John 15.9-17
Love Others
Living Into Vision #2
 05.17.2014 – First UMC St. Cloud
Note from Pastor Mike: I want to encourage our church family to look
deeper into what God speaks to us through the Message.
Here at First United Methodist Church of Saint Cloud we believe that
God speaks to us through the Message. One way for all of us to hear
from God more clearly is to read the Scripture verses and the
Message again during the week.
I would really like to hear your comments and how God is challenging
you through the worship service and the Message. It would be great
to hear your discussion ideas. Please feel free to send me your
discussion points.
Your friend on the journey,
Pastor Mike
Contact Pastor Mike at:
 Pastor.Mike.FUMC@gmail.com
OR
 First UMC St. Cloud 1000 Ohio Avenue Saint Cloud, FL 34769
(NIV) John 15.9-17 – 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now
remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just
as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you
this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has
no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if
you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant
does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for
everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did
not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and
bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the
Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Introduction: Not Far From the Kingdom
When we love Others, we are not far from the Kingdom of God or God’s Rule.
1. Our “Big Idea” a few weeks ago argued that the work of the church is
anticipating (being a sign pointing to) the final renewal of all things through,
and only through, Jesus the Christ. In our Book of Discipline, The United
Methodist Church has come to understand this work of the church in
declaring that: “The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ
for the transformation of the world.” (¶120 of the 2008 Discipline of the United
Methodist Church) God is transforming this world in large part through the
lives of believers; through Christians, in whom God’s image is restored through
a relationship with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.
2. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus offers us the basic means through which this
transformation of the world is occurring; these ever growing signs pointing to
the final renewal of all things when Christ returns.
a. (NIV) Matthew 22.28-34 – 28 One of the teachers of the law came and
heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer,
he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The
most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our
God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
32 “Well
said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one
and there is no other but him. 33 To love him with all your heart, with all your
understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is
more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
34 When
Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far
from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more
questions.
b. You are not far from the Kingdom of God; you are not far from seeing
God’s new creation that has already begun in the life and death and
resurrection of Jesus the Christ when you love God and love others.
3. For you and me here at First United Methodist Church of Saint Cloud we are
working for the kingdom of God when we:
a. Love God, Love Others, Serve the World and Invite a Friend. Today we are
working out how we are living into OUR vision to LOVE OTHERS.
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The “Big Idea” – We are learning to LOVE GOD in our Wesley Life Groups and
other small groups.
A. Deep and Strong
God uses small groups to make our faith deep and strong.
1. I want to help us see the importance of small groups to our Christian lives and
to the mission of our church. To begin with, I want to give you a brief look at
how those outside the church, specifically young adults see the church and
Christianity.
2. In their book, un-Christian: What a new Generation Really Thinks About
Christianity, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons have done solid research on
sixteen to twenty-nine year olds; the leading edge of the Mosaic generation
and the trailing end of the Buster generation. They found that only one out of
seven young adults who are outside the church (not Christian) describe
Christianity as a religion or faith that seems genuine and real.
3. The research also revealed that most of these young adults also have grown
up in and around Christians and the church. They have tried the “Jesus thing”
and a majority has found the church desperately lacking relevance. (see
p77)
4. Unfortunately, these outsiders are not entirely wrong about the paper-thin
belief of many Christians (p78). We, Christians in the church, have failed to
portray following Jesus as an all out, into the Kingdom of God life that
dramatically influences all aspects of our lives (p79). If we rely on one hour
(right, right, one hour and ten minutes) a week to deepen our faith and
strengthen our capacity to serve, then we too will be found wanting just as
the research shows.
B. Made Visible in Our Local Church
Jesus intends us to learn to love others made visible in our local church.
1. Jesus tells this first group of followers and, through their accounts Jesus speaks
to us saying, (NIV) John 15.15 – 15 I no longer call you servants, because a
servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you
friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to
you. Jesus explains that we are now more than servants (though, other
places make it clear, we are to serve the world). Through the life of Jesus
made know to us through the accounts of these first followers in the
Scriptures and through our relationship with Jesus the Son and in the power of
the Holy Spirit, you and I know God the Father’s plans for humanity and for
the whole of the Creation.
