Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 17:9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;”
In this verse, Jesus identified for whom He interceded and those who were not in view. He directed His Father’s attention to those who had believed He was God-sent and had received His words. In verse 8 He said, “for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.” But not only His disciples are objects of this divine love, He interceded for all those who were in His Father’s view from eternity. For in vs. 20 Jesus broadens the view. "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” Have you believed in Jesus through the word of His disciples? If so, you have been loved and in the view of the Father and Son from before the foundation of the world!
In the following verses we will see what Jesus asked on our behalf. But for today, be encouraged that Jesus prayed for you to be included in His glorious work He was about to do through His death and resurrection.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:8 “for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.”
When it comes to the good news which provides hope for mankind, who should we listen to? The gospel preached and taught by Jesus’ disciples get my vote. They received the words Jesus gave them and have faithfully recorded and explained them because they understood that Jesus came forth from God. They believed Jesus was sent by God to bring us to Him.
Here’s an example. Peter wrote, 1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”
One of the ways we love people is to give an explanation of the hope that we have in Jesus. Those who knew Him best, walked with Him the longest, and were His followers were so convinced that He was God in the flesh that their message and lives became the foundation of the gospel and the church. That gospel foundation has stood the test of time. 1989 years to be exact. The Father, God gave Jesus the words to teach, Jesus spoke them, the disciples received and believed them, and they are still speaking them through the Bible. Listening to them is to listen to God.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:7 “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;”
Everything Jesus said was from God, and His disciples knew it. Jesus’ words changed everything for them. Do we listen to the words, the writings, of His disciples as if they were the words of the living almighty God? Do we believe that everything we have read and studied in this precious gospel of John is from God through Jesus to us?
John wrote that the way we know who is from God is that they listen, not to the world, but to him and the other disciples who wrote and testified of Christ. 1 John 4:4-6. “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
The disciples knew that everything Jesus said was from God. It changed their lives. Jesus said He would make a place for them in Himself, and then come dwell in them and they would bear fruit for the glory of God as He loved through them. They believed and kept His word in their hearts and minds. Jesus kept His word, and gave them eternal life in Himself. Those first disciples lived to love with Jesus and started a tsunami of love that pours out down through history until all of those who belong to God are swept up in the deluge of love. Such is the power of God’s word manifested in Jesus Christ. Let’s keep the tsunami rolling!

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:6.2 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”
The disciples belonged to God, and were given to Jesus, and so are all those who believe in Jesus and keep His word given to the disciples by Jesus.
Here’s how John understood Jesus. 1 John 4:6. “We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
Here’s how the apostle Paul was taught by Jesus. Ephesians 1:3-6. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
Before the world was, God the Father and the Son, chose a people out of the world to share their glory, for their glory. In His prayer to His Father, Jesus recalls to mind, the original plan, for Him to manifest His Father’s name to those who were given to the Him by the Father. And who are those who belonged to the Father and were given to Jesus? All those who keep Jesus’ word. Hear the word of the Lord. Believe in Jesus and love with Him in His name for His glory. Are you one of those chosen and beloved of God? I hope so.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com

John 17:6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.”
In vs. 4 we read that Jesus had accomplished the work God gave Him to do. Now we see how He glorified the Father. He manifested His name, which is another way of saying He manifested the work of God. What was that name or work that He manifested? It was love. He loved His disciples with the Father’s love and thus gave Him a name to define Him. That name is love. John, wrote of it in 1 John 4:7-11. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
Jesus manifested the love of God. Love defines Him like a name defines a person. John, who recorded Jesus’ prayer here in John 17, was saying this. If we are His, His name of love should define us. That’s why we should live to love with Jesus. We are manifesting His name in the world. We lay down our lives for His own as He did. God’s love is the sustained direction of the will toward the highest good of another, no matter what the cost. And their highest good is to glorify God in Christ and enjoy Him forever.

Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com