John 15:11-27
Key Verse: 15:14
“You are my friends if you do what I command.”
In the previous passage Jesus promised that we would bear much fruit as long as we remain in him. We learned that God’s role as the gardener was to cut off the dead branches and to prune the fruitful branches so that they would be even more fruitful. Jesus’ role as the true vine is to provide nutrients for fruitful branches. Our role as the branches is to remain in Jesus through the word of God, prayer, love, obedience, and fellowship. Bearing fruit is dependent on remaining in Jesus. Practically, it means to either feeding many sheep for Jesus or manifesting all the fruits of the Christian life. Today, Jesus boldly declares that we are his friends if we do what he commands us to do. Jesus wants us to love one another. Then, we can have complete joy when we bear fruit in Jesus. Jesus promised to send us the Comforter when the world hates us because we belong to him. Let’s think about how we can participate in Jesus’ business as his friends and enjoy his complete joy while doing his work. I pray that God may bear the fruit of the Spirit in us through Jesus in the upcoming fall semester.
PART I. YOUR JOY MAY BE COMPLETE (11).
Look at verses 9-11. “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. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” In these three verses we find a fascinating spiritual truth. How many times is the word “love” repeated? It is repeated five times. How many times is the word “obey” repeated? It is repeated two times. How many times is the word “joy” repeated? It is repeated two times. Here we find that love, obedience, and joy are related very closely. Love is the source of obedience and joy. When we love God, we want to obey him and then we are very joyful when we obey him. Love has a magic power. Jacob in the Bible loved Rachael and he was joyful to work for his love seven years. Genesis 29:20 says, “But they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.” He was willing to obey his uncle’s contract to work seven more years because he loved Rachael. Love, joy, obedience are linked together. When we remain in Jesus’ love, we have joy. Jesus said in verse 5b, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” When we are connected to Jesus, the true vine, we have love, joy, and obedience. According to Galatians 5:22-23, what are the fruit of the Spirit? They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The first fruit of the Spirit is love and the second fruit of the Spirit is joy. We cannot think about joy without love. One of the benefits of remaining in Jesus is joy. At this point they were not joyful. Instead, they were troubled in their hearts due to their separation anxiety. But Jesus knew that their sorrow would turn into joy when he rose again from the dead. Jesus wanted his disciples to have his joy. What was the joy of Jesus? Was it to eat delicious food? Was it to sleep in a luxurious house? Was it to drive a fancy car? Was it to have a month’s vacation on the Lake Galilee? No, it was to love God and obey his commands. His joy was to have unbroken love relationship with the Father and to save God’s flocks from selfishness and mutual destruction to love and abundant life. Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” What was the joy set before him? Are you joyful when you think about the crosses you have to bear? Be honest. We tremble before the crosses. Many of us are trembling before the school crosses ahead of us. But it was Jesus’ joy to endure the cross and to receive the crown of life because he loved his Father. Here we learn that joy is no external happiness, nor can it be produced by any circumstances. Joy cannot be manufactured by human achievements or perfect human circumstances. Joy is a state of the soul. It is the condition of the soul that is filled with love, as joy comes next to love in fruit of the Spirit. (Gal. 5:22) We can have joy when we remain in Jesus. We can have complete joy when we love God and Jesus and our coworkers and God’s flocks. Joy can be thought of as an acronym J-O-Y stands for Jesus first, others second and yourself last. Aren’t you tired when you think about yourself all the day? We are joyful when we think about how Jesus loved us. We are joyful when we think about how we help others who need our help. When we set our priority on Jesus, we have joy in our soul.
We all would like to have joy. Without joy life is too unhappy. So we seek joy diligently. M. Luke & Maria Kim named their first daughter JoyMaria to have joy. These days they just call her Joy. Many Christians think that they have to give up fun and pleasure if they obey Jesus. They think that Christians are serious people. But that is not true. When I came to UBF, I found all people were very joyful. They were laughing all the time. When someone cried sharing her life testimony. Then they laughed too. So I asked, “Why are you joyful?” They said, “Remain in UBF and you will know.” I remained in UBF and met Jesus and married the most joyful person. In Jesus we have a lot of fun that the world may not know. Jesus said in verse 11, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Wow! We do not lose joy. Rather, we have complete joy. Where is complete joy in this world? There are two kinds of joy in this world-physical joy and spiritual joy. People think that fun and worldly pleasure bring joy. People greet each other by saying, “Have fun.” When we contrast worldly joy and spiritual joy, we can understand that complete joy is real joy. In the world, when people say “joy,” they think of physical pleasure. Worldly pleasure is to please our mind and body. It is very temporal and costly. We watch T.V. to have fun. But it does not last. When we turn off T.V. after mid-night, we feel bad that we wasted time mindlessly. Worldly joy is also costly. Many Americans wait for their summer vacation. They spend a lot of money. Then they bring their cell phones to do work during their vacations. Now they are unhappy because they have to go back to work. There was a couple who loved each other like Romeo and Juliet. But the husband discouraged that his wife had a domineering character, which oftentimes made her husband speechless. Then, their joy of being a couple gradually diminished until they divorced. Fame and wealth and political power...these things seem to make many people joyful. But apart from Jesus these things build up more stresses. People become restless. These worldly pleasures make people all the more anxious rather than joyful. In this world there is no complete joy. Therefore, those who do not have the joy of Jesus cannot have true joy. Apart from Jesus we can do nothing. We must know that joy is different from fun and pleasure. Joy doesn’t belong to the physical body; joy belongs to one’s soul. We need joy. I Thessalonians 5:16 says, “Be joyful always.” Without joy, life is too unhappy. Therefore, we must know that joy dwells in our souls when we love Jesus and obey his commands. We can experience complete joy every day by obeying his new command, “Love one another.”
