Not An Average Relationship

“ I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye shall go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit shall remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father of my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.” John 15:1-17.

Beloved, this is not an average relationship. The words of Jesus the Messiah as recorded in the 15^th chapter of John reveal the heart of our Savior as he was about to be arrested and tried for crimes He did not commit. In chapters 13 and 14 we see Jesus giving life to these words He was about to speak to the eleven apostles. Yes, eleven, because Judas Iscariot had already left the immediate scene to do his evil deed. Jesus had washed the feet of the apostles. Judas had been a participant, a recipient, but his heart was hardened beyond redemption: hardened the point where hearing these Spirit-filled words would have done him not a bit of good, as he was bound to do the work of the evil one. However, this isn’t about Judas and his ilk: it is about you and I in such a way I imagine many of us have never grasped.

God is using the Lord Jesus to tell us that He does not see us as mere pawns to do His bidding. No, Beloved, He has given us a much more exalted place than that. We are the friends of Jesus the Messiah, the veritable and verifiable friends of God. Beloved, this is not an average relationship. I want to dance around the scriptures a little to show you that this premise is firmly rooted in the word of God, and not just the insane musings of a crazy preacher with too much time on his hands, glory to God. Beloved, God’s word is TRUTH and LIGHT and LIFE, and I am issuing a challenge to each and everyone who is here now, whether you be in Jesus or not; I DARE YOU TO BELIEVE AND ACCEPT THE WORD OF GOD THAT WILL BE PUT BEFORE YOU TODAY. Now, you can sit there and refuse to get the Life you need if you choose. I am going to do what I have been called to do.

Beloved, Jesus has said to us plainly that if we obey his commandments, we are His friends. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but this some really important news. Before this point and time, mankind did not, nay, could not see itself as being on such intimate terms with the Creator. Even in the Hebrew tradition—no need to speak of the heathen nations—the men that were accorded a special relationship with God were seemingly few and far between. Men like Adam (before the Fall); Enoch, whom God took and was no more; Abraham, who was the father of the faithful and called the friend of God; Moses, who spoke to God as a man speaks to his friend, face to face; and, David, who was a man after God’s own heart. There are a few others, but I believe the point has been made. Such an intimate relationship with God was viewed, generally, as unobtainable, if it was even thought of at all. Remember that the Israelites refused to even pronounce The Name of God. Now here we have Jesus, saying that if we give Him due diligence by obeying Him, we were the friends of God.

Jesus starts by delineating the order of the relationship between God, Messiah and mankind. Jesus is the vine, the Sustainer of us all. God is the Husbandman, the One who prunes and shapes and cultivates the vine. We are the branches, the ones who are the visible manifestation of the Father’s work. Beloved, please do not miss that: we are the visible manifestation of the Father’s work. Yes, Beloved, you and I represent God and His goodness in this world. You and I represent His lovingkindness and mercy. You and I represent His love. You and I testify of His vitality. Beloved, we show the world-at-large how good God is. Now, considering the importance of our assignment, would God want to trust this to those who did not know Him, to those that couldn’t be trusted, to those that had no intimacy with Him? Absolutely not, Beloved: God isn’t stupid.

God knew that He had to overcome millennia of ignorance about His character and His desires for His creation. Yes, God had to overcome ignorance—willful ignorance at that. Just like today, men and women of antiquity made the choice to refuse to honor God as God. The traditions of men—to include astrology, mythology, numerology, various mystery religious systems and secret societies—even blatant atheism and agnotisicism, gave our historical fore-parents ‘choices’. Well, they thought that they were choices. What they were were vehicles with which the enemy used to distort the perfect memory of God that creation had at the beginning, before sin raised its head. Before Jesus, the last man to have this perfect memory of God and His character was Adam. Beloved, a lot of water had passed under the proverbial bridge between Adam’s sin and the birth of Jesus. What God knew was that His earthly creation had a very limited knowledge of who He was and what He wanted for them. Accordingly, He had to reeducate His creation—another reason why Jesus had such a dynamic teaching ministry. God wants more than just to save us from eternal damnation—He wants us to know Him intimately, so that we can fulfill our purpose. He wants us to know Him intimately so that we can legitimately reflect His image in this world we are visiting. Yes Beloved, this world we are visiting.

The teachings of the Lord Jesus in the 15^th chapter of John was designed to let the primary disciples know—and us, by extension—that we have a unique and peculiarly intimate relationship available with the Creator if we choose to pursue it. How are we to pursue this intimacy the God desires us to have with Him? The answer is dwelling in His love. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye shall go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit shall remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father of my name, he may give it you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.” John 15:4-17.

