by: Pastor Carlos Barcelona Jr.
KEY TEXT:
John 15: 16- 17
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.” (NIV)
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.” (NKJV)
Approximately 250 years after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there was a priest by the name of Valentine. He lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius, who was committed to rebuilding the once-great Roman army. However, he believed it was important for men to volunteer for armed service, rather than drafting men into service against their will. But, given a choice, most young men in the Roman Empire refused to serve. They’d rather stay at home with their wives and children that go off into battle.
Claudius came to believe that only single men would volunteer for service, so he issued a royal edict that banned all further marriages. He actually outlawed weddings in the Roman Empire, earning himself the nick-name Claudius the Cruel. Valentine thought it was ridiculous! One of his favourite duties as a priest was to marry people. So after Emperor Claudius passed his law, Valentine secretly continued performing marriage ceremonies. He would whisper the words of the ceremony, while listening for soldiers on the steps outside.
One night, Valentine did hear footsteps at his door. The couple he was marrying escaped, but he was caught. He was thrown in jail and sentenced to death. Valentine tried to stay cheerful. Many of the young couples he had married came to visit him in jail. They threw flowers and notes up to his window. They wanted him to know that they, too, believed in love.
One day, he received a visit from the daughter of one of the prison guards. Her father allowed her to visit him in his cell and they often sat and talked for hours. She believed he did the right thing by ignoring the Emperor and performing weddings. On the day Valentine was to die, he left her a note thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. He signed it, “Love from your Valentine.” That note started the custom of exchanging love notes on Valentine’s Day. It was written on the day he died, February 14, 269 A.D.—a day that was set aside in honour of a man who gave his life for God and for love. Now, every year on this day, people remember Saint Valentine, but most importantly, they think about love.
Today, since Valentine’s day is approaching, we will talk about LOVE. And I would like to entitle my sharing: “THE FRUIT MUST REMAIN.”
Let’s read John 15: 16- 17.
Everyone loves love! We want to be loved and we want to give love. The problem is—our love is lacking just like we are. It’s often conditional upon our own mood or our loved one’s actions, appearance or attitude. When it comes to love, all of us fall a little short, don’t we? Some of us are as confused about love as little five-year-old girl who told her teacher, “Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.”
Jesus had a lot to say about love, and his final night with his followers was no exception. During the course of the evening (which began in John 13 and carries on through chapter 17) Jesus uses the L-word no less than thirty times in eighteen different verses. Love meant a lot to Jesus, that this was his central message to his disciples.
According to our key text from the Scriptures, we can find some truth about love.
I. Love is the FRUIT
What’s the difference between an apple tree and a Christmas tree? An apple tree produces fruit by itself; but a Christmas tree has its decorations tied on. There’s a world of difference between a tree that you have to decorate (and then quickly get fed up looking at!) and one that naturally bears fruit.
God wants this fruit in our lives. If a branch does not bear fruit, He removes and one of the ways He removes it is by taking away such person from the place of fruit-bearing. There are many who were set aside today because they were no longer effective for God. There are ministers and lay leaders who were set aside for not bearing fruit. Of course removing does not mean losing salvation but they are taken away from becoming fruitful.
This passage is directed to believers, to those who are already in Christ. Jesus here is not talking about salvation but about fruit-bearing. It is talking about that which is the result of being saved. Soul-winning is just a by-product but not the fruit itself. This fruit is the fruit of the Spirit, and the first of the fruit is LOVE.
Love in the life of the believer will produce powerful prayer, permanent fruit and heavenly joy.
II. Love is the WAY
When this fruit remains, it becomes a way, an assurance that God will answer. “.. that whatever you ask in my name, the Father will give you.”
Many prayers are not answered, many ministries are dying and many gifts become useless and we wonder why. The deepest reason is we don’t have love.
Corinthians 13: 1- 3
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
We can never abide in the vine, we can never abide in Christ when there is no love. And when we are not connected to Christ our prayers will not be answered. Jesus said, “.. in my name..”
III. Love is the PROOF
There is an old song entitled, “Father Make Us One”. It is a simple song with very short lyrics. This song was taken from the very words of Jesus.
Father make us one
Father make us one
That the world may know
You have sent the Son
Father make us one
There is nothing in this life that a Christian can do better to tell the world about Jesus except LOVE. Love is the proof that we are His disciples. The Bible says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13: 35
What is found in love?
The Bible says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” I Corinthians 13: 4- 8
1. When There is Love, There is Loving Service
Repeatedly throughout the whole chapter, Jesus says, “This is my command: Love each other” (vs. 17 NIV).
Just hours before issuing this comprehensive command, Jesus demonstrated it. As the disciples reached the upper room, they probably spotted the towel and water basin easily enough, but there were apparently no servants around. So while the rest of them gathered around the table, tracking mud through the house, Jesus prepared to do something wonderful.
The Bible says, “He rose from the table, took off his outer garment, and tied a towel around his waist. Then he poured some water into a wash basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist” (vs. 4-5 TEV).
