Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

¹⁵ “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

Role of the Spirit

¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. ²⁴ He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. ²⁸ You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. ³⁰ I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me; ³¹ but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." - " but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me."    In these the beginning and ending lines of today's text, Jesus equates love and obedience. There is obedience which is born out of fear and there is obedience which is born out of respect, but obedience which is the result of love is better than either of those. Obedience which is born out of fear will cause anger, resentment, bitterness and rebellion to rise up. Even with obedience that comes from respect, there can be a point at which one questions or weighs the cost of disobedience verses the personal gain, choosing at times to disobey. Obedience that is born out of true love will be absolute. True love, love like Jesus has for the Father and love like God has for us is both unconditional and sacrificial. So obedience born out of true love is also then unconditional and sacrificial.

 Philippians 2:8 speaks of the level of Jesus obedience to the Father.     Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Jesus said, " I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me."  He says to us,  “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments"   Interestingly, Jesus equates love and obedience, then also many of the commandments Jesus gives are centered around love.

 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I command you.(John 15:12-14)       He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the great and foremost commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) 

Love, true love is probably the strongest motivating force in the world. It is born out of a response to the fact that:     God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.(John 3:16)     We love, because He first loved us.(1 John 4:19) True love both originates from and draws us to God.

In today's text Jesus says:    I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; ¹⁷ that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.

The world cannot receive. The world and the devil do everything to distort and pervert true love. That's why the world cannot receive the Spirit of Truth. It promotes and follows a love that is a lie. Rather than true unconditional, sacrificial love like God's love, the world promotes a love based on self-satisfaction. Possibly the ultimate example of how far from true Godly sacrificial love our society and culture has fallen is the more than one million abortions performed in the U.S. each year. The world has believed a lie. It has substituted lust, greed and sefishness for the love that God intended. It is no wonder then that what is said in Matthew 24:10-12 is true of our times.

 ¹⁰ At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. ¹² Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 

On this day,  as we a collective people and even our government, take time to remember and pay tribute, as we should, to all those who have sacrificed of themselves for love of country and countrymen, may we also remember what they sacrificed for. May we remember how far we as a nation have fallen. True love is not whatever makes us feel good. True unconditional, sacrificial love, love that has cost many their lives is only found in a response to the love of God. That is what this nation was founded for. 

 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. Thank you to all who have served and sacrificed for country and countrymen. Thank You, Jesus Christ for giving the ultimate gift of love and sacrificing Your life that we might live. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcHQbo5-Dz0

What did He die for?