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John 15:12-17  THE COMMAND TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER REPEATED

Introduction:
	
	In our text doday Jesus repeats a command that He had
already given to His disciples.

I.  The command which He had given earlier that same night

	V. 12, "This is my commandment, That ye love oneanother,
as I have loved you."  His first mention of this command was
back in John 13:34.  That verse reads, "A new commandment I
give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved
you, that ye also love one another."  In the next verse He
said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples."
Now in verse twelve of our text He repeats that same
command.
	By this repetition we are made to understand that this
is a very important command and Jesus wanted them to know
that it was very important for them to be obedient to it.
All of the commands of Jesus were important and Jesus had
admonished them to obey all of them.  In John 14:15 Jesus
said, "If ye love me keep my commands." That was "commands"
plural.  But in this text Jesus places greater emphasis on
this one singular command than all the others.
	The command for His disciples to love one another was in
keeping with the principles set forth in the Mosaic Law.
Jesus said that the greatest command of the law is, "Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all
they soul and with all thy mind."  Then He added that the
commandment of the law which is next in importance is, "Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." This means that every
man is to love every man.
	But in this text Jesus is not talking about loving every
man.He is talking about His disciples loving one another.
He is talking about saved people loving saved people.  The
Christian is to love his fellow Christians.  Jesus said to
His disciples, "You love one another."
	He was about to leave them behind in this world to do a
mighty work for Him and for the honor and glory of God.  He
was going to call upon them to go into all the world
preaching the gospel and establishing New Testament churches
in all parts of the world.  It would be necessary for them
to have a great love for one another in order to bear
spiritual fruit for God.
	They must not become involved in jealousies and
animosities among themselves.  They must not be torn with
strife, bitterness and divisions.  They must not split up
and scatter over personal differences.  They must be able to
lay aside all of their personal differences and to love and
appreciate one another.
	They are going to be faced by bitter enemies who seek to
stop them from preaching and teaching the truths of God
which Jesus taught them.  They will be forbidden to preach
in the name of Jesus or even to speak in the name of Jesus.
Some of them will be arrested, imprisoned and beaten because
they believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the
Savior of men.  Some of them will be put to death for
refusing to give up their belief that Jesus is the Christ.
Down through the years many Christians would be killed
because they refuse to renounce their faith in Jesus Christ.
Literally thousands upon thousands would be fed to lions,
burned at the stake, crucified upside down or left to die in
dungeons.
	It was vital for those Christians whom Jesus would leave
to carry on His work to learn to love one another and pray
for one another and help one another in every way they
could.

II.  The example which Jesus set for them

	V. 13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man
lay down his life for his friends."  In this statement Jesus
was calling attention to His own great love for them as an
example of the kind of love which they should have for one
another.  He was at that very moment on His way toGethsemane
to be arrested and crucified for them.  He was calling upon
them to have the same kind of love for one another.  It
should be noted that He was not saying that they should all
die for one another.  He was only saying that each one of
them should be willing to sacrifice his own life if this
would help a fellow Christian.
	Jesus was not calling upon them to do anything that He
was not willing to do Himself.  He loved them enough to die
for them.  He was asking them to love one another enough to
be willing to lay lay down his life his brother if the need
should arise.

III.  A test of friendship
	
	V. 14, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command
you."  Jesus had commanded them to love one another.  He had
pointed to His own sacrificial death on their behalf as an
example of how much they should love one another.  Now He
says in essence, "You all claim to be my friends.  If you
really are my friends you will do what I have commanded you
to do.  If you do not do what I have commanded you to dothen
that is evidence that you do not really love me."
	Now what had He commanded them to do?  He had commanded
them to love one another.  If they obeyed that command and
disciplined themselves to cultivate a love for one another
they would be proving their love for Jesus.  But if they did
not cultivate a love for one another they would be proving
that they did not have the kind of love for Jesus that they
ought to have.
	Let me point out to you that each one of them had a
choice in the matter.  He could allow differences of opinion
to divide them and cause them to be bitter at one another.
He could allow the wrongs which the other fellow had done
toward him to fill his mind with bitterness so that he could
have no friendship.  Or he could overlook their differences
and forgive whatever wrong the other fellow had done him and
love that other fellow anyway.  If he chose to harbor his
ill feelings he was showing that he did not have sufficient
love for Jesus to be obedient to the command of Jesus.  But
if he was big enough to lay aside the mistreatment he had
received and love his brother in Christ and work together
for the good of the cause, then by doing so he was proving
his love for Jesus.

