John 15:1-12 theme verse John 15:12
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this fourth Sunday after the Pentecost, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, through the Romans 5, we became to know that Christians could live the life of joy in God, rejoicing in the hope of glory of God and also even rejoicing in sufferings, after being justified in faith. This week we would like to learn few lessons, through John chapter 15 verses 1 through 12, while meditating on the love of God toward us together.
1) This week, as we are celebrating the fourth Sunday of the Advent, we would like to meditate on love. However, last week, through Romans 5, we saw that Christians live with three joys, I mean, rejoicing in the hope of receiving God’s glory, rejoicing even in sufferings because suffering cultivates patience and character, enabling us to have hope, and lastly rejoicing in God. And also the reason we are not ashamed of the hope is because God has poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us and God confirmed His love by giving His Son while we were still sinners, that is, while we were still weak and acting like enemies.
2) The reason why God give us this amazing ‘love’ is because God is love as 1 John 4:8 says. In other words, Triune God forms a perfect community of love, I mean, God the Father is the Lover, God the Son is the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit is love itself, so that in the deep mystery of the existence of Triune God, there’s an intimate relationship, a close fellowship, and a community of love, that is, a perfect circle of love so that from this circle of love, infinite love actually flows out.
3) The love of God, who forms such a perfect community of love, is called “agape” in the New testament. Yet, in the Greek, there are four words that express love, I mean, στοργή (storge), φιλέω (phileō), ἔρως (eros), and ἀγάπη (agape). Here στοργή (storge) refers either to the tender feelings that parents naturally feel toward their children or children toward their siblings and parents, or to the bond that unites husband and wife, and also takes in sympathy for friends and compatriots. While φιλέω (phileō) refers to friendship or amity. Yet Strictly speaking, friendship wants reciprocity, does not take root except within a defined group of persons—thus we refer to “a pair of friends”—and above all between persons of the same standing. And then Erōs (eraō) expresses above all unreasoning passion and desire, the desire of the wolf for the sheep. Although it is often used with no negative connotation, this word for a type of covetousness can hardly express a love that is specifically divine, if only because it does not inspire respect. On the other hands, ἀγάπη (agape) is the most rational kind of love, inasmuch as it involves recognition and judgment of value, whence its frequent nuance of “preference.” The verb agapaō most often means “value, set great store by, hold in high esteem”; it is a love with deep respect (1 Pet 2:17), which often goes along with admiration and can become adoration. This esteem and goodwill tend to be expressed in appropriate words and deeds. Unlike other loves, which can remain hidden in the heart, it is essential to charity to manifest itself, to demonstrate itself, to provide proofs, to put itself on display; so much so that in the nt it would almost always be necessary to translate agapē as “demonstration of love.” This affection—unlike erōs, which in the literature brings endless suffering and disaster—is accompanied by contentment, since the ordinary meaning of agapaō is to be happy, satisfied. But in Christian usage, since it is a divine love, coming from heaven (Rom 5:5), it will be joyful and already a foretaste of blessedness. And the noun ἀγάπη (agapē) carries the sense of affectionate regard or benevolence toward someone. As such, we can see that the love of ‘agape’ the most common Greek word for God’s love, is and amazing love that is accompanied by admiration for those whom He loves based on the recognition of their value. However, we cannot say that God’s love is only this kind of rational and reasonable love only.
4) What I mean is, according to Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will rejoice over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy”, God speaks of His joy for His people three times. Firstly, He expresses His feelings of joy toward the remnant. And Secondly, God says that He is quiet because of His love. Here, the Hebrew verbחרשׁ translated as “to be silent” does not simply mean silent, but rather, it means that God is so deeply moved by His deep emotions, I mean, His deep love for the remnant so that He could not speak. And so finally His emotions burst out and He shouts, expressing His indescribable joy for the remnant of the Israelites, as ESV translated it “He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” As such God’s love also includes deep emotional love for His people. And also according to John 13:1 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end”, we can see also that Jesus’ love is a volitional love that goes beyond the imperfection or even betrayals of His disciples and loves them to the end.
