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The Scriptorium

Loved and Loving

The love of the Father is our life.

The Gospel of John: John 16.16-33

Read and meditate on John 16.25-28.
Jesus wanted His disciples to know that He loved them (Jn. 13). But this was so that they would know that the Father loves them as well. Resting in the Father’s love for us is the key to bearing fruit in Jesus’ Name.

           25“These things I have spoken unto you
in figures; but the time is coming soon
when I will speak about the Father to
you plainly. 26And when that day comes, then you
will ask in My Name, and I do not say
that I will to the Father for you pray,
27because the Father loves you, since you love
Me, and since you believe in Me, that of
the Father I have come forth. 28I indeed
have come forth from the Father; now I leave
the world to go to Him again.”


- John 16.25-28

Reflect
1.  Jesus promised to speak to His disciples plainly about the Father at some point in the future (v. 25). The only record we have of Jesus teaching His disciples after the resurrection and before His ascension is Acts 1.1-3. How can we reconcile Jesus’ promise to teach His disciples about the Father with what Luke records as the subject matter of His 40 days of teaching? Complete the following prayer: Lord Jesus, You have said it is the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom (Lk. 12.32; 22.29). Surely as I seek first the Kingdom of God, I will…

2.  Jesus taught His disciples in both figurative language and plain speech. Give some examples of each. Why was each of these ways of teaching important? Are they important still? Explain. I want to understand Your Word, Lord, so speak it to me…

3.  We have access to the Father in prayer for one reason only: We love Jesus (v. 26). How are we able to love Jesus (1 Jn. 4.7-11)? How can you tell someone who loves Jesus? Should we expect to grow in our love for Jesus? If so, how? Teach me to love You more and more each day, Lord, so that…

4.  Jesus continued to emphasize that He had “come forth” from the Father. The Father sent Him to the world (Jn. 3.16), and the beginning point of loving Jesus is to believe this. Why is it so difficult for people in our day to embrace this fact? How does this fact work into your witness for Christ? You came to this world, Lord Jesus, from the eternal realm of heaven. Now You have returned to heaven, and You are working to…

5.  Jesus was leaving the world to return to the Father Who sent Him. But just because He is no longer in this world, does that mean He is not working in this world still? Explain. And what is our place in that work? Bring together your prayers from questions 1-4 into one prayer.

Summary
“‘For the Father himself,’ he says, ‘loves you because you have loved me.’ Is it the case, then, that he loves because we love or, rather, that we love because he loves? Let this same Evangelist give us the answer out of his own epistle: ‘We love him,’ he says, ‘because he first loved us.’ This, then, was the efficient cause of our loving, that we were loved. And certainly to love God is the gift of God. He is the one who gave us the grace to love him, who loved while still unloved. Even when we displeased him, we were loved so that there might be that in us whereby we should become pleasing in his sight. For we could not love the Son unless we also loved the Father. The Father loves us because we love the Son, seeing it is of the Father and Son we have received the power to love both the Father and the Son: for love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit of both, by which Spirit we love both the Father and the Son and whom we love along with the Father and the Son.” Augustine (354-430 AD)

The Father loved us and sent the Son to redeem us. We believe in Him, and this ignites in us love for both the Father and Son. This love is the work of the Spirit in us, for apart from God at work in us, we can do nothing. Knowing the we only love because we are loved, what can we do to increase in love for God, and for our neighbors?

Closing Prayer
Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.
Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they are from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions;
According to Your mercy remember me,
For Your goodness’ sake, O LORD.
Good and upright is the LORD;
Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.
The humble He guides in justice,
And the humble He teaches His way.
All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth,
To such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.

Psalm 25.4-10

Psalm 25.4-10 (Festal Song: Revive Thy Work, O Lord)
Make me to know Your ways, teach me Your paths, O Lord!
My Savior, all day long I wait and seek You in Your Word.

Remember mercy, Lord, and steadfast love to me!
And all my sins before You let them not remembered be!

My sins have been of old, Your love is new each day;
According to Your goodness, Lord, regard my sinful way.

Upright and good are You, You lead us in Your way;
The humble You instruct in truth and guide him day by day.

The paths of God are all of love and faithfulness;
All they who keep His covenant the Lord will surely bless.

T. M. Moore

We are happy to offer each week’s Scriptorium studies in a free weekly PDF, suitable for personal or group use. You can download all the studies in our series on the Gospel of John by clicking here.

Need help learning to pray the psalms? Order the book, God’s Prayer Program, and discover why and how to realize the power of the psalms to transform your prayer life (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series IV a and b: John, edited by Joel C. Elowsky, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006. Verse translation of John by T. M. Moore.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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