Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE FIRST THING YOU MUST DO TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER”
John 15.4
In the Gospel according to John, the most important conversation found in the Word of God is recorded in chapters 14 through 17. Chapters 14 through 16 is a record of the Lord Jesus Christ’s instructions to His remaining apostles. Chapter 17 is a record of the Lord Jesus Christ’s high priestly intercessory prayer to His heavenly Father, with those same apostles listening as He prayed. Recording words that were spoken somewhere between the Upper Room and the Garden of Gethsemane, I have suggested two things about John 15.1–17.
First, I have suggested that the Lord Jesus Christ’s identification of Himself as the True Vine in verse 1 likely took place as He and His men passed by the main entrance of Herod’s Temple, with its carving of vine clusters hanging from a branch that represented the nation of Israel.[1] However, because Israel did not fulfill God’s calling for them, the Lord Jesus Christ came to do what Israel had not done, bear fruit unto God. Imagine this stunning announcement to those Jewish men. They had been raised to understand that Israel was God’s vine. But Israel, in her apostasy down through the centuries, had produced no fruit. The Lord Jesus Christ, being the True Vine, would not only produce fruit, but He would also produce much fruit.
Second, I have pointed out that John 15.1–17 is a literary device constructed by the Lord Jesus Christ to communicate an essential truth to His faithful apostles using word imagery. Some scholars refer to this as an allegory, with others insisting that it is an extended metaphor. Either way, the Lord Jesus Christ intends, by this literary device encompassing seventeen verses, to teach His apostles how to obey His new commandment to them. What was the Lord Jesus Christ’s new commandment? He initially stated the command in John 13.34:
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”
As I have frequently stated when referring to this verse, this is not a new command because of any new sentiment. God’s people were commanded in the Old Testament Scriptures to love their neighbors.[2] Christians in the New Testament are also commanded to love not only our neighbors but also our enemies.[3] This is a new commandment in that it is the first time the Lord Jesus Christ directed His Church to love one another. Yet more evidence of the Church being brought into existence during His earthly ministry, and not on the Day of Pentecost, as those who embrace what is essentially a Protestant view of the Church believe.
What the Lord Jesus Christ first mentioned in the Upper Room, in John 13.34, He addressed again in John 15.1–17, with this new commandment restated in verses 12 and 17. That this command is issued to Christ’s “little flock” three times within the span of 2 to 3 minutes, and twice within seconds, reveals to us (as it was revealed to them) how profoundly important this command to love one another is for any Church congregation. It is crucial.
I have no personal doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ’s men recognized the importance of this command that they love one another. There is no evidence that, even in the upheaval caused by the events surrounding the crucifixion, that those men did not love one another.
What is vital for you and me to realize, and crucial to the body life of each Church congregation and its members, is the application of this new commandment to your Church life and congregational membership. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.[4] His plan for every convert to Christ is subsequent baptism by immersion to become a member of a local body of Christ.
We learn from the practice of Saul of Tarsus, later known to us as the Apostle Paul, that attachment to at least three subsequent Churches as a member of those Churches reveals how important Church membership was to him. Following His conversion to Christ, he was baptized and became a member of the Church in Damascus, Acts 9.18. When he traveled to Jerusalem, he joined the Church there, Acts 9.26-28. It would have been inconsistent for him not to have been a Church member when he lived in Tarsus, Acts 11.25, and he was undoubtedly a member of the Church in Antioch, Acts 11.26.
I bring these facts to bear because the only scenario which satisfactorily explains John 13.34 being the new commandment Christ labels it is if it is a command issued for the first time to the Church of Jesus Christ. Membership in the Church of Jesus Christ is essential, not only because the Great Commission was assigned to the Church of Jesus Christ and not to Christianity at large, but also because only congregations are authorized to administer the ordinances of believer baptism and the communion of the Lord’s Supper.
It is beginning with the congregation’s members that a child of God is also discipled and trained to obey Christ’s command to love one another, loving first our Church members, and then loving an outwardly expanding circle of people on our way to loving all mankind. Such love is not an abstract concept, but is an expression of blessing to others, exhibiting a willingness to engage in personal sacrifice to meet others’ needs.
As God’s people, it is singularly important that we cultivate an understanding of the topic and the practice of loving one another. We, more than anyone else we know, should learn and cultivate a keen interest in the loving of us by God and our loving the God who loves us. Who ought to be more interested in this matter of loving Christ and Christ’s loving His own than we who are His own?
To highlight the practicality of this matter for those who are younger, consider a question. How likely is it that a young woman’s man will continue to love her without having any understanding of the love of God, or the love of Christ, or the love one person ought to have for another person? And how likely is it that a young man will continue to receive love from the woman in his life when he has not the slightest idea what it is to really and truly love her?
So, you see, the passage that we are studying from week to week provides the recipe not only for members of Churches to love each other, but also husbands and wives to love each other, brothers and sisters to love each other, parents and children to love each other, and members of society to love each other. We know that we love God because He first loved us, First John 4.19. It is our experience with God’s love for us that comes to us through our relationship with Christ that produces in us a reciprocal love for God.
