Abiding In The Vine Of Christ

Well, good morning again, brethren. It's delightful to be able to see all of you. As I mentioned in the announcements we've been enjoying these days of Unleavened Bread, eating unleavened products. Isn't it brilliant how God gives us something that makes so much sense? The concept of bread that is so familiar, you almost normally eat some type of bread or cracker every day, and yet normally those are 11 products that we eat throughout the year, and yet He gives us a seven-day period of time to enjoy or to focus on something that represents as a symbol a different type of life, a different type of living, an unleavened and then an unleavened life being based on sincerity and truth. And of course, as I mentioned to you last week as we were concluding the sermon last Sabbath, which was the first day of the days of Unleavened Bread, we can think about the different ways that God describes sin. We can be looking for even those deceptive and deceitful ways that creep into our lives, but ultimately to be able to be victorious. To be victorious in our struggle against sin, we have got to be focused on our Savior and our King, our Redeemer and Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope that you have thought about that as you eat unleavened crackers or unleavened bread throughout this week. Pat and I commonly, we certainly did when our boys were at home long ago, but even now, you know, we always want to have at least one morning, hopefully earlier in the week, where I make some unleavened crepes.

This time, of course, kind of worked out Sunday morning. You know, that was early in the days of Unleavened Bread, and so we enjoy having those be able to eat those with usually hard-boiled eggs and some other kind of meat or something, and be able to begin to think more clearly about, okay, we're eating that, and then normally we have several that are left over, and that we can put in the fridge, and then I can dole out. I ate the last one yesterday, so I didn't have any for today. I had some crackers today, but that's something that we don't normally do. You know, we don't commonly do that. Hardly at any other time throughout the year, we don't go to the effort to make that type of thing, and it's not very hard to make, but it is helping us focus on what it is, and how different it is to live in unleavened life, and as I said, the focus really needs to be on Jesus living in us. I want to cover that because Jesus points us out in the book of John. Actually, John is an incredible author, an incredible disciple, an incredible apostle, given, you know, he was the longest living of all the original apostles. He ultimately be given a vision into the throne of God and into the end-time events that we know as the book of Revelation. And yet, what you see John write in the book of John, what you see him writing in 1 John and 2 John and 3 John, they in essence all tie together. They tie together in at least one sense. I want us to look at John 15 today, at least in part, because here Jesus gives instruction his people to his disciples directly, but to us as his people because he tells us that he wants us to do something. He wants us to abide in him. He wants us to abide in his words. That's why we go over the word of God every Sabbath, why you read that book, perhaps every day. He wants us to abide in him, to abide in his words, and to abide in his love. Now, he connects this in John 15, starting in verse 4, with the fact that he's the vine. So, we have to be abiding in the vine. And so, I guess that could be a title, abiding in the vine.

And yet, what it says here in John 15, verse 4, let me turn to that. He begins it, of course, in verse 1, saying, I'm the true vine, and my father is the husband month, or he's the vine dresser. He's the one who is caring for the vineyard. And yet, in verse 4, Jesus says, abide in me. I want you to abide in me as I abide in you, just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, meaning you bear fruit, unless you abide in me. And so, that in a sense summarizes what we went over last week. And we've got to be clearly abiding in the vine. We have to be abiding in the one who can provide the strength, the one who can provide the security, the one who can get rid of our fears and our apprehensions, our limitations, because we all have those. He goes ahead in verse 5 to say, I'm the vine and you're the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them will bear much fruit.

