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"The
Other Side Of The Coin" • 1.26.20 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday
Morning Service
Intro.
- Jesus and His disciples are walking along the path that will lead them
to the Garden of Gethsemane. Along the way, Jesus has stopped by a grapevine
and has taught a marvelous lesson.
- Jesus is the True, genuine vine
and His Father is the Vinedresser. The Lord's disciples are the branches, the
shoots of the vine and by their remaining, abiding in Christ, they become
fruitful.
- The Father stretches them out in
different seasons and cuts or prunes them back, all so that they may produce
fruit, more fruit and much fruit!
- The fruit that the world tastes
is bursting with the love of God and the joy of Jesus! Doesn't that sound like
a great life? Abide in Christ and produce wonderfully tasty fruit! Not so fast!
- We stopped at verse 11.
Verse 12 begins to unveil the other side of the coin. Verse 12.
Text
• John 15:12,13 : "This
is My
commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." : The Lord's commandment to His disciples is
that they love one another. Consider what these men had in common that kept
them together for three years?
- If these men
had not been selected by Christ to be disciples, would they have ever been
friends? Some that worked together might have. Others would have kept their
perpetual distance!
- Jesus brought
these men together and loved them all together. His love was the bond and the
glue that held them in place. He is about to leave, but they are called to
continue to love!
- If they will
be successful in carrying out the Lord's mission, they would need to
collectively commit to loving each other in the very same way that Christ loved
them! How had He loved them?
- He had taken
them under His wing and protected them from the enemy's advances. He had given
them responsibility and a share in His power.
- He lovingly
explained His teachings to them privately and was patient with every one of their
shortcomings! They would need to imitate and enter into that love with one
another.
- To prove that
you love God means to obey His commands. His command is that you are to love
any that are His disciples. The two go hand in hand. You can't claim one
without the other!
- The disciples
had their past history to draw from and were about to have a new example that
would endure throughout the rest of their life and indeed, down to this very
present moment.
- Jesus won't
merely offer sentiment. He was about to demonstrate His love once and for all
by laying down His life! This is the ultimate expression and breadth of God's
love for them.
- There isn't a
love that is greater than the love which lays it's own life down for it's
friends!
- He was about
to lay down His life for them and for all that would one day believe upon Him!
- If you have
believed in Christ, He laid down His life on your behalf! Because He has done
this for us, we can say of ourselves that we are friends of God!
- How can we
not, at the very least, learn to mimic a part of that heart toward those that
love Him? Verse 14.
• John 15:14,15 : "You
are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you
servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have
called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I
have made known to you." :
The disciples are being invited into the King's company. He lays down His life
for them. They obey His commands. This constitutes friendship in the Kingdom!
- Jesus is the
King and those who obey His commands are members of His inner circle!
- Notice how He
expands upon His initial instruction. He has told them to obey His commands,
that which they had already known.
- Here, He
expands that to involve anything that He would command them! There will be
ongoing instruction between the Lord and His men after His resurrection!
- This
continual instruction will cause their relationship to transcend the boundaries
of servanthood and delve into the realm of friendship. How had this promotion
taken place?
- Servants
aren't consulted. The Master will not confide or share his plans with them.
Slaves were told what to do. They were not privy to an understanding. That couldn't
be said of these men!
- They are more
than His servants because He has been sharing with them divine truth that the
Father had passed along to Him! He is letting them in on the "Family
business!" Verse 16.
• John 15:16,17 : "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."
: "You did not choose Me but I chose you." When everything goes
sideways in the next few hours, Jesus wants them to remember the basis of their
relationship.
- They had not
chosen Him as most disciples would have chosen their Rabbi. He had chosen them.
He put them in this position. He was the Initiator, the prime mover in their
relationship.
- Why would
this be important? They would soon need to recall that following Jesus wasn't
their idea! It was His calling!
- The Lord, the
God of the Universe, had selected and appointed, "ordained" them to
be His!
- These
disciples and apostles were ordained to bear fruit that would remain, the same
word used earlier for abide! They would bear abiding fruit because of their
association with Him!
- As long as
the were abiding in Him, they could request anything according to, for the sake
of His Name and He would give it to them! All they had to do was love each
other!
- Why must they
love one another? What is so important about that virtue that Jesus repeats it
yet again for them? Jesus has been building them up for this moment. Verse 18.
• John 15:18,19 : "If
the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose
you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." : The disciples were to love one another
because the world would hate, detest them!
- The
"world" doesn't refer to all of the people that you know. When John
uses this word, he is referring to a system of thought which is diametrically
opposed to God's rule.
- A person who
is committed to this world cannot love, in the truest sense of the word, one
that lives a life that is governed by another system. It will always hate those
that refuse it's charm.
- The Lord is
telling them to expect this. Be attached to the vine, being fruitful, will come
at a tremendous cost. Being related to Christ means being treated like Him!
- When the
world sees that you have a love, joy and peace that doesn't come from external,
sinful and temporary practices, it will misunderstand and ultimately resent
you.
- Over time, as
the misery piles up from failed attempts to gain what you have through simply
abiding in Christ, that resentment turns to anger and eventually becomes
hatred.