But what produces the Christian’s love for another Christian? Specifically, what creates a Christian’s love for another Christian who is a Church member? That is the issue of John 15.1–17. Since my text for this message is John 15.4, I invite you to turn in your Bible to John 15.1. When you find that passage, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Word:
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Today’s message from God’s Word will hang on two very simple points:
First, THERE IS A REVIEW OF THE DOCTRINES CRUCIAL TO OBEDIENCE
All 17 verses of this extended metaphor, this allegory, are built around verses 12 and 17:
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Thus far, we have focused on three verses containing foundational truths upon which is built the basis for these men loving each other:
Verse 1 revealed to us the importance to loving one another of the doctrine of Christ:
“I am the true vine.”
Methinks there are at least two ways this statement affected our Lord’s apostles:
First, by identifying Himself as the True Vine, the Lord thereby dismissed from those men’s considerations and assumptions that matters related to loving each other had anything to do with the nation of Israel or their national identity. What they had been taught about Israel being the vine of God was, with this comment, set aside by the Lord Jesus Christ once and for all. Whatever considerations one might have regarding fruitfulness for God or loving one another would not be considerations related to their Jewish identity, but related to their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Second, by identifying Himself as the True Vine, the Lord also established Himself as the vital Source of spirituality and fruitfulness. He has already declared Himself to be the way, the truth, and the life. That statement from John 14.6 was a categorical declaration that evoked no mental imagery. No pictures in your mind from John 14.6. But identifying Himself as the True Vine immediately produced imagery in the mind of each of those men. It was imagery they likely would never forget.
For those men to be able to love each other as they had been commanded, they must have an appreciation of the truth pictured by this phrase. On the one hand, they have an attachment to the Lord Jesus Christ that strongly resembles the attachment a cluster of grapes has to a vine branch. Anyone can picture that. On the other hand, the Source of their capacity to bear fruit is their vital connection and communion with their Lord Jesus Christ. Who cannot also see that?
Christian? Especially you Church members? You cannot love your brothers and sisters in Christ as you ought to love us without being mindful of how crucial is your relationship with Jesus Christ, and how utterly dependent you are upon Him to be able to produce this fruit of love for others.
Verses 1-2 revealed to us the importance to loving each other of the doctrine of God:
1 ... and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
There is no doubt that those Jewish men knew more about the nature and attributes of Almighty God than almost any Gentile had ever known. Remember, they had been well-schooled in the Hebrew Scriptures since they were small children. What the Lord Jesus Christ brought into their lives included astonishing reinterpretations of the Bible facts they were already familiar with. More importantly, of course, was that He brought Himself into their lives. That understood, the Master Teacher recognized that the time had come for those men to be challenged in a way they had not been challenged before. He challenged them to love each other in John 13.34. Now they are being shown how to rise to the challenge.
To live up to this command, they had to recognize an important truth about their relationship with Christ, that He is the True Vine to their branches. As well, they had to add to all that they had previously been taught about their covenant God, the God of Israel, that He is the Husbandman who tends to the branches. God must be seen as One who is not distant and uninvolved in the lives of His people. Using the imagery of a vine and branches, God is the husbandman who deals with every person. What does a vinedresser do? Ever thought about it? With the blade in one hand, he grasps every branch in his other hand, in turn, so he can carefully examine it. If it does not bear fruit, it is removed. If it does bear fruit, it is improved by pruning to bear more fruit. But what must not be missed is the scrutiny of each branch by the husbandman.
Each of them had seen a vinedresser in action. What is the upshot of this imagery? It is to convey the mental picture that God is not an impersonal and remote deity. Instead, He is personally and intimately involved in the lives of His creatures. As the writer of Hebrews phrased it in Hebrews 4.13,
“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
It is crucial to your capacity to love others that you recognize that yours is a God who is interested in you, yours is a God who tends to your ability to produce spiritual fruit, and yours is a God who is committed to improving your fruitfulness. He is the One “with whom we have to do.” No human being has ever rightly said or thought that he or she was not important to God. You are most important to God. You bear God’s image. Just as importantly, it is crucial to your capacity to love others that you recognize that God is also interested in others, God also tends to others’ ability to produce spiritual fruit. God is also committed to improving their fruitfulness. He is One “with whom we have to do,” and also One with whom others have to do. You cannot rightly say or think that others are not also important to God. He and she are most important to God. He and she bear God’s image.
Verse 3 revealed to us the importance to loving one another of the doctrine of Scripture:
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”
Two comments here:
First, it cannot be denied that the average Jewish person of the first century had a robust view of Scripture. Except for the Sadducees, who recognized only the five books of Moses, Jewish people accepted as inspired and embraced as true what we today know as the Hebrew Scriptures. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ was not in any way correcting their views about the nature of the Hebrew Bible. Instead, He was adding to what they already grasped about that portion of God’s Word.
