Jesus looks into our hearts and tells us how we should treat each other in John 15:9-17.
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.
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 so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
17 This is my command: Love each other.
Questions for discussion:
- “Love” is the main topic in this section. When Jesus says that, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love…” is that conditional love? Does that mean that Jesus does not love sinners?
- “You are my friends if you do what I command.” Is Jesus not our friend if we disobey him?
Rick’s thoughts:
1. “Love” is the main topic in this section. When Jesus says that, “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love…” is that conditional love? Does that mean that Jesus does not love sinners?
Always use Scripture to interpret Scripture. Jesus made it plain that he came for sinners and died for sinners. “For God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) God’s love is not conditional. We choose to NOT remain in love with Jesus (in the relationship) if we don’t keep his commands. It is our actions that break the bond.
2. “You are my friends if you do what I command.” Is Jesus not our friend if we disobey him?
Jesus does not disenfranchise us as friends if we are sinners. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32). The reference to believers as “friends” is important. Abraham, called a “friend of God” (James 2:23), is an Old Testament example of how God’s communication indicates a form of friendship in addition to obedience (Genesis 18:17). For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:50) What Jesus is talking about is the degree of relationship he will have with people who obey him. Whether we are his “friends” is dependent on whether we want to accept him, not that he is shunning those who are sinners. He gave his life for all.