Lifestyle change, I don't know about you, but at first this sounded like some kind of new age/yuppy term to me. Or maybe something the doctor would tell me I need. But there is more to that phrase. As a basketball coach, Digger Phelps felt he had reached his professional zenith when he was chosen to coach at Notre Dame. Yet he altered his perspective after a trip to Europe in 1975. He had not known that a world of culture could be so fabulous. When he returned, paintings replaced trophies in his office, classical music took the place of hard rock, and he started wearing three-piece suits instead of colorful sports jackets.
The apostle Paul had a similar experience. At one time he was convinced that Moses personified truth and savagely persecuted anyone who disputed it. Then came the change! Someone, whose blinding incandescence shone through the midday Syrian sun, appeared and opened Paul’s heart even as he closed Paul’s eyes. From that moment, having met the living Christ, Paul had a new perspective on life. Human pride was replaced by God’s grace, pedigree was replaced by faith, and trust in what he could do was replaced by what Christ had already done. Once we see Christ that way, we are all the same—it helps us replace what now matters so greatly with what truly matters ultimately.
Those that God loves as a Father, may be despised and hated by those of the world. As the Father loved Christ Jesus, so He loves Christ Jesus' disciples, who were unworthy. Christ Jesus told the disciples they should continue in their love for Him, and one another. And they should on all occasions show it. “The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment, but the joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast.” Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary.
John 15:12-25
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: `No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: `They hated me without reason.'
1. Abiding in Love – (vs. 12-14)
Christ Jesus’ command to His disciples now becomes very specific. They are to love one another as He has loved them (v. 12). This does not mean tolerating or being nice to one another, but is a call to love one another no matter what.
Verse 13 is one of the most dramatic verses in the Bible and another well known verse. Dying for others was considered heroic in Greco-Roman stories, and friendship to the death was considered a high moral value. And at least here in the United States it is still looked on that way. But Judaism did not share this general Greek perspective, although it emphasized dying for the law if need be. A Rabbi who lived within a few decades after John argued that one's own life took precedence over another's life.
Although it is unlikely that Christ Jesus was influenced by the Greek view of friendship, John's readers would have been familiar with it and so grasped his point quickly.
Before we get lost in the heroics of verse 13, look at verse 14. It is in verse 14 that Christ Jesus links friendship (with obedience) to the command “to love”. Sometimes we Christians get so busy trying to figuring out how we should be loving God that we forget to love one another. A constant and genuine love for one another would be a great way to show love for God.
When you study the many commands Christ Jesus left for His disciples and for us, one seems to take precedence over all the others.
a) Did that central command have to do with doctrine? No
b) Did it have to do with church size? No
c) Did it have to do with order of worship? No
d) Did it have to do with the type of music in a service? No
It could not be simpler to understand or it would seem, more difficult to carry out: Love each other as I have loved you. Where do you stand with God today? How about with your brothers and sisters in Christ?
Christ Jesus does something unexpected in verse 15. He calls the disciples friends, not servants.
2. Friends not Servants (vs. 15)
Christ Jesus had opened the way for a new kind of relationship among these men, calling them “friends,” not “servants” (v. 15). Servant – doulos – (doo'-los) – was a positive Old Testament concept to the disciples. But the word friend was more than likely a shock to the disciples, since in the Bible, Abraham and Moses are the only two people to be called friends of God.
What was it that caused Christ Jesus to call this rat-tag band of followers friends? It was because of all the things He had shared with them about the Father's truth.
Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you can become more than just friends of God. You can become the Sons and Daughters of God, joint heirs with Christ Jesus. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. Rom 8:16-17
Not only were the the disciples called friend, but Christ Jesus let them know they were sought out (chosen).
3. Sought Out (vs. 16-17)
Christ Jesus had “chosen” these men to continue His mission (v. 16). The initiative was His, not theirs. He had appointed them, trained them, and prepared them to go and bear much fruit. The word “appointed” in verse 16 is the same verb Christ Jesus uses when He speaks of “laying down His life.” It is His death then that will empower these disciples to carry out their work in His name. “The Lord divested Himself of life that He might invest them with the apostolate to the world. He set aside His life and set them to their work.” - Roger L. Fredrikson. And those who would and will become disciples of Christ Jesus because of their witness “in the years to come” throughout the world will “remain.” They too will bear fruit, we will bear or should bear fruit.
