{"id":3097,"date":"2009-05-17T14:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-17T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/?p=3097"},"modified":"2020-12-21T14:02:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T19:02:18","slug":"no-greater-love-than-this-sermon-talkback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/no-greater-love-than-this-sermon-talkback\/","title":{"rendered":"No Greater Love Than This Sermon Talkback"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Sermon Talkback<\/strong> 5 17 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/no-greater-love-than-this\/\">No Greater Love Than This<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>John 15:9-17<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Relationship based on Love<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The commandments of God are summarized in Jesus\u2019 instruction to his closest followers and friends: love. As God loves, Jesus loves. To know such love, we must love others. To prove such love, we must be willing to sacrifice. God\u2019s commandments are given that we might prepare ourselves for such sacrifice\u2014that we might truly love one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus\u2019 love for his disciples is not a result that is established by either their love for him or for one another. Rather, keeping the commandments foremost of which is their love for one another\u2014is a condition for abiding\/remaining in that relationship with Jesus such as the \u201cvine and the branches.\u201d Also, the point in vs. 16, \u201cYou did not choose me but I chose you.\u201d Being a part of the vine is not a decision they have reached or the result of an action they have taken; it is a condition that follows from God\u2019s love for them through Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friends Rather than Slaves<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas slaves\/servants must obey the master\u2019s commands even when they lack the knowledge of the master\u2019s intentions, Jesus has brought the disciples into the relationship between himself and God, revealing everything that he had heard from his Father. This is still not a friendship among equals; it remains the case that God\u2019s purpose and Christ\u2019s commands determine their actions. It is their shared knowledge of and desire for God\u2019s purposes that will shape \u201cwhatever\u201d they ask for in Christ\u2019s name and thereby assure the Father will provide it (15:7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Complete Joy<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus issuing commandments is not intended to create hardship on his followers but to bring joy. He tells them these things so that he might find joy in them, so that he might delight in their obedience, love and fruitfulness. These instructions have an intrinsic benefit for the disciples as well\u2014that their joy might be made complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Showing Love Today<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In today\u2019s troubling economic times when we have seen a number of our friends and associates losing their jobs, how might we show love to them? As Jesus\u2019 friends according to John 15:14, how might we act like Jesus to love one another and particularly with those who are in need of assistance? What might God calling us to sacrifice today?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sermon Talkback 5 17 2009 No Greater Love Than This John 15:9-17 Relationship based on Love The commandments of God are summarized in Jesus\u2019 instruction to his closest followers and<span class=\"more-button\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/no-greater-love-than-this-sermon-talkback\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">No Greater Love Than This Sermon Talkback<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-3097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-ng-sermon-talkbacks","tag-john"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3098,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3097\/revisions\/3098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.followgreg.com\/revdonaldng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}