One Another Part III of III

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos
Pulpit Series Volume 19 Issue 20 June 28, 2009

What would it be like if Jesus came into the Sonora Community Centre today, walked up the stairs and walked over to you then while looking you straight in the eye said, "Hello friend."
What if He then had you stand up while He put his arm around you and said to the rest of us, "This is my dear friend."
What friends of Jesus look like, not in their appearance, but in their character. John 15:12-17 Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.
Jesus looks at friendship with Him on the basis of how we love each other, as well as Him. The first priority of life in community and in church is, loving one another.
Folks, faith, hope and love are three great things, but faith and hope will be gone one day (because we will see the Lord and be with Him), but love will never end.
Jesus says, I want you to show your love for Me by loving each other. Bottom line - the proof of our friendship is demonstrated by our loving one another.
Notice Jesus says, my commandment is this, love each other as I have loved you. Not just to love each other - but to love each other, as He (Jesus) has loved you.
Much of what we think passes for love may not be love at all.
Sometimes what we call love is more an attempt not to lose somebody's affection or approval.
Or we feel some level of guilt, so we try to do a bunch of good things for people - it looks very loving, but really its more like we are trying to sway something in us.
Same thing when we have a hard time experiencing people's loss or seeing people in distress. We may try to feel with them, and it can certainly all be mixed up in true expressions of love, but many times what we think about love is really not love at all.
The love which Jesus speaks of is different from the world’s love. So what does this love look like? What would make us be called a friend of His?
How does a friend of Jesus demonstrate love?
The kind of love that Jesus showed toward us is seen in verse 13, Greater love has no one then this that he lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus laid his life down - He freely gave his life!
No coercion. And that my friends is a great question to ask ourselves - am I doing what I am doing freely?
That is the test for Christlike love.
Do we love others freely or because we feel we “have to”?
Love, if it is truly divine is given freely. God loves a cheerful giver. Love is given that means that it is a gift.
Love is patient, love is kind. So it's an expression of something.
Love is active goodness. Some one may say, I show love by not hurting anybody. I love my neighbor by not bothering them. Well, that's good, but it is not divine love. The divine love that Jesus is talking about is active goodness.
Jesus freely laid down what? He freely laid down his life. No greater love has a person than this that they lay down their life for their friends. He laid down his life. That speaks of sacrifice.
In other words, when we love it's going to cost us something. It has too in order to be divine. It may cost us time or money.
Divine love may bring us discomfort. There may be blood, sweat or tears. Definitely moments of inconvenience.
Jesus then speaks of friendship, 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 have learned from my Father, I have made known to you.
So here is how love works in a healthy congregation; True love does not insist everyone fits the same spiritual mold. We are all encouraged to be accountable to Christ. We all need to move each other towards Christ, in spite of the many differences of opinion.

A safe community, a loving community is a place where there can be difference, but one can still belong.
A safe community becomes a healing place and a converting place only after its members have learned to stop trying to heal and convert.
Look, if you believe something differently than I do and I spend all my energy trying to get you to be where I am, I start to get in the way of love.
But if I accept you where you are and we just say, let the Lord work it out, then love flows freely and people can share their opinions and they can share themselves.
They can share who they are and what they think without worrying about being devalued or judged.
See, it is not our job to convert anyone. Our job is to simply be a vessel that God pours His love through.
As we accept and love each other especially in and through our differences, God can use us to draw others to Christ.
How we are with each other is our first form of witness to a hurting world. Drill that into your mind.
At the 100th anniversary of the arrival of missionaries in Zaire, Christians gathered to celebrate from that part of Zaire once called the Belgian Congo. The festivities lasted all day with music, preaching, food, conversations and many reminisced about all that God had done and the progress of the gospel in that part of Africa. Near the end of the program a very old man stood up and said that he had to say something, or else a secret would go to the grave with him. He explained that when the first missionaries came to the Belgian Congo the people didn't know whether to believe the message of Jesus or not and so in sort of a diabolical way they devised a plan to slowly and secretly poison the missionaries who had come to their shores. One by one, children and adults became ill and died and were buried. And it was when his people saw how the missionaries died and how they loved each other even in the midst of distressed they finally believed and they became Christians. Think of it, those missionaries never had a clue as to what was happening. They didn't even know they were martyrs. They didn't know they were being poisoned and didn't know why they were dying, but in the midst of their distress, they continued to love each other. They loved Christ and they trusted him and so in their dying they taught others how to live. Sometimes we are not aware of why we go through troubles, why we go through struggles, but if we will love through them, then a watching world will notice and will believe.
So my charge to you and I am speaking to myself, is that we love one another as Jesus loved us. Freely. Sacrificially. Graciously. So that the world might know that He has been sent. Love one another.