- When they treat
you the way that the world treated Jesus, the comfort that you gain is that you
are living a life that resembles His!
Your life is supernaturally resourced!
- You live in
and among those that hold a worldly centered philosophy, but if they hate you,
it shows that the world's attitude has not infected you!
- Jesus chose
His disciples to be those that lived in the world, but were not of it. He
endowed them with His own life and they walked as He did, immune to the world's
philosophies!
- Unlike Jesus,
we are saddled with fighting against our carnal, fleshly natures, which do long
for approval and are constantly vying for popularity.
- Those
attitudes must be brought into submission if we are ever to be effective for
Christ! Truthfully, if you don't practice killing those attitudes, they will
kill your ability to bear fruit that lasts!
- It is costly
to live for Jesus in this life, but when you reach heaven's shores, you'll see
that it was worth everything you supposedly gave up! Still, the Lord will tell
them the truth. Verse 20.
• John 15:20 : "Remember
the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’
If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they
will keep yours also." : Jesus wanted them
to mark this moment in this saying: "A servant is not greater than his
master."
- However a
Master is treated, the servant of a house could expect the same. That didn't
really bode well for these men, who were indeed treated in a similar manner to
their Master!
- "If they
persecuted me." The world had persecuted Jesus. They refused to hear His words
and were in the middle of plotting His execution! They had hated Him and they
were persecuting Him.
- Attitudes
will eventually come out in actions. These are promises for the believer. They
will hate and persecute you for abiding in Christ! These were realities that
the disciples needed to face!
- Persecution
was going to be a part of their life. It didn't come into their life because
God was displeased with them or because they were doing something
"wrong."
- They were
persecuted by the world because they lived for Jesus! The world hasn't changed
and you shouldn't expect better treatment!
- You will be
mocked, ostracized, belittled, unfairly pointed out when you fail in any area.
Someday, we may be forced, as our brothers and sisters in other countries are,
to yield our lives.
- In fact, not
only should it be that we expect persection from some, we should actually
consider themselves "blessed" if it comes our way. Turn in your
Bibles to Matthew 5.
• Matthew
5:10-12 : "Blessed are those who are
persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say
all kinds of evil
against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven,
for so they persecuted
the prophets who were before you." :
Persecution for the sake of Jesus is a mark of blessedness in the Kingdom of
God! These Apostles definitely got the message.
- When the Apostles were first persecuted for
preaching in the Name of Jesus by the same council that ordered the death of
Christ, Luke tells us of their response.
•
Acts 5:40,41 : "And they agreed with him, and when
they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they
should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. So they departed from the presence
of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His
name."
- What are you supposed to do with men like
that!? Of course, that isn't the full story. Not everyone responds to the Lord
with an averse negative reaction.
- There were
people who kept His Word as well, who were receptive toward their Messiah! There
were many that had been partial, if not outright accepting of the Lord's Word.
- The disciples
could expect that from some of the people that they would minister to as well!
This is an important word to understand.
- When people
talk about winning a "town" or a "city" for Jesus, you can
see here that even Jesus did not win His city to Himself!
- At this time
in history among the disciples, onto the times in which we live, we can expect
the same kind of divided response from those that surround us.
- Some will
persecute us because of our association with His Name and others will celebrate
that they have a common Master with us!
- The Lord's
point is that they must minister regardless of the response that they get from
the world! How anyone responds to the Lord is out of our control. How we
present Him is our concern!
- Jesus was
releasing these Apostles out into the world with His own words to guide them.
Incredibly, the Lord would also give them the responsibility to produce
scripture as well!
- Did you
notice that phrase? "If they kept my word, they will keep yours
also!" These disciples would not only transmit the Lord's word to us, but
produce instruction for their generation as well!
- Do you wonder
what the Lord thought of the word that they would produce? Wonder no further!
He expected those that those that kept His word would keep theirs as well!
Verse 21.
• John
15:21-25 : " But all these
things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who
sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they
would have no sin, but now
they have no excuse for their sin. He who
hates Me hates My Father also. If
I had not done among them the works
which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be
fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’" : There are always two reasons for legitimate persecution. Before
I get to that, let me explain what illegitimate persecution is.
- There are people who present themselves as
obnoxious, hateful or insensitive, who ignore basic social norms and then claim
"persecution" for the sake of Christ.
- That person is being punished for the sake of
being rude and ignoring the laws of civility. Legitimate, biblical persecution
will occur when a person is mistreated because they are a Christian.
- The Name refers to His reputation and the
more that one associates themselves with the Lord, the more the world will
adversely respond to the Lord's presence in that person.
- The second reason for this response will be
related to not knowing the Father that sent Jesus. Because Jesus only
evangelized in Israel, this referred primarily to the religious leaders.
- Israel's leadership claimed to know God and leaders
in His knowledge. That reputation did not fool Jesus.
- He told them directly that they did not know
the Father because they did not acknowledge the Son. (John 8:19) The Apostles would encounter this same issue out among
the Gentiles.
