Proclamation:
"As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. 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. I have told you this so that My joy may be in
you and that your joy may be complete." John 15:9-11 (NIV)
Explanation:
These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, as recorded by the
Apostle John. Jesus was speaking to His
disciples to comfort them after He had told them that He would soon leave them. He told them that one of them would betray
Him, (John 13:21) and that Peter would deny Him, (John 13:38) and that God, The
Father, would send The Holy Spirit to be with them. (John 14:26) Then He likened Himself to a vine and said they
were the branches. (John 15:5-8) He told
that as long as they stayed connected to Him and kept His commands, they would
remain in His love and that His joy would be in them. (John 15:9-11)
Application:
As human beings we want all
of the good without the bad, the sunshine without the rain, and the joy without
the pain. Jesus makes it clear that
obedience to His commands is the basis for experiencing His complete joy. His joy was based upon His obedience to the
will of God, The Father. Our joy is
based upon our being obedient to His word. We can have the ultimate and complete joy of
Jesus if we follow His word. And this
joy is special, nothing in the world can give it to us, and the world can't
take it away from us. This joy extends
from the joy of our salvation.
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