Love and Joy
Context
In this post, I will be taking a closer look at John 15:9-17, but I find that the following points highlighted by G. L. Borchert are helpful in giving us an idea of some of the key themes John has been developing throughout the book.
The Circle of Love in the Gospel according to John:
the Father loves the Son (cf. 3:35; 17:23),
and the Son obediently loves the Father (cf. 10:17; 14:31);
the Son loves his followers, and they are to love and obey him (cf. 13:34; 14:15, 23);
loving and obeying the Son means being loved by the Father (cf. 14:21, 23; 17:23);
being loved by the Son also implies loving one another (cf. 13:34; 15:12, 17);
God not only loves the disciples but loves the world and gave his Son for its people (cf. 3:16);
but many in the world love darkness and do not do the will of God (cf. 3:19; 14:24).
(Borchert, G. L. (2002). John 12–21 (Vol. 25B, p. 146). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)
Love a cheap gospel?
Some may have a kneejerk reaction to someone summarizing the gospel as loving as Jesus did as watering down or cheapening the gospel. I agree that when we fail to properly understand love, the gospel is cheapened and watered down by a shallow and weak definition of love. However, I find that when I come to the Bible and allow it to define and describe God’s love, it is the purest and most powerful understanding of the gospel available to us.
For example, a study of 1 John makes it clear that true disciples of Jesus must not love in words only but in actual deeds of love (cf. 1 John 3:18) and that hating one’s brother is actually an indication of not loving God (cf. 1 John 3:15) because love is the sign of knowing God (cf. 1 John 4:7). (Borchert, p. 146) Therefore, I would argue that instead of avoiding defining the gospel as loving as Jesus loved, we should invest more time and study into learning what the Bible teaches us about God’s love.
In my previous post, I studied the first 8 verses of John 15 and how it is vital that we focus on abiding in Jesus. After all, bearing fruit means loving others as God loves them and giving witness to the world and such fruit bearing is possible only by abiding in Jesus, the Vine. (Borchert, p. 146)
Let’s dive into the text and see what we can learn.
Abide
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.
- John 15:9 NKJV
Here Jesus reveals to us that He loves us just like the Father loves Him. He tells us to remain in His love. This is interesting since a request or command for us to remain in His love implies that we can leave His love. But how can I reconcile this with the words of Paul in Romans 8?
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Romans 8:38-39 NKJV
How can Paul say that absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God while John records Jesus telling us to abide in His love?
In my mind, these two verses do not contradict each other. Paul is stating that no force or situation or condition in the universe outside of myself is able to forcibly separate me from the love of God. God will never stop loving me and nothing can make Him stop loving me, (the same way God loves you and everyone else on earth). Meanwhile, Jesus understands that even though His love for us is constant we have the freedom to walk away from a loving relationship with Him. His love does not stop, but I can choose to disregard it. That is why Jesus tells us to not leave, to not give up, to not rebel against His love, but rather to remain, stay, live in His love.
Love and Commandment Keeping
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.
- John 15:10 NKJV
I can imagine this verse making many uncomfortable. It seems like Jesus is basing His love on our actions, like we have to earn His love, which causes His love to not seem very loving. Let’s compare this verse to a similar one from the previous chapter in John.
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.
- John 14:15 NKJV
Some translate this verse as
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
- John 14:15 NASB
(To see different translations of this verse check out BibleHub.) When we compare these two verses we see that Jesus is teaching us that the keeping of the commandments is an outward sign that we love Him, that we are abiding in His love. The keeping of the commandments then does not cause the abiding, but rather is a manifestation of our abiding in Jesus. In other words, you cannot have one without the other. Loving Jesus, abiding in His love, and keeping His commandments go hand in hand.
Also, keep in mind that our relationship to Jesus in terms of obedience and love is modeled on the relationship of the Son to the Father. Jesus is not asking us to do anything that He was not willing to do while He walked the earth as one of us. He is our perfect example, and we are to love as He loved and obey Him as He obeyed the Father.
Joy!
“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
- John 15:11 NKJV
Between my last post and this one, I have been discussing obedience, love, fruit bearing, being pruned... All this could be viewed as rather painful and demanding ideas that scarcely suggest excitement or desirability. But the purpose of abiding in the vine is to provide a sense of delight to those who are authentic disciples of Jesus, even though they will face pain or persecution (and sometimes both at the same time). But the words of Jesus, especially His promises, are meant to bring us joy not take it away. Jesus wants us to experience His joy! That is how our joy can be full.
