Meditations on the Meaning of ChristmasChikamu

Love Goes Out: Part 2

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:9-10)

We have been considering the term “perfected love” from 1 John 4:12, and have defined it this way, perfected love is love that comes down, goes up, and goes out.

God’s love comes down to us in Jesus Christ, and as we truly receive His love and experience His love, we are transformed by His love into people who love God and love others.

Perfected love begins with the love of God coming down at Christmas.

Now notice that Jesus tells us to do something with His love, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you, abide in my love” (John 15:9)

Jesus commands us to abide in His love, which means that He’s telling us to dwell in His love, to live in His love, and ultimately to experience His love.

And how do we do that? Well thankfully Jesus tells us in the very next verse, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. (John 15:10)

In other words, if you and I keep Jesus’ commandments (by loving others) God will pour out an experience of His love into our hearts that we would not otherwise experience if we did not obey His commandments. And Jesus gives Himself as an example by explaining that as He keeps His Father’s commandments (by loving others) He experiences the Father’s love.

Now a critical point of clarification; Jesus is not saying that God will love us more if we obey Him. That’s not at all what He’s saying. Jesus already said that He loves us perfectly as the Father loves Him.

Rather, Jesus is saying that if we want to experience the love of God more and more in our lives, the perfect love that God already has for us, then we must walk the road of loving others. The way that you and I grow in experiencing the love of God is to ask (pray), to meditate on His Word (especially the gospel), and to love others. This is the path we must walk in order to grow in experiencing the love of God.

So, consider what Jesus is saying, the more that you and I experience God’s love, the more we are transformed by His love into people who love God and love others. But the cycle of transformation doesn’t stop there. It’s also true that the more we love others, the more we will experience His love.

This is the beauty of perfected love. This is the beauty of God’s transforming grace! The more we love others, the more we will experience God’s love. And the more we experience God’s love, the more we will love others!

There’s no better time for us to love others and to grow in experiencing God’s love than in this season of love!

Bless you and have a Merry Christmas!

- Pastor Nathan Penny