Commentary on John 15 (5)

Commentary on John 15 (5) From John 15:12 onwards, it is about the relationship between me and my neighbors.“This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)Abide in my love is the Lord’s commandment, and then love your neighbor is also His commandment.All things are in a continuous relationship of vertical and horizontal.That is why there is latitude and longitude.The fine linen the bride wears before the Lord also has woof and warp.There is verticality and horizontality.Therefore, we must organize our relationship with God and our relationship with our neighbors well.The place where this organization is well-organized is the kingdom of God.They are intertwined.The place where brothers, disciples, and household are intertwined in Christ is the kingdom of God. So from verses 1 to 11 of chapter 15, it is vertical.In that state, from verse 12 onwards, it is a horizontal relationship.As a result of the relationship with the Lord, it bears fruit, and the fruit is not eaten by the tree, but by others.In this relationship, fullness comes and we are filled to the ends of the earth, north, south, east and west.The fact that the vertical and horizontal are full means that the length, width, and height are the same, 144 cubits, 144 thousand (144,000), which is the new heaven and new earth.144 cubits, 144 thousand, this is the number of fullness. Fruit is the result of supply.The sap that is supplied is the power of God's life.That is why it is said that the kingdom of God is not in words but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20).Therefore, if a branch does not have the power of life, it can never bear fruit.It must have power to bear fruit.That is why we must have the ability to receive the sap from God through Jesus Christ.That is why we must know the mystery of Christ and be faithful to that mystery, so we can receive in the power of God (1 Corinthians 4:1-2).Because of this, we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13)The important thing is that since the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, his being raised, and his ascension to heaven were successful, anyone can succeed with Christ if they just go through the message of the cross by believing in and following Jesus Christ.Since the first fruit was sanctified, we believe that all the fruits that follow will also be sanctified. Then, from John 15:18, it is about the world.“If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.”It is about the relationship between the world and me.First, it is about my relationship with the Lord, then it is about my relationship with my neighbor, and then it is about how the world will treat me.The world opposes the cross.It hates the cross.No, it likes the cross, but it is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks to carry the cross which become one with the Lord and go over and deny myself and take up my own cross and follow the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:23).They say they believe in Jesus, but they do not believe in Christ and obey according to the merit of the atonement of Christ’s cross, so there are still many servants of death in the hands of the devil, the ruler of the world.Even though the Son must be in them, they do not obey the Son because they believe in Jesus Christ only in heaven, and they do not see eternal life, but rather are under the wrath of God (John 3:36). Therefore, the world is not outside the church, but is filled inside the church. In John 15:19, it says, “If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”Inevitably, Christians are hated by the world.Then John 15:20 says, “Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”It is natural for us to be hated by others because we do something wrong.In many cases, that can happen.However, there are people who have never fought or harmed others, but they think of us as enemies forever.This is the inevitable reaction of the world to those who have the truth.Take the truth with you and try to do some ministry. The world will either hate us after hearing the words we preach, or they will accept the words we preach.That is why we must be careful not to have an emotional outburst in front of people who secretly hate us, secretly turn their backs on us, or such people. However, because we are weak, sometimes we explode and end up shooting our words like a machine gun.This was a failure I experienced many times in the past.However, now I have reached a point where we look at the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin on Gwanghwamun Street with a blank expression‎, saying, “No matter what, no matter what.”If they do not listen to us, we are hurt, and this is our weakness and our shortcomings.So we say, “Even if I do that, you should not do that.”It is exactly like the teachings of the Pharisees.Isn’t it? Because we are still in weakness. Just as the Lord said, “Listen to the words of the Pharisees but do not imitate their actions,” do not speak harshly like me and do not get angry at those who hate you.The world hates those who have received the word of God.They are absolutely not friendly.Think about Jesus.If a country carpenter with nothing special were to go to Yongsan and say, “Destroy the president’s house and rebuild it in three days,” would you care?Then everyone would say, “Isn’t that guy crazy?Just leave him alone.”They wouldn’t arrest him and crucify him. They would just ignore him.But would that insignificant Jesus, standing in front of the majesty of Herod’s temple that he had built for 46 years, and say, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days,” and charge him with the crime of blasphemy and kill him?The reason the Jews gnashed their teeth at Jesus is because Jesus is the Son of God, has light, and has the word of God, and that is the very reason they hate him so much that they kill him.That desire to kill led them to frame him for the crime he was accused of and, through Pilate's hand, to have him executed by crucifixion, the ultimate method of damnation. It is the same now.The reason the people of the world are grinding and crushing the church is because they hate the light and when even a little mistake comes out, they turn it around and blame it and condemn the church.Do you understand?Inevitably, we Christians are treated that way by the world.However, among them, there are those who accept the word of the Lord that we preach.In fact, there are people who read my articles every morning, both in Korea and all over the world, and that is the reason why I am still eating well and living in the world. Then we look at John 15:22.“If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin.”Since the Lord has already said that they would hate His word, it means that hating the word of truth is now a sin.Not accepting and hating it is the state of “The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” (Psalm 1:5).Those who cannot join the congregation of the righteous mean that they are outside the city and do not belong to it.In the relationship between God and man, a huge city is being built within the word of God.It is being built in various places without us knowing each other, and we are part of it.This means that within the framework of the immensely great Holy Spirit, there is a house of God that is being built universally by seven thousand perfect servants of God.Those who dwell in it are the people of God. They are the household of God.In the Holy Spirit, Christ is the standard, and we are being built into a temple for God to dwell in (Eph 2:20-22)This is the church, the body of Christ, the head of the church (Eph 1:22-23) Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.Translated by  Nancy Chung COME AND SEE WORLD MISSION To God be the glory.