Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 16:2 “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.”
What will make the disciples outcasts from the synagogue? Jesus’ words and their love for Him and others made them outcasts in the synagogue. The disciples went into the synagogues preaching Christ crucified and risen and giving His commandment, namely, if you believe in God, believe also in Jesus and love one another as Jesus has loved us. We know this because of John’s letters. He took those two commandments and made them into one. “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us” (1John 3:21-23). Their message testified of a new covenant in His blood, which replaced the old covenant worshipped in the synagogues. The new commandment fulfilled all of the Law. Do you think that was a welcomed message? We know it wasn’t.
The book of Acts and Paul’s testimony to the Galatians confirms these words of Jesus to His disciples. When Saul (later known as the apostle Paul) and his companions stoned Stephen because of the gospel, they thought they were serving God. Paul wrote to the Galatians recorded in 1:13-14, “For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.”
We may experience the same rejection if we reduce all of the Christian walk down to believe that Jesus is God, and that living to love with Him on a daily basis is God’s call on your life. It seems too simple. But what about all those standards that identify us as Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, Mennonites, etc.? Hm. These words of Jesus are prophetic, but they are still the words that keep us from stumbling. Let us love on with Him.

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

John 16:1 "These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling.”
One of the ways we know what Jesus meant is by looking to see how the disciples took what He said. We are able to do that in this case because the author of John commented on it in his first epistle. In 1John 2:10 he wrote, “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.” To what is Jesus referring when He said, “these things”? John narrowed it down to the new commandment. The one who loves his brother, (shall I be so bold as to say it in these words?) who lives to love with Jesus, is walking in the light. That light keeps him from stumbling just as walking in the bright daylight keeps you from stumbling over something. You don’t usually stumble over things in the daylight, do you? Why? Because you can see where you are going. You can see what’s in your path. So it is when you live to love with Jesus. You know where you are going. You’re on your way to love the next person God puts in your path. And when they appear, you won’t stumble over them because you are there to love them, rather than be loved by them. When we live for ourselves, there is great cause for stumbling. We live in a fallen world, and everyone who shows up in our path is fallen. More than likely they are not going to think about our highest good no matter what the cost. So what happens to the person who isn’t living to love with Jesus, to the one who is living to get his or her agenda done or to be happy and comfortable, or to gain significance in this world? They will not walk in love, but will stumble and react, usually in hurtful, unloving ways. Knowing they were to love one another through the life of the indwelling Christ, would keep them from stumbling. Whenever you stumble in a relationship, you can be assured, you have forgotten that your purpose in life is to walk in Jesus’ light and live to love with Him.

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

John 15:27 “And you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.”
God has provided two witnesses to the living, risen Jesus, the Son of God. The Holy Spirit bears witness by producing the life of Jesus in His disciples. Jesus’ first disciples, provide a second witness to the life of Christ as they testify that the Holy Spirit is the same spirit as was present in Jesus when they walked with Him in the flesh. The writer of Hebrews declared this phenomenon when he wrote, “How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Heb. 2:3-4).
Remember, Jesus said He was telling them of things that were to happen before they occurred, so they would know that He was God in the flesh. We are so blessed. Here we have Jesus declaring they would be witnesses with the Holy Spirit, and then we have the fulfillment of it described in Hebrews. This gives us a hope both sure and steadfast. It gives us confidence that indeed, this gospel of salvation is the great salvation proclaimed throughout all of history from the promise to Adam and Eve through all the gospel promises in the Scriptures. As we live to love with Jesus, the love of Jesus through us is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Then we also testify about Him as we present the gospel recorded in the word of God. Amazing! In this way, the kingdom of God is advanced in this world. God has granted authority to these two witnesses in the world: His Spirit and His people.

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

John 15:26 "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,”
This verse helps us discern the spirit of truth from the spirit of error. It helped John. He wrote in 1 John 4:2, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth, testifying that Jesus is God in the flesh. In Jesus’ words recorded in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” These words were surely spoken so that there would be no confusion between the Holy Spirit and the spirit of the antichrist.
The Holy Spirit, sent by the Son, proceeds from the Father for the purpose of testifying, witnessing to, and glorifying the Son of God. The spirit of antichrist, sent by the devil, testifies to and glorifies man without Jesus. It is the spirit of the world contrasted with the Spirit of God. Let’s not miss this incredible reality. The Holy Spirit could not be sent if Jesus were not alive, having conquered death by the resurrection. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, testifies to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to His union with the Father, and to our union with Him. Only minutes before this, Jesus had said, “In that day [the day the Holy Spirit is sent to you] you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). His presence in our lives, loving through us, is the testimony to the world that Jesus lives and we are His. Hallelujah!

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

John 15:25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'They hated Me without a cause.’”
I’m not sure where in the Law Jesus was referring, but in Psalms 69:4 we find these words. “Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies.” To say that they “hated without a cause” is to say that the hatred was within them. There wasn’t something that Jesus did that caused them to hate Him. He healed people, which they could’t do, and they hated Him. He spoke with God’s authority. It brought out hatred in them. He spoke the truth, but they hated the truth and therefore hated Him. God doesn’t cause people to hate Him. They hate Him because they have sin within them. Hatred for God is the fruit of sin whereas in contrast, love for God is the fruit of righteousness.
That’s why living to love with Jesus gives us confidence in the judgment as John wrote in 1 John 4:17. We know love for God and others isn’t natural. Rather it’s a supernatural work of grace in the heart of a person, which shows that God has loved them with an everlasting, redemptive love. It reveals that the righteousness of God has been given to them and His righteousness flows through the vine into the branches and bears much fruit—the fruit of God’s love. Hatred for God has been replaced with hatred for sin and love for God. If this describes you, then rejoice in the Lord! Give Him praise and thanksgiving for the privilege of living to love with Him.

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