Memory Verse:
Greater love has no one than this,
than to lay down one's life for his friends.
(John 15:13)
The Passover meal was over. Four cups of wine had been poured and consumed (only three by our Lord, saving the last for when He returns for us). The closing hymn of the Passover had been sung. Their feet had been washed, only to return again to the night air and the walk across the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane. As they walked, they undoubtedly saw the grapevines beneath the full moon.
John’s mind ached as much as his hand did from writing, reaching for yet another memory to be brought to his thoughts and to his fingers to share with those who would read his final gospel. There it is, the memory with such vivid detail, it had to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. Lessons he had preached on for years were now finally being put down with paper, pen and ink for generations to come.
Lessons on fruit and pruning, (oh, he knew the lessons on pruning!). Lessons on John’s being chosen by Christ, lessons on the world and its staining sin. Lessons on the Holy Spirit, the “Holy Advocate,” John loved to say.
But most of all, John recalled the most recurring lesson. It was the lesson that Jesus most taught and, even more, the lesson that Jesus most readily lived. The lesson and the life of Jesus was love. No one had loved John the way Jesus did, not even his mother Salome, or even Jesus’s mother Mary, though she greatly adored John’s care of her in her dying years.
John knew Jesus didn’t love him more than the other disciples. But this was John’s gospel, John’s story. And if he wanted to call himself the “disciple whom Jesus loved,” he would. No, Jesus didn’t love John more than the others, but Jesus did love John more than any other.
John closed his eyes.
“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 aged disciple opened his tired eyes now moistened by the almost audible memory of His Lord’s voice, dabbed his tear-stained face with his shirt sleeve and picked up his pen…
This stone path outside of the house of Caiaphas dates to the time of Christ.
It is undoubtedly the path Jesus took to Gethsemane (depicted above in the foreground) … and back again for His trial (shown below). |
Day 33: Morning
No Fruit, Fruit, More Fruit, Much Fruit
(Read John 15:1–8)
God often referred to Israel as a vine. Here Jesus says that He is “The Vine, the True” and it is God the Father who takes care of the vine, the branches, the fruit and the fruitless branches.
No fruit. There are two that do not bear fruit. The first is a branch “in Me” or one who is in Christ but doesn’t bear fruit. Jesus says fruitless branches in Christ are taken away, “cut off” (NIV), or “removed” (HCSB). It literally means God “takes up” or “picks up” (the same word is used in John 5:8 and 8:59). If you are in Christ and not bearing fruit, God notices and He will “lift you up” to help you bear fruit. Then there are those who are not abiding in Christ (verse 6). They are cast out as branches, withered and burned. These are those who are not Christians.
6 For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons… 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11
Fruit and more fruit. If you bear fruit (verse 2), Jesus said God will prune you to bear more fruit. The word “prune” is the same as “clean” in John 13:10. The Father will purge you (purify) to produce more fruit.
Much fruit. To bear much fruit, you must abide in Christ (verse 5). We keep His words in us. God’s desires will be met in our desires. He is glorified in our bearing fruit (verse 7–8).
Remaining fruit. A physical vine produces temporal fruit, but the fruit of a Christian remains (John 15:16). Christ remains in you forever (John 14:16), and His fruit abides forever.
43For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 45A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.
Luke 6:43–45
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22–23
I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.
Romans 1:13
Pray this prayer to God: “Precious Lord Jesus, I confess there are times when I am fruitless. I don’t act like a Christian, I don’t feel like a Christian, and I certainly don’t lead others to become Christians. I commit to abide and obey Your word so that I can bear much fruit. Amen.”
Day 33: Evening
Love: The Source Of Fruit
(Read John 15:9–17)
When the Apostle Paul wrote about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, he did not say “The fruits of the Spirit are…” He said “The fruit of the Spirit is love…” listing other attributes of the fruit of the Spirit. All of the descriptions (joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) were attributes of THE fruit of love.
Without love, everything else is meaningless. See 1 Corinthians 13, the “love chapter” (The Message):
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. 3 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. 4 Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, 5 doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first,” doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, 6 doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, 7 puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.8 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit…13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Love isn’t a nice warm feeling. Love isn’t the icing on the Christian cake. Love is flour, the sugar, the egg, the mixing bowl, the spoon, and the oven it’s made in. Without love, God wouldn’t have sent Jesus (John 3:16). Without love, Jesus wouldn’t have laid down His life (Rom. 5:8). Without love, God would not have chosen us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). Without love, we would be separated from God and Christ (Rom. 8:39). How dare we say we love God if we don’t love others?
