Read John 15:9–17
Questions from the Scripture text: Who has loved Jesus (John 15:9 a)? Whom has Jesus loved (verse 9b)? In what does Jesus tell His disciples to abide (verse 9c)? What does He give as the way of abiding in His love (John 15:10 a)? How had Jesus been abiding in His Father’s love (verse 10b)? What is Jesus aiming at in saying these things to them (John 15:11)? As they abide in Jesus’s love, to whom are they to respond with that same love (John 15:12)? What does Jesus say is the greatest love (John 15:13)? How can we tell who are Jesus’s friends (John 15:14)? What does He no longer call the disciples (John 15:15)? Why not? Who chose whom (John 15:16)? For what three purposes (in verse 16) did He choose them? What summary command does He give them for what this bearing of fruit looks like (John 15:17)?
Next week’s Call to Worship, Prayer for Help, Song of Adoration, and Prayer of Confession all come from John 15:9–17, so that we will see that we are singing God’s thoughts after Him with Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners.
How would you like to be “full of joy”? Many ache to be full of joy. To many more, it does not even occur to them that this is possible, or perhaps they cannot even wrap their minds around what that could mean. But what if you could be full not only of joy as some conceive it, but full of a joy that was of an unsurpassable quality—the joy of Jesus Himself.
Our ears perk up when we hear John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may abide in you, and that your joy may be full.” Wait… we can become the dwelling place—the home address—for Jesus’s joy? The place where His joy persists? How?! “These things I have spoken to you…”
Jesus has already been talking about how His Father uses His words’ abiding in us to make us bear much fruit (John 15:7-8). Now, we find a big part of that fruit: loving one another. Jesus the Master is now Jesus the Friend who tells us what He’s up to (John 15:15): laying down His life for His friends (John 15:13-14).
The Father has commanded this, and Jesus is living in His Father’s love, which means He eagerly obeys His Father’s will. Now Jesus is giving us a command: if we are going to be living in Jesus’s love, then we will be eagerly obeying Jesus’s will (John 15:10, John 15:14). What’s His will? To seek absolutely every genuine good for those whom He loves (John 15:12).
Abiding in Jesus, abiding in Jesus’s words, abiding in Jesus’s love (John 15:16 a-b) … at the center of all of these is loving one another. And the Father has committed Himself to giving whatever is necessary to produce this enduring fruit (verse 16 c, cf. John 15:2, John 15:8)!
Whom has Jesus given you to love? What is the most important way to do this?
Suggested songs: ARP197 “Christian Unity” or TPH456 “Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners”
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