Young Adults' Group

Abiding In The Love Of Christ

by Pastor Mark
January 24, 2019

The challenge to love one another

As the body of Christ, the church is meant to love one another. There should be a spirit of love that is meant to permeate throughout the brethren of the church. Love is something that should characterise the believer and the church.

However, we recognise the challenge of learning to love one another. It takes much effort to love. Recognising this, the Lord Jesus sought to teach His disciples how they should learn to love one another by abiding in His love.

Abiding in the love of Christ

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” (John 15:9)

The Lord Jesus challenged His disciples to abide in His love. The word “abide” in Greek is “meno” which means “to remain, to dwell”. The use of the aorist imperative would indicate that the disciples should obey to remain in the love of Christ. They were still not abiding in the Lord’s love as they should.

But what is this love of Christ? The Lord revealed how His Father loved Him and with that same love, He loved His disciples. The disciples had experienced the love of Christ throughout His time with them. He cared for them, taught them, protected them…He loved them to the end. (John 13:1) They had also seen how the Lord loved the multitude with much affection (splagchnon). (Mark 1:41) The disciples were meant to abide in the love of Christ.

The link between the love of Christ and His commandments

The Lord taught further, “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) The Lord abided in His Father’s love by being in close communion with Him. Out of a heart of love, He kept His Father’s commandments…to preach the gospel and to be obedient fully. We should also learn to abide in Christ’s love…by being in communion with Him. We want to abide in Him and His Word. (John 15:4,7) It is out of a heart of love that we would keep the Lord’s commandment. Let us be challenged to abide in the Lord’s love.

The challenge to love as Christ did

“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”  (John 15:12)

If we truly abide in the love of Christ, then we would learn to obey His command to love. This was not a suggestion or an advice. It was a commandment from the Lord Himself. The disciples were to learn how to love each other as He had loved them. They were still concerned about who was the greatest among them. There was still friction among them. This was why the Lord gave this commandment to them to love each other.

The greatest love of all

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

The Lord Jesus qualified His commandment further. What did He expect of His disciples? His challenge was for them to demonstrate the greatest kind of love. It is a love that would cause a person to give his life for a friend. This is the true love of a friend. The Lord Jesus Himself would demonstrate this as He Himself would give His life to be sacrificed. This is the greatest kind of love that we should learn from the Lord Jesus…by the way in which He loved. Let us be challenged to love one another as Christ has loved us.

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