Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
Let’s look at this verse from the perspective of a branch united to the vine. What would the branch ask of the vine? Wouldn’t a branch that has the life of the vine running through its veins wish only one thing? To bear fruit? It draws upon the resources of the vine so that more fruit can be produced for the glory of the vine. Jesus told His disciples that His life and His words were the life-giving, fruit-bearing sap of their lives. To Jesus’ point, if Jesus and His word had a home in them, had unhindered access to them, then whatever was needed to love as He loves would be done for them. Don’t miss what He said. He didn’t say they would get what they asked for so they could then do it for Jesus. They would ask for what His word commanded, namely to love as He loves, because that’s their greatest wish as branches, and Jesus would do it for them. It’s Jesus living for them, not them living for Jesus! Thank You, Jesus for living in us and giving us Your word that the purpose and privilege of our lives is to love with You. That’s exactly what we wish for today. Give us the fruit of Your life today, for the glory of Your Father. Amen

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

John 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
What would you think about a vinedresser that left dead branches on the vine or when removed left an unsightly pile of dried up branches in his vineyard? Would you consider him lazy or sloppy? You certainly wouldn’t think well of him. Would you not consider it to his credit and praise that he remove them and take them to a burn pile? What else does he do with dead, dried up branches?
Why did Jesus think it was important to give this information to His disciples? It’s because the Father gave it to Him to give to them because that information is for their highest good. It also is what a responsible vinedresser does, and certainly they knew it. It is highly possible, knowing Jesus, that such a burn pile was in sight.
According to Jonathan Edwards, God glorifies Himself even in the destruction of the wicked who do not bear fruit. It is reasonable and it is the branch’s purpose to bear fruit, the fruit of His love. In fruit-bearing both the Father and the Son are glorified. However, a dead, dried up branch brings no glory to the Son, the vine. So there is only one reasonable and expected way that remains for the Father, the vinedresser, to receive glory as far as they are concerned, and that is in the destruction of those who fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). The destruction of the wicked in hell is neither unjust nor unloving. Contrary to popular opinion, it is what love for the Vine and the vineyard looks like. For God, The Vinedresser, to not have a burn pile would be to fall short of the glory of God. Let us bear fruit today by living to love with Jesus.

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

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
Jesus is life. Everything that isn’t flowing out of Him is dead. He is the vine. we are nothing more than branches. We don’t do the fruit-bearing, the loving, Jesus does the fruit-bearing and the loving. The branch doesn’t bear much fruit of itself. It’s impossible. God provides the increase, the fruit-bearing through His Son, the vine, in the branches so that all the glory goes to the Father and the Son. The reality of this illustration is amazing. All of mankind exists for God and exists through Jesus Christ. No one who has been made wasn’t made through Him as John wrote in 1:3. “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Of all of mankind, God has chosen to bear fruit for His glory through some of the branches that issued forth from the vine, His Son. It is obvious which branches have been pruned to bear fruit by the vinedresser. These branches experience a flow of fruit-yielding life as the union between Jesus and them is intentionally chosen by the branches. They live to love with Him.

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

John 15:4. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
Abide is the word Jesus used to describe the dynamic relationship between Himself and fruitful branches. They live or dwell in Him, and He dwells or lives in them. The verb tense of abide describes the resulting action of something that happened in the past, namely, pruning or cleansing by Jesus’ words, which gives rise to the one point in time action that you are commanded to take in the present, which is abide. You now abide in Jesus because He lives in you!!! It’s not so much an imperative of “must”, but an imperative of reality. It’s just the way it is, so you do it. You receive His life like a branch receives life from the vine. The idea is that the branch grew out of the vine with life in it, so the branch naturally abides in the vine and the life of the vine is in the branch so it can bear fruit. It’s the only thing that makes sense. If you have Jesus’ life, then you choose to live the rest of your life in Him to love as He loves. In Peter’s first epistle, He used the same verb tense to explain our loving with Jesus. 1 Peter 1:22 – “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love (same aorist, active imperative) one another earnestly from a pure heart.” The rationale of the verse is clear: The reader who is a Christian has “purified, or been made clean” and this certain reality is made evident by their “obedience to the truth” for the purpose of “brotherly love (fruit-bearing in John 15)” If all of this past work is actually true, the natural result is that you will “love” each other deeply from the heart now. If we have really been converted, been purified and made new, and we have shown a willingness to obey, especially the command to “love the brethren” then naturally we “have to start loving deeply” to prove that what happened in the past is really true. Abiding in Jesus is the foundation of living to love with Jesus. Have you chosen to repent of living life for yourself? Have you chosen to obey Jesus and surrender yourself to live out of His life?

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

John 15:3. “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.”
In effect, Jesus told His disciples that they were ready to bear fruit for God because of what He had told them. Let’s be encouraged and pruned with those words.
1. First, told them everything He was doing was so the Father would be glorified in the Son. 13:31-32.
2. Second, He called them to live to love with Him for the glory of God. He gave them a new commandment to love one another as He loved them so the world would know that they were His disciples. 13:34-35
3. Third, He told them how they were going to be able to love. He was going to the Father to prepare a place for them in Himself so they could do the works of God that He does, namely, love like He loves. 14:2-3, 12
4. Jesus is the way, truth, and the life of God. 14:6
5. God, the Father, and Jesus are one. Their oneness is to be in them. 14:10
6. If they ask in His name for the power to love with Jesus, Jesus would do it. 14:14
7. When the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in them, Jesus will come back to live in them forever. 14:16-18
8. When you receive the Holy Spirit, you’ll know that Jesus is in the Father, that you are in Christ, and that He is in you. 14:20
9. Fourth, He encouraged them that He who loves Him, will keep His words and the Father and Son will dwell in them because His words were from the Father. 14:23-24
10. The Holy Spirit will be with them forever to help them and teach and remind them of Jesus’ words. 14:26
If you know and experience the presence of Christ then hold on to these words like a treasure. They are the Father’s pruning, cleansing, purifying, and sanctifying work preparing you to bear fruit. These truths are contained in the Live to Love prayer. I invite you to pray it with me now and every day so you can bear fruit for the glory of God.

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