College Hour

You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends for all the things that I have heard from my father I have made known to you. - John 15:14-15 In this particular verse, Jesus is now calling his disciples friends. For his own death on the cross has proved his love for them and now they would prove their love for him by loving one another and loving the entire world. See friends each other and they help each other, and the obedience of Christ that flows through the believer ought to be on display for a sick and dying world. Guess what family? God is calling on us to love our neighbors, to love one another and to be the example of Christ on the earth. So, because we are his friends and he abides in us, we too ought to abide in him and do the things we’ve seen him do. In scripture we’re reminded that Abraham was God’s friend and God told him the plans he had for a fallen world. And so today I want to remind you that you too are a friend of God and he has shared his plan with you; for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Let’s pray: Eternal Father, our God, thank you. Thank you for the love you have for us and love you’ve shown abroad in our hearts. Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins, rising victoriously from the grave and giving to everyone freely, the wonderful gift of eternal life by believing and confessing in your son Jesus. Thank you so much for this great university, bless our cohorts as they study and learn together. Thank you for our administration, our faculty, our staff, but most of all thank you for these students that help to show us the way as well. We love you, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:12 When we come to the text today we see that Jesus is charging the believer to do something. He’s charging us to obey and demonstrate our love through the brethren. The words “to love” here is a command and is written in what we call the present active tense. That means it’s something you keep on doing and it’s not something that you do just one time. In other words, you don’t stop no matter what the outcome is in the object of the thing in which you are loving. For example, my professor, Dr. Elwell, says that John uses this language over four times in the book of John and he’s writing it because it’s a word that’s powerful to him. He says ‘I’m giving you a new commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you,’ in John 13:4. Now according to Dr. Elwell, the disciples were being encouraged to love their enemies because they were living in a hostile time as followers of Christ. Dr. Elwell also suggests that Jesus’ command to love is for those who are in his body; we are to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, this would provide proof to a fallen world that we were his believers, his followers, his sons and daughters—if we love one another. So their love and our love would provide proof , evidence, that we are followers of Christ—do you have that evidence today? Do the people in your cohort know that you love them today? How about your families? What about your communities? How about your neighborhoods? Does your neighbor know that you love them today? If not, here’s the love challenge this month: love somebody in spite of how they respond to you. Can I pray for us now? Let’s pray: Father thank you so much. Thank you for our cohorts, thank you for this great university. Thank you for the opportunity to study about your love. Thank you for the reminder that greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for a friend. Teach us to know what this means, teach us how to live this out. Teach us to be brothers and sisters that truly love one another and we’ll give honor, glory and praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. - John 15:12 Here in this passage we see a new call to action from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s a call to demonstrate what one believes and cherishes about love. It’s a call to love in a difficult time, beyond our grievances, above all accusations and in spite of all disappointments. See instead of what one’s flesh would do, this demonstrative act of sacrificial love is being taught to us by the Christ. Here’s what I’ve come to believe: this type of love trumps any other kind of love. This kind of love that Jesus is talking about is not fickle; it’s not sometimes on and sometimes off. In fact, this type of love is a sacrificial commitment that involves the whole being of a person and literally cost a person their life. What is Christ talking to us about today? Well, I believe he’s calling us to encounter him through this marvelous act of love. See Jesus in this passage is pressing his way to the cross to pay for the sins of the world and it’s the last night before he is going to be betrayed and be handed over to those who would kill him. These powerful words and this powerful command is instruction that’s given to his disciples so that they would know exactly what God is calling them to do in a fallen world. Well my beloved, this is what I want you to know: as you’re studying in your cohorts, as your serving one another in your communities, your churches and your families, remember to love one another because it is a commandment from God. So, how do we place this in active relation to everything that we’re doing? First of all, forgive the one who has offended you. Serve the one who is least likely to be served. And whatever you do, put God first in every area of your life. Let’s pray together: Eternal God, our Father, thank you. Thank you for this amazing privilege to study your word as a family, to study and serve here at Fresno Pacific. We pray for our faculty, we pray for our staff, we pray for our cohorts; bless every student. Help us to love in difficult times and help our love to reflect that of Christ. Bless our school, bless all that we plan to do and how we align our lives up with you. We thank you for it. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.