He also said in 1 Peter 4:13,14, “But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” The young Christians were helpless and fearful when the persecutions were severe. But Peter, who had the joy of God in his soul, said, “Rejoice to participate in the sufferings of Jesus Christ!” Humanly speaking, the top shepherd Peter’s agony could have been great. But in truth, it was not. He encouraged the early Christians to rejoice to participate in the remaining sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Humanly speaking, I felt sorry for M. Abraham Lee who suffered greatly under –40 degree cold winter weather and with stomach problem in the Northeast China to give something to eat for Chinese students. I told him, “You have a tough life.” My mother-in-law cried a lot when he came to her to say a good-bye. In the past he thought having fun was joy. But now he has Jesus’ joy by remaining in Jesus and loving Chinese students. No one can take away his complete joy in Jesus. M. Grace Mokre has joy of serving Elaine Phillips in spite of her busy work schedule. She served delicious lunch for all hungry Abraham team members. Mary Jagun was joyful because she loved Jesus feeding many sheep. True joy does not come from enjoying the physical body; it comes from the true vine like a song saying “We have joy like river in my soul.” Joy flows like river from Jesus to us. We must have complete joy, as our Lord Jesus Christ mentioned in verse 11. Let’s read verse 11 one more time. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
PART II. YOU ARE MY FRIENDS (12-15)
Look at verses 12-13. “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.” When we read verses 12 and 13, we learn that Jesus once again gave his disciples a new command: “Love each other.” When we read this passage several times, we can understand why Jesus is saying the same thing, “Love each other,” again and again, beginning from chapter 13 to this point. Jesus indicates that bearing fruit means loving one another. The disciples were in competition and rivalry among themselves. But we know that sinful human beings cannot love each other with their human ability. It is only possible when we remain in Jesus. When we depend on Jesus, we can love others as ourselves. This is the reason Jesus repeated the new command, “Love one another,” so many times, until the disciples were tired of hearing the same word. But they had to learn how to love one another, in order to understand the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the world salvation plan of God. Love is the foundation of true friendship.
The ultimate fruit of remaining in Jesus is to become friends of Jesus. So Jesus said in verses 14-15, “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 have learned from my Father I have made known to you.” Here Jesus elevated his disciples to become his friends. Wow! What a privilege they had in Jesus! Jesus called his disciples “my friends.” Before calling them “friends”, Jesus laid out the notion of true friendship. The highest form of friendship is to give our life for a friend. Love unto death is a complete self-giving; that is what Christ endured for his disciples; that is what Christians must be ready to endure for their fellow Christians. Fallen men cannot die for their friends. So Jesus laid down his life for the disciples as their friend. Jesus’ death on the cross was the culmination of true love and friendship. We see the notion of dying for one’s friends could be found in Greek philosophers. Aristotle said, “To a noble man there applies the true saying that he does all things for the sake of his friends and if need be, he gives his life for them.” Plato said in Symposium, “Only those who love wish to die for others.” They knew the concept but they could not practice it. There are many kinds of friends like drinking friends, business friends, sport friends, school friends, girl friends, boy friends, email friends, and chatting friends. But these friend relationships are based on our desire to serve our self-interest. It is based on other person’s merit. Mostly, people make friends with someone they can benefit. That’s the reason why it is very difficult to find true friends in this world. Modern men are lonely because they do not have true friends to share their secrets. They have enemies but no friends. Friend betrays friend. But Jesus is our true friend because he died for us. His friendship does not depend on our own merit. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Though we were selfish sinners, Jesus became our friends. Jesus became a friend of selfish tax collector Levi and loved him until he became saint Matthew. Jesus became a friend of lonely and thirsty Samaritan woman and loved her until she became a woman of mission. John 21:5 says, “He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’” His disciples had run away and returned to Galilee to solve their job problem. But Jesus did not call them ‘losers’. He did not rebuke their failure. Rather, he called them ‘friends.” Jesus was saying, “I forgave you and I love you.” What a friend we have in Jesus. Once we become Jesus’ friends, we become his friends forever. Our failure does not cancel our friendship with Jesus as long as we obey his commands. How’s your friendship with your team members? Shep. David Brogi became a good friend in Jesus with S. Bruce Hollinger. Shep. Steve makes friends with Shannon. YDJ is getting stronger with their friendship. Senior missionaries are my best friends because we all love Jesus.
