The
Joy of Loving One Another
Keith
McFarren
May 5,
2024
John
15:9-17
    How do you know if you have been
“saved?”  Maybe the term “saved” sounds a
little too “evangelical” to some of us.
Maybe I should say how do you know if you have received your salvation?  
    Hopefully, you know that there is only one
way to “get it.”  It’s as easy as what
Paul and Silas said while witnessing to the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the
Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).  Or if you don’t like that word “saved,” we
can say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will receive your salvation.”
    But how do we know if we have received our
salvation? We know because our belief is confirmed by our behavior.  Our salvation shows by the way we act and by
what we say and how we think.  What we
say and what we do is an expression of what we believe…and in the life of a
Christian, what we believe determines our ultimate destiny.  Or as Martin Luther explained it in The
Freedom of a Christian (1520), “Good works do not make a good man, but a
good man does good works.”
    The signs of salvation in a person’s life
can be seen by others.  The time, the
talents, the thoughts, and the tithes…all these things that we manage and
maintain for God are the signs of our salvation.  People who worship God and work to witness to
their faith in God are showing signs of their salvation.  
    But the greatest sign of our salvation, or
maybe we should call it the “give away sign of our salvation,” is also the most
distinguishing characteristic of Christianity.
The greatest sign of our salvation and…the most distinguishing characteristic
of Christianity…is our love for others.
    When Jesus commanded us to love one
another he was pointing to love as the greatest sign of salvation.  Throughout the context of Jesus’ teaching and
biblical revelation, loving others is how we express our love for God and
loving God sets us on the direct path toward heaven.  
    It fills us with joy to know that we are saying
the things that Jesus would say and doing the things that Jesus would do.  It fills us with joy knowing that we are
sharing our love, a love that causes us to show love and to give love and to
act lovingly with so many other people.
    That’s the secret that Jesus is trying to
give to his followers as they are about to find out how the world around them can
really be.  In this “farewell discourse,”
Jesus tries to fill them with all sorts of truth that might help serve as a solid
foundation for them to stand on as they are about to face the world around
them.
    In the midst of all that he says, he is
simply saying, “All you have to do is hang onto me.  Stay connected to all that I was, all that I
am, and all that I ever will be.  But
most of all, know that I will always be with you, and remember the examples of
life that I have taught you.”
    There is a whole lot of valuable
information in our scripture reading this morning.  And you would expect there to be a whole lot of
information because this is a farewell speech that was given by Jesus.  
    There is talk about obedience.  There is that odd little statement about who
is choosing whom in verse 16.  
    We could even talk about sacrifice…about
how Jesus says there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for his
friends.  All this is being said, of
course, right before Jesus lays down his own life not only for his friends, but
for his enemies and for those that don’t know about him or even for those that maybe
don’t even like him.  How great would
one’s love have to be to do something like that?
    So many things to talk about.  But let’s talk about verse 11.  “I have said these things to you so that my
joy may be in you and your joy may be full.”
Joy is one of those elusive qualities in life…it’s something that you
just can’t put your finger on.  Joy is
one of those “I’ll know it when I see it” type of things…or “I’ll know it when
I feel it” type of things.  
    Joy just seems to happen.  It is an instantaneous, momentary type of
thing.  It is a passion that grips us.  Joy lifts us up and makes us feel better than
we’ve ever felt before.  Joy is kind of
like a shot of adrenalin…it’s there for a while…and then it’s gone.  If only we could hold on to it for just a
little bit longer…if only we could hold onto the feeling of joy forever.
    Do you know what joy looks like?  Have you ever done an image search for joy on
the computer?  The most common images
that come up are images of people who are named Joy…such as Joy Von Blon, a woman
I believe was aptly named because she is full of it…joy, that is.  
    But there are other images of joy that
come up in a Google search…and usually the images contain some type of movement
like dancing or running or jumping…as in jumping for joy.  So, when we think of joy…it’s like when joy
hits us and we can’t be still…we have to physically express ourselves by moving
around in some way or another.
