"As the father has loved me, so I have loved you.  If you keep my commanments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have obeyed the father and abide in his love.  These things I have said, so that my joy might remain, and be completed in you.  This is my commandment: That you love one another, as I have loved you.  Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his friends.  You are mine if you abide in my love.  Henceforth I will not call you servants, but my friends."
John 15:9-15