And what kind of fruit is that? Well, we could certainly say it's the fruit of the Holy Spirit love and joy and peace, the nine direct statements about what the fruit of the Holy Spirit is. But he says you can bear these fruits if you abide in me because he goes ahead to say apart from me you can do nothing. Now, isn't that encouraging? You know, I can do absolutely nothing. Now, that's not saying that I am to do nothing, but if I depend on myself, if I depend on my own ability, if I trust in myself, then I'm not going to make a lot of progress. He's saying you've got to abide in me. And of course, he points out that the branches cannot bear fruit of themselves. And so that's what we have to recognize. And the more we recognize that, the more we're reminded of that, the more we realize, well, you know, my desire to abide in the vine or to abide in Jesus Christ, or my desire to abide in his words or to abide in his love, that's the only way I'm going to be able to bear the fruit that he wants me to bear. Let's drop down to verse 8, John 15. In verse 8, he says, my father is glorified by this. So do you want to glorify God? Well, here he says what to do. My father is glorified in this, starting in verse 8, that you bear much fruit, and that you become my disciples. And so clearly we've got to be not only following Jesus, but we've got to be bearing fruit because we're asking him, you know, to guide, direct, to lead, teach, instruct, nurture us. Now, he does that through the help of the Holy Spirit, yes.

But he's also going to point out more about that. In verse 9, he says, as the Father has loved me. Now, how much does the Father love Jesus Christ? As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

I want you to abide in my love. And he says, if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

I've said these things to you so that my joy may be in you. See, so if I want to be happy, if I want to be joyful, if I want to be joyous, then I am going to have to abide in the vine. I'm going to have to be depending on Jesus Christ, giving me something I don't have, because he said I can do nothing on myself of my own, but he can give me everything that I need. He can give me what he wants. And so he says, I've said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment in verse 12, that you love one another. Love one another is I have loved you. And of course, you know, that's not an unfamiliar statement or an unfamiliar thought. And yet it's a very important part of abiding in the vine. A very important part of being attached. You know, a branch, and I have had a couple of trees in my yard that were getting bigger. One of them we had to cut down here earlier this year, and the other one has a bunch of dead branches in it that needed to be cut out. If the branch is dead, then you've got to just get rid of it. You can, the tree might continue to grow, but if the branch is not there, if it's not receiving nutrients from the tree, if it's not getting the sap that normally would cause it to thrive and for leaves to grow and for green to be there, you've got to be attached. You've got, the branch has got to be attached to the vine.

And so I want to have us think about, as we desire to abide in the vine, what does Jesus, what does he show us about abiding in his love? See, that's really one of the things that he mentions here. Are we really doing those things as we not only come together and in church service, but as we interact with each other at times throughout the week, or as we interact with other people, either that we work with or that we neighbors that we interact with? Are we actually abiding in the love that Jesus has for us and that the Father has for him?

Do we really see and respond to the multiple levels of his love that we're supposed to be abiding in? Because I can tell you, there's more, more levels than we might, we might have commonly even thought about. Some of them are relatively simple and others are seemingly impossible. And yet, you know, to be able to do what God wants us to do, he wants us to abide in the vine. He says, if you're attached to the vine, if you're allowing the vine to provide strength and vitality to your Christian life, then you're going to bear fruit. And the fruit, as I said, would be primarily the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but it could be other works that are good and that are done out of a right motivation and out of done for love for one another. So I want to point out three things here. I guess you could say these are three different levels of abiding in the love of God. And, of course, you could also go to 1 Corinthians 13 and you could read that. It has a lot more information that I intend to try to cover today. And yet, that gives us a complete analysis of, you know, many different aspects of the love of God that he wants us to have toward one another and toward other people and toward him. But first of all, if we're going to be branches who are attached to the vine, abiding in the vine, to have his love, to abide in his love, we first of all must obey his commandments. See, now we read this here in chapter 15, and we'll go back and read it again. Here in chapter 15 he says in verse 8, my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples, and as the father loved me, so I have loved you. I want you to abide in my love. And so here he continues to reiterate what we have to be focused on. But in verse 10, he says, if you keep my commandments, then you will abide in his love. If you keep the commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. Now again, simple to read.

