January 16: Accepting His Love.
HIS INTIMACY.
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."--John 15:13
Friendship means mutual affection, respect, and honesty. Friends have each other's backs and like each other despite their character defects. I am not talking about acquaintances, but close friends who will take your secrets to their graves. This is what Jesus has chosen to call us: His friends. He knows everything about us: the good, the bad, and the ugly. And in spite of His intimate knowledge of us, He has chosen us as His friends.
The ultimate demonstration of the love of Jesus for us was His sacrifice on the cross. Yet many view God as a distant and demanding Master, who treats us as slaves and not as friends. When Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another, His love for us was the example: "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than one lays down his life for his friends" (John 15:12, 13). Then he went on to explain the intimacy of this relationship: "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you" (John 15:15, 16). F.F. Bruce points out that, "The contrast between the slave and the friend here is not unlike the contrast between the slave and the son in Galatians 4:7. John Wesley, looking back on his conversation in later years described it as the time when he exchanged the faith of a servant for the faith of a son. Had he expressed himself in Johannine rather than Pauline language, he might have said that he exchanged the obedience of a slave for the obedience of a friend."* Jesus has chosen us as His friends and has shared His plans with us. Whoever pledges allegiance to Him becomes His intimate friend (verse 14). Many carry the sting of rejection with them. Perhaps you have never been chosen, either for a school sports team or simply as a friend. Yet Jesus, the King of the universe, has died for you and has chosen you for a friend!
My Response:______________________________________________________
* F.F. Bruce, The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983), 112.
HIS INTIMACY.
"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."--John 15:13
Friendship means mutual affection, respect, and honesty. Friends have each other's backs and like each other despite their character defects. I am not talking about acquaintances, but close friends who will take your secrets to their graves. This is what Jesus has chosen to call us: His friends. He knows everything about us: the good, the bad, and the ugly. And in spite of His intimate knowledge of us, He has chosen us as His friends.
The ultimate demonstration of the love of Jesus for us was His sacrifice on the cross. Yet many view God as a distant and demanding Master, who treats us as slaves and not as friends. When Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another, His love for us was the example: "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than one lays down his life for his friends" (John 15:12, 13). Then he went on to explain the intimacy of this relationship: "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you" (John 15:15, 16). F.F. Bruce points out that, "The contrast between the slave and the friend here is not unlike the contrast between the slave and the son in Galatians 4:7. John Wesley, looking back on his conversation in later years described it as the time when he exchanged the faith of a servant for the faith of a son. Had he expressed himself in Johannine rather than Pauline language, he might have said that he exchanged the obedience of a slave for the obedience of a friend."* Jesus has chosen us as His friends and has shared His plans with us. Whoever pledges allegiance to Him becomes His intimate friend (verse 14). Many carry the sting of rejection with them. Perhaps you have never been chosen, either for a school sports team or simply as a friend. Yet Jesus, the King of the universe, has died for you and has chosen you for a friend!
My Response:______________________________________________________
* F.F. Bruce, The Gospel of John: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1983), 112.
RSS Feed
