John - Week 45

Remain in My Love 

READ 

John 15:9-12 

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! 12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.” 

It is one thing to love others as some friend has loved you, but imagine being told to love to the degree as the heavenly Father has loved His Son, the Lord Jesus. Again Jesus connects obedience with love. He remains in the Father’s love by obeying Him. Believers remain in Jesus’ love by obeying Him. The purpose Jesus had in telling the disciples this was so they would be filled with joy. Then Jesus concludes by commanding them to love each other the way He loved them. 

REFLECT 

Ponder how much the heavenly Father and Son loved each other, and then consider how you should love others. 

RESPOND 

Read verses, though familiar, that express God’s love for us. Examine John 3:16; Galatians 2:20; 1 John 4:9-10. Tell someone else about these verses. 

No Greater Love 

READ 

John 15:13-15 

13 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.” 

This passage tells of the degrees of love, and none is greater than someone who lays down his life for a friend. Jesus then assures others they are His friends if they do what He commands. Because they are His friends He has told them ahead of time that He will be going away and going to the Father. Notice He said He had told them everything the Father had told Him. 

REFLECT  

Would you like to be Jesus’ friend? He says how you become His friend: by obeying His commands. The Bible gives instructions on how to live a godly life; thereby, being a friend of Jesus. 

RESPOND 

Read passages such as Romans 12:9-21 and Ephesians 4:17-32. Are you obeying the commands here in God’s Word? Friends of Jesus do.  

I Chose You 

READ 

John 15:16-17 

16 “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.” 

In sports, it is the choice of the coach who plays on the team. Jesus is the Divine Coach and reminds believers He’s the One that chooses them. Believers are not chosen to win a game but to “go and produce lasting fruit.” John 15 has been about bearing fruit, and now Jesus tells His disciples to go. In other words, the fruit would be produced as they left and went out to a lost world. Often prayers are concluded “in Jesus’ name.” Here Jesus tell them to use His name and the Father will grant what they ask. Again he commands: “Love each other.” 

REFLECT  

Jesus telling His disciples to “go” is like a parent saying, “You can’t do it here, go and do what you are told.” Have you thought about the fact that you are to “go”? 

RESPOND 

Read Matthew 28:18-20 that has Jesus’ command to go and make disciples. Are you doing this? You are His friend if you are doing what He has commanded. Going is not necessarily to the other side of the world; it can be going to a family member or a neighbor. 

If the World Hates You 

READ 

John 15:18-21 

18 “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. 19 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. 20 Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. 21 They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.” 

The disciples would be going into a hostile world, and Jesus lets them know they will be hated by the world. It was to be expected. If the world persecuted—and would put to death—the one they considered to be the ringleader, it could be expected they would come after His followers. It is believed that all of the disciples gave their lives for Jesus except for the apostle John, who was writing these words. Jesus made clear all of this would come about because the world had rejected His heavenly Father. 

REFLECT 

Have you been looked down on or even despised for your Christian testimony? Have you thought about the reason for those looking down on you? Is it not that they were really despising your Savior? 

No Excuse 

READ 

John 15:22-25 

22 “They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. 25 This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’” 

Light produces guilt. Jesus, the Light of the world, had come and presented Himself to mankind. Now they can no longer plead ignorance to knowing what the truth is. Jesus was clear that anyone who hates Him really hates His heavenly Father. What David said about himself, Jesus now applies to Himself (see Psalm 35:19; 69). Today there are groups who do not believe Jesus is God. To them, Jesus would say, “You are really hating My Father.” 

REFLECT 

Have you thought about the truth that whatever your view is of Jesus is really your view of His heavenly Father? If you refuse to believe who Jesus said He is, you are disbelieving His Father who sent Him. 

RESPOND 

Examine verses that tell how Jesus and His heavenly Father are related: see 1 John 2:23; 4:15.