And yet, and our lives become in line with the word of God, in line with the law of God, in line with the commands of God. You know, we know the basis of the Ten Commandments are telling us how it is that we can be in line with his commands. And of course, Christ is the one who gave those to Moses. He was the God of the Old Testament who would give that to Moses, and he would pass that on to the people of Israel. But it's applicable to all. And yet, you know, here he tells us we've got to be willingly obedient.

If we're going to abide in the love of God, see, that's actually a, in a sense, a descriptor of how is it that we can have the love of God? Well, you know, we choose to obey. Whenever we're confronted with a question or a problem that may involve disobeying, then we have to choose to obey. We have to decide to worship God and praise him and honor him and ask him to allow his love to be in us.

I want us to go to 1 John chapter 2 to begin with. 1 John, I told you all of these in some way are connected to the book of 1 John. But first of all, to abide in his love, we have to obey his commandments. Now, John repeats this over here in 1 John. This little book is an epistle that's written to Christians, perhaps in a pretty wide geographic range.

He was later in Ephesus, at least, as far as my understanding of where John was. But clearly he had to be in other places. He certainly was in Jerusalem for a while. He would later end up many decades later in Ephesus. But here in 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter 2 verse 1, he says, My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you will not sin. So what is it that John was really wanting to point out here in these little epistles that he wanted maybe writing later in his life, having seen some of the problems that the church faced, having seen some of the persecution, having seen some of the confusion, even some of the falsities that people became faced with?

He says, I want you, I'm writing this to you in order to help you keep from sinning. But, he says, if anyone does sin, then we have an advocate from the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the atonement or atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And so, thankfully, we can abide in the vine. Thankfully, we can look to Jesus Christ, too, and we can even ask him to give us the love that he had, not only for the disciples, but for all of mankind, and that he clearly has for the Father.

He goes on in verse 3 now, by this we can be absolutely sure. He makes it pretty definitive here in numerous different verses. By this, we may know, or may be sure, that we know him if we obey his commandments. Okay, that's going to be one of the ways we can identify that we can relate to God, that we can know God if we obey his commandments.

And whoever says, in verse 4, I've come to know God, I've come to know him, but doesn't obey his commandments, that person is a liar. And in such a person, the truth doesn't exist. And so, that's again pretty clear, really, if we're going to keep the commands of God, or if we're going to abide in his love, we're going to have to keep the commands of God. In verse 5, but whoever obeys the word, or let me connect that, it says, the person who does not obey is a person who the truth does not exist in.

But in verse 5, whoever obeys his word, truly in that person, the love of God has reached perfection. See, I should be able to talk to 30 or 40 people today who have a love of God that has reached perfection. Because he tells us that, you know, we're trying to obey God, we're honoring God with our lives, we see what he wants us to do, we're striving to do that, we're striving to trust him. And yet he makes it very clear, Neil, that as we obey him, as we serve him, truly in that person, the love of God has blossomed.

See, are we blossoming? That's clearly what he wants. That's what he says he sees in us. He wants us to understand the significance and actually the benefit of obeying his commands. Let's drop down to chapter 3 here.

First John chapter 3, in verse 23, he says this is his commandment.

First John 23, this is his commandment that we should believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ. Okay, we believe that. That was something that was certainly promoted in the New Testament church. People had to come to believe. They had to come to not only believe but act by following him. But here in verse 23, this is his commandment that we should believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and that we should love one another just as he has commanded us.

And in verse 24, all who obey his commandments abide in him. And he abides in them. And by this, we know that he abides in us by the Spirit that he's given us.

The Spirit of God is, I guess you could say, invisible. It's truly incredibly important, but it's invisible. We don't visibly see or know that God gave us the Holy Spirit. Whenever we were baptized and through the laying on of hands, we ask, someone asks that God would give you his Spirit. We don't. We believe that. We know that. We know from the Word of God that that's true. But here he says, in verse 24, all who obey his commandments abide in him and he abides in them. And we know that he abides in us because he's given us his Spirit. It's through his Spirit. That Spirit is what enables us to relate to the Father as a daughter to that Father or as a son to the Father. He enables us to commune with them in our prayers. He enables us to be transformed in our thinking, which I think all of us realize that I need some transformation. I do. I certainly want that. I pray for that. I yearn for that.