Pray this prayer to God: “Abba, Daddy, sometimes I forget You are my loving Daddy. I take for granted Your love. If You love all of us, despite our sins, surely, I can love others. I really mean it when I say this: I love You. Amen”
Day 34: Morning
Who Chose Whom?
(Read John 15:16)
Tucked away in today’s verse is a truth that confounds many a theologian and frustrates many a seeker: If God chose some, does He not choose others? Jesus said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you…”
In the 500 words or less devotional below, I can’t answer this question adequately (that’s my cop-out and I am sticking with it!). But, if you are a Christian and have chosen Christ, remember that God chose you first. When He created you, He put a soft, sensitive spot in your heart, and combined that heart with the environment He also created especially for only you. As a result, within your own free will, you turned to Him in trust for your salvation and chose Him, after He chose you.
It is awesome to ponder that God saw and chose you. You matter to Him. He chose you for His purpose and His pleasure. Rick Warren writes “The moment you were born into the world, God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at your birth. He wanted you alive and your arrival gave Him great pleasure…You are a child of God, and you bring pleasure to God like nothing else he has ever created. The Bible says, ‘Because of His love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.’”[1]
We cannot understand how God chose us in salvation before the world began without conflicting with our own free will, yet God did (Eph. 1:4). Even the name “church” means “called out ones, the elect.” Even greater news than His choosing us is that He is not finished with us. Read Romans 8:29–30
29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Your birth was God’s design, but so was your salvation. If it seems too awesome to ponder the question of “Why, me?” look to Him for the answer: “Because He is God and He does as He wills.” And He chose you. I partially quoted John 15:16 in the first paragraph. It ends with Jesus saying that He “appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.”
Bearing fruit is what we’ve been reading about for the past few sessions. Be sure that we are not only reading about it, but also doing something about it!
Pray this prayer to God: “Oh, Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made, then shall I bow in humble adoration, and there proclaim: My God, how great Thou art! Thank You for choosing me and allowing me to choose You. In Jesus’s Name. Amen.”
Day 34: Evening
Hatred: The Source of Sin
(Read John 15:18–25)
Can people be so cruel as to kill the only begotten Son of God? The answer to that is not only sadly yes, but the world would do it again if it had the chance.
The closest thing the world and all of its hatred can do now is hate those whom God loves through Christ. That is the church, the body of Christ. We believers have the Holy Spirit of Christ and represent Jesus Christ to the world until He returns.
Read verses 22 and 24. What does that mean “they would have no sin” if Jesus hadn’t come, spoken to them, and performed the works before the people who rejected Him?
a) If Jesus hadn’t come, all would have gone to heaven.
b) If Jesus hadn’t come, people would have an excuse to sin.
c) If Jesus hadn’t come, things would have been a lot better.
d) If Jesus hadn’t come, people would have been perfect.
e) None of the above.
The reading of the passage seems to say that people would not have been held accountable for their sins. But it really says the opposite. If Jesus hadn’t come, they would not have been guilty of the greatest Sin. What is the greatest Sin? The open hatred and rejection of the love of Jesus Christ. Instead they would have only their sins. There were murders, robberies, thefts, adulteries, and millions of other sins before Jesus came. They would be and still are guilty of those things and would have and will face judgment for them.
But to reject God’s only Son and God’s love and to instead hate Him and to say in effect to God, “We hate You, too!” That is the sin they would not have on their account. And that is the greatest Sin of all. Every person who rejects Christ will be held accountable for the Sin of hatred of God. They will be held accountable for one sin: The rejection of His freely-offered salvation and forgiveness given totally by grace, available to all who believe. Without His coming, there would be no possibility for their atonement for their many sins.
Sometimes we get judgmental about other people’s sins, as if their sins are greater than ours. But 1 Corinthians 6 puts it this way, “9Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Whew, that is a pretty sorry lot, right? Paul goes on to say, “11And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
Pray this prayer to God: “I love You Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You, O my soul rejoice. Take joy my King in what You hear. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear. In Jesus’s Name. Amen.”
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