Jeff Englund

June 19, 2019June 18, 2019

SLOW DOWN – John 15: 12

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

I drove by a church on my way to work this morning. In front of the building was a large signboard that read, “Love More.”

What do you suppose they meant?

The word “love” holds different meanings depending on your perspective. A worldly view might understand this to mean doing more of what you love. A Christ-like perspective might understand this to mean doing more Christian type stuff.

Let’s assume that the people who wrote the sign know Jesus and were thinking of his command to, “Love each other as I have loved you.” What then, does the “more” mean?

Occasionally I will see a yellow caution sign along the road that says, “SLOW” or “SLOW DOWN.” I wonder if most people assume that they are already going slow enough and think the sign is for someone else? But what if you are already driving slow? How slow are you supposed to go?

The same holds true for loving “more.” Jesus doesn’t say we should feel more love for others. He doesn’t assume everyone is loving too little and should love more. Instead, he says that we should love each other as he has loved you and me.

This is a difficult thing. Jesus loved the people who crucified him. That is why he came to earth: To be killed by those he loved. How then can we refuse to care for those who hate us? I don’t know what “love more” means, but I do have a glimpse of what Jesus meant by “love each other” when I look at how he lived and died.

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June 18, 2019June 18, 2019

Joy – John 15: 11

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

In this chapter Jesus spends considerable time talking about the fact that He is the source of life. If anyone does not remain in Him they can do nothing, and will be “thrown in the fire and burned.” (Notice that this description of Judgement is very non-judgmental. It is of no more consequence than picking up a dead stick from the ground and throwing it into the fire.) Next, Jesus talks about what He will do for the believer, and then he discusses the importance of keeping His commands.

Why? Once again we are faced with questions. Why is Jesus saying this? Why does He want us to remain in Him? Why does he warn us about the fire? The answer, it seems, is Joy.

Jesus, for all his cares and sorrows, is full of joy. It is a joy that comes from being in right relationship with the Father. It is a joy that results from being aligned with the Father’s will. Golfers call this the “sweet spot.” Some people call it being in “the groove.” An old-time phonograph only makes music when the needle is tracking along the groove of the record. Being “in the groove” is what a phonograph was made for. If the word “joy” can be applied to such a simple machine as a record player, then doing what it is made to do brings it joy.

Hopefully, everyone has experienced some joy. The glory of knowing Jesus is that in Him, our joy can be complete.

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June 17, 2019June 16, 2019

The New Agreement – John 15: 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.

What are the commands that Jesus has given us? How many of them are there? Are they hard? Are they difficult? What does he want us to do?

These questions can be a little confusing for those of us who are not Jewish. Jesus was born a Jew. The Jews of Jesus’ day were the chosen people of God. Their history was rich with traditions and replete with all kinds of rules and commands. Much of the discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees is a very technical debate over rules and regulations.

But Jesus is here on earth to institute a new agreement between God and mankind. The old agreement, or covenant, has run its course. There is nothing left of it but a tattered worn out prayer shawl. The Israelites have turned against God even when they claim to be doing His will.

In John 13:34 Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This command to love is really the sum of his commands. In essence, there are no others. Love one another.

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June 16, 2019June 16, 2019

A Wonderful Love – John 15: 9

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

How has the Father loved Jesus? After all, it was the Father who arranged for Jesus to be born a human. It was the Father who sent his son as an emissary to an ungrateful nation. It was the Father who told Jesus he needed to die on the cross. Is that love?

Well… yes. It is the deepest kind of love.

We believe that God and Jesus are one. In some sense, God Himself came down and became part of His creation. That I do not fully understand how this is possible is not important. What is important is that God sees His creation for what it is: Broken and needing redemption.

Some cities have laws that regulate who owns garbage and when. For example, when the garbage goes into the bin, the garbage company technically owns it. Whatever you put in there no longer belongs to you. In a sense that is what happened to humanity. We collectively jumped into the garbage bin of sin and ownership was transferred to “Satan’s Garbage Collection Service.” (Motto – “When we burn trash it burns forever!”) To reclaim His creation from the garbage, God had to pay a terrible price. He had to die on the cross.

How did the Father love Jesus? He resurrected him from the dead. How does Jesus love us? He does the same thing his Father did for him: He resurrects us from the dead. What a wonderful love! What a wonderful place to remain.

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June 15, 2019June 14, 2019

Reasons Why – John 15: 8

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

As we listen to Jesus talk, we get to the root of the matter. We learn more and more about the thoughts behind his words. Why does he want us to remain in him? As he begins speaking he explains we are to remain in him so that we can live. Without remaining in him we have no life, no hope, and no future. So from our own perspective, if we want to live we need to be in Jesus.

