Unending Love

Today I want to focus on the great love that Jesus has provided for us by dying on the cross and rising to new life.

The Gospel reading (John 15: 9-17) has a theme of being connected to one another and centres itself around relationships. It is a relationship passage with an emphasis on love. The passage speaks of the relationship that exists between Jesus and his Father, the relationship that exists between Jesus and his disciples, and the relationship that exists between Jesus and us, living right here in Alstonville.

Three points worth considering today are:

1.   Abiding in Jesus’ love (verses 9-11)

2.   The commandment that Jesus gives (verses 12-13)

3.   Going out and bearing fruit (verses 16-17)

Abiding in Jesus’ Love

The beginning of John’s Gospel emphasises unity between the Father and Jesus. In verse 9 Jesus is speaking of the love his Father shows him and then encourages his disciples to abide in the love that he will provide them.

What does it mean then to abide in Jesus’ love? It means dwelling in a particular place – abiding there – remaining there. The definition further refers to the kind of peace and stability that we can associate with being at home – or at the home of a hospitable friend. The home of Loretta and I is a place of shelter, comfort, peace, stability, places where nurturing takes place and where love exists, grows, and continues to grow. You want to abide there with the people you love the most.

Jesus wants to abide with us. He loves us. Out of this love; Jesus calls us to abide in his love. When we are in relationship with Jesus we can be immersed in his love, surrounded by his love, comforted by his love, and empowered by his love. Love can be the glue that holds everything together.

Think about abiding in love in these terms. A child’s love verses a parent’s love verses God’s love for us. As children the love we display can be self-seeking, self-centred, selfish. “I love you but give me what I want!” This selfishness can also occur towards God – asking Him to give us what we want and then blame Him when we do not get what we want or that our plans do not turn out the way we want them to. We make our plans and tell God to bless them instead of relying on God to direct our paths. While this is a negative view of love a child’s love for their parent is also genuine. In most cases a child will defend their Mum when their Mum is being criticised by others. Parents in most cases display unconditional love toward their children. Sadly, however this unconditional love is not always shown in all relationships that parents have with their children. God’s love for us is unending. God loves us in the happy times. God loves us in the not so happy times, God loves us in times of challenge and great difficulty or when we fall short and make mistakes, he still loves us.

Obedience is needed. Obedience is always part of one’s relationship with God. Love is attractive! Everybody likes to talk about love. Everyone wants to claim their interest in love and celebrate it. We speak passionately and lovingly about the things we love. However, when it comes to obedience not as much emphasis is given to obedience, and the very real character development that results from obedience to the Lord. But with Jesus – love and obedience were always connected; there was never - in the teaching of Christ – any distance between the two.

The Commandment given by Jesus

In verse 10: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…” This is too clear to debate or be denied. If we want to abide in the love of Christ, we need to be engaged with His teaching, through obedience. It is about trust. It is about love. But choosing to abide in Jesus’ love and being obedient to his commandments is a challenge - it is not easy.

It is easy to hit pause in our busy lives and react to a post that a friend has posted online, share our lives on social media, but do we place the same emphasis and hit pause when it comes to Jesus’ role in our lives. What if Jesus placed a post on a social media site? Would we react in the same way we do our friends? The Bible teaches that love for Jesus is not just something you talk about – it is something you do. We need to put our love for Jesus into action. We need to spend time with Jesus, reading His Word and praying to Him. This shows our connection to Him, our relationship with Him and can positively propel us into the day ahead.

In verse 12 Jesus commands his disciples to love one another as he has loved us. The type of love Jesus is speaking about here is agape love. A love that is more about “doing” rather than “feeling”. When we do agape love we are putting others before ourselves. This type of love does not require that we approve of the actions of the other person whom we love – or even that we enjoy their company. It does however require that we act on behalf of that person – to demonstrate love in some practical fashion. A person who displays agape love will do whatever is possible to demonstrate their love for another. They will feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty. They will welcome the stranger and clothe the naked. They will visit the sick and those in prison. Their thrust, their motivation is to give rather than receive.

Examples of agape love within the community and here at Alstonville Anglicans including keeping everyone safe during the COVID pandemic and ministries of the OP Shop, the Pink ladies of Play Place, MU, the Pastoral Care Team and the teamwork shown at the Mother’s Day Fete. Love is in action because we are in relationship with one another. These ministries make God known and present and show His love!

The love in action that Jesus did was to show us the perfect example of love whereby he laid down his life for us. There is no greater love than this. The image of the cross gives us a powerful illustration of this love… that ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’[1] and we are reminded of this in this season of Easter.

Go out and bear fruit.

Jesus calls his disciples friends. They did not choose him, he chose them. Likewise, we did not choose Jesus, he chose us, so we too are his friends. Jesus taught his friends what he had learned from his Father. The disciples were just ordinary men, but Jesus believed that his friends could continue the work, the ministry that he had started. We too are charged with that same task. What does it mean then to go out and bear fruit? The bearing of fruit could take many shapes and forms, but ultimately it is bringing others that we would meet with, who we connect with, who we are in relationship with to know and love God. The way we can do this is to witness God’s love in our individual lives and illustrate that love as an action. Make “Love” the glue, the very centre of all things we do when we are in relationship with each other.

John 15:9 - 17 is a passage about relationship and at its very core is love. Love begins with the Father and flows through the Son to the disciples and ultimately onto us. Be comforted to know that Jesus loves each one of us if we abide with him. I encourage each of us to love one another as Jesus has loved you.

Amazing Grace written by John Newton is a famous church hymn. Newton spent part of this working life working a slave trader and ship captain transporting slaves. During one of his final voyages a large storm occurred at sea and this scared Newton so he cried out to the Lord for help and he was saved. The slave trade took its toll on Newton and impacted him. Newton became a follower of God, experiencing his love and felt called to serve God as an Anglican priest.[2] Amazing Grace was originally penned as a poem and used in one of Newton’s sermons, later the poem was put music.

Christian musician, Chris Tomlin has researched Newton’s work and made some adaptions to the famous hymn while keeping the essence Newton’s words in tacked. Tomlin discovered the original version had a final verse that is not widely known. He chose to include this verse in his reworking of the hymn. Amazing Grace (My Chains are gone) is a modern-day version and speaks of how the chains of life are now gone when we accept Jesus into our heart’s we can be set free. God is our Saviour and he has ransomed us. Like a flood, God’s mercy reigns – it is unending love amazing grace.[3] My prayer for each one of us is that we receive that same mercy and unending love from God as we abide in his love and bear fruit for His glory! Amen.

Mark Stuckey, Licenced Lay Minister

[1] John 3:16

[2] https://www.ocp.org/en-us/blog/entry/amazing-grace

[3][3] Worship Together Interview – Chris Tomlin