It's something that he says he can help us with. But here he kind of supports the statement that he made earlier in John 15, that if you're going to have the love of God, if that's going to abide in you, then you're going to have to be obedient. You're going to have to be willing to be taught and be obedient and obey. Even if we turn over another page into the second little epistle of John, 2 John, verse 6. 2 John, verse 6. This is love that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard it from the beginning, you must walk in it.

And so this is a way of life. It's a way of life that, as adults, we try to live as teenagers, as we have a number of you here today. Living God's way is an actual whole way of life. It's a way to live. It's a way to focus, organize your time, organize your life, know what is right and what is wrong. Now, do we always do what's right? Well, we have to decide to do that. And sometimes we mistake and we make the mistake and we have to change. We have to repent. And certainly that's not for teenagers alone. That's for all of us. That's what we all have to do. But he tells us clearly that if we're going to abide in his love, then we've got to obey his commandments. That's got to become our way of living. The second thing that I'll point out to you to abide in the love of God. So first of all, we've talked about obedience and to the commands of God. Secondly, to abide in his love, we truly have to come to love the brethren, to love one another. We have a small grouping here of 30 or 40 usually. It's not a huge crowd. If you had six or eight hundred, it'd be harder to even know everybody, although I think many of you have been in larger congregations at times. And I think back and as Pat and I initially left college and started to work in the ministry, we were sent to Portland, Oregon, and there we met a thousand brethren. Assumingly, we're supposed to remember names and learn who all these people were. And I guess eventually, after a year or two, we knew who most of them were, perhaps. Probably didn't know them all that well. But see, if we're going to abide in the love of God, then we've got to truly love the people of God, to love the brethren. Now let's go back to the book of 1 John, again in chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2 verse 6. Verse 6 says, actually in verse 5, it says, by this we may be sure that we are in Him. Whoever says in verse 6 that I abide in Him, I abide in God, I abide in the vine. Whoever says I abide in Him ought to walk just as He walked. And so obviously Jesus Christ is the example. He's the pattern. You know, why should you read the Gospels? Why should we study what it is that Jesus said or what that He did? Well, if we're going to follow His example, then we have to know what He did. And I know that that's something that we need to continue to elaborate on. I want us to continue here as we find Him continuing to talk about this topic in verse 8. He says, I'm writing to you a new commandment that is true in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. To hear Jesus as John was recalling what it was that Jesus had taught as He was writing it down says, I'm writing you a new commandment that in truth in Him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is shining. Whoever says that I'm in the light while hating, hating a brother or sister is still in the darkness. Now, do you hate each other?

Do you hate me? If we hate each other, and of course that's perhaps what you would say is to be kind of the most extreme disapproval, disappointment of others. Actually, you know, it says here if we are hating a brother or sister then, you know, we're walking in the darkness.

See, we want to get away from that. Obviously, we want to abide in His love by loving the brethren. But here He points it out and actually, probably it's better to even think about it. You know, if I have love for others then it's not, it's even far more than just not hating them, but it's actually being encouraging, building up, loving, supporting, bearing with all of our idiosyncrasies and the problems that we struggle with. Now, if everybody's not like me, I don't like them. You know, that's not an attitude that we can have. We have to have one. If everybody's not like Jesus then I can see that that's a problem, but that's not for me to decide, perhaps. I have to learn to be encouraging. And what does it mean to be bearing with one another?

Well, that sounds like you're having to tolerate something or having to accept something that you don't, you know, maybe like or they've said or done that, you know, hurt me. Well, here He says in verse 9 or verse 10, let's go on, whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person, you know, there is no cause for stumbling.