5) Therefore, God who is love created human beings in His love and also when God created human beings in His image, there was this love at the heart of His image. What I mean is, at the very beginning of the Bible, it says God created entire world. I mean, God first created the universe and all the environment suitable for human beings to live in, then He created human beings, man and woman, in His image. Yet, various theologians described in various terms for this image of God which includes both structural and functional aspects, as Herman Bavinck and Louis Berkhof explained it as a broad image and a narrow image, and Brunner explained it as a formal aspect and a substantial aspect of the image of God, etc.. And Anthony Hoekema said in his book “Created in God’s Image” that the image of God in a broad, formal, and structural aspect includes human intellectual and rational faculties, and also, includes human moral sensibility and conscience, that is, the ability to distinguish right from wrong, and also, within this category, the ability to perform religious worship, in other words, the ability to sense the divine, as Calvin calls it, and human responsibility, which has been frequently mentioned by recent theologians, and the ability to react toward God and fellow humans and the ability to take responsibility for such acts of reaction in the image of God are included too. In addition, it can also include human volitional faculties, the ability to decide, and the aesthetic sense. In short, in a broad sense, or structural image of God refers to all the gifts and talents given to human beings to enable them to function as humans in the various relationships and callings they have. And then Hoekema continued that the image of God in a narrow, substantial, and functional aspect traditionally includes true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness based on Colossians 3:10 and Ephesians 4:24, as Berkouwer described it as “sanctification,” and also that this functional aspect of the image of God refers to love as human being’s correct response to God and living in a right relationship with God and neighbors. In this way, the image of God in a narrow sense can be said to mean the right functionality of human beings that operates in harmony with God’s will for humans. And at the very center of this image of God is love, which is the same thing that was at the center of Christ’s life, who is the perfect human being. In other words, in the heart of Christ, who is made in the image of God, there is love, and through whole his life we can see that no one has ever loved as much as Christ.
6) Therefore, to human beings who have this image of God, God gave the Ten Commandments, I mean, to love God and love our neighbors, and also Jesus gave us a new commandment to love one another. The reason for giving this commandment of love is because love is the very reason for the existence of human beings created by God, who is love, and at the same time, love is the natural and original form of human existence. That’s why even after the fall, human beings still try to love one another and also thirst for love even though it is contaminated, and also even animals show primordial love. As such, God’s love permeates all His creations. Therefore, we humans, especially Christians, have become existence who cannot help but love and live because of our nature restored through regeneration.
7) Therefore, in Today’s text, John 15, it says that we have to bear the fruit of love, whether it is the fruit of love in our character which is the first fruit of the Holy Spirit, internally, or the fruit of serving the world with that love, or the fruit of the gospel of love by proclaiming His love to the world. And then, in order to bear all these fruits, it is said that we must abide in Christ, who is love, and also, pray in the word of God, in which God’s will of love is revealed and above all, as the Lord says, we have to abide in His love. Here to abide in the Lord’s love means not only that we soak in and enjoy His love emotionally, but also today’s text seems to point out different aspect too, I mean, our Lord says that if we keep the Lord’s new commandment, to “Love one another,” we can abide in the Lord’s love. In other words, not only by soaking and enjoying His warm love, but also by acting in His love, it is said that we can abide in His love. And that’s why 1 John 3:14, it says, "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers.”
8) Therefore, all of us here have been chosen in God’s love, and through the Holy Spirit who came to us in due time, we have been born of God who is love, and through faith, in Christ who is with us, we have been rooted and grounded in love, and have come to know and filled with the love of Christ, and live in love. That is our spirituality, I mean, spiritual formation in Jesus, as James Wilhoit, say in his book “Spiritual Formation as if the church mattered” that “Christian spiritual formation refers to the intentional communal process of growing in our relationship with God and becoming conformed to Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and ultimately is about enabling people to love others more and to create a just and well-ordered community.” Therefore on this fourth Sunday of the Advent, as we wait for the Lord, thinking of Jesus who gave His life and everything for us in His love not only throughout His whole life and even at the cross, I pray that we may dwell in His love to act in love, while His joy may be full in us.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 According to today’s sermon, it is said that love is the essential attributes of God, but also the reason and original form of the existence of human being in the heart of the image of God. After reflecting us and our life, whether we are living in that love, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.
Q2 According to today’s text, when we live to obey Jesus’ new commandment to love one another, we can abide in His love. After meditating on what this means, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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