Jesus Christ—the son of the living God, the Alpha and Omega—got on his knees and washed filthy Palestinian feet. It’s almost too much to believe. But it’s even more amazing when we realize that this was a demonstration not only of humility and service, but unrelenting love! Jesus had expressed his love for his disciples to the utmost degree of which he was capable—through serving them!”
Do you know why many of us stopped serving God already? We can put up so many reasons or excuses but the bottomline is WE DON’T LOVE GOD ANYMORE, because when there is love, service is inevitable. We can serve without loving but we can’t love without serving.
The only solution we can have to come back and serve the Lord is when we love Him again. And we can only love God again when we ask Him to envelope us with His love. Come back to God’s love.
2. When There is Love, There is Forgiveness
I John 4:10, 19: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. We love Him because He first loved us.”
Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
God put His own love on the line for us by offering His Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use to Him.
Love is what makes life wonderful, but it is the most complex part of life as well, and human relationships are among the most difficult aspects of life.
A loving person is a forgiving person. The problem is that we have not even learned how to love our friends, so how can we love our enemies? We allow petty issues and differences to divide us. All of us have been wronged by other people. All of us have been sinned against. And we cannot pray the Lord’s prayer unless we are willing to forgive those who sinned against us. Do not pray, “Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us,” if we haven’t forgiven others and do not mean it. If we gloss over that part of the Lord’s prayer, or if we think we are forgiving most people, and not everyone, then it is better not to pray the prayer at all.
Forgiveness does not live in denial. It faces the reality of the deed done and chooses forgiveness over revenge and continued bitterness. We often hear people say, “Forgive and forget.” In some situations that may be possible, but in other situations it would be impossible to forget. You don’t have to forget to forgive someone, in fact, real forgiveness remembers everything and still chooses to forgive. The memory of the event or situation is still there, but the bitterness is what is forgotten and left behind. Real love really remembers and feels the full force of the pain and still extends forgiveness to the offender. That kind of forgiveness is what it means to live like Jesus.
When there is love, there is forgiveness but when there is no forgiveness, there is no love. It takes love to be forgiven. It was the love of God that brought forgiveness. But for us believers, it takes forgiveness to show love.
3. When There is Love, There is God
The most wonderful of all is when there is love, there is God. “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.” I John 4: 8
Many of us we want to be revived, we want the presence of God but only when there is love shared among us can God manifest Himself. Do we expect God to be with us when we are fighting, quarrelling among ourselves, having misunderstanding and harbouring hurts and bitterness?
When there is love, the presence of God will come and set you free. When there is love you will see God’s revelations. When there is love you will see God working miracles for you. When there is love, people will see God through us.
My Testimony:
I got born again when I was 13- 14 years old. Unlike other kids my age at that time, it was not so difficult for me to recognize and receive God’s love. And I know why. When my late uncle brought us to church, we never hesitated to follow him because he was a good man, he provided for our needs. He was not perfect but his love proved God to us.
IV. Love is a CHOICE
First and foremost, it is God’s choice.
Jesus established love. He required His disciples to make peace with one another, to place the interests of others above their own, to solve differences quickly. He knew they differ in backgrounds, but He ordered them to love each other. Jesus knew that setting this high standard was essential to preserving the unity of the church. Backbiting, disrespect and bitterness toward fellow believers strips the church of its power. The Spirit of God will not work in that situation.
Jesus did not only choose us for a series of tremendous privileges. He chose us to be His partners. He has shared His mind with us and opened His heart to us. He also chose us to be ambassadors. He said, “.. I chose and appointed you.” He did not choose us to live a life retired from the world but to represent Him in the world, to bring His love to the world.
Secondly, it is our choice to love.
Our world wants love to be spontaneous and driven by feeling. (We ought to love even when we don’t feel it because we want others to love us when we are unlovable). Many times we tell people to love each other, when our whole life is a demonstration that that is the last thing we do for ourselves.
We are chosen for love and to love. We are sent into the world to love one another, though sometimes we live as if we were sent into the world to compete with one another, or to dispute with one another, or even to quarrel with one another. But we should live in such a way that we show what is meant by loving his fellow men.
The tremendous choice laid before us is that we can accept or refuse partnership with Christ. Jesus chose us to be advertisements and the way to bring others into a new life is to show them the fruit of a new life. Jesus sends us out, not to argue nor to threaten people, but to attract them. We are to live with the fruit so that others will desire that fruit for themselves.
CONCLUSION:
Love is the Fruit that must remain in us. It is the way to an answered prayer. It is the proof that we belong to God because when there is love there is loving service, when there is love there is forgiveness and when there is love there is God. Lastly, love is a choice.
Do you feel that God is too far? Maybe you don’t feel loved? Did someone hurt you that you find difficult to forgive? Is your relationship fractured? Are you hurting today? Do you need forgiveness?
Let this love bring healing to us.