So here it kind of elaborates a little more on how it is that we're to love one another and not hate a brother or sister by not causing that brother or sister to stumble, not causing them to misunderstand or to miss what God wants for them and how it is that we could encourage and how we could help them. So in verse 11, whoever hates a brother or sister is in darkness and actually lives in blindness. You know, that's not where we want to be. We want to abide in the love of God and actually love one another, support one another, encourage one another. That's part of what God wants us to do. Let's drop on down to chapter 3 because, as I said, John continues to talk about this even more. Chapter 3, here at 1 John chapter 3 verse 11. Chapter 3 verse 11, this is the message that you have heard from the beginning that we should love one another. Now, this is all about love or learning to love like God is and does. This message you've heard from the beginning, we should love one another. We must not be like Cain. Cain, who was from the evil one and who murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Well, what happened? You can read Genesis 4. You can see what happened. They both offered offerings to God. Abels was accepted by God and Cain's was not. And so what happened? Well, Cain, you know, got furious over that. He became angry. He became filled with rage and hatred and ultimately led to him getting rid of the problem. Although he got rid of the wrong problem. Instead of getting rid of the problem that he had, which was the anger and rage and the jealousy and the offense that he had about Abel, he got rid of Abel. And of course, you know, that's going to be, he says in verse 12, we must not be like Cain. Why did he murder his brother? Well, because his own deeds were evil and his brothers were righteous. See, that, that could be a point of contention. That's in verse 12. Don't be astonished, brethren, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. In verse 15, all who hates a brother or sister are murderers. And we know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. See, we want eternal life abiding in us. We want to be on the path to eternal life, the straight and narrow, the narrow road that leads to eternal life. But see, if we harbor not just hatred, but even anger or offense or for jealous of one another, if we are vying for position with one another, if that's significant and important to us, then we're not walking in the way that Jesus walked.

That's a part of what he wants us to fully comprehend. And here, in verse, let's see how far did we get here? Verse 15, all who hate a brother and sister are murderers. Now, the murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know this. We know love by this. Verse 16, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. See, again, this is an expression of loving the brethren. Being willing to serve one another, being willing to lay down our lives for one another. We mentioned this a couple of weeks ago regarding husband's responsibility to lay down their lives for their wives, to help them, to encourage them, to lead them, to uplift them. And yet, of course, it's applicable as well for everyone. Now, we learned to follow the example that Jesus said for his disciples, even at a foot washing service. You know, that's what we all are to learn. In verse 17, how does God's love abide anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Well, that's something that I know many of you do on a regular basis as far as helping. And certainly it's incredibly commendable. It is the right thing for us to do. And yet, in a sense, God tells us here that it's incredibly important for us if we're going to have the love of God that we serve one another in that way. Chapter 4.

See, John continues to talk about how it is to abide in his love because of the fact that...

I don't know if that's mine or somebody else's, or whether it's the building. I guess it's the building. Maybe so. Here in 1 John 4, verse 7, he says, Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. See, John's not going to let up on this. He's just going to keep pointing it out, and pointing it out, and pointing it out that loving the brethren. However unlovable we might be at times is what he expects us to do. He expects us to be like Jesus. He expects us to abide in the vine. Incredibly high standard that he has for us. Verse 8, whoever does not love... this becomes even more critical... whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. See, here's one of the terms you find where God is defined as one word. God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way. He sent his only son in the world so that we might live. See, so that we could have not only an abundant physical life, but that we can have eternal life and hope beyond the grave. That's what he wants clearly for all of us. So, in verse 10, if in this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and that he sent his son to be a sacrifice, atonement for our sins, so beloved since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. John continues to follow that course. If we drop down to verse 20. In verse 20, he concludes the chapter as we see it, those who say, I love God, and yet hate their brother or sister or liars. For those who do not love brother and sister whom they have seen, how can they possibly love God whom they have not seen?

We have to learn to love those who are in the image of God, in the likeness of God.

