John 15:12-17
12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”
In the first section of this chapter, Jesus likens himself to the main branch of a grape plant, and God the Father to a vine grower. He likens us to the branches that grow from the main trunk. It is God’s intent to make each of the branches as fruitful as possible.
Jesus further talks about how unless one is attached to the main branch, one cannot be fruitful. The only way we can be fruitful is to abide in Christ. As Jesus abided in the Father’s love by keeping the Father’s commandments, we are to abide in Jesus’ love by keeping His commandments. And the result of abiding in Jesus’ love is joy. Quoting Jesus from v. 11 – “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”
Then Jesus proceeds to tell us what His command for us is in verse 12 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” And the greatest expression of this love, according to verse 13, is to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.
Jesus explains that masters do not divulge to their servants what they are doing. Jesus chooses to tell us what He and His Father are all about, treating us not as mere servants, but as if we are His friends.
Through Jesus’ teachings and the rest of the New Testament, we know what God’s plan for humanity is. Not being able to save ourselves, due to our sinful nature, God sent His Son to the cross to pay for our sins. By accepting this fact and accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are saved. We are saved so that we can be witnesses for Jesus until we either die or Jesus comes back again.
The interesting thing about verse 15 is that although we might think that we chose Jesus, the truth is that He chose us. He chose us to work for Him and to bear much fruit. We do not know why He chose us, but we do know what He chose us for. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” We should consider it an honor that He chose us for this work.
There are also those out there that are not aware of the fact that they have been chosen, and part of our work is to point people to Christ, so that they too can fulfill the role God has chosen for them.
Jesus uses growing grapes as an example, and since I know nothing about that, I looked it up. There needs to be one woody branch that is going to be the main branch, and give it support so that it will grow tall and sturdy. Then you use a structure to “train” the vines to spread out. For it to be as fruitful as possible, many of the branches must be pruned. If they are not pruned, then you get lots of leaves and few grapes. Now, it is true that there are uses for grape leaves, but most people who grow grapes do so for the fruit, and not for the leaves.
It probably is not a pleasant thing for the grape plant to have a bunch of vines pruned, but it is necessary for it to be fruitful.
It is similar for us. For us to be as fruitful as possible, things need to be pruned. It might be dealing with sins in our lives. It might be mending relationships. It might mean letting go of some money or belongings. It might mean giving up some precious time doing what we like to do. It might mean instead of going to our favorite vacation spot, going somewhere where we can help in Kingdom work.
Probably, we will not be called upon to do what Jesus considers the greatest act of love – to lay down our lives for our friends. But if we are willing to do that, as Jesus commands, then we should be able to show love to others in less drastic ways.
As I look back on the year 2025, I can think of all the time and energy I used in doing Kingdom work – Preparing to teach from the Bible, preparing for sermons, preparing to play on a worship team, help put together the liturgy to be used on Sunday morning, etc. Then I am reminded of Jesus’ conclusion that the widow who contributed two pennies gave more than the wealthy who put in more. His reasoning is that the widow gave all she had and left nothing for herself, while the wealthy kept much for themselves. Jesus is consistent in His teachings in that what he considers the greatest act of love is to lay one’s life for a friend – not keeping anything for oneself.
Using this accounting method, in 2025, I kept much more time and resources for myself, compared to what I did for the Kingdom. I could have done much more. Maybe it is the same for some of you.
But there is no reason to beat yourselves about this, since there is nothing we can do to change the past. However, we can use it as a catalyst to be willing to do a little more for the Kingdom in 2026, to show love to others. Be willing to be more fruitful, even if it means that we go through a little pain in being pruned by our Lord.
(the above is a summary of the message shared by Pastor Shun Takano during our worship on December 28, 2025.)
Japanese Congregational Church 