What it is to love

Today’s talk was taken from John 15:1-17. The passage is about the Vine and Branches, and was written in the context of Jesus’ very last talk with his disciples before he was arrested and crucified. So, sort of like his final words. Hmm, if you were about to die, what would you say to the ones you love? Well, this is what Jesus said.

What does it mean to be a Christian? What does a Christian do? What is our life about? You might have knowledge about the gospel, but what does it mean for you and your life? These are very good questions to ask yourself.

This passage tells us, that we are meant to live our lives in love for God, and therefore one another. This is what it means to bear fruit.

God is the gardener, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. The gardener prunes every branch that does not bear fruit. The branch’s very purpose is to bear fruit, if it doesn’t, it is useless, it doesn’t serve it’s purpose.

Andrew gave the illustration of a car that doesn’t work. The purpose of a car is to take people to where they want to go, but if the car doesn’t serve it’s purpose, what is it good for? All you can do is send it to the tip where it is crunched, grinded, and melted back into the metal that it came from. It is exactly the same with us if we don’t love one another and remain in Jesus’ love.

God made us for a reason, he made us for a purpose. The whole point of being a Christian is to bear fruit, i.e. to love one another. But how exactly do we bear fruit? Verse 4-5 says that to bear fruit, we must remain in Jesus. A branch cannot bear fruit without the vine, therefore, we cannot love one another without Jesus. To know what it means to remain in Jesus means that we have to observe his relationship with the Father, God. Jesus explains this to his disciples. Verses 9-10 say, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my father’s commands and remain in his love”

Just as God loved his son, Jesus also loved us. Jesus remained in God’s love by obeying God’s commands. So we too, if we want to remain in Jesus’ love and be fruitful, we are therefore to obey Jesus’ command, and he says bluntly in verse 10 and 17 that his command is for us to love one another, as he has loved us. Jesus is saying that we should lay down our lives for others, or in other words, be other-person-centered instead of being self-centered.

Andrew then gave us some examples of how we can love each other by:

1. sharing the gospel with them
2. encouraging them in their spiritual lives
3. being an example
4. simply caring for them.

1. Sharing the gospel with them

• means to care for the salvation of others
• without knowing Jesus, people cannot possibly be saved, and without being told about Jesus, people cannot possibly know about Jesus.
• Prepare yourselves by reading the Bible so that you won’t say anything wrong and may be able to answer some of their questions

2. Encouraging them in their spiritual lives

• Do we encourage each other outside of church? Are we all loving at church and then not outside of church?
• Care about the spiritual lives of others. Ask them how their walk with God is going.
• Instead of asking them meaningless questions, ask them questions that have eternal value.

3. Being an example

• Make sure that you live out your words, and not just say you are a Christian and not act it. Let your actions reflect your words.
• Do our friends know we’re Christian? If they know you are Christian by word, do they know you are Christian by actions?
• Consider how you act around your non-christian friends, especially if you are wearing the label of Christianity. Don’t bring shame to God’s name by behaving in a way that you shouldn’t.
• Be a godly witness in all that you do, that by your deeds, they may know God. (v. 8)

4. Simply caring for them

• Care for people, especially during suffering.
• Some examples of how we can care for others:
• Instead of ignoring and disrespecting your parents, respect them, listen patiently to them, be obedient to them
• Instead of fighting with your brother/sister, care for them, be loving and forgiving, try and get along
• Instead of being mean to people that don’t quite fit in or that you just don’t like for some reason, be caring and don’t hurt them by saying hurtful things about them or to them
• Instead of not having any sympathy when people such as these are hurt, be sympathetic, be caring, show them that you care
• Instead of thinking that the people in One Way are so cool and ignoring new people or excluding them, be loving and make new people feel welcome, step out of your comfort zone and take some time out to get away from your usual group of friends and get to know new people.
• Instead of being sarcastic, instead of whinging, or being selfish, do the opposite. Speak truthfully to one another, be grateful and optimistic, and be other-person-centered.
• Instead of praising God with your lips, and saying nice words, praise God with your heart, and love one another from the heart and not just in words.
Instead of being disruptive during talks or bible study, pay attention, be involved, and make every effort to learn and understand

I tried to make this summary shorter than last week’s, but I didn’t want to omit any important parts either. I apologize if this was too tiresome for you to read, but rejoice if it was enjoyable and beneficial for you. Definitely have a read of the passage as well * wink*.

God bless and keep you.