Daily Scripture: John 15:8 This is how my Father is glorified — in your bearing much fruit; this is how you will prove to be my talmidim.
9 “Just as my Father has loved me, I too have loved you; so stay in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love — just as I have kept my Father’s commands and stay in his love. 11 I have said this to you so that my joy may be in you, and your joy be complete.
12 “This is my command: that you keep on loving each other just as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than a person who lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know what his master is about; but I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
Reflection Questions:- Jesus, the king of the universe, said: “I don’t call you servants any longer…I call you friends.” Scholar Craig Keener wrote, “The main ideals of friendship in ancient literature included …intimacy in which a friend could share everything in confidence. Jesus especially stresses that point in verse 15, where he distinguishes a friend from a servant, who might be loyal but would not share intimate secrets.” Jesus' friendship is the gift, the treasure, that’s worth all you can give in this life.
- Jesus defined the highest form of love: “No one has greater love than to give up one’s life for one’s friends” (verse 13). That was exactly what he did the next day on the cross. But what does it mean, in practical, day-to-day terms, for you to love others as sacrificially as Jesus loved us? How has taking Jesus as the best model of what love looks like changed or deepened your understanding of what it means to love? In what situations have you had to make tough choices as you asked yourself, “What’s the most loving thing to do?” How can healthy self-care be a key part of equipping yourself to love sacrificially?
Today’s Prayer:
God of love and grace, teach me day by day, situation by situation, what your love lived out in my life looks like. Help me see the people I meet and work with as you see them. Amen.
Family Activity:
Prayer is a very important part of faith and discipleship. With this activity, celebrate summer and enjoy a fun outdoor time of family prayer. You will need a seeded watermelon, a knife and some sidewalk chalk. Ask a child to draw a large tic-tac-toe board on a cement surface. In four of the squares, write these aspects of discipleship: thanks, praise, forgiveness and help. Explain to your family members the meaning of each word. Invite your family to fill in the remaining squares with names of special people, areas of life such as work or vacation, and your church. Cut the watermelon and give each person a large slice. Ask each person to spit his or her watermelon seeds onto the prayer board, then pray as the words direct. Enjoy spitting seeds and saying prayers! Thank God for helping you grow in faith as you follow Him!Insights from Dan Entwistle
God of love and grace, teach me day by day, situation by situation, what your love lived out in my life looks like. Help me see the people I meet and work with as you see them. Amen.
Family Activity:
Prayer is a very important part of faith and discipleship. With this activity, celebrate summer and enjoy a fun outdoor time of family prayer. You will need a seeded watermelon, a knife and some sidewalk chalk. Ask a child to draw a large tic-tac-toe board on a cement surface. In four of the squares, write these aspects of discipleship: thanks, praise, forgiveness and help. Explain to your family members the meaning of each word. Invite your family to fill in the remaining squares with names of special people, areas of life such as work or vacation, and your church. Cut the watermelon and give each person a large slice. Ask each person to spit his or her watermelon seeds onto the prayer board, then pray as the words direct. Enjoy spitting seeds and saying prayers! Thank God for helping you grow in faith as you follow Him!Insights from Dan Entwistle
Dan Entwistle serves as Resurrection’s Managing Executive Director.
The church offices were closed on Friday, as it was the weekday closest to today’s official holiday, Independence Day. After morning showers passed through, the weather was absolutely fantastic. So I was able to spend much of my extra day working outside on projects that needed attention. A couple of these hours were spent with a chainsaw in hand–clearing a natural area that was overgrown.
You see, this part of our property is full of those nasty thorny hedge trees and as if that wasn’t enough, poison ivy runs rampant in this untamed part of our yard. If you’ve ever cleared a natural area such as this, you know what a nasty job it can be. Hedge trees tend to be twisted and thorny and they are as tough as nails. My job today was to cut them down (with as few scratches and scrapes as possible) so they can be tossed into the brush pile to be burned. Sounds familiar, right? Verse 6 from yesterday’s reading, which sets up today’s reading, says, “If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.”
By contrast, we are followers of Jesus–not as servants who don’t know what their master is doing. Instead he calls us friends! We are meant to be like those branches that abide deeply in Christ and bear his fruit. Our task is to extend the work of Christ into this world and continue to be fruitful in the ways Jesus was fruitful. Today’s reading concludes with the joyous message that at the heart of godly fruitfulness is love. “As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love….This is my commandment: love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15: 9, 12)
Today, as we celebrate our freedoms, let’s determine not to use freedom to be thorny, tough and twisted. Instead, let’s be fruitful.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
The church offices were closed on Friday, as it was the weekday closest to today’s official holiday, Independence Day. After morning showers passed through, the weather was absolutely fantastic. So I was able to spend much of my extra day working outside on projects that needed attention. A couple of these hours were spent with a chainsaw in hand–clearing a natural area that was overgrown.
You see, this part of our property is full of those nasty thorny hedge trees and as if that wasn’t enough, poison ivy runs rampant in this untamed part of our yard. If you’ve ever cleared a natural area such as this, you know what a nasty job it can be. Hedge trees tend to be twisted and thorny and they are as tough as nails. My job today was to cut them down (with as few scratches and scrapes as possible) so they can be tossed into the brush pile to be burned. Sounds familiar, right? Verse 6 from yesterday’s reading, which sets up today’s reading, says, “If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.”
By contrast, we are followers of Jesus–not as servants who don’t know what their master is doing. Instead he calls us friends! We are meant to be like those branches that abide deeply in Christ and bear his fruit. Our task is to extend the work of Christ into this world and continue to be fruitful in the ways Jesus was fruitful. Today’s reading concludes with the joyous message that at the heart of godly fruitfulness is love. “As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love….This is my commandment: love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15: 9, 12)
Today, as we celebrate our freedoms, let’s determine not to use freedom to be thorny, tough and twisted. Instead, let’s be fruitful.
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224 United States
913.897.0120
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