IV.  An appeal based on friendship

	V. 15. "Henceforth I call you not servants..."  The
Greek word that here is translated "servants" means
"slaves."  Jesus is the Lord God of heaven and earth.  He
could rightly give orders and expect them to obey Him simply
because of His might and power and authority over them.  But
that is not the way He handled the matter.  Jesus did not
treat His disciples as though He were a slave master over
them.
	(V. 15), "...for the servant knoweth not what his lord
doeth..."  A slave master does not give an explanation to
his slave the reasons he wants a certain thing done.  He
just gives an order and expects the slave to obey him.  For
example, he may tell a slave, "You go to such and such a
building and you bring me a bushel of wheat."  He does not
explain that he wants the wheat to feed the horse or to make
bread for the family or what he wanats it for.  He just
gives an order and  expects his order to be obeyed.
	But Jesus does not deal with His disciples as though
they were slaves.  He gives an explanation.  (V. 15),
"...but I have called you friends; for all things that I
have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." He has
meticulously taught His disciples the reasons for the things
that He requires of them.  He has taught them the things
which God the Father had made known to Him.
	Jesus did not look upon His disciples as slaves to obey
His command simply because of His power and authority.  He
looked upon them as friends and He treated them as friends.

V.  Jesus, the One who had initiated the friendship

	In verse 16 He gave evidence of His friendship.  V. 16,
"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained
you..."  These disciples had not taken the initiative tocome
to Jesus and become His disciples.  Jesus had taken the
initiative.  The apostles had all been saved under the
preaching of John the Baptist.  Now get the picture.  Back
when these men were lost and condemned they did not just
arbitrarily decide, "I think I will repent of my sin and
trust in the coming Messiah and get saved."  Rather, the
Lord sent John the Baptist to them to call them to
repentance and faith in Jesus.  John the Baptist preached to
them that they should repent and that they should trust in
the coming Messiah.  They did repent and trust Jesus and
they got saved, but it was Jesus who has sent John the
Baptist to them to win them to salvation.
	In addition to sending John the Baptist to them with the
message of salvation, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to them to
convict them of their sin and urge them to repent and trust
the coming Christ.  I repeat.  It was not they who had taken
the initiative to come to Christ and be saved.  It was
Christ who took the initiative to win them to salvation.  So
it is with each of us.  While we were yet lost in our sins
Jesus sent someone to us with the gospel message and He sent
the Holy Spirit directly to us to urge us to place our trust
in Him and be saved.  Jesus was our Friend long before we
ever thought about becoming His friends.  After they were
saved it was Jesus who sought them out and called them to be
His followers.


VI.  The purpose behind the request

	(V. 16), "...that ye should go and bring forth fruit,
and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall
ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."  Jesus
took the initiative to win us to Himself for salvation with
the goal in mind that we might bring forth glory to God the
Father in heaven and that we might have the greater
opportunity of and having our prayers answered.
	V. 17, "These things I command you, that ye love one
another."  Note that He said "things" plural.  Jesus gave
them more than one command to obey.  But the commands He
gave to them were not given with the strict order of a slave
master.  Rather they were orders given to men whom He had
befriended.  He called for their obedience to His commands
--- not on the basis of His power and authority over them
--- but on the basis of His love and friendship toward them
and their own love and friendship toward Him.
	What He asked of them was not to show His power over
them, but for the purpose of bringing glory to God in
heaven.  It was for the purpose of promoting the gospel and
winning souls to salvation and spreading the cause of Christ
throughout the world.
	Also, what He asked of them was for the purpose of
bringing greater blessings to themselves.  By obeying His
commands, they would please God in a greater way and they
would have more of their prayers answered.  Furthermore He
was asking their obedience to His commands because He wanted
their lives to have the fullness of joy.  The more obedient
a child of God is in this world, the happier he is in this
world.  He may not be whooping it up with worldly pleasures,
but he is experiencing joys which are much greater and much
more fulfilling than worldly pleasures.
	There is more.  He is asking them to be obedient to His
commands because there will be greater rewards in the
hereafter.  He does not mention that in this passage of
Scripture, but it is clearly taught in other Scriptures.
The more obedient a child of God is to Jesus in this world,
the greater his rewards will be in the next world.
	This is true of all the commands which Jesus has given
and we ought to be obedient to them all.  But let us keep in
mind that in this text Jesus is placing the greater emphasis
upon one commandment.  He said, "This is my commandment,
That ye love one another, as I have loved you."  Brethren,
that is what Jesus wants of us today.  It may not always be
easy.  There may be some Christians who are difficult to
love.  But Jesus gave us a command and He appeals to us to
obey His command on the basis of our love for Him.  If we
love Him, it up to us to make up our minds to do all in our
power to obey His command.  If we love Him, it is up to uls
to make up our minds to do all in our power to love every
Christian brother and sister.  May God give us the grace to
work diligently at this task.  Jesus took the initiative in
loving us.  Let us take the initiative in loving our fellow
Christians.
	This will require us to overlook some unkind things that
are said to us or about us.  This will require us to
overlook some things which are done against us to hurt us.
This may require us to forgive a brother as many as seventy
times seventy.

Conclusion:

1.  Whether of not you ever get saved, Jesus has loved you
and has sent someone to you with the gospel and has sent the
Holy Spilrit to influence you toward salvation.  But thne
choice is your's.
2.  Afther one is saved Jesus seeks to lead him or her into
a Scriptural N. T. church.  But the chiice to join is
your's.
3.  Jesus seeks to influence the saved to obey His
commandments.  (To live right in all things.)
4.  Jesus especially wants Christians to love one another.
5.  One who is a true friend to Jesus seeks to obey Jesus.