Love as the Key

In spite of my current situation in life, I was glad that a pastor friend invited me to speak on the second anniversary of their church last May 1. He gave me the invitation and I noticed that their theme is about "Love as the Key."

After receiving the invitation, I prayed to the Lord to give me the message for His church. And then a familiar passage came into my mind. It was John 15:9-13.

Three Basic Truths

In the first part of verse 9, Jesus tells us three basic truths about love. First, the Father has loved him. Second, Jesus has loved us. And third, Jesus is telling us to remain in his love moment by moment. 

There is no question about the first basic truth. There is no question about the love relationship between the Father and Jesus. There is no doubt about the Father's love for Jesus and the same way is true about the certainty that Jesus knew that his Father loved him.

How about the second truth? Jesus did not waver in his love for us. The problem lies in our belief if we are really loved by Jesus especially when circumstances in our lives are not good. 

The third truth is a good reminder for us to stay always in Jesus' love moment by moment. He did not tell us to treat remaining in his love as a thing of the past. He also did not expect us to treat remaining in his love as something to be delayed for the future. He told us to remain in his love now. 

Remain in My Love and Obey My Commands

After saying to remain in his love now, Jesus is telling us that the way to remain in his love is to obey his commands. Now, the question is, is it easy for us to remain in his love and to obey his commands? When I asked this question to those who attended that anniversary, almost everybody said, "Yes, it is easy." 

I replied, "Yes, it is easy if we view remaining in his love and obeying his commands from a human standard. But if we see here the standard of Jesus in asking us to remain in his love and obey his commands, we will realize that remaining in his love and obeying his commands are beyond our capabilities."

So what is the standard of Jesus in asking us to remain in his love and obey his commands? His standard is this: "just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love." Now the question is, is there a time in Jesus' life here on earth that in at least one case, he disobeyed his Father's commands? Is there any single moment in his life on earth that he did not remain in his Father's love? Jesus is sinless. He obeyed his Father's commands 100%. He also remained in his Father's love 100%. 

Now the question is, can we do the same thing? Can we, on our own strength obey the commands of Jesus as Jesus obeyed his Father's commands? Can we, on our own strength remain in Jesus' love as Jesus remained in his Father's love? We cannot. That is why we need the CROSS. The CROSS removes our weaknesses and gives us the strength to remain in Jesus' love moment by moment and to obey his commands. Through the CROSS of Jesus, his perfect obedience is our obedience, his remaining in the Father's love 100% is also our remaining. 

My Joy

Now what is the intention of Jesus for telling us all these things? Why is he telling us about the Father's love for him, his love for us, to remain in his love and to obey his commands? What is his intention? 

Jesus said, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." What is this joy specifically that he wants to be in us? Hebrews 12:2 clarifies something about this joy. This joy is the primary reason why Jesus endured the CROSS and scorned its shame. Jesus wants that joy that made him overcome the suffering on the CROSS to be in us. If that joy of Jesus is in us, there is nothing in this life that we cannot endure. 

Love Each Other

After Jesus tells us about his intention for his joy to be in us, he now tells us again the way to have it and that is by way of love. Jesus has been telling us about the love of his Father for him, about his love for us, and about remaining in his love moment by moment. Now, he is telling us that in order to have this joy, love is the key. 

Love is the key to have the joy of Jesus. And this love must be lived out by those who claim to be his followers. His command is for us to love each other. Again, loving each other is not easy for the standard is as Jesus has loved us. And Jesus demonstrated his loved for us ultimately when he laid down his life for us at the CROSS. That's not easy. On our own, we cannot love each other as Jesus loved us. We need his Spirit and grace for us to love one another. 

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