When we hear, “keep my commandments,” it can come with heaviness. We think of the law and how often we have failed. We know who we are in the flesh. But 1 John 5:3 puts it this way, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” It is now about a higher command, love, flowing from a loving relationship with God. Jesus in John 15:9-17 talks to the disciples about how to maintain the relationship, what it looks like, and what will come from it.
How to Maintain It
First, we discover how to maintain this relationship. In 1 John 5:1, we read, “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, and everyone who loves Him (The Father) also loves him who He fathered.”
“Abide in My love,” Jesus said. “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” There is delight in pleasing the Father. It doesn’t come through the laws of thou shalt not or thou shalt, but rather out of loving the Father and the Son and allowing His love to flow through us. It maintains the union. Jesus loved to the point of laying down His life. He told His disciples there was no greater love than laying down one’s life for their friends.
What it Looks Like
Secondly, what does it look like? This relationship is no longer Master and servants. Jesus said, “I have called you friends.” There was a time when they served Him. But they did not know what He was doing at that point. Now, everything He heard from the Father, He has told them. These were the things that will bring them joy and cause their joy to remain. Like John wrote in1 John 1:4, “These things I write to you that your joy may be full.”
The Result of the Relationship
Finally, what is the result of such a relationship? It is Me that chose you, Jesus told them. I not only chose you, but I also appointed you. I appointed you so that you would go and bear fruit, fruit that will remain. Then whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give to you. You must love one another.
Within the loving union of God the Father, and God the Son, are those who live and rest in His love. They will be fruitful, bringing forth beautiful, plentiful, and seed- bearing fruit to the glory of God.