Besides this present verse, all the uses of the noun and the verb concerning the theme of joy in the Farewell Cycle are directly focused on Jesus’ departure from the world and his desire to provide his beloved followers with a sense that they must not fear the future but rejoice in what is being done through him. They must look beyond their anxieties.
- Borchert, G. L. (2002). John 12–21 (Vol. 25B, p. 147). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
When we obey Jesus, as we abide in His love, we do not live a life that is less than, but rather we experience joy. Jesus is not a killjoy, rather He is guiding us to a fuller and greater joy than we would be able to experience as a result of selfish pursuits. If you are interested in experiencing true joy, give keeping the commandments a try. Rebellion against the explicit will of God as revealed in the Bible will never lead to true joy.
Joy is the second of the graces of the Spirit listed by Paul (Gal. 5:22). True joy is not found in noisy laughter or in giddy excitement caused by the world’s shallow pleasures. The Christian finds his joy in resting in the love of Christ, in victories won, and in unselfish service for humanity. Joy will reach its highest realization in the world to come, but a high degree of joy may be experienced here and now by those who abide in Christ.
- Nichol, F. D. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Vol. 5, p. 1043). Review and Herald Publishing Association.
Being a follower of Jesus is not just about experiencing joy in heaven, but also about experiencing greater joy right now as we live and struggle on this sinful planet.
Love one another
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
- John 15:12 NKJV
Loving one another keeps coming up as the mark of an authentic disciple of Christ.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 13:34-35 NKJV
Jesus gives us the correct understanding and application of the commandments of God. God’s character and His law are all about love. This is how Jesus puts it.
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
- Mark 12:28-31 NKJV (bold mine)
Despite what some might think, Jesus is not changing the commandments or giving new ones, rather He is helping us have a proper understanding of them. Jesus is actually quoting the Old Testament here.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
- Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NKJVYou shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
- Leviticus 19:18 NKJV
Jesus is not updating or changing God’s requirements. Jesus is actually helping us understand what God has revealed to us through the scriptures. We were always called to love God, God always wanted us to love each other, love is merely a reflection of God’s character and His desire for our lives. So many times I have heard it said that Jesus did away or changed God’s requirements but I simply do not see evidence for that in the biblical text. Jesus is reminding us, and we need this reminder, that obedience must flow out of love. Love must be our core motivator in all we do. Our love for God is expressed in our lives as we live a life of obedience. Our obedience does not purchase God’s love, rather it reveals our love for Him.
My obedience/good deeds are a response to God’s love. Not the cause of it.
Greater Love
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
- John 15:13 NKJV
John 15 begins with a great emphasis on the importance of a vibrant relationship with Jesus. As the chapter progresses we see a natural shift to obedience, especially as it is expressed in love for one another.
Love is one of those words that you can say and have people understand it as a wildly different thing than what you had in mind. John has a specific understanding of love, based on his relationship with Jesus.
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
- 1 John 3:16 NKJV
John strongly believes in sacrificial love, and in obedience, and it is all wrapped up in Jesus and the example He left us. I may not be at that level yet, but at least I know what to aim for. My goal is to reflect the character of Christ, to reveal the heart of the Father, and as I remain in Jesus and He abides in me He continues that process in my heart. My interactions with the world around me are an overflow of what God is doing in me and for me. Jesus set the bar high, it would take a miracle for me to reach it, and that is the way it should be. This keeps me humble, and it keeps me relying on Jesus. There is no room for pride when I am trying to live and love as Jesus did. A life of perfect obedience, total dedication, and radical acceptance. Jesus mingled with and embraced the sinner, but never left the sinner the way He found them. Jesus forgave, healed, and strengthened according to their needs, and He also invited them to follow Him and live a new life.
Friendship Defined
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.
- John 15:14 NKJV
At first glimpse, this seems a bit harsh. This is not how friendships work on a human level. This seems manipulative. What makes it even more challenging for us is that these are the words of Jesus, recorded by John, the bible writer who mentions love more than any other. How can John give us such beautiful verses as John 3:15, but also give us John 15:14? Can I pick and choose which verses are true and which are false, which are inspired and which are not? I believe we have to accept the whole Bible as inspired, so the only option must be to properly interpret the words of Jesus as recorded in this passage.
