John 15:12-16

            (Jesus said) “My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this,  that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  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.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.  Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

 

Dear friends in Christ:

 

            And that is what you are.  You are friends.  You are friends of mine.  You are friends with each other.  You are Jesus’ friends.  As you look across the pews, you see faces that are familiar, some not so familiar, and some you do not know at all.  You see faces of those you know well that you call by name.  You see faces you have seen many times but do not know their names.  Some here you know about their jobs, their families, their hobbies.  Some you know nothing about other than you see them at church.  Because you have seen each other here at Immanuel, whenever you see each other somewhere else, you recognize each other. 

 

            Something I have found that exists here at Immanuel is a true concern for other members even when one does not know the other.  When a prayer or announcement about someone is offered, those who do not know you want to know who you are.  I have found these inquiries to be not merely nosey in nature.  These inquiries are caring and wanting to know each other as friends. 

 

            In the passage from John 15, Jesus calls his disciples his friends.  It is the only time that Jesus calls his disciples friends.  He calls you his friends.  And, as he calls his disciples that day, and as he calls you today his friends, there is a great amount of comfort in the context that he makes this announcement that you are his friends.

 

            Jesus is speaking to his disciples in the moments before he is betrayed by Judas.  He knows that in a short time all of those disciples are going to run and leave him to his captors.  He knows that Peter is going to profusely deny knowing him not once, but three times.  He knows that you too betray him, run and hide from him, and deny him just as those disciples did then.  And still he claims you as his friends.

 

            Jesus knows that all that is going to happen; the betrayal, the desertion, the denial, is to fulfill God’s will, and to show how great his love is for you.  Even while these disciples, the ones closest to him are hiding in the shadows, Jesus willingly goes to his suffering and death, emptying out everything he has to give, saving nothing back, in order to save his disciples, in order to save you, in order to show his love to his friends, in order to fulfill God’s love and promises to you.

 

            What is the best thing that a friend ever did for you?  Did that friend listen to you when you needed someone to talk to?  Did that friend comfort you when you were grieving or broken-hearted?  Did that friend share something he had with you?  Did that friend invite you to dine with his family or did he cancel something to come to your house to celebrate an occasion with you?  Did that friend care for you when you were sick or injured?  Did that friend take you in when no one else would?  Did that friend lay down his life for you?

 

            A friend will not harm you or leave you to suffer harm.  A friend wants what is good for you.  A friend is honest with you and corrects you when you are out of line.  A friend will not put up with your misbehavior or doing things that will cause you harm.  Jesus has already done all of that for you and he has called you his friend. 

 

            Note that Jesus puts a very specific condition on your being his friend.  “You are my friends if you do what I command.”  [v. 14]  Jesus stated that command in verse 12, “My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.”  Then Jesus tells how much he loves you.  “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  [v. 13]      

 

            Of the ten commandments and all of God’s commands, they are summed up in this one command that Jesus gives all who want to be saved to follow.  It is the command that comes from Jesus alone.  It is the command that fulfills God’s prophecy in Jeremiah to establish a new covenant with his people, one where he, “…will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."  [Jeremiah 31:34]  That forgiveness is fulfilled in Jesus, the sacrifice not of duty, but of love.  That love is God’s love for you, that he does not want you lost in sin to die forever.  That love is Jesus’ love for you that he came and gave himself completely, even willingly gave up his life so you will be saved.

 

            Jesus command to love each other as he has loved you fulfills all of God’s commands to love God first and to love each other. 

 

            Love:

1. is different than “like”
2. goes deeper than to live with each other peacefully and with respect
3. is unconditional, it is given no matter what has happened before
4. does not tolerate evil or what may harm you.  Love does not tolerate sin.
5. is forgiving
6. is wanting what is good for each other, wanting the best for each other.

 

Jesus gives the example of love, “…as I have loved you.”  The disciples that night did not know the extent of Jesus’ love.  That would be revealed to them in the next few days and in the days that Jesus would walk with them again following his resurrection.  John would later describe this love Jesus’ gives writing, “Now we know what love is.  “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”  [1 John 3;16]

 

Dear friends in Christ:

 

And that is what you are.  You are Jesus’ friends.  Jesus’ will is that all people on this earth are his friends.  You remain his friend by following his command, loving each other as he has loved you.  His command to lay down your life means laying down your life of sin in selfishness, jealousy, hate, anger, etc.  Taking up his cross is living the new life of his love for each other and for all who will become his friends through your witness in your life following his command of his love. 

 

            Jesus loves you no matter what your name is.  He loves you no matter where you live or what you do in life.  He loves you the same as he did:

• Zaccheus who climbed up into the tree,
• Matthew a tax collector who sinned like you and me,
• the Phoenician woman who was consumed by her illness,
• the Samaritan woman who lived in continuing adultery,
• Peter who denied him not just once, but over and over,            
• An “evil-doer” who was rightly convicted and sentenced for his crimes
• A crippled man who was lowered through the roof
• Thousands who were hungry one day on the plains
• Those who conspired against him and those who followed the orders to nail him to the tree
• Those in Jerusalem and in far away Galilee
• Little children and grieving mothers alike
• Lepers who seemed to have no hope left in this life
• Blind, crippled, hungry, beggars, poor, and wealthy alike
• An Ethiopian eunuch the Spirit sent Philip to baptize
• A man who was very sad because “he was a man of wealth.
• A Pharisee, Nicodemus, who came to him at night.  Nicodemus joined another Pharisee, Joseph of Arimathea who lovingly laid Jesus’ body in the grave one Friday evening.

 

As Jesus’ friends, you are friends with one another.  You are friends with all people of all ages, races, languages, political persuasions, national backgrounds, socio-economic status, vocation and education.  There is one thing that makes one a friend of Christ, loving each other as he loves you.  There is one thing that makes a new friend in Christ, sharing the love of God in Jesus to another.  Do not stop at the person next to you in the pew, but he person next to you in your home, your neighborhood, your community, your state, your nation and your world.  A true friend will share all of what is good with another.  As Jesus’ friends, loving each other as he has loved you means sharing the good news that he died for all sins of all sinners who believe in him.  That is what a friend is.  Amen.