That said, there is no mission, no fruit born, without prayer in Christ Jesus’ name. I'm not talking about hit-and-miss surface asking, but a life of intercession for the mission of spreading the message of Christ Jesus. His will and purpose then becomes your will and purpose. When we read about the churches around the world we are reminded again and again that it is where the church is living in prayer—in China, East Africa, India, in North Korea, and in Cuba—that the harvest is the greatest!
It may well be that the most desperate need of the American church is the recovery of fervent, believing prayer in the name of Christ Jesus. You have been sought, and bought with a steep price – the blood of Christ Jesus. You are searching for Christ Jesus and He has sought you out; why not quit searching and let Him into your life now?
Christ Jesus now gives His disciples a dire warning. Because of their love for Him, they will be hated by the world.
4. Hated by the World (vs. 18-25)
For the second time in these verses the concept of God's sovereignty leaps from the text. We were all once in the world, but those who belong to Christ Jesus have been chosen by Him out of the world. (vs. 16, 19)
The disciples would be hated by the world as Christ Jesus has been hated. The hatred the world shows Christians is nothing more or less than a reflection of the hatred it shows Christ Jesus Himself. He is hated by the world for who He is. He is not just a good man, He is not just a good teacher, He is the Messiah. He is God/man sent to save us from our sins.
It is the nature of the world to hate, just as it is or should be the nature of Christians to love. And these are mutually exclusive. So as we are to be known for our love, the world is known for its hatred. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. 1 John 4:20-21
When a handful of members from a church in Wichita, Ks. journeyed to Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia, to work and learn for a few days, they saw the bullet holes in one of the buildings and heard the story of community ostracism. This radical, healing community of love, trying to be totally faithful to Christ Jesus was a challenge and a threat to that hostile community, even though it was so well “churched.”
The disciples would be treated as their Master. We will be persecuted as He had been persecuted. Why are we surprised that it is starting to happen here in the U.S. Hate is seen 5 times in verses 18 and 19, and the last time it is used in verse 19 it is the present tense. Christians are going to be hated, that is just the way of it. A youth pastor tells the story of a senior high girl, who was a new Christian in a youth group, wept openly because her non-believing mother was insisting she could no longer come to church.
But it is also true that those who have kept the word of Christ Jesus will someday rise above all the hatred. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:6-9
Another reason the world hates Christ Jesus is a resentment of His message. When people are brought face to face with the ugliness of sin in their lives, they tend to fall back on the solution of blaming or even killing the messenger. Picture a person driving home from Guymon, and to their delight traffic is light so they are able to drive a little faster, when they are pulled over they were going 15 miles over the speed limit. Now be honest here, do you think the person is mad at themselves or at the cop who pulled them over?
The truth is, the Gospel convicts. And in today's world of relative truth, relative ethics, and relative morality, people don't want that. They want to live the way they want to and they don't want the Gospel reaching up and slapping them in the face. They don't want the Gospel showing them what they are doing is wrong. So the they hate Christ Jesus, and anything and everyone who has anything to do with Him. The world rejects Christ Jesus' words (vs. 22), and His works (vs.24) in doing so they are rejecting the clearest light, and the fullest revelation of God. I guess the question is will you continue to walk with the world and reject Christ Jesus and His message of forgiveness and salvation? Or will you finally recognize Christ Jesus for who He is – God the Saviour.
Conclusion: This morning here in John 15:12-25 you have seen four results of following Christ Jesus as Lord and Saviour. You have seen one command, two blessings, and one warning. First Christ Jesus commands us to abide in love, love for Him and each other. The first blessing? Well as followers of Christ Jesus there is a change in your relationship with Him. While you still call Him Lord; He is more; He calls you Friend not Servant. The second blessing? You have also seen that God loves you so much He sought you out. We don't find Jesus, He found us! And now the warning. Because the world hated Christ Jesus and still does, you also will be hated by the world. But be of good cheer, the Lord is not leaving you to face this hatred on your own. John 14:16-18 ~ And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
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