Live to Love Scripture Encouragement

John 15:23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also.”
Hate is a strong word, isn’t it? In Deut. 5:9, God speaks to us. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me.” Hatred for God is judged and revealed when we put anyone or anything in His place. He alone is worthy of our worship and service. This foundational understanding of hatred for God expressed through idolatry seems to relate to these words of Jesus. Another way of stating this truth is this: He who is most delighted and satisfied in Jesus above all else loves Him and loves God, the Father, also. Whoever hates Jesus and His words, also hates God. What great truth underlies this statement? Jesus and God, the Father, are one. Let’s follow the line. Jesus and the Father are one. If you hate one, you hate the other. Believers in Jesus and Jesus are one. If you hate one, you hate the other. The converse is also true. If you love the Son, you love the Father. If you love those who are His, you love Jesus. What a privilege it is to love with Jesus each day. We are expressing our love for Jesus and the Father, for His glory.

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

God has spoken. Man has no excuse for sin.
John 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.”
Notice the importance of Jesus’ words. They judge sinners. Jesus said this earlier in the day that He said these words recorded in John 15:22. John 12:48 “He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.” The same reasoning applies in both instances. Jesus spoke. The only reason one would reject His word is that they have sin in them. His word became the occasion for the revelation of their sin. There is no excuse for the creature who rejects the word of his creator. This reminds us of Romans 1:20. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” The apostle Paul explained how God’s wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. It is revealed in the fact that God has revealed Himself, and they suppress the truth that God has spoken or revealed Himself.
God came and spoke to Adam and Eve. In speaking to them, He spoke to all of mankind, to them, and to us. “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Had He not spoken to us, we would not have sin. But that word judged all mankind, even us, for God’s Word also says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law” (Rom. 5:12-13). And so we are without excuse for our sin. For Paul also wrote, “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:19-20). Jesus’ words are the words of God. They are like the law to us. They are spiritual. They show where the Spirit of God is working and where He is not working. God has spoken to us in His Son. Are we listening to Him?

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

John 15:21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”
What are “these things” that Jesus referred to? Persecution and rejection of what you say. The reason we will be rejected, ignored, and dishonored will be for Jesus’ name sake. If we live by and keep His words, then we identify with Jesus, His name. Those who know God, know that Jesus was sent by the Father and that His words were His Father’s words. Jesus commanded His followers to love one another because God is love, and He came to live to love with His Father. So those who know God will love. John expounded on this in his first epistle. “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. 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” (1 Jo. 4:6-9). Today, we live because Jesus lives. We have His life in us, which is the manifestation of God’s love for us. To God be the glory.

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

John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”
Earlier in the evening, after Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, He had said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.” It was said in the context of Jesus’ telling them to serve each other as He had served them by washing their feet. In that case, the message was do as I do. In this case, the idea is the similar. It’s you’ll receive the same from others that I receive. Those who persecute Me will do the same to you, and those who honor Me by keeping My word will do the same with you and your words.
As we live to love with Jesus, those who reject God’s word will also reject our words. Love won’t make a difference in how they treat us or what they think about us. However, we should not shrink back from speaking God’s word in love. As we do, we can know that those who love God’s word will receive our words as we are faithful to say what He says. They will receive and honor our words because we are repeating Jesus’ words. That’s a vital aspect of living to love with Jesus. Because we love Him, we keep His words and share them with others in His name. As Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” (John 14:24).

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

John 15:19b “But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
Jesus reminded them that they did not choose Him but He chose them out of the world. He chose them because their source isn’t the world, rather they are “of” God. The world hates those who go “out from them” to Jesus. It exposes them for who and whose they are. But let’s pause and consider. Those Jesus chose out of the world looked exactly like those of the world. He didn’t choose us, who are His friends, for any other reason than we have a different source. So how do we know who are His friends. Like He said in John 15:14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” We were “of God” and not “of the world”. However, we didn’t know we were of God until He chose us and revealed His love in us. For this reason, the world hates us. As you live to love with Jesus, humbly consider that you are blessed if the world hates you and speaks all manner of evil against you for His name sake.

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