In today’s verse, we learn that when we bear fruit by remaining in Jesus, we bring glory to God the Father. Of course, this makes sense because everything Jesus does is centered around his Father. Every act and every word brings glory to his Father. Why should this truth be any different?

We also learn something about what it means to bear much fruit. When we show ourselves to be Jesus’ disciples, we are bearing fruit. Now we are getting a sense of what it means to “bear fruit.” Being a disciple is all about Jesus. A disciple listens to Jesus, obeys Jesus, and does his or her best to be like Jesus in terms of being faithful to the Father, loving others, and enduring persecution.

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June 14, 2019June 13, 2019

Wish – John 15: 7

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

In the post titled “Wants” (May 18, 2019) we looked at a similar verse. In John 14: 13-14 Jesus says, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” In that post, we talked about the fact that Jesus always does whatever his Father wants.

In today’s verse, Jesus repeats his offer. Only this time there is a clarification of what he means. “If” you remain in Jesus, and “if” Jesus’ words remain in you, whatever you wish will be done for you.

Now the question becomes if you are in Jesus and if his words are in you, what would you wish for? I have a feeling that being in Jesus alters what we wish for.

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June 13, 2019June 12, 2019

Branches – John 15: 6

If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

In this passage, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He is speaking Truth, with a capital “T”. This means it is also true for you and me. He has already told us that branches that bear no fruit will be cut off (Verse 2). Then he tells us in verses 4 and 5 that we must remain in Jesus to bear fruit, or even to be able to do anything at all. Now he describes what happens to people-branches who do not remain in him.

The disciples remained with Jesus even when the going got tough. When Jesus leaves them, they remain together trusting in his promises. Then Jesus sends his Holy Spirit and they remain faithful to his Word, his Spirit, and their mission.

And what is the mission God has given us? In John 13: 34 Jesus says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” This is easy when things are going well. When believers remain in Jesus, their hearts are soft and they reciprocate in the kind of love (agape) that Jesus is referring to. It gets more difficult when believers do not remain in Jesus. Then hearts get hard and priorities get confused.

June 12, 2019June 11, 2019

Doing Nothing – John 15: 5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Today’s verse is a restatement of verses one and four. Whenever God repeats Himself, it is wise to pay extra attention. It is also good communication. Communication is not just making noises that sound like words, but conveying ideas. Repeating what you have said is a good way to emphasize your meaning. Jesus goes one step farther. He shakes up his words and pours out the same meaning in a different combination. That tends to make us think about what he said.

In this version of what he has said before, he promises that those who remain in him will bear much fruit. Then he adds an interesting twist: “… apart from me you can do nothing.”

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019

Remain In Me – John 15: 4

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

How do you hear this verse? We each bring our own perspective to what we read and what we hear and see. To me, it sounds like Jesus is saying, “Hey, don’t wander off!” He also alludes to a kind of duality in our relationship with him. He chooses to remain in us, while we can choose to remain or wander off. Why else would he tell his disciples this?

Then he explains why we must remain. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself. A Christian cannot bear fruit unless they remain in Jesus.

So what does this mean, to “remain” in Jesus?

Where is your head at right now? Are you in Jesus or somewhere else? Are you thinking about the day? Are you planning to do something interesting? Are you bored, tired, afraid or hungry?

There are little tell-tale signs that tell us where we are. In the Old Testament, we see stories of people like Joseph who always remembered that everything came from God. Job was accosted by every evil that can befall man and yet he remembered his God, his Redeemer. David, throughout his lifetime, turned to God for guidance on important decisions.

I think remaining in Jesus is something like that. I think it means that we remember to confess our sin to God, to ask God for his blessing and protection, and to turn to him when we are in need.

June 10, 2019June 9, 2019

Clean – John 15:3

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

This phrase in John’s gospel seems a bit of a non sequitur. Yet I have come to believe that God’s Word, the Bible, is absolutely the way he wants it to be. Just as Jesus is a “stumbling stone” for those whose pride will not let them bow to their Creator, the Word also can be a stumbling stone to those who insist that the Bible must conform to their ideas of writing structure and form. God, in His wisdom, says the book is exactly the way he wanted it.

So let’s assume that God knows what He is doing. Let’s assume that what John tells us about what Jesus said is here for a reason. If the answer to the question, “Why is this sentence here?” is that God wanted it that way, then what does it say and what does it mean?