Verse 21, the commandment we have from him is this, that those who love God must love their brothers and sisters as well. So I think it is easy to conclude that clearly, if we're going to abide in the love that Jesus wants us to have, that he wants us to have as branches attached to the vine, well then we're going to be a certain way toward one another, and that is described here as love. The final point that I'll make here regarding to abide in the love that we are directed to live in, we have to come to love even our enemies.

Now that kind of progressively gets, we start off with obeying God, which is clearly what we need and want to do, and yet loving our brethren who we hope are loving us back, that's progress here. And then Jesus goes beyond that to even telling us we have to love those who hate us, love those who persecute us. Here in John, or excuse me, Romans is where I want to go, Romans chapter 12.

This is Paul, of course, writing to the congregation there, and he's told them that I want you to be, learn to be a living sacrifice. I want you to be willing to lay down your life in service to others. I want you to be filled with my love. That's what he says. I want you to do that. And yet in verse 9, he points out, let love be genuine, hate what's evil, hold fast to what's good, love one another with mutual affection. So hopefully as we love one another, then it can be mutual and kind of back and forth. Outdo one another in showing honor. Don't lag and zeal. Be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in verse 12. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in suffering.

Persevere in prayer. So here he gives us all kinds of ideas of how to do this.

He says in verse 12, rejoice in hope. Be patient in suffering. Persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of others. Verse 14, bless those who persecute you.

Now here he starts to make it very, very difficult because where were these Christians living?

Well, they were in Rome. They were in a hotbed of anger toward Christians. Often they were suffering persecution, perhaps even death at the hands of a cruel and unrelenting government. But here he says, bless those that persecute you. Bless and do not curse them.

And rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, but live in harmony with one another. Simply don't be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Do not claim to be wiser than you are. He says if we are an end to ourselves, if we have all the answers, well then, you know, we're not properly looking at others. We're not properly going to learn anything. And so we want to learn to view that in a different way. Don't repay anyone. In verse 17, evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. And beloved, never avenge yourselves, because you need to recall that God says vengeance is mine. I will repay. Verse 20, know if your enemies are hungry, then feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. By doing this, you will heap burning coals on their heads. Simply don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Now, you could perhaps spend lengthy periods of time discussing all the different ideas that Paul has here. And yet, he's writing to the congregation who lives in Rome and is in a difficult situation already, and yet needs to learn. And see, we also need to learn to realize that there is some persecution that we are going to see. There's some that we have already seen, and probably there's much more that we are yet to see, that we're going to have to know. Not only know what God tells us to do, but we are going to have to abide in the vine to be able to actually do it, to actually have his love. He says, abide in my love, abide in the love that the Father has for me and that I have for all of mankind. He wants us to be able to succeed. He wants us to be able to be happy. I mean, he says, this will make you happy. This will give you joy. This may not be the easiest thing to do, but this is going to give you joy. And so, at this third point to abide in his love, you know, we've got to love even our enemies. Because, as Jesus said, and of course, Paul was referring to what it was that Jesus had explained, even back here. We read early on in the book of Matthew, you know, Jesus explains a lot in the Sermon on the Mountain. He says so much about how people ought to be toward one another, and he explains things about sin. He explains things about how to approach God. He explains things about prayer. He certainly, you know, gave a lot of great information. And yet, here in verse 38, he says, you have heard it said of old, eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, but I say to you, so you could read that in the Old Testament. That was a directive at one time, but he says you're going to have to do better than that. But I say to you, don't resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the one cheek, right cheek, turn to the other. If anyone wants to sue you or take your coat, give your cloak. As well, anyone forces you to go a mile, go the second mile.

Give to everyone who begs from you, do not refuse those who want to borrow from you. He gives a lot of instruction about love for others, and even love for others that people may not appreciate at all. They may not even like it that you did that. But he does say in verse 43, you have heard that it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you that you should love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.

