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“The Power of Joy and Thanksgiving” No. 9 by Rev. Toru Asai
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love (John 15:9).
The key to a joyous life with full of thanksgiving in spite of all the struggles on earth lies in this truth of one command—“Now remain in my love.” So often, we struggle and try to love Jesus more thinking that our salvation and God’s blessings depend upon our love for him. Is it really a right attitude? Read and say the above command again and again, and meditate on what he means. These words were spoken in his farewell speech to his disciples the night before he was crucified. The whole speech was given as a covenant, which he made with his disciples including us today, and John recorded it as such.
A covenant is a pledge of love made by two partners. To make a covenant means to enter into this pledge of mutual love. It is expressed above as “Now remain in my love.” However, what is so special about this covenant and different from the old one is that it does not depend upon the love of the disciples, but Jesus’ love for them. To remain in his love means to live as the ones whom Jesus loves. Since it does not depend upon us, but on his love for us, it will never be broken!
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love (v. 10).
But if it is a covenant, there are rules to keep—something required of us as loved partners. Such rules are called as “commands” in the above words of Jesus. However, these commands are different from those of the old covenant that were given to us as conditions, saying, “If you love the Lord your God …” In this new covenant through Jesus, you are only to remain in his love by faith so that he will make you love him.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (v. 11).
If, due to our unbelief, we fail to remain in his love, our joy may not be complete. And failing to remain in his love means failing to keep his command, which is:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you (v. 12).
Note that this command is not given to us in a conditional sense like those in the old covenant. Rather, because he loves us unconditionally forgiving all our sins, we ought to love each other. In order to see this, we will look at the parable in Mat 18:21ff.
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By Davar Kingdom of GodAs the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love (John 15:9).
The key to a joyous life with full of thanksgiving in spite of all the struggles on earth lies in this truth of one command—“Now remain in my love.” So often, we struggle and try to love Jesus more thinking that our salvation and God’s blessings depend upon our love for him. Is it really a right attitude? Read and say the above command again and again, and meditate on what he means. These words were spoken in his farewell speech to his disciples the night before he was crucified. The whole speech was given as a covenant, which he made with his disciples including us today, and John recorded it as such.
A covenant is a pledge of love made by two partners. To make a covenant means to enter into this pledge of mutual love. It is expressed above as “Now remain in my love.” However, what is so special about this covenant and different from the old one is that it does not depend upon the love of the disciples, but Jesus’ love for them. To remain in his love means to live as the ones whom Jesus loves. Since it does not depend upon us, but on his love for us, it will never be broken!
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love (v. 10).
But if it is a covenant, there are rules to keep—something required of us as loved partners. Such rules are called as “commands” in the above words of Jesus. However, these commands are different from those of the old covenant that were given to us as conditions, saying, “If you love the Lord your God …” In this new covenant through Jesus, you are only to remain in his love by faith so that he will make you love him.
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (v. 11).
If, due to our unbelief, we fail to remain in his love, our joy may not be complete. And failing to remain in his love means failing to keep his command, which is:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you (v. 12).
Note that this command is not given to us in a conditional sense like those in the old covenant. Rather, because he loves us unconditionally forgiving all our sins, we ought to love each other. In order to see this, we will look at the parable in Mat 18:21ff.