We have to abide in His love. We have to continue in His love. The pathway to intimacy with our Lord is clear: we must abide, continue and obey. These three things will nurture us, encourage us, and solidify our intimacy with Him. Beloved, understand that abide is a verb, an action word. The Greek meno, the word that is rendered abide, means to stay in a given place, state, relation or expectancy. Abide strongly suggests that there is a measure of endurance required by those that choose to abide. Yes, Beloved, endurance. We can’t approach abiding in God in a wishy-washy, willy-nilly fashion. It has to be “until death do us part” with God. And, understand that not even death can separate us from His love. So, when those gentle rains in your life get an upgrade to a Category 5 hurricane, you endure in His love. You don’t go running to your past, to what seems to be comfortable at the moment: you simply abide and endure. Be assured that in His Secret Place is all you need to make it through whatever drama is lurking outside of your door. Abide and endure. Trust him to do all that He has promised, and if you don’t know what He has promised, get into the word that He has left for us to examine, study and apply to our lives.

Beloved, the alternative is to be cut off from your life source, from the sustenance that is in God through the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that none of us want to wither, die and be burned. That was Jesus politely saying that those who refuse this awesome intimacy that was to purchased by His precious blood were headed for the fires of Gehenna—the fire of Hell. Beloved, abide. No matter what it looks like, abide in His love and in His care. Endure whatever temporary hardships there may be along the way and abide in Him.

Jesus next expounds on the benefits of abiding in Him. We all want our prayers answered don’t we? Although God is not a celestial errand boy, IF we abide in Him and He in us, we can ask what we will and expect it to be made manifest. Abiding in Him is the key to having prayers answered. I mean, there is a sermon in just this bit of information, but I will simply say this: the more we abide in Him, the better we get to know Him. And the better we get to know Him and His purpose for our individuals lives, the more purposeful and pleasing our prayers will be, because we will be asking for what we need, rather just for things to satisfy our unfruitful lust.

Is there anybody out there that knows what I am saying? Good.

Continue in His love Beloved; continue in His love. If we keep His commandments we will abide in the love of Jesus in the exact same way He abided and yet abides in the Father’s love. Love is all you need to succeed. Not some 1960s Flower Child version of love, but the love that craves intimacy with God. Beloved we are created in His image. Our human spirit was providentially designed to connect with the Creator, to have an awesome intimacy that screams to the world-at-large that every “Glory, Hallelujah” we give Him is deserved by Him. This is not an average relationship Beloved.

It is not an average relationship because of the benefits that we receive from our Father. Jesus has instructed us to abide in Him and to keep His commandments so that the Joy of the Lord Jesus Christ may remain in us and that our joy might be full. Beloved, the joy of the Lord is truly our strength. Do you see the unselfishness of God here? Do you see His mercy? Do you see His thoughts reverberating and resounding through eternity to ensure out safety? Do you see Him pulling out all of the stops to be sure we are reconciled to Him in all fullness? Beloved, remember that Jesus had not yet been crucified and resurrected, although the die had been cast. He wanted there to be an understanding of His purpose by His disciples that would be seared into their collective conscience as He was readying Himself for His terrible, yet necessary journey. This is not an average relationship Beloved.

This intimacy is expressed further when Jesus informs His disciples that greater love has no man than this to lay His life down for His friends. The Master, the Teacher as friend to those that were subject to Him: The Living Word, God with us, the Living Truth, the Son of God as friend to mankind—fallen mankind at that. Jesus, the one that would soon sacrifice His life opens the door to complete intimacy with all of us by willingly laying His life down for you and I—His friends. Please don’t miss the import of this statement Beloved, because it goes far beyond something simply said so that we could repeat it and smile. This is at the very core of the relationship that God desires with you and I. Friendship—true friendship—that speaks to the very spirit and soul of man. Not a superficial smile or handshake or hug, but a friendship that feels the joy and pain that you feel, even if a word is never uttered in praise or complaint. Friendship that will tell you the truth no matter how much it cuts, because the friend knows that the healing will be for a lifetime, as opposed to some sweet nothings that will just rot the soul like too much sugar will rot the teeth. Friendship that is eternal, that transcends time and space, and that also that transcends circumstances. A friendship that not only is rooted in but is consumed by love and that love is A Love Supreme: the love, agape love, that emanates from El Shaddai, from Jah, from Almighty God.