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2. It is important for us to hear these words of Jesus in their proper context. He is
not speaking to individual believers. Instead, Jesus is speaking to the
community of believers. Look at (NIV) John 15.12 and 17 – 12 My command is
this: Love each other as I have loved you… and …17 This is my command:
Love each other. This is what is referred to as an inclusion. Intentionally (or
unintentionally), the author frames, if you will, our knowledge of God’s will in
Jesus with the call and command to “love each other”. So, for us to live as
friends of God through our relationship with Jesus, to live this, in some respects
mystical union between us and God, we have to “love each other” or, as
Jesus says in (NIV) Matthew 22.31a – 31 ….‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
3. Jesus, I am sure, is being very specific here, that to begin with, for us to serve
the world as the Body of Christ, we need to love our fellow Christians. But, not
some vague idea of fellow Christians. You and I need to learn to love the
believers we are connected to in the Body of Christ made visible in our local
church community. So, to Love Others (other Christians) as we love ourselves,
we need to come to experience hearing the direct, active, immediate
leading of God through community. This occurs best in the context of a small
group.
C. We Have Heard from God
In small groups we can discern when we have heard from God.
1. You might recall from the message last week that Jesus declares, (NIV)
Mathew 18.20 –20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with
them.” That can and does happen in this room through the message yet
there is a greater depth of understanding that occurs when you and I gather
together with a small group of friends to study the Scriptures together; when
we gather with specific people with whom we are learning to obey Jesus
when he says, (NIV) John 15.12 and 17 – 12 My command is this: Love each
other as I have loved you… and …17 This is my command: Love each other.
2. Because of God’s supernatural power, God in his mercy speaks to you and
me, cutting into our soul through the preached word. Yet there is so much
more God wants to do with these words. When Jesus calls us friends, he is
making the highest claim of a personal and intimate relationship between
God and human beings that can be made. If the message on Sunday
morning is the only time you give to being Jesus’ friend and listening to Jesus
tell you what God has to say to you then you are missing out.
3. So, how do we begin to know that we have heard from God? In a small
group of people, who genuinely have each other’s best interest in their
heart, the Holy Spirit utilizes what we might call the “checks and balances” of
the discernment and words of different believers to bring each individual and
the group as a whole into the heartbeat of God. It is in these small groups
that you and I are able to live into (NIV) Philippians 2.12 – 12 Therefore, my
dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now
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much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear
and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to
fulfill his good purpose. (You see, in Philippians 2.12, where “your” ( ἑαυτῶν) is
the plural, not individual, better translated as “you-all’s”.)
4. This is possible because Jesus enters into this intimate community with us.
(NIV) Matthew 18.19.20 – 19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth
agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in
heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
In a very tangible and powerful way, we experience the presence of Jesus
and the assurance of answered prayers – in a small group of believers.
5. John Wesley understood this, in speaking about his small groups, he says, “no
one can develop a mature spirituality alone and no one can claim vital
spiritual life apart from service in the world in Jesus name” (Harper, 121). He
called this “Christian conference,” - life together pursuing inward and
outward holiness, becoming more like Jesus inside and out (Harper, 122).
Spiritual growth and holy living seem to happen most effectively within a
small group of people.
D. People’s Greatest Fear-Loneliness
Small groups seek to conquer people’s greatest fear-loneliness.
1. I think people have a great deal of fear when they hear the word small
group. On the other hand, though, as a pastor friend of mine once pointed
out, “People’s greatest fear is loneliness. This is because at our core, God
created us to live in relationships.” Jesus, because he created us, points us to
the church and life together as believers as the way to meet this God given
need. (NIV) John 15.13 – 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down
one’s life for one’s friends.
2. Certainly, the history of Christianity contains many instances where believers
have died for others. Yet, I think “to lay down our lives for our friends” also
directs us to give our lives for each other in terms of our time and our energy
and even our money. Being a Christian by definition means we are part of
the church in this world; we belong to each other because of Jesus the
Christ. We hear God in (NRSV) Genesis 4.8b-9 – 8…Cain rose up against his
brother Abel and killed him. 9Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your
brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ To which
God responds that, “Yes, yes indeed”, we are indeed our brother’s and
sister’s keepers.
