John 15:9-17
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Two Keys to a Joy-Filled Life
What a fix we’re in.
Our province just had the worst week for COVID contagion in the whole history of the virus across our entire continent. And this is Alberta! We don’t have a New York or an L.A. We don’t have a Mexico City or Chicago. Ontario has one city that has more people than our entire province, and we just had the most new cases of COVID recorded in history in our entire continent.
Just as our weather is getting nicer, now the patios are closed. Just when businesses were starting to recoup some of their losses from the last lockdown, now they have to shutter their doors again. Just when you thought you had already had enough, even more gets piled on.
It’s enough to take the wind out of your sails – to make you feel deflated and defeated. It’s enough to make you want to scream into your pillow at night.
But then we come to church and read the appointed Gospel for the sixth Sunday of Easter, and we hear Jesus say, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”[1] Do you feel like you have complete joy today, May 9, 2021?
It can be hard to feel that way! Even if there weren’t a third wave, or a pandemic at all, there are still family members who struggle with chronic disease, who suddenly go to the ER on a Friday night, who leave you and this world behind when they die. There are fires that destroy priceless memories and displace 100 seniors from their homes. There are countless things that rob us of joy every day.
And yet today or any other day, what Jesus says in our Gospel lesson this morning, applies everyday, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”[2] How can you have complete joy in a chaotic and sometimes joyless world? Jesus tells you in John 15, where he gives you 2 keys to a joy-filled life.
The first key to a joy-filled life is this: remain in Jesus’ love. That’s what he commands you: As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.[3] It’s as simple as that! Remain in Jesus’ love and you will be happy! But what on earth does that mean?
Jesus explains: If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.”[4] Jesus says that keeping his commands is the way that we remain in his love.
Think of it this way. What makes a parent proudest of and happiest for their children? When they see them having success, right? When they see them being happy. But it has to be success earned the right way, doesn’t it? Or happiness that comes from the right things. If your child earns millions scamming seniors over the phone that’s not going to make you very proud. If your child’s happiness is a product of addiction that’s not going to make you very happy, is it?
No, you want to see them happy and successful the right way. That’s what God wants for you too. That’s why he gave you his commandments. God is not some overbearing task-master who likes to draw arbitrary lines in the sand just to assert his authority. He gives us his commands for our good.
Let’s just think about three of them: honour your father and mother; you shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery. The devil would love to have us believe that we can lead a happier life if we disregard these commands. “Your parents just don’t want you to have fun. Your government is power-hungry and corrupt. Other people’s lives aren’t your problem. Wouldn’t it be so much more fun just to sleep around or watch porn whenever you felt like it? God is such a prude, and he’s depriving you of so much pleasure.”
The devil has a knack for holding out forbidden fruit and making it look like the tastiest, healthiest, most natural thing to try. But what happens when you listen to him? What happens when you disobey your parents and disrespect your government? Not only do you make their jobs harder, but they make your lives more miserable. Because they can’t trust you, they take away privileges and heap on rules.
What happens when you live like yours is the only life that matters? You separate yourself from your community. You deprive yourself of mutual support and encouragement.
What happens when you treat sex like a snack, i.e. just another appetite to be satisfied? You empty it of all intimacy and trust. You open yourself to all kinds of hurt and pain.
These – and all of God’s commands – are not arbitrary; they’re for your good. When you keep God’s commands, Jesus promises you, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”[5] Not only does your obedience make God proud, not only does he look on you with favour, but you enjoy the very best gifts that he has to offer, i.e. you live in his love.
What could be better than having a good relationship with your parents until the day that they die, so that when you say goodbye you have no regrets? What could be better than knowing that you could be as much of a blessing to your neighbour as they could be to you? What could be better than enjoying the unquestioned commitment of your spouse for life or the knowledge that no matter what they are always going to love you with all their heart?
Just imagine what kind of a world this would be if we all obeyed God’s commands all the time. It’d be paradise! There’d be no heartache. There’d be no strife or struggle. We’d all look out for each other. No one would be alone or left without. What a joy that would be! It’d be the stuff of dreams.
But that’s just it, isn’t it? It’s a dream, a fantasy. It’s not real. Because we don’t obey God’s commands. Because we can’t do what Jesus tells us to do. I can’t live up to that expectation. You can’t love your neighbour the way that Jesus loved you. But that’s why Jesus loved us the way he did. That’s why Jesus laid down his life for us.
That’s why the second – and much more important – key to a joy-filled life is rejoicing in Jesus’ friendship. He tells us what a true friend does. He says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”[6] It’s not a blueprint for you to follow. It’s a printout of what he’s done for you.
Jesus laid down his life for you, because he loves you. Not because you obey his commands or deserve his affection. He makes that very clear. He says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…”[7] No, Jesus considers you his friend and laid down his life for you, out of the goodness of his heart and from the depth of his love.
He looked at this world and saw sinners like you and me, who couldn’t keep his commands, who hurt each other and ourselves by our behaviour, who not only miss out on the blessings of obeying our Father in heaven, but have earned God’s wrath by our disobedience – Jesus looked at us, and loved us so much that laid down his life to save us.
Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice to forgive all your sins. Jesus gave up his life on a cross to take away the guilt of all the wrong you have done, of all the good you have failed to do. Jesus died so that you could live, both forever in heaven – yes, we have a glorious, gracious future to look forward to that will be free of all the pain and problems of this life– but he also enables us to live here and now in his love, as his friends.
Jesus says, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”[8] You are not in the dark. The future may be uncertain, but it is no great mystery. We know our master’s business. He sent his Son to save us from our sins. That means we have forgiveness and eternal life to look forward to in heaven.
But we each have a life to live in his love here and now too. He chose us and appointed us to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. He commands us to love each other as he has loved us. And what better time than the present?
The challenges before us are obvious. There are people in our lives who have lost their livelihoods. There are neighbours on our street who feel all alone. There are members of this congregation and brothers and sisters in Christ who need your encouragement. So, call them. Support them. Give them your time, your attention. Give to them from the good things that God has given you. But above all, give them your love. Give them a gift that will last by telling them of Jesus’ love for them.
It’s a tough time. There’s no denying it. But let me ask you this, are your friends going to know you as the complainer, the skeptic, the Debbie-downer, hunker in my bunker, couch potato, ghost? Or is your joy going to be made complete and made completely visible because you know and show the kind of love God showed you through his Son our Saviour Jesus?
The choice is obvious. It’s Christ’s command. Love each other. Amen.
[1] John 15:11
[2] John 15:11
[3] John 15:9
[4] John 15:10
[5] John 15:11
[6] John 15:13
[7] John 15:16
[8] John 15:15