By Kenneth B.E. Roxburgh, Ph.D.
Professor of Religion, Samford University
Love like Christ
John 15:9–17
Relationships are vital for life. We have experienced that within our families, our communities of friends and the life of the Christian church. As those who are created in the image and likeness of God who is love, so we are conformed to the image of Christ as we love one another as He has loved us.
Living in the love of Jesus. (9–11)
We cannot live the Christian life in our own strength and so Jesus tells His disciples to “abide in” His love.
The word for love comes 11 times in these verses. It takes center stage in our understanding of discipleship. Love is to be seen above all in the love of the Father as shown in the love of the Son.
Our thoughts are intentionally directed back to the announcement of the depth of God’s love for the world in the famous verse “For God so loved …” (John 3:16). John’s message of love is interconnected throughout the gospel and comes to us as the book develops.
Abiding in Christ, living in close relationship with our Lord and Savior is key to the life of discipleship. It is His love for us that enables us to respond in gratitude and to live out our lives with generosity of spirit.
This love is not only in the foundation of our lives but it brings our lives to fulfillment as it fills our hearts with joy.
Jesus hopes our lives might be filled with joy, that His joy might be in us and that joy is the wholeness of life that flows from the heart of the Father.
Just as the power of this love for our lives comes when we draw energy from the vine, so our joy comes from knowing we have been chosen, called and cleansed from sin.
Loving others with the love of Jesus. (12–13)
The reality of abiding in Jesus’ love is demonstrated by keeping the commandment to love just as He, the eternal Son, abides in the Father’s love by living a life of obedience in loving the world.
His obedience to the love of God in loving sinful humanity makes it clear that He not only loves the world, but also the Father and always desires to do His will.
Earlier on in the Gospel, in John 10:17–18, Jesus makes it clear that the keeping of this commandment between the Father and Son amounts to the laying down and taking up of Jesus’ life.
If we need an example to follow, if we ask “What would Jesus do?” then the answer is clear: The greatest expression of love is dying for one’s friends.
Being fruitful in the likeness of Jesus. (14–17)
Jesus not only shows us how we are to live our lives but indicates we can live this kind of life in relationship with Him because we are His “friends” (v. 15).
The intimacy of friendship is overwhelming and it is a common theme in the Bible.
Abraham was the “friend of God” (Isa. 41:8). It resembles the glorious feeling of being asked to be someone’s spouse, best friend, their beloved.
So it is with Christ and the Christian. His love calls us to live closely to Him and thereby be able to “bear fruit … that will last” (v. 16).
Bearing fruit means making wise choices and decisions about our attitudes and actions as Christians.
We seek, by the Spirit, to know what thoughts, words and actions best serve the intentions of a loving God, most clearly seen in the life, death and resurrection of our Savior.
Share with others: