Abide in Love: Chosen, Not Assessed

That you don't have to earn your way back to Jesus because you were never assessed to be out of Jesus. And if you're still working out what you think about Jesus, if the performance review image, I suppose, hits closer to home than the friendship one, here is the question worth sitting with this week. And the question is this, what would it mean to explore a relationship with a god who says that you are chosen and not assessed? What would it mean to explore that kind of relationship? Not a god who grades you, not a god who waits to see you perform well enough to be let in, but a god who chose you from before you knew anything about him, who moved towards you first. [00:54:50] (56 seconds)  #ChosenNotAssessed

And I want you to understand this, that Jesus is strong enough to hold you, and he chose to be broken for you. That's what this looks like from the inside. The greater love is not a metaphor. The greater love is Jesus. But here's the difference, I suppose, the difference between what Jesus did and what Hamilton did in this in the musical. Right? Aaron Burr, he wanted to be in the room. He schemed for it. He watched for every door to try and get in. But you, each and every one of you, you you don't have to do that. It doesn't have to be that way. [00:46:17] (47 seconds)  #HeldByJesus

Perhaps it was a course offer. Perhaps it was a visa decision. Perhaps a a job application or a team selection. Do you remember what it felt like to wait, to wonder if your name would ever be called? You know, some of you, I think you remember exactly what it feels like when you when your name wasn't called, when the job that you applied for was rejected, when the course that you wanted to get into, you didn't get into. But here's the difference. Jesus says this, before any of that happened, I chose you. Not based on your results, not based on what you had to offer. It was based on nothing you did at all. [00:48:04] (52 seconds)  #ChosenBeforeResults

Jesus isn't just declaring them as friends. He is being a friend to them right now at that table the night before his everything falls apart. Now in verse 13, this is where we pay off something from last week. Verse 13 says this, greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. And I wanna make sure that you don't turn this principle, don't let this become a principle about sacrifice. Jesus is not illustrating a concept. What's he doing? He's narrating what is what will happen to him later that night. [00:44:59] (62 seconds)  #FriendshipNotSacrifice

He paid for it through his life, his death, his burial and resurrection. Jesus chose you. That's what his life, death, and resurrection means. His love for the world, his obedience to the father. Right? This is the foundation. It's not a target. It's not a reward. Jesus is the foundation for our lives. And so as I close, I wanna take you back to the image at the beginning where I stood in the paddock in New Norcia. Right? Pitch black, no moon, no lights anywhere, Just the Milky Way above me. And the light of my cottage that was ahead of me. Right? In my hand, a torch. [00:57:50] (45 seconds)  #LifeDeathResurrection

You're not remaining in a discipline. You're not remaining in a routine. What you're remaining in is love. And the sap that runs through the branch, last week we said it was the life of Jesus. And this week, we find out that life what this life is made of, it's made of love. The same love that has always existed between the father and son now overflows into each and every one of you. In verse 10, I wanna show you something, and it's very important detail because there's two words in this verse that may, if you've thought about it, may have already created some distance between you and the rest of the passage. [00:33:08] (52 seconds)  #RemainInLove

Oh, not this sentence. I want you to write a sentence, somewhere where you'll see it. And the sentence is this, I was chosen before I was assessed. I was chosen before I was assessed. I want you to write it down, read it once, and that's all. That's the whole step. That's all I'm asking you to do. Write it down. Put it somewhere where you can see it, and put it away. Right? This is not about something to to generate a feeling, but this is for you to understand as a fact to return to. [00:54:05] (45 seconds)  #WriteItDownChosen

Why? Because the my third point is this. Why? Because Jesus says, you did not choose me. I chose you. Right? You did not choose this. He did. Verse 16. Third teaching point. Jesus says there there are two things that happened in rapid succession, and both of these matter. First one, he says this, that you are his friends. That is your status, that you are declared as friends. Then immediately Jesus says, no. You didn't choose me, but I chose you. And I want you to understand this is the origin of your status as friends. [00:47:03] (49 seconds)  #OriginOfFriendship