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This otherwise beautiful meditation from Jesus turns dark and foreboding in the final six verses.

ABIDING. In the first eleven verses Jesus compares the relationship with the church to a vine and its branches. Therefore, as branches, we must abide in the vine. The Word of God via the Vine feeds life to the branches producing lasting fruit, which glorifies God. As is the case in every garden, there’s pruning to be done for the purpose of bearing lasting fruit.The Gardner will see to this.

LOVE. With the restoration of our relationship with God through Christ, we are called to love one another. This is the reversal of all that went wrong in Eden. The division between God and man resulted in animosity in the community of man. But now, in Christ, there’s a call for love. Jesus has loved us all the way to death and he calls us to sacrificially love one another. This establishes the church, the community of the beloved! Abiding in the Word of God, loving one another, the church is sent out into the world with this good news, the Gospel.

HATE. I was listening to Pastor Tim Keller yesterday. He was preaching from Matthew 11. He said that the good news of Jesus Christ isn’t about what we are to do. It is about what has been done by God! He gave the example of the good news (gospel) of Ceasar Augustus’ reign in Rome. This message signaled a new order, a new regime, and a new way of life for the people. It wasn’t suggestions; it was a declaration of fact. Within that context, it’s not hard to imagine hatred for the new regime, justified or not.

As the church goes out into the world (this age), with the good news of of a new order, a new regime, and a new way to a fruitful life, the message, the Gospel, may be rejected and the messengers hated. Consider what Jesus says in John 15:22.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

The Lord of the New Regime, Jesus, comes to forgive the sin of the world. The world thinks it needs education, civil rights, money, entertainment, retirement security, national security, parenting skills, and a plan to help the poor. What it rejects is the idea that it needs forgiveness for its sin and rebellious heart. When the church carries this message (even with humility and grace) it will most likely be met with hatred and disdain by those in power or seeking power. They hated Jesus for saying it. Do we think we are greater than He?

One option is for the church to stop talking about sin and rebellion tied up in the human heart. We can talk about angst, depression, hurt, and being a victim and, thereby, avoid being hated. We can save that conversation about sin to later… much later… or, never. In the meantime the church can grow by leaps and bounds with rich-young-ruler-types who are trying to go from good to great in their life, people who are striving to realize their fullest human potential, or people who want to be hymn-singing humanitarians.

Back to that Gardner and the pruning and removing…

With the church having been mired in a sort of sectarian and angry fundamentalism for so many years, some of her leaders today are looking for themes will bridge the mote back to the world. It is a noble task to find common ground and rallying cries for concerns that are universal. The very popular “Love Wins” slogan is an example. “Love wins” can be said without offending outsiders. It’s a rallying cry for everyone to do good by their fellowman. It’s the positive version of one of my favorite bumper stickers: “Mean people suck!”

But, it’s important to understand that the Bible isn’t filled with slogans. It is the Word of God. In Scripture, love is not a feel-good, generic, humanitarian rallying cry. When Scripture talks about love, it is talking about something totally different than what the Beatles were singing about.

“Abide in my love.” (15:9, my italics — as will be the case throughout this entry)

Not, “Abide in love.” Jesus is referencing himself. He is calling the disciples to linger in Him. Camp out in Jesus’ love. Rest in his love. Be rejuvenated in his love (see more recent posts about what it means to abide).

A question arises: What exactly does abiding in Jesus’ love look like?

Is it some sort of esoteric, meditative state-of-mind? Is it doing humanitarian deeds?

“If you obey my commandments, you will abide in my love” (15:10).

He goes on to give an example, “I was abiding in the Father’s love when I obeyed the Father.” Jesus was working for the Father when he resided on this planet. His human mind-will-emotions were always in submission to the Father’s redemptive agenda. Out of that submission, Jesus experienced joy — he was filled with the pleasure of glorifying the Father.

“My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (11).

Again, we are completely bankrupt of joy and love if Christ doesn’t pour these into our life. This fact requires that we talk specifically when we talk about love and joy. It’s bad faith to continually speak about these in generic ways.

Jesus’ love wins. Jesus’ joy fills our joyless hearts. While this side of heaven there will be tastes and glimpses of love and joy in the world, there is no real and lasting joy and love outside of Him (John 14:6). There is no victory over what really ails us outside of His victory on the cross.

Joy is the fruit of abiding in the love of Jesus (just as it was for Jesus to abide in the Father’s love). To be sure, abiding in Jesus isn’t hiding from the world and others. This love propels us into the world to tell others, both religious and nonreligious, the good news about Jesus. Dig water wells and take medicine to the sick. Care for the fatherless and widow in the name of Jesus!

In John’s “Farewell Discourse” recorded in chapters 13-17 Jesus is instructing the disciples to love. He is pointing them to their brothers and sisters in God. He is telling them to love “one another.” The community we have with Father, Son, and Spirit restores the breech between myself and others and results in the church, the community of the beloved! It doesn’t lead to “We are the world sing-a-longs.”

Jesus’ love results in a community of people who are kind and caring. Yes, they are people who tend to needs in the world (James 2 is a part of Scripture). However, we are mobilized by a very specific purpose that leads back to Jesus. This is the Gospel and it is unique to the church! It is the world’s only hope for joy, for rest.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

Sacrificial love for each other always has Christ’s sacrificial love as its inspiration and reason. Jesus didn’t die for us (or wash the disciples’ feet) because they deserved it! He was obeying the Father. Likewise, we love each other not because we have earned the love, but out of obedience to the Love.

This peace (Jn 14), love (Jn 13), and joy (Jn 15) that is coming to us through Christ propels us out the front door of the church building. Jesus is not just preparing the disciples for his absence but, more importantly, for the Gospel mission that is before them. Their mission, like his, will entail caring for the sick, forgotten, and hurting. But, the suffering of the world isn’t the end of our mission.

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (16).

When we wrongfully think and work from the assumption that we chose Jesus, we pick and choose the brand of Christian spirituality we prefer. Here, Jesus sets the story straight. Not only did Jesus choose us, he did so with a purpose. His purpose calls for obedience. All of us our missionaries sent and commissioned by Christ Jesus: go and bear fruit.

Our abiding and loving and obeying is a fruitful life, a purposeful life. Given what Jesus has already said about bearing fruit or not bearing fruit, this is a serious matter (15:6). That fruit is indicative of the Vine and the Vinedresser!

As we go, we remain in Christ Jesus (15:5) and in His love. That is the vital connection in our obedience in bearing fruit! Again, we are not hiding out in our abiding in Jesus’ love. It’s true that Love Wins… just not the whole truth. As those who have been won by Jesus’ love, however, we should never betray the gravity of that victory by watering down the meaning of true love.