jesus?
No? Well what are you waiting for?
Today is your day.
Jesus is the Son of God who became man.
Jesus is God-Man who walked this earth and showed us what love and truth look like in a human life.
Jesus is the Great Teacher who explained to us how much God loves us.
Jesus is also the Great Teacher who explained how our sin—selfish acts of disobedience--must be left behind.
Then Jesus proved his love for us by becoming our savior.
Though he was without sin and was falsely accused, he went to the cross and died a horrible shame-filled death.
He died for us.
He died to set us free from our debt of sin and the break the power of our selfish ways.
Jesus arose again from the dead in the greatest miracle ever.
His resurrection body was the firstfruits of a whole new creation that God is making.
He then ASCENDED into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, interceding for his church!
Working to prepare a place for us!
Behold I am making ALL THINGS NEW! That’s my Jesus!
He’s coming again.
He will judge the world, which includes all of us.
Now that we know who Jesus is—what we do between now and then or between now and when we die matters.
First of all: BE in Jesus’s love.
We all have a conscience.
We know that are things we have done wrong in life.
Have you confessed those sins to God?
He will forgive you and clean you up on the inside.
Have you made a reasonable effort to make things right?
Jesus will restore you.
Have you been baptized?
Have you made a public confession of your faith in Him?
This is how you set things right and begin the journey with Jesus.
Make sure.
Then Jesus is telling us to abide in his love...
Abide in my love
That’s the starting point.
Abiding in Jesus’ love.
Like we talked about last week it means remaining in Jesus love or dwelling/living in his love.
Some people who are trying to follow Jesus are abiding in his rules rather than his love.
Some people who are trying to follow Jesus are abiding in his data—the right information about Jesus.
Some people who are trying to follow Jesus are abiding in his Tribe and focusing almost completely on who’s in and who’s out.
Don’t hear me wrong—rules have value, right beliefs are important, and it’s great to belong to the Body of Christ.
But the foundation of it all is abiding in the love of Jesus.
That needs to shape how everything else comes together.
And think about the scope of Jesus’ love.
Love that entered our world when we were hostile or uninterested… Love that faced deep rejection and never lost focus.
We are invited to receive that love and then to begin and continue living in the love of Jesus.
Like the air that you breathe.
Like the glasses you wear that help you see the world more clearly.
Like a new garment.
Or to get back to the garden metaphor, like the sap that flows through the vine and changes us from within.
You don’t have to keep asking for that love and then walking away.
That’s no way to live, like a spiritual refugee trying to find your way home again and again.
Abide.
Remain in my love.
Abide ye in my love—Keep your place in my affection.
See that ye do not forfeit that invaluable blessing.
How needless a caution, if it were impossible for them not to abide therein?
John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, Accordance electronic ed.
(Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, 1997), paragraph 16910.
John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, Accordance electronic ed.
(Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, 1997), paragraph 16910.
The Radical Optimism of Grace
This is part of what we Wesleyans call the Radical Optimism of Grace.
It is
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love?—On these terms, and no other, ye shall remain the objects of my special affection.
John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, Accordance electronic ed.
(Altamonte Springs: OakTree Software, 1997), paragraph 16911.
f ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love?—On these terms, and no other, ye shall remain the objects of my special affection.
John Wesley’s Notes on the Whole Bible (Wesley’s Notes)
Public Domain
Derived from an electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Remaining in the Father’s love was not for Jesus a passive thing; it involved obedience to his commands.
The same is true for Jesus’ disciples.
They remain in Jesus’ love by keeping his commands.
Colin G. Kruse, John: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC 4; IVP/Accordance electronic ed.
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