Remain in Jesus’ Love!

6th Sunday of Easter, 5/5/24 John 15:9-17 Remain in Jesus’ Love! I. Keep his commands. II. Love each other. III. Bear lasting fruit. “Love is a many-splendored thing.” For some reason, I’ve heard that expression more than once. Not too often, but more than once. But I really never knew what it meant. Nor did I know that it isn’t a wise saying that has been quoted for some time. It’s actually the name of a movie released in 1955. I read a brief description of that movie, and it seems to me as if its title is a bit ironic. The movie is set in the Far East and involves the romance of a Caucasian man and an Asian woman. She’s single, but he’s still legally married. Separated from his wife, but still married. And that’s an issue. So is prejudice from her family against this man whom she loves. And that’s just the “splendor” of love in the screenplay. In real life, the two main characters couldn’t stand each other. They only spoke to each other when they were forced to. Rumor has it that the actress intentionally chewed on garlic before coming on set for any close connection with the actor. But isn’t love a many-splendored thing? I’m not sure how I feel about that question. Amused? Confused? Disappointed? I guess that’s the nature of love among human beings. And wouldn’t you agree? Sometimes love can be so complicated. Adults with any amount of experience in life are careful about falling into it because it comes with so many expectations, so many unwritten rules, so many disappointments. That’s why a common question is: Love? Do I really want to fall into it? But when love is real, when it’s pure, when it’s patient, when it’s sacrificial, when it’s fulfilling, there’s nothing like it in the world. And that’s why we as human beings instinctively crave it. We need to be loved. So, when Jesus comes to us in his word this morning here in John 15 and tells us in no uncertain terms, “Remain in my love,” I imagine there are several legitimate reactions. “That’s exactly what I need.” Or, a bit differently, “I’m not sure what that involves.” Or, “What does that require of me?” So, if you’re not quite sure what Jesus means when he tells you, “Remain in my love,” you’re in the right place at the right time. Be thankful, because Jesus explains what he means. It’s my prayer that his words to you this morning cause you to do just what he tells you—to remain in his love. I. I recall another popular statement regarding love from about the 1970s. “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” I get what that statement is trying to say. Love, by its very nature, is forgiving. It forgives before being asked to forgive. But that statement is also open to abuse, perhaps wildly so. If I love you and I don’t have to say I’m sorry, then can I do as I please, even if I have wronged you, i.e., sinned against you in some way. In other words, you need to accept me as I am because I’m trying to be the best version of myself and I slipped up. No big deal, right? Wrong! Jesus states very clearly, “Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Do you understand what he’s saying? Maybe not. Let me help you. First, Jesus points to the connection to his Father’s love for him and his love for his Father. That wasn’t some fuzzy divine emotion. It was real. It was evident. It involved the eternal Son of God coming to this earth in human flesh and blood and obeying every detail—even the smallest detail—of the Father’s plan for his Son’s mission—to save every sinner from hell. Notice the connection—love means obedience. Love is not a free pass to do as we please. Love means we will live according to the will of God and do it joyfully. That’s our Lord’s next point, “Remain in [God’s] love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” We know how true that is. Look at it from the opposite of joy—from the heartache in your life. When does it most often occur? When someone you love is not living according to the will of God. Their sins are breaking your heart. They’re destroying your relationship. Even the world recognizes that. The world calls it “behavior that is detrimental to our relationship.” Jesus calls it sin. And we all commit them against our Lord and against each other, more often than we care to admit, more often than we realize. So, when Jesus tells us to remain in his love, he’s giving us some very practical advice. Keep his commands. That’s what love is. II. We’re accustomed to love being a two-way street. In fact, when it isn’t running both ways, when it’s only going in one direction, it becomes one of those tragic emotional moments in our lives. When love is given but not returned, it doesn’t take long before a roadblock is erected and the love-traffic comes to an abrupt halt. But that’s where your relationship with Jesus enters in. He has told us to remain in his love, and here’s another facet of it, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” When we’re sending out the love to someone else but not getting anything in return, Jesus tells us to recall his love for us. And that love is on display in this astounding way: He laid down his life for us. He sacrificed himself in our place. He suffered our hell on the cross. And what makes that truth even more amazing, is that he did it when we were still his enemies. Enemies? That’s how he describes us through the Apostle Paul. “When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Rom. 5:10). By nature, we are not so lovable to God. There was nothing in us that should incline him to sacrifice himself for us. So, why did he do it? Because God is love. The highway of love extended first from God’s divine heart to us. After that love had found us and made us his own by faith in Jesus, another love-lane was added—this time, from our hearts to God’s heart. As our worship theme states, Jesus gives love in us! And that empowers us to love each other. And that’s the second aspect of remaining in Jesus’s love—it loves each other, even as difficult as that may be at times. III. In this text, Jesus speaks about one more aspect of remaining in his love, and it might seem like it comes out of nowhere. He was speaking to his disciples on the night before his death. He has shared with them that remaining in his love means keeping his commands and loving each other. And then he shares this aspect: “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” He speaks to his disciples about the fact that they are his friends, and not his servants, and that they are to bear fruit. And not just any kind of fruit, but fruit that will last. When you first heard these words a few minutes ago, did you wonder what Jesus meant? If so, you’re not alone. Let me explain. Jesus contrasts a friend with a servant. In biblical times, a servant rarely knew what his master’s plans were. The master didn’t share them. He simply told the servant what to do. But Jesus now calls his disciples his friends in contrast to being his servants. How so? Jesus has shared his plans with them. And his plans were about to unfold before their very eyes. Within hours he would be crucified, as he told them would happen. But on the third day he would rise again, as he promised them. And then he would pour out his Holy Spirit on them at Pentecost. From that point on, they would go out into the world to share his gospel with one and all. The goal was that they would bring sinners into the eternal kingdom of God. And there’s the eternal fruit. What a high calling and purpose in life! To be the instruments of Jesus to bring eternal blessings such as faith, forgiveness, and heaven to others! And that’s his goal for us as well. Jesus talks about choosing his twelve disciples. He has chosen you as well, not quite in the same way, but chosen nonetheless. He chose you to be one of his disciples, one of his followers. Why? Not so that he could hoard you as his treasured possession, but so that you could remain in his love by bearing lasting fruit. Sure, the loving things you say to and do for others is a fruit of faith. But the fruit that lasts is the fruit that leads them to eternal life. The fruit that lasts is the fruit that helps them in their life as a child of God. And sometimes that takes all the love you can muster, because people—even God’s people—can be “unlovable” at times. They can be annoying, bothersome, victims of their own foolish decisions and actions. But that doesn’t give us an excuse to check out of the love of Jesus. As God’s people we are still in the love of Jesus. Remaining in it means to bear lasting fruit—helping people on their way to eternal life. Remain in Jesus’ love. That sounds simple, doesn’t it? Until we recall just what it means as Jesus explains it here. Have you ever had trouble loving someone? Have you ever thought to yourself, “There they go again, saying something or doing something that really sets me off!”? Don’t get me wrong. There are times when it’s proper to get angry at sin. But how often does that righteous anger cross the line into sinfulness? How often does it crowd any feeling of love out of our hearts? How often does it feel “right” to us not to “love” others, but to despise them? How often do you feel justified in despising someone? Good thing Jesus didn’t feel that way about me…about you…as he carried his cross up the hill called Calvary. We’re not so loveable. Not one of us. And yet he loved us to death. His love forgives us and renews us. It makes us VIP guests in his eternal heaven where we will spend life in eternal bliss and glory. So, go Christians! Remain in Jesus love! That has all sorts of implications for your daily life. Unlike earthly love, the love of Jesus is truly a many-splendored thing. You are objects of his love. His love for you empowers you to love others. How splendid! Amen.