Why? Why should we do that? Why should? You know, that's kind of counterintuitive to the way people normally are. Because if people become enemies, if they become antagonistic, if they become hate-filled, if they really are, as he describes here, an enemy. Love those enemies and pray for those who persecute you. See, and as I say, brethren, I don't know that we know what yet God will allow us to live through before Christ returns. We certainly can read that things are going to be more difficult before he returns than they are right now. But that doesn't change his instruction that if we abide in the vine, if we abide in his love, then we need to love even our enemies. And he goes ahead to say, I want you to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And here he says why in verse 45? So that you may be children of your Father in heaven. See, that's why he says I want you to do that because that's the way the children of God are. He said that's the way I am. He could directly say, yeah, that's the way I am, and that's the way I want you to become. He goes on to say, so that you can be the children of God for he makes his sunrise on the evil and the good and he sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors do that. If you greet only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Even a lot of the Gentiles do that. He says you've got to be looking at a higher standard. And see, the higher standard is the one of Jesus Christ, the one who has all the answers, the one who was able to cause fruit to grow on the vine if we want to become like Jesus Christ. So back in John 15, when John was telling, or when Jesus was telling, as John records this, he's telling his disciples, I want you to be attached to the vine. I want you to be a branch that is attached to the vine, that is receiving power from the vine, because on your own you can do nothing. We read that earlier, and yet he tells us, I want you to grow in my love as you keep my commandments. I want you to grow in my love as you extend that to other of the brethren. I want you to grow in my love even as you extend that to others who may hate you and persecute you.

He says that's what it is to be a child of God. And so if we go back to John 15, he says in verse 9, as the Father has loved me, so I love you, abide in my love.

And down in verse 12, he says, this is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this than to lay down their lives for their friends. See, brethren, that's what abiding in the vine is all about. That's what we have to seek. You know, we're told to ask and to seek and to knock. What do we need to ask for? Well, this is certainly one of the things that we can ask for and that the vine and the vine dresser will provide because they want us to have that capacity. They want us to have that ability, have that mind, to have that heart, to have that love like God toward other people. And if we have that, well then, you know, when we offend each other, which we do at times, well then with the help of God, then we can overcome that. You know, we can resolve that. We can reconcile that. We can improve that. We can forgive that. See, whenever you think of all the things that you need to do to others to have a good working relationship, well, that all can be overcome if we're filled with the love of God. And so, he tells all of us, and of course, we read this in verse 5, I'm the vine, you're the branches, those who abide in me and I abide in them are going to bear much fruit because apart from me you can do nothing. We want to depend on him. We want to be branches, and I'm encouraging all of us to seek to be branches, even to ask to be branches that are not only attached to the vine, but who are abiding in the words and in the love that Jesus gives to all of us. If we're branches that are attached to the vine, then we really are going to love one another. We're going to assist one another. We're going to encourage one another. We're going to uplift one another, and like I said, we're going to bear with one another. If you go to 1 Corinthians 13, you could find a lot of other things we should do.

He tells us not to demand our own way. How often do we do that? We know everything, so we do that. But he says don't do that. Learn to encourage one another. Learn to believe all things and bear all things and hope all things and endure all things.

Paul goes ahead to say the love of God just never fails. It always is right. It's always going to be correct, and it is the huge aspect of being like God that God wants us to be. So as we do that, you know, then we will bear with one another. We will build up one another, and then we can look forward. Look forward even more so to coming to meet each Sabbath together to be able to encourage, uplift, to show honor for one another. That's what he expects us to do, but the only way that we're going to do that is by abiding in the vine. Trusting the vine, knowing that he has all the answers and that he is able to not only live in us, but to bear the fruit of the love of God in us. And, you know, that's what I think he wishes to see in us as we celebrate the days of Unleavened Bread, as we celebrate putting aside sin and selfishness and learn to love one another as he wants us to as we abide in the vine.