The gospel is built on love. This daily devotional looks at how much God and Jesus love us and how keeping His laws and commandments help us remain in Him.
Nuggets
- Because Jesus loves us as God does, we can abide in His love.
- Because we follow God’s laws and commandments, we can abide in His love.
- Because we follow Jesus’ instructions, we can abide in His love.
Devotions in the Living Life Connected to Christ series
It is fitting that Jesus talked to His disciples about love during the Upper Room Discourse. We know He loved them.
We also know that Jesus was wanting to make sure that they saw the Father in Him.
Let’s see what Jesus had to say.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Abiding in His Love
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (Jn. 15: 9 ESV)
Because Jesus loves us as God does, we can abide in His love.
All last year and this year, we have said that the gospel in a nutshell is Mark 12: 30-31. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12: 30-31 ESV).
When Matthew wrote about this, he said that all the law was fulfilled by these two verses (Mt. 22: 40). He also said that this was what the prophets were talking about.
We really had many sections that the main topic talked about God’s or Jesus’ love for us. It was always supporting what we were talking about.
We can see here how much Jesus loves us. It is comparable to how much God loves us.
How much does God love us?
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV).
- “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5: 8 NIV)
Remember, Jesus just got done talking about the disciples seeing the Father because they have seen Him. Now He is saying they have seen the Father’s love because they have seen His.
Have you seen how many definitions there are for abide?
- to bear patiently
- to endure without yielding
- to wait for
- to accept without objection
- to remain stable or fixed in a state
- to continue in a place
- to conform to
- to accept without objection
Resource
Ooo, baby. Let’s apply all of that to the gospel.
- God tells us we have to patiently endure and be longsuffering.
- We can’t compromise with the worldview.
- We gave to wait and watch for the second coming of Jesus.
- We don’t get to negotiate with God about our salvation or His laws and commandments.
- God calls us to be sober. Being sober is a character trait distinguished by self-control, genuineness, and sound moral judgment.
- We are to continue in Him. “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant” (Col. 1: 22-23 NIV)
- We have to turn away from our sins to follow His laws and commandments.
- We don’t get to pick and choose which laws and commandments we will follow — and which we won’t.
Glossary
Jesus wanted the apostles to continue in His love. Think about it.
They had been a group for three years. Through that time, Jesus showed them again and again how much He loved them.
Now, Jesus was going away. They couldn’t follow Him right away.
Jesus said two of the twelve were going to betray Him. What He didn’t say was everyone else was also going to flee.
What Jesus is saying here is, “Continue in my love. That isn’t going to change.”
Can’t we feel the pull of that? The calming effect of that?
Loving His Laws and Commandments
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (Jn. 15: 10 ESV)
Because we follow God’s laws and commandments, we can abide in His love.
But we can’t overlook the fact that Jesus — and God — call us to obedient love. Tolerance is not a subset of obedient love.
Jesus called us to keep the commandments just as He did. He knows we need to keep the moral laws in order to imitate Him.
This is the second time that Jesus said we are to abide in His love. He doesn’t say God’s love — His love.
Keeping the commandments isn’t an outward action but rather an inward agreement.
Think about it. We could obey grudgingly. That might be considered obedience because we were doing what we were supposed to be doing.
But our attitude would be wrong.
God doesn’t want grudging obedience. He wants attitude obedience.
Yes, God loves us all — believer, non-believer, obedient, non-obedient.
God loves the obedient believer the most. It stems from His satisfaction in us.
Flint reminded us that, when we keep the laws and commandments, we build our relationship with God by being in communion with Him. Not keeping the commandments lets sin into our lives. We can’t be in communion with God if we are servants to sin.
Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
Glossary
Resource
It is all about imitating Jesus. That is how we abide in His love.
Out of that love comes our love for others. We do good for them because we love as Jesus loved.
Abiding in His Joy
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn. 15: 11 ESV)
Because we follow Jesus’ instructions, we can abide in His love.
When we love someone, we strive to make them happy. No, we aren’t in charge of their happiness, but we try to do what is best for them.
But happiness is based on circumstances. God calls us to be joyful. That is based on our choice to be content with our lives and our hope in God.
How does Jesus bring us joy?
- “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (Jn. 10: 10 ESV).
- “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk. 4: 18 ESV).
Jesus wants us to be joyful. He knows our joy comes from obedience.
But wait a second. We are talking about Jesus’ joy — “… my joy …” (Jn. 15: 11 ESV).
Let’s put it in context again. They were in the upper room.
Judas had already left to turn traitor. Peter had just been disillusioned because Jesus said that he, too, was going to have three chances — and blow every one of them.
Jesus had the big discourse on how He was leaving and they couldn’t come with Him. He shook His head when He got in Thomas for hearing three years of preaching and still not knowing the way.
The cross was looming. The pain and the humiliation was growing closer by the moment.
And here Jesus was talking about joy.
Go figure.
Well, it is logical. Jesus had an important mission to keep. He had to die so that He could be the Savior of the world.
Jesus was assigned this mission before the world was created. He waited thousands of years to begin the mission.
Now, the mission was almost over. All the planning and preparation were going to pay off.
Our freedom was about to be secured.
Oh, I bet Jesus was joyful in that! Our relationships were going to be restored.
What is that line in What a Beautiful Name? “You didn’t want heaven without us
So Jesus You brought heaven down.”
What a Beautiful Name
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
We were going to be back in fellowship with Jesus.
Jesus was going back to Heaven. He would have face-to-face contact with His Father once again. He was going back to His Father victorious.
All the newer versions translate the idea as may be in you. The King James Version says, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (Jn. 15: 11 KJV emphasis added).
I like what in you says, but I really like remain in you. We said we have to continue in Him. We do this by remaining in Him — not wavering in our faith. Faith is a gift from God that enhances the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives and distinguishes us from others.
Glossary
Jesus wants to instill that joy in us. Look at the quantity. He wants us to be full of joy.
Hull reminded us of the conditions of this joy.
- We have to completely surrender our will to God. We have to be totally submitted to following His ways.
- We can’t tie our joy to outward changes. What that says to me is that we can’t be doing this just because we want to gain Heaven or prosperity here on earth. We have to be totally committed to God at the heart level.
Resource
Making the Connections
That is what we are talking about this year. Jesus wants to take His gospel and change us at the heart level. We need to totally submit our lives to God.
How Do We Apply This?
- Love Jesus
- Obey God’s laws and commandments
Father God. You have showed us Your love so many times. We love You, too. Help us to show that love by obeying Your laws and commandments. We want to imitate Jesus. Amen.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
What do you think?
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