    Another thing that is interesting about
searching for joy on the internet, is that quite often the picture contains
more than one person.  Not only can you
not keep joy internally confined, but you also feel the need to share it with
someone because you can’t (or you don’t want) keep it to yourself.  
    Mark Twain supposedly said that, “grief
can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy, you have to have
someone to share it with.”  Joy is an
experience not to be kept to ourselves; joy needs to be shared with community; joy
needs to be shared with those around us.
    Maybe that’s what Jesus wants us to
understand when he said, “That my joy may be in you and your joy might be
full.”  You see, the peace of God is not
the only legacy that Jesus leaves behind for his people.  He leaves the peace of God with us, but he
also adds the fullness of joy…and his own joy at that.  So, if we don’t accept all that Jesus has to
offer us, both his peace and his joy, then we are not benefiting from all that
he wants us to have and all that he wants us to live with.
    The New Testament is a book that tells us
how to live our lives in accordance to Jesus’ teaching and it doesn’t pull any
punches…it tells us the facts with honesty and frankness.  Yet, at the same time, the New Testament
should also be looked at as a book full of joy and happiness.  The New Testament is a declaration of good
news that is meant to remind us of the sun breaking through the clouds on a
cloudy, gloomy day.
    When Jesus started out on his ministry
back in Nazareth, he stood up in the synagogue and read where it was written
that, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach
the good news to the poor.   He sent me
to proclaim release of the captive and of recovering sight for the blind, and to
set free those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:1621).  
    When John the Baptist was in prison and
began to lose faith in who Jesus really was, what did Jesus say?  “Go and tell John what your have seen and
heard…the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the
deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to
them” (Matthew 11:4-5).
    All throughout Jesus’ ministry, all one has
to do is to look at all the joy and happiness he left behind as he went from
one village to the next.  Wherever he
went, frowns were turned into smiles…people’s sorrows were healed and diseases
were cured.  It was though the weigh of
the world was lifted from the minds and the souls of the people…only to be
replaced with newfound health and strength.
    The earliest Christians were happy people
simply because they were willing to accept the joy and the happiness that Jesus
offered them.  And that same offer still
stands today.  Jesus offers to share his
own joy and happiness to anyone who is willing to accept it from him.
     Our joy, which is a fleeting, but
powerful human experience that fills us up, is not totally complete until it is
joined with the joy Jesus offers us, a joy that is a holy and divine, a joy that
comes from knowing that there is no greater love than to give one’s life for
his friends.  
    But our joy won’t last long if we try to
generate it and then maintain if ourselves.
Like the morning fog, our joy is here for just a little while, and then
it’s gone.  But when we follow Jesus,
when we abide in him, when we stay in constant contact with him, when we become
the branches on the vine and he becomes the vine, then there will be a continual
river of living water flowing from him to us and we will receive a never ending
source of joy.  
    But to do all this we have to maintain a
constant relationship with Jesus, through worship and through prayer.  It means that we have to enrich our own lives
through worship and prayer and by emulating Jesus in all that we say and all
that we do as we become fruitful branches that are attached to the vine.    
    Our joy can only be complete, it can only
be mature, it can only be perfect, when it is joined to or woven into the joy
that only Jesus Christ can give.  Our joy
can only be complete by allowing Jesus to become a part of our daily lives.
    This eternal joy is a gift that comes from
Jesus.  It is a gift that is given to
each of us when we accept him into our lives…when we accept his salvation, when
we are “saved” as some of us like to put it.

    To accept him into our lives, to accept
his salvation, to be “saved,” is to obey his commandment to love one another
just as he loved us.  Our joy doesn’t
come about by looking inward and loving and satisfying only ourselves…our joy
comes from loving others, from loving all people and being in service to all
people, just as Jesus was to us.