The concept of being a friend of God is applied in the Old Testament to Abraham (2 Chr 20:7; Isa 41:8; cf. Jas 2:23) and implicitly to Moses (Exod 33:11). Likewise, Jesus can refer to Lazarus as “our friend Lazarus” (John 11:11). (Borchert, G. L. p. 149) But nowhere in scripture do we see a blanket statement about Jesus being a friend of humanity. Jesus loves all of us, but John has a different approach to friendship and here he continues to highlight Jesus’ divinity. Jesus is the Vine and is not to be confused with a branch. We are to obey Jesus because He is God, He knows what’s best for us, He died for us, why would we not want to obey His every command?
When I find myself struggling to obey Jesus, I need to be challenged by the implications of my rebellion. Do I not desire to be a friend of a God who has done (and continues to do) so much for me? Once again I wish to highlight that I do not obey by my own strength, it is something that God does in me (John 15:5). But when I reject, refuse, and rebel against the will of God, I am also removing myself from His circle of friends. God still loves me and wants to save me, but I am willfully and intentionally choosing to distance myself from His loving will for my life.
Friends vs Servants
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.
- John 15:15 NKJV
Maybe you’re beginning to feel like all this talk of obedience is beginning to feel more like slavery or servitude than friendship. I can see how it might feel that way. But here Jesus clarifies the difference. He shares plans, He reveals His will to us, and invites us to participate. We are not in this blind. We know exactly how everything will end, we know what following Jesus entails. We may not know exactly the day of the hour but we know that He is coming again.
We may not always have an easy day but we know that God loves us and wants what is best for us. All we have to do is think of the cross and the sacrifice made at Calvary. God has revealed His will to us, we are His friends, we are invited to participate, to join the winning team. Imagine that, we get to face life and all its troubles already knowing we will be victorious. Not because of ourselves, but because of what God does for us!
When we neglect the study of the Bible we are neglecting the revelation from God that makes us His friends as opposed to simply servants. God wants us to be more than just servants, He wants us to be friends, to be aware of what He is doing. Do we care about what God has revealed to us? Do we take time to read, study and familiarize ourselves with His words?
Chosen
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.
- John 15:16 NKJV
Jesus had chosen His disciples, and I believe that you have also been chosen. This means that you do not bear fruit or remain in the love of Jesus because of anything you did or do, but rather because He chose you. As we mentioned earlier, this does not mean that you have no choice in the matter, that’s why Jesus invites His disciples to abide/remain in His love (John 15:9). Keep in mind that the “choosing” and “appointing” of the disciples is not merely for some privilege of being selected to an elite group but for the specific purpose of bearing fruit. When you say “yes” to being a follower of Jesus you are also given a mission, to make disciples in other words to bear fruit.
It is absolutely crucial whenever one discusses the subject of election to realize that election is not about privilege but purpose.
- Borchert, G. L. (2002). John 12–21 (Vol. 25B, p. 150). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Jesus makes that purpose very clear in Matthew 28.
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
When you want to bear fruit that is also what God wants for you, so whatever you ask the Father in the name of Jesus for this purpose will be given to you. I discuss this in more detail in my post The One Thing. The main idea for me is that when we pray in accordance with God’s will it is His pleasure to give us what we ask for, and God clearly wants us to bear fruit and that our fruit remain. This is not to be a brief mountaintop experience but rather a lifestyle.
Focus on Love
These things I command you, that you love one another.
- John 15:17 NKJV
All this talk of bearing fruit and making disciples and obeying God can become a bit confusing and even overwhelming. So Jesus keeps coming back to a simple and practical way to remember everything He is teaching us. Love one another! If you ever find yourself unsure what to do, choose love. As we grow and mature in our faith we gain a better understanding of what it means to love as Jesus does. So prayer and growth and study and obedience are all extremely important. but the final product should always be a deeper and greater understanding of God’s love as revealed in Jesus.
With all that said, I strongly belie that we must resist the temptation to water Christianity down to the point that we don’t even need God to be Christian anymore. The love Jesus calls for is a sacrificial love, the kind of love that can only exist when we are abiding in Jesus and He is abiding in us. It is a supernatural kind of love that cannot be forced, humanly fabricated, or coerced in any way. This love must freely flow from a life of obedience and dedication to God. This only happens as we allow God to come in and shape us daily.
Practical Application
Would you like to join me in praying this prayer? Feel free to modify it