What is the privilege of being Jesus’ friends? In the last part of verse 15, there is the phrase, “the master’s business.” We do not share our business secrets to the servants. We only reveal them to our friends. Jesus revealed everything that he learned from his Father to his disciples because Jesus wanted them to be his partners in the gospel business. Why did Jesus reveal his business only to his disciples? The main reason is that they remained in Jesus to the end. When Jesus said, “ I am the bread of life” (John 6:35), many of his disciples left him saying, “This is a hard teaching.” (John 6:60) But his twelve disciples remained in Jesus. Though they had many hardships, they remained in Jesus. Finally Jesus made them his friends so that they could engage in his business to proclaim the good news to the whole world. The disciples became partners in the gospel work. Jesus fulfilled his world salvation plan through his friends. It is important to remain in Jesus to the end. One student programmer remained in our department for a long time instead of leaving us to find another job. Finally he was offered a permanent job because he remained in our office. M. Alison attended the German conference and visited the famous Cologne dorm and began to climb 500 stairs. She felt dying in the middle. She was thinking about quitting. But she remained and climbed to the top. She was blessed to reach the top because she did not quit. In the same way we become Jesus’ friends when we remain in him to the end and can do many great work of God. For example, Abraham in Genesis remained in the promised land obeying God’s command. Though he did not have any tangible fruit, he believed in God and stayed in the land. Finally, God made him his friend. God shared his secret plan for Sodom and Gomorrah and walked with side by side. As a friend of God, Abraham offered intercessory prayer to God for Lot and learned the future of his descendants. In the same way Jesus called us his friends because we remain in Jesus. Jesus revealed his eternal plan and his coming again to us. Now we must share the secret of Jesus’ plan with others who live in darkness and sin so that they too may have eternal life in Jesus.
PART III. I CHOSE YOU TO BEAR MUCH FRUIT (16-17).
Look at verse 16. “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.” When we think that we chose God, we become very proud and we can quit God anytime when we face difficult situation. These days the number of ungodly people increases day by day. When they have emergency, they call God to get help. But when they can maintain their normal life, they forget about God. Many people think that coming to church is doing a favor to God. Among many mistakes, the idea that “I chose God” is the greatest mistake a man can make.
Mark 3:31 says, “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.” The election as Jesus’ disciples belongs to Jesus. We are chosen by God. Jesus called those he wanted. Jesus initiated his calling not his disciples. All initiative is with Jesus; our action is all response. Jesus called and his disciples responded. Our being Christians is no doing of ours; it is something done to us and for us, not by us, though we have make appropriate response in the form of obedience prompted by love. Shep. Joe Park said after he returned from the German conference, “God chose me even before I was born.” What a revelation it was for him! What is the purpose of choosing us? It is for us to abide with him and bear fruit that will last. It is to make our life very fruitful. Then he wants to send us as his witnesses. Acts 9:15-16 say “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” This is the story of Saint Paul’s conversion. Here we see that our Lord Jesus Christ chose Paul one-sidedly, forgave all his sins, and at the same time gave him mission to evangelize the Gentiles and the Gentile world, including the Roman Empire. Jesus chose him to make Paul from an instrument of sin to an instrument of God. As a Christian, it is important to know that we did not choose God, but that God chose us and set us apart to bear much fruit.
PART IV. THE WORLD HATES THE DISCIPLES (18-27)
This part reveals the relationship between the disciples and the world. Jesus teaches his disciples how to deal with the opposition and persecutions. Look at verse 18. “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” Why does the world hate his disciples? We cannot be friend of Jesus and at the same time friend of the world. Friend of all is not friend of any. Because they are the children of the light. The light and the darkness cannot exist together. It is inevitable for Christians to receive persecutions from the world. Jesus said that the world hated him first without any reason. In the same way the world would hate the disciples because they belonged to Jesus. Sometimes we wonder why the people of the world hate us. That’s not our problem; that’s their own problem of sin (25). These days we become objects of hatred and are at a disadvantage when we identify ourselves as Christians. What should we do in this hostile world? Look at verses 26 and 27. “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” We should not flee from the world due to the persecution. Rather, we should remain in the world because it is our mission field. Jesus commanded his disciples in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” The whole world is our harvest field. We go back to campus after we graduate because it is our mission field. So Jesus promised his disciples that whenever we are hated or mistreated, he will send the Counselor, the Spirit of truth, and help us. God helps us when we become his witnesses. We must stand firm on the word of God when we are persecuted because Jesus will be with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Today Jesus taught his disciples that their joy would be complete. Jesus called them to become friends to do his business. Let’s thank God for calling us to become his friends to share his words with campus students. May the Holy Spirit dwell in you so that you may have complete joy in your soul. I pray that God may bless you to become his chosen instrument to bear fruit that will last. Let’s read the key verse 14.