The greatest love

The Greatest Love: Abide in Jesus or Abide in the World | John 15:1-17

Stu opens with a video that made him cry: a children's hospital next to a football stadium where the entire crowd waves to the sick kids in the windows. One child has a sign: "Go Hawks." They made him feel like he belonged, like he was part of the team, even though he's fighting cancer.

But as beautiful as that act of kindness is, Jesus offers something even greater.

On the night before His death, Jesus uses the image of a vine to reveal the greatest love the world has ever known: the love with which the Father loves the Son. And shockingly, Jesus says He can share that relationship with us.

"I am the vine; you are the branches," Jesus declares. "Remain in me, as I also remain in you." This isn't just encouragement to get you through the day. It's the most powerful thing you have in your life—to belong to God through Jesus is to know what love is and how to love.

The choice every Christian faces: Will you abide in Jesus and become like Jesus, or will you abide in the world and become worldly?

From the temptation of concerts and digital screens to the subtle ways we fall in love with things that take our affections from Christ, Stu confronts our divided hearts. He shares his own story of walking into a pub to see his favourite guitarist, only to find a room full of motorcycle gangs, and realising he didn't belong there. Sometimes the Holy Spirit makes you uncomfortable for a reason.

Jesus says something shocking in verse 5: "Apart from me you can do nothing." Abiding means ongoing dependent union with Jesus, letting His words live in us. It's practical: through God's Word, prayer, obedience, and gathering with God's people, you abide in Christ.

Stu unpacks three powerful truths: the source of the greatest love (the Father's love flowing through Jesus to us), the measure of the greatest love (Jesus laying down His life for His friends), and the overflow of the greatest love (His command to love one another as He loved us).

Because if you abide in the world, you'll become like the world. But if you abide in Jesus, you'll become like Jesus. And that changes everything—your friendships, your family, your church, your community.

Series: Revealing Jesus (John 13-17)
Speaker: Stu Crawshaw
Scripture: John 15:1-17