Jesus and His friends

Community and Unity

John 15

Part 3

How can we be fruitful as Christians?  In this short series we focus on one passage, John 15:1-17 and draw on some other scriptures, to try to answer the question.

We all want joy! How do we achieve that? Not by being successful but by obeying his commands. What are they? Loving one another! It is not logical and not reciprocal! But it is what Jesus says. God is love - that is His nature. His love for all creation is shown at the Cross. We are loved by God so much He makes us his adopted children. Our response to God is to love one another. 

Another way of saying this is that God’s intention from before time, before creation, was to create people in His image and capable of free choices with whom He can overflow love. He wanted friends, not because there is anything lacking in God - creation was not for His sake - but because His love and creativity overflow and He wanted to make us capable of sharing in friendship. So, if we are communities of people designed for friendship with God then naturally we are designed for friendship with each other. 

What does it look like to love one another? Laying our lives down - being prepared to die to ourselves out of love for the people we come across today. That includes the people we find difficult or who started an argument or cheated us, as well as the people we naturally like. 

 As Mark Twain supposedly said … Our problem with Scripture is not the parts that are difficult to understand but the parts we do understand. We can delve into the difficult parts as a diversion from what really matters. Love. 

 It seems impossible but we have to remember verse 5 says, “apart from Me you can do nothing.” It is impossible if we live independently. John 15:15-16 explains the same - if we love Jesus we keep his command to love one another and in response Jesus will send the Spirit who enables us to do so.

 For the full article on how God calls us to unity and what this might mean, see Storehouse