John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
What are Christ’s commands? Jesus succinctly and simply explains it like this:
Love one another even as I have loved you.
Even when you were unlovable – selfish, angry, violent, unattractive, and an enemy to God, at war with God and refusing to submit to His Commands, Romans 8:7, stubbornly rationalizing your actions and justifying your sins, disappointing yourself and others – that’s when Christ loved you. He didn’t just tolerate you. He chose you, called you his friend, and he laid down his life for you.
It might be easy, in the abstract, to think that when the time came, you would lay down [your] life for [your] friends. But until that day arrives, Christians have what might be an even harder task: Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 Are you, like your Savior, willing to be kind, compassionate and forgiving each other? Would you be willing to serve Judas supper or wash his feet? Remember, when we were unlovely, Christ forgave us. There is no provisional clause in Christ’s command that allows for Christians to hold a grudge or to keep an account of wrongs suffered. 1 Corinthians 13:5
John 15:17 “I command these things to you, that you may love one another. 18 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ John 13:16 If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me, hates my Father also. 24 If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’ Psalm 35:19 & Psalm 69:4
And don’t think that loving will be easy. Why? In the same way that the world hated Christ, without cause the world will hate Christians for no reason. Christ warns, Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ John 13:16 If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
What excuses do people use to persecute Christians and to reject the assurance of eternal life and the joy of a relationship, friendship with their Creator?
I reject that Being as Lord of my life because I’m better than that. I cannot accept Jesus as Lord. You’re much freer to live and enjoy your life unshackled from his demands. Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith
It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley, Invictus
Just like the religious leaders in ancient Israel, those who reject God today want to be sovereign. Just like Eve in the garden, Genesis 3:6, they have elevated their feelings and desires over the good and life- enhancing commands of their Creator. As our culture teaches, Love is love. If it feels good, do it. My truth.
How will we be able to love as Christ loved?
John 15:26 “When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. 27 You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
How will you be able to love, even those who hate and persecute you, enough to tell them about the love of Christ? Christ again assures his disciples that they will be given the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.
Why did Jesus tell his disciples these things?
John 16:1 “I have said these things to you so that you wouldn’t be caused to stumble. 2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God. 3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4 But I have told you these things, so that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I don’t go away, the Counselor won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment; 9 about sin, because they don’t believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more; 11 about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged.
Jesus was about to be crucified, and after his resurrection he would ascend into heaven. Because Jesus knew that he would be leaving his disciples very soon he begins to prepare them for what they will face. He doesn’t want his disciples to be caught by surprise and to stumble in their assigned task.
First, when they go to preach the Gospel, the good news of Christ’s resurrection, they can expect to be put out of the synagogues.
Second, the persecution will get so bad the time [will come] that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.
Jesus acknowledges that when he returns to his Heavenly Father, sorrow will fill their hearts. But nevertheless, it is necessary that their closest friend, mentor, teacher, and miracle worker return to heaven in order that the Counselor, the Holy Spirit can be given to all who believe. God is sending them the Spirit of power. 2 Timothy 1:7
What will the Spirit do?
First, He will convict the world about sin. For most people sin is simply a mistake. Sin is not really a big deal because we all make mistakes. But the Spirit will point out how many of the behaviors and attitudes that our culture accepts as normal are actually sins against God, sins that consume and ultimately destroy us.
Second, He will convict the world … about righteousness. We are so entrenched and comfortable with our sins that we have lost sight of what true righteousness looks like. While he was here on earth Jesus was constantly pointing out to the disciples, the religious leaders, and anyone else who would listen what true righteousness consisted of. With his departure into heaven, the Holy Spirit, will take on the role of teaching righteousness.
Third, He will convict the world … about judgment because the prince of this world has been judged. Must folks live their lives like they never will die, without any thought of the coming judgment of God. Just as the prince of this world has been defeated and judged, Christ disarmed principalities and powers … making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them, Colossians 2:15, Christ will judge all of the people on earth who insisted on holding on to their sins. It is appointed for men once to die and then the judgment. Hebrews 9:27
Self-made identities don’t set anyone free. They enslave. When identity becomes idolatry, it demands worship. And when the idol disappoints – when the new name, new gender, new pronouns can’t deliver peace – the result is despair, rage, and destruction. Paul warned us in Romans 1: exchange the truth of God for a lie, and futility follows. Darkened hearts, disordered passions, and ultimately death. Virgil Walker, Sola Veritas
John 16:12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine and will declare it to you.
God the Son will, very soon, return to God the Father, but he is not going to leave Christians alone because God the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth will come to guide [believers] into all truth. When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13 As amazing and reassuring as this promise of Christ is, many in the church today are confused about the truth and do not have power because many don’t even believe in the Holy Spirit.
In a January 2025 survey conducted by the Cultural Research Center of the Arizona Christian University:
- Protestants:
58% believed in God the Father
81% believed in God the Son
35% believed in God the Spirit - Catholics:
44% believed in God the Father,
78% believed in God the Son,
22% believed in God the Spirit
When the majority of “Christians” do not believe in the Holy Spirit is it any wonder that the church is weak, anemic, easily confused, not understanding the truth and willing to compromise with the lies of the culture controlled by the deceiver?
Only the Holy Spirit can fill the earth with the knowledge of Truth that infuses the fear of God and builds character. The church’s ministry to disciple nations will have to be a Spirit-led revolution. It will disrupt the status quo. Vishal Mangalwadi, RevelationMovement.com