- Paul would preach to the men at Mars Hill
about the "Unknown God" that he wanted to introduce to them. (Acts 17)
- The Jewish leaders would have been without
sin in this area if Jesus had never come to them. At least they could have
claimed ignorance. But that excuse was gone!
- They had looked Jesus in the eye, listened to
Him declare Himself to be the unique Son of God and refused to bow their knees
to Him!
- In so doing, they exposed themselves as
haters of God. That is the Lord's assessment and verdict. You and I are often
willing to deny this with unbiblical categories.
- Jesus calls those that hate Him, haters of
the Father. Why are they hateful? Even as many are passive, they are willfully
ignoring the claim of a sovereign God upon their life!
- They claim self-governance and ignore every
natural point of identification in a fitful rage against the order that God
determined for them at birth!
- For the Jews that lived during the Lord's
time, this was far more egregious! Jesus had performed miracles that could only
be explained by divine connection.
- By any rational standard, by any objective
standard of truth, Jesus Christ presented Himself as the Messiah and they hated
Him and by extension, the Father that sent Him.
- One might use that to counter the Lord's claim
to be the Messiah. You might hear it expressed like this: "Doesn't the
Jewish rejection prove that Jesus was not the Christ?"
- Jesus anticipates that very argument by
revealing to the disciples that the scriptures actually predicted Israel's
rejection! All this took place according to scripture, Psalm 69:4 to be specific.
- David was the human author, but the
experience that he wrote from directly foreshadowed the Messiah's experience!
- Despite His benevolence in healing lepers,
blind men and paralytics, the Jewish leadership irrationally hated the Father's
Son. Verse 26.
•
John 15:26,27 : "But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the
Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning." : No matter what the world thinks, God has already made a plan to
spread the news of His Son's finished work. That is what the Helper, the Spirit
of Truth will come to do!
-
Notice that Jesus will send Him from the Father. Earlier, Jesus had said that
the Father would send Him. Here, He reveals that He will send Him to the
disciples! He will "proceed" from the Father.
-
He will be discharged the presence of the Father. He is sent with marching
orders, intent upon bringing testimony regarding Jesus! The Holy Spirit will
witness to Men's hearts.
-
He will focus their attention upon aspects of Christ's character. He will work
behind the scenes to position a person to consider Christ.
-
He will convince the world of the Truth concerning Jesus. They will know
internally that Christ is the Truth. At the same time, Jesus sends His
witnesses to declare what they have seen!
-
The disciples would come and share their experiences of how Jesus lived from
the beginning of His ministry, until the very end.
-
They would interpret those historical events through the lens of scripture and
the Holy Spirit would then confirm the truth of what was being said.
-
Jesus accomplishes three goals by sharing this with the disciples. First, He
affirms the standards for truth. He provides the world with two witnesses, the
disciples and the Holy Spirit!
-
The legal standard for truth according to scripture was the testimony of two or
three witnesses according to Deuteronomy
17:6 and 19:15.
-
Second, He is letting the disciples know that their efforts would only achieve
heaven's goals by the power of the Holy Spirit. They are not alone and will not
win a single person alone!
-
A third goal is a bit closer to home. Jesus tells them that the Holy Spirit
will testify of Him and that they WILL bear witness of Him!
-
No matter the threat of hatred or persecution, their voice will be heard!
Chapter 16.
• John
16:1-4 : "These things I have
spoken to you, that you should
not be made to stumble. They
will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming
that
whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.
And
these
things they will do to you
because they have not known the Father nor Me.
But
these things I have told you, that when the time
comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because
I was with you." : Jesus didn't tell these
things to the disciples to frighten or hype them. This is recorded so that they
aren't scandalized. The word is often translated "offended."
- The concept refers to something that is laid
in a trap which seems to be free, but then, springs into action. Jesus doesn't
want to give the wrong impression.
- Jesus does not want to offer the disciples,
you or I a false sense of expectation.
- They won't be received by synogogues. They
will be treated as if they had no synagogue!
- In fact, it will get so bad that people will
kill Christ's representatives and believe that they are offering God a sacred
service! They will think that they are killing them in honor of God!
- This happened with all but one of them in
history. Today, it is happening in the Muslim world, where people are being
beheaded in the Name of Allah!
- These people don't know the Father of life or
the Son that gives life! Such a person is completely deceived about the true
Father of Heaven.
- Yet, these people will riddle the synagogues
of the Apostle's time and someday will likely be the leaders of the modern
apostate church, which is riddled with goats!
- Jesus tells them these things so that they
will remember that He said it would be this way! When it happens, they won't be
surprised or think that they had done something wrong.
- He didn't need to tell them at the beginning
of His ministry because He was there with them. They needed to know that this
was the way it would be because He was going away!
Conclusion
• II Corinthians 2:14-16 : "Now thanks be to
God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the
fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God
the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are
perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to
the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these
things?" : Abiding in Christ will produce beautiful fruit in
your life to God. That same fruit will be a continual sign of offense to the
world.
- Remember that Jesus said it would be this way!
Remember that it proves that you belong to Him and that He chose you to be His
representatives in this world.
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