We are His friends if we do whatsoever He commands us. Beloved, this is not an average relationship, because, if we desire this friendship, we must offer due diligence to the Lord Jesus and His word. This isn’t a small thing, no matter how dedicated we think we are. If we desire the same thing that He desires, we will obey the word that He has left for us. We will study it. That means some Wednesday nights, and some Saturday mornings. That means we praise Him as if we have lost our ever-loving minds, because He is worthy of the praise. That means we love each other no matter what, no matter how dumb we may feel or how stupid we may think it makes us look. We love each other because He has commanded us to. Beloved be sure that if we do not love each other, we cannot love Him. If we do not follow His commandments, we can not be His friends, because we will have disqualified ourselves.

To make sure that we get the point, Jesus makes it known that He does not call us servants. He, through the word, has made everything we need to know known to us. He hasn’t hidden anything in some banal ritual. He has put it all out there in the same way that God has revealed it to Him. No secrets here, Beloved. I am going to hit someone right between the eyes and say if you don’t know this it is because you haven’t tried to find out. If your relationship with God isn’t where you claim you want it to be, it is because you haven’t researched the record to find out what you need to know. So, as the young folk say, “If you don’t know, you better ask somebody!” Ask Jesus. After all, He lives! Take some time to meditate and pray. After all, prayer is communication, and communication is central to a vital, intimate relationship.

In the meantime, let me tell you what Jesus said. He chose you and I so that we would bear fruit and that our fruit would remain. That fruit that we are to produce will glorify God. In light of that, have you checked out your fruit lately? Are we blessing the lives of others not in the fold with the love of Jesus? I don’t just mean showing it among the parishioners that are present: I am speaking about the ones that hate God and think we are stupid. Yes, Beloved, those folk that you almost have to put a gun to their heads to get them to listen to anything about the goodness of God. Are we spreading love? Or, are we perpetuating negativity and distrust by being too judgmental of those that are where we once were? Think about it.

Jesus adds a little something else to this awesome relationship and that is the use of His name in our dealings with God. Yes Beloved, Jesus has given us power of attorney. Like I said, this is not an average relationship. We are divinely privileged Beloved. The King of Glory has said that we may use His name to ask God for what we need. Now, I am about to close so I won’t dwell on this other than to say that this power of attorney was signed on Golgotha’s Hill in blood a couple of millennia ago, and it is still in effect. I suggest you make yourself eligible to use it, because this is a benefit available to friends of the Lord Jesus Christ only. Hey, it beats American Express, so please don’t leave home without it.

Finally, we are left with another command: love one another. Yes, Jesus has already said this, but it brought to mind a chapter in my life that I hope will be helpful for someone to hear. I am closing, so please bear with me just a little longer. I hate hearing people say “I love you to death”, and I’ll tell you why. I know it sounds like we are all devoted to the object of our affection and all, but the last word in that sentence reveals more than you may realize. Beloved, love isn’t about death: remember that we aren’t talking about average relationships. Average relationships end in death. Okay, I am about to open my closet door and let this skeleton out, so if a bone hits you, it’s your own fault. Twenty-two years ago, when I was in the Marine Corps stationed in South Carolina, I met this young woman that took my breath away. She was dark, petite, beautiful and best of all she was crazy about me too. I thought that we had something that would last forever. I was definitely planning on changing her last name. I mean, she would drive five hours from her home in North Carolina to spend time with me. Oh, yes, and she loved me to death and told me that many times. Beloved, the trouble was she really was loving me to death. She was loving me straight to Hell, because those five hours drives were at the expense of her husband and children. Now, while I am sure her feelings were genuine and I know that mine were, we couldn’t have been anymore wrong. I thank God for the courage and strength to break out of that situation even though I wasn’t living for Him at the time, because adultery is a horrible thing. Now that I know the Lord and desire to live in more intimate relationship with Him I know that I never want to be "loved to death" ever again. I don’t even want to hear the words said in reference to me.

Now, there is someone out there accusing me of trying to contradict Jesus because He gave His life for us. They are saying, “Jesus loved us to death: He died for us on the cross.” Well, Sir or Madam, you are only half correct. Yes, Jesus did die, but He got up on the third day from the grave to redeem you and I. Jesus didn’t just love us to death: He loved us unto and through death: He loved us to life, to life eternal. So, don’t love me to death; that is average, and I don’t want any average relationships. You see Beloved, I am a child of the King; therefore average and ordinary just won’t do. If you are going to love me, love me like Jesus loves me: Love me to life. That is what makes what God wants of us not an average relationship: He loves us to life.