I Command You to Love One Another John 15:12-17

“This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

Do I have a choice to love you or not love you? The answer is NO.

Verse 12 is not a suggestion. Verse 12 is a command.

We are to love one another— just as Jesus loved us. He loved you and I to the point that he paid the ultimate price. He died and sacrificed His life for man.

Read John 13:34-35 and 1 John 3:23

I. How am I to love my brother or sister in Christ?

Read 1 John 3:11-24. In these verses is the answer to the question.

II. What is the message of John 15:12?

A) We are to love and He loved.

B) We are to love one another and we know we are believers because we love one another.

C) If we have this world’s goods and our fellow believer is in need, and we refuse to help him— how dare we say the love of God dwells in us.

D) We are to love unbelievers, witness to them, and do all in our power to win them to Jesus.

Thought: A lot of church people preach great sermons and teach great lessons— but in their private lives— do not demonstrate the love of God.

Where do you measure up in the message of Verse 12?

Read John 15:13-16.

III. What is the message of love?

What is the message of love that you and I should have for each other?

A) Our love for each other should be self-sacrificing even to death if need be.

B) We should remember that, “God commended His love toward us, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Read Romans 5:6-8.

Read 1 John 4:7-21.

C) The Christian is a friend of Christ as well as a child of God.

Do you ever experience those times when you feel like that you do not have a friend? But, you do. You and I have a friend whose name is Jesus. Jesus never changes. He’s a friend who sticketh closer than a brother.

Read John 15:16.

Jesus reminds the disciples, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you. Why? He did so that we may bring forth good fruit.

Are we told to do that— to bring forth fruit? Read Matthew 28:19-20.

• Are you a friend of Jesus?
• Does He know you in a spiritual sense?
• Are you leading others to Him?
• Are you His friend?
• Thought: There is no way to be his friend apart from knowing what He says. It is in His Word that you find what He says. Are you in His Word? Are you His friend?

I. How am I to love my brother or sister in Christ?

II. What is the message of John 15:12?

III. What is the measure of love?

IV. What is the command of John 15:17?

Thought: Picture Jesus on the way to the cross. Why does He command the disciples to love one another?

A) In the verses that follow, the fact that the world will hate believers is mentioned seven times.

B) Why did Jesus give this command to love one another?

Christians need to love one another, live in harmony, unity, and brotherly love— because our enemy, the devil, hates a true believer. Read 1 John 3:13. Do you want to be victorious as a believer? Love one another. Paul said it best in Romans 12:8-10.

Conclusion: How can I love my brother? Love as Jesus loved!