Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Thursday, July 15,

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

Memory Verse John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:12-14 Impersonal Love Motivates Divine Good Production!

In verse 13, “Greater love has no one”. In the past or the present there is no greater form of love in the entire KOSMOS than what is about to be described.

Jesus would soon demonstrate for them personally what this “greater love” was that they should emulate.

“Life” = PSUCHE which literally means, “breath” but stands for the soul and human life.

Having life is the result of God breathing lives (NEHSHAMAH) into man. As a result man has soul life and physical life. Gen 2:7

Gen 2:7, “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breaths (NEHSHAMAH) of life; and man became a living being.”

“Life” in the human race depends upon the possession of PSUCHE soul life.

“Lay down” = TITHEMI - Aorist, Active, Subjunctive. It’s the sense of giving up your life for the benefit of someone else, (being self sacrificial).

Jesus Christ had developed this love in His humanity from the Virgin Birth all of the way to Gethsemane.

The demonstration of this love was that He obeyed the Father’s Will and went to the Cross.

The Active Voice says that the positive mature or maturing believer performs the action. The Subjunctive Mood is for potential, your volitional responsibility.

“For” - HUPER = “on behalf of, for the sake of.” It’s the preposition of substitution. We should be giving of ourselves in the place of others.

PHILOS = “beloved, dear, friend or friendly.” It’s category #3 love, human friendship. It is a total soul love in contrast to AGAPE which is a mental attitude soul love.

AGAPE is only the beginning of human love as it occurs in the mentality of the soul, but PHILOS is the total of human love, the greatness of human love.

John 15:13, “No one has greater love than this, that someone lay down his life on behalf of his beloved, (fellow members of the Royal Family of God).”

John 15:14, Jesus is addressing the disciples as His beloved or loved ones and by extension all believers.

PHILOS - “beloved,” Speaking of the close intimate relationship He has with them which starts with AGAPE love, (mental attitude), which leads to PHILEO love, (relationship).

If we are to realize this type of love, there is a condition into which we must enter to understand its true meaning.

God does not PHILOS all believers. God has AGAPE love for all believers on the basis of propitiation and for all members of the human race based on His grace and mercy.

God has PHILOS only for the spiritually mature believers; those who keep His commandments. And not all believers do.

“You are” = SU EIMI - Present, Active, Indicative. The Progressive Present means that they are beloved friends of Jesus and will remain that way as far as He is concerned.

EAN - is a Third Class conditional if statement, speaking of the volitional responsibility of the believer.

POIEO – “do”. The believer must keep on taking in and applying God’s Word, if he is to be His friend.

EGO ENTELLOMAI - “I command”, Jesus’ authority over the Church. He is the Head of the Church and we must be oriented to the authority of His Word if we are going to be His friend.

John 15:14, “You all are and you keep on being My loved ones (friends), if you all, maybe you will and maybe you will not, keep on doing what I myself command you.”

The commands of Jesus Christ are found in His Word. Therefore, it means keeping God’s Word resident within your soul and applying it on a consistent basis. John 15:4-13

Grace Fellowship Church Thursday, July 15, 2010 Tape # Impersonal Love Motivates Divine Good Production Upper Room Discourse, Part 394 John 15:13-14; Gen 2:7 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2010