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9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 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. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ~ John 15:9-13
As we pointed out yesterday, there are four characteristics of fruitfulness found in John 15:7-11. We considered the first two yesterday: 1) the impact of answered prayer, 2) the expression of His fruitfulness through our yielded lives. Today, we will consider the next two of these, the third and fourth.
The third characteristic of fruitfulness is found in v.9-10 where we read, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 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." The third characteristic of fruitfulness in the life of the believer is the realization of his belovedness in Christ.
Note the words, "As the Father has loved me."
How do we measure the Father's love for the Son? The greatest declaration of the Father's love for His Son is seen in the Son's willingness to fulfill the Father's desire to redeem mankind. Through His humiliation, His painful death, and His separation from the Father, we were given an example of what our understanding of the Father's love for us has and can do.
The kind of love the Lord Jesus speaks of here is a decision to act for the benefit of someone else no matter how you feel about him or her. The Apostle Paul tells us, "While we were yet the enemies of God, Christ died for us." His love is a decision to be kind, gracious, considerate, helpful, firm, or whatever will minister to another's benefit no matter how we feel. That is the love the Lord Jesus commands.
The Lord Jesus adds a phrase here which becomes a powerful motive to enable us to obey this command. "Love each other." And, there is also a motive provided, found in these words, "as I have loved you."
In these words of the Lord Jesus is the answer to the problem of the sense of despair and meaninglessness that many people have today. People feel insecure and in despair, because they feel worthless and rejected. The antidote to this is to realize that God loves us. Love comes naturally and flows fully out of a heart that is itself conscious of being loved.
The fourth and last evidence of fruitfulness is found in John 15:11 where we read, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." This last evidence of the believers fruitfulness is the presence of the joy of the Lord Jesus in his life.
We are told in Nehemiah "the joy of the Lord is our strength." The Hebrew for "joy" is "chedvah," meaning joy or gladness. The root word for joy in this context means to rejoice or to make glad. "Strength" is a Hebrew word meaning “a place or means of safety, protection, refuge, or stronghold.” The root word of strength means “to be strong, toprevail; to make firm, strengthen.” The joy of the Lord is a constant gladness and cause to rejoice. It stems from an inner strengthening from our relationship with Him.
The joy of the Lord is realized en route to restoration. God convicts us of sin, and often our first reaction is guilt and shame. But those feelings never come from God.
Ezra the scribe gathered all the people. He read to them from God’s book and skilled ministers explained the words and their meaning to the people. Nehemiah 8:8 says, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.”
Once the people understood, they wept. God's Word opens the eyes of the willing to the waywardness of the way which is contrary to the Lord's. Then, Nehemiah was quick to remind them of who the Lord is. They could delight in the joy of the Lord because he is a forgiving, gracious and compassionate God.
