Do We Love Jesus?

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on Sunday morning the 9th of February, 2020 at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Look for the video of our services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Valentine’s Day comes this week – the day that is dedicated to love.  For we who call ourselves Christians, every day should be dedicated to love.  Christ Jesus loves us so much, He was willing to take our punishment for us, even giving His life so that our sin could be forgiven.  And He commanded us to love – to love others as we love ourselves, as He loves us.  But then in my mind the question pops up:  Do we love Jesus?  Do we really and truly and deeply love Jesus?

The Apostle John loved Jesus and Jesus loved him.  In his account, he speaks more of the love of Jesus than any of the other Gospel writers.  Listen to what Jesus said, in chapter 14 verses 15 through 24 of John’s Gospel account, reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At 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, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest 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 home 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."

--John 14:15-24 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, we know how much You and Jesus love us.  You love us so much You sent Your only Son that we might be saved by following Him.  Jesus loves us so much He suffered and gave up His own life so that You might see us as righteous.  You can see into our hearts, to know if we truly love You in return.  We pray that our actions, our love for others, shows that we love You.  Father, please help us show Jesus our love by keeping His commandments.  Help us truly love all others, and not just those who love us in return.  Help us live as Jesus would have us live, and love as He would have us love.

Speak to us now, Father, through Your Spirit, with the message we need to hear this morning.  Speak to us of love.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.


Some now unknown poet penned this little composition, titled, "In Christ We Have":

In Christ we have
A love that can never be fathomed
A life that can never die
A righteousness that can never be tarnished
A peace that can never be understood
A rest that can never be disturbed
A joy that can never be diminished
A hope that can never be disappointed
A glory that can never be clouded
A light that can never be darkened
A purity that can never be defiled
A beauty that can never be marred
A wisdom that can never be baffled
Resources that can never be exhausted.


In Christ we have a love that can never be fathomed.  The word “fathom” has a couple meanings.  For one, it’s a measure of length equal to six feet, and pretty much always mentioned in nautical use.  I remember Samuel Clemens - Mark Twain - wrote about working on a riverboat using a sounding line to measure off how many fathoms of water the boat was in so they wouldn’t run aground.  To fathom something, then, is to measure it’s depth, or in our normal use, to better understand something.

The love of Christ Jesus cannot be fathomed, cannot be measured, its depth is unknown.  It is a love so great, we can’t even understand it.  This is the love of Jesus for us.  How deep is our love for Him?


In our scripture reading, John relates just one of the many times when Jesus confounded His disciples.  But I think that the source of confusion this time, at least when I consider the question He was asked, pretty much missed the mark.  Jesus said, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me”, followed by, “he who loves Me, will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”  So what does one of the disciples focus on?  “How is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”

Judas – and this was not the betrayer Judas Iscariot – Judas got hung up on how was Jesus going to show Himself to them and not to the world, but completely missed the part about love.  If it happened today, we might say he was more concerned about getting flowers and chocolates rather than sharing true love.

Whoever has received Jesus’ commandments and keeps them, these are the ones who love Jesus.  And these are the ones loved by His Father, God.  We have received Jesus’ commandments.  We know what He expects of us.  Do we fully, completely keep those commandments?

Since Judas didn’t get it, Jesus repeats Himself by saying that if anyone truly loves Him, they will keep His word, and the Father will love them.  If we love Him, we will keep His word, do as He commands, live as He tells us to live, love as He loves.  It’s not about duty or obligation or responsibility – it’s all about love.


I think Jesus really clarified this issue of loving Him a little earlier in His ministry.  John also recorded an incident – and again, one of many – where Jesus was admonishing the Pharisees and scribes.  Listen and take to heart what He told them, in chapter 8 verses 42 through 47 of John’s Gospel account…

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. 43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

--John 8:42-47 (NKJV)

That’s pretty harsh, isn’t it?  If we are children of God then He would be our Father.  And if He is truly our Father, then we would love His Son as our own brother.  We would love Jesus.

But if we don’t love Jesus, then God cannot be our Father.  Instead, Satan - the devil – is our Father.  Jesus is the Truth, but there is no truth in Satan.  Those who refuse to hear the truth are not children of God, but belong instead to the devil.


If we are children of God, if God is our Father, then we will love Jesus.  If we love Jesus, we will keep His commandments.  Jesus said these words, not me.  Whatever I say, you can take with a grain of salt, but whatever Jesus says is nothing but the truth.  If we don’t believe what He said, if we don’t hold it true in our hearts, then we are not of God and the devil is our father.

But we are children of God.  And we do love Jesus.  We love Him for all He did and continues to do for us.  We love Him because He is our Brother, God’s true Son.  Let’s make sure we show Him our love by keeping His commandments.  There’s basically only two.  We are to step out into the world sharing the Good News of salvation He brings and making disciples.  And we are to love others, to show His love to others, to show Jesus to those who may not otherwise ever see Him.

Jesus has made Himself manifest to us, He has shown Himself to us.  Now let’s show Him to the rest of the world.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, our Brother.  Amen.


Let us pray…  Father God, we are Your children and we love You.  You manifested Your love by sending Your Son to atone for our sin.  He manifested His love by sacrificing Himself as a blood offering on our behalf.  Thank You, Father, for Your great love.  Please help us show our love in return by keeping Jesus’ word.

Please hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, speaking from our hearts, promising to turn from our disobedient ways, seeking Your forgiveness and Your help…

Lord Jesus, You suffered and gave up Your own life for us so that we might be saved from eternal damnation.  In this You showed Your unfathomable love for us, a love we will never understand.  Help us, please Lord, to show that we truly do love You.  Help us to show in how we interact with other people and in how we live our daily lives.  Help us to keep Your word, to abide in Your word, in all we do.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.