Next, He points out that the instrument used by the Husbandman to do the purging referred to in verse two, is the Word of God referred to in verse three that has the effect of rendering clean. The verb for purging in verse two is the same basic Greek word as the word cleansing in verse three. Thus, the instrument used by the Husbandman will be the Word of God. Yes, Christ spoke the Word to them, but in the imagery of this passage it is the Husbandman that wields the instrument crucial to cleansing.
Does this not convey to us, by application, how important to us is the ministry of the Word? We know God uses the Word of God to beget His children, James 1.18. We also know God uses the Word of God to improve His children, verse three. Therefore, what should our attitude be toward our daily Bible reading, concerning our ongoing Bible study, and the opportunities that we have to sit under the teaching and preaching of God’s Word? No Christian can be all he can be for Christ, or for God, who is neglectful of the ministry of the Word.
No believer in Jesus Christ will possess the spiritual capacity to love others the way we ought to love others without making full use of God’s holy Word, both to learn and to apply by obedience.
Then, THERE IS A RECOGNITION OF THE DUTY CRUCIAL TO OBEDIENCE
In the main, verses one, two, and three are indicative of spiritual reality. There is the spiritual reality related to the Lord Jesus Christ as the True Vine, which is in our best interest to grasp and understand. There is the spiritual reality pertaining to God as the Husbandman, who removes some branches and improves other branches, that is in our best interest to grasp and understand. Then there is the spiritual reality related to the effect of the Word of God on each believer.
If verses one, two, and three are recognized as indicative, verse four is imperative. To put it another way, if the Lord Jesus Christ informed His apostles about spiritual reality in verses 1–3, then verse four is a directive designed to make proper use of those realities:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
Beloved, let us be careful that we do not take this verse to be more complicated than it is. After all, this is agriculture. This is growing stuff. You need little more than fertile soil, sufficient water, and adequate sunlight to have everything you need besides the efforts of the husbandman. That said, let us understand that the need to be fulfilled for you to be a Christian who truly does love other Christians is simple and straightforward to understand:
The command is clear:
“Abide in me, and I in you.”
The first phrase in this sentence is a command. The Lord Jesus Christ directs His apostles, “Abide in me.” What does the word abide mean? It means to stay. Remain. Live here. No more than that. He is commanding these eleven men to “stick with Me, and I am sticking with you.” I would paraphrase this with “Don’t give up on Me, I am not giving up on you.” That is Christ’s command, in light of what they have been told in verses 1-3, that will move them toward obeying the new commandment to love one another, verses 12 and 17.
The comparison is concise:
“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”
Does this comparison not fully explain the reason why these men need to abide in Christ, need to stick with Christ? How many grapes can be produced by a branch that does not abide in the vine? Which is to say, how much fruit will a branch bear that does not have an intimate and close connection with the vine, drawing life, nutrition, and support from the vine? The answer, of course, is none. If such a branch produces no grapes in a vineyard, then neither will any Christian will produce the fruit of loving other Christians who does not have a vital relationship with Christ. Do you want to bear fruit for the Savior? Do you want to bear more fruit for the Father? For that to happen, you must abide in Christ. You must have a real relationship with Christ. You must draw life, nourishment, spiritual vitality, strength, and support from the True Vine, who is Christ. This explains those who profess to be Christians while bearing no fruit. This is a warning to new Christians setting forth what must happen for them ever to bear fruit. Abide in Christ.
At the risk of letting the cat out of the bag, in verses 1-4, the Lord Jesus Christ has explained the basics of how to love one another for every Christian. What is needed is a correct apprehension of truth related to the Savior, related to God, and related to Scripture.
Understanding what is, the Lord Jesus Christ told His men in verse four what they must do to bear fruit, what they must do to love one another. They must abide in Christ. They must dwell in Him spiritually. They must not forsake Him. They need to stick with Him. After all, He is committed to sticking with us.
When you have a right relationship with Christ, a right relationship with God, and a right relationship with the Word of God, guess what you will end up doing? What you will end up doing is loving one another. Notice, it is not passive. You must do it. But you will do it!
The Lord Jesus Christ is not finished telling those men what they need to know to love one another, but He has communicated the basics. There will be more truth for you to ingest and absorb into your life in the remaining portion of the passage, but you have enough truth to get underway with this business of loving one another. Therefore, let me suggest that you purpose to make a conscious and conscientious effort to grasp that your Lord Jesus Christ is the True Vine, to grasp that your heavenly Father is the Husbandman who both removes and improves, and to grasp the importance of God’s Word in your life as a believer who seeks to love the members of your Church.
Understand that that is only the beginning. Christian love for others grows to be boundless, but you have to start someplace. And where the Lord Jesus Christ started with His little flock was for them to love one another. Let us learn from His instructions to them.
Why not go home having purposed to abide in Christ, verse 4, based upon what you’ve learned in these first four verses? Then, when you come back to Church next Sunday morning, think about coming back with a little note you have jotted down to testify how God has blessed you this week to love one another.
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[1] Kostenberger, pages 446, 450.
[2] Leviticus 19.18, 34
[3] Matthew 5.43-44; 19.19
[4] 2 Peter 3.9
Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.
Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church