3. Anchored in a small group where we do-life-together bearing each other’s
burdens. This is spoken of in (NRSV) Galatians 6.1-4 – 2Bear one another’s
burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ is at
its heart is love. Sometimes this is helping each other deal with the sin in our
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lives. Other times, this is dealing with each of our unique and sometimes
difficult personality traits. Then, there are the times we need to help each
other through the struggles and pain that come with life.
4. Small groups must and can be a place where you and I are safe. There is a
risk we take here but the benefits of doing-life-together with a small group of
believers are well worth the risk. John Wesley understood this when he formed
the Methodist movement in England in the 1700’s around small groups.
Wesley’s directions for his small group states, “Let nothing spoken in this
society be spoken again.” Wesley then comments, “Hereby, we had the
more full confidence in each other” (Wesley, 270). I can trust you with my
burdens if I know you will keep them within the group. then we can be
together bearing each other’s burdens.
5. I want to share a story I read some years back that has stuck with me. It is a
living example of the power of God through small groups of believers doinglive-together.
Bill Hybels in his book Courageous Leadership (Zondervan, 2002, pages 22-23)
speaks about the power of the church that flows out of dynamic small groups.
…I was given a real-life picture of the incredible potential of that transforming
power.
I had just finished presenting my weekend message at Willow and I was standing
in the bullpen, talking to people. A young married couple approached me,
placed a blanketed bundle in my arms, and asked me to pray for their baby.
As I asked what the baby's name was, the mother pulled back the blanket that
had covered the infant's face. I felt my knees begin to buckle. I thought I was
going to faint. Had the father not steadied me I may well have keeled over. In
my arms was the most horribly deformed baby I had ever seen. The whole
center of her tiny face was caved in. How she kept breathing I will never know.
All I could say was, "Oh my ... oh my ... oh my."
"Her name is Emily," said the mother. "We've been told she has about six weeks
to live," added the father. "We would like you to pray that before she dies she
will know and feel our love."
Barely able to mouth the words, I whispered, "Let's pray."
Together we prayed for Emily. Oh, did we pray. As I handed her back to her
parents I asked, "Is there anything we can do for you, any way that we as a
church can serve you during this time?"
The father responded with words that still amaze me. He said, "Bill, we're
okay. Really we are. We've been in a loving small group for years. Our
group members knew that this pregnancy had complications. They were at
our house the night we learned the news, and they were at the hospital
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when Emily was delivered. They helped us absorb the reality of the whole
thing.
They even cleaned our house and fixed our meals when we brought her
home. They pray for us constantly and call us several times every day. They
are even helping us plan Emily's funeral. "
Just then three other couples stepped forward and surrounded Emily and
her parents. "We always attend church together as a group," said one of
the group members.
It was a picture I will carry to my grave, a tight-knit huddle of loving brothers
and sisters doing their best to soften one of the cruelest blows life can throw.
After a group prayer, they all walked the side aisle toward our lobby.
Where, I wondered as they left, would that family be, where would they go,
how would they handle this heartbreak, without the church?
There is nothing like the local church when it's working right. The beauty is
indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential unlimited. It comforts
the grieving and heals the broken in the text of community. It builds bridges
to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in
need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the
disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed, and
offers belonging to the marginalized of this world. Whatever the capacity
for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for heal and
wholeness.
Still to this day, the potential of the local church is almost more than I can
grasp. No other organization on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes
close.
6. Christian community and small groups of believers are not some dreamy
extraordinary social experience or wishful ideal of religious community. To
desire this or to try to inject these dreams into a small group would destroy it
even if your intentions are honest and earnest. Christian community is messy,
but so is life; and I am needing people to walk through the mess with me.
7. Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “Only that fellowship which faces that
disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it
should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to
it” - life together with God
8. Here are three action points for our journey to learn to love others:
“Action Points”
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We are
LEARNING to Love Others in Wesley Life Groups
 Participate in a Wesley Life Group
 Purposefully develop friendships in a small group
 Pray and care for the people in your small group